Princess Rose

  They agree to rendezvous outside Leah’s house on Tuesday night, just after midnight.

  Sofie sends a quick message to Rose to say they'll be along soon, so be prepared! She doesn't give any details.

  Chapter 10 - When in Danger and in Doubt

  After school on Tuesday, Sofie does her homework in double quick time then eats everything on her plate for dinner. Then she gets everything ready for their rescue mission. In her backpack she puts some chocolate bars, a bottle of water, an apple, a torch, her little bottle of potion and her favourite wand. She ums and aars about taking Pinky and Marie, finally deciding that they will be safer at home. They aren't very quick in an emergency and might get themselves into trouble!

  She helps Lulu pack her little backpack: a little bottle of water, chocolate bars, some money, a small gaggy, some pencils and her scissors. Lulu loves her scissors, she's been busy snipping at everything for weeks, leaving trails of chopped up paper around the house.

  Sam puts a few things in his pockets: a little bottle of antidote, a torch, and a bombastic elastic. He's going to take his Gameboy to play on, but after Sofie points out that it'll be night and he won't be able to see the screen, he pulls the game out and takes that along instead.

  Nick and Caroline can't believe it when Sofie, Sam and Lulu are in bed; teeth brushed and asleep, well at least pretending to be asleep, by 8.30. They go up onto the terrace to have a bottle of wine to celebrate having such good kids. Little did they know!

  Sofie wakes up. 'Oops, I must have gone to sleep,' she says to Pinky. She sneaks into the kitchen to check the clock.

  Double Opps!

  It's well after midnight. They're late!

  All is quiet. Mum and dad have gone to bed. Sofie pussy foots around the apartment, quietly waking up Sam and Lulu.

  They gather their bags, put their shoes on and sneak downstairs, keen to get going on their secret mission. The door at the bottom won't open! Sam gives it his biggest kick, then they all pull their hardest and it opens with a complaining groan. They've never been out alone in the street before, let alone in the middle of the night. It's so scary!

  They walk quickly up to Place de Gaulle, holding hands and ignoring the tramps that shout and whistle at them. Arriving outside Leah's house, the street is deserted. What's gone wrong? Have Leah and Jana gone to sleep or been caught sneaking out?

  Sam says, 'I'll do my secret whistle.'

  He doesn't exactly whistle, he makes more of a hissing noise.

  'That's a very secret whistle,' says Sofie, sarcastically.

  'I just need a bit more practice, that's all,' says Sam.

  Hissss, hissss, hisssss!

  'Oh, do stop making that silly noise Sam!' says Sofie grumpily.

  'It's not me!' replies Sam.

  Hissss, hissss, hissssssss!

  It's coming from a big cardboard box!

  Then the box starts giggling. It's Leah and Jana.

  'We hid in here because some policemen were coming along. Come on in,' says Leah.

  They all squeeze into the cardboard box.

  'Time for a midnight feast,' says Leah.

  'No!' says Sofie. 'We've got a princess to rescue!'

  Leah looks a little sad for a moment then reaches into her bag and pulls out something they can't see because it's so black.

  'Rub this on your face and your clothes,' she says. 'It's barbecue charcoal. It's what they do in the movies when they're on a secret mission.'

  They rub charcoal on their clothes and faces, then look at each other and start giggling.

  Shissssssh! says Sofie. 'Now let's get going before the rubbish men come and throw the box in their truck and squish us!'

  Squiiiiiish! says Leah, making lots of juicy sounds, and starts giggling again, which gets Lulu and Janjan going, which gets Sam going....

  'Quiet!' yells Sofie, rather noisily, and they're off on their mission, very quietly and stealthily apart from the odd hiccup!

  They head across town towards Fort Carre, taking the quietest route, sneaking down back streets and alleyways, ducking into doorways when cars go past. They nearly jump out of their skins when a drunken sailor falls out of a doorway, splat on the ground right in front of them. He staggers to his feet and looks at the awesome foursome, for four is how many he manages to count and that's after three tries! Seeing them all covered in charcoal, he says, 'And what are you up to then? Off to rob a bank?' then promptly falls over again.

  The fearless five run until they reach the port then have a rest in the shadow of a tree, where no one can see them. Sofie passes her water bottle around and Leah opens a bag of cookies.

  Rustle, rustle, scrunch, scrunch.

  Arrrrrrrrrrrrh, Lulu lets out a terrified scream. A big hand has her by the throat and they see the flash of a knife.

  'The motto,' yells Leah, and they all shout together. 'When in danger and in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout!'

  Which is just what they do, except for Sam, who charges head first at the man.

  Crunch!

  He comes up hard against a hairy chin! There's a thud as a heavy body hit the ground and Lulu runs out into the street, quickly followed by the rest of the team.

  Despite the black of the charcoal, Lulu looks as white as a ghost. Sofie grabs her hand and they all run through the park.

  Branches break behind them and the big hairy man crashes out of the bushes in pursuit.

  The children run their fastest, but the man is catching up with them. Suddenly a siren sounds, there's a screeching of breaks and a powerful spot light shines on the man. A big dog bounds across the grass and brings the man to the ground. He tries to kick it but it snarls and barks at him.

  'Quick, run!' yells Leah, and they run and run, all the way past Fort Carre to the beach with the pebbles. They tuck themselves in to the shadow, close to the bank, puffing and panting as they try to catch their breath. Lulu and Jana start crying and their sisters have their work cut out calming them down. They hear sirens, the rocks are painted red and blue by flashing lights and the beam of a powerful search light cuts through the night but can't find them in their hiding place.

  'They must be looking for us,' says Sam.

  'Time for a midnight feast,' says Leah.

  And it is!

  After feasting on all the chocolate, the fruit, the water and some sticky lollies covered with sand, the young'uns go to sleep.

  Sofie gets her bearings for the tunnel. It's a bit tricky as it's a dark, dark night, and although her eyes are accustomed to the dark, she still can't see the goal post or the statue. Luckily there's a few cars using the Bord de la Mer. Their headlights flicker across the playing fields and on to the statue, giving her a chance to find her tunnel.

  She's expecting to see the tunnel high and dry, but there's only about an inch at the top showing.

  'We'll have to wait a bit,' she says to Leah.

  After about half an hour there's a little more of the tunnel showing, but not really enough to get the girls in. They will just have to go in regardless to the tide. Maybe her dad got it wrong, when did he last work out the tide anyway?

  Sofie gets in touch with Rose. The Witch went fishing about twenty minutes ago and she can see her swooping across the harbour with her net. Now is time to go.

  They wake up Lulu and Janjan, then put all their things in plastic bags and their clothes too. When they get across to the tunnel, they're standing up to their necks in the water. Sam's playing with his torch, 'Look you can see underwater,' he says. 'Look, look, there's a fish.'

  'Fish, fish,' say Lulu and Jana.

  Leah dives underwater and swims into the tunnel, dragging her bag behind her. Now it's Sam's turn. 'I can't hold my breath,' he says.

  'Yes you can,' says Sofie. 'Remember, we practiced.'

  'But this is different,' says Sam. 'I can't go in.'

  'You can too do it,' says Sofie, egging him on.

  'Can't, can’t,' says Sam. Then he has an idea. He's be
en playing with an old piece of hose on the beach and has tied it around his middle three times with the end dragging behind like a tail. He unties it, gives one end to Sofie to hold, puts the other end in his mouth and dives underwater. A few seconds later a big boomy voice comes out of Sofie's end of the pipe, 'I'm through!'

  Sofie tries to get Lulu to put the pipe in her mouth and do what Sam did. She talks into it and blows raspberries to Sam, but no way will she go underwater. Neither will Janjan.

  Sofie calls through the pipe to Sam, 'Can Leah come out and help?'

  Leah pops up out of the water a few seconds later. They thought this might happen so decide to resort to other means.

  'Plan B,' says Leah, and before Lulu knows what's happening, she's dragged underwater and comes up coughing and sputtering in the dingy tunnel. A minute later Janjan arrives. She holds her breath but isn't very happy and bashes Leah one. Sam produces a soggy bar of chocolate and gives Lulu and Janjan half each. If it doesn't cheer them up, a least it keeps them quiet!

  The children put their clothes back on in the light from Sam's torch, then Sofie and Leah get their torches out and give Lulu and Janjan a light stick each and they head off up the tunnel. It stinks of poo and there's something horrible and smelly and slimy flowing along the floor. There are cobwebs dangling from the ceiling that catch in their hair. They stop and have a quick meeting. The girls decide that Sam, being a boy, should go first. He likes being in front and swings his hose around to knock the cobwebs out of the way. There's rats too, big ones. They kick out at them and send them scurrying to their hidey holes. After what seems like miles, they reach the bottom of the spiral staircase.

  'All clear Rose?' checks Sofie.

  'All clear,' Rose gives the go-ahead. 'The Witch is still out and Jinx is asleep by the fire.'

  They creep up the stairs. Reaching the top they suddenly find themselves amongst the clothes at the back of the Witch's wardrobe. They stink of what can only be described as a witchy smell. The girls and Sam turn off their torches and open the door a crack. Sofie can see Rose looking out the window, Jinx asleep by the fire and the bottle of potion above the fireplace.

  'Quick!' says Rose. 'She's coming back.'

  Sofie quickly and quietly runs across to the fireplace, opens the bottle of potion and pours the antidote in. Leah and Sam run to the shelter of the witchy bathroom and Sofie is with them in a twinkling. They all hide behind the curtain and peek through the holes. Rose steps back from the window and Whoooosh, in zooms the Witch. She puts her broom back in the witchy wardrobe then empties her net on the floor. Out from amongst the wobbly mass of jellyfish, flip and flop a few large silver mullet. Jinx jumps up, pounces on a mullet and carries it back to his spot by the fire, where he crunches on the still twitching fish. The Witch stuns the remaining fish with a flick of her wand, sending a stream of light zooming towards each fish.

  Once stunned, she throws the fish into the cauldron.

  Plop!....bubble, bubble....Plop!

  She picks up the jellyfish one by one and hangs them on a row of hooks behind the fire to dry.

  Next she opens her witchy sack. Out run four stripy cats which she quickly dispatches with powerful blasts of her wand. Sparks ricochet off the floor and bounce off the walls. She plucks out their eyeballs with a spoon and deftly flicks them into the smaller cauldron, simmering by the side of the fire. Then she skins and guts the cats and throws the meaty bit, head and all into the stew pot.

  'Really,' exclaims Jinx. 'Can't you do that somewhere else? You're putting me off my dinner!'

  The Witch snarls and throws some guts at him.

  'That does it. I'm off hunting!' says Jinx, jumping up to open the witchy wardrobe and vanishing inside, ignoring the fact that Princess Rose is still up.

  The Witch slams the wardrobe shut behind him and pushes a chair against the door. 'You can stay out there, you good for nothing, mangy cat,' she shrieks after him.

  Half way down the spiral stairs, Jinx bumps into Janjan and Lulu, who are playing with their light sticks. In their excitement the others have left them behind. He's just about to raise the alarm when he stops himself. He's had it with Zubenelgenubl! 'Careful girls, Witchy is back,' he says and carries on his way to go hunting.

  Lulu and Jana are not in the least surprised to meet a talking cat, but he does remind them of their mission. They stop their game and carry on up the stairs and into the wardrobe. They try to open the door but it's stuck, so they take turns at looking through the keyhole at the Witch chanting curses as she stirs up her potion.

  After a white they get bored and sit down on the floor. They can see quite clearly in the light from their light sticks. Lulu empties out her bag. The girls nibble on a soggy chocolate bar and drink the juice then Janjan plays with the money and Lulu gets out her scissors and starts snipping.

  Snip, snip, snip.

  She snips the twigs off that funny wonky old broomstick!

  Hiding behind the curtain, Sofie, Sam and Leah can hear the snip, snip, snip, then the jingle of coins coming from the wardrobe. The old Witch must be a bit deaf!

  Rose stands looking out the window, 'Rescue me, rescue me, rescue me,' she pleads to Sofie.

  Sofie doesn't know what to do. She put the antidote into the potion bottle, now they can do nothing but wait until the Witch gives Rose the potion. Maybe she can sneak Rose out through the wardrobe. No, no, that won't work, the spell stops that. The Witch is only secretive about the wardrobe because it's the way people can enter the hut from the outside world.

  Sofie is tired and worried. Sam isn't. He's excited by the adventure and the Witch zapping the fish and the cats. He keeps bumping into Sofie in an annoying way and starts to fidget.

  'Be still and be quiet,' hisses Sofie. 'We've got to rescue the Princess.'

  'You know I can't be still or quiet!' Sam replies. He looks like he's about to do or say something. Sofie picks up a back scrubber, a big solid wooden back scrubber, and bashes Sam over the head with it. He falls over with a dull thud and lies in a crumpled heap on the floor, blood oozing from a nasty wound on his head.

  'You've killed him,' whispers Leah.

  'Opps,' says Sofie. 'Well, he was being a nuisance.'

  Snip, snip, snip, jingle, jingle, snipping, jingling sounds come from the wardrobe.

  'Shut up, fleabag,' yells the Witch and continues stirring and tasting her potion. She takes the bottle from above the fireplace and tastes it. 'Yuck, it's gone off,' she says, and throws it out the window. It explodes outside in a puff of purple smoke.

  Oh no! thinks Sofie.

  In the wardrobe there's a little bug, no bigger than an ant. It's climbing up Lulu's leg. Now Lulu isn't scared of much. She doesn't mind the foul stench in the tunnel, or the cobwebs, or the big black spiders, and she kicked the rats out the way, just like Sam did, but bugs, they're an entirely different thing!

  'Look, Lulu,' says Jana. 'There's a bug on your leg.'

  Lulu looks down. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRH! she screams.

  The Witch jumps up from her chair by the fire, kicks the chair out the way, and wrenches the wardrobe door open.

  'When in danger and in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout' yells Sofie.

  Leah and run out of the bathroom, charging at the Witch and knocking her off her feet. Lulu and Janjan run out of the wardrobe. Leah quickly empties the antidote into the cauldron of potion and everyone runs in circles, screaming and shouting.

  The Witch gets to her feet and straightens her crooked hat, taking careful aim with her wand.

  ZAP!!

  Sofie falls to the floor, smoke coming from a burn on her arm.

  ZAP!

  Down tumbles Leah.

  Janjan and Lulu are a bit trickier, but within a minute the Witch has zapped them all.

  Princess Rose stands looking sadly out the window. 'And this is my rescue party?' she says in a bemused despairing tone, rolling her eyes to the heavens.

  The Witch drags the stunned children to
the middle of the room, sits then up, back to back, then ties then up with witchy twine. They can't see it, but it holds them so tight that they can't move except to wriggle a finger or twiddle their toes.

  'And you, you traitor. You are behind this,' spits the Witch at Rose as she blasts her with her wand. She places the barely conscious Rose on her bed and binds her extra tight with witchy twine.

  The Witch hasn't noticed Sam. When Sofie thought she had killed him, she'd covered him up with a towel. If the Witch does see him, she'll probably think he's dead as well.

  He looks a mess.

  They're all in a mess!

  'I'm tired, I'm hungry and I want to go home,' sobs Leah.

  'Me too!' cries Janjan.

  'Children, children, three hundred years of children! I've had enough of children!' rants the Witch, reaching for her spell book. 'Now let's see, what can I do with you?'

  'Will you turn me into a rabbit, with a tail?' asks Lulu, who's always wanted a tail.

  'A rabbit with a tail?' says the Witch, incredulously. 'More likely a toad!'

  Leah started to laugh, then Jana, then Lulu.

  'Oh, shut up!' shouts the Witch and blasts them with her wand.

  Sofie's being very quiet. She's upset; she's failed to rescue the Princess and had got everyone into trouble, big serious trouble.

  The Witch thumbs through her book of spells. 'Turning children into lemmings, he, he, he,' she cackles. 'But there's no cliffs around here for you to walk over, he, he, he.'

  She is enjoying herself. 'Children pie, no, no, no. It's too sweet for my tooth, he, he, he!'

  'I could just keep you all as slaves.'

  'Can I have a drink?' asks Leah. 'Please!'

  'Oh, shut up!' says the Witch, zapping the children again.

  'Leah,' says Sofie. 'Would you stop getting us zapped? I'm trying to think of a plan.'

  'You'll need a very cunning plan,' says Leah. 'Things are

  looking grim.'

  And they are.

  'Eureka,' shouts the Witch. 'Here it is. He, he, he! A spell to make me young and beautiful again.

  'Directions: Into a large cauldron full of hearty stock, yes, I have one of those, add 4 fresh jellyfish, quelle chance! a large bunch of rosemary.'

  She checks her larder.

  'Yes I have that. Simmer for six hours and when the sun reaches its zenith on the day of the new moon, add 5 little girls, diced, but still twitching. Then utter the magic words. Never mind the magic words; the sun is just coming up, there's no time to lose. I can't believe my luck. Sometimes things just come together as if by magic!' she sings happily as she stirs the ingredients into the big cauldron.