Caution: Witch In Progress (18 page)

    ‘Yes, Miss,’ replied Ghoul.

    Gertie noticed Fang was smirking again. He now had something
else to embarrass his fellow students about.

‘And what have you achieved, Fang?’ asked Miss Gory who must have
seen him too.

    ‘There’s something I want to ask you, Miss,’ began Fang,
pretending concern. ‘I can see a huge demon eating a blonde witch. What does
that mean?’

    Miss Gory refused to be taken in by Fang’s cruel prank. ‘It
means that you’re being very silly, Fang,’ she replied sharply. ‘Get on with
what you are meant to be doing please!’

    Now it was Fang’s turn to look foolish. Somehow, his popularity
with the teachers wasn’t going quite as planned. He didn’t seem to have any
idea why. All Gertie ever heard him say was that no one realised his ‘amazing
potential’, and that he would show them all. He warned them to just wait for
his Presentation.

    ‘I see a golden spider!’ exclaimed Malicia over to Fang’s right.
‘I knew it! I knew I’d win it!’

    Miss Gory went over to look. ‘Uhm,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to
disappoint you, because you might well win the Golden Spider Award. This
however, is not a premonition. It is the flames from the wall torches
reflecting the image of that spider onto your crystal ball.’ Miss Gory pointed
to Boris on Fiendly’s desk. The spider stared around obviously wondering why he
had suddenly become the centre of attention. He waved his legs about to warn
anyone from getting too close.

    ‘Oh,’ replied Malicia, looking thoroughly disheartened. She went
back to trying to see an image of herself walking up to collect the Golden
Spider Award.

    Gertie realised that somehow, the familiars didn’t seem to be
helping quite as much as they were expected to.

    Sly’s vulture, Victor, was trying to peck at the crystal ball
where the high flaming wall lights were reflecting off it. Minx the myna was
staring into the crystal ball on Lucyfer’s desk, and even through the gag could
be heard to say ‘Pretty Minx, Pretty Minx’, although in a rather muffled way.

    Miss Gory shook her head.

    Gertie thought the class was turning into a bit of a shambles.
Clawd’s rat had turned away from the crystal ball in front of him with a
shudder. The pessimistic rat was probably seeing an image of the Grim Reaper.
Killer, the praying mantis, was keeping well away from Nastassia’s crystal ball.
He looked like he was thinking, you’re not putting me in that tiny glass thing!

    Miss Gory looked back across the room, and Gertie followed her
gaze. Bertha was falling asleep again. Her dog was already sleeping on the
desk, misting up her crystal ball by wetly breathing on it.

    It was then that Gertie turned back to her crystal ball, and a radiant
(rather unwitch-like) smile covered her face. She was soon smiling and waving
excitedly into her crystal ball.

Gertie
awoke the next day with a light-hearted feeling inside. It wasn’t long before
she remembered the reason why. She had contacted Ma and Gran! It was strange,
but Gertie wasn’t quite sure how she had finally achieved it. She’d been trying
so hard, but not getting very far. Somehow, she then drifted in her mind. She
wasn’t even aware of the classroom around her any more. It was almost as if she
had left her physical body behind, and travelled home through the cool air.

    There was Ma in their cottage. Gertie saw her as plainly as she
would have if looking through the window at home. She saw her more clearly
actually, because no cobwebs blocked her view this time. At that point, Ma
seemed to sense Gertie’s presence. She turned quickly to her own crystal ball.
From then on, the contact was made.

    Though Gertie couldn’t hear what Ma was saying, the young witch
felt she knew in her mind. It was wonderful. Rather than doubt if she would be
able to do it again, Gertie simply believed she could. As she had been told,
belief in what she could do was half the battle. Gertie would never again feel
so far away from Ma and Gran. She could now see them at any time.

    Gertie found herself looking in at the cottage a bit too often
in those first few days of her new found skill. Indeed, it was beginning to
distract her from her studies more than a little. The young witch knew how
important it was for her to do well, so she finally settled down to checking in
with Ma once a day at a given time. In that way, Ma would not need to think she
had to be in all the time just in case Gertie called. Gertie realised that
would be unfair. She felt sure, when she thought about it, that Ma had sat by
her crystal ball for hours at a time, just in case. Ma wouldn’t miss a call
from Gertie for anything in the world. So, the time for their contact was six pm each day. That was enough. Unless there was something special Gertie wanted to
contact home for, of course.

    The trainee witch knew she had to give as much time as possible
to her impending Presentation. More urgently still, she needed to think about
her Levitation and Broomstick Flying class. Flying a broomstick didn’t sound
very straightforward, and Gertie knew what she was like for letting her mind
wander. While gazing at the crystal ball, maybe it helped. While flying up in
the air however, the result might not be so beneficial. She went to sleep that
night with thoughts of plummeting from great heights, and broomsticks with
minds of their own. She wasn’t looking forward to it one bit.

    The day dawned bright and early. Almost before the witches and
warlocks had time for any more thoughts about their new class, they were
outside the Academy clutching their new broomsticks. The dew was still fresh on
the grass, and there was a definite early morning chill in the air. Gertie
pulled her cloak more tightly around herself as she listened to Miss Black. All
the pupils stood around the teacher in a big circle. She turned to address them
all, speaking loudly and clearly so her voice carried across the moor to each
of them even when her back was turned.

    All the familiars stood, sat, slithered or hovered around. It
was quite a sight for anyone to see. Any normal people viewing the scene would
probably have been quite scared. Especially when Miss Black lightly mounted her
broomstick, and hovered a little way above the ground. She was giving the
pupils an example of what she would like them to achieve today. She made it
look so easy, but anything was easy if you knew how to do it!

    Gertie didn’t think she would ever master broomstick flying with
such an easy confidence, but she would certainly give it her best shot. Her
broomstick looked nice anyway. It felt comfortable in her hand. That was a good
start.

    Before long, Miss Black fell silent, and made one last turn on
her broomstick to look at them all.

    ‘Your broomsticks look quite adequate. I hope you chose your
wood carefully, and according to instructions.’ Miss Black seemed to address
this last comment to Fang, who looked away. Gertie remembered Miss Fiendish had
thought Fang’s branches looked too new to be fallen ones. The young witch
wondered if her favourite teacher had told Miss Black about it. Not that Fang
seemed particularly bothered. Everyone knew he did whatever he felt like doing,
with no regard for anyone else or the consequences.

    ‘Don’t forget to ask your familiars to help you,’ Miss Black
suggested. ‘As you have not yet learned the Holding Spell to keep them safe on
your broomsticks however, hang on to any non flyers very carefully. Better
still, if you wish, leave them on the ground while you practice. We don’t want
them to have to learn to fly very quickly, now do we?’

    Some of the pupils sniggered and looked at their familiars.
Diablo’s green feline eyes gave Malicia a look that clearly said, ‘Don’t worry.
There is absolutely no way I would get on that thing with you. Even if I do
have seven lives left.’

    Charlie the chameleon sat on the broom Ghoul was holding out in
front of himself. He was red. The chameleon that is, not Ghoul. It was probably
the nearest he could get to wood colour. Ghoul looked quite proud of his
efforts. He had actually stayed with the colour for more than a few seconds
too! Ghoul reached over to pick up the small chameleon, and placed him
carefully into one of the huge pockets in his cloak.

    All cloaks had spacious pockets, because witches had so much to
carry around with them. They were always collecting at least some ingredient or
other.

‘You’ll be safe there, little fellow,’ Gertie heard Ghoul say as he
patted Charlie on his scaly head.

    Victor the vulture looked more than a little disappointed that
the familiars would not be going up in the air with the witches and warlocks.
From what Gertie knew about him, he would have been more than ready to scrape
any of them up if they did plummet to earth from great heights. He might even
have offered them a helpful push, given half a chance.

    All the familiars seemed to have picked up on the gist of what
was going on. The bird familiars were the least troubled. They didn’t seem to
see what all the fuss was about. Learn to fly? Easy! They wouldn’t fall to
earth. If any of the broomsticks actually left the ground. That was still
debatable.

    ‘Now, remember what you have all learned in levitation class,’
concluded Miss Black, ‘and try to get your broomsticks to hover. I don’t want
anyone trying to fly high. Do you hear me, Fang?’

    Fang curled his lip. As far as his protruding fangs would allow.

    ‘A hover, no higher than I am now, is what you are aiming for,’
Miss Black stressed. ‘What I want you all to begin with is placing your
broomsticks on the ground, and then make them levitate a few inches into the
air. Once you can all master that, then we will consider sitting on them.’

    It suited Gertie. She was in no rush to sit on hers.

    ‘Off you all go then, give it your best stare!’

    Bertha had said she didn’t expect much of a problem in this
class. After all, she was very well practiced in levitation. She used it all
the time now so she didn’t have to get up to go for things. She had them all
coming to her instead. It was nice to know she had at least learned one useful
thing at the Academy.

    Gertie saw her drop her broomstick to the ground, because she
would have had an awful problem trying to bend down to put it there.

    Bertha then calmly stared at it, with no doubt whatsoever in her
eyes that it would rise. The front end gave a quiver, and left the ground
almost right away. Bertha squinted at it a little harder. The object was
heavier than she was used to. A full gateau had been about the biggest thing Gertie
had seen her try previously.

    The front of the broom rose higher, and looked as if it was
trying to aim for her mouth. That was definitely not the desired effect this
time. Gertie got a bit worried for her. Jasper lifted his head from his paws to
look at the waving broom handle, and decided to give it a bit of a chew. Bertha
curled her lip, losing some of her interest already.

    ‘What’s the point of levitating something you can’t eat?’ she
asked.

    Her broomstick, with the end still clamped in Jasper’s jaws,
gave up the will and flopped to the ground again in disgust.

    Gertie was surprised by Bertha’s failed attempts. If her friend
couldn’t do it with her levitation skills, then what hope did Gertie have?
Well, she had to try.

    Gertie placed her broomstick gently onto the ground, and stared
at it in a sort of pleading way. It ignored her. Owl fluttered about in front
of his young witch, almost as if he was trying to show the broom how to fly.
That’s what Gertie believed anyway. Poor Owl probably couldn’t even see the
broomstick. Gertie always liked to think the best of him. He would help, if he
could. Knowing even Owl was depending on her success, Gertie tried again. She
tried harder, and harder.

    Just think of the pencil, she said to herself. Miss Black says
it’s only the same, and I can levitate that now. Well, a bit anyway.

    There! She saw the broomstick give a definite quiver. Clapping
her hands, Gertie gave it her all. Her broomstick moved, quite fast actually.
What it did though was proceed to bury itself into the ground sending mud
flying in all directions. Gertie, and everyone near her, got splattered.

    ‘Gertie!’ called Miss Black, rubbing the mud from her cheek. ‘Try
to pay attention. Can’t you see your broomstick is upside down?’

    ‘Upside down, Miss?’ asked Gertie, looking at her partly
submerged broom.

    ‘Yes,’ replied the teacher coming nearer. ‘Can’t you see by the
way the bristles bend?’

    Gertie couldn’t, but she extracted her broom from the ground
anyway. She stood, feeling dejected as she tried to shake and brush some of the
mud off.

    Miss Black took pity on her.‘It’s not that bad, Gertie,’ she
said. ‘At least it moved. Place it down again, this way,’ she added, taking
hold of the broom and placing it for Gertie.

    If the young witch thought about it, she supposed the bristles
did bend in a certain way.

    ‘Now, try again!’

    ‘Thank you, Miss,’ said Gertie, trying to hide her
embarrassment.

    Fang was laughing so hard, he bent double. Of all people, Gertie
wished he hadn’t seen her. She knew he now had something else to spread around
the village on their return. Gertie didn’t understand why anyone could be so
nasty. Following a disapproving glance from the teacher, Fang turned back to
his own broomstick.

    From the look on his face now, it was obvious he had decided to
be smart. His broom began to hover all too quickly for Gertie’s liking. Her
broomstick was achieving a quiver at least in the right direction, but was
struggling. Looking around, Gertie could see a few brooms were actually
hovering off the ground already. Ghoul looked delighted with himself, and
pulled Charlie back out of his pocket to take a look. Malicia smiled smugly as
her broom twirled in front of her. Gertie looked back at Fang.

    Once his broomstick had reached a sufficient height, ignoring
what they had been told, Fang sat astride it. He checked that Miss Black’s back
was still to him, and then muttered something under his breath. With that, he
zoomed up into the air in a rush of wind! The teacher turned quickly around
from advising Wanda, and shouted out. Fang just laughed as he hurtled through
the air at quite a height. Some of the other pupils looked impressed, while
others were clearly jealous of Fang’s achievement. Malicia ‘Oooohed’ in
appreciation.

    Gertie stared after the young warlock, open-mouthed. Maybe for
once, Fang had actually been studying a subject. Gertie had seen him in the
library, alone in a corner, once or twice. She had also noticed he hid his book
from anyone who walked near, so they wouldn’t know what he was reading.

    Everyone was staring up at Fang now, but many of the ‘Oooohs’
were beginning to turn to shrieks. Mainly Fang’s. All of a sudden, he seemed to
completely lose control of his broomstick. It whooshed this way and that as if
trying to throw him off! Fang hung on, shrieking like a big girl. Left, right,
and upside down he flew, clinging on for his life. Miss Black took chase on her
broom, but couldn’t keep up with the crazy twists and turns of Fang’s frantic
ride.

    By the time the terrified warlock was dumped off his broom into
a thorny bush, he had fortunately flown lower. Apart from a few scratches, the
only thing really hurt seemed to be his pride. It was a very big thing to hurt.

    Miss Black landed and rushed over to check if Fang was alright.
She then proceeded to severely scold him. As he clambered from the bush and
brushed at his cloak, the still flying broom swooped down on him! Fang ducked,
and the wayward broom gave him a whack across the back of his bullet shaped
head with its brush end. It then flew off, probably never to be seen again.

    ‘That’s what you get,’ Miss Black explained a little smugly to
all the pupils, ‘for tearing living wood from a healthy tree.’

    ‘But I…’ began Fang.