Clearheart (9 page)

It had become increasingly clear to the good Ms Wheelbarrow that Ella and Charlie were missing. Neither of them had been at yoga that morning when the bluebells rang. Nor were they present at breakfast. By lunchtime the headmistress was certain, having searched in the Waters and sent teachers across the grounds of Hedgeberry to look for the two children, that they were nowhere on the premises. She even consulted the Spirit Tree, as it was bound to tell her the truth, but the oak knew nothing. And the white elves, but they were making little to no sense at all!

Ms Wheelbarrow had little option but to wait. If the children did not appear by teatime, she would have to call their parents (or grandparents, in Ella's case) to see if they had appeared at home.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Ms Wheelbarrow was visited by Gloria Ulnus.

‘I've been watching Ella Montgomery, Ms Wheelbarrow,' the child told her.

Ms Wheelbarrow was not particularly fond of Gloria Ulnus. Gloria's parents were too involved in D.O.R.C. for Wheelbarrow's liking, even though she was a fellow Dryad Flitterwig. Plus, the girl was far too sure of herself for her own good. But there were students lost, and all information was good information at this point.

‘Yes, Gloria,' said Ms Wheelbarrow, ‘and this is relevant how?'

‘Well, I saw her and Charlie Snoppit leave their dormitories last night,' said Gloria. ‘And I saw them out by the mulberry bush with Humphrey Scrumphries and that Marshlin Flitterwig boy who's top in Mr Frollick's class. But then Samantha Wallow bumped into me and knocked me over and I never saw where they went.'

Ms Wheelbarrow dismissed Gloria as soon as was polite, a worrisome concern rising within her. She Personified her teacup and sent it to go and find Humphrey Scrumphries and young Toby Wetlands at once. But could she get a word from Humphrey? No she couldn't. The boy seemed to be utterly confused by every question she asked him. And as for Toby Wetlands, he had been knocked out on the cricket grounds at ten o'clock this morning. By Samantha Wallow, apparently. She'd hit him over the head by accident with her cricket bat and then smacked herself in
the head as it rebounded off him, knocking herself out in the process. If it had been anyone other than Samantha Wallow, possibly the most clumsy Flitterwig Hedgeberry had ever had (although her Spritely Physician skills were exemplary), Wheelbarrow might have been surprised. But it
was
Samantha and Wheelbarrow was worried, so she wasn't.

Teatime came and went. Feeling sick to her stomach, Ms Wheelbarrow settled herself on the brown corduroy couch in her study (this was far too serious a call to be made from a desk) and pulled the telephone towards her.

First she dialled the Snoppits. She feared their reaction less than the Montgomerys', though she dreaded telling them the news no less at all. They said they would make their way to the school immediately. Dialling Mrs Montgomery, Ella's grandmother, next, the poor headmistress felt a lurch in her heart. She knew that Mrs Montgomery had been reluctant to allow Ella to attend Hedgeberry in the first place. Now it seemed her fears were justified. The phone rang only twice before Mrs Montgomery picked it up.

Her reaction was just as Ms Wheelbarrow had expected. Hanging up from the distraught woman, Wheelbarrow immediately tiptapped the Waters and contacted Samuel Happenstance at the Flitterwig Rooniun and then, instinctively, Manna
Mallalooka Chetwode, Ella's maternal grandmother, a former student at Hedgeberry herself.

‘You do know who Ella
is
, don't you?' said Manna at once.

‘I do,' answered Ms Wheelbarrow.

‘I have renounced magic, and I am not much in favour with Ella's other grandparents, so I shall stay away. But please, keep me informed,' said Manna. ‘You should tiptap Elton Wrinkles in Magus at once,' she added urgently.

But Ms Wheelbarrow did not try to tiptap Elton Wrinkles. As headmistress of Hedgeberry, she had had many students go missing over the years. Teaching children the art of Flitterwiggery, after all, did lead to a few rather out-of-the-ordinary adventures. While the parents must be notified—and, in Ella's case, so must Samuel—she was reluctant to call on any Magical so soon after the lifting of the Ban, for fear that she would be bothering them needlessly at a very important juncture in Magical and Flitterwig relations.

Humphrey let himself into the school sanatorium, fully Bongled. Both Samantha and Toby sat patiently on a couple of beanbags, fully recovered from their bashings, for Matron was a most capable Sprite Flitterwig and had cured them both. But they were
required to wait for several hours to ensure that there were no secondary effects.

‘Psst,' said Humphrey in Samantha's ear. Samantha almost jumped out of her skin. ‘It's just me, Humph,' he hissed, causing both Samantha and Toby to look about them as if there might be a ghost in the room. ‘I'm Bongled, you idiot,' Humphrey whispered more quietly in Samantha's ear, pinning her to her beanbag to keep her still.

‘Oh,' said Samantha. She smiled at Toby Wetlands as if saying ‘Oh' to herself was the most natural thing in the world. He turned his back and tried to ignore her. He'd had quite a bad enough day as it was. ‘Um, sorry, by the way, again, for knocking you out,' said Samantha, seeing a sparkling spell chart drifting to the ground in front of her, and plucking it out of the air.

‘We need to Bamboozle him,' Humphrey whispered. ‘So he can't remember what happened with Ella and Charlie this morning.'

‘Oh,' said Samantha, understanding.

‘Could you stop saying that?' said Toby, wishing he'd never got up this morning. Standing behind him, Samantha spun the spell for Bamboozlement, while Humphrey tried to pour the potion he had pinched from the chemistry lab down poor old Toby's throat as the boy struggled and called for help. He was
being attacked by nothing! They hoped the spell would work. The Flitterwig's mouth began to fill with foam, his eyes opened and he started to gurgle. Matron walked into the room. Samantha sat back down on her beanbag at once.

‘I'm feeling so much better now, Matron,' she said. ‘Can I go?' Noticing that Toby seemed to be having some sort of secondary reaction to his concussion, perhaps even a fit, Matron released Samantha from the sanatorium with barely a thought.

‘We need to find Gloria,' said Humphrey, more animated than Samantha had seen him in years, as he reappeared in the corridor. ‘She was watching me when I came out of Wheelbarrow's office', he said. ‘She knows something about Ella's disappearance, and we're going to find out what.'

The Montgomerys and the Snoppits were at the school within the hour. Ella's father had been informed, but anything to do with Ella brought up too many painful memories of the deaths of his wife and sons in that dastardly accident years ago. So, as usual, he stayed well away and buried his head in the sand.

Samantha and Humphrey, meanwhile, had found Gloria out
in the red poppy gardens, where Ella liked to go to practise her skateboarding. Gloria was shaking her finger angrily at nothing in particular. Humphrey, with some difficulty, Bongled them both again. He was feeling quite exhausted with all the magic he'd been spinning. He hoped to Magic he would not end up with a suspension for breaking the school rules so many times in one day. They approached Gloria. She really was talking to nothing. About Ella! Demanding thin air tell her where the Elven Flitterwig had gone.

If Samantha and Humphrey could have, they would have looked at one another and burst out laughing, but they couldn't, because they couldn't see each other. Which was probably a good thing or they would have been discovered for sure.

A dozen white elves ran around and around in circles over by the stream, not far away from the wildflower gardens. They had been on their way to find a Mirror of Foreverness through which to pass back into Magus and inform Mr Wrinkles of Ella's disappearance. But somewhere on the way they had been offered a glass of water by a goblin with rotten fingers, and they hadn't been able to resist. They were losing their sense of perspective more and more with every day they spent on Earth. The poor
wee fellows were now mildly Trogglified. Fairly drunk on sugar planted in their drinking water by Saul, they were, and dancing about in circles seemed to be their only care.