Edwina Pilkington's Computer School of Magic (3 page)

‘Sounds good to me, Gabriella. Let's go have some mud cake.'

Edwina, Gabriella and Thirty-four hurried towards the door, all thinking about the cake, when suddenly there was a loud crack of thunder. The girls looked around and noticed a bright blue light in the middle of the room.

Another loud crack of thunder.

‘That is strange,' said Gabriella, shaking her head. ‘It doesn't look like rain outside.' ‘It's not, silly,' said Edwina. ‘It's Aunt Ada.'

‘Wow, what a grand entrance,' said Gabriella.

Edwina ran over and gave Aunt Ada the biggest hug ever. ‘I love you, Aunt Ada, and you look great in your Halloween costume.'

‘You look like Dorothy out of
The Wizard of Oz
,' Gabriella said.

‘It's the red shoes,' said Aunt Ada as she gently tapped her shoes together. Gabriella couldn't stop giggling.

‘Just be careful, Aunt Ada,' said Edwina. ‘Thirty-four loves to chew red shoes.'

‘Now, be a good pig,' whispered Aunt Ada as she patted his head, ‘and next visit, I will bring you a big bag of vegetables.' Thirty-four oinked and sat up. ‘Now we have that settled, girls, I need you to tell me all about the strange things that have been happening here in Rainbow City.'

‘You mean the large, bat-like creatures that were chasing Mr Philpott?' giggled Edwina.

‘Oh, I didn't know about any creatures, but tell me all about them later. At the moment, I'm worried about the bank robbery and the skeleton key that was stolen,' said Aunt Ada.

‘A strange thing to do; break into a bank just to steal an old key,' said Gabriella, ‘and I think you should take the bat-like creatures more seriously, Edwina. I believe there is something scary out there.'

‘If you say so,' said Edwina, shrugging her shoulders. ‘Maybe it was the large, bat-like creatures who broke into the bank and used their sharp fangs to open the vault!' she laughed.

‘It's nothing to laugh about, Edwina,' said Aunt Ada, shaking her finger. ‘I feel it in my old bones. There is trouble brewing, so be careful. Anyway, enough of that talk. It's Halloween, so let's go and have some fun,' said Aunt Ada as she moved towards the door.

‘Edwina, do I really have to dress up as a skeleton?' asked Gabriella. ‘Just this once, couldn't I be a witch?' Edwina ignored Gabriella and put her black, pointy hat on. ‘It's not fair that you are always the witch.'

‘That's because I
am
a witch, silly.'

‘I know, but just this once,' said Gabriella, ‘couldn't you be the skeleton and me the witch?'

‘No way. I'm the witch and you're the skeleton, end of story. Thirty-four, be a good pig and stay in my bedroom, no peeping downstairs. Just remember, when the clock strikes midnight, there will be some loud fireworks, so don't be afraid.'

Edwina and Gabriella gave Thirty-four a big hug goodnight as they left the bedroom and made their way towards the Great Hall, just in time to see everyone dressed in their costumes.

‘Look, Gabriella, here comes Dracula! I bet you that's Mr Plumstead the butcher, and right behind him is a funny looking ghost wearing lace-up shoes.'

‘That's Mr Philpott, the postman,' said Gabriella, giggling, ‘and the werewolf wearing the white hat is Peter Pickle the baker.'

‘Excuse me, girls, you both look like you're having a good time.'

‘The best, thank you, Mrs Whatmore,' the girls replied.

‘Do you know where I can find your parents, dear? I really must congratulate them on a great Halloween party.'

‘They would be pleased to hear that, Mrs Whatmore. If you go over towards the big candle, you'll find them talking to Mr Gummylegs who is dressed up as an elf and Mrs Gummylegs is the Egyptian mummy . My mum is the beautiful fairy princess and my dad is dressed as a wizard. You should have no trouble finding them now, Mrs Whatmore.'

‘Thanks, dear.'

‘I wonder what she's up to?' said Edwina as she watched Mrs Whatmore push her way through the crowd and go in the opposite direction to her parents.

‘Don't worry about her. She's only being an old stickybeak,' said Gabriella.

‘I think she is up to something,' said Edwina as she watched Mrs Whatmore disappear around the corner.

‘Come on, forget about her. Let's go and see if there is any more of that mud cake left before we go up to the tower to watch the fireworks,' said Gabriella as she pulled Edwina along by the hand towards the kitchen.

E
dwina and Gabriella were both leaning out of the window of the tower, watching the fireworks, when Edwina noticed a huge, red skyrocket explode into the night like a shooting star. It slowly faded and seemed to drop, landing right in the middle of Rainbow City.

‘Look, Gabriella,' said Edwina loudly as she pointed towards Rainbow City.

Gabriella looked down where the cathedral was and noticed a bright, reddish glow. ‘It's a fire,' said Gabriella as she started to tremble, ‘and it's getting brighter.'

‘We must hurry and find a way down into the city.'

‘That's impossible, Edwina. The winding road from the castle down into Rainbow City is blocked by cars.'

‘Nothing is impossible tonight, Gabriella. Remember, it's Halloween and the witching hour has begun.' Edwina began to whistle a soft tune, and from out of the darkness appeared the most beautiful, snow white horse Gabriella had ever seen. She rubbed her eyes. ‘Is that really what I think it is? A Unicorn?'

‘Yes, Gabriella. I would like you to meet Elka.'

‘Hello,' Gabriella said. Elka whinnied. ‘We must hurry as the fire is getting brighter. We don't have much time to waste. Listen carefully, Gabriella. Stand as close to the window ledge as you can, hold my hand, and when I say jump, we must jump together. Are you ready? Elka is waiting … JUMP!'

‘Pinch me, Edwina, I must be dreaming,' Gabriella said. ‘I'm flying around in the middle of the night on a beautiful, snow white horse!'

Edwina laughed. ‘Remember the first day when you moved into Stone Castle and I told you you belonged to a different world now, a magical world, a world of make-believe?'

Gabriella nodded her head silently and held on tightly to Edwina as they went flying on Elka through the night air towards the cathedral.

‘Look, Gabriella, it's a big bonfire, and the wind is blowing the sparks onto the roof of the cathedral. We must hurry and put the bonfire out before the cathedral catches on fire. Those naughty Dawson boys must have lit it and then gone off trick or treating for lollies.'

Elka glided down towards the bonfire and landed gently in Bottle Tree Lane, next to the green and purple post office opposite the cathedral. Edwina and Gabriella quickly jumped off.

‘Thanks for the ride, Elka,' Edwina said as she walked across the street towards the cathedral. Elka whinnied and turned her head, and with a graceful movement of her wings, she was gone.

Edwina quickly started looking for the hose and found it at the back of the cathedral. She remembered seeing the gardener use it to water the beautiful rose bushes. She pulled the hose out as far as it would go while Gabriella turned on the tap. Edwina held the hose tightly in her hand as the water sprayed over the bonfire.

‘It's working. The fire is dying down,' said Edwina.

‘I want to go back to Stone Castle, Edwina. I don't like the darkness, and I'm getting scared.' Gabriella was starting to look very pale. ‘Let's walk across the street to the green and purple post office and we can stand under the lamppost and watch the fire go out.'

Gabriella looked across the street at the lamppost and thought she saw something unusual . ‘The lamppost is moving.'

‘Don't be silly. Put your glasses on.'

Gabriella put her glasses on and it did seem to help a little bit and together, hand in hand, they walked across the street. Edwina and Gabriella were standing under the lamppost when Peter Pickle and his pie-making machine started coming towards them.

‘Well, what do we have here? A skeleton and a witch standing under a lamppost. What a funny sight.' Peter Pickle began to laugh and laugh.

‘You look pretty funny yourself, dressed up as a werewolf wearing lace-up shoes and pushing a pie machine,' sniggered Gabriella.

Peter Pickle just kept on laughing.

‘Do you know who stole your meat pies?' said Edwina, trying to stop Peter Pickle from laughing.

‘No, it wasn't you two, was it? You both could do with a little bit of meat on your bones,' he replied.

‘Maybe it was the bat-like creatures with sharp fangs that everyone is talking about,' said Edwina.

‘I hope you don't believe that nonsense,' said Peter Pickle. ‘Flying bat-like creatures, taking over Rainbow City. That's nearly as bad as a skinny witch and a skeleton standing under a lamppost in front of a green and purple post office in the middle of the night, waiting for the mail!' laughed Peter Pickle as he headed off down the street.

Edwina and Gabriella could still hear Peter Pickle laughing as he turned the corner into Pie Alley and headed towards his bakery. Edwina looked at Gabriella dressed up in her skeleton costume standing as if waiting for the mail in the middle of the night and realised how funny they must have looked to Peter Pickle when suddenly, out of the darkness, the creatures came. First Edwina and Gabriella heard the sound of wings flapping, then came a horrible, stinky smell like rotten eggs followed by the dark shadows of the large creatures circling overhead. They were surrounded; there was no escape. Gabriella screamed and moved closer to Edwina.

One of the large creatures dropped down out of the darkness and spread his enormous, bat-like wings out in front of Edwina and Gabriella. His red eyes glowing in anger, he pointed his claw-like hands towards the girls. ‘You have destroyed my plan to burn Rainbow City to the ground. Nobody does this to Gorum and gets away with it. For this, you will both be turned into stone and placed in my stone museum.'

Suddenly Edwina remembered her vanishing potion. She gently placed her hand inside the hidden pocket of her cloak and slowly removed the cork, trying not to spill the potion. The creatures began to growl, and their shadows were moving closer. Edwina raised her hand in the air and sprinkled the potion all around. There was a puff of smoke and the creatures were gone.

Gabriella cuddled Edwina as she was still so frightened that she couldn't stop shaking. ‘It's all right, Gabriella, they've gone, but we must get back to the castle. I've a feeling that the Vanishing Potion will not last long. We need to find out about these creatures because when they return, we will not be safe.'

‘I told you to take the stories about the creatures seriously. I don't want to be turned into a stone statue,' said Gabriella as she sniffled, trying to hold back her tears.

Edwina whistled and Elka appeared from out of the dark sky. ‘Elka, take us home.'

The unicorn gently spread open her wings and flew Edwina and Gabriella back to Stone Castle.

‘Thanks for the ride, Elka!' Edwina stood waving as the unicorn flew off into the night.

‘Look, Edwina, some of the people are starting to leave. It must be very late.'

Just then, the grandfather clock chimed one. ‘I'm so tired, Edwina.'

‘No time to get tired on me now, Gabriella. We must find Aunt Ada and tell her what just happened.'

‘What's that noise, Edwina?'

‘It sounds like footsteps coming towards the door.'

‘I'm scared, Edwina. What if –'

The door opened and in walked Aunt Ada. The girls were so pleased at seeing her come through the door that they both ran towards her, nearly pushing her over.