The Worst Witch All at Sea (8 page)

‘I’m sorry, Miss Hardbroom,’ Mildred’s voice called apologetically from the middle of the bushes. ‘There’s so much on the back of my broom, I think I must have put too much into my suitcase. At least Tab… Ebony’s stopped making such a noise. He looks much better now, what I can see of him in the gloom. I seem to be a bit stuck.’

‘Shall I go and help her, Miss Hard-broom?’ asked Maud.

‘No, Maud,’ said Miss Hardbroom wearily. She turned in the direction of Mildred’s bush. ‘Just stay where you are, Mildred. I think the sight of you would put me off my breakfast at this moment. We’ll pull you out when we set off again.’

Mildred breathed a sigh of relief as she wedged herself into the branches of a rather prickly bush and rummaged in her suitcase for her package of sandwiches.

‘It worked, Tab!’ she whispered. ‘They’ve forgotten about you. Now
please
calm down for the rest of the journey. I might break my neck if I have to make myself crash a second time! Look, Tab, they’re tuna sandwiches, you can have some if you like. I don’t think you’ll be too keen on apple juice though.’

For a while there was no sound except the birds singing and the rustling of paper bags as the girls demolished their food. Somehow, whenever Miss Hardbroom was present, no one ever dared to speak, although they were allowed to chat during meal times provided the noise didn’t get too loud.

‘Ethel,’ said Miss Hardbroom, as they tidied away the breakfast things, ‘would you kindly assist Mildred in her plight among the bushes so that we may continue on our journey?’

Ethel bustled about self-importantly, attaching a rope to the back of her broomstick. Then she took off on the broom with a lasso of rope over her arm, rather like a cowboy, and called to Mildred to get ready.

Mildred arranged her suitcase and cat-basket over the back of the broom and caught the rope, while Ethel

hovered overhead. In fact, Ethel dropped the rope on to Mildred’s head so abruptly that it nearly knocked her out.

‘Whoops!’ said Ethel. ‘Silly me! Are you ready, Mildred? One, two, three, UP!’ And she sped off at forty miles per hour, while Mildred, plus broom and baggage, was jerked into the air flat out at the end of the rope, hanging on for dear life.

‘Thank you, Ethel!’ called Miss Cackle, who was watching with Miss Hardbroom. ‘That will do, dear. Mildred is well clear of the bushes now.’

Fortunately, Tabby seemed less hysterical for the second half of the journey. Perhaps he was exhausted, because he curled up in the gloomy basket and fell fast asleep, even though the wind whistled through the wickerwork and blew his fur the wrong way round.

ildred sat hunched on her broomstick feeling tired and anxious. She was beginning to feel that the Operation Rescue-Tabby plan had been a mistake. Even if no one noticed that firstly Tabby was missing from the kitchen and secondly Ebony had resumed residence, she wouldn’t ever be able to let Tabby out at Gloom Castle or everyone would know. Perhaps she could just keep him in her room and only let him out at night when everyone was in bed, or if they had to share a room she could choose Maud and then let her in on the secret.

‘There it is, girls!’ Miss Cackle called out so suddenly that everyone jumped. ‘There’s the coast, and there’s Gloom Castle. What a spectacular sight!’

The coastline was indeed a spectacular sight, though not exactly what the pupils of Form Two had hoped for.

For a start, the sun had disappeared

behind ink-black clouds and it was just beginning to rain. Then there was the coastline itself, which consisted of mile after mile of amazingly high and rugged cliffs meeting an angry-looking navy-blue sea amid a mass of jagged rocks and shadowy coves. The waves smashed against the cliffs, sending up clouds of spray so high that the convoy of pupils and teachers could taste the salt in the air.

‘Look, Mildred,’ said Maud, pointing to the castle, which was the only habitation in sight as far as they could see.

Gloom Castle looked even more forbidding than Miss Cackle’s Academy. Delicate scarves of mist and sea-spray hung around its battlements. The windows were slit windows, like the Academy, but larger so that more wind could howl up and down the corridors, and seagulls perched screeching on every roof-top and window-ledge.

What seemed like several miles below was Grim Cove, with a tiny shingle and stone beach, a rather sinister-looking cave, a small boat at anchor and a large rock shaped like a cat’s head about half a mile out to sea. There were hundreds of tiny steps cut into the cliff-face leading down from the castle to the bay.

Mildred shuddered. ‘No wonder they call it Grim Cove!’ she muttered, as a squall of rain hit them like a water-cannon.

‘Begin the descent, girls!’ Miss Hard-broom’s military voice whipped along the wind. ‘Head for the inner courtyard.’

The descent was more difficult than normal, for various reasons. First of all it was difficult to see where they were going, with their cloaks tying themselves in knots and the blinding rain and wind in their faces, and secondly they did not know the layout of the castle and were attempting to land in a small enclosed courtyard inside the battlements.

To do this, they had to hover like helicopters and inch their way downward. Even Ethel found it heavy going, but eventually they all arrived in the rain-lashed courtyard, soaked to the skin and frozen stiff. Fortunately for Mildred nearly all the cats were yowling and screaming with rage, as the rain had driven in through their baskets and drenched them. No one gave Tabby a second thought.

The girls lined up in their usual rows trying to look as neat as possible under the circumstances, while Miss Hardbroom smoothed her hair and robes and Miss Cackle adjusted her hat.

Without any warning, the two carved wooden doors leading into the

yard burst open, and there was Mr Rowan-Webb standing at the top of the stone stairs smiling at them.

‘Welcome! Welcome!’ he said, waving a hand into the dark corridor behind him. ‘What a foul day to make such a journey. Come in at once and get yourselves warm.’

He looked a lot better than when they had last seen him, which was at Hallowe’en, when Mildred had presented him to the Chief Magician, Mr Hellibore, and he had been changed from a frog to a human again. Then, his clothes were in rags, but now they were magnificent – a fine shade of emerald green with a bottle-green cloak and pointed hat. The cloak was beautifully embroidered all over with rainbow-coloured stars and moons.