Ava's Sparkling Spell
Page 4
“I went to look, and it’s disgusting. The floor’s all sticky, and they’ve got heaps of dirty plates, and there are beetles on the shelves.”
“YUCK!” Sophie made a face.
But Madison began to chuckle. “Brilliant!” she said. “Well done, Olivia! Go and get them, Ava. You’re much the best at the Copying Spell, and there’s no room in that café for all of us.”
“What?” I stared at her.
“Get the customers into the kitchen! Once they see what it’s like, they won’t care how many parties they’ve been promised. Trust me!” Madison’s eyes were gleaming behind her spectacles.
“You’re right,” Melody said. “Go on, Ava! You can do it!”
“I’ll come with you,” Jackson said, and she grinned at me. “You might knock something over.”
I smiled back. “You were really clever. Thank you. And, yes. Let’s do it together.”
“I’ll come too,” Emma said. “You might need back-up.”
We tapped our pendants so we were invisible again, and set off for the Crazy Cancan Café. The boys were leaning against the door, but we slid past without them noticing. A moment later we were back in the middle of all the mums and dads and grannies and babies, and squeezing between tables until we reached the kitchen door. Kyle and Sal were hurrying here and there, smiling their fake smiles and handing out their loyalty cards promising parties.
“How are we going to get people into the kitchen?” Jackson whispered.
“I don’t know,” I said, but at that moment a jug of orange skidded across a table and tipped straight into an old lady’s lap.
“Emma!” I thought. “That has to be Emma!”
“Oh! Oh! Oh!” The old lady was drenched. “Fetch me a cloth! I’m soaked!”
“Of course, darling – be with you in a sec!” Kyle gave her a cheery wave, and headed for the kitchen.
As soon as he reappeared with a handful of grubby tea towels, I pointed my star finger at the small boy nearest me. “Do the same,” I murmured under my breath. “PLEASE copy him!” And the boy stood up. He didn’t see the sparkles in the air above his head; he headed straight for the kitchen.
“Robbie! ROBBIE!” his mum yelled, but Robbie took no notice.
Robbie’s mum rushed after him … and her scream told me she was in the kitchen. Two of her friends hurried to see what was going on, and they screamed too.
“Ladies! Ladies!” Kyle was flapping his hands. “No one’s allowed in the kitchen!”
“It’s REVOLTING!” Robbie’s mum had reappeared, Robbie wriggling in her arms and clutching a tatty tea towel. “And to think we’ve been eating here, day after day! I’m never coming back. NEVER!”
“Nor me!” It was another woman. She looked round at the other customers who were frozen in their seats, open-mouthed. “This place is a HEALTH HAZARD! There are beetles on every single surface! I’m going to report it to the authorities right now.” And she stormed out, her face very red.
After that, it was complete madness. The adults in the café all fought their way into the kitchen, and they all came out looking furious. Some of them were clutching tea towels, and I guessed Jackson and Emma had been casting Copying Spells too.
Two minutes later, the Crazy Cancan Café was empty, apart from Kyle, Sal and the two boys. Kyle was sitting at a table, his head in his hands, and Sal was shouting at him.
“It’s time to go,” Jackson whispered in my ear.
I agreed with her. I don’t know what she did to Mick and his brother as we left, but they both let out a loud howl and began frantically rubbing their noses. I thought the café’s customers would be outside, but they weren’t. They were walking briskly down the road as if they knew exactly where they were going … and they did.
By the time Jackson and I reached Café Blush there wasn’t a seat left, not even at the table where Melody was sitting, totally visible and looking like a cat who’d swallowed the cream.
As we stared, Melody beamed at Little Val and ordered herself a huge slice of chocolate cake.
“It was Melody’s idea.” Madison was beside me. “She made herself visible and as she walked down here we put the Copying Spell on as many people as we could manage!”
“Genius,” I said, and I meant it. “Hey! Why don’t we go round the corner, make ourselves visible, then come back to celebrate? We could ALL have cake!”
“Hurrah!” Lily and Sophie banged me on the back and we scooted round the corner to where we’d left the Travelling Tower … and stopped dead.
The TT was hovering above the ground and Fairy Fifibelle Lee was inside chatting happily to Fairy Theodosia Placket. Even though we hadn’t tapped our pendants she could see us, and she waved.
“Darling girls! It’s time to go! Hop in – you’ve only got a few minutes left!” We must have looked as disappointed as we felt, because Fairy Fifibelle gave us a sympathetic smile. “I’m so sorry. Were you having a wonderful time?”
“We were going to have cake,” I said, and she laughed.
“I’m sure we can find some cake back at the Academy. Now, somebody’s missing. Where’s Melody?”
“I’ll fetch her,” I said, and before Fairy Fifibelle could stop me, I ran back round the corner. Melody was chatting to Little Val and Tallulah as she paid her bill.
“It’s a LOVELY café,” I heard her say. “My friend Ava told me it was brilliant, and she’s right.”
Little Val beamed at her. “You’re a friend of Ava’s? Our special girl? Will you be seeing her soon? I can’t wait to tell her how busy we are. We’ve been SO worried, but I really think we’re going to be fine.”
Melody grinned. “I’ll tell Ava. She’ll be thrilled.”
Chapter Eleven
Fairy Fifibelle Lee was right. When the TT whizzed us back to Stargirl Academy, we found that Fairy Mary had a wonderful meal ready for us, and we were allowed to eat it in the sitting-room in front of the fire. I saw that Theodosia Placket was back in her usual place; she gave me a tiny little wink as I walked past her.
“Well done, Stargirls,” Fairy Mary said. “You had a difficult day today, but you did well.” She looked at Melody and Jackson. “And I believe that you two have learnt a lesson.”
Melody nodded, but Jackson sighed. “I can be pretty horrible sometimes,” she said. “I don’t really mean it, though. It just seems to happen.” Olivia was sitting next to her and Jackson gave her hand a squeeze. “Sorry for giving you a hard time.”
“Well said, Jackson!” I’d never seen Miss Scritch looking so pleased. “It’s very important to remember that some of us don’t find it easy to be cheery and friendly all the time. We’re all made in different ways.”
“Quite right!” The voice echoed from across the room.
“Thank you, Theodosia dear.” Fairy Mary stood up and shook the crumbs off her skirt. Scrabster wagged his tail. “But now, my wonderful Stargirls, it’s time for you to go home. Ava, my dear, you can go through the Academy’s front door – and here’s something for you.”
I took the piece of paper and looked at it. It was the recipe for the lovely coffee cake.
“Thank you!” I said. “Thank you so very much!”
I hugged all my friends, then walked to the door. As I opened it, I was caught up in a swirl of thick mist … but I knew what to do. I took a deep breath, walked forward … and found myself on the stairs outside my flat.
At once, I thought of Little Val and Tallulah Sweet. What were they doing? Had we really sorted out their problems for them?
I jumped down the last few steps and hurtled out of the street door. Into Café Blush I dashed – and it was full! Absolutely stuffed! And Little Val came running to give me a huge hug.
“Guess what?” she said. “That place up the road is going to be closed down. I’ve just heard. Health and safety!”
“Hurrah!” I said. “That’s absolutely WONDERFUL news!”
Little Val nodded. “Isn’t it?” And then she saw my penda
nt. In my hurry, I’d forgotten to hide it under my T-shirt. “That is SO pretty, Ava. Come and look, Tallulah!”
Tallulah came over to see. “That’s BEAUTIFUL! Four of those lovely little stars look exactly as if they’re lit up from the inside!”
“Four?” I said, and I had a look myself. “Oh … oh, yes. So they are!” And I gave Little Val and Tallulah the biggest hug ever. I was SO happy for them – and I was happy for me too.
Four stars shining. Only two to go and then … THEN I’d be a Stargirl!
A message from Emma
Did you like reading about Ava’s friends? It was a totally brilliant adventure – I had SUCH a good time. But do please please PLEASE read my story! It’s about my new neighbours, and how everything nearly went terribly TERRIBLY wrong. I was SO worried! All I was trying to do was help, but sometimes helping isn’t enough. You need glittering magic too!
Love from your friend,
Emma xx
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, used fictitiously. All statements, activities, stunts, descriptions, information and material of any other kind contained herein are included for entertainment purposes only and should not be relied on for accuracy or replicated as they may result in injury.
First published 2013 by Walker Books Ltd
87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ
Text © 2013 Vivian French
Illustrations © 2013 Jo Anne Davies
The right of Vivian French and Jo Anne Davies to be identified as author and illustrator respectively of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data: a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-4063-5370-9 (ePub)
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