'There would be glitter everywhere, imagine the mess,' Alice said.
'I like glitter,' Gerty said.
Charlotte tried to discreetly look down by the side of her bed and saw specks of silver and purple glitter. She got off her bed and knelt down by it, pulling the draw out as a distraction as she used a clean-up spell on the glitter. She tried not to look as it flew up into the air and was swept across Alice and Gerty's heads and into the trash can at the far side of their room.
'I think fairies are misunderstood, much like Tinkerbell was in Peter Pan. She shouldn't have betrayed Peter but she only did it because she was so afraid of losing him. Besides, she turned out good in the end.'
'I do believe in fairies,' Charlotte grinned.
'What on earth are you going on about?' Alice looked bewildered.
'You've NEVER heard of Peter Pan?' Gerty looked stunned.
'I grew up in the wizarding world, we are far too superior to delve into silly fairies.'
'It's a book and a film, oh and also I saw a stage play of it once.'
'Yeah, we performed it at school, I was one of the Lost Boys,' Charlotte said.
'You played a boy?' Alice looked horrified.
'There were more boy characters in it,' she said, remembering how she had secretly longed to be Wendy.
Gerty was still going on about fairies as Stef came out of the bathroom and Alice huffed at her as she hurried into it.
'What are you on about?' Stef glared at her.
'Tinkerbell,' she replied, before she cast a spell so that her bed made itself.
Zonta had said that fairies didn't lie and Gerty had said that they didn't lie either, so surely that meant that unless they'd been some sort of mix-up, then Charlotte could read minds.
'I believe that I can do this,' she thought to herself, before she looked over at Gerty and tried to dive into her mind.
'I stay out too late, got nothing in my brain. That's what people say, mmm-mmm. That's what people say, mmm-mmm,' Gerty sang.
Charlotte stared hard at Gerty, she was still singing but her mouth wasn't moving.
'Strange,' Charlotte thought as she rubbed her head.
The bathroom door swung open and Alice stepped into the room. Gerty smiled at her before she hurried into the bathroom.
'She could have asked me if I'd finished with the bathroom,' Alice moaned.
'What! like you asked me?' Stef snorted.
'It is absolutely ridiculous that we have to share a bathroom.'
'I'd like to flush her down the toilet,' Stef's words sounded in Charlotte's head. Charlotte looked over at Stef who was ignoring Alice as she lay out on her bed and fiddled with her wand.
'Did you say something Stef?' Charlotte asked.
'Huh?' Stef replied.
'Sorry, it's just I thought I heard you say something,' her words trailed off.
'Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake. I shake it off, I shake it off,' Gerty sang as she came out of the bathroom, only she wasn't singing out loud, instead she was singing in her head.
'I can do it,' Charlotte said louder than she intended to.
'What can you do?' Stef asked.
'Oh, nothing,' Charlotte blushed.
'I hope Charlotte's okay, she's acting odd,' Stef thought.
She could really do it, Zonta had been right, she could read minds. She felt as though she'd suddenly developed a superpower and she imagined herself in a shiny pink leotard with a sparkly mask on.
'Super Charlotte,' she said to herself, as she shook her head. 'No, it can't have my name in it as everyone would know it's me. Erm, how about Mind Girl?' she thought.
She shook her head as she chuckled and Stef glanced over at her.
'Thought Thrower,' she smiled as she said it to herself.
Charlotte looked over at Gerty who was standing in front of the mirror.
'Will my chest ever grow or will I be totally flat-chested forever?' Gerty thought.
Charlotte looked away from Gerty but still, Gerty's thoughts continued in her head.
'I hope it does grow else I'll look like a little kid forever. It's hard enough being the youngest here.'
There was a part of Charlotte that wanted to go over to Gerty, tell her she looked great just the way she was, and to give her a huge hug. She didn't do this though, because she didn't want Gerty to know that she could read minds. The last thing she wanted was for her friends to be wary around her, so she knew that she needed to keep her mind reading skill to herself.
They left their room and headed to breakfast, passing Molly in the corridor.
'He is so gorgeous, I wish I could spend the day with him instead of looking after these little snot noses,' Molly thought, as she smiled at Charlotte.
Charlotte smiled back, although she wasn't impressed at being called a snot nose.
'I wish I looked like Molly,' Gerty thought.
'I wonder if Molly would swap rooms with me for a week if I let her borrow my designer shoes?' Alice thought.
'I hope Margaret's not sitting at our breakfast table, I'm not in the mood to act nice around that cow,' Stef thought.
As these thoughts popped into her head Charlotte found herself looking from one girl to the next. As they walked down the stairs and passed more people, more and more thoughts filled her head.
'If she says one more horrible thing to me today I will turn her as red as a beetroot,' a fourth-year girl thought.
'I shouldn't have stayed up so late studying,' a second-year girl thought, as she yawned.
'Hi girls,' Miss Scarlett said, as she passed them as she walked into the great hall. 'Only five-weeks, three-days and two-hours until the holidays,' she thought.
Demi and Destiny walked alongside them and they exchanged acknowledging waves and hi's.
'They are so lucky that they don't have to share a room with Margaret. I would rather put up with Alice than her. She's so controlling, just when I'm getting in with the good kids she turns up to ruin my life,' Demi thought.
'They should have put me in with the second-year girls. I look as old as they do, I'm sick of being in the baby class, although at least I have Demi around, so this place doesn't totally suck,' Destiny thought.
Charlotte was enjoying spying on people's thoughts, she saw it as harmless fun and she was developing her new found skill at the same time. At least that was until she walked into the main hall and her head was instantly overwhelmed with hundreds of thoughts.
She put her hands over her ears and stopped herself from screaming. It was too much and she didn't know how to stop them.
'Charlotte, are you okay?' Gerty asked her but Charlotte didn't hear her over all of the thoughts.
She sat down at their breakfast table and closed her eyes tightly, telling herself to block out all thoughts but her own. When this didn't work she began to count back from ten in her head and by the time she'd got to one all other thoughts had gone. She let out a sigh of relief before she took a sip of her grapefruit juice.
'Are you okay?' Gerty gave her a concerned look.
Charlotte took a moment to work out if Gerty had just thought this or said it out loud.
'Yes thanks Gerty, I think I just need to eat something,' she took a syrup covered pancake off the large plateful that was placed in the middle of the table and placed it onto her plate.
'They look good,' Gerty looked at the pancakes.
'They aren't as good as the ones made for me at home,' Alice said, before she ate a forkful of her third pancake.
Stef rolled her eyes as she grinned at Charlotte and Gerty.
'My friends really are the best,' Charlotte thought.
She was glad that she had managed to block out the thoughts of her school mates and that the inside of her head was for now just her own.
Chapter Five
The Mistress of Spells was sitting with her huge spell book opened in front of her, her hair was down and she had a beautiful pearl headband holding her gorgeous hair away fr
om her face. She wore a beautiful gold silk dress and her make-up was exquisite.
All of the girls stared at her transfixed, as they waited for her to break the silence.
The Mistress of Spells hummed to herself as she inspected the shelves crammed full of ingredients beside her. 'I must order some more sandalwood,' she said under her breath, before she turned around to face the class.
'Hello girls,' she smiled. 'Decisions, decisions. What spell do you think we should learn today?'
None of the girls said anything, as they all recalled the last time they'd chosen a spell and had ended up looking like nine-year-olds.
'Come on girls, surely you can come up with something?'
'It's not a spell as such but Miss Scarlet has told us a little about the Book of Dragons and we'd love for you to tell us more about it?' Destiny asked.
An awkward silence fell upon the room as the girls looked from Destiny to the Mistress of the Spells.
'We talked about it all the time back at my old school,' Destiny continued.
'Very well,' The Mistress of the Spells sighed. 'I suppose that it is only natural to be curious about this and if I keep it from you, your curiosity will only increase. It's a dangerous book and in the wrong hands the results could be catastrophic. I shall tell you about it, so that your curiosity is put at bay and so that you understand the perils that this book brings. It is not something to discuss frivolously so after this I don't want to hear it mentioned again.'
The girls nodded, as they tried to hide their excitement.
'I want you to take your mind back hundreds of years. The word was a different place then, fear and violence ruled and the weak were oppressed. A powerful witch named Dabria ruled over the magical world, she ruled heartlessly, using dragons to impose her will over all witches and wizards. Those who dared to oppose her were killed by the dragons, who served her loyally, all of them obedient to her will.
'Where did the dragons come from?' Victoria asked.
The Mistress of the Spells glared sternly in her direction before she continued with her story.
'A thousand years ago there was a tribe called the Izu who lived in the harsh Arabian desert. The legend was that the dragons came from a different world, one many realms away from the one we live in.
One day when the leader of the tribe was out hunting he found a nest of eggs in a cave. Intrigued by them he took as many as he could carry back to his tent. That night he ate one of the eggs and instantly began to change, his skin cracked and grew as hard as leather. His tail bone lengthened and formed into a thick tail, his toes webbed and long teeth protruded from his mouth. So it is told that he grew so large that he ripped his tent apart. He wasn't human any more, instead he had turned into a dragon.
He was terrified at first but relieved to still be alive. He was consumed by confusion and anxiety, yet above all else he felt the overwhelming desire to fly and so he lifted out his arms. The skin had grown from his ribs out to the arms, forming wings. At first he was unsure and unstable, finding it difficult to control his body. After an hour he felt comfortable and even enjoyed the freedom of flying. He flew over to the cliffs above the oasis where his tribe slept peacefully.
He sat there for hours, wondering how his family would react to him. Would they realize who he was or would they attack him in fear? He flew down and sat near the camp-fire waiting for them to awaken. Just as the sun began to rise above the horizon he felt himself softening and changing. He stood by the firelight and watched himself change back into a human.'
'Did he change into a dragon again?' Gerty asked.
'Yes, every night when the sun went down and darkness descended. When the sun rose the following morning he returned to his human form. He did not tell his family about this and protected the other eggs that he's taken, hiding them in a small cave high on the cliff face above the oasis.
After many moons had passed, the eggs began to hatch. Four tiny dragons clawed their way out of the eggshell and looked to him as their parent. He fed them, nurturing them as if they were his own blood and giving them as much comfort and love as he could muster. Over the following months he trained them to follow his instructions.
When he felt the time was right he gathered his people, telling them that he had something magical to show them. As the sun set they watched as his body transformed into that of a dragon. His tribe gasped in horror and fell to the ground begging for mercy, afraid that he would kill them. He explained to them what had happened and reassured them that they had nothing to fear. His oldest and dearest friend was the first to rise and walk towards the dragon man. Touching his leather skin, he lowered his head and pledged that he would continue to love him like a brother no matter what. They hugged and slowly other members of his family and tribe came to inspect and touch him.
Knowing that this was a shock to his tribe he kept the other dragons a secret for a few more nights before he announced to his tribe that he had more news and then he introduced the four dragons to them. They were still only small and very obedient and at first the people were fearful, but as their fear lessened, they rejoiced in the honor that had been cast upon their tribe. The people worshipped them and showed them only kindness and love. The dragons were only ever used for good.
The dragon man wrote down all the secrets on how to control the dragons in an old leather book. He called it the Book of Dragons, recording in it the secrets of the dragons forever-more. When he eventually died the dragons disappeared and the book was buried with the dragon man's body in a cave. Eventually the stories of the dragons died off and were no longer passed down from father to son. The legend of the dragons was lost for centuries.
This all changed when a witch called Olga the Dark found the Book of Dragons. She summoned the dragons and now loyal to her they obeyed her every command. These were dark, dark times, ones which are best left in the past,' the sadness was evident in her voice, as she wiped away the tears that trickled down her cheeks.
'Eventually she was defeated by the White Witch, Gwenyth. The dragons were encapsulated within the Book of Dragons and it was sealed with a powerful spell.
To keep the book safe, it was entrusted to two wise and good hearted witches.'
'Why did they tell two witches?' Victoria asked.
'In case one died, as they didn't want the secret to be lost.'
'Do you know the witches who were told the secret?' Demi asked.
'Yes, it was Miss Moffat and myself.'
On hearing this the girls gasped, shocked at how powerful their teachers were.
Charlotte took in the Mistress of Spell's youthful complexion and had to remind herself that her appearance didn't reflect her real age. Charlotte had no idea how old she really was and what horrors she'd seen. The magical world was a fascinating and welcoming place but it sounded as though it hadn't always been this way.
'It is important for you ALL to remember just how dangerous the Book of Dragons is. The pain that it can unleash is more than you could ever imagine, so it is of the utmost importance that its secrets are never unleashed again. Now, enough about this, it's time to commence the lesson and practice spells.'
No more about the Book of Dragons was mentioned during the lesson, although it remained on everyone's minds.
Charlotte chose to block everyone's thoughts out and focus on the floating spell they were doing. She decided that she would have plenty of time to listen in on people's thoughts after the lesson but during them she needed to be distraction free. She really wanted to become as skilled at magic as Margaret was and that would take a lot of time, concentration and effort.
The class came to an end and the Mistress of Spells dismissed the class in her usual positive tone. There was no mention of the Book of Dragons but Charlotte doubted that her classmates would have stopped thinking about it.
Charlotte trailed behind Gerty, Stef and Alice as they left the classroom.
'One day I will be the owner of that book,' Destiny said smugly, as she walked alon
g the corridor with Demi and Melody.
Melody gave her an uneasy look and Demi couldn't hide her shock.
'It's going to happen but don't worry, I may let you borrow a dragon for errands, seeing as you're my best friend,' Destiny grinned.
'Gee, thanks,' Demi rolled her eyes.
Margaret appeared up the corridor and shoved past Melody so that she could stand next to Demi.
'Hi Demi, that was an interesting lesson wasn't it?' she said cheerily.
Books for Girls - WITCH SCHOOL - Books 2-6: Book 1 is FREE! Page 14
