'Whatever,' Stef rolled her eyes.
'The toad can't be far away,' Charlotte smiled, as she waded her way through the grass.
SNAP. A red and green plant opened up its petals to reveal a mouth full of diamond shaped teeth.
'Ouch,' Stef hopped on the spot.
'What? Did you stand on a twig,' Margaret mocked.
'No, actually. Something just bit me.'
'What if there's snakes in this grass?' Alice hopped from one leg to the other.
'Snakes don't have teeth,' Demi laughed.
'Er, yeah they do,' Stef rolled her eyes. 'My brother has a pet snake called Sid and he bit me once.'
'Ow,' Charlotte jumped and the other girls stared at her. 'The plant, it was the plant!' she pointed at the red and green plant that had just appeared above the grass.
'Plants don't bite people, next you'll be saying that the grass is haunted,' Margaret taunted.
One of the plants twisted itself around Margaret's leg and pulled her over.
'What the-' Margaret blurted out, as she tumbled onto her knees into the grass. 'Get me out of here,' she flailed out at the plant.
Stef rolled her eyes before she grabbed Margaret's arm and tried to pull her up. Another plant appeared and bit Stef’s leg.
'Ouch!' She kicked at it, accidentally striking Margaret instead.
Margaret scowled as she pulled Stef down into the grass and another plant immediately began to twist itself around Stef's arm.
'Girls, a spell would be good about now,' Stef shouted, as she wrestled with the vicious plant.
Demi had flown up to a tree branch to get away from the plants and Alice was still hopping about. Charlotte knew that it was down to her to think of a spell and fast.
'Arescet,' she pointed her wand at the plant attacking Stef, it immediately shrunk in size until it had withered away.
'Arescet,' Charlotte aimed her wand at the plant twirled around Margaret's leg.
She flicked her wand towards the other plants that were close to her.
'Thanks,' Stef said, as she stood-up and brushed down her skirt.
'You could have thought of a more effective spell,' Margaret moaned.
'You should have left her with the biting plant,' Stef whispered to Charlotte.
'Stop messing about and get a move on,' Margaret huffed, before she trudged her way through the grass.
The rest of the girls followed her until they came to a large tree. It was three times the size of any of the other trees and its leaves were autumn shades of oranges and browns, even though it wasn't this season.
They were about to walk past it when a mouth and two hollow eyes appeared on its trunk and it boomed at them.
'HALT!'
'W-what-' Stef wobbled on her feet, before she stared at the tree's face in surprise.
Margaret ignored the tree and carried on walking, suddenly one of the oak trees branches swung down and brushed her backwards.
'I said HALT!'
Margaret scowled as she got back up onto her feet and shook out her cardigan.
'Erm, excuse me sir. But we really need to get past you,' Charlotte said politely.
'HALT! HALT! HALT!' it swung its branches and vines out at them.
They all jumped and dodged the vines before they walked out of its reach and huddled together.
'Can't we go another way?' Alice asked.
'No, this is clearly a test, one which we need to pass,' Charlotte said.
'And how exactly do you suppose we do that?' Margaret said snidely.
'A spell?' Charlotte suggested.
'Nah, the tree is too powerful,' replied Stef.
'We could wait until it falls asleep?' Alice said.
'That could take all day,' Demi sniggered.
'How about a distraction?' Charlotte suggested.
'What kind of distraction?' Stef asked.
'Okay, so I reckon we should sneak up on the tree, then jump onto our brooms and zoom past it as quickly as we can.'
'I like it, I'm going with Charlotte's plan,' Stef said.
'Me too, although I still think my plan is better,' Alice said.
'Fine, but Charlotte can fly first,' Margaret huffed.
They all got down onto the ground and crawled through the grass towards the sides of the tree, their brooms clutched tightly in their hands. Charlotte and Stef were on one side and Alice, Margaret and Demi were on the other.
Charlotte peered over at the tree, it was humming to itself and hadn't noticed them.
'Volvebatur,' Charlotte whispered, as she flicked out her wand.
On the other side of the tree Margaret's wand vibrated.
'Go,' she poked Alice.
Immediately Charlotte and Alice zoomed out of the grass and past the tree, quickly followed by the rest of the girls.
'HALT!!!' the tree boomed, as it flailed out its vines and branches. 'HALT...you no-good trespassers.'
Charlotte and Alice cleared the tree before it could reach them, Stef managed to dodge a branch and Demi avoided the vine that tried to grab her. Margaret, who was at the back of the group managed to duck out of the way of a branch, but she didn't notice as a vine wrapped its way around the end of her broomstick and yanked on it, pulling her back. Margaret clung onto her broomstick as another branch smacked down onto the end of it, snapping it off.
Margaret let out a shriek as she fell down into the grass, her broken broomstick landing next to her.
Charlotte shook her head before she flew back towards the tree and landed next to Margaret.
'Get on.'
Margaret took one last solemn look down at her broomstick before she got onto the back of Charlotte's broomstick and reluctantly held onto her waist.
'HALT!!!!!'
Charlotte ignored the trees demands and threaded her way to the side as a branch thrashed towards them. They both ducked their heads as a vine swung at them and she threaded her way through the rest of the flailing branches and vines that were trying to stop them.
With the tree cleared they landed next to the others.
'Well done Charlotte!' Stef said, as she patted her on the shoulder.
'That was some skilled flying,' Demi said.
'You were okay, I guess,' Alice smiled.
'Thanks,' Charlotte blushed.
'I am now covered in dried bat poo and your flying was dreadful,' Margaret scowled.
'You should have left her there,' Stef said to Charlotte, giving Margaret a filthy look.
'I heard that,' Margaret replied.
'You were meant to! Charlotte saved you and you couldn't even say thank you.'
'It was her stupid idea in the first place.'
'The rest of us managed to fly past, except for you.'
'I flew last,' she snapped.
'Come on guys, we have a toad to find,' Charlotte said, as she gently pulled on Stef's arm.
'Fine, but I think she's rude,' Stef stared at Margaret.
'It's better than being you,' Margaret smirked.
'Just ignore her,' Charlotte whispered to Stef and she reluctantly nodded her head.
They all walked on in silence, the trees had thinned out and the path was now coated in dry mud with varying sized stones and twigs.
A large red and white spotted mushroom with a white stork came into view. On top of it, Charlotte noticed a giant toad, it was the size of a domestic cat.
The girls nudged each other and pointed over at the toad, before they cautiously walked towards it. The toad was dark green and bumpy and it had several warts on its body, including a particularly large white wart that was on its back.
On seeing the wart Alice gagged and immediately turned around and walked away from the toad.
'Amateur,' Stef tutted.
Charlotte took another step towards the toad.
'Ahem,' she coughed out.
'Yes?' the toad turned its head to look at her.
'Hello Mr Toad, sir?' Charlotte muttered. 'I erm, well we were just wondering if we
could, well, milk your wart.'
'I don't like my warts being milked as it hurts,' the toad sighed.
'Oh, okay, we'd be as quick as possible and we erm, we could entertain you whilst we did it.'
'Yes, I suppose that will be okay,' the toad replied.
Charlotte and Stef walked over to the white wart and signaled for Margaret and Demi to entertain the toad.
'I could sing I guess,' Demi said, as she coughed to clear her throat.
'I've tried playing it cool
but when I'm looking at you
I can't ever be brave
cause you make my heart race.
Shot me out of the sky
you're my kryptonite
you keep making me weak
yeah, frozen and can't breathe.'
The toad nodded its head along to Demi singing, but this made it extra difficult for Charlotte and Stef to milk the wart into the vial. Some of the white liquid dribbled down onto Stef's arm and she let out a shriek in alarm.
'Enough,' Margaret pushed Demi out of the way.
She pulled out her wand and swirled it around her, bright lights sparked out of it and danced in the air. The toad stared at them memorized.
Charlotte pressed on the wart and held her breath as a horrible smell surrounded her.
'Got it,' Stef said, as she placed the cork into the vial.
Margaret put her wand away and grabbed the vial, placing it into her satchel before she walked off.
'Thank you,' Charlotte smiled at the toad.
'Stop wasting time,' Margaret shouted over to her.
Charlotte walked over to the others and looked at Alice who had turned a pasty color and had both of her hands placed over her mouth.
'Alice, are you okay?' she asked.
Alice moved away her hands and retched behind a tree.
'She didn't even milk the thing,' Stef grunted.
'It was so disgusting,' Alice said, as she placed her hand back over her mouth.
'Let's get away from here and quickly,' Stef said.
They all walked away from the toad and further into the forest.
The air changed from cool to humid and the girls struggled forwards, the heat getting to them.
'It's...so...hot,' Demi took off her cardigan and tied it around her waist.
'Water...I need it now,' Alice said.
Stef flicked her wand in the air and muttered a spell. A bottle of water appeared in the air, she grabbed it and passed it to Alice.
'Pathetic,' Margaret scowled.
'We're all trying our best,' Charlotte snapped at her, before she wiped her sweaty forehead with the back of her sleeve, forgetting that there was dried bat poo on it.
'Great,' she muttered, when she saw her arm and realized what she'd done.
'Like I said, pathetic,' Margaret sniggered.
'Like you can talk, you're the one who ended up with a broken broom and had to be rescued by Charlotte,' Stef said.
'I'm the captain and I'm the best witch, you all know that you need me.'
'No, we wanted Gerty but we got stuck with you,' Stef snapped.
'Yawn!' Margaret patted her hand to her wide opened mouth. 'You're boring me now.'
'Guys, this isn't helping,' Charlotte commented.
'Yeah, we've still got one item left on the list. A monster's scarf,' Demi said.
'You mean the hairy monster's hat,' Margaret smirked at her.
'Yeah, that,' Demi blushed.
'Then let's go and find this monster, it’s got to be around here somewhere,' Charlotte said.
'Great, just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, now I'm expected to find a hairy monster. My parents will be horrified when they hear about this,' Alice moaned.
'Come on Alice,' Stef pulled on her arm.
'Miss Moffat should be ashamed, putting a group of first years into this stinky place.'
'No one forced you to be here,' Demi said.
'It obviously wasn't going to be easy, there's a trophy at stake,' Margaret said snidely.
'You need me, I'm the best witch in the Academy,' Alice said.
'I finished first,' Margaret snarled.
'Yes, well, we all know you cheated. I didn't cheat, so I'm the best witch.'
'Silentium,' Margaret flicked her wand out at Alice. She tried to say a reply but no words came out of her mouth.
'Ah, peace at last,' Margaret smirked and Stef couldn't help but laugh.
Alice continued to try to talk, growing more-and-more frustrated when the words wouldn't leave her mouth. She flailed her arms around and scowled over at Margaret.
'It's so hot,' Demi fanned her hand in front of her.
'The sooner we find the hairy monster and take his hat, the sooner we can get outta here,' Stef said.
They trudged on through the forest, the heat intensified and insects sang out around them.
'I hope the mosquitoes aren't coming back,' Demi scratched at her arm.
'Let's just keep on moving, the hairy monster has to be around here somewhere,' Charlotte said.
The chirping was soon drowned out by buzzing and the girls looked at each other with concern.
They quickened their pace and hurried around the trees and stepped over the tree roots.
'Buzz,' a mosquito landed on the tip of Demi's nose.
She immediately stopped moving and looked down on it.
'Buzz,' it said before it stung her nose and then flew off.
'Ouch!' she placed her hands over her nose, her eyes filling with tears.
Soon more mosquitoes appeared and landed on the girls.
'Run!' Charlotte shouted.
All of the girls moved forwards, flailing out their arms and letting out screams and shrieks (apart from Alice who still couldn't talk.) They kept on running but the mosquitoes didn't relent and kept on buzzing after them. One stung Charlotte's neck and another one stung her hand. She tried to shoo them away but it was no good, she needed to do something.
Charlotte chewed on the side of her lip as she tried to think up a spell, but she was struggling to come up with one. Instead she jumped onto her broom and decided that she would try and out-fly them instead. She weaved around the trees and went from high-to-low. The other girls saw her and all got onto their brooms, except for Margaret.
'Duratus,' Margaret flicked her wand and all the mosquitoes near her froze and floated mid-air.
'You need me,' she shouted to the others. 'I'm by far the best witch and you all know it!'
The others were too busy trying to escape the mosquitoes to hear her. Margaret crossed her arms and sighed before she trudged her way past the trees. When she reached the others, they were all slumped on the ground scratching their mosquito bites and looking fed-up.
'Finally, she arrives,' Stef rolled her eyes.
'I don't have a broom, remember,' Margaret scowled.
'Whatever.'
The mosquitoes had gone and the forest had fallen eerily silent. Demi was still clutching her nose as she followed the others through the forest. They were all scratching their mosquito bites (except for Margaret who didn't have any) and forcing themselves forwards. They felt like they'd been out here for hours. They were covered in bat poo, they'd been bitten, and harassed by unfriendly plants and a grumpy tree. They were hot and tired and all worried that the boys had beaten them.
Silent, too silent. A distant sound emerged, faint but there.
'What's that sound?' Charlotte whispered.
'I dunno but there's only one way to find out,' Stef said, as she gently pushed Charlotte forwards.
The more they walked the clearer the sound became.
'It's singing,' Demi said.
'It sounds awful,' Margaret said.
Charlotte rushed forwards and peered through a gap in the trees. She smiled when she saw a hairy figure dancing in a clearing happily singing. A crimson red top hat was on the figure’s head.
Books for Girls - WITCH SCHOOL - Books 2-6: Book 1 is FREE! Page 19
