A glass of water appeared in the air and Margaret used her wand to make it float over to Charlotte.
‘Thanks,’ she reached for it and took a sip.
‘Anytime.’
Charlotte carried on walking and again Margaret remained right by her side.
An hour of searching passed and there was no sign of Molly. Some bats flew towards them and circled around their heads.
‘End of search. End of search. Return to the great hall. Return to the great hall,’ they squeaked, before they flew off.
‘Finally,’ Stef sighed.
She wasted no time in hopping onto her broom and flying off towards the Academy. The rest of the girls got onto their brooms and zoomed after her.
They all walked into the great hall to find that the tables were laid out ready for breakfast. They sat down at their usual table and Margaret sat down next to Charlotte.
Miss Moffat was already standing on the stage and she had a forced smile on her face.
When all of the students had returned from their search and sat down, she coughed to clear her voice before she addressed the crowd.
‘Thank you all for your assistance. I have some great news, Molly has been found safe. It turns out that she was feeling ill so she fell asleep on a sofa in the playroom. Molly has been working extremely hard of late with her head girl duties, so I’ve given her some time off school so that she can recuperate fully.
I apologize for the interruption to your sleep and sincerely thank you all for your help. Now, let’s have breakfast.’
Miss Moffat clapped her hands and large towers of pancakes covered in toppings of treacle, syrup and honey fell from the sky and landed with a thud onto large plates in the middle of the long tables.
Stef leaned over and shoveled half-a-dozen pancakes onto her plate.
‘So undignified,’ Alice scoffed.
She took her fork and stabbed it into one pancake and placed it on her plate before she began to cut it up into little pieces.
‘Whatever,’ Stef said, her mouth full of food.
‘I’m glad Molly’s safe,’ Gerty smiled.
‘Yes, it’s great news, isn’t it Charlotte?’ Margaret smirked.
‘Yeah, great,’ she forced a smile.
Charlotte looked up at the stage where a concerned looking Miss Moffat was deep in conversation with the Mistress of Spells. None of this made sense, something was up.
She continued to study Miss Moffat as she walked away from her teaching colleague. Charlotte focused on her and tried to block everyone else out. It wasn’t working, an aura was blocking her from reading Miss Moffat’s mind.
‘Come on Charlotte, focus,’ she told herself.
She blocked out the sounds of cutlery scraping on plates, of muffled words and echoed laughs. She only cared about Miss Moffat’s thoughts, nothing else was relevant.
There was a popping sound in her head, one that almost caused her to lose her focus but she managed to hold onto it.
‘Where is that girl? And what has she done with that dragon?’ Miss Moffat’s thoughts were frantic.
Charlotte smiled, she'd done it, she'd read Miss Moffat's mind. Then her smile faded on the realization that Molly hadn't been found at all. She was still out there somewhere with Flame.
Just then Miss Moffat turned her head and her eyes locked on Charlotte. Charlotte quickly broke away from her mind reading and grabbed a pancake. Still, Miss Moffat kept her gaze on Charlotte, she slanted her head, her gaze not faltering.
Charlotte felt her heart thudding in her chest. She knew that she needed to act normal if she was to rid herself of Miss Moffat’s attention.
‘I wonder what we’ll be doing in our spells lesson?’ Charlotte asked Gerty.
‘I hope it’s something easy,’ Gerty placed her hand over her mouth as she yawned. ‘I’m more tired than a sloth.’
‘I’m not partnering up with you then. I don’t want to end up bright blue,’ she giggled.
‘I think you’d look good as a smurf,’ Gerty smiled.
‘I used to love watching the cartoons as a kid, I always wanted to be Smurfette.’
‘I wanted to be Brainy Smurf because he came up with the best plans. Although they needed a magical smurf, one that could turn Gargamel into a pumpkin when he tried to kidnap them.’
Charlotte nodded in agreement before she glanced a quick look back at the stage. Miss Moffat had gone.
Chapter Seven
For the rest of the year, Miss Moffat's Academy carried on as normal…well, almost. Sonya and Silvia took over as joint head girls.
It was just meant to be temporary while Molly was away, but it was almost the end of the academic year and she still hadn't returned to the Academy.
Talk of Molly grew more seldom as the year went on until she was barely mentioned at all. Charlotte was always thinking about her though. She had checked Flame's house the night after the search but neither Flame nor Molly were there. She'd waited around for a bit to see if Ethan would turn up but he never did.
She kept on flying back to the woodland area each night. She sat there in silence and read her book or did her homework. She was hoping to catch Ethan on his rounds, or even to be there if Molly decided to return.
One night in the second week of her flying out there, Ethan appeared. He told her about the night that Molly had left and how he’d tried to stop her. After that, Charlotte visited the house less-and-less until she only checked on it fleetingly.
Sometimes, for a moment, Charlotte forgot that Molly had gone and found herself walking towards her room. When the realization hit her that Molly wasn’t there, she always stopped abruptly, gave a solemn sigh and then walked back the other way.
Molly and Flame had gone and she knew that she had to accept this…for now.
***
The last few weeks of the school year arrived and this meant one thing - exams!
Gerty had studied hard and had put notes everywhere. They were stuck to the back of the door, on the ceiling above her bed, and even on the walls in the bathroom. Stef and Charlotte found the notes useful but Alice grumbled that they weren't any good and that they were causing her to muddle up her own facts.
However, when Alice thought that no one was looking she read the notes on the back of the door. Charlotte saw her and smirked to herself.
To Charlotte, it seemed that nothing had changed, yet at the same time, everything was different.
***
Exams were finished. There was only one week left of term and Miss Moffat had summoned them to the great hall.
The students seemed in good spirits as they walked up the corridors. Even Mr. Bumble was humming to himself as he polished a smiling statue.
‘Alice, this is the second time I’ve told you that you can’t wear those shoes during school time.’ Sonya had an annoyed look on her face as she pointed at Alice’s sparkly red shoes.
‘These are my lucky shoes. I can’t possibly be expected to wear my dull shoes all the time.’
‘Not all the time, just in school times. Go and change them before I turn them into skunks.’
‘If you do any such thing I will be notifying my parents and Miss Moffat.’
‘Alice. Now!’ Sonya pointed towards the stairs.
Alice grumbled before she trudged her way up the stairs and towards her room.
Charlotte, Gerty and Stef exchanged looks with each other before they carried on walking towards the great hall.
‘We can save Alice a seat,’ Gerty smiled.
‘Can’t we just say that there weren’t any,’ Stef smirked.
‘Stef, be nice,’ Gerty couldn’t hide her smile.
‘I’m always nice.’
‘Come on guys, before Sonya catches us dawdling and turns us into frogs or something,’ Charlotte said.
‘Bring back Molly,’ Stef said.
Charlotte’s expression dropped and she glared at the floor. She quickly composed herself and looked up as she walked into the grea
t hall.
As they sat down Charlotte noticed that Margaret was sitting on the row in front of them next to Melody and Cindy. She was reading a book which she immediately closed just before Miss Moffat flew into the room.
Charlotte looked away from her but remained skeptical. Margaret hadn't caused her any trouble recently, but still, she knew about Flame and that didn't sit easily with Charlotte.
Miss Moffat flew up onto the stage and stepped off her broom. She wore a black-stoned tiara on top of her completely straight, long black hair.
Charlotte found herself feeling anxious. Was this meeting about Molly? Had she been found? And Flame, was he safe or had he been put back into The Book of Dragons?’
‘Welcome everyone,’ Miss Moffat smiled.
Alice barged into the room and everyone turned to stare at her. She opened her mouth to say something but seeing that Miss Moffat was glaring at her she quickly rushed over to Charlotte and sat down next to her.
‘Stupid Sonya,’ Alice muttered under her breath.
‘As I was saying, welcome everyone. This year has been packed full of spells, potions, competitions and events. I am very proud of my Academy and for what it stands for. I am also extremely proud of all of my girls. You are all exceptionally talented young witches who have worked hard to develop your skills over the last year. As for your excellent exam results, I couldn’t be prouder. Therefore, I see it only fitting that we hold a graduating parade that will take place here at the Academy. All graduating students’ parents will be welcome,’ she smiled.
‘And students from the nearby magical schools,’ she quietened her voice.
On hearing this Charlotte couldn’t hide her smile. It had been ages since she’d seen Charlie due to the friction between the principals, but Alexander’s College was invited to the graduation parade, which meant that soon she’d get to see Charlie.
‘First years, it’s your job to create floats that will carry the graduating students around the grounds. I expect these floats to be creative, original and magical.’
Gerty gave a thrilled squeal and Stef gave Charlotte an excited look.
‘It will be a marvelous event. Now, go and study, have fun and first years, make those floats.'
Miss Moffat hopped onto her broom and flew out of the room, a scurry of bats followed behind her.
‘This is so exciting,’ Gerty clapped.
‘What shall our float theme be?’ Stef asked.
‘We could make a miniature model of the Academy,’ Gerty suggested.
‘A unicorn?’ Charlotte said.
‘Ooh, good idea Charlotte.’
‘We’ll never win with a unicorn,’ Alice snorted. ‘We should do a cauldron.’
‘Boring,’ Stef rolled her eyes. ‘How about a dragon?’
‘Yeah, I like that idea,’ Gerty smiled.
‘I suppose it will be okay but I still think that my idea’s better,’ Alice grumbled.
‘Charlotte?’ Gerty looked at her.
‘Yeah, okay,’ she forced a smile.
Great! If it wasn’t bad enough that she was worried sick about Molly and Flame, now she had to work on a dragon float.
Chapter Eight
Sonya and Silvia allocated each of the float teams an area to work on their designs. Charlotte’s team was given a drafty old barn a five-minute walk from the Academy.
‘The wings need to be longer and more rectangular,’ Gerty said.
She was sat on a haybale, a paintbrush in hand.
‘It needs sharper teeth and its eyes need to look more menacing,’ Stef said.
‘How would you know? It’s not like you’ve ever seen a real dragon,’ Alice scoffed.
‘Yeah, well, I’ve watched all of The Lord of the Rings films.’
‘Is there even a dragon in those?’
‘Er, Smaug of course. Everyone knows that.’
Charlotte smiled to herself. Their dragon float looked nothing like a real-life dragon, then again she didn’t want to make it look more realistic as Miss Moffat may have become suspicious.
‘I still think that we should have painted it pink,’ Alice moaned.
‘Dragons are not pink,’ Stef rolled her eyes.
‘I like this mint green color,’ Gerty said, as she jumped to her feet and studied the float.
‘As if a dragon would be mint green.’
‘Says the girl who thinks they’re pink,’ Stef snorted.
‘How do you know what color they are? You’ve never seen one.’
‘I think this looks great,’ Gerty said, before she dabbed at a missed spot with her paintbrush.
‘It’ll definitely be the best. Melody and Patricia are making a magical waterfall float. So boring,’ Stef said.
‘How do you know they’re doing that?’ Gerty asked.
‘I overheard them talking about what colors to paint the waterfall.’
‘You better not have told anyone what our float is?’ Alice said snootily.
‘As if. Besides, you’re the one with a big mouth, not me.’
‘I haven’t told anyone,’ Alice huffed.
‘Charlotte, you’re being very quiet. Are you okay?’ Gerty asked.
‘Yes, I’m good,’ she forced a smile.
Painting the dragon float (as unrealistic as it was) made her think of Flame and Molly. Why hadn’t she heard from her? She thought that Molly would have sent a message to her letting her know that they were okay, but so far she’d heard nothing. Maybe Molly didn’t value their friendship as much as Charlotte thought she had? Worse, what if something terrible had happened to them?
Sometimes Charlotte contemplated walking up to Miss Moffat and telling her everything. She didn’t though because something inside of her was telling her to stay loyal to Molly. Also, Miss Moffat must have figured out by now that Molly had left with Flame, so she didn’t see how telling her everything would help to find them.
‘Good. Now hurry up and do some painting,’ Gerty chuckled.
Charlotte pulled on the sleeve of the oversized shirt she was using to cover her clothes before she continued to paint the dragon's head.
‘What shall we call it?’ Gerty asked.
‘What?’ Stef said.
‘The dragon.’
‘Giving it a name is stupid, it’s not like it’s real,’ Alice said snidely.
‘You have a teddy called Daisy,’ Stef sniggered.
‘That’s different, I’ve had Daisy since I was little.’
‘Scales,’ Gerty suggested.
‘How about mint, seeing as the poor thing is stuck with being sick green,’ Stef said.
‘Sick green is completely different to mint green,’ Gerty flicked some paint at Stef.
‘They look the same,’ she flicked paint back.
‘Not near the dragon,’ Stef stretched out her arms to protect the float and ended up with paint flicked on her face. She tried to wipe it off and it smudged across her cheeks.
All of the girls apart from Alice burst into laughter.
‘You’re so immature,’ Alice complained.
‘Come on, we’ve got painting to do,’ Gerty instructed.
Soon they were all busily painting the dragon float. Charlotte looked around at her friends and realized that even though their float wasn’t a convincing looking dragon, she had the best friends that she could have hoped for (even Alice.)
***
The day of the graduation parade arrived and the team had been up since the early hours putting the finishing touches on their float. They’d made the mint green scales sparkle, the beautiful blue eyes shimmer and Gerty had put a spell on it so that when it began to move it would breathe out fire.
Soon, the Academy grounds were packed full of students from various schools, staff and parents. Gerty had insisted that they get there early, allowing them to grab standing positions directly behind the flag rope. Mr. Bumble had spent all of the previous afternoon setting out the ropes and setting up the course for the floats to follow.
‘I can’t wait to see Mint,’ Gerty said.
‘Me too,’ Stef replied, as she ripped the wrapper off her lollipop.
‘I can’t believe that they’re expecting me to stand for this. It’s an outrage, why haven’t the first year girls been allocated chairs?’ Alice moaned.
Charlotte searched the crowd for Charlie but she couldn’t see him. She found herself worrying that he wasn’t going to come. The thought of not seeing him before the long summer break was a horrible and depressing one.
Music started up and soon elves appeared with trumpets. The crowd cheered excitedly and the girls soon caught a glimpse of the first float, which was being led by a scurry of bats. Twinkling magical stars covered the float and more stars shot across the senior girls’ heads.
‘It’s okay but ours is better,’ Stef whispered to Charlotte.
The next float was an enchanted forest, with realist looking trees with willowing branches. A model of a troll roared at the onlookers and real fairies playfully chased each other from tree-to-tree.
‘It’s beautiful,’ Gerty said to Charlotte.
‘Yeah,’ she replied, as she continued to scan the crowd for Charlie.
The next float was their wooden dragon. The crowd cheered as it entered the schoolyard and Stef gave a smug look as their cheers erupted even louder when they saw it breathe out fire.
Charlotte found Charlie! He was on the other side of the grounds. She tried waving at him but he didn’t seem to notice her. That’s when she saw that someone was talking to him, a girl with sparkling blonde hair...Margaret.
Dread swept through Charlotte. What was Margaret saying to Charlie? She thought about reading her mind but there was too much going on and too many people. She was contemplating whether to try it anyway when she noticed Margaret walk away from him. She gave Charlie a wave and tried to catch his eye. He looked directly at her and she waved excitedly but he diverted his gaze to the ground before he walked off.
‘I need to go,’ Charlotte said to Gerty.
‘What do you mean, go? Go where?’ Gerty replied, but Charlotte had already begun to quickly walk off into the crowd.
Books for Girls - WITCH SCHOOL - Books 2-6: Book 1 is FREE! Page 39
