by Adele Abbott
The official continued, “The first round will focus on the ‘doppelgänger’ spell. This will be a test not only of how well the contestants are able to cast that particular spell, but also of whether they are able to ‘break through’ another witch’s ‘doppelgänger’ spell, in order to see the real person behind the ‘mask’. A correct guess will earn the contestant one point. An incorrect guess will result in a minus point. The contestants can refuse to guess, in which case they will receive zero points. Confused? Don’t worry. Everything will become clear shortly.”
I wasn’t thrilled to learn that we were to be tested on the ‘doppelgänger’ spell. It wasn’t one that I had used very often. And the only time I’d had to ‘break through’ another witch’s ‘doppelgänger’ spell was when Alicia had pretended to be Mrs V.
The format of the challenge was that three witches would step behind a screen while one remained on the other side. Two of the witches behind the screen would then be required to cast the ‘doppelgänger’ spell so that they looked like the third witch. All three witches, who now looked identical, would step out from behind the screen. The remaining witch had to pick out the two ‘frauds’.
We drew straws to determine the order in which we’d go.
Coral Peasbody was the first one to remain in front of the screen, while Sylvia, Tina and I made our way behind it. Once we were there, one of the officials told Sylvia and I to cast the ‘doppelgänger’ spell, to make ourselves look like Tina. Then, the three of us came out from behind the screen. It was now up to Coral to pick out the two ‘frauds’.
She seemed flustered initially, but then her powers of focus paid dividends, and she correctly accused Sylvia of being one of the impostors. After Sylvia Mothday had reversed her ‘doppelgänger’ spell, and revealed herself, the crowd applauded. Coral now glanced back and forth between Tina and me. After a short hesitation, she correctly accused me of being the second impostor. I reversed the ‘doppelgänger’ spell, and revealed myself. Once again, the crowd applauded. Coral had scored the maximum two points. When she came over to join us, she whispered to me, “The second one was a pure guess.”
It may have been a guess, but she’d guessed correctly, so the point was hers. I wasn’t sure if I would have done the same in her position.
Now, it was my turn to stay in front of the screen. The other three disappeared behind it, and then moments later reappeared. All three of them looked like Sylvia Mothday. To pull level with Coral, I would need to pick out the two imposters. I focussed on each of them, and it quickly became obvious to me who the imposters were. I picked them out correctly, and was awarded the maximum two points.
It was now Sylvia’s turn to remain in front of the screen. The two others were told to make themselves look like me. When we stepped out from behind the screen, I heard someone shout, “Look! Three Jill Gooders! What a nightmare!”
I didn’t need to look around to know it was Alicia.
Sylvia took an age to make a decision, but then pointed to Tina to earn one point. After another long delay, she pointed to me.
“That is incorrect,” the official announced. “Minus one point to give a total of zero points.”
Sylvia tried to put on a brave face, but I could see she was disappointed.
Finally, it was Tina’s turn to stay in front of the screen. She needed just one point in order to knock Sylvia out, and progress to the next round. Behind the screen, the other two were again told to make themselves look like me. When we stepped out, Tina quickly picked out Coral as being one of the imposters. Then, she did a really smart thing. She declined to try to identify the second imposter. It was a tactical move which ensured she finished on one point.
The official announced the results.
“That, ladies and gentlemen, concludes the first round. The points tally is as follows: Coral Peasbody and Jill Gooder have two points, Tina Tinstall has one point, and Sylvia Mothday has zero points. Therefore, Sylvia Mothday is eliminated from the competition.”
The three remaining contestants gathered around Sylvia, who was doing her best to hide her disappointment.
“Good luck, you three.” She managed, and then hurried away.
The official took to the mic again.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we now come to the second round of the competition for level four witches. In this round, we will focus on the ‘listen’ spell. Please look over at the blue section of the bleachers. In the fourth row from the back, there is a gentleman holding a book in his hand. Would you like to stand up, please, sir?”
The man duly obliged, and the official continued. “In a few moments, I will ask you all to start talking to the person next to you, in a loud voice. This gentleman will then begin to read a passage from the book. The contestants are required to write down the words the man has read. In order to do this, they will have to use their magic to filter out all other sounds. Contestants, are you ready?”
We all nodded. We’d each been given a pad of paper and a pen.
The official continued, “Okay, everyone. Please start talking to the person next to you as loudly as you can.”
The crowd did as they were asked, and the volume of noise inside the Range suddenly increased dramatically. I could hardly hear myself think.
“Okay.” The official had to shout into the mic in order to be heard. “Sir, please start reading.”
The man standing in the blue section of the bleachers began to read aloud from the book, although it was impossible to hear him over the crowd.
“Contestants, you must now cast the ‘listen’ spell, and write down everything you hear him say.”
I cast the spell, and focussed on the man. All other sounds disappeared, and I could hear him clearly.
After a few minutes, the official spoke again, “Thank you ladies and gentlemen. You may now stop talking. The reading has finished.”
One of the other officials collected the three pads from us, and handed them to the judges.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I now have the results of the second round of the level four competition. Jill Gooder managed to transcribe the passage word for word, and finishes in first place.”
The crowd applauded, and several people began to chant my name, which I found a little embarrassing.
“Coral Peasbody managed to transcribe approximately half of the passage, and finishes in second place.”
More applause.
“Unfortunately, Tina Tinstall was unable to transcribe any of the passage, so is eliminated from the competition.”
The crowd applauded politely as Tina came over to wish Coral and me good luck.
In round three, we were to use the ‘shatter’ spell. Two identical stone statues of destroyer dragons were placed in front of us; they were huge, and very lifelike.
The official took to the mic. “Ladies and gentlemen, we now reach the final elimination round. The winner of this round will proceed to the grand final. Both contestants must use the ‘shatter’ spell to break the statue into as many pieces as possible. Contestants, you may start on the count of three. One, two, three, go!”
As soon as I cast the spell, the statue in front of me disintegrated, leaving no more than a pile of dust in its place. Coral’s statue broke into three large pieces.
“Ladies and gentlemen!” the official said. “You will no doubt already be able to see who the winner is. Jill Gooder will now progress to the grand final. But, please give a round of applause to our other competitor: Coral Peasbody.”
Coral took her bow, and then joined the other two.
The twins and Aunt Lucy came over to join me.
“That was brilliant, Jill,” Amber gushed.
“Yeah, you’re bound to win the final,” Pearl said.
“You did really well.” Aunt Lucy put her arm around me.
“Leave the girl alone.” Grandma pushed in front of them. “How do you expect her to concentrate with you three crowding around. Get back to the bleachers.”
“We
were only congratulating her,” Aunt Lucy said.
“What for? She hasn’t done anything yet, and she’s not likely to if you don’t let her prepare for the final. Go on, get back to the bleachers.”
Aunt Lucy and the twins did as they were told, shouting ‘good luck’ as they left.
“You’ll have to up your game for the final if you want to win,” Grandma said. “You’re up against some stiff competition. You can’t afford to let your guard down for a minute.”
“Don’t worry, Grandma. I’ll do my best.”
“Your best? You’ll need to do a lot better than that!”
Chapter 23
I would have preferred to get straight on with the grand final while the adrenaline was still pumping, but first I had to sit through the competition for the level five witches. I’d wanted to go over to the bleachers to sit with Aunt Lucy and the twins, but Grandma had insisted I remain on the playing field because, according to her, I needed to stay in the zone.
Whatever that meant.
The competition for level five witches was a brutal affair, which was eventually won by Letitia Longbroom, who even managed to impress Grandma—and that didn’t happen very often.
“She’s going to be your main competition,” Grandma said.
“What about Alicia?”
“What about her? If Ma Chivers has trained her, she can’t be up to much.”
I wasn’t sure I agreed with Grandma’s assessment of Alicia, which seemed to me to be tainted by her disdain for Ma Chivers. Alicia might not be my favourite person—understatement of the year—but she was no mug. I’d underestimate her at my peril.
“I think you’re wrong. Alicia could easily pass for a level six witch.”
“Sorry, I must have misheard you. You think I’m what?”
“Err—wrong.”
“Wrong? Me?” Grandma laughed. “Oh, I see. That was a joke, right? Very funny. Anyway, enough about the others. The only thing that matters now is that you believe you can win.”
“I’m going to give it my best shot. Hopefully, that will be good enough.”
“Hopefully? Hope doesn’t do it. You need the killer instinct!”
“Killer instinct? Right.”
Luckily, the official came to my rescue, as he took to the mic again.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we now come to the grand final of the Levels Competition. It is my pleasure to introduce this year’s finalists. The winner of the level one competition was Biddy Bowles.”
Biddy stepped forward, and the crowd cheered and applauded.
“The winner of the level two competition was Selina Fastday.”
Again, the crowd applauded and cheered.
“The winner of level three was Alicia Dawes.”
I noticed that far fewer people applauded Alicia, but there was one particular area of the bleachers where the crowd was on its feet, shouting and cheering. Leading those cheers were Ma Chivers and Cyril.
“The winner of the level four competition was Jill Gooder.”
I took a step forward, and was met with a deafening round of applause from the crowd.
“And finally, the winner of the level five competition was Letitia Longbroom.”
When Letitia stepped forward, she was met with thunderous applause. There was no doubting her popularity with the crowd.
The first two rounds of the final went pretty much as expected. In the first round, Biddy Bowles, the level one witch, was eliminated when her attempts at the ‘rain’ spell failed to result in even a single drop of rain. In the second round, which was focussed on the ‘smaller’ spell, Selina Fastday, the level two witch, was unable to shrink an urn any smaller than three inches tall. The rest of us were able to shrink it to less than one inch tall.
That left just the three of us. From here on in, the format of the competition was slightly different to how it had been when I’d last competed. Just prior to the previous year’s competition, the organisers had decided that, from round three onwards, the spell to be used would be selected at random. That meant it could be anything from a simple level one spell to something much more advanced.
There was another short break before the third round. The twins and Aunt Lucy came over, much to Grandma’s annoyance. While I was chatting with them, I noticed that Ma Chivers and Cyril were talking to Alicia. Every now and then, they pointed over in my direction, as if they were plotting something. I would have to keep my eye on her.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please return to your seats. We come now to the third round of the grand final, which will be based on the ‘tie-up’ spell.”
We three remaining contestants were asked to stand equidistant around a circle which had been painted onto the ground. In the middle of that circle were several ropes.
“Contestants. On my word, you should use the ‘tie-up’ spell to try to bind one of your opponents, hand and foot. At the same time, you must resist any attempt by the others to do the same to you. Whichever of you is bound hand and foot first will be eliminated. Ready? Three, two, one, go!”
I’d assumed that Alicia would target me, but instead she went after Letitia. Meanwhile, Letitia did target me, but I was able to use my own magic to resist all of her attempts to bind me. It was obvious that Letitia had miscalculated. She’d been so focused on trying to break through my shield that she’d left herself vulnerable to Alicia’s attack. By the time she realised her mistake, it was too late. Moments later she was bound hand and foot. Alicia had played a brilliant tactical game to win her place in the final.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we now have our finalists: Alicia Dawes who won the level three competition, and Jill Gooder who won the level four competition.”
Letitia was clearly upset at having been eliminated, but she managed to wish Alicia and me good luck.
It was the final round, and I was the clear favourite. That didn’t help. If anything, it put even more pressure on me.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the final round of the competition will be based on the ‘freeze’ spell. As you will no doubt already have realised, this will involve the formidable creatures now in front of you.”
He was referring to the three scarlet horned dragons, which had been brought into the Range after the previous round had finished. Although much smaller than the destroyer dragon, they still looked mighty fierce. The dragons had been tethered at the opposite side of the Range, away from the bleachers.
A series of metal barriers had been erected on the playing field. Arranged in three parallel lines, they formed two long tunnels that could be sealed off at both ends. Once the workers signalled that the barriers were ready, two of the dragons were led inside the ‘tunnels’, where they were again tethered.
“Why are there three dragons?” I asked Grandma.
“One in reserve, I’d guess. They’re unpredictable beasts.”
Alicia and I were ushered inside the barriers. I was in one ‘tunnel’, Alicia was in the other. Facing us, at the far end, were the dragons—both of them straining at their chains.
“Ladies and gentlemen. In a moment, the two dragons will be released, and will race towards our finalists who must use the ‘freeze’ spell to stop them. The winner will be whoever stops the dragon first. For safety reasons, there is an emergency exit gate next to each competitor. If they are unable to stop the dragon, they can make their escape through that gate. However, should either of the contestants use their emergency gate, they will face automatic disqualification. Contestants, are you ready?”
We both nodded.
“Three, two, one, release the dragons!”
As soon as they were free of their chains, the two dragons began to charge along the tunnels, towards us.
I was just about to cast the ‘freeze’ spell when I noticed that the third dragon had slipped its chains and was headed straight for the bleachers. If it wasn’t stopped, there would be carnage. None of the officials seemed to have noticed; they were too busy watching the competition.
I
pushed open the emergency gate, and cast the ‘faster’ spell. I had to intercept the dragon before it reached the bleachers. When I was sure I was close enough, I cast the ‘freeze’ spell, which stopped it just a few yards short of the crowd.
When I turned back, Alicia had frozen the dragon which had been charging towards her. The other dragon was charging up and down its tunnel, desperately trying to get out.
The official, who seemed oblivious to the near disaster, took to the mic for the final time. “Ladies and gentlemen. The winner of this year’s Levels Competition is Alicia Dawes who is hereby promoted to a level six witch.”
The crowd, who by now had realised what had happened, all booed and called out my name.
Grandma was beyond livid, and began to lay into the judges. Even from a distance I could hear her insisting that the final round should be rerun. The judges were having none of it.
“Idiots!” She was still fuming when she came back over to join me, Aunt Lucy and the twins.
“Surely, they have to rerun it,” Aunt Lucy said.
“Yeah. Jill saved all those people,” Amber said.
“They can’t give it to Alicia!” Pearl shouted.
“The stupid idiots insist there’s nothing they can do.” Grandma was still fuming. “The rules say if you leave through the safety gate then it’s automatic disqualification. I’ve a good mind to set the dragons on them. See how they like it.”
“It doesn’t matter, Grandma,” I said. “There’s always next year.”
Just then, Alicia, Ma Chivers and Cyril appeared.
“Unlucky, Gooder.” Alicia was grinning from ear to ear.
“Pity that dragon got free.” Ma Chivers chuckled. “I wonder how that happened.”
It took Aunt Lucy, the twins and me to hold Grandma back.
