An image appeared. There was no light in the shed and blinds were drawn across the windows, but Maia could just about make out some boxes. No. Not boxes. They were metal and wire-mesh cages. “There are cages in the shed!” Maia said to the others.
Sorrel hissed. “We need to investigate this more!”
Bracken leaped to his feet. “I agree! We need to look inside this shed properly.”
“We might be able to spy on it from Auntie Mabel’s garden,” said Maia. “Or even climb over the fence and get inside.”
“Or shadowtravel inside,” put in Ionie.
“But what if there are Shades in there?” said Sita. “They might attack us. They’ve got such sharp nails and they move so fast and—”
“Sita!” Maia put a hand on her arm. “Calm down.”
Willow nuzzled Sita. “Don’t be scared. We have to find out what’s going on. It’s what Star Friends do.”
Sita took a trembling breath. “I know. I just hate Shades.”
Maia squeezed her arm. “Don’t worry. We’ll all be together. Nothing bad will happen.”
I hope, she added in her head.
Auntie Mabel answered the door. “Hello, girls,” she said in surprise.
“Please can we come in, Auntie Mabel?” Maia said. “We need to use your garden.”
Auntie Mabel raised her eyebrows but ushered them inside. “So what’s this about?” she asked as she shut the door.
“We think Mrs Crooks might be the person conjuring the Shades,” said Maia.
“No!” Auntie Mabel gasped.
Maia nodded and told Auntie Mabel about the image of Mrs Crooks with the gnome in Paige’s garden. She explained what she had heard Mrs Crooks saying and told her about the cages in the shed.
“I never liked that woman,” said Auntie Mabel, shaking her head.
“We need to try and find out exactly what’s in her shed,” said Ionie. “Can we use your garden please?”
“Of course. You can call your Star Animals, too, if you want,” said Auntie Mabel. “After all, it’s not like you have to keep them secret from me!”
“Thank you!” Maia said. She would feel much happier if they could have Bracken, Sorrel and Willow with them.
They hurried through the house and out of the back door to the garden. They whispered the names of their animals, and Bracken, Sorrel and Willow appeared.
Maia heard Auntie Mabel’s intake of breath and saw the old lady looking at the animals with a strange expression.
Bracken shot Maia an uncertain look.
“Oh, don’t you worry about me, dear,” said Auntie Mabel, backing into the house. “I’ll stay out of your way.” She disappeared into the house and then reappeared at the kitchen window.
“Maia!” Bracken said anxiously. “You know people shouldn’t see us unless they’re Star Friends.”
“It’s only Auntie Mabel and she’s seen Granny Anne’s Star Animal. Don’t worry,” said Maia.
“I smell Shades,” said Sorrel, scenting the air. Her tail fluffed up. “All around here.”
Willow went to the fence that separated Auntie Mabel’s garden from Mrs Crooks’s. “I can smell it here.”
“The fence is too high for us to see over,” Maia said. “If only Lottie was here, she’d be able to climb the fence.”
“Lottie isn’t the only one who can climb,” said Sorrel. She jumped up and dug her claws into the side of the fence. In a few seconds, she was balancing on the top. “I can see the shed,” she told them. “It’s just on the other side. I’ll try and see through the windows.” She jumped down into Mrs Crooks’s garden.
Ionie stepped towards a nearby patch of shadows.
“No!” Sita said, grabbing her. “Don’t shadowtravel there, Ionie. It could be dangerous. Let’s wait and see what Sorrel finds out.”
Ionie looked like she was about to argue.
“Please stay,” Sita repeated.
To Maia’s surprise, Ionie gave way and nodded. “OK.”
A few moments later, Sorrel reappeared at the top of the fence. “These gardens definitely smell of Shades,” she said, jumping down and wrinkling her nose in distaste.
“What did you find out?” Ionie asked eagerly.
“Not a lot. I saw the cages through a gap in the shed wall but I couldn’t see into them. Oh, and there are gnomes in the garden.”
“Gnomes,” Maia echoed.
“Yes. Just like that one the Wish Shade was in. Lots of them.”
Maia shook her head. “This is weird.”
“We need to get into that shed,” said Ionie. “I’ll shadowtravel into the garden and see if I can get inside.”
Ionie stepped towards the shadows but, as she did so, Bracken’s ears pricked up. “Wait! I hear the back door.” He cocked his head to one side, listening. “Mrs Crooks has just come into the garden!”
Ionie looked at Maia. “What do we do? Maybe I could use an illusion – disguise myself in some way and get into the garden. Or I could shadowtravel here tonight and look into the shed then?”
“But you’d be on your own,” Sita pointed out. “It’s too risky.” She took hold of Maia’s and Ionie’s hands. “Look, I know you both want to do something right now but remember how dangerous Shades are. And this time there might be lots of them. Please don’t do anything just yet. Let’s talk to Lottie and Juniper first.”
Maia wanted to argue but maybe Sita was right. She found herself nodding and realized Ionie was nodding, too.
“All right,” Ionie agreed.
“We’ll wait,” said Maia.
“OK, good,” said Sita, looking relieved. “I’ll tell Lottie what we’ve found out. And then we can think up a plan.”
Maia racked her brains but by bedtime she still hadn’t thought of a way they could safely get into Mrs Crooks’s garden and see inside the shed. She tried spying on Mrs Crooks but all she saw was her making an omelette and watching a wildlife programme on TV – nothing to suggest Mrs Crooks was doing dark magic.
As she snuggled down in bed that night, she pulled Bracken close. “I hope I don’t have any horrible dreams tonight.”
He licked her cheek. “I’ll wake you if you do.”
She kissed his head and went to sleep with him curled up against her tummy.
She didn’t have a nightmare but her dreams were full of strange images again – Sita staring at a patch of shadows in alarm, Lottie pacing anxiously around her bedroom, Ionie sitting on her bed looking unhappy, a person in a hooded cloak, tiny figures scuttling through the shadows and a night sky where the stars formed into words: her power grows.
When Maia woke up, she rubbed her eyes and yawned. She felt tired even though she had just had a whole night’s sleep. She wondered what the images meant, particularly the last one. Whose power was growing? Was it one of them or the person doing dark magic?
She gave Bracken a cuddle and then got up and went downstairs.
Her mum was in the kitchen with Alfie on her lap.
“Morning,” said Maia.
“Morning,” said her mum, yawning.
“Are you all right?” Maia asked, thinking her mum looked just as tired as she felt.
“Alfie kept having nightmares,” said Mrs Greene. “I think the fireworks must have upset him.”
“Not fireworks. Beetle,” said Alfie solemnly. He cuddled closer to Mrs Greene. “Big beetle.” He looked at Maia with wide eyes and his lower lip trembled. “In my room!”
“It was just a bad dream, Alfie,” Maia said. “There are no beetles in your room.”
Alfie didn’t look convinced. “Beetle,” he said again.
“I know!” Maia hurried to the cupboard under the stairs where they kept all sorts of random things like gloves, umbrellas and picnic blankets. She rummaged on one of the shelves and found what she was looking for. A plastic bug catcher! She’d liked to play with it when she was little, pressing the lever and clamping the plastic jaws round her toys. She took it back to Alfie. “Here.
If you see a beetle, you can pick it up with this and get rid of it.” She picked a toy train off the floor to show him how it worked.
“Me do it!” Alfie wriggled off Mrs Greene’s lap and took the bug catcher from Maia, his nightmare forgotten.
“Thanks, Maia,” Mrs Greene said with a smile.
Maia made herself some breakfast then got ready for school. She desperately wanted to see the others. Maybe they had had some ideas. She sent them a text.
See u all at school before the bell! Mxx
A reply pinged back from Ionie almost instantly.
Definitely! Can’t wait to see u! xxxxxxx
Maia blinked. Ionie’s texts were usually quite short and she almost never used that many kisses and emojis. What was going on?
Her mum dropped her off early. The school playground was still almost empty. Ionie was sitting on the wall at the edge of the playground. She came running over eagerly. “I thought you were never going to arrive!”
Maia was surprised. “It’s still early.”
“I know but I was worried.” Ionie’s face took on an anxious expression that was very out of character. “You do still want to be friends with me, don’t you?”
“Of course. Why?” Maia said in astonishment.
“Oh, nothing.” Ionie looked relieved. “It’s just I had a dream last night that none of you wanted me to be a Star Friend. It felt so real.” The anxious look crossed her face again. “It’s not true, is it?”
“No,” Maia reassured her. “Of course not. Everyone likes you. Although you might want to stop telling Lottie that you’re better than she is at maths,” she added. “I think that annoys her just a little bit.”
Ionie looked horrified. “Oh no! I didn’t mean to annoy her.”
Maia was saved from replying by Sita arriving in the playground.
“Hi.” Sita glanced over her shoulder as she reached them.
“Are you OK?” Maia said.
“Not really. I thought I saw something in the shadows when I was walking to school,” whispered Sita. “It looked like a Shade!”
“A Shade!” echoed Maia and Ionie.
“I thought I saw one last night, too,” Sita told them. “It was in my room when I turned off my light. It was there for a minute, right by my wardrobe, and then it disappeared.”
Maia frowned. “What about Willow? Did she sense it?”
“I called her and when she appeared she said she could smell a Shade, but the scent was faint and it didn’t seem to come from near the wardrobe. The Shade had seemed so real and—”
She was interrupted by Ionie suddenly waving madly. “Lottie, hi! Over here!” she called, as Lottie came into the playground. Lottie hurried over.
“Lottie! I never meant to upset you. I think you’re brilliant at maths – really, really brilliant!” Ionie burst out.
Maia stared. It was like an over-friendly alien had invaded Ionie’s body! For a moment she wondered if it could be a Shade… But no, it wasn’t making Ionie horrible. It was making her super-nice.
Lottie looked surprised.
“You really are so good at it,” Ionie carried on.
“No, I’m not,” said Lottie gloomily. “I couldn’t sleep last night. I kept thinking about that inter-schools maths challenge we did. I’m sure I’ve done badly in it. I think I’ve failed my piano exam, too. What if I’ve failed them both? I’m dreading getting the results.”
“You never fail anything,” said Maia. “You’ll be fine. Look, we need to think about Mrs Crooks. Did Sita tell you everything last night?”
Lottie nodded.
“We need to get a proper look inside that shed,” said Maia. “Has anyone come up with any good ideas?”
“I bet you have,” said Ionie, smiling at her. “You’re so great at thinking up ideas, Maia.”
“Well, I haven’t thought of anything yet,” Maia admitted. “Have you?”
Ionie shook her head.
“Sita?” Maia asked.
“What?” Sita jumped as Maia said her name.
“Have you had any ideas?” Maia said.
“About what? About the Shade that’s following me?”
“No,” said Maia. “I really don’t think there’s a Shade following you. About Mrs Crooks!”
“Oh … um … that,” said Sita. “No, I haven’t thought of anything.”
“Me neither,” said Lottie. “The only things I can think about are my piano exam and the maths challenge. I can’t bear it if I’ve failed.”
Maia felt like stamping her foot in frustration. Whatever was up with her friends that morning? They were being really strange.
By the time school had ended, Maia had come up with a plan. If she and Sita distracted Mrs Crooks at the front door, Ionie could shadowtravel into the garden, and try and see into the shed. However her plans were dashed when Ionie’s mum told them that Ionie had a dentist appointment after school.
“I’ll have to miss it, Mum,” said Ionie. “We’ve got stuff planned.”
“Oh no,” her mum said. “You can’t miss the dentist.”
Ionie turned to Maia and Sita. “Don’t do anything without me.”
“We won’t, we’ll wait until tomorrow,” Maia said. Even if they had wanted to, they needed Ionie’s shadow-travelling to make the plan work.
“Lottie will be able to meet up with us tomorrow, too,” said Sita.
“So you promise you won’t go off and do anything without me?” said Ionie.
“I said we wouldn’t!” Maia spoke slightly sharply.
“Now you’re in a mood with me!” wailed Ionie.
“I’m not!”
“You are.”
“Come on, Ionie,” her mum insisted.
Ionie reluctantly left, shooting backward glances at her friends.
“I have no idea what’s up with her today,” Maia said to Sita.
“She is being odd,” agreed Sita. “I’m glad we’re not going to Mrs Crooks’s house though. What if there are Shades in the shed?”
“Then we have to deal with them,” said Maia firmly. “If Mrs Crooks is doing dark magic we have to stop her, Sita, you know we do.”
Sita swallowed. “Y-yes. I guess.”
Maia sighed. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“You’re not going round to anyone’s house today?” Mrs Greene said in surprise as Maia joined her. “That’s unusual. How about we call in and see Auntie Mabel then?”
“OK,” said Maia. “Where’s Alfie?” she asked.
“At home with Dad. He had such a bad night’s sleep, he didn’t go to playgroup today. So how was school?”
“OK,” said Maia, thinking about how strangely her friends had been behaving. She couldn’t wait to get home and talk to Bracken about it. Could it be because of some sort of dark magic?
When they reached the row of cottages where Auntie Mabel lived, Maia saw Mrs Crooks’s dog watching through her front window. He barked when he saw her and Mrs Crooks appeared. Seeing Maia, she scowled and closed the curtains.
“Come on, Maia,” her mum called, as Auntie Mabel answered her front door.
“How lovely to see you both. I’ve got some friends from church here,” said Auntie Mabel. “We’re planning the Christmas Fayre.”
“Oh, we won’t bother you then,” Mrs Greene said.
“No, no, come in and have a cup of tea with us. Please do.”
Maia’s heart sank. The ladies all greeted her and her mum warmly. Maia’s family didn’t go to church but Granny Anne had and the ladies had all been her friends.
“I’ll just put the kettle on. Maia, would you like a hot chocolate?” Auntie Mabel said.
“Yes, please,” said Maia.
“Why don’t you come and give me a hand?” said Auntie Mabel.
Leaving her mum to chat, Maia went into the kitchen with her. “So,” Auntie Mabel lowered her voice to a whisper and beckoned Maia closer. “Have you found out anything else about you-know-who?” She gestured towards Mrs
Crooks’s house.
“No,” Maia whispered back. “Not yet.”
“I’ve been watching her. She went out late last night with a basket. I think she might be collecting herbs and plants to do magic with. Shades can be conjured using potions. Did you know that?”
Maia’s heart beat faster. “No.”
“We need to keep an eye on her,” said Auntie Mabel. “She could have a secret place she goes to when she wants to work magic.”
“In the woods, maybe?” Maia said.
“It’s very likely,” Auntie Mabel agreed, nodding. “I’ll try and watch her using my crystals. Have you had a go at doing magic with the Seeing Stone I gave you?”
“Yes, it worked!” Maia said. “I saw into the past. That was how I saw Mrs Crooks with the gnome at Paige’s.”
Auntie Mabel smiled. “Well done. You’re obviously very talented at magic.”
Maia glowed. “Do you really think so?”
“Yes, I do,” Auntie Mabel said. She gave her a curious look. “Why do you ask?”
“Well, it’s just one of the Shades we fought said that one of us would be really powerful – more powerful than the person doing dark magic.”
Auntie Mabel leaned closer. “Did the Shade say which of you it would be?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t—” Maia broke off as her mum came in.
Mrs Greene laughed as they both jumped. “What are you two whispering about?”
Auntie Mabel chuckled. “Oh, it’s just a silly little secret we have,” she said, tapping her nose and looking at Maia. “Isn’t that right, Maia?”
Maia nodded.
Auntie Mabel smiled brightly at Mrs Greene. “Let’s have some tea!”
Maia was keen to tell the others what Auntie Mabel had said about people being able to conjure Shades using potions, but when she got to school the next day, they were all still acting oddly. She found Lottie sitting on a bench, her head buried in her spelling book. “We’ve got a test today. I’m sure I’m going to fail,” she muttered. “I can’t talk now.”
“Lottie, you’re brilliant at spelling. You won’t fail. I need to talk to you, this is important!” Maia said.
“Not as important as my test.” Lottie got up. “You don’t get it!” She ran off.
Before Maia could go after her, Sita arrived. Her eyes were wide and scared.
Secret Spell Page 4
