Caution: Witch In Progress

by Lynne North

  Gertie watched them all try to hide behind one another. Bertha was the obvious favourite to try to hide behind. Though she probably didn’t realise it, she was already sheltering three of them.

  The only door out of the room was at the other side of the demon. Fang was eyeing it, ready to make a dash. It looked like everyone else felt the same. Right now, it was likely they were all wishing they had put their energies into learning a good disappearing spell. Everyone looked to Miss Wick to save them. She stared at Fang.

  ‘Come along, boy, don’t be shy,’ encouraged the Head. She had stood up and walked around the table as soon as the demon had launched itself from the floor. So had Mr Wolfsbane and Miss Hemlock.

  Gertie watched all three bravely put themselves between the other pupils and the demon.

  Fang was still in front.

  Miss Wick gave him a push towards the creature. ‘Banish him at once,’ she insisted more sternly. ‘I don’t think we’re insured against demon damage.’

  Fang obviously knew he had to try something, but Gertie doubted he had paid much attention to what the books said about what to do once the demon arrived. He raised himself to his full height, which wasn’t very tall. In fact, he looked particularly miniscule next to the towering, slavering, red demon. Clearly making it up as he went along, and hoping no one noticed (especially the demon), Fang began in the boldest voice he could muster.

  ‘Begone ye,’ It came out as a barely audible whisper.

  Fang closed his eyes, and then began again.

  ‘Begone Ye.’ (That sounded better.)

  ‘Begone Ye Demon of Hell,

  Ye Devil Spawn,

  Ye Creature from the Depths,

  Ye Stinking, Slimy Horror from…’

  ‘NO NEED TO GET PERSONAL!’ interrupted the demon, now turning his gaze towards the voice. He focused his full attention on Fang, who couldn’t control his shaking.

  ‘I KNOW I SMELL OF SULPHUR AND BRIMSTONE. ALL DEMON’S DO, I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW. YOU’D BETTER NOT BE SAYING I HAVE AN ODOUR PROBLEM TOO.’

  ‘Sorry,’ whispered Fang, trying to shrink out of the demon’s line of vision. ‘I didn’t realise I’d summoned a sensitive demon with a phobia about smelling bad.’

  ‘Don’t upset him!’ hissed Miss Wick from behind Fang. ‘Just banish him. He doesn’t look to be the wisest demon ever summoned. Indeed, he can’t be to have responded to your poorly made attempt. Get rid of him!’

  ‘Okay,’ whispered the young warlock, not looking very happy about the Head’s opinion of his summoning skills.

  ‘Begone Ye,’ began Fang again. ‘Oh, I’ve already said that,’ he muttered to himself.

  The demon watched him with quite an amused expression. It was unnerving. Fang tried to continue.

  ‘Begone to the Fiery Halls of Hell,

  Get Ye back to the Devil’s Left Hand,

  Fall into the Slime Pits of Hades,

  Go Ye to the burning pools of Sulphur,

  Begone Ye to Forever Night,

  BEGONE!’

  Fang ended with a flourish, and a wave of his bony little yellow hand. He seemed to think it sounded quite good. He had obviously added bits from every book he could remember reading. Surely that would do the trick?

  ‘ARE YOU TALKING TO ME?’ asked the demon, rather menacingly.

  ‘Er, yes, I, I think so…’ whispered Fang.

  ‘YOU MUST BE JOKING!’ the demon continued to boom. ‘I’M ON HOLIDAY. I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF FIERY HALLS AND SLIME PITS. YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE. I COULD GROW TO QUITE LIKE IT HERE. BEGONE YOURSELF…AND DON’T CALL ME SMELLY!’ he added as an afterthought, waving a huge, scaly, taloned hand. He caught Fang with what was little more than a light tap, but it was enough to send the young warlock flying backwards through the air. He landed heavily against the far wall. With the breath slightly knocked out of him, there Fang remained.

  It was clear to Gertie that he hoped they would all think he was unconscious, or dead, and leave him alone.

  ‘Oh dear,’ said Miss Wick, looking around anxiously.

  ‘You know that only the summoner can banish his or her demon,’ Gertie heard Mr Wolfsbane whisper in her ear. ‘If it was MY demon, I would banish it in a flash!’

  ‘Yes, I know,’ replied Miss Wick quietly. ‘We have a problem. There must be another way to make him leave.’

  Suddenly Miss Wick seemed to realise that everyone was looking at her and expecting her to do something, after all she was the Head Witch. She encouraged more loudly. ‘Come along witches and warlocks. All together now! Let’s see what you’ve learned. Let’s get rid of this nasty demon!’

  ‘ARE YOU IMPLYING THAT I SMELL TOO?’ asked the demon in anger.

  ‘Er, no, no of course not,’ replied the Head, now completely out of her depths. ‘Think of something,’ she hissed at the other two teachers.

  Mr Wolfsbane looked at Miss Hemlock. Miss Hemlock looked at Malicia, who stared at Hexa. Hexa quickly passed the glance to Gertie. Gertie rapidly looked at Ghoul, who was too dumbstruck staring up at the demon to notice. The demon was beginning to eat the ceiling he was in the process of demolishing.

  Gertie saw that everyone else was trying to look anywhere rather than at the demon. Only Ghoul was actually still eyeballing the huge creature in action.

  Miss Wick noticed too, and sighed in relief. At least Ghoul was staring in the right direction to do something. Miss Wick said, ‘Right, Ghoul! Off you go then, boy!’

  ‘Uh?’ asked Ghoul, suddenly hearing his name and coming back down to earth. Everyone was staring at him, making him realise something was expected of him. ‘Why me?’ he wailed loudly. ‘I didn’t ask it to come here! It isn’t fair. Fang should get rid of it!’

  ‘I’ve done my bit!’ Fang’s voice exploded from the dark corner. It was obvious he had forgotten he was pretending to be dead. ‘Now it’s someone else’s turn!’

  ‘Well, if you hadn’t been so stupid in the first place, this would never have happened!’ shouted Ghoul, who was clearly much more afraid of the demon than he had ever been of Fang.

  Gertie could tell he was even less afraid of Fang now he could see him cowering against the wall.

  ‘Who are you calling stupid, you ugly, toad faced, slimeball!’ retorted Fang, looking close to tears. ‘How dare you speak to me like that!’

  ‘Boys, boys,’ interrupted Miss Wick. ‘This is getting us nowhere. Come along now, we need a volunteer.’

  ‘COULD ANYONE TELL ME THE WAY TO THE NEAREST CASTLE?’ the none too smart demon asked. His voice boomed around the room as he bent his head back inside. ‘I’VE ALWAYS FANCIED LIVING IN A CASTLE,’ he added, more to himself than to anyone in particular.

  Gertie watched the pupils once again go into a huddle rather like a rugby scrum when the demon spoke. It just so happened that when all the pushing and shoving was over, Hexa was standing further forward than the others. And probably further forward than she intended.

  ‘Good girl, Hexa!’ said Miss Wick with enthusiasm. ‘This can count for your Presentation. I’ll even give you a Demerit to go with your pass! Watch carefully class. You might learn something.’

  ‘But, but,’ stammered Hexa, ‘I’d planned on a broomstick flying spell, Miss!’

  ‘Oh well, we’ve already seen one of those. This will be much better,’ encouraged the Head. ‘And think how proud you’ll be to pass with Demerit!’ Seeing Hexa didn’t look entirely convinced, Miss Wick quickly added, ‘I’ll even throw in the Golden Spider Award!’

  Despite the situation, the fear, and any sense whatsoever, Gertie knew Malicia wouldn’t resist that. As she had told them all, she had to win the Golden Spider Award. She deserved it, she had earned it and she was going to have it.

  Obviously before her brain had time to realise what her mouth was about to say, the words ‘I’ll do it,’ were out of Malicia’s mouth and drifting across the room.

  The other trainee witches and warlocks stared at her in awe. Hexa took her chance t
o escape and vanish completely behind Bertha, though she did have to push a few others out of the way.

  ‘She’s either very brave, or her brains are scrambled,’ whispered Haggie.

  ‘Or she has a death wish,’ added Mildew under her breath.

  ‘Silence in the ranks!’ ordered Miss Wick looking very relieved. ‘Malicia is about to perform!’

  ‘OH!’ boomed the demon, who had apparently just caught the end of the sentence. ‘ARE YOU GOING TO SING AND DANCE, OR TELL RHYMES MAYBE? I LOVE A GOOD RHYME. DO YOU KNOW “INCY WINCY SPIDER, FRIED IN THE PIT”, OR “MARY, MARY, QUITE UNWARY, HOW DO YOUR DEVIL’S HORNS GROW”?’ As mentioned before, he wasn’t the brightest demon ever spawned. ‘IF YOU DO,’ he continued, ‘I MIGHT LET YOU FINISH BEFORE I EAT YOU.’

  ‘E..eat…me?’ asked Malicia warily.

  ‘WELL, YES. THAT’S THE KIND OF THING DEMONS DO YOU KNOW, EAT PEOPLE. I’LL EAT YOU ALL. NOTHING PERSONAL. IT’S JUST THE DONE THING. IT’S ALRIGHT. YOU WON’T FEEL IT. I’LL COOK YOU FIRST,’ he reassured them.

  Malicia clearly decided it was now or never. She began to chant.

  ‘Fireball great, Fireball bright,

  Fireball burn and Fireball blight,

  Fireball fierce, Fireball hot,

  Fireball formed and Fireball shot.

  Mark my words and heed my power,

  Banish yon demon in fiery shower!’

  Pointing her left hand at the demon, Malicia stared at the sparks licking at her fingertips.

  Gertie was impressed she could still perform under such pressure! Surely that was enough to win her the Golden Spider Award. She watched the tiny balls of flame begin to shoot from Malicia’s upraised hand, and head for the demon.

  A cheer rose from the watching witches and warlocks. Malicia was really impressive. Impressive that is, until the fireballs hit the demon’s scaly skin. They then fizzled away to nothing on his thick hide.

  ‘What about the big ones you told us you could throw,’ hissed Miss Wick. ‘Don’t hold back now, girl, throw them!’

  Gertie decided Malicia probably meant her fireballs to be much bigger, as she had boasted earlier. They just hadn’t turned out that way.

  The demon brushed at his chest with a flick of his clawed hand. ‘THAT’S NOT VERY NICE!’ he said angrily, folding his arms. ‘HAVE I DONE ANYTHING TO YOU? NO. DID I ASK TO COME HERE? NO. YOU SUMMONED ME. JUST AS I WAS PART WAY THROUGH MY DINNER, ACTUALLY. BUT DID I COMPLAIN? NO. ALONG I CAME ANYWAY. AND WHAT THANKS DO I GET? I GET THINGS THROWN AT ME…AND CALLED SMELLY,’ he added, clearly remembering how insulted he had been earlier.

  Demons are like elephants. No, they aren’t all grey and wrinkly with long noses and huge ears. They just never forget.

  The demon was visibly angry now. No more Mr Nice Guy. ‘ANYWAY, I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS,’ he continued. ‘AND I’M HUNGRY. NOW. WHO SHALL I EAT FIRST? OH YES, THAT LITTLE WARLOCK WHO SUMMONED ME, THEN CALLED ME SMELLY. WHERE IS HE NOW?’

  Malicia’s face broke into a look of relief because she was out of the demon’s attention span for a while.

  Gertie saw Fang squash himself further into the wall, trying to hold back whimpers that might give him away. It didn’t do him any good. He had been spotted.

  ‘OH THERE YOU ARE, COME ALONG NOW. DON’T WASTE TIME.’

  The demon picked Fang up by his cloak between two huge claws. The young warlock squealed terribly as the demon looked at him close up. When the demon lifted him even closer, Fang finally managed to blurt out ‘Nooooooooooo, Don’t eat me!’

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Gertie had watched everything that had happened quite calmly and quietly. She didn’t know whether she was afraid of the demon or not, strangely enough. It was easy to get carried away with everyone else’s fear, but was she scared? The demon hadn’t actually done anything too terrible yet, apart from pick Fang up and make some threats. He also seemed pretty stupid. The main problem was that he was here.

  Gertie was beginning to feel angry. She had worked long and hard for her Presentation, and now this silly demon was preventing her getting it over with. He was also swinging Fang about between his big claws to torment him. Though Gertie didn’t particularly like Fang, she could see that this was the worst kind of bullying. If she didn’t do anything about it, she would be just as bad as Fang. Without much further thought, Gertie turned and handed Owl to a rather confused looking Bertha. She asked Bertha to take care of him. The young witch then gripped the pentacle she always wore around her neck for protection, and stepped forwards.

  ‘Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?’ she asked the demon in a bold voice. Everyone stared at her in total awe, and stepped even further back. Especially Miss Wick, who looked completely lost for words. The Head Teacher probably hadn’t experienced seeing a student almost eaten before. She didn’t seem to know of any procedures to tell her what she should do in a case like this.

  The demon turned to look at Gertie as she spoke.

  ‘WHO, ME?’ he asked, with an astonished expression.

  ‘Yes, you,’ said Gertie, pointing at him.

  The demon gave a deep chuckle. ‘SOMEONE LIKE YOU?’ he asked, laughing out loud now at his own wit.

  ‘Yes, yes, eat her!’ called Fang from the demon’s grip. Fang must have seen this as a chance to get away. He obviously didn’t care how he did it, or at whose expense.

  Gertie was temporarily stunned. She was trying to help Fang, after all he had done, and he wanted her to be eaten? This was unbelievable. Fang continued to swing and burble. Gertie then saw an even better plan dawn on his evil face. ‘Or her!’ he shrieked, pointing his bony finger at Bertha. ‘Eat Fatso over there. I’m only small. I’d never fill you. Eat HER!’

  The demon peered across the room, as if considering the possibility.

  Gertie knew that it took a lot to get any kind of emotion from Bertha. It was even surprising she was so wide awake, and aware of what was going on. This however, was different. This was personal. Calling her Fatso was one thing. A thing she’d had to get used to. But trying to get a demon to eat her? That was too much. Gertie saw a determined expression appear on Bertha’s face, and no one was more surprised than Gertie when she spoke.

  ‘What wrong with you all? Who has stepped forward to try to protect us? Little Gertie who no one likes very much because she’s different. Does Gertie care about that? No. She wants to protect us anyway. Even Fang. Now that bit, I don’t understand,’ she stared at the quivering heap in the demon’s claws. ‘But it’s Gertie’s way. Gertie is my friend. The only true friend I’ve ever known. That one friend now stands alone, looking very small, and facing a demon.’

  Bertha turned to Jasper, who was sleeping soundly, and gently stood Owl on his back. Without another word, she stepped forwards and stood beside Gertie. Maybe in the hope Gertie could protect her from being eaten, but bravely all the same. Whatever Gertie was about to face, they would face it together. That’s what real friendship was all about, after all.

  Gertie looked sideways at Bertha in surprise, and then gave her a beautiful smile. As one, they walked closer to the demon. Gertie noticed everyone else was doing their best to tunnel through the wall.

  Owl seemed to be the only one delighted by his current situation. His eyes showed he was pleasantly sleepy and probably unaware what was going on. He would also have no idea what he was standing on, but whatever it was, he looked like he wanted one. It was all warm and furry under his feet. His expression said he definitely needed a new log, just like this one.

  Jasper snored loudly.

  With no time to wonder about Bertha now standing next to her, Gertie stared up the demon’s left nostril. He looked like he had almost forgotten she was there because he was clearly enjoying playing with Fang. He seemed to be trying to decide what made the young warlock squeal most, prodding or swinging. He was smiling and having great fun. After a while, the demon looked down, maybe sensing Gertie’s eyes were on him. She stared back up at him. The demon look
ed back at Fang with boredom beginning to show on his scaly face. The boy was hoarse with all the screaming, and could only manage a few whimpers. That clearly wasn’t half as much fun. The demon put Fang down, none too gently.

  The warlock scampered behind the teachers as fast as his quivering legs could carry him.

  ‘ARE YOU STILL HERE? WHAT DO YOU WANT, LITTLE GIRL?’ asked the demon. ‘MORE TO THE POINT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE WITH ALL THESE WITCHES ANYWAY?’

  ‘I am a witch,’ replied Gertie, actually meaning it for the first time in her life. She believed it, at last. Gertie didn’t have time to digest the thought properly before the demon spoke again.

  ‘OH?’ he mocked, ‘WELL, I’M VERY PLEASED TO MEET YOU, MISS WITCH. I’M LITTLE BOY BLUE!’ He then roared at his own wit.

  Gertie waited patiently until he quietened down again. She then said, ‘I guess you might be, because you’re certainly not a demon.’

  Gasps and intakes of breath filled the room. Gertie heard Miss Wick say ‘What are you thinking of? Surely you didn’t want to make him angry?’

  Gertie saw Bertha turn to stare at her. ‘I hope you know what you’re doing,’ she muttered.

  ‘WHAT?’ roared the demon. ‘NOT A DEMON? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, YOU SILLY LITTLE GIRL?’

  Gertie kept her ground, and tried to look calm. If truth be known, she was quaking inside, but she was depending on the demon being as stupid as he seemed.

  ‘A clever magician maybe,’ Gertie continued to goad him. ‘But certainly not a demon.’

  The demon looked intrigued now. Of all the things he had ever been called, a magician didn’t seem to be one of them. He looked at her with more puzzlement than anger. His brain obviously didn’t work very fast, so he was quiet for a few minutes.

  ‘Demons come from Hell,’ Gertie explained. ‘From down below,’ she added.

  That bit, the demon understood. ‘AND?’ he asked, ‘YOUR POINT IS?’