The Wizard in the Woods

by Louie Stowell

  To Gus, the youngest w wizard in the world.

  - L.S.

  THIS IS JOSH’S NOTEBOOK. KIT AND ALITA, I F YOU MESS WITH IT I W ILL KNOW. I HAVE RECORDS OF YOUR F INGERPR INTS SO I WILL BE ABLE TO DUST THE COVER FOR PR INTS. YOU HAVE BE EN WARNE D. I HAVE R EAD A LOT OF DETECTIVE NOVELS SO I KNOW ALL THE TR ICKS.

  Dear Future Josh,

  In case an evil future wizard has done a mind-wipe spell on you, here are some notes about w hat happened this summer. Spoiler: it was INTENSE with a capital everything!

  1) We discovered that our local librarian, Faith, is a wizard and my friend Kit is one too.

  2) We found out that a dragon sleeps beneath the library, and it’s a wizard’s duty to keep it asleep.

  3) Our local library was attacked by an evil businessman who wanted to wake up the dragon.

  4) We beat him, because we are an incredible team of magical library protectors.

  5) THEN, later in the summer, Kit’s magic started going wrong.

  6) We tracked down the source of her problems: there was a monster in the lake in our local park! It had been kicked out of its home in Scotland by evil mermaids.

  7) We went to Scotland to talk to the mermaids. It turns out they weren’t evil… They were being controlled by evil ghost rats from the dawn of time!

  8) Kit did a big spell with some help from me and Alita. We beat the evil ghost rats and freed the mermaids.

  9) The mermaids still weren’t very nice but the lake monster was able to go home and everything went back to normal. Well, sort of. Our lives are still quite odd.

  I think that’s it. But every day I’m finding out more about the world of magic. I wonder what I’ll find out today. Oh. Kit’s telling me we have to go.

  YES WE DO. COME ON. DON’T BE BORING. LET’S GO! TREES TO CLIMB! WORLDS TO SAVE!

  Kit

  “I cannot believe you talked me into doing this.” Josh gripped more tightly on to the branch that he and Kit were sitting on.

  “It’s what children do in the summer holidays,” said Kit. “It’s called fun. Look! There’s a squirrel over there!” Kit stood up on the branch, causing it to shake and making Josh hold on even tighter.

  “I don’t call this fun,” muttered Josh. “I call this terror. My life is flashing in front of my eyes. Wow,” he added through gritted teeth. “I did a lot of reading and ate some good jollof rice.”

  The first day of the new school year was only a few days away, and Kit wanted to milk every last moment of freedom. Josh was more focused on not crashing down from his perch and breaking every bone in his lanky body.

  “The thing is,” Josh said, “this isn’t natural. Humans are not tree-dwelling creatures. We’re supposed to be on the ground.”

  “Since when is being natural the only way to do things? If everything was natural, we’d all be living in caves,” objected Kit.

  “At least caves are on the ground,” said Josh.

  “Guys,” called Alita from one of the lower branches, “stop arguing. Faith’s coming down the path. She looks in a hurry!”

  Kit, Josh and Alita scrambled down the tree to meet Faith. Josh scrambled rather more slowly and carefully – he hadn’t wanted to get his shoes dirty on the tree, and so he was barefoot.

  “Hi, Faith. Is everything OK?” Alita gasped. “Did Kit’s mum tell my mum we went out instead of playing at home? Is she here? Is she mad?”

  Faith smiled. “Everything’s fine. I have good news, actually.”

  “What?” asked Josh, sitting down to put on his pure-white trainers. “Has the new Danny Fandango book been released early?”

  “Well, no, nothing THAT exciting,” said Faith. “But the Wizards’ Council want to meet Kit. And they have a present.”

  “Oh?” said Kit. She wasn’t exactly excited about meeting the Wizards’ Council. Everything Faith had said about them made them sound very old and very grumpy. “What’s the present?”

  Faith motioned zipping her lips and waggled her eyebrows. “It’s a surprise.”

  “Can we come and meet the Wizards’ Council too?” asked Josh.

  “Sorry, no,” said Faith. “The headquarters is a wizard-only zone.” She shrugged. “Part of the whole secrecy and security thing.”

  “That’s not fair,” said Kit.

  “Have I ever accused the Wizards’ Council of being fair?” asked Faith.

  “I don’t mind,” said Alita. “I want to spend as much time as I can with Dogon! I’ve hardly seen him in days because of my aunty’s wedding. I thought it’d never end!” She splayed her hands, showing the intricate henna design on her palms. Dogon was the furry, scaly creature who lived beneath the library: half dog, half dragon, and always hungry. “I’m going to miss him so much when I go back to school.”

  “He’s going to miss the snacks you bring him, that’s for sure,” laughed Faith. She turned to Josh. “Why don’t you go and read to Draca?”

  Draca was the dragon who slept beneath Chatsworth Library, and like all dragons, she didn’t belong in the waking world. Instead, she wandered through her own dreams, made up of the stories that were read to her as she slumbered through the years.

  “Perhaps you could start a new book?” suggested Faith.

  Josh’s eyes lit up with pure excitement, as though Faith had just offered him a ride on a unicorn, through space.

  “Oh yes! I can read her some poetry. I don’t think I’ve read her any of that before!”

  “How are we getting to the Wizards’ Council?” asked Kit.

  “From the library,” said Faith. “So let’s all head there now. One last time before school starts.”

  Kit, Josh, Alita and Faith walked through Chatsworth Library towards the stacks – the hidden parts of the building that the general public never got to see. The parts where the magic lay hidden and where Draca slept and dreamed of stories.

  They reached a shelf at the back of the library, and Faith checked to see that no other people were near, then pulled on a book and murmured a word, Labbah. The whole shelf of books slid to one side to reveal a door behind, which led down into darkness.

  Faith tapped herself on the forehead and breathed, “Ina!” A ball of light appeared in the corridor ahead, lighting their way and revealing shelves of books on either side of the passage.

  The four of them walked down and down into the darkness, until the passage widened and lightened and became an open green space. They were in the book wood again. Each tree in this wood had once been a book, and if you looked closely enough at the papery green page-leaves, you could make out faint letters. Kit inhaled deeply. The air smelled of leaves and flowers and second-hand books.

  “I’ll go and find Dogon!” said Alita.

  “And I’ll read Draca these poems,” said Josh, holding up the book that he’d brought with him from the library upstairs.

  “So how exactly are we getting to the Wizards’ Council?” asked Kit. “Are we going to use a portal book?”

  Portal books were the main magical way to travel between libraries. To use one, you simply began reading out loud, and the magic sucked you into the world of the book. When you reached the end, you spoke the name of the library you wanted to reach, and you reappeared in the real world again. Some of these books were safer than others.

  “I thought we’d take a stroll through a new portal book this time,” said Faith.

  “A new one?” That sparked Kit’s interest. “I didn’t know there were new ones.”

  “Oh yes, from time to time,” said Faith. “I made this one just for you. It should be just about ripe…”

  Faith took a few paces then pointed up at the branches of a tree. Hanging like a fruit among the page-leaves was a book. On the cove
r it said “Super Magic Quest”, with a picture of a cartoon rabbit wearing armour, and a goblin by its side.

  “Pick it,” said Faith. “It’s ready.”

  Kit reached out and took hold of the bottom of the book. With the gentlest of tugs, it came away from the tree in her hand. She turned the book over. “How did you make this?”

  “I planted an ordinary copy of the book when you first became a wizard,” said Faith. “It’s taken the past month for this tree to grow. Draca put extra effort into sharing her magic with it, so it would be ready for you when you needed it.”

  “That’s so nice of her!” said Kit. Draca was a strange creature but she could be very kind at times.

  “We both thought you might enjoy a portal book that wasn’t dangerous, but was still fun,” said Faith.

  “Ooh! It’s a comic!” said Kit as she opened it.

  “It’s about a rabbit on a quest in a magical land,” said Faith. “I believe there’s a forest made of jelly in there somewhere.”

  “Sounds really silly. I love it already!” said Kit. She sat on the ground and started to read the comic. On the first page, a rabbit called Jorril was setting out on a quest to find a magic gem… Without warning, Kit and Faith were inside the pages of the book.

  After a perilous journey through a desert full of tiny flying bears and a fight with a giant robot made of glue, they finally reached the end of Jorril’s quest.

  “Council, hus!” said Faith, wiping robo-glue out of her eye. They left the book with a pop, and appeared in the library of the Wizards’ Council.

  They were in a huge, rectangular room with rough stone walls. Bookshelves were stacked from the floor to the lofty ceiling, holding more books than Kit had ever seen before. In between the bookshelves were windows filled with stained glass. One showed a picture of a dragon, cowering beneath a shower of glowing yellow sparks. Another showed a dragon and a wizard, hand in claw, gazing out from the glass in dozens of colours.

  “Welcome to the council library,” said Faith.

  Kit gazed around in awe. It was like a gigantic church, but for books.

  “I imagine someone from the council will be along in a minute,” said Faith. “They knew we were coming but it sometimes takes them a while to get upstairs. They’re not as young as they were, and they were already old then.”

  Spaced around the carpeted floor were comfy, battered armchairs and little tables littered with abandoned cups of tea and sweet wrappers.

  A moment later there was a creaking sound, and a bookshelf swung round to reveal a dark corridor behind it. Out came a tall, broad-shouldered white woman with shoulder-length white hair and a green trouser suit, with a green flower in her lapel. Kit couldn’t tell how old she was, but definitely old enough for her birthday cake candles to be a fire hazard. The woman’s ancient eyes seemed to look off into the distance, while also somehow boring straight into Kit’s soul. Kit felt a sudden urge to stand up straighter, and maybe clean her bedroom.

  “That’s the Chairwizard,” whispered Faith. “Branwen Williams.”

  “Faith Braithwaite!” said the old woman. Her voice had a lilt to it. “Kit Spencer! This way! The council is ready for you.” She beckoned them to the opening in the wall.

  Just like under Chatsworth Library, the tunnel was lined with books, but this one was much, much bigger. You could have driven a train through it. A double-decker train, with a couple of spies having a dramatic fight on top of it.

  A green glow appeared in the tunnel ahead. Kit got a shivery feeling of powerful magic. She felt a little like this in the wood beneath Chatsworth Library, but this was different. It was like the difference between being tickled with a feather and jumping into a swimming pool full of wriggly snakes. Her whole body felt as though it was bursting with light.

  Then she saw the wood.

  “Oh!”

  She’d never seen anything like it. A lump formed in her throat. It was beautiful. The view, not the lump.

  Branwen stopped and gestured around. “Ah yes. I forget what it must be like to see it for the first time. Quite a sight, isn’t it?”

  The trees seemed to stretch forever, under a curving greenish sky. There were firs and oaks, chestnut trees and little blossoming apple trees, all with leaves that once were pages, and trunks carved with spells. There were huge ancient trees and brand-new shoots, and everywhere there was a gentle breeze and the sound of ruffling pages.

  “Where are we meeting the others?” asked Faith.

  Branwen pointed to a tree nearby. “Downstairs.”

  Faith’s eyes lit up. “You’re going to love this, Kit.”

  As Branwen approached, a door opened in the tree, just like the door that led down to Draca’s lair back home.

  The magical thrumming excitement inside her grew.

  “Are we going to see the dragon?” she asked.

  “Yes,” said Branwen as she began to climb slowly down the spiral stairs inside the tree. “But more importantly, she’s going to see YOU. I set a lot of store by her opinion, mark you.”

  They climbed down for a long time. Kit’s mind wandered as she took painfully slow steps behind the older wizard.

  “How many wizards are there on the council?” she asked Faith.

  “Seven,” said Faith. “Well. There are seven council members. Six of them are wizards.”

  “Wow, so they allow non-wizards on the council?” asked Kit.

  “You’ll find out,” said Branwen. “Always in a hurry, the young. You wouldn’t be in such a hurry if you knew how fast time flies.”

  Kit thought that was typical. Old people loved giving advice on how to be young. She didn’t go around giving advice about being old, did she?

  As they reached the bottom of the staircase they came to a pair of doors that looked like they belonged on a castle, which opened as Branwen approached.

  In the stone chamber beyond the doors, there lay exactly what Kit had been hoping to see. A dragon. Huge and red, with vast folded wings and puffs of smoke emerging from its spiky nostrils.

  Around the dragon stood a group of elderly men and women, all wearing blue cloaks – two women and three men.

  “This is Edith, Iyesha, Kwame, John and Duc,” said Branwen, gesturing vaguely to all of them, unhelpfully.

  “I’m Edith,” said a pale old woman with thin grey hair, who leaned on a stick.

  “Iyesha,” said a friendly woman with a round face and a bright sari. “Welcome, Kit and Faith. I hope your journey wasn’t too hard?”

  “There was a lot of jelly,” said Kit, feeling shy and awkward.

  “Ready? Then we’ll begin,” said Branwen.

  And then, as they all touched the dragon’s scales, everything went black.

  And just like that, Kit, Faith and the council were inside the dragon’s dream. The wizards found themselves sitting round a circular table, each in an ornate chair. The dragon sat with them, currently human-sized.

  “Kit, this is Draig,” said Branwen. “The seventh member of our council.” She gestured at the dragon.

  Ohhhh, thought Kit. That kind of non-wizard!

  Draig bowed her head. “A pleasure to meet you, little one.”

  “Hello, Draig,” said Kit. She felt very shy all of a sudden. She didn’t like being surrounded by so many ancient grown-ups in such a formal place.

  “Thank you for having us here,” said Faith, nudging Kit.

  “Yes, thank you!” said Kit.

  “Do have some tea,” said Draig.

  Cups of tea appeared on the table in front of them, along with a plate of buns with raisins in, and some sticky orange home-made sweets.

  Iyesha piled a heap of them on to her plate before passing them down the table. “Mmmm,” she said. “Jalebi! Thank you Draig!”

  “We’re here for something very special,” said Branwen. “A moment that only happens once every century or so. This is only the second time I have ever witnessed it myself.”

  How old IS she? Kit wo
ndered. She was very grateful that she didn’t say it out loud for a second, until she realised that the dragon would be able to hear her thoughts. But Draig didn’t give her away. She merely waggled her scaly brows.

  The wizards all held hands round the table. Faith took Kit’s, and Kit held the dry, wrinkly hand of the wizard beside her.

  Kit heard a low rumbling from all around them. It grew gradually louder, and turned into a kind of music. Not the kind you get from instruments, but something like the sound of a storm, tuned into beautiful melodies and thundering beats. Kit held her breath. The stone table where they were sitting began to change. The tea and sweets were gone. They were all on their feet, with no chairs in sight.

  Now they were in a wild wood, standing round a dark pool by moonlight. The surface of the pool rippled, sending circles out from the centre. The dark water grew lighter, and redder, and suddenly the pool was made of fire. Flames licked up from the surface and Kit felt the urge to jump back, but her hands were held tightly. She looked up at Faith, who nodded to her, as though to say, “Everything’s OK.”

  Everything is OK, Kit told herself. But something was coming.

  The dragon, Draig, had closed her eyes. Even within the dream she seemed to be going deeper into her own world. She started to hum, a low sound that joined with the sound of the rumbling. Then, out of the pool of fire, rose a shape, like a giant rugby ball.

  No, not a ball. An egg.

  Draig reached for it. She held it up in her claws for everyone to see. Her smile spread wide and sharp. Her eyes flashed. “It is done!” she said in the lowest of purrs.

  “Congratulations!” said one of the council members. He held up an imaginary glass in a “cheers” gesture. As he did so, the glass appeared and he drained it.

  “Is that what I think it is?” asked Kit, pointing at the egg.

  “If you think it’s a dragon’s egg, then yes,” said Faith.