by E. M. Cooper
Marnie glanced at the clock again. With seconds to spare, its ticking was deafening. She took a deep breath and with her heart pounding, stepped forwards and over the edge of the platform. Her stomach rose to meet her throat. Within a few seconds, she landed on a plump cushion and was skidding on a wide slide through the fog before being thrown squealing high into the air.
* * *
CHAPTER 8
Fanglewick
Claws scraped Marnie’s ankles and voices hissed at her as she spun through swirling clouds. She could barely breathe and almost choked on the dank smell of sulphur and death. She clung to her case and with her boots fended off creatures with crazed eyeballs and batlike wings. Although her journey lasted less than a minute, the terror left her shaking. She skidded through a feathery bush that slowed her fall onto a soft lawn, where she lay winded and panting under a star-filled sky. It was only then she realised the creatures from the demonic halo had stolen her boots, socks and jacket. The sweet scent of violets wafted over her, soothing and calming her as the purple light of the vortex above faded. Puzzled that she could see the vortex spinning and retreating, Marnie rubbed her skull in search of bumps, suspecting she had banged her head or was dreaming. Moments later she saw a vortex touch down on the grass close by and a figure crawling from the light on her hands and knees.
‘I was told the vortices can be unpredictable, but this is ridiculous,’ said a girl wearing a skin-tight outfit that shimmered like fish scales in the moonlight. She had long blonde braids held by a thin gold ribbon around her head, which exposed her large pointed ears. She looked at her leggings. ‘Oh, and I’ve torn my spans.’
Marnie stood while trying not to stare at the girl’s ears and her aqua eyes. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Yes, thanks, just didn’t expect to be dropped here.’
‘Hi, I’m Marnie.’
‘My name’s Lissa.’ She climbed to her feet and gazed up a path lit by old lanterns hanging on curved metal posts. ‘Are you alright?’
‘Yes, thanks, I’m fine, although I’m glad to have made it past those demons.’
Lissa nodded. ‘I was absolutely terrified. No matter how many times they told us they probably wouldn’t kill us, it didn’t really help, did it? And it was my second time. Was it your first?’
‘Yes.’
‘Poor you. Still, you made it alive.’
In the garden light, Marnie could see elegantly trimmed trees and shrubs and a curved path of paving stones. ‘Where are we?’
Lissa pointed behind her.
Marnie swung around and saw a path zigzagging up a hill to an imposing building with spires, turrets and towers, many storeys high and brightly lit. Fanciful gargoyles scampered over rooftops, peered out from behind chimneys or clung to the greenish grey brick walls. ‘What is this place?’
‘Fanglewick, of course. Beautiful, isn’t it? They say, once you’ve seen it, you never want to leave.’
‘I’ve never seen anything like it.’ A figure moved on the far side of a large round fishpond. Marnie pointed at the short creature with long wide ears up a ladder. He was wearing a torch strapped around his head while trimming hedges into fish shapes.
‘He’s a goblin,’ Lissa whispered. ‘This must be the water garden. Come on let’s go.’ They wandered from the water garden and up the path beyond white marble statues of girls and boys with flowers around their heads playing a game as though frozen in time. ‘They say Fanglewick’s alive.’
Marnie half laughed, not knowing what she meant.
‘It’s true, well from what I’ve heard.’ Lissa, who was slender and agile like a tall gymnast, moved gracefully ahead of Marnie. ‘Parts of the building change at night. Towers and rooms disappear, change and reappear. Some of the gargoyles get so confused, they end up on the lawn running around and have to be helped back.’
Marnie gazed at the building in awe.
‘You must be a witch.’
‘Pardon?’
‘You don’t end up at Fanglewick accidentally. You have to intend it. Given your quirky sense of humour and your attire,’ she glanced at Marnie’s feet, ‘I logically deduced you must be a witch.’
‘But I’m not.’ Marnie wondered how many unusual beings populated the Old World.
‘What are you then? A wizard?’
‘Human, although I’ve been told I’m a scatterling—part wizard.’
‘Oh, are you sure?’
Marnie wondered what ‘oh’ meant.
‘So, you don’t know if you’ve any magic ability. Still, you survived the demonic halo. That means you’re either extremely lucky or you have wizarding genes. Whether they’re any good, I suppose you’ll find out here.’ Lissa looked at Marnie’s feet again. ‘Did you lose your shoes in the halo?’
Marnie nodded. ‘And my jacket and socks.’
‘That’s bad luck. So you forgot?’
‘Sorry?’
‘To double knot your footwear and zip your jacket?’
‘Um, yes, I suppose I did.’
‘Those demons are tricky and quick. In my world, officials check us before we go.’
Marnie shivered and rubbed her arms. ‘Where are you from?’
‘Alveria, of course.’
Marnie looked at her blankly.
‘The elfin kingdom.’
‘Sorry, I don’t know it.’
‘How’s that possible?’
‘I didn’t know about this world until a few weeks ago either.’
‘Our kingdom overlaps your Earth, just as the Old World does.’ Lissa looked at her with a puzzled expression. ‘Didn’t you learn that at school?’
Marnie shook her head. ‘Earth, Alveria and this world—three different worlds?’ Was this just a strange dream?
‘Actually there are more.’
A horn blasted from the buildings.
‘They’re calling us for the exam. We’d better hurry.’
Marnie felt a wave of nausea. ‘The exam’s going to be inside a building that’s falling down?’
‘No, we’ll be on the ground floor in the rooms that don’t change.’
Marnie hoped Lissa knew what she was talking about.
‘Today’s the last day you can sit the exam before next year, so we can’t miss it. Are you ready?’
Marnie half laughed.
‘I take that as a no. Don’t worry; you can always come back next year. I don’t think they’re fussy. I heard about a boy from your world who did it three times before being accepted. He was the oldest first year ever, sixteen, I think, but he eventually got his licence when he was twenty.’
After they had crossed a lawn to an archway leading into Fanglewick, a boy in robes with a long, dark ponytail came rushing across the grass.
‘Quick, the doors close in fifteen minutes.’ His voice was loud and deep although he only looked a year or two older than Marnie. ‘Do you have your sponsor cards ready?’
Marnie raised her eyebrows at Lissa.
‘We both got tossed out of our vortices early and ended up down the hill,’ Lissa said quickly. ‘She dropped it in the garden and we’ve been looking for it since.’
The boy sighed. ‘We’ve a problem with itchy imps on this side of the school, especially down the hill.’
Marnie worried her head would explode.
‘You know—tiny, thieving imps—bright yellow skin, sharp teeth and long fingers.’ He laughed. ‘Kind of hard to overlook.’
Lissa winked at Marnie. ‘Oh yes, I saw one close to where we touched down on the lawn. He probably grabbed her card when she was crawling out of the vortex.’
Oliver shook his head. ‘Opportunists.’ Pointing at Marnie’s bare feet, he gave her a cheeky grin. ‘Forget something?’
‘The halo demons took them.’
He chuckled as he took paper and pen from his pocket. ‘Name, address, sponsor, house, please?’
‘My name’s Marnie Speck from 3 Hirst St, Downfell, Earth, and my sponsor is, um ...’ Think, Marnie think
.
The boy and Lissa looked at her expectantly.
‘Um, Mage Theodore Mystilic.’
The boy kept writing. ‘How do you spell Mystilic?’
‘I’m not sure.’
‘What house are you applying for?’
Marnie shrugged.
‘Andromeda’s great,’ he said. ‘I’ve been there for a year now and I love it.’
‘Okay,’ said Marnie limply.
‘Stand back, please,’ the boy said. ‘Don’t want to scorch you before your exam.’
The girls obeyed as he plucked a wand from his gown and waved it over the paper. It glowed red before turning into an official-looking card. ‘They’ll never know.’ He grinned again showing dimples in his tan cheeks. ‘My name’s Oliver, by the way.’ He handed Marnie her card. ‘Don’t tell anyone you lost your card or what I did, will you? I’d get expelled.’
Marnie shook her head. ‘Of course not. Thanks, Oliver.’
‘Righteo, take your cards and let the guards at the door check them before you enter. Don’t give them any cheek ’cause they won’t let you in if you do,’ he said. ‘Hurry, run.’
Marnie stopped and opened her case when they reached the veranda and pulled on a jumper and striped socks while Lissa waited. When she was ready, they approached Fanglewick together. A large sign with the words, ‘Fanglewick Entrance Examination’ sat on a trestle table beside open double doors.
‘I’m terrified,’ Lissa whispered.
‘Me too.’
‘Sponsor cards?’ asked a creature in a thick accent, spraying the air with his question. From the neck up he was like an overgrown goat with curly brows although he had a man’s body and was wearing what appeared to be light metallic armour.
Marnie held her card out to the goat man and he examined it closely before returning it to her.
‘You may enter. Please leave your bags just inside the door.’
‘What was that?’
‘No idea,’ whispered Lissa, ‘but I was warned to expect strange things at Fanglewick.’
‘Silence,’ a young, blond man in a long navy gown and gloves said to Marnie and Lissa as they entered the hall and dropped their bags on the growing pile. He pointed at the ‘no talking’ signs hanging on the walls and gazed at Marnie’s socks but didn’t comment. With a grim expression, he ushered them each to a small wooden desk and told them to sit and wait for their papers.
Marnie fiddled with a pencil and tapped her fingers trying to keep her tension at bay. The huge hall they sat in had great arched struts and a sky blue ceiling painted with people on flying dragons and fluffy great clouds. As she examined the scene, it changed slowly with mountains and forests coming into view on the far side of the hall. Closer to her, an army of slender elves with flowing hair marched overhead. She could have sat watching the scenes unfold for hours.
She counted ten rows and ten columns of desks around her and wondered how many testing sessions there had been before hers. Sitting at the other desks were kids her age or older and all appeared wide-eyed and anxious to begin. From the back of the room, she could see Charlie’s big head in the front row and Seb in the third row on the other side of the room.
Eventually a gong sounded. The paintings on the ceiling faded and merged into a grey tone. A woman wearing a majestic black gown and bright purple cloak swept into the room, her footsteps echoing off the polished wood floor. She stepped onto a platform between two magnificent golden statues of creatures with the back half of a lion and the head, talons and wings of an eagle. The woman raised her hands for attention.
‘Welcome everyone. I am Professor Mae Crabwinkle, head of Fanglewick. I’ll be monitoring your exam today. I wish you all the best of luck and hope to see you here at the school this year.’
While she spoke, more adults in dark robes marched into the room and each stood adjacent to the first desk in each row, obviously to act as supervisors.
‘The first part of the exam is one hour of logic puzzles. You may start now.’ Professor Crabwinkle waved a wand, and after a puffing noise and a few sparks, booklets appeared from thin air above each candidate before floating to their desk.
Once she had recovered from the shock of the magical papers, Marnie wrote her name on the cover of her paper and raced to turn the page. Inside, the first problem was a clock face puzzle. Relieved it looked familiar; she hurried to work it out. By the time the first hour had passed, she had finished about fifty questions with shapes and patterns in various colours and combinations and although she had no idea how she had done, she was happy it was over.
‘Pencils down and hands off desks.’ When everyone had obeyed the professor, she waved her wand and the papers vanished. ‘There will be a break. You’ll find flaming cocoa, spider cakes and other fare out the door to the left. Please return here for the numerical exam in twenty minutes.’
‘Are you coming to have something to eat?’ Lissa asked Marnie.
‘I can’t.’
She frowned curiously.
‘I’m avoiding a boy from my world.’
Lissa smiled. ‘Boys can be a problem. Wait here and I’ll get you something.’
The blond man in the navy gown remained in the hall surveying the few remaining students while standing in front of the cordoned-off stairs. A creaking, cracking sound echoed from above the hall, startling Marnie, but the man didn’t flinch.
When Lissa returned, she gave Marnie a sandwich. ‘Most of the elves and wizarding types seem to be choosing these in preference to the spider cakes.’
‘Were there real spiders in them?’
‘I’m not sure. I wasn’t game to try one.’ She raised her eyebrows and spoke in a low tone. ‘They say goblins prepare the food at Fanglewick.’
‘Is that a bad thing?’
Lissa shrugged.
By the time Marnie had wolfed down the food and drink, Professor Crabwinkle had returned and the room was filling rapidly. When everyone had settled, the gong rang again and the professor conjured a new set of tests. Marnie opened the paper and relaxed when she saw numbers on every page. She tore through the paper, managing to finish it minutes before the hour was over. With only one part of the exam to go, Marnie hoped she might have a chance. While she waited for Professor Crabwinkle to call time on the test, she yawned and searched her surroundings. The young man in the dark gown was staring at her curiously, no doubt because the rest of the students still had their heads down. He had normal sized ears, so she presumed he was a wizard or witch.
After the next break, Marnie waited anxiously while Professor Crabwinkle climbed onto the platform to speak.
‘The final section of the exam today is the verbal test. When you’ve finished, I’ll outline the procedure for the rest of the day. Good luck, students.’
Marnie’s stomach knotted and churned as the final paper floated from the air and onto her desk. Although she was wearing the special purple lenses, she knew she wouldn’t be able to read quickly enough to get through the paper on time. Laboriously, she read the first paragraph, a lengthy and mystifying discussion about the history of magic in the Old World followed by a question about the military strategy of a goblin army in the Battle of Marigold in Grogashire. She read through the options and decided the goblins had used bewitched axes in their war against wizards because they were familiar with their feel and use rather than them being more powerful than tall spears, wands or poison arrows. After wading through five more questions, the time was up and Marnie had failed to answer the other questions. She didn’t even have time to guess them. Dejected, she realised she wasn’t going to pass the test.
‘Pencils down, hands away, thank you,’ Professor Crabwinkle called in a singsong voice and moments later the papers pff-ed into the ether. ‘Your papers will be corrected and graded in the next hour. We will display your results for each exam where you had your break. A fourth sheet of paper will list those accepted into Fanglewick. If you’re not on that list, assemble on the lawn outside to catch
the vortices home. I hope if you’re unsuccessful this time, we’ll see you again next year. I wish you all the best of luck.’
Shell-shocked, Marnie stood and wandered after Lissa into the open area outside the exam hall, completely forgetting about Charlie and Seb. She knew she wouldn’t be staying at Fanglewick and resigned herself to the fact.
‘How did you go in the last section?’ Lissa asked.
Marnie groaned.
‘That bad?’
‘Worse.’ Marnie glanced at her. ‘How about you?’
‘No idea.’ But she seemed upbeat as though she hadn’t found it too difficult.
‘Marnie!’ a voice called out.
Alarmed, Marnie turned as Lissa stepped forward to shield her.
‘It’s okay,’ Marnie said as Seb rushed towards her and hugged her.
‘It is you. I couldn’t believe it at first. How did you get here?’ he asked.
‘Followed you,’ she said sheepishly.
‘But how did you pay to get onto the platform?’
‘Theo threw me a coin.’
He shook his head with an expression of disbelief and joy. ‘Why aren’t I surprised? You’re totally mad, you know. It’s brilliant though. Has Charlie seen you yet?’
‘No, I’ve avoided him.’
‘I can’t wait to see his face when he does.’ Seb grinned. ‘You must have been terrified crossing the halo?’
‘Yes, but probably no less than you.’
He patted her on the shoulder. ‘We did it though, didn’t we? I just hope we don’t have to return today.’
Marnie pushed the thought away. ‘Seb, this is Lissa. We met on the lawn down the hill after I was thrown from the vortex.’
‘Pleased to meet you, Lissa. Are you from here—the Old World?’
‘No, Alveria.’
He nodded.
‘So, you knew about the other dimensions?’ Marnie said to Seb.
‘Yes, but—’
‘I hope you’re not hiding any other secrets.’
Lissa coughed as though to head off a squabble.
Seb shook his head. ‘I still can’t believe you’re here. But how did you get in without a sponsor card?’
