Jody Richards and The Secret Potion (16 page)

But the two snakes, fangs exposed, approached to within inches of where Jody was standing, causing her to shake uncontrollably. The shock of seeing the snakes had made her less drowsy and she now stood on tip-toe in the hope that it would take her further away from the slimly serpents.

Nick-Knack was also overcome with fear. “Get them away from me,” he screamed.

The Bag Man lit the shirt and waved it frantically at the snakes just in time to drive them back. But six more began to appear, three from each barrel, hissing to show their displeasure.

Augustine and Hugo Toby watched in delight. “This is great entertainment, Hugo,” said his brother. “You have excelled yourself.”

The shirt burnt brightly for a while. Then it crumbled into a mass of ash. And several snakes moved relentlessly forward, fangs sticking out in expectation as they went in for the kill.

Chapter Twenty-Six

THE Bag Man frantically pulled off his coat and set that on fire as well. He dangled it in front of the snakes and it had the desired effect by causing them to slither away.

But he admitted: “My coat won’t burn for long, either. You boys will have to take some clothes off as well, so that we can use them as torches. Can someone hand me something else?”

“It’s hopeless,” sighed Nick-Knack.

“Shut up,” yelled a frantic Bunter, struggling to pull off his jumper. As he did so he looked up into the clouds, which seemed to be parted by something emerging from them.

“What’s that?” he exclaimed.

The Bag Man, James and Nick-Knack were too pre-occupied with the snakes, but Jody also peered into the sky. At first she thought she was simply feverish and not focusing properly.

She shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand and stared hard at the object as it drew closer. Even with her vision slightly blurred, she could make out a white flying horse.

“It’s Wiffle,” she cried with delight. “He’s come to rescue us.”

“Uga Oooo” exclaimed the Bag Man.

Soon they could clearly see the large, friendly figure of the white-bearded Wiffle sitting astride his graceful horse Nesbeth. The horse came to rest immediately outside the cage between the six still drowsy dogs.

Augustine and Toby, looking like gunslingers in a wild-west scene, went for their wands, but Wiffle was too quick for them.

“Red hot hands” he cried, clicking his fingers. Immediately the Toby brothers’ hands were struck by bolts of flame, and they dropped their wands.

“I don’t need a wand to beat you,” Augustine The Awful stormed, his voice full of venom. “Statues” he yelled, and raised his hand to weave a spell on his adversary.

But Wiffle was again one move ahead of him and before Augustine could complete the curse, the white-haired wizard waved his sparkling silver wand at the Tobys and said: “Reverse”.

With that the Toby brothers became motionless – they were suddenly frozen like statues, having had Augustine’s spell reversed on them.

Bodger barked fiercely at Wiffle and circled around Nesbeth menacingly, causing the startled horse to rear up.

Wiffle remained calm, however, and snapped his fingers to make the dog stop in his tracks. Bodger was trying desperately to move, but it was as if an invisible lead was holding him back.

“Oh, Wiffle,” Jody called to him weakly. “I’m so glad you came.”

“Yes,” added the Bag Man. “We couldn’t be more delighted to see you. Can you please get rid of these snakes?” As he spoke the snakes slithered forward again, hissing fiercely.

“Consider it done,” said Wiffle, snapping his fingers once more. Immediately the barrels and the snakes disappeared.

But, as the boys jumped about with joy, Jody suddenly let out an agonising cry. “Oh, no” she shrieked at the top of her voice.

“What’s the matter?” James asked, concerned. “Is that dog bite getting worse?

“It’s not that,” she wailed. “I forgot about the curse the witch had placed on me. I didn’t tell Wiffle I was a very naughty girl who couldn’t be trusted and now my nose has grown another half inch.”

They all looked at her nose, which she had covered with her hands. When she took them away it was enormous.

“Well, let me start by putting that right and making the dog bite better, too,” boomed Wiffle so that the traumatised girl could hear him through her sobs. He clapped his hands with the result that Jody’s nose was instantly restored to its right size and her finger was no longer cut. Her fever was also gone. She was overcome with happiness and relief.

“If you explain what the curse was that the witch placed on you I’ll be able to lift it completely,” Wiffle added, alighting from Nesbeth, who folded his wings to his body. “But tell me what is that awful smell?”

Jody explained about the spells Hugo Toby had placed on them, first by making them smell of raw meat and then filling their cage with poisonous snakes. And she also told Wiffle what the witch had said; including what would happen if she jumped off a wall again. Wiffle clapped his hands three times, muttering some magic chant with each clap.

“The curses have been lifted,” he said.

“Thank goodness for that,” Nick-Knack sighed. “That smell of meat was awful.”

“Now let me remove this cage,” said Wiffle. As the larger-than-life wizard spoke he clicked his fingers and the cage disappeared.

Immediately, Bunter raced off behind some bushes to relieve himself.

At the same time Bodger, having been straining to break free from the trance Wiffle had put him in, finally did so and leapt forward to attack Jody.

But Wiffle came to the rescue once more. He clapped his hands and the dog was jerked back fiercely as he found himself chained to a nearby tree.

“Thank you Wiffle,” muttered a shaken Jody, who knew how close she had come to being savaged.

“He won’t harm you now,” Wiffle assured her.

Bunter returned and exclaimed: “I’m so relieved.”

“Don’t be coarse, Bunter,” said James.

“I mean relieved that we’re all safe at last.” Bunter retorted.

“You obviously received our latest SOS message and worked it out,” the Bag Man said to Wiffle.

“Actually, it was received by someone else,” Wiffle replied. “I had a visit from my next door neighbour Mrs. Parker-Smythe this morning to complain about one of my cats having left another deposit on her lawn. It was she who got your message.”

“What do you mean?” the Bag Man asked.

“Well, Mrs. Parker-Smythe had just knocked at my front door and had scarcely uttered a few words when three short bursts of rain fell on her head,” replied Wiffle.

“Oh, I’m so very sorry,” the Bag Man said. “I had no idea something like that would happen.”

“It wouldn’t have been so bad,” Wiffle told him. “But I asked her to step inside the hall and when she did so the three short bursts of water were repeated – the good lady was drenched from head to toe.”

The recently caged fivesome lowered their heads in shame.

It was a few seconds before they looked up to see that Wiffle’s big bushy eyebrows were rising as his face creased into a huge grin. “Actually it was quite hilarious,” he assured them. “It was all I could do to prevent myself laughing until after she had gone. Unfortunately, to make matters worse, my parrot chose that moment to cry out some of the words Mrs. Parker-Smythe had used when she met Jody.”

“Which words were they?” Jody asked.

“First he treated her to ‘Fancy getting your hair wet through – you silly girl’ and then he reminded her that ‘Ladies don’t have accidents’.” They all fell about laughing and Jody was almost doubled in two with hysterics.

The Bag Man finally returned to more serious matters.

“Presumably, you guessed that the rain showers were caused by me,” he said.

Yes,” Wiffle replied. “I remembered it was a repeat of the joke you once played on me. But this time I thought it might be serious. Even you wouldn’t have dared to play such a silly trick twice.”

“We did send bursts of water outside your front door yesterday as well, but perhaps you didn’t hear them,” said James.

“No, I was out a lot of the time,” Wiffle informed him. “But when I returned I found my doorstep was very wet.”

“How did you know where we were?” chimed in Bunter.

“I didn’t for sure,” admitted Wiffle. “But I had meant to check up on Jody anyway. As she had not returned I feared she might have got into some difficulties, even though she didn’t summons my little fairy Heatherbelle on the magic whistle Heatherbelle gave her.”

Jody looked guilty. “I’m afraid I lost the whistle when I jumped over a wall and landed on the witch.”

“Never mind,” said Wiffle. “Milo’s rain trick reminded me that I had told Jody about him. So I decided the least I could do was to fly over to the Island of Visions myself and look for you. I had an inkling you might be near Augustine The Awful’s castle. What was it like to meet up with your old enemy Augustine again, Milo? Not very nice, I imagine.”

“To quote Augustine himself, that would be the understatement of the year,” reflected the Bag Man.

“You must tell me all about it,” Wiffle replied.

Jody and the Bag Man explained to the wizard in detail about their capture and escape.

“Well, well, well,” mused Wiffle. “I’d have loved to have seen Augustine Toby turned into a frog. Unfortunately, he is now back to normal and as soon as my spell wears off he and his brother will revert to their old evil ways.”

“How long will the spell you’ve put on them last?” asked Jody, looking across at the statuesque figures of the Toby brothers.

“Not long,” sighed Wiffle. “Then they’ll be back to wreck havoc as they look for the secret of everlasting life.”

At that very moment Augustine The Awful’s enormous mental strength enabled him to finally free himself from the spell.

Both he and Wiffle went for their wands, but this time the evil wizard was a fraction quicker and his cry of “Red hot hands” caused Wiffle to drop his silver stick.

Augustine was in his element and was in the middle of uttering a curse when Jody acted.

She picked up the bottle Augustine had given her earlier and threw the contents over both him and his brother, who was also slowly regaining movement as Wiffle’s earlier spell wore off. Their heads were covered in dirty water, which ran down their faces.

No more words came from Augustine’s rubbery lips. Instead, he seemed completely bemused. Hugo appeared equally puzzled.

Augustine and Hugo looked at each other and then at Wiffle, Jody and The Bag Man without any hint of recognition.

“What’s going on?” demanded Augustine? Do I know any of you?”

“Don’t you remember?” asked Bunter.

“If I did I wouldn’t be asking you, would I?” Augustine replied, spitefully.

“I can’t remember, either,” said Hugo, looking equally perplexed.

“Do you mean you’ve lost your memory?” asked Nick-Knack. “Perhaps I can be of help to you.” But before he could say anything more James kicked him on the shin.

“Ouch,” cried Nick-Knack. “That really hurt.”

“Allow me,” interjected The Bag Man. “You work in that castle over there.” He pointed through the trees to Augustine’s castle. “Why don’t you go there now and seek out the pixie called Olaf who is in charge.”

Augustine and Toby exchanged bewildered glances. “I work for a pixie?” thundered Augustine.

“You would be wise to show Olaf great respect, especially as you have lost your memory,” said The Bag Man. “Why not go to the castle now and speak to him yourself.”

“Rest assured we will,” said Hugo.

With that, they turned on their heels and headed for the castle.

“Well, that’s got rid of them,” said Jody. “The contents of that bottle must have been water from Augustine’s moat so it has caused them to lose their memories. That’s why he wanted me to drink it. I’m so glad I didn’t.”

“You were brilliant,” said James proudly.

“Yes,” added Wiffle. “Augustine The Awful had disarmed me, but you acted so quickly he didn’t have time to put a curse on me. It couldn’t have turned out better. Now they have not only forgotten about gaining revenge – they no longer have any memory about wanting to find the secret of everlasting life, either.”

“But what about the witches?” asked a bemused Nick-Knack, scratching his crew cut. “There’s nothing to stop the witches stealing the golden berry juice and mixing it with their own potions.”

“He’s right,” Bunter told Wiffle. “One witch has already got into the castle’s storeroom, only to be eaten by a monster who was guarding the barrels containing some of the special ingredients for the formula. But Jody and the Bag Man poisoned the monster and, as Augustine The Awful has lost his memory, nobody can stop the witches now.”

Jody, showing a trace of impatience, retorted: “I told you we put acid in each of the barrels. It’s strong stuff that burns the rust off cars. If the witches tried to drink that they would be violently sick and I’m sure it would mess up the formula.”