The Magic Book series, book 1 (4 page)

“Wait!” called
Felicity. “What’s wrong? Can’t we help?”

She stopped,
flew back a little way, and turned to see the girls standing there
looking forlornly at her. The fairy let out a quiet sigh, her
shoulders drooping a little.

“I was hoping
you would know already, having broken the spell and all. Sorry, but
there simply isn’t time to explain,” and with that, she turned
abruptly and flew out of the classroom, leaving a pair of very
deflated girls behind. They turned to face one another, Sophie
asking;

“Did that
really just happen?”

“Did what
happen?” asked Felicity.

“You know, the
book fairy coming alive…..” answered a confused Sophie.

“Just kidding!”
laughed Felicity.

“You…!” Sophie
retorted, giving her sister a friendly cuff on the arm.

They both
lapsed into a moment of silence as the fact that they’d just met a
fairy began to sink in.

“A real… life…
fairy,” Felicity murmured dreamily. “Wasn’t she pretty?”

“Very…. but not
what I expected.” Sophie had a note of disappointment in her
voice.

“Mmm, I know
what you mean. I thought she was actually really quite rude.”

Sophie nodded
in agreement, adding; “And we don’t even know her name.”

“Let’s take the
book home and you can try and draw another fairy – perhaps the next
one won’t be so grumpy!” suggested Felicity.

“Yes, I’ll make
sure I draw a big smiley face and give her some colour – perhaps
she needed a little bit of pink,” agreed Sophie feeling a little
brighter now, pink being her favourite colour.

As if it had
been timed, the bell rang in the playground signalling the end of
lunch break. They put the book into Sophie’s book bag and carefully
placed it back in her drawer.

Neither twin
could concentrate on anything that afternoon. They’d been caught
gazing out of the window from which the fairy had flown on more
than one occasion, even to the point where, when their mother came
to pick them up at home time, Mrs Vincent let them out last so she
could speak to her.

“Mrs Bridger,
your girls haven’t seemed quite themselves this afternoon; very
quiet and distant. I do wonder if they are coming down with
something. Perhaps an early night do you think?”

“Oh, but we
aren’t tired...” interrupted Felicity “…it’s just that we saw a
fairy this afternoon and …..”

“That’s nice
darling,” their mother cut in, barely listening and clearly just
playing along with what she perceived as being her daughter’s
overactive imagination. “Yes, maybe an early night is a good idea
Mrs Vincent. They have had a few later ones recently what with
visiting their new pony after school.” She affectionately stroked
Felicity’s hair whilst she spoke.

“Oh Mummy…”
complained Sophie.

“We’re not
tired!” insisted Felicity again.

“Well Mrs
Vincent doesn’t need to hear all this. We can discuss it later at
home. Thank you for letting me know, Mrs Vincent. Hopefully it
won’t be anything more than too much excitement.” At that comment,
the girls smiled and exchanged a knowing glance. If only she
knew!

Their mother
watched with interest on the walk home as they talked quietly but
animatedly with each other, as if sharing a secret. No quarrelling,
no back chat as she asked them to take off their shoes. They
practically flew upstairs when asked to get changed out of their
uniforms, with not the slightest sign of their usual irritation.
Sophie was clutching her book bag to her like it was her most
treasured possession.

“Why don’t you
leave it down here?” Their mother took hold of a corner of the bag,
“I’ll check to see if there are any letters in it for me from the
school.”

“No!” squealed
the girls in unison.

“Hey, don’t
snatch!” Their mother scolded as Sophie pulled against her in an
effort to maintain her grip. “What’ve you got in there?” she
probed, her suspicions aroused. The girls anxiously looked at one
another as if trying to think of an excuse.

“Come on, let’s
see it.” Their mother held out her hand, now deeply suspicious of
its contents. They had no choice but to hand it over. Their faces
couldn’t have looked more guilt-ridden as she lifted out the old
book.

“Gosh, no
wonder your book bag was so heavy. Is it from the school library?”
she enquired whilst flicking through its pages.

“It’s, it’s….”
stammered Sophie.

“It’s not a
library book is it? There’s hardly any writing. Who does it belong
to? It’s not one of yours is it?” she asked – now quite sure this
was the reason for the secrecy earlier.

“Well, we tried
to give it back to Mrs Vincent after we found it…,” Sophie said
defensively, trying to explain.

“But Mrs
Vincent wanted to do the register and told us to put it in our
drawer for a while and we brought it home by mistake,” finished
Felicity.

“Could we just
play with it tonight? We promise to take it back tomorrow,” begged
Sophie.

“Well…”

“Please!”
implored the girls in unison.

They sensed
their mother softening a little. “But it’s just a blank notebook;
what could you play?”

“We just like
to pretend it’s magical,” offered Felicity, her fingers crossed
behind her back.

“Oh alright,
but do NOT write in it. It’s not yours remember?” relented their
mother.

“Yes!” said
Felicity, a little too enthusiastically. Their mother frowned, an
amused frown. Of all their toys, they get most excited over an old
plain notebook. She smiled to herself whilst watching two pairs of
cute little legs energetically disappearing up the stairs.

They carefully
shut their bedroom door and set the book out ready.

“Right,” said
Sophie, “this time I’m going to draw a really happy fairy.”

“Sophie, please
could I draw one this time? You’ve already had a go,” pleaded
Felicity.

“The only
problem is we’ve just promised Mummy that we wouldn’t write in
it.”

“Well, strictly
speaking we won’t be; I'll be
drawing
.”

“That’s true,”
conceded Sophie. “I can’t say I feel good about it though.”

Felicity had
already begun to sketch out her favourite fairy with the book's
pen. Then, once happy with the outline, she carefully coloured it
in using her crayons. She wondered what would happen if she
coloured outside this outline; would the fairy have sticky-out bits
when she came to life? The thought of it made her smile with
amusement. She gave her fairy blond hair, tied up in a neat little
pony tail. She wore a light purple dress on which the skirt looked
as if it had been fashioned from flower petals (short, in case a
long dress hampered flying). She had a mental image of a frustrated
little fairy with her long skirts entangled in brambles; that
wouldn’t do! They had already managed to create one irritable fairy
it seemed – she didn’t want to meet another.

“How much
longer, Felicity?” asked Sophie. She was pacing the room, not able
to settle to anything in her eager anticipation of another fairy
encounter.

“Not long
Sophie. I’d like to use some glitter glue for her wings, but we’d
have to ask mummy for that, and then she’s sure to want to see what
we’re doing.”

“The glue might
stick her wings together anyway,” worried Sophie.

“True,” agreed
Felicity – her mental picture of the fairy had now developed to not
only being trussed up helplessly in brambles, but her wings were
now stuck together too! She shook her head to get the pitiful
scenario out of her mind. “It’s very tricky to find just the right
colour for her skin… does this look OK?” she asked, slanting the
book towards Sophie so she could see.

“Oh she looks
lovely!” Sophie answered encouragingly.

“Now to colour
her eyes – blue, I think.” Felicity spoke softly as she worked.
“Some nice long eyelashes and – oh, I nearly forgot, she’ll need
shoes. Purple shoes to match her dress, maybe just a shade or two
darker, and a small pink flower for each one. I’d like those to
sparkle too, but never mind.” She completed her fairy with some
nice cherry red lips. “There!” she beamed, holding the picture up
at arm’s length for them both to admire her handy-work.

“Perfect,”
smiled Sophie. “Now let me think, what did I do last time before
the fairy appeared? Oh, I remember. You were coming back from the
toilets, and I felt guilty having drawn in the book, so I shut it
and put it down under Mrs Vincent’s chair.”

“Okay,” said
Felicity, closing the book. “We don’t have her chair, but I can’t
see that making a difference so I’ll put it on the bed here.”

They both then
settled to wait, holding hands across the bed, watching the book
intently for any sign of life. A good few minutes passed and they
began to fidget, impatient to meet their fairy.

“Nothing’s
happening, Felicity,”

“Should I take
a peak to see if she’s still there?” Felicity suggested.

“Might as
well,” Sophie sighed.

Felicity knelt
on the floor and bent her head level with the book so as to move it
as little as possible. She slowly opened it to the page where she’d
drawn the fairy.

“It’s still
there,” she whispered.

“Perhaps we
should leave the book open. Maybe that’s what upset the last
fairy,” said Sophie.

“That's a good
point,” agreed Felicity. Leaving the book open she sat back down
again to wait. Nothing.

“I don’t
understand…” puzzled Felicity.

“What if we
turn away? She might be shy,” suggested Sophie.

“Good
thinking,” agreed Felicity. Still nothing.

Next they tried
leaving the room and, when that didn’t work, they tried putting the
book back in the book bag. Nope. So they took it out again and left
it under the bed, then on the floor, then on the window sill.
Zilch!

“Oh, I’m fed
up!” erupted Felicity, overcome with frustration. “It must have
been just a stupid daydream after all.”

“Should I try
and draw one?” offered Sophie. “Maybe it’s something to do with
me.”

“Well you can,
but I’ve had enough,” snapped Felicity. “I’m going to see if
dinner’s ready.” Suddenly realising how hungry she was, she left
Sophie alone in the room.

Sophie set
herself down comfortably to draw another fairy, making her dress a
pretty pink and edging the bottom with rose petals. Her shoes
matched, with a little pink bow on each. Her hair was blond and mid
length, curling outwards at the ends, with just an Alice band to
hold it off her face. She gave her fairy blue-grey eyes, long
lashes, and beautiful wings shaded with a delicate pink hue, and of
course a happy smiley expression. Although the result of adding
eyebrows did make her look a little surprised, Sophie concluded
that was still far better than looking grumpy. Satisfied with her
effort, she placed the open book onto the bed just as her mother
called her down for dinner.

“It’s been
awfully quiet up there,” commented their mother as they took their
places at the table. “Are you sure you’re behaving?”

“Yes, seriously
we are,” nodded Felicity earnestly.

“Eat up then
ladies,” she said, as she set down plates of tuna pasta bake and
broccoli before them. The girls ate hungrily in silence, lost in
their own thoughts and eager to get back to see if Sophie’s picture
had come to life.

“Can we get
down now please?” asked Felicity as soon as she swallowed the last
mouthful of her meal.

“Don’t you want
dessert?” asked their mother.

“I’m full up,”
she answered.

“Me too,”
agreed Sophie.

“Off you go
then – take your plates out to the kitchen please,” she added
before they had a chance to evade one of their responsibilities.
Not for the first time, their mother wondered what on earth was
going on with her daughters. Refusing dessert was a first, without
even checking to see what it was too! Perhaps Mrs Vincent was
right, she pondered, maybe they were sickening for something.