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  ‘Shhhh,’ said Mr Coddler, the Master of Homework (a Marshlin Flitterwig with bare webbed feet and a decidedly fishy scent), from the front of the hall.

  Ella looked at Charlie helplessly.

  ‘Remember he gave you that hoop? His earring?’ hissed Charlie through his teeth.

  ‘That’s it! Detention, Snoppit,’ bellowed Mr Coddler, appearing out of nowhere by his desk. Charlie jumped. He really didn’t like the way some teachers at Hedgeberry could do that.

  Of course Ella remembered! She looked at Charlie apologetically. The Queen had broken the Ban on contact between Flitterwigs and Magicals that day, and Mr Elton Wrinkles, the Queen’s Goblin Protector, had given her his earring to rub should she ever need his help. The earring was in her skateboard bag, in her room.

  Ten minutes later, Charlie was marched off to detention (his second in as many days on Ella’s account), frowning under his spiky white hair and muttering all sorts of curses under his breath. Ella, meanwhile, had skipped dinner altogether and hurried up to her room to find Mr Wrinkle’s earring.

  She rubbed it furiously.

  Within minutes, Ella heard a loud pop come from the bathroom. She ran to the sound. There was Mr Wrinkles, a little wet, but illustriously attired nonetheless, freckles covered up with foundation, standing in the sink and shaking himself down.

  ‘You called, dear?’ he said, licking his third finger and rearranging his spiky white hair in his reflection on the tap from whence he had appeared.

  ‘I’m so sorry to bother you,’ said Ella, hoping to Magic that she hadn’t just called on one of the most important Magicals of Magus for no good reason. ‘How are you?’

  ‘All right, my dear, in the circumstances. Rather a lot going on these days, what with the reconciliation of the Magicals and the Flitterwigs to sort out, as you know. A planet in crisis. Environmental damage control to be undertaken. That sort of thing.’

  Ella thought it best not to waste the good goblin’s time. She got straight to the point.

  ‘I think something has happened to Dixon,’ she said.

  ‘Dixon?’ said Wrinkles, his brow furrowing. He hopped up onto the edge of the sink and surveyed the stripy multicoloured walls with disdain. ‘Goodness, who decorates this place?’ he said.

  ‘Yes, Dixon,’ said Ella.

  ‘Who’s Dixon?’ Wrinkles said, and then stopped himself. ‘Ah yes, the pixie, the one we chose to be the Queen’s messenger when the Dewdrops were stolen. Yes. Of course.’

  Ella could hardly believe her ears. Was Dixon a nobody to them? Her best friend!

  ‘Yes, him,’ said Ella, rather pointedly.

  ‘Well, what do you think has happened to him?’ said Wrinkles, looking thoughtfully at the girl. However busy he was, she was the Clearheart, after all.

  ‘He didn’t turn up yesterday or today, and he usually does, you see,’ said Ella limply. It didn’t sound that dreadful when she said it like that.

  ‘Well, he is a pixie, after all,’ said Wrinkles, stepping onto Ella’s outstretched hand and sitting cross-legged upon it. ‘They aren’t that reliable at the best of times, don’t you know.’

  Ella didn’t really know what to say to that, but she blurted, ‘But he always comes to see me. Without fail.’

  Wrinkles looked up at her and his eyes twinkled kindly. ‘I suspect that if he has been with you ever since I last saw you, he probably has some work to catch up on, or family to see.’

  Ella was feeling rather silly for having called on him now. ‘I suppose so,’ she said.

  ‘Well, if that’s all, dear,’ said Wrinkles, looking over at the tap in the sink with little enthusiasm, ‘I’d better be off. Rather a lot of, you know, sorting out between two worlds to do, if you know what I mean.’

  Ella felt really foolish now. ‘Of course,’ she said. ‘So sorry to have bothered you.’

  ‘Any time,’ said Wrinkles, shifting himself off her palm and moving across the sink to turn the tap on. ‘Toodleoo,’ he said, hopping down under the spray of water and disappearing up inside the tap with a loud slurp.

  Ella turned the tap off and stared into the mirror, nonplussed.

  As Ella got into bed, Samantha, who was getting into her pyjamas, leaned over to her. ‘You okay?’ she asked, falling forwards and bumping her head on Ella’s knee.

  Helping her friend back up before dropping back onto her pillow, Ella just sighed.

  chapter 9

  dreams & dunkings

  But as Ella wished for sleep and the dreams that come with it, she found herself missing Dixon still. Something was not right. She knew it. She thought back on her adventures months ago, when she had been called upon to save the Sacred Dewdrops. As her eyes drooped, a faint smell of lavender reached her senses. It grew stronger and stronger, making her drowsy. Trusting the smell, for it reminded her of her dead mother and her Flitterwig grandmother, Manna, she closed her eyes tightly and breathed it in, clutching the tip of her left ear between her fingers instinctively.

  In her dreams she was taken back, first to Manna’s house where she had learnt of her elven heritage, and then to Spain, where she had travelled after her Granny and Grandpa had been Shrinkified by the Duke and Saul. The Spanish elves danced in her dreams and Don Posiblemente flickered before her eyes.

  She woke with a start. It was the middle of the night. Samantha snored peacefully beside her. Ella’s shoulders were itching and her ears tingled. Her hair flared up around her (without anyone to cut her hair shorter these days, it was getting way too long, for it grew much faster than it should). She had to find Charlie.

  Tiptoeing across the silent hall, down the steps and up the other side, Ella crept into the boys’ wing. There were doors everywhere. How on earth was she supposed to find him? Feeling her breath coming in short, sharp bursts, she wished she had brought her inhaler. Asthma was such a bore. Stopping for a moment to calm herself, Ella closed her eyes and followed her nose. She picked out the subtle, slightly mossy smell of frog through all the other smells in the corridor. Peat, thyme, socks, the oil students used to grease their skateboard wheels. She moved towards the mossy smell. Past the first door in the boys’ wing, past the second. At the third she paused. The smell was coming from in there. Ella padded in, past a boy who rustled in his sleep, and another who snored. Past one who smelt of basil, and another who smelt damp and mouldy. There was Charlie. His froggy friend, Harold, slept soundly on the bedside table.

  ‘Charlie,’ she whispered urgently. ‘Wake up.’

  Charlie sat up, startled, and reached for his specs. There was a croak from his bedside table.

  ‘What the…?’ croaked Harold.

  ‘Shh,’ said Ella.

  ‘Please hush, I think you mean,’ croaked Harold, not that Ella could understand him. She clamped her hand over his mouth.

  ‘Stop it, you two,’ whispered Charlie, sliding out of bed and grabbing the frog. The boy in the neighbouring bed stirred. Charlie felt around for the boy’s wet sponge and tucked it back into his arms.

  ‘Marshlin Flitterwig,’ he whispered, by way of explanation. ‘Loves wet stuff.’

  Every fibre in Charlie’s body was alert. He could feel an energy emanating from Ella that he hadn’t encountered since their adventures at the beginning of summer. Clutching her hand in his, he led her from his dorm, along the corridor, down to the loggia and out into the gardens beyond.

  ‘What is it?’ he demanded, when he was sure they were far enough away not to be overheard.

  ‘We have to get to Don Posiblemente,’ said Ella. ‘He’ll know how to help us. Dixon is in danger. I just know it.’

  Charlie shook his head to clear his thoughts. ‘Ella,’ he said, ‘it’s the middle of the night, we are in our pyjamas, and we are complete novices at the art of magic. What exactly do you want me to do?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Ella, ‘but I smelt lavender in my dreams and I saw Don Posiblemente in them too, so whatever it is, you need to do it quickly.’

&nbs
p; If it hadn’t been Ella telling him what to do, Charlie would have suggested that she was being an idiot and that they should both wait until dawn and have breakfast before they do anything at all. But it was Ella. And it was Charlie’s destiny to protect her. So, whether he wanted to or not, he felt compelled to act at once.

  ‘Go and get dressed, and meet me back here as soon as you can,’ he told her.

  Ella did as she was told. Without waking a soul, she slipped on her T-shirt, dungarees and trainers, grabbed her hoodie, inhaler and skateboard bag and made her way out into the grounds.

  Charlie was standing in the shadows of a mulberry bush talking to the Marshlin Flitterwig from his dorm. Humphrey Scrumphries stood beside them both, rocking back and forth on his feet, his eyes closed under his long fringe, luxuriating in night-time.

  As Ella approached she heard Charlie speak. ‘Toby, you’re a Marshlin Flitterwig, for Magic’s sake. You’re a natural around water. Just show us where the most powerful Waterway is, and then go back to bed.’ Toby stared soggily back at him, half asleep. ‘I’ll do your Animumble homework for a week,’ Charlie added, by way of incentive.

  Toby’s eyes lit up. He shook his head awake and sniffed the air. ‘Two weeks and you’ve got a deal,’ the boy said. Charlie frowned at him and nodded reluctantly. The Marshlin Flitterwig was off across the field at once.

  ‘But what if we get spotted, Charlie?’ said Ella. ‘Who knows who might be out and about at this time of night.’ She nodded at Humphrey by way of example.

  Harold winked at Charlie. Charlie winked at Humphrey. Humphrey just stared.

  ‘What?’ he asked.

  ‘Would you mind Bongling us, Humph?’ asked Charlie.

  Humphrey let his shoulders sag and his neck roll back as if this was the hardest thing he had ever been asked to do. ‘Rule number two, remember?’

  ‘Well, actually,’ said Charlie, ‘I haven’t read the rules yet. But we really don’t have time to mess around now, so would you mind?’

  Humphrey looked sideways at Ella. ‘I would really appreciate it, Humph,’ she said, looking into his eyes and placing her hand on his hopefully.

  ‘Oh, fine,’ he intoned. ‘But you do know it only lasts a little while. I haven’t got any better at it than that yet. I only get to practise Bongling during the holidays usually, with my parents. There aren’t any other Moglins at Hedgeberry, you see, so no-one else does it.’ The boy looked sad.

  Ella smiled at him. ‘Thanks so much,’ she said, squeezing his arm gratefully.

  Humphrey clasped his eyes shut, tweaked his ear, put his hands on the children and started to mutter. Ella and Charlie disappeared.

  They ran across the field in the direction Toby had set off in, bumping into each other as they went. Being invisible, neither had any idea where the other was. They heard something splashing about and Toby’s voice. They followed the sounds to a deep, deep spring on the borders of the vegetable gardens. Toby was flinging himself around in the sparkling waters with glorious abandon. Ella shuddered. It was freezing. It must be double freezing in there! How could he do such a thing? Charlie, reading her thoughts, tried to give her a knowing look. But he couldn’t see her.

  ‘We’re going in after him, you know,’ he called out into the ether.

  ‘But we don’t even know how to travel through water,’ said Ella, beginning to shiver with the very thought of how cold it was going to be. She tried to move closer to Charlie’s voice. ‘Can you even remember the spell?’

  ‘Um, I think if you remember, you found yourself at Don Posiblemente’s that day without doing anything,’ said Charlie. He felt about himself for his Protectee. ‘So you’d best start getting in touch with whatever it is that makes you special, that thinking-clear-thoughts thing, quick,’ said Charlie, not particularly looking forward to plunging into the ice-cold spring himself. ‘Just think of Don Posiblemente, like you did last time.’

  ‘Maybe he knows what to do,’ said Ella, pointing to Toby. Not that Charlie could see her pointing, of course. Harold piped up from Charlie’s shoulder. Not that anyone could see him, for in Bongling Charlie, Humphrey had Bongled Harold too.

  ‘Ahem, I took the liberty of tucking your spell chart into your back pocket before we left,’ said Harold, sounding rather proud of himself.

  ‘You utterly brilliant frog!’ said Charlie, feeling the spell chart there and pulling it out. But he couldn’t see it.

  ‘Try letting go of it,’ said Harold. Charlie did and, sure enough, as soon as he was not in contact with it the chart debongled at once. It lay on the grass, shining in the moonlight.

  Seeing the spell chart land on the grass out of nowhere, Toby scrambled out of the water.

  ‘I’m going to get in such trouble,’ he cried, spooked by what he had just seen. He set back off across the vegetable gardens towards Hedgeberry, unable to see either of the two Bongled children (though he could hear voices coming from somewhere). ‘Such trouble,’ he cried.

  Charlie and Ella looked about uncertainly. They were beginning to debongle. Ella picked up the spell chart. It sparkled magically. She thought of Dixon and her hair flared up about her. The tingling sensation began again in her neck, around her ears, across her shoulders. She had to find him. But she didn’t have a clue what to do. So she closed her eyes and thought back to her dream. She remembered the Spanish Elves and the castanet full of water and how they had told her it wasn’t wrong to wish for something.

  She opened her eyes and tweaked her ear. It was worth a shot. Reading with difficultly in the moonlight, she muttered the spell out loud.

  ‘I wish we were with Don Posiblemente,’ she added, tweaking her ear with two fingers. Grabbing about wildly until she found Charlie’s barely visible hand, she jumped into the cold depths of the spring, hoping to goodness the spell chart would survive the journey.

  In the shadows of a mulberry bush near the school building, a collection of white elves rushed about in ever-decreasing circles, trying to find their ward. One minute she had been there, talking to somebody, the next she was gone. ‘I think there must be something in the water here on Earth,’ their captain declared. ‘For I am having a lot of trouble thinking straight these days.’

  chapter 10

  prophecies & possibilities

  ‘Well that is certainly not the usual way to travel through water,’ said Don Posiblemente, looking up at the children fondly as they both debongled fully at the top of his stairwell. He wore a long brown dressing gown, and as the children descended the stairs they noticed that his thick beard and curly hair smelt of spices and honey. His brown eyes twinkled under thick eyebrows and his ears shifted back and forth as he scratched his chin. Charlie raised his own meagre eyebrows as he noticed how big Don Posiblemente’s were. ‘You are most lucky that your Clearhearted energy was so potently sent across the channels. I was just about to go to bed.’

  Don Posiblemente ushered the children down the stairs and into the drawing room. Charlie and Ella stood by the Don’s sofa while his companion Carmen, a dwarf lady, passed pussy willow over them, Harold and the spell chart.

  ‘It’s interesting,’ said Don Posiblemente, ‘I have been keeping my staircase open lately, for no particular reason, with my dear Literditty friends on standby for any signals. You remember the Literditties, don’t you Ella? Imps that read a lot. They help me with my research.’ Don Posiblemente pointed to a delightful little imp dressed in aquamarine with oversized glasses, inky hands and a gracefully pointed face. The Literditty bowed his head politely to the children. ‘I believe you made a surprise visit the other day, my dear,’ he said. ‘I told them not to send you away next time. And here you are.’

  Charlie and Ella stared up at him innocently, relieved and surprised to find themselves in the warm, solid confines of Don Posiblemente’s drawing room. His deep mahogany voice was reassuring to them both. The experience of being whistled down myriad tunnels of water at two hundred miles per hour had shaken Charlie rather a lot. Ella, how
ever, had done it before.

  ‘Do sit,’ he said, once they were dry. ‘When you think and wish, you certainly think and wish from the heart, Ella,’ he said. ‘To wish yourself here is quite something indeed.’ He chuckled to himself. ‘The spell alone would never have done it.’

  ‘Are we in Spain?’ Charlie asked.

  ‘You are,’ Don Posiblemente replied. ‘Although I am sure you should not be,’ he added, frowning deeply. ‘I am sure you should be fast asleep. Something important must be up, Ella, for your thoughts and wishes to be so powerful that you have managed to think the three of you here.’ The Don looked at Harold on Charlie’s shoulder and winked. Harold, surprised, winked back. Carmen sashayed out of the room dreamily.

  ‘Dixon is missing,’ said Ella, simply. And then, remembering her manners, she added, ‘Hello, Don Posiblemente. How are you?’

  Don Posiblemente chuckled. ‘Oh, you are a charming young lady,’ he said, regarding Ella with sincere affection. ‘I am well,’ he answered. ‘Thank you for asking. Although I am a little busy these days, what with trying to sort out how things will work between Magus and Earth. Not that that is a bad thing. For now that we are working together, we Flitterwigs and Magicals can really step up our environmental protection efforts. With the escalation of damage being caused by the pure human population, this moment could not have arrived too soon. But we are unused to communicating with one another, so talks must be managed diplomatically. It will take time. You have brought a brave new world to us all, Ella. You are very special.’

  Ella smiled up at him politely through a tangle of hair. Obviously he hadn’t seen her trying to fly lately.

  Don Posiblemente’s golden labrador, Pedro, raised himself from the rug and buried his nose in Charlie’s lap.

  ‘Pleased to meet you too,’ Charlie said to Pedro, although Ella hadn’t heard the dog say anything and would not have understood him if she had.