CHAPTER FOUR

‘That’s not really a magic wand,’ James said. ‘It’s just an old stick.’

He and Ben were sitting under a tree in the park, while Tim and Sarah dug up the dirt nearby. Sarah was James’s little sister, and she had freckles and long red-gold hair, with a very short, crooked fringe which she had chopped herself with her mother’s kitchen scissors. Sarah always wore pink. Today she was dressed as a fairy princess, with a pink tutu, a shiny silver plastic tiara, and high-heeled fluffy pink slippers. She was getting rather grubby in the dirt. Ben’s mum and James’s mum were sitting on a picnic rug nearby, looking at the sparkling water of the bay and talking.

‘It is a wand,’ Ben said stubbornly. ‘It’s oak, the most ancient and powerful wood in the world.’

‘Says who?’

‘Says the witch’s cat.’

‘Yeah, sure,’ James said. ‘Cats can’t talk.’

‘This is a witch’s cat and it talked,’ Ben said. ‘It told me a spell to say.’ He squinted up at the sun, which was a hot white ball in the middle of a very blue sky.

‘So say the spell then.’

‘I will when it’s exactly noon,’ Ben said.

‘I bet it doesn’t work.’

‘I bet it does.’

‘I bet it doesn’t.’

‘I bet you a pile of dragon’s gold that it does!’

‘OK,’ James said. ‘That’d be good.’

At last the sun was directly overhead. Ben took a deep breath, stood up and pointed his wand straight up. ‘With these magic words, I begin my spell,’ he said. ‘Hear me, first star, hear me well. Send me dragon gold, from the days of old. The spell has been cast, let the magic last.’

Then, out of the blazing heat of the sun, a dragon came plunging towards them. It came so fast that Ben only had time to gasp and drop his wand, throwing his arms over his head. Then the dragon’s leathery golden wings snapped open, blotting out the sun. With a triumphant scream, it snatched Sarah up in its claws and soared away.

‘Gracious!’ Mum cried. ‘What a noise! Was that you, Ben? I wish you wouldn’t screech like that.’

Ben couldn’t speak. She glanced over at him, then frowned a little, looking around. ‘Where’s Sarah?’ she asked.

No-one answered. James was so white all his freckles stood out as if they’d been splodged on with an orange crayon.

Then Tim pointed to the sky. ‘Up dere,’ he said.

‘Where, darling?’

‘Up dere.’

‘A dragon took her,’ Ben said. His voice sounded funny.

‘Ben!’ she said. ‘This isn’t the time for making up stories. Where did she go?’

‘It’s true, a dragon did take her,’ Ben said.

‘Oh, Ben!’ Mum said in exasperation and called to James’s mum. The two mothers began to look everywhere, shouting Sarah’s name, their voices getting higher and shriller.

‘What are we going to do?’ James whispered.

‘We’ll have to get her back . . . somehow,’ Ben answered, feeling quite sick.

‘Me too?’ Tim asked.

‘But how? Where?’ James asked.

‘I’ll go and ask the cat,’ Ben said.

‘OK,’ James said.

‘You’ve got to admit dragons really do exist,’ Ben said. ‘And that my wand is magic.’

‘Yeah, I suppose so,’ James said. ‘I wish it wasn’t though.’

So did Ben.