7

Ben And Gran Begin The Search

In the kitchen, later that day, Ben dragged a chair across to the wall where the calendar was hanging. Last year, when he’d wanted to know about the autumn, Gran had shown him how to mark off the days. It was March now and there were thirteen crosses on the page. Ben could see that there was a small picture of a moon in the box for Saturday – that was today. Did it mean that the calendar showed when every full moon would be? Ben looked at the page for April and he could see the same moon picture in the box for Sunday the twelfth of April. Just then Gran came into the kitchen.

‘Hello,’ she said. ‘Trying to work out when the holidays start?’

‘No,’ Ben answered. ‘I want to know how long it is between tomorrow and this day.’ He pointed to the April page on the calendar, ‘and I want to know if this picture means it will be a full moon on those days.’

Gran frowned. ‘Yes it does, but what are you up to, young man? I hope you’re not planning to do anything that you shouldn’t?’

‘Not really.’ He grinned at her. ‘I’ve promised to help Lox and the wizard find some things and it has to be done before the next full moon. Can you help me?’

Ben explained that he’d been asked to find some unusual plants, but that he’d forgotten to ask the wizard or Lox where to look for them.

‘That was a bit silly,’ Gran said. ‘They could be anywhere.’

‘I know,’ he said, ‘but I was a bit scared when I was in the spider caves. Oh–’ he tapped himself on the head, ‘I forgot – there might be something in my notebook.’ He opened it at the pages where he’d drawn the pictures of the plants.

‘See,’ he pointed. ‘This one’s called the Fairy Wing Flower, and this one’s the Dragon’s Breath Fern. It says that the flower sometimes grows under a tree, and the fern grows near a stream.’

‘Well that’s not much help,’ Gran said. ‘The stream could be anywhere, and there are hundreds of trees around here. What type of tree?’

Ben looked puzzled. ‘I don’t know. There was a picture of a tree but I didn’t have time to copy it properly. It had funny-shaped leaves, and it was a bit like those trees in the park next to Mrs Jenkins’s house. You know, the ones where the birds were fighting over the berries last year.’

‘I think you mean the rowan trees,’ Gran said. ‘So, as long as the wizard didn’t mean one particular tree, that could be a good place to look.’

Ben wanted to rush off right away but his gran reminded him that he’d said the ingredients had to be found in the same week. If he found the flower quickly and then couldn’t find the fern until another week, he’d have to go back for more flowers. If they really were magic then Gran didn’t think it was a good idea to take too many.

‘Now, what about the fern?’ she asked him. ‘Any thoughts on that?’

Ben shook his head. ‘Nothing. What can I do? Can we look on the computer for ideas?’

Gran nodded. ‘I suppose so, but I won’t be much help to you. I’m not very quick with it you know, but I can help with spelling, and reading what you find. We could have a look in your dad’s gardening books as well, but I don’t think these kinds of plants would be in there. What about the library?’

Ben groaned. ‘Oh Gran! That’ll take ages. It’s much quicker on the computer.’

‘I’ll make a deal with you then,’ she said. ‘I’ll help you with the computer once or twice in the week, but then you come to the library with me on Saturdays. Not everything’s on the computer, you know.’

‘All right,’ he agreed, ‘but I have to find out where to look as soon as I can. Is it a long time until the holidays?’

Gran looked at a piece of paper that was pinned up near the calendar. Ben’s mum had put it there to remind her of all the school events.

‘Look,’ Gran pointed. ‘You break up in two weeks and a few days. Then you have another twelve days before the next full moon.’

They agreed that they’d begin looking for clues about the Dragon’s Breath Fern the next day. Ben knew that Gran still couldn’t walk too far, so he hoped that the ferns were nearby. There was no way that he could go out on his own, and even if Jess was still talking to him properly, he knew she wouldn’t go with him. He had an idea about the last item on his list – the seven tears – but he didn’t want to tell Gran just yet.

The next two weeks seemed to go by so slowly for Ben. He went to school and tried hard to make up with Jess, but she still preferred to spend time with Kelly. Twice a week Gran helped him to search on the computer for clues about the plants, but they found nothing.

On two Saturdays Ben’s mum drove him and Gran to the library in the nearby town. Gran knew the lady who worked there and she explained that Ben was looking for a book on unusual plants for a project that he was doing. He smiled when she said that, but it was true in a way, wasn’t it? They stayed for two hours each time but they still didn’t find anything.