Olivia ran over to the three fairies, who were fluttering beside Miss Rosamund’s desk. “Would you like to be in a group with me and my friends?” she asked.
The fairies glanced at each other and gave a small nod. “Okay, we’ll be in your group,” one of them said.
Olivia led them over to Cosmo. Grace was hurrying back too, leading an elf by the hand.
“This is Hal,” Grace said. “His ears are even pointier than mine.”
One of the fairies said, “We’re Dilly, Milly and Tilly.”
“Miaow!” Cuddle trotted up to them. She was followed by a gnome in a red hat.
“And I’m Norris,” the gnome said.
The girls introduced themselves, then Grace gently nudged Cosmo forward. “Go on,” she whispered in his ear.
“I’m Cosmo,” he said very quietly.
“Well done,” Olivia whispered. Aloud, she said, “Our group’s ready to start now.”
“Not quite,” a sneering voice said. It was the troll.
The fairy called Dilly folded her arms. “What do you want, Mossy?”
“My name’s Mossfly,” the troll said crossly. “I’m going to be in your group too. I can’t wait to see the useless unicorn mess this – eek!”
Cuddle had pounced on his foot. He waved it about, trying to shake her away.
“Get off me!” Mossfly shouted.
Grace carefully peeled Cuddle away from the troll. “No wonder our kitten doesn’t like you,” she said. “You’re being mean. You can be in our group, but only if you’re nice to everyone.”
Mossfly scowled, but eventually he nodded.
“Who wants to go first?” Olivia asked, sitting back down on one of the cushions. Cuddle curled up beside her.
“Me!” Hal the elf cried. He took an acorn out of his pocket. “I found this near the tree,” he explained. He held out his wand, which had a leaf shape on the end, screwed his eyes shut, and chanted, “Huffle, puffle, float to the moon, make this acorn a blue balloon!”
With a puff, the acorn transformed into a shiny blue balloon with a long ribbon knotted to it. Hal beamed as he held it. Grace whistled in approval, while Olivia clapped.
“You’ve found your gift!” Miss Rosumund cried, walking over. “Well done, Hal. You’re clearly meant to work with nature.”
“I’ll go next,” Norris the gnome said. He rubbed his tummy with one hand and waved his wand with the other.
The sweetie shape at the end flashed in the sunshine. Norris said, “Hizzle, fizzle, nice ice cream, make the biggest bowl I’ve ever seen!”
But no ice cream appeared. Instead, Norris’s red hat turned green. Mossfly put his warty hands over his mouth as if he were trying not to laugh.
Miss Rosumund bent down. “I think your magic gift is colours, not food,” she whispered in Norris’s ear.
“Norris has given us an idea,” Milly said. The three fairies held their wands together so the moon shapes at the end were touching.
Together they chanted, “Sugar, icing, chocolate flakes, conjure a plate of delicious cakes!”
Golden sparks fizzed from their wands and a plate of floating cakes appeared in the air. They were in paper cases and coated with pink icing.
“Fairy cakes!” Grace said. “Yummy! So food is your magic gift!”
“Who wants icky pink?” Mossfly said. He pointed his spider-tipped wand at the plate, and yelled, “Mud and worms, slugs and grime, cover those nasty cakes in slime!”
With a flash, oozing green slime appeared on the cakes, dripping off them like pond weed.
“Oh no!” the fairies cried.
“Miaow!” Cuddle stared up at Mossfly, her whiskers twitching. The slime disappeared in a cloud of green smoke.
The fairies clapped. “Thank you, Cuddle!” they said in their tinkling voices.
“It’s your turn now,” Olivia said to Cosmo. The unicorn stared at the group. His eyes were wide and his knees trembled.
Cosmo shook his head from side to side, waving his wand.
“That’s it!” Grace said. But the wand slipped out from between the unicorn’s teeth and plopped on to one of the cushions.
“It’s no good,” Cosmo said. “I don’t have a magical gift.” Then he turned and raced out of the classroom.
“Cosmo, come back!” Grace and Olivia cried. Had Cosmo given up on magic school for good?
