Magic Puppy: Cloud Capers (4 page)

‘Look at this sunny weather. You’d never think the wind conditions were all wrong for flying, would you?’ Mr Tennant complained.

Jessica hadn’t got the heart to remind him that this often happened on ballooning weekends, which was another reason why she was sometimes so bored. But things were different for her now that she had such a special friend. Storm!

She smiled to herself as she imagined the look on her dad’s face if he knew that there was an invisible magic puppy a few centimetres away from him.

‘Never mind, Dad. There’s still the nightglow,’ she said to him, patting his arm. ‘People always love seeing the balloons lit up by the burners in the
dark while they’re still roped to the ground.’

He smiled. ‘Well, you’ve cheered up, I must say. I thought at one point that you were going to be Miss Glum all weekend!’

‘Da-ad! I wasn’t that bad!’ Jessica said indignantly. She gave him a friendly shove.

He grinned. ‘Says who? If your face had got any longer, you would have tripped right over it and trodden your nose into a button!’

Jessica couldn’t help laughing. Her dad joined in.

After a few seconds, he wiped his eyes. ‘Well, since there’s not going to be a race this evening, I’m going to get the barbecue going. But first I’m going
to have a cold drink and relax.’ He took a copy of
Aerostat
magazine out of a nearby cupboard.

With her dad nearby, Jessica couldn’t talk to Storm. She decided to take him for a short walk. ‘I think I might have another look around,’ she said to her dad.

Storm’s ears pricked up immediately at the prospect of a walk. He jumped
down with a soft
thud
and stood bright-eyed, wagging his tail hopefully.

Jessica smiled at him, feeling all light and happy. With a twinge of guilt she realized that she wasn’t missing Sheena half as much any more. She hoped her best friend wasn’t feeling too poorly.

Jessica and Storm set off in a roundabout way to avoid the tethered balloons and the noise of the gas burners, which Jessica knew still upset the little puppy.

They came to the biggest bouncy castle she had ever seen. It had dozens of towers and archways and things to climb on. There was even a giant slide. Kids were laughing and screaming as they bounced around having fun.

‘Go on, you wimp. Just jump straight
on to it. It’s not going to bite you!’ cried an impatient voice.

It was Gayle and she was with her little brother, still wearing his Spider-man T-shirt.

‘Gayle’s with Mikey. Let’s go and see what’s going on,’ Jessica said to Storm.

Storm woofed softly in agreement.

‘I don’t want to get on it. There’re too many big kids!’ Gayle’s little brother wailed, backing away.

Jessica could see that Mikey was close to tears but trying to hide it.

‘You should have thought of that before I paid for a ticket!’ Gayle complained. ‘It was out of my pocket money too and I bet I won’t get that back. You’re such a pest! Go on, Mikey. Get up there!’

‘No-oooo! Leave me alone,’ Mikey sniffled.

Jessica felt her temper rising. ‘Don’t be mean, Gayle. He doesn’t have to go on if he doesn’t want to!’ she said.

Gayle rounded on her furiously. ‘Who asked you to stick your nose in? Mikey’s just chicken.
Cluck! Cluck!
’ she mocked, flapping her arms.

‘I’m not chicken! I’m not!’ Mikey burst into tears.

Jessica’s temper snapped. She glared at
Gayle. ‘You’re just a rotten bully!’ she burst out.

Gayle narrowed her eyes. ‘Who are you calling names?’

Jessica gulped as the older girl took a step towards her. Gayle suddenly seemed very tall and tough.

Storm softly growled a warning and showed his sharp little teeth. Jessica felt another warm tingling sensation flowing down her spine.

Something very strange was about to happen.

Chapter
FIVE

As Jessica watched, big gold sparks bloomed in Storm’s brown-and-white fur, and his ears and tail fizzed with tiny lightning flashes of power. He raised a tiny front paw and a spray of shimmering glitter shot out and whizzed round Gayle like a mini-tornado.

Gayle stopped dead as the magical
sparkles whirled faster and faster. A strange blank expression came over her face. Suddenly, she whipped round, ran forward and jumped straight up on to the bouncy castle.

Gayle did two small bounces and then on the third one she was launched high into the air before turning a triple somersault. As soon as she landed she went straight up again, somersaulted and twisted into two backflips.

The other kids stopped and watched her. They started clapping and cheering.

Mikey was no longer crying. His jaw dropped as he watched Gayle bouncing higher and higher, doing even more complicated jumps and twists.

‘Aargh! What’s happening?’ Gayle
cried, turning over and over, her arms windmilling madly and her legs working as if she was riding a bike.

‘Hey! You! That’s not allowed! Stop that at once!’ the man in charge ordered, storming over.

‘I can’t! Help!’ Gayle burbled, doing a handstand and another backflip. Suddenly, she did an extra-big bounce. She shot off the bouncy castle like a
cork out of a bottle and landed on her feet a few metres away from Jessica. She stood there swaying.

‘I think I’m going to be sick,’ she groaned, her face greenish.

‘Wow! That was ace!’ Mikey cried. ‘Watch me, Gayle!’ He seemed to have lost all his nervousness as he jumped straight on to the castle.

Gayle ignored him as she sank to the grass and sat there in a daze.

Jessica was trying hard not to laugh. ‘Storm!’ she scolded gently.

Storm tucked his tail between his legs. ‘I am sorry. I think I used too much magic.’

Jessica smiled at him. ‘Never mind. Maybe it’ll teach old bossyboots Gayle a lesson. And look at Mikey.
He’s really enjoying himself on the castle now! Come on, let’s go for a walk.’

Storm’s midnight-blue eyes widened. ‘My favourite thing!’

The delicious smell of barbecued sausages wafted towards Jessica as she and Storm walked back to the camper about an hour later.

Her dad waved hello to her with a pair of tongs. He was wearing a new apron with a bright-green frog with big googly eyes on the front.

The other High Flyers were relaxing nearby in camping chairs and talking about hot-air ballooning as usual. They greeted Jessica and smiled at her as she and Storm went across to her mum,
who was sitting at the table making a salad.

‘Hello, love. Did you have a good time?’ Mrs Tennant asked.

‘Yeah, we saw some people dressed as moving statues and there was a magician, but it’s starting to get really busy now and Storm was almost getting trodden on –’ Jessica broke off. She couldn’t believe that she’d been so careless! But luckily her mum was busy cutting up tomatoes and didn’t seem to have heard. ‘I… um… got a bit fed up with pushing through the crowds,’ she finished hastily.

Her mum nodded. ‘I suppose people are here for the nightglows and the fireworks. Do you want one hot dog or two?’

‘Two please,’ Jessica said at once.
One for me and one for Storm
, she thought, hoping her mum wouldn’t think her greedy!

She took her plate and went to sit on the grass while she ate. ‘Phew! That was close. I’m rubbish at keeping secrets. I promise I’ll get better!’ she said to Storm.

Storm nodded, his head on one side as he chewed up his hot dog.

After they all finished eating, Jessica helped her mum clear up. The sky turned to violet with pink streaks as the sun set and lights began coming on in the other campers and motorhomes. Her dad and the other High Flyers went to get the balloon ready for the nightglow. ‘Shall we go
and watch?’ Jessica’s mum said, drying her hands.

‘OK. I’ll follow you in a minute. I just want to get my shoulder bag. I think you’ll be safer if you get inside it,’ she whispered to Storm.

Storm jumped straight in with an eager little woof. As Jessica wandered across to the balloon display area, he settled down and poked out his head to look around.

The tethered balloons seemed a bit dull and unimpressive against the evening sky, but at a given signal all the burners were turned on. The balloons lit up, their brilliant colours shining green, gold, red and blue, like glowing Chinese lanterns.

Storm yapped excitedly, forgetting to
be nervous for a minute. ‘They are brighter than the Northern Lights that ripple across the sky in the long dark winter.’

Jessica smiled wistfully, trying to imagine this wonderful sight. The other world where Storm lived as a young wolf must be very strange and wonderful.

Jessica caught sight of Gayle walking towards them. ‘Uh-oh, here comes trouble,’ she whispered.

As Gayle reached Jessica’s mum and dad, she gave them a brilliant smile. ‘Hi. Isn’t it a lovely evening,’ she called sweetly.

Jessica frowned. ‘Gayle seems in a good mood. I wonder why.’

‘Hi! I came to find you. I thought you’d be watching the nightglow,’ Gayle said, smiling. She was twirling a necklace with a heart-shaped blue stone between her fingers. ‘Look what my dad just bought me. Do you like it?’

‘It’s really pretty,’ Jessica said.

Gayle smirked. ‘I know. Mum and Dad are really cool. They’re always
buying me presents. I bet you’d love a necklace like this.’

Jessica shrugged. ‘Yeah, I suppose. But I’m not that bothered. I usually only get presents on my birthday or for special occasions.’

‘Poor you. What a shame that your mum and dad don’t have pots of money. Anyone can tell that by looking at your scruffy old camper,’ Gayle commented.

‘I like our camper and it’s not scruffy! It’s only got a few scratches,’ Jessica exclaimed, starting to get annoyed again. She made a huge effort to calm down. It just wasn’t worth getting all steamed up over Gayle’s pathetic comments.

‘That was really weird on the bouncy
castle earlier, wasn’t it?’ Gayle said.