The Worst Witch to the Rescue (6 page)

‘I’ll just
try
, Miss Mould,’ called Ethel. ‘They can’t be allowed to escape.’

Ethel turned and faced the snakes across the tables. She raised her arms high above her head to keep her hands as far away as possible, flexing her fingers towards them and murmuring a spell very softly in a pulsing tone. There was a zigzag flash, followed by a loud crack and smoke which smelled like gunpowder. As the smoke began to clear, the image of the snakes hung for a
few seconds in the air, then disintegrated and vaporized so that nothing was left of them at all.

At Ethel and Mildred’s table, Ethel’s clay coils were where she had left them, but Mildred’s half-made pot and the remaining coils were blown apart in jagged lumps, with bits of clay spattered up the walls and all over Mildred’s chair.

Miss Mould stood gaping by the door. Most of the pupils were already in the corridor, but they all craned their necks around Miss Mould to see into the art room. Apart from Ethel, Mildred was
the only other pupil still there, near the doorway.

Ethel turned around with a beaming smile. ‘Just as well I studied
that
one for fun during the hols,’ she said triumphantly. ‘It’s all right, Miss Mould – it was only a simple blasting spell called Smithereens. They won’t come back now.’

Miss Mould ushered Form Three back into the room and gathered them together in the sculpture space while she examined the table to make sure it was safe. Mildred was shocked to the core. It was
her
pot that had done this and she had absolutely no idea why.

On cue, Miss Hardbroom was suddenly standing in the doorway.

‘Oh, Miss Hardbroom!’ exclaimed Miss Mould. ‘Thank
goodness
you’re here. Mildred Hubble’s coil pot suddenly turned into a
nest
of snakes and if Ethel hadn’t been quick off the mark I fear there would have been a very serious incident indeed.’

Miss Hardbroom fixed Mildred with her laser-beam glare.

‘Mildred Hubble,’ she said, icily calm. ‘Why is this no surprise to me?’

‘I-I-I,’ was all Mildred could manage. ‘I – it – I don’t – it wasn’t – I never –’

‘Stop
wittering
, Mildred!’ barked Miss Hardbroom. ‘I suppose this is your idea of livening things up a bit, putting your classmates in mortal danger. What on
earth
were you thinking of? Thank goodness Ethel has such school spirit. It was extremely brave of you, Ethel, to take on – what were they, Miss Mould?’

‘Five rattlesnakes, Miss Hardbroom,’ said Miss Mould faintly.

‘
Five rattlesnakes!
’ exclaimed Miss Hardbroom. ‘This is worse than I thought. Obviously pottery is a subject fraught with danger for everyone else while you are in the class, Mildred! You’d better have extra lessons on classroom etiquette with me for the rest of term or Miss Mould will find herself in charge of a zoo. Go to your room for the rest of the lesson, while I help to get this class back to some semblance of normality.’

Mildred stood transfixed, still shocked.

‘Now!’ ordered Miss Hardbroom.

Mildred turned and barged past her classmates, catching a fleeting glimpse of the horrified faces of Maud and Enid as she raced away from all the commotion and out into the cool stone corridor.

abby, who was asleep on Mildred’s pillow, was nearly flattened as Mildred hurled herself on to her narrow iron bedstead, sobbing as if her heart would break. Tabby had jumped out of the way on to the window sill, but he soon realized that his mistress was upset and busied himself twining around her head, leaning against her, chirruping and purring, and eventually giving up and sitting squarely on her back, purring like a car engine.

She had been so
happy
for once – everything had got off to such a good start and for the first time ever a new teacher had singled her out as brilliant in front of everyone. She’d even praised her above Ethel. Ethel! Mildred raised herself up on her elbows and Tabby slid down her back and rolled off on to the bedcover.

‘It was
Ethel
, Tab,’ said Mildred, sitting up and knuckling her eyes. ‘Ethel did it, when she asked to hold my pot and feel all the coils. She was casting a spell on them. I might have known Ethel wouldn’t have truly been interested in anything
I’d
done. Oh, Tabby, it wasn’t
my
fault Miss Mould liked my work better – and now everyone thinks it was me who conjured up those awful snakes.’

Mildred took off her overall, got into the bed and pulled the covers right up to her eyes. Tabby was very pleased
about this and nestled into the pillow around the top of her head. She wished she had managed to sort out a speaking spell for larger animals, then Tabby could have actually held a conversation with her. On the other hand, it would have been terrible when it ended forever after two weeks and, come to think of it, he virtually
did
speak to her with all his nudging and purring. He had the most soothing purr, loud and constant, a sort of massage for the mind.

She tried concentrating on the positive aspects of her situation – not that she could think of many. It was
sort
of positive that she hadn’t been expelled on the spot; it was
very
positive that potions was the first lesson after lunch, so she had the perfect chance to redeem herself when Miss Hardbroom asked them to present their holiday projects. She glanced across at the blue folder lying proudly on top of her pile of school books.

‘A t least I’ve still got
you
,’ she said to herself, blowing a kiss across the room.

Someone tapped lightly on the door. Mildred didn’t answer, afraid it might be Ethel come to gloat.

‘Mildred?’ She heard Maud’s voice. ‘Are you in there? It’s me – and Enid. Can we come in?’

Mildred climbed out of the bed and opened the door.

‘All right,’ she said. ‘I’m surprised
you’re brave enough to come anywhere near me. I don’t suppose you’ll believe me if I tell you it was Ethel.’