Dragonfire Series Books 4-6 by Anne Forbes

Author:Anne Forbes [Anne Forbes]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782500797
Publisher: Floris Books
Published: 2013-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

21. Pumpkin Pie

Neil looked appreciatively round the auditorium of the school’s little theatre. It was buzzing with excited chatter as by this time most of the classes had filed in and everyone was more or less seated. Mrs Weston slipped into her seat at the end of the row and the other teachers, too, he noticed, had started to take their places, a sure sign that the play was due to start soon. His eyes sharpened as he noticed that Herr von Grozny, sitting with his form class, was in the row in front of him. A sudden flutter of worry made Neil frown. Nothing, surely, could go wrong with Pumpkin Pie?

If the truth be told, he’d felt uneasy ever since they’d got back from Edinburgh. Odd things bothered him. Clara, for a start; for despite the MacArthur’s assurances that the protective hex he’d put round the talisman would mean that no one would sense its magic, she’d been worried at wearing it in school, pushing the clasp halfway up her arm so that her sweater would hide it. Neil sighed, knowing that the last couple of rehearsals had been a bit nerve-racking for her. However, Miss Markham didn’t seem to have noticed anything and she wouldn’t see von Grozny any time soon as her next German lesson wasn’t until the following week.

She’ll be fine, he told himself. After all, the witches would hardly try anything on during the play. Not, he reckoned, with the formidable Queen of the Earth Witches in the wings. No, he was letting his imagination run away with him. Anyway, what could possibly happen during a school play with the theatre full of teachers?

Then he remembered a few of his friends giggling with some of the third year boys. Something was going to happen, he thought suddenly. After putting half of them in detention at the start of the term, Miss Markham wasn’t at all popular with the third year and he’d vaguely gathered that they were up to some sort of mischief. But was it connected with the play? Some of them had sisters in Clara’s year — surely they wouldn’t do anything to sabotage the performance? Looking behind him, however, he immediately had his suspicions confirmed. The third years were sitting quietly enough but there was an air of suppressed excitement about them that told him all he wanted to know … and his heart sank …

Just then, the lights dimmed and a spotlight blazed, illuminating the sinister, threatening figure of Miss Markham who slid evilly from behind the gold-tasselled, red velvet curtains. She had dressed for the occasion in witch’s clothes and although she’d added a pair of rather daring, red and white striped stockings to her ensemble, her presence sent a frisson of unease round the audience. There was an immediate outbreak of hissing, which was quickly quelled by the staff and by Miss Markham herself as, with a furious glare round the hall, she welcomed them to the dress rehearsal of Pumpkin Pie.

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