Magicalamity by Kate Saunders

Author:Kate Saunders [Saunders, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-375-98928-5
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2012-12-11T05:00:00+00:00

14

The Adorers

Tom didn’t lose his head. “The broom!” he hissed at Lorna.

“What?”

He pushed past her and grabbed a long broom that was leaning against the wall and held it out over the seething gloop in the vat. Pindar took hold of the handle and together Tom and Lorna dragged him out onto the concrete floor.

Tom couldn’t see anything at first except a dark shape in a reeking cloud of steam. He watched it fearfully, bracing himself in case Pindar had turned into a hideous lizard—he swore to himself that he’d still like his cousin no matter how ugly he was, but how could Pindar ever come to live in the mortal world if he looked like Godzilla’s grandfather?

“Bum!” Lorna cursed softly. “We’ve made a right mess of this!”

Tom and Lorna stood gaping at Pindar as the steam cleared.

“This is bad, isn’t it?” Pindar looked at his arms and legs. The potion had evaporated very fast, leaving his jeans and T-shirt spotlessly clean and dry—they even looked ironed. “I’m not scaly anymore, but tell me the truth—I can take it! How …? How ugly am I?”

Tom caught Lorna’s eye—and they both suddenly burst out laughing. When you’re not supposed to laugh, it is very hard to stop, and Tom had to put his hands over his mouth to keep quiet. Lorna laughed so hard that she had tears in her eyes.

“Wow, I must be totally repulsive,” said Pindar.

“Repulsive?” Tom managed to calm down. He had only laughed because he was so shocked. “You must be kidding! You’re really, really HANDSOME!”

“Who, me?”

“Yes, my dear Pindar,” Lorna said, wiping her eyes. “You’re beautiful!”

And it was true. The old Pindar had had a big nose like a turned-up duck’s beak, and great flat ears. The new Pindar had the same friendly, helpful, slightly worried expression, on a face of film-star handsomeness—Tom felt slightly shy of the gorgeous stranger, until his cousin sneezed, turning bright red, and he saw that the essential Pindar was just the same.

“Well, we’ve done the job,” Lorna said. “Nobody will recognize him now—his own parents wouldn’t know him.” She looked searchingly at Pindar. “Though funnily enough, he looks more like you now, Tom—in fact, he looks just like your father when we were at college. There must be more Harding in him than we thought. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

The three of them hurried back to the front of the shop, and Tom wondered if the new Pindar really looked like him. Obviously he wasn’t as handsome as Pindar, but his cousin did suddenly look like a much younger version of Dad, and he was distracted by another pang of longing for his parents—would he ever see them again?

But there was no time to worry about that now. Dahlia came out of the chemist’s shop carrying three heavy bags. “Where have you BEEN? I had to buy all his wretched special offers!” She glanced sharply at Pindar. “Where’s Pindar? And why is this gorgeous boy trying to spy on us? Buzz off, you attractive rascal!”

“This is Pindar,” Tom said.

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