Treasure Hunt by Titania Woods

Author:Titania Woods
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

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Chapter Five

‘What will you have?’ asked Miss Honey impatiently. ‘Candied nuts, sweet seeds? Come along, girl, there’s a queue behind you!’

Hovering at the tuck shop counter, Twink glanced over her shoulder at the queue of first-year students. ‘Well – I don’t want to buy anything,’ she confessed. ‘I just wondered if you need any help.’

‘Help?’ Miss Honey stared at her in amazement. ‘Why should I need help selling sweets to you lot?’

‘You just . . . look really busy,’ faltered Twink. She was certain that Miss Honey – a thin, bad-tempered fairy with drooping gold wings – would tell her to flap off if she started talking about decades-old lost rings. But she had to get into that tuck shop – it was where Gran had first noticed that her ring was missing!

‘I am busy,’ snapped Miss Honey. ‘Which is why you need to move along, if you’re not buying anything! Next!’

A First Year with purple hair sped up to the counter. ‘I’ll have –’

‘No, wait!’ burst out Twink, thinking fast. ‘I mean – you look really busy, but – but it’s also a project I’m doing! We’re meant to help one of the teachers for a few hours, and see what life is like for them.’

Twink held her breath, praying that Miss Honey would believe her. Peering into the tuck shop she could see teetering wooden shelves and dark corners. Oh, there were loads of places a lost ring could be!

Miss Honey snorted. ‘See what my life is like, eh? Which teacher thought that one up? All right, then – you can sort all the sweet seeds according to size, if you’re so keen.’

She lifted the counter up, and Twink shot into the shop. ‘Thank you!’ she said fervently.

‘No chit-chat,’ retorted Miss Honey as she banged the counter closed again. ‘My life’s not about chit-chat; you can write that in your report! Now, there are the seeds.’ She turned back to the queue. ‘Next!’

Twink stared in dismay at the overflowing walnut-shell bucket of seeds. This would take ages! When would she get a chance to search? Slowly, she started sorting.

Half an hour later Twink’s fingers were aching, but the seed level in the bucket hardly seemed any lower. Even worse, her free hour would soon be over, and the tuck shop manager showed no sign of leaving.

Miss Honey appeared beside her, glowering. ‘Is that all you’ve sorted?’ she scoffed. ‘Huh! In my day, fairies knew how to work!’

All at once an idea came to Twink. She nodded, trying to look downcast. ‘I’m sorry, Miss Honey,’ she said. ‘I suppose you could have done it much better.’

Miss Honey frowned. ‘Well, of course I’ve had more practice,’ she admitted. ‘Work, work, work, that’s all I ever do!’ Grabbing a broom made of dried twigs, she attacked the floor with it, stirring up great clouds of dust.

‘I know,’ said Twink, holding back a cough. ‘All the other girls chose a teacher for their project, but I wanted to see what life was like for you.

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