The Golden Acorn - Catherine Cooper [29]
‘I’d need more than one.’
‘It would need to be a wing feather so he’ll be able to fly.’
‘A wing feather! I’d need a whole plate of sandwiches to help me recover from losing one of those!’
‘I’m sure Jack wouldn’t mind.’
Jack was trying not to laugh.
‘That’s fine,’ he managed to say in a very wobbly voice.
Camelin didn’t waste any more time in negotiations.
‘Ouch!’ he yelled as he plucked out one of his wing feathers then staggered dramatically around the table. ‘Oh! I feel so dizzy!’
Nora put the whole plate of cheese sandwiches next to him and took the feather. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I hope the sandwiches help.’
‘They will!’
Nora held the wing feather up and examined it.
‘Perfect. This will do nicely,’ she said to herself before turning to Jack and Elan. ‘We’ll leave Camelin to recover and go down to the library.’
She set off clutching the feather; they followed her down the long passage. As she opened one of the doors Jack gasped. He’d never seen a room like this before. It was full of bookshelves, each one filled with hand-made books.
‘Nora made all of these,’ whispered Elan.
Jack was speechless. He watched Nora open one of the volumes and put the feather safely inside.
‘That’s the book Nora needs for the ritual.’
‘What happened to the cauldron plates? How did they get lost?’ asked Jack.
Elan looked at Nora. Jack felt he’d said something wrong.
‘Am I allowed to know?’
‘You are, but I would rather Camelin told you. It’s his story and he’s taken responsibility for the loss but it really wasn’t his fault,’ explained Nora.
‘He blames himself for all of our problems,’ continued Elan.
‘But why, if it wasn’t his fault?’
‘Camelin will have to answer that question,’ replied Nora. ‘Once he trusts you he’ll tell you. Now, how about a bit of wand practice?’
Jack nodded. It was certainly something he needed.
‘I’ve put a bucket of sand in the garden, just to be on the safe side,’ laughed Nora.
They went through the kitchen. Camelin was nowhere to be seen. Neither were any of the cheese sandwiches.
‘He’ll be sleeping that lot off,’ said Elan. ‘He’ll not be down again until supper time.’
‘He knows you’re going to be using your wand this afternoon so he definitely won’t come down,’ chuckled Nora.
Jack saw the bucket by the bird-table once they were in the garden.
‘Watch,’ said Nora as she took her wand.
The gnarled wood became smooth. Even in the sunlight Jack could see the tip glowing.
‘When you take aim try and concentrate. Gather the sparks into a ball then send it towards the bucket… like this.’
There was a blue flash from the end of Nora’s wand. A small ball of light sped towards the bucket; as it landed in the sand it went out. Nora turned to Jack and smiled encouragingly.
‘Now you try.’
Sparks flew again around the tip of Jack’s wand but they weren’t as erratic as they had been. He stared at the crackling explosions and brought them together at the tip.
‘That’s really good. Try to project it,’ urged Elan.
There was a splutter of laughter from above. Jack knew Camelin was watching from the loft. He was determined to show him he could control the wand. He took a deep breath, aimed and fired. The ball of light sped towards the bucket. A great flash and a loud crack told Jack he’d missed his target. The bird-table rocked, then creaked before it broke in two.
‘A natural,’ croaked Camelin sarcastically.
‘I’m really sorry.’
‘It’s not a problem. I’ll mend it when you’ve finished. Camelin will be pleased; he hates the other birds feeding in the garden. Why don’t you stay and practice for a while.’
Jack’s next few attempts weren’t any better than his first. The hardest part was concentrating the sparks into just one ball of light. One spark nearly singed his hair as it escaped from the ball he was trying to make. Another shot high into the air and narrowly missed a starling’s tail. The ball of light travelled so fast the poor bird had to flap his wings frantically to escape. Jack could hear Camelin chuckling from the loft.
After half an hour Jack was able