Summer school 4/9

Jennifer Jane soon got used to the everyday routine and began to feel as if she’d been a full time witch all her life. She had no more trouble with any of the other apprentices until breakfast time a couple of days after her talk with Maddy.

The apprentices sat side by side at table, on long wooden benches. The plates of food were passed down from the top end when it was served, while a basket full of buttered bread and a large jug of tea, were left on the table to be used by any one who asked.

This particular morning she asked for another slice of bread and instead of being passed the basket as she expected, one slice rose up in the air and floated down the table. She reached for it as it came to rest in front of her and to her surprise it jerked away just as she touched it. Eroin and his friends began giggling, while the rest of the girls looked at her expectantly, wondering what she was going to do.

Each time she managed to touch the piece of bread it was twitched away from her. She thought for a moment and then without altering her expression reached for it once more. This time she patted the bread as she touched it and quickly twiddled a ‘heavy’ spell. She got her slice of bread all right but a groan went up from the boys and even some of the girls looked a little upset.

“What did I do wrong that time?” she asked Maddy, once they were outside after the meal.

“You should never have used a spell, especially one we don’t know. The boys were using T.K. and expected you to try and beat them at their own game.”

“What on earth is T.K.?”

“You know spells like the one you just used and you’ve never heard of Telekinesis?”

Jennifer Jane explained that the spells she’d learned in the past, were mostly as a result of trying to solve a particular problem. “I’ve never learned spells in a formal way before, that’s partly why I’m here.”

“Well if you can fly a broom, then you shouldn’t have too much of a problem with T.K.,” replied Maddy. “It’s the art of moving things using the power of the mind alone. If you think hard enough, objects can be moved from one place to another using only concentrated thought.

Most people can only move light things, like slices of bread, or perhaps a cloak. Flying brooms are a little different, the style of broom used by witches, is unusual in being able to concentrate the process and enable you to lift yourself and whatever else is with you at the time”.

“First lesson then,” said Maddy, “try and lift a hanky off the ground.”

Jennifer Jane put her hanky down as she was instructed and then, in the same way as she thought when flying her broom, tried to think of it floating in the air. The hanky went up in the air like a rocket. It took her a few seconds to realise what had happened and by then it was out of sight.

She quickly reversed the process and thought of it coming back to the ground instead. Luckily it landed several feet away, with a thud and a puff of dust. She walked over and picked it up, before turning to look at her friend.

Maddy was standing still with a shocked expression on her face. “I’ve never seen any thing like it,” she gasped, “none of the apprentices can do that. I don’t suppose many of the senior witches can either. However did you manage it?”

Jennifer Jane explained that she’d originally learnt to fly her broom using a wish granted by her local Wish Warehouse and that she had tried to ‘fly’ her hanky in the same way.

Maddy was most impressed. “Whoever granted that wish must have opened the wrong box,” she said, “however, now you’ve got the idea, I suggest you practice controlling the results, or you might end up hurting someone.”

The two apprentices worked at T.K. for an hour. After the end of that time, Jennifer Jane had managed to reduce the force of her ‘lift’ to something more acceptable, while Maddy tried hard to try and lift in the same way as she thought when flying her broom. She managed a small improvement, but nowhere near the results that Jennifer Jane was getting. Then all too soon they were called for their next lesson.