The business empire 2/10

The very next day she hurried off to the woods to go and see Abigail. She was beginning to wonder if the newspaper would have made Eve start thinking again about her magical abilities, but she was only part of the way to the wishing clearing, when she heard a nearby voice say “Pssst”. She looked round and spotted Mr. Kernell waving urgently to her from just behind a bush.

“What’s the matter and why are you hiding . . .?”

“Come over here quickly,” whispered the goblin “and keep your voice down!”

Jennifer Jane did as she was asked and crouched down beside the NutCracker in Chief.

“Your next door neighbour is following you,” he whispered, “she’ll be here in just a minute.”

He put his finger to his lips and sure enough, ten seconds later Eve came hurrying along the path. She went straight past them and disappeared round the next corner.

“She seems to be following you here quite a lot lately, but don’t worry, we usually manage to rearrange the paths so that she never catches you up!”

“She’s got the idea into her head that I’m a real witch,” said Jennifer Jane, “and she’s determined to prove it. We’ve had several problems with her lately, but I thought Abigail had them all sorted out now.”

“We heard the story about Esmerelda and Dulcibella pretending that they were really in this world selling ice creams and souvenirs,” laughed Mr. Kernell. “I thought that was jolly clever!”

Jennifer Jane grinned, “I would like to have been there to see that, but it doesn’t seem to have worked as well as I’d hoped.”

She sat quietly and thought for a good long moment or two. Mr. Kernell sat cross-legged beside her and waited expectantly. He didn’t have to wait too long!

“I’ve had an idea!”

Mr Kernell smiled all over his face. “I thought you might!”

“I’ll wish for a path to get me to the old motorway workings where the standing stones were found. Can you make sure that she gets only as far as the top of the cliff and arrives a minute or two after me?”

Mr Kernell said that there’d be no problem with that and waved happily as she set off. Then he went to the wishing clearing himself, to arrange a special path that would make Eve think she was only just behind Jennifer Jane.