A flight too far 3/6

Her parents had enjoyed the day at the Witches' Home each in their own fashion. However, when the time came for the evening meal and Jennifer Jane hadn't turned up, Mary started to get a bit worried. Abigail reassured her that her daughter might very well be late but that she was in no danger, as her protective spell hadn't been activated.

"She must have settled somewhere nearby for the night. It's too dark for flying now unless you're very experienced and the best thing she could do is to stay where she is until the morning. Then she should be able to find her way back here. We have a method of finding out roughly where she's got to and tomorrow morning we'll check to make sure she hasn't gone too far and got completely lost."

Mary had to make do with that for an answer but consoled herself with the thought that up to now, Jennifer Jane had always managed to return safely from all her adventures.

The next morning Mary could restrain herself no longer and started badgering Abigail before breakfast time, to try and find out where Jennifer Jane had gone. Abigail sighed and went to her room to fetch some equipment.

"You'd better come with me," she said to Mary, "or I'll never hear the last of it."

She fetched her broom from the shed and walked through the Home to the castle side. Then together they climbed the steps leading to the battlements. Taking an engraved brass disc from her pocket and laying it carefully on a flat stone, she rotated the disc until it was aligned to her satisfaction, closed her eyes and pointed. Holding her arm straight out in front of her she moved a little from side to side and then she looked at the disc and made a note on a piece of paper.

"Climb on behind me," she said to Mary and flew off towards the giant's castle.

When they arrived, Abigail asked the giant for his permission and then flew up on to his battlements where she repeated the process.

"I hope you're satisfied," said Abigail as they arrived back at the Gate, "I shall get really upset if I've missed my breakfast."

"Bother breakfast," said Mary, "what do we do next?"

"If you really want to, you can take these readings to the library and plot the angles I've written down on a map. I'm sure Dave will be only too pleased to help you. I'm going to have something to eat before I join you."

Mary dragged her husband away from the breakfast table and led him towards the library by one hand. Dave was holding his last piece of toast in the other hand, trying to finish eating as he was taken along the corridors. Fortunately a witch was on duty who was able to provide the necessary map and explain how to align the bearings Abigail had written down.

"There must be something wrong here," said Dave after he'd plotted the lines and studied the intersection point. "If I understand the scale correctly, then our daughter must have travelled well over a hundred and fifty miles yesterday."

The librarian heard what he said and came over to have a look for herself. She checked over the figures and came to the same conclusion.

"She's landed down near the south coast in the only inhabited area for miles around. She should be alright there but we may have to go and fetch her if she can't find her way back."

At that moment Abigail came into the room and also had a look at Jennifer Jane's position. She was looking a lot happier now she'd had something to eat.

"She'll be fine down there," she said, "we'll have another check at lunchtime and see where she's got to by then. I'll have to have a word with her when she gets back. It's far too far for a novice to fly but being lost for a bit may impress her with the need for a gradual familiarisation with local features."

Mary was getting more and more fidgety as the morning wore on. At last Abigail couldn't stand it any longer and agreed to take the bearings again to see if Jennifer Jane had started on her way back. There didn't seem to be any change in the first reading and then as just she was aligning her arm to make the second, she opened her eyes with a start.

"Strange, the reading suddenly went hazy. It seems to be alright again now but something happened just then and I lost touch."

There was no change in either of the bearings, so obviously Jennifer Jane hadn't moved. Abigail didn't seem to be worried. She took Mary to have a word with the giant and have a free look round his castle. Mary did her best to appear interested but Abigail soon noticed her lack of concentration and announced that they ought to be getting back to the Witches' Home.

"I'll just take this bearing again", she said as they flew over the drawbridge and up onto the battlements. The bearing remained unchanged for a moment. Then suddenly Abigail grasped Mary's hand and pulled her back onto the broom.

"Come on quickly," she said, "she's disappeared again just like the time she went through to the third world. We've got to go down there and find out what's going on. I'll take you on my broom and I'll get Rebecca to take Dave, we'll be a lot quicker if we don't overload the brooms too much."