Summer school 9/9

That evening Abigail came to see Jennifer Jane just as the apprentices were tidying their books away at the end of the homework period.

“I hear you’ve been having problems with one of your classmates? I think we all know who it is but he’s a very tricky person to pin down. Have you had any ideas how we can make him own up? I expect you’ve been thinking about the problem!”

“I can remember reading one of dad’s science fiction stories about tricking a robot into admitting to being in the wrong place. I think the teacher could use the same principle to trap Eroin.”

She explained the method to Abigail, who smiled and nodded with approval as she heard all the details.

The class assembled the next morning, looking a bit apprehensive as the teacher and one of the senior witches came in.

“Is anyone going to own up to causing the episode of the donkey ears? No I thought not. Well we do know that Jennifer Jane had used a boundary spell in this room and that this caused the next use of a spell to apply to everyone in the room. She has been honest enough to own up, but since no one else is coming forward we are going to use another spell to make the culprit reveal himself or herself.”

She paused for a moment looking round the class. “This is your last chance; when I raise my hand, I want everyone in the room to say ‘No.’ The person who is lying will turn blue and be dealt with as the senior witches think appropriate.”

The witch looked round the class to make sure that every one had understood. “Did any one of you use a spell to give the class donkey ears?”

She raised her hand. With one voice the whole class shouted ‘No,’ and with the exception of Eroin they all turned blue. He looked round and realising that he was the only one who was still white, tried to make a run for it.

The senior witch stopped him before he got through the door using a quick twiddle and every one else returned to their correct colour. The senior witch led Eroin from the class to visit the head teacher, who would make up her mind what to do about him.

The apprentices all seemed to realise that somehow Jennifer Jane was responsible for the plan, so they crowded round her asking questions. Even the class teacher wanted to know what had happened, since she’d not been allowed to know the plan in advance.

“It’s a double bluff,” said Jennifer Jane, “I read about it in one of my dad’s books. You tell all the suspects that they’re going to turn blue if they tell a lie, so the guilty one knows that he’ll turn blue unless he does something about it. So he turns himself white. Of course what really happens is that everyone turns blue when they speak, so that the culprit reveals himself by being too clever.”

She was a little worried as to the punishment the witches would give Eroin and was relieved when she heard that he and his mother had been asked to leave the Witches’ Home and go to live in another where the discipline was stricter.

After Eroin left, his old gang was a lot quieter and life at the school became much more pleasant. Then on the final day of the term, all the apprentices were lined up outside the drawbridge on the castle side, ‘to take advantage of the fine weather.’

The head teacher took the whole school outside the castle and was making a speech telling everyone how she was sure that they had all benefited from their fortnight of intensive training, when there was a bit of a commotion inside the Home and Cyril rushed outside.

“Auntie Megan’s egg has hatched,” he shouted, “it’s a girl and she’s going to be called Angharad Jane,” then he flew off in a hurry to tell his parents.

The class was dismissed and Jennifer Jane went home to tell her mum and dad about her achievements at the school, as well as the good news about Megan’s baby.