The Winged Witch 15/15

Abigail nudged Jennifer Jane in the ribs as Polly flicked her fingers to activate the lightening spell necessary for flying. She moved her wings once more to make sure that her weight was suitable and then took off straight up in the air for about ten feet. She flapped slowly round the ring of spectators warming up her muscles, before flying away for a hundred yards, gaining height as she went.

Then she turned and dived straight towards the crowd at high speed, pulling out of her dive at the last second just as several people were starting to duck their heads. Amidst tremendous applause, she repeated the build up, but this time dived more slowly before climbing into a near perfect loop as she reached the centre of the circle.

“Your dad has a lot to answer for,” said Abigail with a smile. “I know Moonshine said the fairies were all practising a lot, but I didn’t really think they’d be this good.”

“If you really want to see fantastic aerobatics, you ought to ask Fern to give you a demonstration. She makes Polly look like a beginner!”

Loud cheers drowned their conversation as Polly came in to land, using another flick of the fingers to restore her weight, before pulling her jumper back over her folded wings.

“Well I don’t think we’ve any need to worry about young Polly any more,” said Abigail once the noise had died down sufficiently to allow normal conversation. “If she does her job correctly she should have no further worries. Come on, we’ll just go and wish them both all the best and then get back to the Witches’ Home.”

Some weeks later when all the excitement from her last adventure had died down, Jennifer Jane answered a knock on the front door. To her surprise when she opened it, there was Sam with a huge grin on his face and a large wooden box tucked under each arm.

“Special delivery miss,” he said, “Abigail brought me specially to the old charcoal burners campsite and is waiting there to take me back home again. This is a present from Polly as a thank you for all you did for her and Robert. I think these are our two most popular models and one of them is a very unusual subject indeed!”

Jennifer Jane invited him in to the kitchen and called her parents. Then when everyone was present, she opened the boxes. One was a copy of the flying dragon that Eve had bought in the village. The other needed a heavy stand to hold it upright once it was assembled. It was a beautiful sculpture of a fairy landing after a flight. It was quite recognisably Polly, her wings fully extended and one foot already on the ground, as she made a soft landing.

“I’ll clear a space on the mantelpiece over the fire in the sitting room,” said Mary. “We can put one at each end rather like book ends. Then we ought to put the special one showing Jennifer Jane on her scooter in between them, I’m sure she’ll know how to keep them all clean!”