Free Pegasi and Prefects by Eleanor Beresford

Spears gives the dreamy, slightly smug smile of a teacher who feels she is at last provoking lively discussion and now all she has to do is guide our growing minds in the right direction. “That’s the wonderful mystery of magical history. These stories of unearthly visitors bearing magic appear with minor variations in all the known nations of the world. What do you say about all the stories of young men and women from all over the world who were drawn into woods and deserts to dance with strangers of unearthly beauty, and came back forever changed, with the ability to cast illusions or fireballs?”
    Gladys snorts. “Stories.”
    “What about the babies with pointed ears and round eyes?” Corona leans forward in her chair. “Our book said there are no pictures of them dating from before the elves came. And the babies had to come from somewhere.”
    “I can think of a reason someone would pretend to have a baby by magic. What does that say anyway, that elves came to our world just to seduce innocent girls and breed?” Gladys shoots back at her.
    “Girls, girls! No need to be indelicate.” Miss Spears crosses the classroom, in a kind of gliding wriggle I’m sure she thinks is graceful. That woman wears far too many scarves and brooches. “It’s true that it seems some elves took the form of humans of incredible loveliness to—to marry humans of special ability and quality. These humans naturally rose to prominence, because of their attractions and powerful gifts, and passed these on to their lucky families.” She self-consciously tucks her hair back behind her left ear, so that we all can’t help but notice the little point at the tip “It’s true that people of specially pure elfin blood tend to have a special quality to them, with the obvious signs: pointed ears, large round eyes, and often unusual colouring.”
    She pauses by Rosalind Hasting’s desk, and takes Rosalind’s chin in her hand. The poor girl stares very hard past Miss Spear’s pointed ear, pretending to be supremely unconscious that a classroom of girls are now staring at her silver-grey plaits, the huge eyes behind her spectacles, and the sharp cat-like points of her ears. It’s dreadful, like watching a kitten freeze in the hope of not disturbing the tin can tied to its tail. I’m sure that at any moment she’ll lose her nerve and bolt from this awful woman. I have a terrible urge to get up and rescue her.
    “Those us of with a strong strain of elfin blood bear a special responsibility,” Miss Spears says. It strikes me as a bit rich to claim sisterhood, considering her ears are not nearly so pointed as Rosalind’s and I’m not convinced the slight blue sheen to her black hair is entirely natural.
    Gladys makes another explosive sound. “If that’s so, then every two-bit actress who dyes her hair pink and sleeps with pegs on her ears is an aristocrat.”
    Miss Spears stiffens and draws herself up, tweaking her hair back over her ear, as some of the other girls snicker a little.
    Oddly enough it is Diana, who usually speaks up about as much in class as I do, who cuts in before than can be an explosion. “The elves aren’t gone altogether, though. You can still reach them.” She clasps her hands together.
    “That’s nonsense, sadly. The days of elfish miracles are long over.” Miss Spears sighs, theatrically. Myself, I’m pretty sure that elves would be uncomfortable folk to have around, given the tricks they were rumoured to play.
    Kitty from the Fifth leans forward. “It’s a silly idea, but some people really believe it. Some of Daddy’s friends are trying to find a way to swing it. They think that if you can focus enough power, and use rituals to enhance it, then you can open a conduit—and the elves will give you even more power in return. You could unlock all the magical gifts in one person at once, like the elves could.” She twirls a finger in one of her red-gold curls. “Idiots.” There’s amusement in her