Free Caution: Witch In Progress by Lynne North Page B

Gertie didn’t want to know
what.
        ‘Hi, Wart!’ she called. ‘How are you?’
        ‘Croak,’ replied the toad.
        ‘Oh good,’ replied the young witch. She always put her own
interpretation on what Wart might be saying back to her. Today, he was fine.
        ‘I’m happy you’ve settled into your new home,’ she said as Wart
swam over to have his lovely smooth back stroked.
        She then decided he had probably swum over to see if she had
anything tasty to give him, or if she was going to take him anywhere
interesting in her pocket. Still, Wart didn’t mind the stroking. It always made
his eyes go all relaxed and sleepy. Maybe he hadn’t forgotten all those heavy
warts, and wasn’t taking any chances on them growing back. As long as Gertie
stroked him, he could feel safe from warts. She guessed he was right.
        After a while, Gertie said her goodbyes. She headed back to the
Academy to get cleaned up before evening meal. The moat appeared still and
undisturbed this time.
        It wasn’t long before the gong sounded, and eager footsteps
began to descend the steps. The food really was lovely here.
        Bertha, as always, was first in. Meal times were the only
occasions when Gertie saw Bertha moving with speed. Bertha always saved a place
next to her for Gertie. Well, that’s what she said anyway. The truth was, no
one else wanted to sit too near to her. When Bertha ate, food tended to fly all
over, and everyone got a bit.
        Today’s meal was potatoes, meat and devilled dumplings. Not as
good as Ma’s dumplings, but tasty all the same. Bertha had soon finished hers,
and began looking around to see if anyone seemed about to leave anything.
Gertie remembered about the moat, and told Bertha she thought she might have
seen something in it.
        ‘It will be the moat monster,’ replied Bertha. ‘Oh Haggie, are
you going to leave that dumpling?’
        ‘The what?’ asked Gertie.
        ‘Uhm?’ asked Bertha through a mouthful of the dumpling she had
reached over for.
        ‘In the moat…’ reminded Gertie.
        ‘Oh yes,’ replied the big girl. ‘Are you leaving that potato?’
        Gertie nodded. Taking it, Bertha continued. ‘The moat monster,
you know.’
        ‘No, I don’t know,’ replied Gertie, puzzled.
        ‘Oh, I thought everyone knew about the moat monster. Well, you
aren’t missing much anyway.’ Bertha concluded, eyeing the table for any more
interesting leftovers. ‘I see him quite often from my window. I think he mainly
lives over my side. No one pays him any attention. He’s too grumpy.’
        Gertie was intrigued. Fancy there being a monster in the moat,
and she didn’t even know! Just wait until she told Ma and Gran. They would be
even more impressed.
        She went to sleep that night thinking of going over to say hello
to him when she got the chance, and of the classes tomorrow.
        Gertie awoke well before the sound of the breakfast gong. Now
that her first lesson had gone better than she had expected, she was quite
looking forward to the ones today. This morning, Miss Hemlock would teach them
The Point, and then this afternoon the trainee witches and warlocks would
return to her class to learn The Voice. Gertie was quite excited.
        Gertie and Bertha still arranged to get down to class early for
seats at the back, but neither of them felt quite as worried. For one thing,
Miss Hemlock didn’t look half as fierce as Mr Wolfsbane.
        As it turned out, Miss Hemlock soon made it clear she wouldn’t
take any nonsense either. With clearly less respect for a mere witch as opposed
to a warlock, Fang continued to talk to his group even after Miss Hemlock had
walked in and stood waiting for silence. He was soon stopped mid sentence by a
bellowed ‘SILENCE!’ that echoed around the room in a way allowing for no
disobedience whatsoever.
        ‘That was, The Voice’ said Miss Hemlock, who was only