Free The Witch's Revenge by D.A. Nelson Page B

that seed he eats. I told him it wasn’t good for him.”
    â€œ
What
have we found, Bertie?” Morag asked.
    â€œThis, my dear friends,” the bird announced breathlessly, “is the long-lost Flying Horse.”
    They all looked at him blankly.
    â€œMarnoch Mor’s first steam train,” he prompted. They each shook their heads. They had never heard of it. “Built in 1853 by Jonathan Clayslaps, master engineer and Head Wizard at the Academy of Arts, Magic and Other Stuff. The engine ran for more than a century until it disappeared.”
    The dodo waited for a reaction. He expected them all tobe as excited about it as he was, but Morag, Shona and Aldiss said nothing. It was Henry who spoke. “Who cares?” he said grumpily.
    â€œDoes it work?” asked Aldiss. The bird shrugged his feathery shoulders.
    â€œWill it get us out of here?” asked Morag.
    Bertie began to stutter an answer, but was stopped by the medallion adding: “We’re on a rescue mission, in case you haven’t noticed! You’re too busy praising some old piece of tin when Montgomery’s probably being tortured as we speak.”
    â€œIt’s not a piece of tin …,” Bertie protested weakly, “it’s the Flying Horse.”
    â€œYes, well, all I want to know is will it fly us out of here?” Henry growled.
    Morag and Bertie ran toward the cab and climbed onto the footplate. As Shona and Aldiss waited in the cavern, they examined the Horse. The dodo pressed the controls, his face a puzzled frown.
    â€œWhat do you think? Can you start it?” Morag asked after shooing Aldiss off again.
    â€œI’m not sure,” Bertie replied, holding a Moonstone up to illuminate a little book on trains he had fetched from his bag. The book was called
How to Do Just About Anything: Train Driver’s Edition
. He sighed loudly as he tried to read the instructions. After a few minutes, he shoved the book roughly into Morag’s hands and said grumpily: “I can’t understand this. You have a go.”
    He stomped to the back of the cab and slumped down.Morag glanced between the instructions in the book and the controls.
There must be some way to get this thing going
, she thought. As she was doing this, she didn’t notice Bertie suddenly smile and scramble to his feet.
    â€œI don’t know why I didn’t think of this before!” he squawked, causing her to jump. Frantically, he rummaged in his satchel.
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œThis,” the bird said triumphantly. He pulled out a big jar of gray dust. A white label proclaimed:
Instant Driver, just add water
. Bertie unscrewed the cap and took a quick sniff inside. He sneezed and emptied the entire contents on the floor. He dipped his wing once again into the bag and pulled out a glass of water. Without pausing for breath, he tipped it over the dust and waited.
    Morag held her breath.
    â€œThis’ll never work,” said the medallion.
    â€œShhh,” scolded the girl.
    They waited. And waited. By now, Shona and Aldiss were standing outside the driver’s cab, anxiously watching and willing the magic dust to do something.
    â€œI told you this wouldn’t work,” Henry began just as the dust, which was now a soggy pile of mush, started to crackle and pop and then to flash with bright sparks. As they watched, it began to take the shape of a man, gray-skinned and wearing a gray boilersuit and driver’s hat. With a series of puffs he inflated to the size of an adult. The crackling and sparking and puffing came to a stop and the conductor snapped into life. He looked at the friends andsmiled. “Afternoon,” he said politely. “Where may I drive you?”
    He placed his big gray hands on the controls and gave them a wiggle. The train whinnied with delight.
    â€œDid that train just whinny?” Henry asked.
    â€œI think so …,” replied Morag.
    But