The day went by quicker than Mildred could ever expect. Except for running they did fun games, some of them even inside, so it was 3 before they knew it. So they all put their hats and cloaks on, went outside and waited for Miss Cackle and Miss Drill. After a while Miss Cackle went outside too. Miss Drill probably waited inside for the taxi to come. Because Miss Drill wasn't a witch she couldn't fly back with them. Miss Cackle started talking: "Well girls, unfortunately it's time for us to leave. Because I am the only witch accompanying you on the flight I want all of you to be extremely careful and I want you to look after each other. Is that understood?"
"Yes Miss Cackle."
"Excellent. Now command your brooms to hover, mount it, and follow me."
It was very cold, so high up in the air, so it didn't was an easy flight. Of course it was easy for Ethel, so instead of flying next to Drusilla, she flew next to Miss Cackle to show off. But Ethel was always showing off so Miss Cackle probably didn't give her much attention. And if she did that was only better for Mildred, because she almost fell of her broom because of the wind. Eventually she leaned back a little too much and screamed: "Help! Miss Cackle!" Miss Cackle immediately turned around to help Mildred, but when she saw nothing was wrong she said: "Oh Mildred, I could have known it was you."
That didn't quite please Mildred. So if one of the other girls screamed it was okay, but if she screamed it wasn't considered something important. And what if she really was in trouble? Oh well, they weren't, not at all. Mildred was sure they couldn't be very far from Cackle's Academy anymore. When she looked down it already looked much more civilized. Leaning down forward too far this time.
"Help Miss Cackle, I'm falling!"
"Hold on to your broomstick Mildred."
It was already solved. Of course she wasn't falling. It only felt like it. Drusilla flew by, laughing at Mildred.
"You're so stupid!" She said.
"Oh, shut up you."
Mildred made her broomstick fly a little faster, she didn't want to fly next to Drusilla. She wasn't a great flyer, so she thought only a little faster was enough.
Yes, they were close. Mildred already recognized some of the castles. One of them was Pentangles Academy, another school for young witches. Mildred had been there before. By foot it was an hour away, but by broom probably twenty minutes. Oh, Mildred was so excited. Finally she could see all of her friends again.
All of a sudden Mildred heard a scream behind her.
"Help, Miss Cackle, help!"
Miss Cackle didn't respond. She probably thought it was Mildred again. But it wasn't. Weirdly enough the screaming stopped again. It was probably nothing.
"Down girls, we're there." Miss Cackle said. All the girls commanded their brooms to go down and they perfectly landed in front of Walker's Gate. Mildred couldn't wait to go inside, but she had to wait until the gate was open.
"One, two, three, four… Four girls? Who's missing?"
No one seemed to be missing, and if there really was someone missing she couldn't respond. So Miss Cackle decided to go over the name list.
"Bryony Besomsworth?"
"Yes, Miss Cackle."
"Ethel Hallow?"
"Yes, Miss Cackle."
"Mildred Hubble?"
"Yes, Miss Cackle."
"Gloria Newt?"
"Yes, Miss Cackle."
"So Drusilla's missing? Drusilla Paddock?"
Mildred looked around. Indeed, Drusilla was missing. But how? She had seen Drusilla a few minutes ago. Didn't Drusilla just call her stupid when she almost fell forward? Oh no. What if the scream she heard came from Drusilla? What if she fell of her broom? She wouldn't survive a fall like that.
"Miss, I heard her screaming Miss."Mildred said.
"Did you? When exactly? "
"Well, only a few minutes ago. After we flew over Pentangles and just before we landed."
"I see, thank you Mildred. Girls, please go to your dormitories. And Bryony, can you go to Miss Hardbroom and tell her we lost Drusilla and I'm looking for her."
"Yes Miss."
After putting her broomstick back in the broomshed Mildred went inside. She felt bad. Even though she hated Drusilla, she didn't deserve this. She went to her room, took her hat and cloak off. Should she go see her friends? No, she had to think. Maybe she could have saved Drusilla if she reacted on her scream. If she was dead it was Mildred's fault. But she wasn't dead. It would be too awful. She couldn't be dead.
Just before Mildred was about to dissolve into tears she heard a knock on the door.
"Who's there?" She asked.
The door swung open and Maud and Enid ran in and hugged Mildred.
"Oh Millie, we've missed you so much!" Maud said.
"Yeah, it was so boring without you." Enid continued.
Mildred smiled. She remembered why she missed them too.
"Boring without me? Oh please. I was with Ethel and Drusilla, they gave me a hard time." Mildred said.
The others laughed, but Mildred thought over what she said, Ethel and Drusilla. Drusilla.
"Well, you survived, didn't you?" Enid said.
Survived. Yes, Mildred survived. But Drusilla probably didn't.
"Girls, I'm sorry. I'm happy to be back but something terrible happened on the flight back to school. Drusilla fell off her broom." Mildred said.
The other girls didn't seem to care.
"Oh did she, well, she probably deserved that after everything she did to you." Maud said.
"No Maud, you don't understand. We were about a hundred feet above the ground. I don't know what happened but she's missing. Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom are looking for her now. And even though she's not my friend I don't feel good about this."
Enid and Maud didn't know what to say so they just looked at Mildred as if they thought she was about to continue.
"No really, I'm sorry. Can I please have some time for myself?" Mildred asked.
Maud and Enid both gave Mildred another hug.
"We understand Millie." Maud said, and she and Enid left the room.
When they closed the door Mildred just couldn't help herself anymore. She lay down on her bed and burst into tears.
