Disclaimer - I hope you are loving this story, but as you know I do not own the Worst Witch.
Trouble at Cackles.
Pippa Pentangle was working late in her office when she received the mirror call. She had been busy in her office looking for any magi-zoology and magical archaeological experiences for her older years which would be a treat for them; one of the problems with traditional magical schools was that school trips weren't very frequent, but Pippa had decided it would be a good idea for her students to travel to various places that were important for magical studies, like the dragon zoos in Africa, and the merpeople city in the Pacific ocean, and visits to the Caribbean to study the magical heritage there. The Magic Council had needed a lot of persuasion to let her students go on these trips, but thanks to her winning personality, Pippa was able to persuade them to give her permission to organise them. Unfortunately, with Mrs Hallow as the Head of Education, getting that permission wasn't always easy. Pippa always had to dredge up ample and solid grounds to why it was a benefit to her school and to her students.
Pippa somewhat envied her students in a roundabout way she hadn't expected when she'd founded her school because they learnt something about ancient magical practitioners that wasn't generally known to the modern magical world today, and sometimes she wished she had had a teacher in her old school who taught a subject so deftly and with great passion in her old school, but that was problem with magical schools these days. They had been teaching the same subjects for so long even the teachers had grown tired.
Pippa had been in her stride when the mirror chimed softly with the incoming call, and she'd put down her pen immediately as she tried to run the list of people who might have been calling in her mind, but she came up with nothing. She was used to getting calls from her friends but she had made it clear to them she was a headmistress at a school, and they'd understood immediately that her role in magical education was more important than chatting to people.
When she accepted the call, Pippa was surprised when the mirror coalesced to show the familiar faces of the Great Wizard and Mrs Hallow themselves. She couldn't tell where they were; it looked like they were outdoors in the night but there was light falling on their faces.
The sight of them both made the Pentangles' headmistress touch her forehead with the back of her fingers. "Well met, your Greatness," she greeted the wizard before turning to the witch in the picture, "well met, Mrs Hallow."
The two in the mirror returned the greeting before the Great Wizard got down to business. "Miss Pentangle," the wizard began wearily and Pippa noticed for the first time that the wizard was looking tired as if he had expended a lot of his power in a short amount of time, and his face looked ruddier than usual under his beard, "there's been trouble at Cackle's academy. It's best if you see it."
The mirror's view adjusted and it turned around to show the familiar castle of Cackle's Academy, but this time Pippa gasped in shock. The castle was ablaze with silver and red-gold flames licked with orange. It was more concentrated around the lower floors of the castle, but it had moved up until the flames had cut through the roof.
When the mirror's view returned to the grave and tired faces of both the Great Wizard and Mrs Hallow, Pippa was instantly asking questions. "What in the name of Merlin happened?"
The Great Wizard looked pained, shaking his head as if he couldn't believe it himself. "It looks like Magical Greek fiend-fyre," he replied, "Miss Hardbroom herself has seen demonstrations of the stuff being used in the past, and while the scale of this blaze is more powerful than any demonstration she has seen, it has all the signs of that spell."
Just hearing the name of that spell had Pippa cover her mouth in shock and disbelieving horror that someone would even think of using that spell.
"What?" she gaped in shock. Especially in a school, of all places. In non-magical history, the Byzantines had come up with a chemical weapon they used in naval battles. This weapon was more powerful than any incendiary weapon used today by non-magical people, and the formula had long since been lost.
But the non-magical people had no idea their magical counterparts had been inspired by what they'd invented, but unfortunately where the non-magical form of Greek fire's recipe had been lost and their scholars were still trying to piece together how it worked, witches and wizards who were experts in potions but far beyond the level of teachers like Selina and Hecate, knew the recipe of the Magical Greek fiend-fyre.
Pippa was good at potions, maybe not as good as Selina or Hecate, and she had seen the spell itself in operation once when she was studying at college, but she knew that if she tried to make this spell then it was likely that she would probably burn down the lab she was working on it from and if she were in a house then it would burn through the walls until the house became a burnt out ruin. If it came between using that spell and an out of control Wildfire spell, then she would do the wildfire spell. No doubt in her mind.
Magical Greek fiend-fyre was a very powerful spell. Like many spells, it was made by mixing a potion. It took days to make the potion, some of the ingredients were mixed separately and in different cauldrons in order to make it incredibly pure. The potion was only dangerous when all the smaller potions were mixed together to make one, and then the final ingredient was added. Pippa didn't know what the final ingredient was, and frankly, she didn't want to.
All she did know was when the multiple potions were mixed together and before the final ingredient was added, the witch or wizard who was making it needed to either place the cauldron into a specialised shielded chamber where it could be contained, or a shield spell which performed the same job was applied.
Some people had compared Magical Greek fiend-fyre with the Wildfire spell where the primary ingredient was chucked in in massive quantities. They had no idea. A Wildfire spell was just basically a floating ball of green fire which was, well, wild and fiery.
Magical Greek fiend-fyre was like a cross between a cloud and a whirling tornado of flames that whipped mighty bolts of fire at everything around it, and everything those bolts of fire touched, it either reduced to ash or it too caught fire. A forest and a moor of dry brush could catch fire very quickly under those conditions. The spell had been outlawed centuries ago and very few potions masters and mistresses knew how to make it properly and safely when there were so many concerns. Only experts were allowed to make it and they needed a license to make sure everyone knew they could make it without problems. It was not easy getting that license since so many things could go wrong.
For a start, improperly made fiend-fyre let out a gas could melt flesh, and too much of one ingredient would result in a massive explosion.
"It wasn't Hecate, she's not stupid enough to play games with something that dangerous, besides most of the ingredients are too hard to find and aren't allowed anywhere near schools, and it couldn't have been one of the students," Pippa said thoughtfully as she tried to work out why someone would even want to do this to Cackles. "No-one else at the school has the expertise to make anything that dangerous, even the teachers aren't that stupid. Why would anyone do this?"
"We don't know," the Great Wizard said with an angry sigh as if wishing he had gotten there sooner to deal with the perpetrator of the crime, "when I got here, the safety spells on the school were trying valiantly to hold the fire off while some of the teachers tried the same in order to get the students out safely."
"Was anyone hurt?" Pippa pounced.
"Thankfully none of the students, some of the teachers almost got caught in the vortex of the fire spell, but they were unharmed," the Great Wizard said with relief; it was the only good piece of news the Wizard had. "When I got here with some fire investigators, we were able to remove some of the worst components of the spell and now they're waiting for it to die down. It's still going. Those components would have kept the spell going for hours, maybe even days; a blaze that size, feasting on the magic of the school itself, only a dragon could have done better."
Pippa shuddered at the mention of a dragon. "Where are the teachers now, Your Greatness?"
"They're supervising the girls now," the Great Wizard replied, looking over the mirror with sympathy in his eyes at what the blonde witch believed were the students of the burnt down school, "the girls are badly shaken; its one thing to have fire drills, but this is different."
"Your Greatness, was there something you wanted from me?" Pippa asked. While she was sympathetic towards the girls of Cackles, she wanted the Wizard to get to the point.
"The girls at the school no longer have a school, Miss Pentangle," Mrs Hallow spoke for the first time since they'd exchanged greetings; Pippa had wondered why the usually glacial witch had not said a word, and Pippa, who was good at reading the body language and expressions of other people had never been good at reading Mrs Hallow. She was going to have to speak to her at some point in the future to discuss the enchanting issue, but in the meantime, she had advised Lexi and Mildred to work with the other enchantresses to develop her gift.
But this was no time.
But it was what the arrogant matriarch of the Hallow family had just said that made sense. Pentangles was the closest magical school of any considerable size to Cackles, and it had lots of space, but that space was still finite. "I can inform the teachers here about what's happened and we can prepare the school for their arrival, though things would be a bit cramped here - for them as well as for my school," Pippa replied at last without protest; she knew the Great Wizard would listen to her concerns, but Mrs Hallow wouldn't and there was no point wasting her breath. "But what about Cackles itself? The school may be immolated and the fire may still be raging, but what will happen to the building itself?"
"We don't know. I will arrange for the fire investigators on hand here to properly inspect the school to find out where the blaze began, that way we can begin inspecting the possibilities of repairing the school," the Great Wizard replied, but Pippa caught sight of the pained look on Mrs Hallow's face.
She knew why.
Mrs Hallow, the head of education on the magic council, was sometimes a bit of a cheapskate despite her family's prestige and standing in their world. Pippa could already tell the arrogant woman was totting up the potential amount of cash needed to repair the castle, and the very sight of the way she held the futures of quite a few dozen people, some of them children, made her anger grow even worse. She only hoped Mrs Hallow didn't do something to destroy those girl's hopes and dreams.
"I suppose that's the best we can hope for, Your Greatness," Pippa said, "if you could inform the teachers and students at Cackles they will be welcome to come here tomorrow morning, I'll tell my teachers and let them know about what's happened at Cackles."
The Great Wizard nodded. "Thank you, Miss Pentangle," he replied graciously before he cut the connection to inform the teachers and students at the blitzed out school of the news.
Pippa closed her eyes before she began making calls with the mirror.
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Back at Cackles, the Great Wizard called for silence from the students and the teachers. "I have just spoken to Miss Pentangle, and she has agreed to give you shelter at her school," the Wizard announced.
The girls chatted amongst themselves. Meanwhile, the first years looked at one another pointedly at the mention of Miss Pentangle and Pentangles, knowing what he was saying. Mildred. Mildred was at Pentangles.
Mildred was a long way off Miss Cackle's mind. The elderly headmistress was relieved her girls were going to be sheltered and be fed after all this. When the fire alarms had gone off, Ada had foolishly thought Hecate had prepared another drill, but the potions mistress had instantly put an end to that notion.
Of all the fire spells that could've been used, it had to be something like that! Ada hadn't seen an example of Magical Greek Fiend-fyre for decades, but she had never forgotten the sound that the flaming vortex made, it was like a howling wind, raging and dangerous as it sort to cause death and destruction.
"I am relieved to hear that, Your Greatness," Ada said to the Wizard. "Do you know when we will move in?"
"Miss Pentangle said she will be preparing her students and her staff for your arrival, so I expect that you will move in tomorrow morning," the Wizard said as soothingly as he could, but he was rather tired while Mrs Hallow was not.
Ada tried to look grateful, but she was a little peeved that she, her teachers, and the girls would be forced to spend the night out here next to what was left of her school, but there was nothing she could do. Ada knew that organising students and preparing the teachers to cope with another school which had taken serious damage would be taxing.
The Great Wizard left, but not before he conjured some tents and beds for everyone. The first years received a tent, the second years, and so on. The students were too shocked and shaken by what had happened to the school and the knowledge they could have been burnt to death in the fire to go back to sleep, so Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom arranged for some hot drinks to be served. The lines between teacher and student were blurred by this point, and the students found themselves speaking to the teachers and vice versa in a completely informal manner.
Ethel took a sip of her hot chocolate, wincing at the heat as it almost burnt her tongue. "I've read about Magical Greek Fiend-fyre," she commented aloud, "but I never thought I'd see it like this."
Ada looked at her sharply. "I hope if you ever see it, Ethel, it's under controlled conditions. I remember seeing it burn down an old shed during my time at college."
"I always hoped I would never see it again myself, especially after hearing how one of my cousins experimented with the spell to make something that was just as powerful, but more stable and easier to make. Oh, a grand experiment, my cousin thought," Mr Rowan-Webb sighed as he shook his head, "sadly it didn't work."
"What happened?" Miss Hardbroom asked.
"He burnt his house down during one of the experiments. He became a little overconfident, and it left him with extensive burns that he's still got; magic can do many things, it can treat terrible injuries in a flash, but that spell seems made to resist all the ordinary rules of magic," the wizard teacher replied with a sigh.
Everyone collectively shuddered at the thought of being burnt alive by the same spell after seeing what it had just done to their school, but the subject wasn't changed. Miss Hardbroom looked sadly at the girls when Enid Nightshade, giving into her curiosity asked, "Miss Hardbroom, what exactly is Magical Greek Fiend-fyre, I've never heard of it."
Miss Hardbroom looked at the normally mischievous student and hoped that by telling her she wouldn't give the girl any ideas. But she knew Enid, while a prankster, was not stupid enough to burn down a school and potentially kill her classmates. "Magical Greek Fiend-fyre is a terrible potion," she explained, "it was invented by an ancient Byzantine wizard shortly after the non-magical people invented something called Greek fire, and he decided to be competitive that he named his invention after the non-magical counterpart. Greek fire was used by the non-magical people as an incendiary weapon in naval battles. The non-magical people eventually lost the recipe on how to make their version, but unfortunately, we weren't as lucky. The wizard who invented the magical version created something much worse. The ancient non-magical version doesn't become an uncontrollable magical vortex of fire that rages unchecked, and can't be put out like ordinary fire spells. Between the day it was first invented and used to today, this particular fire spell has killed dozens of witches and wizards, some of whom like Mr Rowan-Webb's cousin was experimenting with it, and it got out of control."
"The only places you're likely to see this particular fire spell is at colleges or magical universities, or in special research labs," Miss Cackle said, "but in all cases, you need to inform the co-workers of what you're doing and get special permission. This spell is incredibly dangerous and using it can endanger lives, and you only have to look at the school itself to see what I mean."
The students did.
Miss Bat looked at Hecate curiously. "What I would like to know is why anyone would use something like that in a school?"
"I've been thinking the same thing," Hecate sighed, "this isn't your average fire spell. It is hard to make, the ingredients are hard to come by, and some are so tightly controlled that even the black market frowns on their distribution. In the past, they were easy to come by, but over time they were no longer found in apothecaries. As for why someone would want to use it….. it's hard to put out. The fire constantly grows and as it grows it becomes more uncontrollable until the magic burns itself out. But why someone would unleash it in a school…..," Hecate shook her head. "I don't know."
Ada wanted to change the subject desperately, she was in pain about what had just happened to her beloved school. "I wonder what Miss Pentangle is doing right now," she wondered, though she knew what the pink-clad witch was doing. She just wanted to change the subject.
Hecate looked up. "She is probably getting her school ready."
Felicity turned to Maud and Enid. "Have you two spoken to Mildred?"
She still felt bad; it had been her Star globe which made things go from okay to terrible for Mildred, and she still felt guilty about it. Hopefully, there was plenty of time to change that.
Maud and Enid were surprised by the sudden mention of their friend even if things between them and Mildred hadn't been the same for quite some time, but they had known Mildred's name would crop up at some point. "No, Mildred's been busy at Pentangles," Maud replied.
"Yeah, she's been a bit secretive for the last few weeks," Enid added, her eyes misting as she tried to imagine what Mildred was doing at Pentangles.
Ada suddenly became interested in the conversation and she jumped at the chance to get off the thought of the fire, she hadn't spoken to Mildred since the day she'd won Cackles the Spelling Bee and then transferred to Pentangles. But one look at the prospectus had convinced Ada it was probably for the best as much it pained her to lose someone like Mildred.
"But how is she overall?"
"She's become a bit more confident, happy," Maud replied sadly, clearly wishing Mildred had discovered the same confidence at Cackles, "she's holding herself a little differently. She's clearly happier at Pentangles than she was here," she added, looking down at her hands.
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"Magical Greek Fiend-fyre?" Selina whispered in disbelief as she stared at Pippa. "Are you serious?"
"I'm afraid so," Pippa sighed tiredly; it was getting late and she wanted to get to bed, but she and her staff had a lot to do. "The school was badly damaged by the fire when it got out of control-,"
"Out of control? Pippa, this type of fire spell is always out of control, it gets out of hand very quickly," Selina interrupted, "that's why it was banned and knowledge about it was restricted. I know friends of mine in the potions community have worked on research projects that were set up to render it more stable, but none of it worked."
Miranda frowned, the lines of her face highlighting the fact she was tired herself. "Why not?"
"Oh, I don't know," Selina whispered, "there were problems with the liquid and jellied potion bases that the fiend-fyre recipe needs; those components are used to fuel the spell and make it more powerful. The experts the Great Wizard took with him would know to remove them; this fire spell is uncommon, but many amateurs who think they know what they're doing end up making mistakes." She shook her head. "I remember the last time I saw a friend play with a few of the components," she whispered grimly, "she was trying to work out if the fiend-fyre components were only dangerous when they were mixed together in just one mixture, or if they were just as bad on their own. Oh, she got her answer; the jellied liquid was mixed with the powder and another liquid, and it created a mush that was more unstable than nitroglycerine; it blew up and it landed my friend, myself, and four others in the hospital."
Potions had never been Karen's strong point and she hated listening to stories about them. "What are we going to do with the Cackles students when they get here? There are a few rooms empty, but even if we offer some of them those rooms they will more than likely have to share," the deputy headmistress said.
Pippa was just as glad Karen moved the subject along, her mind had been full of images of people who were injured by this type of spell. Unfortunately, Karen had just voiced a concern Pippa had brought up with Mrs Hallow and the Great Wizard. "We can work out the details now," she said, "hopefully we can focus on that matter now, and deal with it tomorrow. It's too late to tell the students."
Lexi Bluebell spoke up for the first time. "Are you planning on telling the students and asking them if they wouldn't mind sharing with the Cackle's students?"
"That's the idea," Pippa said, "though some of our students will have to double up. We'll also have to be careful with the upper years; I don't think I need to tell you what happened to teenagers of both sexes get together."
The teachers were pleased Pippa had addressed that issue. Romance was encouraged at the school, but only to a point and while Pippa didn't have a problem with students having sex, she didn't want any unforeseen accidents. Pentangles had already had three pregnancies in its history, and she didn't want anymore anytime soon. Three pregnancies. That was more than enough in their minds.
Lexi looked thoughtful for a second. "What about tomorrow's lessons? Are you planning on them being on? It's just that I find it hard to believe we'll have the chance to teach anything to the students when this is going on."
Pippa hadn't thought about that, and she looked at Karen and the others for inspiration. "We'll give the students a break tomorrow," she said at last. "That will give them the chance to let us know who will be sharing with them."
"What about us, the teachers?"
"I was thinking that some of you will come with me to Cackles tomorrow to help me bring the students back, while others will be here to administrate and supervise the students, and also arrange for beds to be installed in the bedrooms for the guests," Pippa sighed, wondering if she would ever think about something different. "How do you guys feel about sharing?"
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The moment the Pentangles' students filed into the dining hall for breakfast, they knew something was up and they were wondering what was going on, and speculation was rampant. Miss Pentangle had already called for them over the intercom of the school to tell them there was an important announcement to be made. When they got there they saw Miss Pentangle was standing by the podium with the teachers behind her looking grave and concerned. Some of them even looked exhausted. But Miss Pentangle was dressed in a long pink travelling cloak, her pointed witch's hat already on her head with her broomstick nearby.
"May I have your attention, please? Last night I received a call from the Great Wizard himself," Miss Pentangle said without any kind of preamble and that concerned the students; that was not like her because usually, their headmistress would make a joke or say something offhanded to put everyone at ease. Clearly whatever the Wizard had said took precedence.
"Last night, someone used Magic Greek Fiend-fyre at Cackles Academy. For those of you who don't know what this potion is, its a powerful fire spell that resists the usual means to put out magical fires. The only two ways of dealing with it is removing some of the more dangerous magical components of the spell, which will take away most of its power, and it will go out on its own. The second is to let the magic the fire consumes to fuel it to burn it out on its own, but that could take too much time. Too many lives could be lost, and too much damage to property would take place."
"I will come to the point. The Cackles students are coming here. The school has been badly damaged and I have no idea if the fire has died down yet, but they have no where else to go, so they are coming here. Myself and some of the teachers were awake last night preparing the school for their arrival, and I will be going with some of my faculty to help me bring the Cackles students and staff here. The rest of the teachers left here will speak to you about rooming arrangements," Miss Pentangle closed her eyes in irritation when some of the students protested. She let the protests go on for a moment because she magically enhanced her voice, "I know, none of you really want to share your rooms. But it is going to happen. Some of you will have to room with the Cackle's students, others will be rooming with your friends here at Pentangles, but please try to co-operate with us. Myself and the teachers will also be bunking with each other or with the Cackles students."
Pippa took a deep breath. "I know some of you," her eyes flicked over to Mildred Hubble, "might have problems with the Cackles' students, but please try to give us some help. Classes have been canceled today for now, but they will resume tomorrow when we've worked with the Cackles' staff to integrate their students into our tutor groups, so they can share our lessons; it's not practical for them to have separate lessons, so they will be in our classrooms and learning what you do. Try to give them support and try to be nice to them, because I will tell you one thing; if there is any trouble from one of you and from one of them, there will be serious trouble. I will be leaving you in the good hands of Miss Miller."
Pippa nodded to Miss Miller and she left the room, half of the faculty following after her. Miss Miller waited until they were gone before she spoke to the students herself.
"Outside the hall are tables, one of them for Cackles, the other for Pentangles. Those who sign the Cackle's list will have a Cackle's student living with them, those who sign the Pentangle's list will have one of your classmates living with you. There is a third list for volunteers willing to give their rooms up for some Cackle's students. Space is going to be very hard to come by, and if you want to you can even make it clear on the list you're willing to have more than one person in your room," Karen said clearly. "But let me tell you something, myself and several of the teachers will be making sure that no boy will be staying with one girl; we're not adverse to dating in this school, but we do draw the line when it comes to pregnancy."
After Miss Miller's little speech, Mildred filed out with the other students to the three tables. Two of them were marked with the Cackle's and Pentangle's crests, the third wasn't. Mildred studied that table first and quickly walked off when she realised that table was for the Pentangle's students willing to give up their rooms for the Cackle's students.
Mildred avoided the table with the Pentangle's crest - she didn't want to share her room with another student, or be moved out of her room, so she headed for the third and final table. She was glad that the Pentangle's teachers were being more democratic about this mess; she knew if the tables had been reversed and it was Pentangles or some other school suffering from the same thing, the Cackles students wouldn't get to decide what happened and who they lived with.
Mildred looked at the growing list. It was amazing how many people were choosing to room with Cackle's students, not that she could blame them in the least. They didn't want to be forced out of their rooms anymore than Mildred did, and even those that were willing to room with other Pentangle's students didn't want to give up their rooms.
When Mildred came to sign her name, she thought for a second before she added next to her name "I would like to bunk with Maud Spellbody, Enid Nightshade, and Ethel Hallow."
Satisfied, Mildred left.
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Pippa Pentangle remembered Cackles as a castle with pristine walls, well preserved thanks to its magic provided by its Founding Stone, but looking at the school now surprised her. The castle walls, the turrets and the roof were badly gutted, blackened by the fire. The roof looked like the landing of a crow could collapse it all in.
Looking at this mess upset Pippa, but that was nothing compared to what she saw of the students and the teachers. All of them were now dressed in their Cackle's uniforms, though Pippa had no idea if the students had managed to save those uniforms during the fire or if they'd recovered them afterwards.
Gracefully landing with her other teachers when she saw the distinctive forms of Hecate and Ada, Pippa greeted them. "Well met, Miss Cackle," she said with a slow but sad smile, "Well met, Hecate," she added neutrally knowing this wasn't the time to be difficult with her former friend.
The two teachers exchanged their own greetings and Pippa added, "I'm sorry I'm here again under these circumstances."
"So are we," Miss Cackle sighed and while Pippa had her own problems with the woman, especially when a certain dark-haired girl sprang to mind, she didn't like seeing the clear pain in Miss Cackle's eyes as she regarded her school, or what remained of it.
Pippa followed her gaze and looked at the gutted and burnt out wreck of Cackle's Academy. "Have you learnt anything more about what happened besides what we already know?"
"No, the investigators have found evidence that there is still some fire burning in the lower levels of the school, that seems to be where it started," Miss Cackle replied, her voice shaking as if she had been sobbing all night over the loss of her school, and judging by how red her eyes were she probably had been crying. Pippa couldn't blame her. She would have died if something like this happened to her own school.
"So that means you still have no idea why someone would do this," Pippa shook her head while she wondered why anyone would use that particular spell in a school.
"Clearly not." The terrible night coupled with the fact she would have to share a school with her old friend had done nothing to improve Hecate Hardbroom's mood.
Unfortunately, the dark potions mistress' attitude grated on Ada's mood. "Hecate," she warned before she looked at Pippa, and her voice became more softer. "Miss Pentangle-," she began.
"Pippa, please," Pippa interrupted as softly and as inoffensively as she could. "We're going to be working together, and its a good idea if we're both comfortable with using our first names, yes?"
"Very well, Pippa," Ada said in relief, clearly happy about the lack of formality. "I think I speak for all of us when I say we're grateful your putting us up."
Pippa smiled, though a part of her wondered if it was going to be a permanent arrangement. "I like to think you and others would do the same if something bad happened to my own school. Shall we fly on? I think it would be a good idea to transport over to Pentangles, do you agree?"
Ada and Hecate nodded at once. "Yes," Ada replied, knowing that it would take too long to fly between the two schools and that the only reason Pippa had flown here with her own teachers was to give them the general feel of the distance and the location of the gutted school. "That would be best."
Pippa smiled and together, the three teachers headed for the Cackle's students. "We're going to transport you to Pentangles," she announced, "when you get there, please feel free to have a look around the school. Because of what's happened, my students are not presently studying today, so you'll have a chance to meet them and get to know them properly, unless you already do."
The Cackle's students and teachers could detect the subtle alluding to Mildred Hubble, but they said nothing about it, though Pippa, Ada, and Hecate all caught the looks on Ethel Hallow's face, and Enid and Maud exchanging a quick glance.
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Next chapter - Guests at Pentangles.
How will Ethel react when she finds out Mildred has volunteered to share her room with her?