The Broomstick Collection: Books 1–4. Nathan Reed
the central reservation with their cosmos-blasters blaring.
As Jessica followed Miss Strega on to a busy junction, she noticed a large banner hanging between two stars:
“What does that mean – by order BR(EATH)?” Jessica asked Miss Strega.
“BR(EATH) is the W3 flying licence authority. It stands for Broom Riders (Earth And The Heavens).”
Jessica paused. “Do I need a licence?”
“Do keep up, Jessica,” Miss Strega called over her shoulder, “there’s a minimum speed here on the Milky Way. Of course you need a licence. But the test is not too difficult.”
Jessica’s jaw dropped. “A flying test?”
“Of course – every witch-in-training has to do a test.”
“How many marks do you need to pass?”
“Ten out of ten, of course.”
Jessica almost toppled off her broomstick.
“Please tuck up those knees, Jessica,” Miss Strega called over her shoulder, “and follow me up into Emergency Air Space. I want to see why the traffic is slowing down. There must be another dragon ahead.”
Jessica and Miss Strega hovered above a convoy of magic carpets and peered down the starry highway of the Milky Way. As far as they could see there were no dragons but, for some reason, all fliers were being filtered into a single lane. Further on, the Milky Way Traffic Police had set up a skyway block and traffic had come to a complete standstill behind a flashing notice:
“How infuriating!” huffed Miss Strega. “The phoenix only rises once every five hundred years. It’s just our luck that he’s doing it on your first night on the Milky Way. This could hold us up for hours.”
“What is a Phoenix Rising?” asked Jessica.
“The phoenix is a rather curious old bird,” Miss Strega explained. “Only one of them exists at a time. When it dies, it bursts into flames and ascends into space. Then its ashes drop back to earth and it comes alive again. Perhaps we should zoom along to see it. Turn on your emergency tail-lights, Jessica – push that two-prong twig on the second row – and follow me.”
Jessica zoomed off after Miss Strega as she soared high into space. The night sky was touched with streaks of red and gold, but as they drew near the skyway block it glowed ever more fiercely. The hot air whirred and hummed and buzzed as if it was alive. Suddenly, the spinning fireball of the phoenix exploded into view with its feathers blazing, a fiery torpedo aimed at the heavens. At the same time, a young scaly dragon with a load of screaming goblins on its back came galloping down the central reservation and crashed through the skyway block. The watching crowd of genies, dragons, witches, angels and demons gasped in horror. Dragon and phoenix seemed set for a head-on collision.
“Moonrays and marrowbones,” yelled Miss Strega. “I’ll have to make a spell.”
As the fiery ball of the phoenix rocketed upwards and the dragon and his joy-riding goblins bore down on him, Miss Strega began to chant:
“Rise, Phoenix, rise, go on your way
The dragon will stop once I say
‘FREEZE!’”
At the word ‘freeze’, the dragon came to a sudden halt. It dangled in mid-air, shivering a little at the edges like the frame on a paused video.
“Blithering bats’ wings!” exclaimed Miss Strega as Jessica and all the Milky Way travellers broke into spontaneous applause. The phoenix fireball continued its upward flight.
“Will you defrost the dragon and the goblins now that the phoenix is safe?” Jessica asked as the traffic began to move forward again.
Miss Strega stroked her chin. “No, I don’t think so. They can cool their heels for a year or two. Give them a little time to calm down.”
At the next busy T-junction, there was a signpost with two arrows, one pointing left to The Moon, the other pointing right for All Other Directions.
Miss Strega paused and eyed the long queue waiting to turn right.
“Turn left,” she announced briskly. “We’ll take the shortcut.”
Jessica looked up at the round white face of the moon with its mysterious bumps and shadows. Her face dropped. “You mean we’re going to do a Moon-Vault?”
“We can go the long way round, if you prefer. I mean, if you’re nervous,” said Miss Strega.
“I’m not in the least bit nervous,” Jessica retorted, firmly tweaking her Turn Left twig.
“That’s the spirit,” said Miss Strega. “It’s not at all difficult, just a question of timing and the speed of your approach. You don’t want to collide and nudge the moon out of place. Line up here beside me.”
Jessica’s heart was racing as Miss Strega explained what she had to do. “Hold the Moon-Vault twig lightly with your right hand but don’t squeeze yet. Zoom forward until you can see Earth and Venus lined up exactly, one on your right, one on your left.”
As Jessica zoomed, her broomstick strained and bent like a bow. Then as the lights of Earth and Venus lined up on either side of her, she felt a tremendous thud as if she had hit an invisible launching pad. Her stick began to straighten up.
“Now!” called Miss Strega. “Go for it!”
Jessica squeezed the Moon-Vault twig. Then she was off, arching up into space like an arrow. The moon grew huger and huger.
“Oh dear,” Jessica prayed, “please don’t let me crash.”
But the broomstick hurtled on, somersaulted over the curve, only just clearing it, then gathered speed as it plummeted down the dark side of the moon.
“That was BRILLIANT!” Jessica yelled into space as she tumbled towards the familiar blue globe of Earth.
Miss Strega was waiting for her on the roof of the shop. “Congratulations,” she said as Jessica dismounted. “By the way, did I mention your flying test is tomorrow?”
Jessica was in a flap. She had been flying over the town for ages searching for the Coven Garden Test Centre. Her test was at five o’clock and it was three minutes to five already.
“Miss Strega will be furious if I miss my appointment,” she was thinking. “Actually, she’ll be furious anyway. I’m never going to pass.” She had almost decided to find somewhere to hide for the rest of her life, when she spotted a small roof garden where three old witches, huddled around a large black steaming cauldron.
“That must be Coven Garden,” Jessica decided and she zoomed down to the parapet. At the stroke of five o’clock, her name was called out: “Jessica Diamond!”
“Good evening,” Jessica said politely, but the three witches ignored her and kept on stirring their brew.
After a very long pause, one of them peered over her half-moon spectacles, winced at the sight of Jessica’s torn plastic bin-liner cloak and sucked her teeth.