Clearheart by Edrei Cullen

and I am not much in favour with Ella’s other grandparents, so I shall stay away. But please, keep me informed,’ said Manna. ‘You should tiptap Elton Wrinkles in Magus at once,’ she added urgently.
    But Ms Wheelbarrow did not try to tiptap Elton Wrinkles. As headmistress of Hedgeberry, she had had many students go missing over the years. Teaching children the art of Flitterwiggery, after all, did lead to a few rather out-of-the-ordinary adventures. While the parents must be notified—and, in Ella’s case, so must Samuel—she was reluctant to call on any Magical so soon after the lifting of the Ban, for fear that she would be bothering them needlessly at a very important juncture in Magical and Flitterwig relations.

    Humphrey let himself into the school sanatorium, fully Bongled. Both Samantha and Toby sat patiently on a couple of beanbags, fully recovered from their bashings, for Matron was a most capable Sprite Flitterwig and had cured them both. But they wererequired to wait for several hours to ensure that there were no secondary effects.
    â€˜Psst,’ said Humphrey in Samantha’s ear. Samantha almost jumped out of her skin. ‘It’s just me, Humph,’ he hissed, causing both Samantha and Toby to look about them as if there might be a ghost in the room. ‘I’m Bongled, you idiot,’ Humphrey whispered more quietly in Samantha’s ear, pinning her to her beanbag to keep her still.
    â€˜Oh,’ said Samantha. She smiled at Toby Wetlands as if saying ‘Oh’ to herself was the most natural thing in the world. He turned his back and tried to ignore her. He’d had quite a bad enough day as it was. ‘Um, sorry, by the way, again, for knocking you out,’ said Samantha, seeing a sparkling spell chart drifting to the ground in front of her, and plucking it out of the air.
    â€˜We need to Bamboozle him,’ Humphrey whispered. ‘So he can’t remember what happened with Ella and Charlie this morning.’
    â€˜Oh,’ said Samantha, understanding.
    â€˜Could you stop saying that?’ said Toby, wishing he’d never got up this morning. Standing behind him, Samantha spun the spell for Bamboozlement, while Humphrey tried to pour the potion he had pinched from the chemistry lab down poor old Toby’s throat as the boy struggled and called for help. He wasbeing attacked by nothing! They hoped the spell would work. The Flitterwig’s mouth began to fill with foam, his eyes opened and he started to gurgle. Matron walked into the room. Samantha sat back down on her beanbag at once.
    â€˜I’m feeling so much better now, Matron,’ she said. ‘Can I go?’ Noticing that Toby seemed to be having some sort of secondary reaction to his concussion, perhaps even a fit, Matron released Samantha from the sanatorium with barely a thought.
    â€˜We need to find Gloria,’ said Humphrey, more animated than Samantha had seen him in years, as he reappeared in the corridor. ‘She was watching me when I came out of Wheelbarrow’s office’, he said. ‘She knows something about Ella’s disappearance, and we’re going to find out what.’

    The Montgomerys and the Snoppits were at the school within the hour. Ella’s father had been informed, but anything to do with Ella brought up too many painful memories of the deaths of his wife and sons in that dastardly accident years ago. So, as usual, he stayed well away and buried his head in the sand.

    Samantha and Humphrey, meanwhile, had found Gloria outin the red poppy gardens, where Ella liked to go to practise her skateboarding. Gloria was shaking her finger angrily at nothing in particular. Humphrey, with some difficulty, Bongled them both again. He was feeling quite exhausted with all the magic he’d been spinning. He hoped to Magic he would not end up with a suspension for breaking the school rules so many times in one day. They