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.
“I’m Shar Pintake of BR(EATH),” she said, “the Examiner-Witch, and these are Observer-Witches who will be making sure that no magic spells are used in this test.” She sucked her teeth again and fished a piece of paper out of the cauldron. “First of all,” she said, “we’d like you to answer a few questions and then we’ll move on to the practical flying exercises. Shall we begin?”
Jessica’s mouth was so dry she couldn’t speak but she nodded. Underneath her cloak, her lucky mascot, now called Berkeley, gave her knee a comforting ruffle.
Shar Pintake cleared her throat. “Very well. At Milky Way junctions, who has the right of way, those already on the Way or those entering?”
That was easy. “The riders on the Way,” Jessica answered, “have the right of way at all times except when the phoenix is rising.”
“Excellent, now tell us, if you can, the difference between ducking and diving.”
“A witch ducks to avoid an obstacle by bobbing and dipping the broom in a sideways direction. Diving is avoiding a crash by leaping and free-falling.”
“Mmm,” said Shar Pintake. “What is the braking distance for a broom travelling at two Earth centuries per witch minute?”
Jessica gulped. “Six broomstick lengths?” she suggested uncertainly.
Shar Pintake noisily sucked more air in between her teeth. Her colleagues looked up, quizzically.
“Oh dear,” thought Jessica, “that must be the wrong answer.”
Next the three witches began to circle their cauldron, chanting:
“Broom riders, broom riders,
Hither, thither, they must fly,
Never failing to observe
The ground rules of the sky.”
Then Shar Pintake plunged her hand into the pot and pulled out a pack of cards. “What does this road sign mean?” she barked, holding up a circular sign with a ring of witches.
“That means there’s a witches’ coven in session at the next roundabout.”
“And this?”
“A dragon in a triangle means you should expect slow-moving traffic with heavy loads.”
Shar Pintake sniffed. “A cauldron lying on its side?”
“Slippery airspace because of a spilt brew?” Jessica guessed.
