much dancing, singing and pumpkin
juggling, Amelia and her friends could have
done with a little bit more sleep.
From across the graveyard came the rattling
sound of the Catacomb Academy welcome
bones.
‘C’MON, FANG,’ said Florence to Amelia
affectionately. ‘I’M SURE A BIT OF BORING
OL’ SCHOOL WILL ’ELP CHEER YOU UP!’
Amelia couldn’t help but chuckle. ‘Squashy,
you can stay out here in the graveyard and
play with Pumpy while we’re at school.’ She
gave the little pumpkin a pat on the stalk.
Squashy pa-doinged once and blew a
raspberry at Pumpy. Pumpy responded by
puffing his six-pack chest out at Squashy.
‘You two need to learn to be friends,’ Amelia
said kindly. ‘I hope you are by the time
school finishes.’
Amelia would usually sneak Squashy into
class with her, but she felt having a pumpkin buddy would be good for him. It didn’t stop her from missing Squashy every second they were apart, though. Luckily, Amelia had lots of new school subjects to focus on and keep
her mind occupied.
Since the Kingdom of the Dark and the Kingdom of the Light had become friends, Catacomb Academy had introduced a variety of new Kingdom of the Light themed lessons, to educate the Creatures of the Dark. Alongside Pumpkinology and Slime Skills, Amelia and her friends now also studied
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Angel-Kitten Singing, Cloud Crafts, Glitterology
and History of the Bug Blossoms.
‘Good evening, class,’ said the headmistress,
Miss Inspine, as the students settled on to their
plinths. ‘Firstly, I’d like to welcome the fairy
exchange students from the Kingdom of the
Light. I appreciate you may be a little sleepy
while you get used to the time difference,’ said
Miss Inspine, addressing the fairies.
Five fairies of varying sizes waved shyly
from the back of the classroom, not looking
remotely alarmed that their new headmistress
was a skeleton. One teeny weeny fairy with a
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puffy dress had fallen asleep
inside a test tube and was
snoring loudly.
‘Now class, you may remember I asked
you all to put together a presentation on a
subject of your choosing, to introduce
our visitors to the Kingdom of the
Dark,’ Miss Inspine continued.
‘Tangine, I believe you’re up
first – what is the title of your
presentation?’
Tangine stood up and
strutted to the front of the
classroom.
‘May I present to
you, MY LIFE . . . IN
SONG,’ said Tangine
straightening his bow tie.
Amelia, Florence and
Grimaldi looked at each
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other wide-eyed, trying not to laugh.
‘Um . . .’ began Miss Inspine. But before she could continue, Tangine bellowed:
‘FELLOW CLASSMATES AND FAIRIES FROM AFAR!’
‘Oh, he’s actually doing this . . .’ said
Amelia, a little surprised. She’d never heard
Tangine attempt to sing before.
‘Thiiiiiis story of sadness, this tale of delight . . .
Is one of the Creatures of Dark and of Liiiiiight.
For both lived in fear of the other for years,
Led by stories of beasts—’
‘I AM NOT A BEAST!’ Florence blurted out, causing the snoring fairy in the test tube to
wake with a start.
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Tangine glared.
‘UH, SORRY . . . NEVER MIND,’ said
Florence sheepishly.
Clearing his throat, Tangine continued
theatrically.
‘. . . led by stories of beasts and unicorn tears!
Two Kingdoms divided by terror and lies, But soon they’d be in for a pleasant surpriiiiise! One twilight, the King of Nocturnia met, A fairy?! Oh dear! But she was not a threat . . . She was kind, a true beauty, the love of his life, And this fairy became King Vladimir’s wiiiiiife!’
‘Wow,’ Amelia whispered to her friends. ‘He’s
actually really good!’
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‘And soon baby Tangine was born . . .
Yes, that’s MEEEEE!
The most handsome baby you ever did see. With the fangs of a vampire, but fairy wings too?! Nobody could find out – who knows what they’d do?
Then
