Veronica arrives with her class in the spellcraft tower of the Oakhurst School of Magic to teach the bunch of young–and not particularly well-behaved–teenagers about the school’s ancient spellbook. But the book has gone missing from the cabinet!
Only a few people have the key to the tower, and very soon, the town’s mayor will need the book to bless the start of the new council year.
Who has stolen the book?
Is it Barnaby the caretaker, and has he sold it on the black market?
Is it Jasper Bloom, a fellow teacher, and did he want to find a love spell?
Is it the cranky teacher Mr. Stone, who hates the mayor and would gladly make the council’s life difficult?
And what can Veronica do if the truth potion she gives these people only complicates matters, backfires spectacularly and makes them say outrageous and embarrassing things?
Snippet from the book:
There was a frog in the classroom.
It sat on the tiles in the middle of the aisle between two tables and was the subject of the attention of a large group of students at the back of the room.
It was a brown striped marsh frog, and it didn’t seem to be particularly perturbed by the presence of so many young faces.
A bunch of kids sat on their knees, poking and prodding at the creature, trying to get it back into the glass jar that made Veronica certain that the students had smuggled it from Mrs Marsh’s animal room.
But the creature hopped away whenever they approached with the container, its throat vibrating. The boys were egging on Lucas Wood, who held the container, while his twin brother Atticus yelled at him to be quick, while Monica Moonshadow did the poking. Typically Monica. Typically Atticus.
Typically class 1A at their twice-weekly History of Magic lesson.
Veronica couldn’t turn her back for a second.
She had only ducked into the principal’s office to collect the key to the spellcraft tower, and had asked the class to behave themselves while she was away for the few minutes it took to collect the key, and sign the book to let everyone know who had the key, and what she was going to do with it.
And, of course, when she came back to the classroom, Class 1A was in chaos. Had she really expected anything else?
There were too many students in this class, she had repeatedly told the principal, who would reply that she was aware of this, but that new classrooms and, most importantly, new teachers, didn’t come out of thin air. Not even for a school of magic.
The Oakhurst school had a good reputation these days, thanks to the hard work of the teachers.
Many families from town, not just those interested in witchcraft, sent their children now, which meant that the classes were full and sometimes a bit too full.
“What is going on here, pupils?” Veronica said while walking down the centre aisle of the classroom.
“There is a frog,” Lucas said.
“I can see that. Where did you get it? The poor thing.”
“Lucas took it from the Animals class,” said Monica.
“Then it should go back to the Animals class.”
Lucas snorted. “I only took it because I forgot to bring a subject for the Drawing class and I didn’t want Miss Penn to get angry with me.”
It was amazing how an arts teacher could instil this much fear in a bunch of twelve and thirteen year olds, but there it was.
Veronica said, “Get back to your seats, everyone.”
The boys retreated to their seats, leaving the poor amphibian by itself on the floor.
Veronica crossed the room, grabbed the glass jar off Lucas’ desk, and scooped the offending amphibian up.
There was a certain flair to doing this, that one only developed after having dealt with frogs and snakes, and suchlike for years, and that was an experience one only gained from going to the Academy of Magic.
The awe of the students was palpable.
Clearly, they had expected her to scream and call the housekeeper.
