‘Are we on solid ground yet?’ she squeaked. Celeste tutted loudly. ‘Chloe, that was one of my best flying performances, and you had your eyes shut the entire time. You do know it’s going to take us three times as long as that to get to Transylvania, and we will be flying over mountains and oceans, at least twice as high as tonight’

‘Oh my lord’ whispered Chloe, slipping off the back of the broom and rolling onto the wet grass, where she laid, taking large deep breaths. Chloe was not a fantastic flyer as it was. She had only been on an aeroplane a couple of times, and each time she had found the whole experience to be quite unnerving. The thought of being suspended in mid air with nothing to support her, made her feel sick with anxiety. So, travelling on Celeste’s rickety broomstick, balancing on one buttock, with the feeling that she might slip off at anytime, and fall to her death, the wind whipping her face and making her eyes water, had been a positively terrifying experience. Now Celeste wanted her to travel to a faraway country on the thing!

‘Celeste, can’t you just try and turn me into a bat or something? I think I may faint with fright if I have to take another journey on that twig’

As if it understood exactly what Chloe was saying, the broom lurched violently, throwing Celeste, who was disembarking gracefully, into a heap on the grass next to Chloe. It then began circling the garden, the multi coloured sparks trailing behind it, before doing a very graceful loop – the – loop, and coming to a stop a few feet above the ground next to where Chloe and Celeste were laying.

‘OK, I get the picture, you are a very good broom and I didn’t mean to call you a twig’ said Chloe ‘I apologise’.

Celeste let out a snort, and hiked herself up onto one elbow ‘Chloe, my magic is not advanced enough to try and change you into something. You may end up as a plant pot or a carrot! And I may not know how to switch you back. It’s either the broom journey, or I go alone I’m afraid’

Sighing, Chloe sat up.

‘You’re not going alone, I’ll travel on the broom’ she said resignedly.

‘As a compromise, I’ve got a stress relief potion, I’ll slip you a few drops of that and it should relax you enough to get you through the journey’ said Celeste, getting to her feet and reaching down to offer Chloe a hand up. Taking it, Chloe nodded.

‘Great, but tell me you have tested this potion first’

‘Oh don’t worry it’s an old favourite of my mothers – she uses it when my dad is driving her crazy’

Chloe giggled.

‘I think you could make a fortune if you sold it’ she said ‘Now come on, let’s go in and get sorted. The sooner we get going, the sooner we can make sure your parents go on to drive each other crazy for many years to come’. Taking Celeste’s hand, Chloe led her inside, while Anya the broom hovered patiently by the back door.

The house was dark as they crept inside. Chloe glanced down at her watch.

‘It’s eleven o’clock’ she whispered ‘With any luck, Natalie will be fast asleep and dreaming of long division by now. I’ll go in and check on her before we leave’. Quietly, the 2 girls tiptoed up the stairs towards Chloe’s bedroom. On the way, Chloe stopped next to Natalie’s bedroom door, which was slightly ajar. Silently, she stuck her head around peered in. Natalie was laid in bed, eyes shut and snoring quietly. Her glasses were hanging off her nose, and it looked like she had fallen asleep whilst reading, as a copy of ‘Advanced biochemistry’ was open on her pillow. Chloe had to suppress a snort. ‘No wonder she fell asleep’ she thought, manoeuvring herself out of the room, and silently closing the door behind her, while giving the thumbs up to Celeste. Excitedly, the 2 girls scampered along the landing, and into Chloe’s room, closing the door behind them.

‘Right, let’s get out of these clothes and into something more comfortable’ whispered Chloe, as she yanked off the long silver gown, and pulled out her most comfortable pair of old battered jeans and a black t shirt. Quickly, she pulled her hair up into a rough bun, and stuffed her feet into her favourite trainers. Celeste was doing the same, except her outfit was a trifle more impressive than Chloe’s. ‘Wow’ she breathed, looking Celeste up and down. She had swapped the long black dress and cape for a pair of skin tight brown suede pants, which were tucked into knee length black boots, the spiky heel of which was at least 3 inches high, and pure silver. On her top half she was wearing a matching brown suede jacket, which was fitted at the waist, accentuating her gorgeous figure. Around this, she was now fitting what looked like some kind of thick leather belt, except hanging from it were numerous differing forms of armoury. Chloe caught glimpses of silver and wooden stakes, what looked like metal arrows, catapults, and, most scary of all, Chloe glimpsed a small silver pistol nestling in one of the pouches on the belt. As if she had forgotten that she was standing in a bedroom in Northern England, with a human being in front of her, Celeste calmly withdrew the pistol and began loading small silver bullets into it. Standing there, her hair wild and windswept, with fire blazing in her eyes, Celeste did not look like the frightened little girl Chloe felt she knew her as; she looked like a trained assassin. Momentarily, Chloe felt a faint twinge of fear in her stomach. It disappeared as Celeste looked up, and caught Chloe staring at her, her mouth agape. She grinned broadly, and Chloe felt the fear disappear as she looked into her friend’s face. Letting her breath out in relief, Chloe smiled back.

‘I know it looks bad Chloe, but all this stuff really is essential’ Celeste explained ‘I need these stakes to drive through the hearts of any evil vampires we meet, including Vanda and Petra, I need the catapult and these arrows in case we meet any wild animals in the black mountains, and this pistol is used for firing silver bullets, because if we meet any werewolves, this is the only thing that will kill them…’

‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop right there’ said Chloe, raising her hand in front of her face, ‘WEREWOLVES? Wild animals?? How come I’m only hearing about this now?’

Celeste shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.