Seven for a Secret Never to be Told

At lunchtime the next day Safi and Mia sat under the pagoda. Safi examined the magpie talismans turning them over and over, hoping the answers would pop into his head. He said he’d read a ghost story where a teapot had appeared out of nowhere and poured a cup of tea but it was only a story.

‘We need to speak to Bobby Bassett,’ said Safi, but the question was, would he speak to them?

‘It’s the history group at Nan’s tonight. Miss Jaggers might have heard from her brother.’ Safi made her promise to ring him if she found anything out. Mia nodded. ‘I’ll ask Nan if you can come back after school tomorrow. We’re in it together now Saf.’

The rest of the day dragged but at last the bell rang and Mia raced out of school. Mia’s Nan and Bear were waiting at the back gate but Mia could see immediately that her Nan didn’t look her usual smiley self.

‘What’s wrong Nan?’ she asked.

‘I’ve locked myself out.’

‘What do you mean?’ asked Mia.

‘Well I locked the back door when I walked Bear this afternoon and when I went back for a quick cuppa before I picked you up the key wasn’t where I’d left it.’

‘Where did you leave it?’

‘Behind the stone fairy in the garden. The door’s still locked. I looked through the window everything looks ok, I just can’t work out what’s happened to the key.’

‘Are you sure you left it behind the stone fairy?’

‘Absolutely one hundred percent.’

‘Let’s go back and have another look,’ suggested Mia. They walked home despondently, taking a short cut through the back field. It was overcast and a feisty breeze pulled at the long grass. Bear chased a rabbit and a sky lark hovered, singing a throaty melody.

As they opened the back gate they could hear the loud ‘chakka chakka’ call of magpies in the garden. Mia went straight to the stone fairy and searched for the key. She moved all the herb tubs and the pots of lavender and pansies.

’Are you sure you didn’t hide it under something?’ asked Mia.

‘I’m sure,’ said her Nan. The magpies began their screechy chattering again. Mia looked at the hornbeam tree and remembered something.

‘Nan, can you get the ladder out of the shed?’ Mia’s Nan gave her a puzzled look. ‘Please…’

‘What for?’

‘I just want to check something,’ said Mia. Her Nan pulled the old wooden ladder out of the shed and Mia asked her to put it up against the hornbeam tree.

‘If this is some silly prank Mia Page I’ll…’ Mia interrupted.

‘No Nan, honest…let me just see…’

With the ladder in place Mia began to climb. She could hear the chakering screech of the magpies in the tree and as she got higher they flew raggedly out of the hornbeam sending a few leaves and a feather down onto her head. She moved slightly and the ladder wobbled.

‘Nan, are you holding on to the bottom?’ Mia called. All she could see were the leafy branches around her.

‘Yes Mia. I’m holding it tight.’

Mia looked up, she could see the Magpie’s nest. Just two more rungs to go. She stepped up to the next rung one foot at a time and then moved her hands up a rung as well. Then she repeated the action but this time she became confused. She’d stepped up with one foot but couldn’t find the rung with her other foot. Her palms were sweaty and began to slip. She panicked, desperately trying to find the ladder rung with her toes but there was nothing there.

Suddenly she felt something hold onto her foot. She froze. She thought that she might be pulled from the ladder and fall to the ground. It was as if an invisible hand dragged at her foot. Just as she was about to cry out she felt the solid rung of the ladder beneath her toes. She looked down almost sure she would see that her Nan had come to her rescue, - but no one was there.

Mia took a breath. She told herself it was her imagination but deep down she knew something else had happened, she just didn’t know what. Was something trying to help her or harm her? Was Safi right all along? Was her stubborn persistence in trying to find out what was happening at Magpie Cottage leading her into danger? She honestly didn’t know.

‘What are you doing?’ called Mia’s Nan. Mia shuffled slightly and leant over a thick bough so that she could look down on the magpie’s nest. She let out a gasp. There in the nest were six greenish, brown eggs and nestled into the twigs was the back door key. There was something else too.

‘Hang on,’ Mia called reaching carefully into the nest making sure she didn’t touch the eggs. She retrieved the items she’d discovered. She put them in her skirt pocket and began to climb down.

At the bottom Mia showed her Nan what she had found. As well as the key there was a pretty little golden ring with a sparkling emerald set in tiny diamonds. Mia’s Nan was overjoyed.

‘I lost that ring months ago digging up bricks in the garden! Your uncle gave it to me when you were born.’ Mia could see tears of happiness in her Nan’s eyes. With a look of elation she put it on her finger. ‘What on earth gave you that mad idea?’

‘I saw a magpie going into the tree with a twig in its beak a few weeks ago,’ said Mia ‘…and I’ve read stories about magpies stealing things.’

‘Let’s get the kettle on Mia.’ She held the little key aloft. ‘Well done my lovely, you’ve saved the day.’ Mia’s Nan wrapped her arm around Mia’s shoulder and kissed her head.