Headed to School

Lily had been waiting for this moment for a long time. She was finally headed to school! She had her broom loaded with her trunk, and a little cage with her black cat Onyx in it. Her mom had just hugged her goodbye, and was trying to hold back her tears as she waved to Lily from the porch. She was excited for Lily, because she had gone to the same school when she was a girl. It was the best  school for witches around. Lily waved happily, and grinning from ear to ear, she hopped on her broomstick and headed off over the trees, Onyx meowing and trying not to look down.

Lily had a map to the school, and her mom had gone over the directions about a million times. She had to fly towards the mountain north of town until she saw the bay. Then, she would follow the coast around to her left. Finally, when she saw a big old pine tree that had been hit by lightning, she would head straight up into the clouds. From there she would see the School in the Sky.

Lily flew on and on, and the mountain never seemed to be getting much closer. Just when she was sure she was never going to get there, She saw the water of the bay on the horizon. She waited until she was really sure she could see it, then she headed left toward it. But suddenly, out of the blinding light of the setting sun, a flock of starlings burst from the trees in front of her. She pulled her broomstick hard to the side, but she couldn’t avoid them. In a flurry of feathers, she , Onyx and the broom all went down, down, down into the trees. Lily felt like she bruised every inch of her body as she fell through the branches to the ground. When she hit the earth, she took only a moment before getting up. Her first thought was of Onyx– was he okay?

Listening hard, Lily heard a faint meowing coming from high above her. She squinted, and she could just make out her broomstick, trunk and the little cage with Onyx in it stuck high above. Lily screwed up her face and started to climb. She was sore all over, but she couldn’t leave Onyx up there! Plus, she needed to get to school.

When she got to the top, she checked Onyx all over and was so relieved he was okay. But them she looked at her poor broomstick- it was snapped clean in half. How was she ever going to get to school now? She was stuck in this forest far away from everyone she knew. She started to cry.

But then, a little bird landed on the branch beside her. Then another, and another. They started to cover Onyx’s cage, and fluttering hard, lift it into the air.

“Oh, don’t!” Lily cried. First her broomstick broke– now she was going to lose Onyx, too?

But then the birds started to tug at her too- two birds, ten, two dozen– and slowly, she lifted into the air. It wasn’t as smooth as her broomstick, or as fast, but she was headed to the bay! Onyx was just ahead of her, and she could get her trunk later. She was going to make it.