Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Rollo, Peter appear, and Waif's mysterious change

Charmain heard Lubbock humming in anger, though the anger was clearly not from her rapid fall.She saw huge cliffs passing before her eyes.She kept screaming. "Ilf, Ilf!" she yelled. "Oh, dear! Ilf! I said the flying spell. Why didn't it work?" It actually works.Gradually Charmain became aware that the rocks flying upward in front of her slowed down, became like crawling, then seemed to slide by, and finally just passed by.For a moment, she stopped in mid-air, just above some huge, pointed cliffs below the cliff. I might be dead already, she thought. Then, she said to herself, "It's ridiculous!" At the same time, she kicked her feet and waved her arms frantically, trying to turn over.And Uncle William's house was still a long way below her.At dusk she had to fly another quarter of a mile to get there. "Floating like this is fine," Charmain said, "but how do I move?" At this moment, she remembered that Lubbock had wings, and might suddenly swoop down from a high place to her, whistling.That way, there is no need to ask how to move.Charmain kicked his legs vigorously and moved towards Uncle William's house.She flew over the roof and across the front garden, and it seemed as if the spell was leaving her.She just had time to turn sideways, and happened to land in front of the doorway.She fell to the ground with a thud, and sat on the clean and rough road, shaking all over her body.

It's safe!she thought.At least it's safe within Uncle William's territory.She can feel it. After a while, she exclaimed, "Oh my God! What a terrible day! All I want is a good book and to finish it in peace...! Nasty Aunt Sembroni !" The flowers around her suddenly trembled.Charmain stepped aside and was on the verge of screaming again when the hydrangeas at the edge of the bush bent aside and a blue dwarf jumped out of them and came to the doorway. "Is this in your care now?" the blue dwarf asked in a weak, hoarse voice. Even in the low light, it was clear that the dwarf was definitely blue, not purple, and had no wings.His face was wrinkled and his nose was so large that it almost filled his face, but it was definitely not the face of an insect.At last Charmain's fear was gone. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Earth-elf, of course," said the dwarf. "Upper Norland is a country full of goblins. I'm in charge of the gardens here." "Evening?" Charmain asked. "We elves come out most of the night," said the blue dwarf. "What did I just say—you're looking after this place?" "Well," said Charmain. "That's right." "I knew it," said the goblin with satisfaction. "I saw the wizard was taken away by the tall ones. Do you want to shovel all these hydrangeas?" "Why?" said Charmain. "I like to shovel things," explained the goblin. "It's the greatest joy of gardening."

Charmain had never thought of gardening in his life, so he thought about it. "No," she said. "Uncle William wouldn't have planted the flowers if he didn't like them. He'll be back soon, and I think he'll be upset to see them all uprooted. Just do what you usually do at night, and wait." Ask him when he comes back." "Oh, of course he would say no," said the earth elf sadly. "He's a spoiler, as wizards always are. Is the price still the same?" "What's the usual price?" asked Charmain. The earth elf immediately replied: "I want a pot of gold and a dozen fresh eggs."

Fortunately, Uncle William's voice came from the air at this time. "What I pay Rollo is a pint of milk every night, my dear, and it will be brought to him by magic. You needn't worry about it." The goblin spit on the ground in disgust. "What did I say? Didn't I say he's a disappointment? But I can't do anything if you sit at the door all night like you're doing now." Charmain said politely, "I'm just taking a break. I'm going now." She stood up, feeling a surprising heaviness in her body and the softness of her knees, and she plodded all the way to the gate.This will be locked, she thought.If I can't get in, I will be stupid.

Before she could get to the door, the door opened automatically, revealing a surprising light inside. In the light, Waif's small body jumped up and down, screaming with joy when he saw Charmain, and swaying and twisting his body.Charmain was glad to be home, and to be welcomed like this.She picked up Waif and walked into the room together, and Waif writhed and struggled to lick Charmain's jaw. The lights in the room seem to be controlled by magic and will follow you everywhere. "That's all right," Charmain exclaimed. "Then I won't have to look around for candles." But she thought wildly inside: I haven't closed the window yet!Lubbock will sneak in!She dropped Waif on the kitchen floor and rushed for the door on the left.The lights in the corridor gradually came on, and she ran all the way to the end, closing the window hard.But the meadow was still dark in the dim light, and no matter how much she looked out the window, she couldn't make out whether Lubbock was outside.She had to console herself that she couldn't see the window when she was on the grass, but she still felt herself shaking.

After going through these things, she felt herself shaking uncontrollably.Trembling, she walked back to the kitchen and gave Waif a pork pie, trembling.She trembled even more when she noticed that the tea under the table had spread, making Waif's body wet and dirty.Whenever Waif gets close to her, she gets wet and sticky too.Finally, Charmain took off her blouse, which was left open because the button had fallen off.She wiped off the tea with her coat.This made her tremble even more, of course.She found the thick cardigan Mrs. Baker had put in her bag and put it on, but she was still shaking.The rain was pouring down on the windows and pattering down the kitchen chimney, which made Charmain tremble still more.She thought it was fear, but she was really cold too.

"Oh!" she yelled. "How shall I light the fire, Uncle William?" "I think I prepared the spell there," said the benevolent voice from the air. "Just throw something that burns on the grate and say 'ignite' aloud." Charmain looked around for something to burn.The bag on the table beside her was fine, but there was a pork pie and an apple pie in it, and that bag was not bad, with flowers embroidered on it by Mrs. Baker.There was paper in Uncle William's study, but she had to get up to get it.There were clothes in the bag at the sink, but Charmain was sure that Uncle William would not be willing to burn the dirty clothes.On the other side was her own blouse, dirty and soaked in tea, with two buttons missing, lying on the ground at her feet.

"It's ruined anyway," she said.She picked up the brown, soaked pile of clothes and threw them into the fireplace. "Light it up," she said. The grate boomed as if it had come to life.After about a minute, the flame burned happily, as one would wish.She moved the chair to get closer to the warm fire, but the flame turned into hissing steam.The steam built up, filled the chimney, and bubbled into the room, and began to produce various bubbles.Bubbles, big and small, iridescent, burst from the fireplace into the kitchen.They floated in the air, landed on things, flew into Charmain's face, and broke apart with a soft sigh.Bubbles kept pouring out, and within a few seconds, the kitchen seemed to be raining bubbles, full of steam and heat, making Charmain almost breathless.

"I forgot the bar of soap!" she said, gasping for breath in the damp heat. Waif made the bubble his enemy, and ducked under Charmain's chair, barking and grinning at the bursting bubble.This sounds extremely loud. "Shut up!" said Charmain.Sweat ran down her face and hair, onto her shoulders, and dripped slowly in steam.She shook off a bunch of bubbles and said, "I guess I should take all my clothes off." Someone is knocking on the back door. "There must be no one," Charmain said. The person outside knocked on the door again.Charmain sat where he was, wishing secretly that it wasn't Lubbock.But when the knock came a third time, she reluctantly stood up and walked out of the bubbly room to see who it was.It could be Rollo, she thought, maybe he wanted to come in and take shelter from the rain.

"Who is it?" she called to the door. "What are you here for?" "I want to go in!" The person outside the door replied. "It's raining heavily outside!" The voice sounded youthful, and it wasn't like Rollo's raspy voice, or Lubbock's buzzing.Charmain could hear the pounding rain outside, even amidst the hiss of steam and the constant popping of bubbles.But it might just be a ruse. "Let me in!" screamed someone outside the door. "The wizard is waiting for me!" "That's impossible!" Charmain replied. "I wrote him a letter!" cried the man. "My mother arranged for me to come. You have no right to keep me out!" The latch wobbled.Before Charmain could put both hands against the door, it slammed open, and a drenched boy rushed in.He's completely soaked.His hair, which might have been wavy, fell over his young face, dripping from the brown hair.His coat and trousers were shiny black, nice to look at, and now soaked too.The same goes for the big backpack on his back.His shoes creaked as he walked.As soon as he entered the room, he, too, began to emit steam.He stood there staring at the mass of floating bubbles, at Waif barking under his chair, at Charmain, clutching his sweater, peering at him from his red hair, and at the sight of the The pile of dirty dishes and the table full of teapots.His eyes turned to the laundry bag again, and it was clearly too much for him.He stood there with his mouth open, looking around again at everything around him, while the steam was silently evaporating from his body. After a moment, Charmain stepped forward and stroked his chin, where some rough hair indicated that he was larger than he looked.She pushed up and his mouth clicked shut. "Can you close the door?" she said. The boy looked behind him as the rain fell into the kitchen. "Oh," he said. "Okay." He slammed the door shut. "What happened?" he asked. "Are you also a wizard's apprentice?" "No," Charmain said. "I was only in charge of looking after the house while the wizard was away. He was sick, and the elves took him to be healed." Boy looks depressed. "Didn't he tell you I was coming?" "He didn't really have time to tell me anything," Charmain said.She thought of the pile of letters under the Book of Magic.The boy must have been among those desperate letters pleading for wizards to teach students, but Waif's cry kept her from recalling it carefully. "Shut up, Waif. What's your name, boy?" "Peter Regis," he answered. "My mother is the witch of Montalbino. She's an old friend of William Nolan's and she put me here. Be quiet, puppy. I'm the one to come." Everything fell to the ground.Waif stopped barking and ran out from under the chair to sniff the pack carefully for anything dangerous.Peter moved the chair over and hung his wet coat on it.The shirt he was wearing underneath was almost as soaked. "So who are you?" he asked, looking at Charmain in the bubble. "Charmain Baker," she told him, explaining, "we always call wizards Uncle William, but he's actually a relative of Aunt Sembroni. I live in Upper Norland. Where are you from? You Why did you go to the back door?" "I'm from Montalbino," said Peter. "I got lost because I wanted to take a shortcut. I came here once before, when my mother arranged for me to learn from Wizard Nolan, but I seem to remember the wrong way. How long have you been here?" "Just arrived this morning," Charmain replied, realizing with surprise that he hadn't been here a day.It feels like weeks. "Oh." Peter saw the teapot through the flying bubbles, as if he was counting how many cups of tea Charmain drank. "It looks like you've been here for weeks." "It was like this when I came," said Charmain flatly. "What? Bubbles and all that?" Peter asked. Charmain thought, I don't think I like the boy. "No," she said. "That's because of me. I forgot to throw the soap on the hob myself." "Ah," said Peter. "I thought a spell had failed. That's why I thought you were an apprentice too. Well, we'll just have to wait until the soap runs out. Have you got anything to eat? I'm hungry." Charmain's eyes turned reluctantly to the bag on the table, but then looked away. "No," she said. "It seems not." "So what are you going to feed your puppy?" Peter said. Charmain looked at Waif, who ducked back under the chair and barked at Peter's backpack. "No. He just ate half a pork pie," she said. "He's not my dog ​​either. He's a stray adopted by Uncle William. His name is Waif." Waif was still yelling.Peter said, "Be quiet, Waif," as he reached through the air bubbles and his wet coat to get under the chair Waif was squatting on.He pulled Waif out and stood up with Waif on his back in his arms.Waif screamed and protested, flailing his claws and curling his badly frayed tail between his legs.Peter straightened his curled tail. "You offended his dignity," Charmain said. "Put him down." "Not him," said Peter. "It's her. And she has no dignity. Have you, Waif?" Waif obviously disagreed, and she jumped out of Peter's arms onto the table.Another teapot fell, and Charmain's bag followed.To Charmain's displeasure, the pork pie and apple pie rolled out of it. "Oh, that's great!" said Peter, grabbing the pork pie before Waif. "Is that all your food?" he asked, taking a big bite out of the pie. "Yes," Charmain said. "That's breakfast." She picked up the dropped teapot.The tea splashed inside quickly turned into brown bubbles, which slowly floated up, drawing a brown line among the other bubbles. "Look what you've done." "It's already a mess anyway, and a little more wouldn't make a difference," Peter said. "Don't you ever clean? That's a nice pie. What's the other one?" Charmain looked at Waif, who was sitting affectionately next to the apple pie. "Apple pie," she said. "If you want to eat, you have to share some with Waif." "It's the rule?" Peter said, swallowing the last bite of the pork pie. "Yes," said Charmain. "Waif's rules, and he - I mean she - was very adamant." "So she has magic?" Peter asked, picking up the apple pie.Immediately Waif let out a cry of emotion and began to wander between the teapots. "I don't know," Charmain replied.Then she remembered how Waif seemed to be able to go anywhere in the room, and how the door had been left open for her before. "Yes," she replied. "I'm sure she will. And powerful." Slowly, reluctantly, Peter broke off a small piece of apple pie.Waif's frayed tail flicked from side to side, eyes following his every movement.She seemed to know what Peter was doing, and ignored the bubbles that stood in her way. "I see what you mean," Peter said, handing Waif the pie.Waif took it gently with his paws, jumped from the table to the chair, then onto the floor, and slapped and ate from behind the laundry bag. "Is there a hot drink?" Peter asked. Charmain had been wanting a hot drink since his fall from the hill.Shivering, she wrapped the sweater around her body. "Good idea," she said. "Have a drink, if you know how to make one." Peter flicked the bubbles aside and looked at the teapot on the table. "Someone must have brewed so many pots of tea," he said. "It must have been made by Uncle William," said Charmain. "not me." "But at least it shows that it's okay to make tea," said Peter. "Stop standing there looking pitiful, and look for a pan or something." "You get one," said Charmain. Peter gave her a contemptuous look, and began to look around the room, chasing away the air bubbles as he went, until he came to the overcrowded sink.So he naturally discovered what Charmain had discovered long ago. "No tap!" He couldn't believe it. "And the pans are dirty. Where did he get the water?" "There's a pump in the yard," said Charmain coldly. Peter looked out the window through the bubbles all over the room, and the raindrops were still running on the glass. "Is there no bathroom here?" he asked.Before Charmain could explain how to get to the bathroom, he stumbled through the kitchen, opened another door, and entered the living room.Bubbles also squeezed in and surrounded him, and then he went back to the kitchen angrily. "Is this a joke?" he asked in disbelief. "He doesn't only have these two rooms!" Charmain sighed, pulled the sweater around him a little tighter, and went to explain to him. "You open the door again and turn left," she said, and grabbed Peter again to keep him from turning right. "No. It leads to a strange place. This is the left. Can't you tell the left from the left?" "Can't tell," Peter said. "Never could tell. I always had to tie a piece of wool around my thumb." Charmain rolled his eyes to the ceiling and pushed him to the left.Together they reached the hallway, outside the window at the end, raindrops were still pounding loudly on the glass.The light came on slowly, and Peter stood there looking around. "Now you can turn right," Charmain said, pushing him there. "The bathroom is just behind this door. Behind the next row of doors is the bedroom." "Ah!" Peter exclaimed enviously. "He warped space. I can't wait to learn how it's done. Thanks," he continued, before slipping into the bathroom.Charmain was on tiptoe preparing to go quietly to the study when his voice drifted over again. "Oh, great! Tap! There's water!" Charmain hid in Uncle William's study, closed the door, and the twisted lamp on the table slowly lit up.When she walked to the desk, the brightness was close to daylight.Charmain pushed the Grimoire aside and picked up the stack of letters underneath.She wants to make sure.If what Peter said was true, one of these letters begging Uncle William to accept him as an apprentice should be from him.Because she had only skimmed through it before and didn't remember seeing it, and if there wasn't such a letter, then she was dealing with a liar, probably a Lubbock.She has to figure it out. what!This is it, the letter has just been half-turned.She put on her glasses and read: Then it should be fine!Charmain thought to himself, a little relieved, but also a little troubled.When she browsed through these letters before, her eyes must have only seen "apprentice" at the beginning and "hope" at the end, and there was a long paragraph in the middle.So she thought it was just another letter of request.It seemed that Uncle William thought so too.Or maybe he was too ill to reply.In any case, she couldn't seem to get rid of Peter.hateful!But at least he's not a bad guy, she thought. Peter's panicked cry came from a distance.Charmain quickly stuffed the letter back under the "Book of Magic", took off his glasses, and returned to the corridor. Steam came out of the bathroom, mixed with various bubbles.There seemed to be a huge white thing hidden inside, approaching Charmain. "What did you—" she began. Before she could finish, the massive white object stuck out its huge pink tongue and began licking her face.It also let out a loud growl.Charmain stumbled back.She seemed to be licked by a wet towel and heard the cry of an elephant.She leaned against the wall, staring into the creature's large, pitiful eyes. "I know those eyes," Charmain said. "What did he do to you, Waif?" Peter emerged from the bathroom, gasping for air. "I don't know what's wrong," he gasped. "The water that came out wasn't hot enough to make tea, so I wanted it to be hotter and I did the increase spell." "Okay, then change back immediately," said Charmain. "Waif is now the size of an elephant." Peter gave the gigantic Waif a panicked look. "It's just the size of a horse. And the pipes inside are red hot," he said. "What do you think I should do?" "Oh, that's awful!" said Charmain.She gently pushed the huge Waif aside and walked into the bathroom.From the steam in the room, she could only tell that scalding water was gushing out from the four faucets at the same time, and then flushed into the toilet, and the water pipes on the wall were indeed red as if they were burning. "Uncle William!" she yelled. "How do I cool down the water in the bathroom?" Uncle William's genial voice rose from the gushing hiss. "You can find more detailed instructions in the suitcase, dear." "It's no use!" said Charmain.She knew there was no time to look in the suitcase any more.Soon something is going to explode. "Cool!" she yelled through the steam. "Cool! You hoses, cool down now!" she screamed, waving her arms. "I order you to cool down!" To her shock, it actually worked.The steam turned into a puffy gas and disappeared.The toilet no longer flushes either.Three faucets rattled to a halt.The faucet that was still running—the cold faucet over the washbasin—had also quickly collected frost, and icicles formed beneath it.Icicles also formed around the pipes on the wall, then slowly slid down and hissed into the bathtub. "It's better now," Charmain said, turning to Waif.Waif looked back at her pitifully.She's never been that big. "Waif," said Charmain, "get smaller. Immediately. I order you." Waif shook her big tail blankly, her figure unchanged. "If she had magic," said Peter, "she might be able to turn herself back if she wanted to." "Oh, shut up!" Charmain yelled at him. "What good thing do you think you did just now? But no one can drink scalding water." Peter glared at her angrily from under his still dripping curly hair. "I'd like some tea," he said. "You need boiling water to make tea." Charmain had never made tea.She shrugged. "Really?" She looked up at the ceiling. "Uncle William," she said, "how can we get hot drinks?" The kind voice sounded again. "If in the kitchen, knock off the table and say 'tea', dear. If in the living room, knock on the cart in the corner and say 'afternoon tea.' If in your bedroom—" Neither Peter nor Charmain had the patience to hear about methods in the bedroom.They rushed forward, slammed the bathroom door, and reopened it—Charmain pushed Peter to the left—squeezed back into the kitchen, turned, closed it, opened it again, and finally reached the living room, looking eagerly for the door. that cart.Peter spotted it around the corner, and walked ahead of Charmain. "Afternoon tea!" he yelled, pounding on its glass surface. "Afternoon tea! Afternoon tea! Next—" Charmain came up to him and seized the arm he was about to slam down, while the trolley was piled high with teapots, milk jugs, sugar bowls, cups, scones, saucers of butter, saucers of jam, saucers of Toast with warm butter, muffins, and a chocolate cake.One end of the cart also slides out a drawer filled with knives, spoons and forks.Charmain and Peter tacitly dragged the cart to the ancient sofa, sat down and began to eat and drink.After a while, Waif stuck her huge head through the door and started sniffling.Seeing the things on the cart, she squeezed forward and also walked into the living room, slowly dragged her huge body to the sofa, and rested her big, hairy chin on the back of Charmain on the sofa.Peter gave her a flustered look, and offered her some muffins, which she swallowed politely. After half an hour passed, Peter stretched his back. "Amazing," he said. "At least we won't starve to death. Wizard Nolan," he tried, "how are we going to find lunch in the house?" no answer. "He only answered my questions," said Charmain, slightly smug. "I won't ask now. Before you came, I bumped into a Lubbock, and I'm so tired..." "What's Lubbock?" Peter asked. "I think my father was killed by a lubbock." Charmain did not want to answer him.She stood up and walked towards the door. "Wait," Peter asked. "What about the things on the cart?" "I don't know," Charmain said.She opened the door. "Wait, wait, wait!" Peter yelled, running after him. "Tell me where the bedroom is first." He should have been told, Charmain thought.He couldn't even tell left from right.She sighed.Reluctantly she pushed Peter through the bubbling still bubbling in the kitchen, more bubbles than before, but he was going to get his knapsack back, and then she led him left through the door, to to the bedroom. "Go into the third room," she said. "This one is mine, and the first one is Uncle William's. There are a lot of rooms here, so if you want another room, feel free. Good night," she said, and went into the bathroom. Everything in the bathroom was freezing. "Oh, well," said Charmain. She went back to the bedroom and put on some tea-stained pajamas.Peter yelled in the hallway again, "Hey! The toilet is frozen too!" Bad luck!Charmain thought.She lay down in bed and fell asleep almost immediately. About an hour later, she dreamed that a huge furry animal was lying on top of her. "Go down, Waif," she said. "You're too big." Then she dreamed of the huge animal slowly climbing down from her body, rumbling breathing, and then she entered another deeper dream.