Rose and Jinx, the Witch's cat are friends. At first he resents her, and still probably does, but now he follows her everywhere playing with her. Being a witch's cat he can talk and he thinks he's ever so clever. Rose makes up riddles about the robbers and what happened and asks Jinx, not all at once, just once in a while so Jinx doesn't get suspicious. Jinx is proud of the Witch's treachery and how cunning she is, and little by little Rose finds out the horrible truth about what happened. She grows to hate the Witch and plans to escape.
Rose waits for a dark and stormy night. The rain rattles on the roof. The wind whistles in through the glassless windows and trees scrape against the walls. It's just the sort of night the Witch likes and Rose has to wait for hours until the Witch has finished her spells and chants and put her crystal ball away. The Witch doesn't seem very happy about what she sees in the crystal ball and stays up extra late making a potion. At last she goes to bed, if you can call it that. She sleeps on a mattress made of thorn bush in the coldest, dampest corner of the room.
Rose waits a few minutes until the witch is snoring, then slips out of bed, through the window and runs quickly and stealthily into the woods. She's heading for Nice, but runs in the opposite direction in case the Witch tries to follow her trail. She knows the land around the Witch's hovel like the back of her hand and even in the dark and the rain she travels quickly and quietly, without stumbling or bumping into anything. She reaches the river at the back of the Witch's territory, and is starting to swim across, when there's a mighty scream in the night.
WHOOSH!!
The Witch is hovering in front of her, Jinx the cat perched on her broomstick, grinning. She screeches a horrible laugh, one of those horrible witchy laughs that sends shivers up your spine, and plucks Rose out of the river with one hand and flies off back to her hovel at top speed, Rose dangling behind.
Chapter 4 - Swiverous, Biverous
She throws Rose in the corner and screams, 'Never will you escape again.'
She always smiled at Rose before but now her features are twisted and evil. 'I always wanted a little girl, so I had your parents killed and kidnapped you. You've been my little girl up to now. Now you run away. How dare you! I saw you in my crystal ball, escaping through the woods, so I put a spell on you. I attached a long thin magic thread to you which woke me up when you left my territory. Now you are going to be my little girl forever!
'I’m going to put a spell in you and you will always be seven. I can’t have you growing up and leaving me. We leave here NOW!'
The Witch throws all her witchy things into her magic witchy bag, even the cauldron which had been bubbling on the fire. 'And you, you mangy cat,' she screams, as she throws Jinx into the bag. 'Your job is to watch that girl when I sleep. And where were you? Napping by the fire!'
She swings her witchy sack over her shoulder, drags Rose out of the corner, and in a twinkling they're zooming off through the stormy night, Rose trapped in the witch's grasp at the front of the broomstick. She struggles to get free but the Witch's hold is vice-like and her long fingernails dig deep into Rose’s flesh.
They fly down the river, now in flood, then along the coast, zooming along just above the crashing waves before swooping up as the dark shape of a fort looms up in front of them. They pass through an open window and crash into the opposite wall with a splintering of wood and a clatter of pots and pans as everything tumbles out of the Witch's sack. The Witch is in a rage. She hurls Jinx out the window. 'Go catch rats,' she screams after him. She sets up her cauldron in the corner and sets a fire raging under it with a flick of her wand.
Soon it's bubbling away, making a putrid smell and sending little clouds of luminous vapour out the window. The Witch busies herself in front of the cauldron, tasting the potion and consulting her spell book, then adding a bit of this and that, chanting as she stirs in the ingredients.
'Dried jellyfish,' she screams. 'This will keep you young forever!'
'Now drink this,' she shrieks, grabbing a beaker, filling it with the glowing, bubbling liquid, and forcing it down Rose’s throat.
Then she casts the spell. 'Swiverous, biverous, blanchee and shooom,' she chants, raising her wand in the air.
'Kazam,' she yells, thrusting the wand into Rose's flesh.
White light rips through the room.
Soldiers, huddling in their pillar box on the ramparts of the fort, cowl as a mighty bolt of lightning shoots down from the clouds and the old stowage hut on the seaward side of the ramparts disintegrates in a cloud of smoke and fire.
Chapter 5 -Fort Carre
'That bloody cat, where is he?' are the Witch's first words the next morning. Then she remembers that she'd thrown him out the window, 'Never mind,' she says, turning to Rose, 'He's a witch's cat, he'll find his way back in.'
The day has dawned clear and fine and out of the window Rose can see the sea, still rough and angry after the storm of the night before. Across a bay, hiding behind its ramparts, is a fine little town, flags flying gaily from the towers of its chateau in the fresh morning breeze. Behind the town a forested peninsula sticks out into the sea. Out of the window on the other side of the room, the coastline sweeps along to Nice with snowcapped mountains rising steeply up behind in the distance.
This is a fine spot, she thinks, much better than that old hovel we used to live in.
There are two soldiers sweeping up some rubble and joking between themselves. They come close and Rose steps back so they won’t bump into her. They keep coming and, much to her surprise, they walk straight through the wall and sweep up some rubble lying in the middle of the room!
'That’ll save us having to whitewash that again,' says one of them as he tips rubble over the castle walls in a cloud of dust.
The Witch is calm and happy. 'Rose,' she says, 'we’re at Fort Carre, in Antibes. This is where we'll live now. The little hut we are in is invisible and makes those inside invisible too.
It’s strange, isn’t it? The people walk straight through it like it isn’t here. You cannot leave. Try if you like, the spell is unbreakable! It’s really not a bad sort of a spot for my retirement!'
It's such a lovely place to live that Rose almost forgets her anger and her bruised and aching bones. It comes back later in the day. She tries to talk to the soldiers but they seem to be in a different world. They walk straight through her, deaf to her words. They aren't completely in a different world; you get a strange, yucky sensation as they pass through you.
There must be a way to reach out to these people and get rescued, thinks Rose.
They settle into a routine living in their hut. Princess Rose, angry at first with the Witch, makes an effort to make peace with the twisted old woman. She vows to escape one day, but in the meantime she might as well get along with the one person she has for company. The Witch never says much anyway.
Rose wakes up early each morning to watch the changing of the guard as the sun rises out of the sea. The soldiers look ever so handsome parading in their smart uniforms!
Then she watches the world go by; the fishing boats coming and going; warships; trading vessels docking to discharge cargo; passenger ships sailing in to anchor in the little port by the town; the whales and dolphins that swim and frolic in the sea, and the birds that fly all around. She especially loves the martins that swoop overhead in the summer and the red-breasted robins that hop around looking for bugs in the winter. She listens to everything the soldiers say to try to find out what's happening in the outside world.
Later in the morning, she writes in her diary about the things she's seen, and makes up poems and writes them up in her book. Before lunch, their one and only meal of the day, she exercises. Well, exercises as much as she can in the small room, without getting in the Witch's way. She skips, jumps and runs on the spot, then stretches up against the wall. In the afternoons she has a siesta for an hour or two, depending on the season, waking again when the sun has dropped low enough to shine on her bed. She tidies up the room, sweeping the
floor and making her bed before drawing whatever is new outside her window
Over the years she makes a pile of books, diaries and drawings, so many, in fact, that they take up all the space on one side of the room. The Witch knits her a special bag using her wand. Being a witchy bag, it takes up no space and she can fit all her things in it.
After dark Rose sits by the window and watches the stars. She loves the stars. They're always there, friendly and watching over her. Then she wishes them and the Witch a good night and goes to bed.
She doesn't live in rags anymore. The Witch brings back beautiful dresses for her, lovely shoes, and a mirror and hairbrush so she can make herself pretty. She has a little bed, just long enough for a seven year old, with a feather mattress and a magic duvet that's always just right. It's snug and warm on the coldest winter’s night and deliciously cool on the balmy summer nights, and ever so comfortable!
The Witch is happy again, now she has her little girl back. She doesn't seem bothered to do any wicked witchy things and stops gazing into her crystal ball, like she did in the old hovel. During the day she sleeps, rising to prepare lunch, then kipping down again when Rose wakes from her siesta and getting up again when Rose goes to bed at night. This suits Rose just fine; she has most of her time to herself. Sometimes she awakes at night to the whoooosh of the Witch zooming out the window on her broom. The Witch catches fish in her net, flying low over the water and scooping them up. She catches stray cats that live around the fort and collects wild herbs. Usually she puts everything, cats, fish and herbs, in a big stew pot that bubbles away slowly day and night. Other times they eat the fish raw with lemon juice squeezed on it. When they're in season, there's fruit or strawberries on the table.
The Witch catches jellyfish and dries them out to use in her potion. She brews it up in the little cauldron and keeps it in a big jar on the shelf above the fireplace.
Jinx the cat comes and goes. Rose never sees him go in or out; he's just not there some of the time. She lies awake at night pretending to be asleep but, he knows, and stays curled up by the fire until she nods off for real. When she awakes, he's gone. He plays hop scotch and marbles with her and sometimes curls up on her lap for a bit of attention. He sleeps by the fire in the winter and on the sun warmed floor in the summer. He refuses to eat the Witch's cat stew, but loves the fish and goes hunting for rats, his favourite sport.
Chapter 6 - The Potion
One winter the witch can't catch any jellyfish and the magic wears thin. Birds start perching on the window sill. A robin even lands on Rose’s finger. She's so thrilled to make contact with the outside world! The Witch is worried. She hunts all night, every night, waiting for the jellyfish to return. One day a soldier walks through the room and bumps into Rose, knocking her over. He can't see her, but stands there looking puzzled for a minute. Lucky for him, because the Witch has her wand raised, ready to zap him if he notices Rose. He scratches his chin, bangs his head on the door post that he can't see, and disappears into his sentry box for the rest of the afternoon!
After that the Witch or Jinx keeps watch on Rose at all times and makes sure she doesn't go near any people. Then the Witch catches a jellyfish, drat and double drat, and the magic grows strong again.
Rose never finds out what the Witch does with the potion, although every day there's a little bit gone from the bottle on the shelf. Rose tries to climb out the window, but it's like there's a wall there. She can see through it, and the wind blows in, but she can't pass through. As for the bottle of potion, the Witch tells her it's useless to smash it as she had lots more hidden where she can never find it. When she's cleaning, she searches for Jinx’s secret entrance, but she never finds it.
During the three hundred years that she's been living in Fort Carre, Rose sees many changes; at first just small things, then quicker and quicker the world outside changes, until it seems foreign to her. It's completely different to the world she lived in. Back then people walked or rode horses to get places, and donkeys and oxen did all the hard work. Ships used sails to push them along, and when there was no wind the sailors manned the longboats and rowed to pull the ships along. You never see people work nowadays!
Then along came the steamships, the steam trains and motorcars, and now, flying machines! The Princess has seen armies come and go. The Emperor Napoleon stood right in her room! The Italians came and went. She liked them; they were always laughing and joking. The Germans arrived. They seemed very gruff and serious after the Italians, but they cleaned, weeded, repaired and painted, and had the fort looking immaculate like back in the old days.
Fort Carre has been abandoned for many years now, the whales and dolphins have disappeared, the beautiful green hills are covered with houses and buildings. The lovely emerald bay has been blocked from the sea and turned into a parking place for yachts and the bright lights at night block out all but the most brilliant of her star friends.
Chapter 7 - Rose's call for Help
'Je veux vivre dans le monde réel. Je veux grandir et vivre ma vie. Sofie, will you help me to escape?'
'Why don’t you speak English to me?' replies Sofie, indignantly.
'Pour quoi pas? Why not?' says Rose, 'I'm a bit rusty though.'
'Ok then, I’ll help you escape.' says Sofie, not knowing quite how.
'If you live in Fort Carre, can I come and visit you, like case the joint out? It’s open to the public now, I could come and walk right through your hut, right through you!'
'No, you’d better not. It gives me the willies when that happens and the Witch is canny. Although you won’t be able to see us, she’ll suspect something if you poke around the place.'
'Can you make a signal to me then?' says Sofie. 'What say you flash your mirror in the sunlight?'
'That’s an idea. You put up a flag to show me where you live and I’ll flash to you.'
'Mum,' says Sofie, 'We need a flag. I want it up nice and high, so people visiting Fort Carre can see it.'
'Of course we need a flag.' says Caroline. 'You draw a design, then in the morning we’ll go to the market and buy the material to make it.'
Sofie sits at her desk and designs a flag. It has a light blue and white stripy background, sort of wavy like the sea, with a black martin swooping across it. It looks good but is missing a little something; Sofie decides that it needs Fort Carre as well. Caroline says that Fort Carre will be a bit tricky to sew, so once they've made the flag they paint it on under the martin using fabric paint. They tie the flag onto a bamboo pole but it isn't high enough, so Sofie’s dad climbs up and ties it on to the TV antennae.
Once all the adults have gone, Sofie calls to Rose in her thoughts and asks her if she can see the flag.
'I can, I can,' says Rose excitedly. 'I’ll pretend to comb my hair by the window, and flash you with my mirror.'
'Wait, wait,' says Sofie. 'I can’t see Fort Carre. Hang on a minute.'
She wants to climb on the roof, but her dad has told her to never, never climb on the roof. Not just once, but a hundred times, so he must mean it. She puts the big plastic chair on top of the table and stands on it. It isn't tall enough and is wobbly as a wobbly thing, so they put Lulu’s little chair on top of the big chair, on top of the table and Sam holds the legs of the big chair and Lulu stands on the table and holds the legs of the little chair. It's ever so wobbly, but Sofie climbs up on to the little chair and stands up straight. Finally she can see Fort Carre.
'Okey dokey,' she says. A second later a bright flash comes from just above the fort.
'I can see you. I can see you!' shouts Sofie, just as things get very wobbly and crash, bang, smash! Everyone ends up in a snotty heap on the terrace.
'Now that I know that you really are there, I’m going to rescue you,' Sofie says to Rose.
'What are you up to anyway?' asks Sam as he had picks himself up. 'And what do you need to see Fort Carre for? What’s going on?'
'Princess Rose is trapped there by a wicked witch,' replies Sofie. 'We ha
ve to rescue her.'
'I’ll rescue her,' says Sam, putting on his Mario hat.
'You might need a cape too,' says Sofie jokingly.
'Me too, me recuu princess,' says Lulu.
Sam knows all about rescuing princesses. It's what he does on his Gameboy.
'It’s simple,' he says. 'You go down the pipe to get into the castle, dodge the monsters, zap the bad guy with fireballs, and rescue the princess.'
'But what say the princess is in an invisible hut?' says Sofie. 'What then?'
'You just have to find the right pipe and have lots of fireballs,' replies Sam.
He does have a point, thinks Sofie. There must be a way into the invisible hut. How does Jinx get in and out? Rose said that he never goes through the window like the Witch. If they do get in, how will they rescue the Princess? It's magic that's keeping her trapped and to keep that magic going the Witch needs to use the potion which she makes from jellyfish. The year that there were no jellyfish the magic trapping Rose had started to weaken.
Sofie needs to get into the invisible hut and see what happens. The things that Rose doesn't see, like how Jinx gets in and out and what the Witch does with the potion.
She calls up Rose to talk about it. 'Rose, can you open up your mind to me even more, enough that I can still see you when you are asleep?'
'Let’s practice,' says Rose, and they do, for weeks!
Rose manages it first. Sofie has been up late reading a book, Badjelly the Witch. Rose is reading the book too, over Sofie’s shoulder. She gets so wrapped up in the story that she doesn't notice Sofie has gone to sleep, until the page needs turning! Rose can't turn the page, but she finds that she can move around the house and see what else is going on. Downstairs, Sofie’s dad is asleep, but Caroline is reading. Rose reads a little over her shoulder. It's a funny book and she bursts out laughing.