THE MAGIC MIRROR

RUBY

Ruby quickly makes friends with a strange boy and discovers what happened. If you sometimes read books or if you don’t find English too difficult, read Ruby’s chapters and explore London with her. But … is this really London as we know it or some other strange and dangerous place …?

Chapter 1

The year: 1588.

The place: London.

The man: John Dee, the greatest magician in the world.

The problem: his magic wasn’t working.

Why not?

He didn’t know.

But he did know one thing:

He was in trouble.

Serious trouble.

He had to come up with a spell. To defeat the Spanish. To destroy their ships. To save England from a foreign invader.

But his spells weren’t working.

Nothing was working.

A week ago, Queen Elizabeth sent him a message. The Spanish fleet had been spotted sailing along the English Channel. She ordered him to destroy it with his magic.

If he succeeded, he would be given all the rewards that a man could want or need.

If he failed, she would lock him in the Tower of London for the rest of his life.

The Spanish navy had come to invade England. A hundred and thirty ships packed with men and weapons. Planning to snatch the crown from Elizabeth’s head. Then place it on the head of King Philip II, the ruler of Spain.

For seven days, John Dee had pored over his books, searching for the perfect spell. What would be best?

A shower of thunderbolts to puncture the hulls of those Spanish ships?

A plague to poison the soldiers and sailors?

A great wave to wash their ships back to Spain?

A wind that tore out their rigging and snapped the masts?

Yes! Yes! Yes! Any of those would be perfect. But he couldn’t summon them. His magic wasn’t powerful enough. None of his spells worked.

He hadn’t slept for days. His hands were starting to shake. His eyes ached. His mind whirled with thoughts. But he just couldn’t stop.

All night he had been mixing this potion. Adding a dash of powdered toad. Sprinkling a drop of dew gathered from a daisy on the longest day.

He whispered to himself as he lit the candles. Thirty-seven of them. Laid out in a circle.

When all thirty-seven candles spluttered and fizzed, John Dee clasped his magic mirror in his right hand and slowly, carefully, recited the words of the spell.

This spell would summon a powerful demon from its own world.

A demon that could destroy a hundred and thirty Spanish ships.

The greatest magician in England had almost reached the last lines of the spell when the door swung open. A boy came into the room.

The boy was John Dee’s eldest son, Arthur, just eleven.

He could see his father was busy, but even so, he called out, “Father! She’s here!”

John Dee ignored him. The spell would be ruined if he stopped now. Only a few more words…

“The queen!” Arthur insisted. “She’s here!”

“Go away,” John Dee snarled.

“But what shall I say to the qu–“

“Leave me alone!”

John Dee was furious. And desperate. He had lost his place in the book of spells. He couldn’t remember which words he had spoken and which still needed to be said. What a mess! He’d have to start all over again. But if the queen was already here, he didn’t have time.

“Father–“

“I said, leave me alone!”

This time, Arthur finally did as he was told, and whirled around to rush out of the magician’s workshop. But he hadn’t noticed the bowl of dead frogs on the floor. He put his foot straight into them, slipped on their slippery backs and fell, swinging his arms.

A candle tipped over. Wax scattered. Flames leaped around the room, catching hold of a curtain, a pile of papers, some dry leaves…

“Look what you’ve done!” John Dee cried.

“Sorry, father. I’m very sorry.”

But John Dee was no longer listening to his son. Instead he was stamping on the flames, trying to quench the fire.

Without success.

Heat licked the walls. Smoke billowed. In a moment the whole place would collapse. The fire had already spread to the thatched roof.

All his equipment! His books! Years of effort and work would be destroyed by these flames!

Then he saw them…

Three figures appeared out of the black smoke.

Three people. Where no one had been before.

No, not people.

Demons!

The demons that his magic had summoned. Faces blackened by smoke. Stumbling out of the flames with their arms raised.

John Dee and his son Arthur turned and ran for their lives.

Chapter 2