Josefine Ottesen (English site)

The Ice Flower
The Golden Spring
Sesam, 2004/2005

Extract from The Ice Flower
Extract from The Golden Spring
Author's comments

The Ice Flower

”Watch out!” Hay Lin threw herself under one of the trees to escape from the Snow Dragon which came sweeping towards them over the ice forest. It was huge and its ice fur shon and glistened like diamonds. Its great wings, which bore it with furious speed over the frozen forest, were as transparent as glass and every beat of its wings sent a bitingly cold blast of wind towards the girls. They huddled together and Taranee worked hard to create a blanket of warmth around them.
”Don't think you can escape from the Ice Queen,” screeched a voice.

Why does Cornelia suddenly start behaving so coldly and rejectingly towards her friends? And why does she suddenly take off for the Land of a Thousand Rivers completely alone, without talking to the other W.I.T.C.H. girls first?
Will, Irma, Taranee and Hay Lin are not in any doubt – there is something terribly wrong! They hurry after her and, before they know it, find themselves in a barren, cold ice desert, without a trace of Cornelia, without a trace of life ....

The Golden Spring

"Dear Diary, I don't know what to do.” A large tear fell on the words Irma had just written and smudged the ink from the ballpoint pen. She dried her eyes and continued, ”I just think I will wither and dry out like a jellyfish thrown up on the shore if I'm not allowed to practise with Crimson Fire. Why does nobody understand me?"

Irma has again had a bad school report and her father has demanded that she stays home every evening to do her homework. At the same time, her mother requires her to help with the housework. Irma feels misunderstood. How do they expect her to see her friends? And what about the band at school who are looking for a new lead singer - how will she have time to practise with them?
And there is also a message from Kandrakar! A princess has been kidnapped by a powerful magician and it is W.I.T.C.H.’s task to rescue her …

The fine snowflakes had a pleasantly cooling effect on her hot face, as she sped back to the bench to take off her skates. On the way there, she caught sight of something lying on the ice. Something was shimmering and sparkling in the moonlight, so she bent down, curious to see what it was.
It looked like an enormous ice crystal, a flower made of ice, that hung in a silver chain. Carefully, she picked it up. It was quite definitely cold, but it surely couldn't be ice, she thought. In that case, it would clearly begin to melt when she held it in her warm hand. She looked closely at it. Could it possibly be cut out of rock crystal? The jewel was unbelievably beautiful and she just couldn't stop herself holding it up towards the moon, so the clear silvery light was broken into all the colours of the rainbow. She suppressed a little cry, because it was as if she could see a face in the middle of the flower. At that moment, a powerful gust of wind whirled the light snow up around her and blocked the moonlight again. She shook her head. No, it must have been a shadow she'd seen, she told herself, and put the silver chain with its pendant in her pocket. Somebody had no doubt dropped the piece of jewellery, she thought. Tomorrow she would give it to the man who did the skate-hire, so the owner could get it back again.

Chapter 1: The School Report

"What good marks you've got, Chris."
"Oh no, there goes plan A," groaned Irma to herself, hearing her father's voice at the same moment as she opened the front door. She had tried so hard to get home before him, so she could sneak into her room without anyone noticing her. "I guess there's no way out," she muttered. "Next stop the lion's den!"
Very slowly she took off her coat and hung it on a hook. She who otherwise usually threw her things off, placed her shoes neatly and spent a long time making sure they stood evenly. Through the crack in the door, she could see her father running his fingers through Chris's hair.
"You're quite the little genius, my boy," he said with a warm chuckle. "Top marks in just about every subject."
Irma's heart sank into her stomach. Yes, she too was truly brilliant in school, she thought ironically, but mostly at not being able to answer questions! With a faint smile, she remembered the time she had used her W.I.T.C.H. magic, so the teachers only asked her questions she already knew the answers to. That had been wonderful, but of course she was not supposed to use Kandrakar's power in that way. She understood that very well, but so what …! With a silent sigh, she reached into her satchel for her school report. She held it out in front of her with two fingers as if it smelled badly, and imagined for a brief moment what fun it would be if all the pages were made into paper darts. At that moment, the door flew open and she hurriedly hid her report behind her back.
"I thought I heard some rustling," said her mother with a smile and Irma went into the living room. Her father's eyes dwelt on her and he was just about to say something when Irma took control. "Have you had a hard day? You look rather tired!" she said quickly. Perhaps too quickly, because her father looked suspiciously at her and shook his head.
"No, it's been much like it normally is," he said disinterestedly, while eagerly holding out Chris's report towards her. "Have you seen how well your little brother is doing?"
Irma let her gaze glide down over the impressive row of marks. Chris looked enthusiastically at her, just waiting for her praise, but she felt more like kicking him. But she controlled herself. "Well, Einstein, I grovel in the dust before the professor."
She bowed exaggeratedly to Chris, who laughed in satisfaction, while she thought

about what a deep injustice it was that she and the other W.I.T.C.H. girls could together save worlds from extinction, but she still couldn't avoid the anger her father would certainly pour down on her when he saw her report.
"Haven't you also come home with a good report today?" asked her mother at once. Irma let out a deep sigh.
"I'm really tired. I actually thought I'd take a bath and rest a bit before ..."
"Irma!"
"Yes, alright."
She handed her report over, recalling once more the contents. Oh dear, this was going to go be awful! In all the written subjects, she was way below average, except for geography, where she'd gone up a bit since last time. It was only in art, and especially in music, that she had coped adequately, but these were not subjects that counted with anyone - and certainly not with her father!
"Here," she said in a subdued voice, and prayed that her mother would take it. It was her last desperate hope that only her mother would look at the report, but her father took the thin,blue book out of her hand without hesitation.
She could already hear the drums of fate thudding in her ears and waited keyed up for Tom Lair's comments.
"Honestly, Irma, I thought we had an agreement."