Cloud Magic

into flames.
    ‘Fire be gone!’ she said quickly. The fire slowly died.
    ‘Wow!’ breathed Erin. She was so impressed she almost forgot about the dark spirit.
    Chloe turned to her. ‘Xanthe said that some summer spirits can’t make fire straight away, but she said I must be quite a strong spirit.’ She tucked her hair back behind her ears. ‘You have a go now. Just concentrate really hard on what you want to happen and you should feel a sort of tingling. That’s magic flowing through you. Say “Rain be with me” and see if it works.’
    ‘OK.’ Erin felt excited. She looked at the skies. I can do this. I have to – for Tor! ‘Rain be with me!’ she whispered intently.
    A tingling feeling spread through her body, building up and up until it exploded out of her fingers. She gasped as a small raincloud formed above them. Raindrops immediately started falling.
    Chloe squealed and dashed out from underneath it.

    ‘Rain be gone! Rain be gone!’ Erin gasped. Nothing happened and the rain soaked her. ‘Rain be gone!’ she cried again. This time the raincloud slowly faded.
    Erin looked down at her dress. She was dripping wet.
    Chloe giggled. ‘I think you need to practise a bit!’
    Erin tried again, but this time the cloud that appeared pelted them both with hailstones!
    ‘I’m not very good at this,’ she said, feeling embarrassed as she made the hail cloud finally vanish.
    ‘Don’t be silly,’ Chloe said. ‘It’s only your first night of trying. You wouldn’t expect to be good first time. You’ll get better.’
    Erin felt grateful. Usually, if she couldn’t do something at school or the stables, Fran and Katie laughed at her and made her feel stupid. Chloe was so much nicer.
    They practised some more. Chloe seemed to get better, starting fires and putting them out more quickly, but Erin didn’t feel she was improving at all. She kept drenching herself and her hail clouds became snow clouds and her snow clouds became drizzling rain.
    ‘You’ll get the hang of it soon,’ Chloe kept saying.
    They played a game of tag and then finally decided to go home. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ Erin said.
    ‘Yeah, at the stables at ten,’ said Chloe happily. ‘Bye!’ She waved, and they both darted away.
    Erin got to the stables early. She checked the board and saw that she was going to be riding Tango that day. Unfortunately, he was Fran’s favourite pony and Erin could tell that Fran wasn’t pleased she wasn’t going to be riding him. When Erin went into the tack room to fetch Tango’s head collar and a grooming kit, Fran gave her a very dirty look. She was sitting on the wooden chest where all the grooming kits were kept.
    ‘I need to get a grooming kit. Can you move, please, Fran?’ Erin asked politely.
    Her heart sank as Fran shook her head. ‘Nope,’ she said, inspecting her nails. ‘I don’t feel like it.’
    Erin hesitated, shrinking inside. What could she do? She needed a grooming kit, but she couldn’t exactly push Fran off the chest, could she?
    To her relief, two of the other helpers, Anna and Jodie, came in, also looking for grooming kits. Fran shifted immediately and as the other girls got their grooming kits out Erin quickly did the same. As she straightened up, Fran smirked at her as if saying You know I wouldn’t have moved just for you. Erin tried to ignore her.
    She left the tack room and saw Chloe coming out of the office with Jackie.
    ‘Hi!’ Erin went over, feeling very pleased to see her.
    ‘Chloe’s new. She’s riding Solomon today. Will you show her around, please, Erin?’ Jackie asked.
    ‘Of course I will,’ Erin said.
    Jackie went back into the office. Just then Fran and Katie came out of the tack room. Fran stopped when she saw Chloe with Erin.
    ‘Who are you?’ she demanded curiously.
    ‘Chloe,’ Chloe replied easily. ‘What’s your name?’
    ‘Fran. And this is Katie.’ Fran looked Chloe up and down. She obviously approved of her because she smiled. ‘Has Jackie told you who you’ll be riding then?’
    ‘Yes. Solomon.’
    ‘Cool. Well, come with Katie and me and we’ll show you which pony he is.’
    Chloe glanced at Erin. ‘Erin’s supposed to be showing me.’
    ‘We don’t need four of us to catch him, Erin,’ Fran said pointedly. ‘You can stay here.’ She tossed her head. ‘Come on, Chloe.’
    Chloe stopped. ‘Actually, you’re right. We don’t need four of us, and since I’m friends with Erin already she can show me