For Felicity, Angelina, Molly, Maybelle, and Megan

                                      Chapter 1

                    The Widest Train Track

Belinda Twitch was a young girl, who lived with her ancient Grandmother in The Middle of Nowhere. There were many train tracks running along outside their battered old shack, one in particular. This track was wider than the rest, and, according to Belinda’s Grandmother, was around 100 years old. 

Its blistered, wooden slabs looked as if they had been carelessly thrown down onto the rusted bars of metal that formed the tracks, but this was very far from the reason that made it most peculiar indeed.

                               Chapter 2

                                  Gran

Many years before, young Belinda Twitch, only five years old, was staring out of the cracked, glass window at the distant horizon, wondering what strange and exciting things could possibly be out there. You see, Belinda had never been far from her Grandmother’s shack, and dreamed of the world as she imagined it,

 but somehow never dared to take a step out of her home. Her mind relaxed as she stared dreamily out of the window, but, suddenly, out of the corner of her eye she caught a glance of a faint shimmer slowly moving along the widest track. She lifted her head to look, but it had gone. Belinda got up, and quickly went over into the kitchen, where her Grandmother was cooking dinner. “Gran?” she asked, “ Is magic… real?” “Ah” said her Grandmother, sitting down in a spindly wooden chair beside Belinda, 

“That, Belinda, is not an easy question, I tell you. She gestured to a chair next to her, and as Belinda sat down, she gave a deep sigh. “I shall tell you a story, and you shall decide for yourself.

Chapter 3

The Story

"A long time ago, when carriages were pulled by horses, and many people were foolish enough to believe silly rumors of no truth, a newspaper was printed. On this newspaper’s front page was a picture. A picture of an old lady with a pointed hat and horrible, green warts poking up from every inch of her inky face. This disgusting old hag was what they  

believed to be a witch. Of course, it wasn’t at all an accurate guess, as even a troll, as unattractive as it is, will never be ugly, as long as it has a caring heart, but this was what they described as an “ugly, heartless and abnormal being” and “didn’t deserve to live its "worthless life” in “their wonderful world.”! Now, in those days, innocent citizens would believe anything printed in a newspaper, and feared that this ‘witch’ was using her magic against them, to hurt them. People could be 

seen cautiously scurrying along the streets, trembling, looking out for one glance of this bewitching creature, but, little did they know, lurking just around the corner was a cluster of witches, about 20 in total, angrily whispering to each other in furious, squeaking voices.

Chapter 4

The Story: Continued

These witches were nothing like the picture, though. In fact, they were the complete opposite. Their sharp, pointed faces were smooth and sleek, with no speck of green and no sight of any warts whatsoever. They wore tight, clingy dresses, each with a rather crooked bow tied around the waist, and flat, black shoes. Their hair was long and greasy, scraped up on the top of their heads in tight buns. The only 

thing, really, that made them just a slight bit similar to the picture was their tall, pointed  

hats, all black and dusty. In their hands they held sticks, but not just ordinary sticks, these sticks were magic…”

“A wand? Were they wands?” Belinda gasped.

“Yes, Belinda, they were wands.” said her grandmother sighed, “These wands were powerful enough to knock over the strongest man on earth, to push a train off a bridge and to put the whole world under a spell that they could never get out of, but what these witches 

really wanted was revenge...” ‘BEEEEEP BEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEP’ the cooker went, as Belinda’s grandmother made her way over to it to turn it off. “Tell me more, tell me more!” young Belinda had pleaded, but she shook her head, smiling gently.

Chapter 5

The Glisten

Back to her 9 year old self, Belinda walked over to the window. There it was again! The same glisten she saw on the same train track when she was five, but this time, it didn’t suddenly disappear. It stopped as if an engine had broken down. Belinda stared curiously at the shimmering spot on the track. What had happened, and, what was the shimmering, anyway? She collapsed into her little wooden 

bed. Belinda lay awake for what seemed like hours until her thoughts... slowly... rocked... her... to sleep.

Chapter 6

Belinda's Birthday

The next day was her 10th birthday. Belinda’s Gran threw her door open at the crack of dawn, and walked in, singing Happy Birthday, her version, in a very out-of-tune voice. It went something like this:

Happy Birthday to you,

With frogspawn and goo,

Happy Birthday to Belinda,

Happy Birthday to you!

Now it’s yer BIRTHDAY,

(it’s yer BIRTHDAY!)

Yer need some CAKE

(need some CAKE!)

So I’ve got some HERE,

(got some HERE!)

All finished and ready to BAKE!

(ready to BAKE!)

Belinda smiled at her Gran’s enthusiasm, and she already knew that this was going to be the best birthday ever! The shimmer had been cleared out of her mind, and now all she could think about was her Gran’s best dish, Fish-eye stew. Disgusting, I know, but Belinda had never met anyone other than her Gran, so no one had ever told her their opinion about fish

 Eyes, except, of course, her Gran, and that was always that they were delicious. “Breakfast is served!” Gran exclaimed, as she 

brought in some fish eye stuffed croissants and lay them down on the table. Belinda tucked in, munching her way through them, while her Gran did the same. Belinda stopped, a croissant halfway to her mouth. “Gran?” she asked, 

“Yes, Belinda?” 

“You know that story you told me when I was 5?” 

“The one about the witches? Yes I remember that.” 

“What else happened?” 

“Well, the witches cursed the newspaper to make it show the founder’s face and say underneath: Founder of Newspaper, Jerald Lindwig, is caught working with Witches! And that’s really the rest of the story.”

“Oh, OK.” said Belinda, slightly disappointed.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Gran asked, “Let’s go and play Pin the Tail on Linda!”

Linda was their donkey, and I haven’t mentioned her much, as, well, she doesn’t really 

do that much at all. She mainly lies around on the grass outside the shack and eats her food.

Chapter 7

Fish Eye Stew

After Pin the Tail on Linda, Belinda and her Gran made their way into the garden, and played many other games, such as musical chairs, musical statues and musical bumps. (Gran liked her musical activities, as you may have already figured) Belinda’s stomach started rumbling at the end of musical bumps, when it was only her and Milicent Frog left. (They had many 

imaginary friends, Belinda and her Grandmother.) “Gran, I’m hungry!” she groaned, “Can we have some fish eye stew, now?”

“Well, it is a little bit early…” Gran looked at Belinda.

“Oh, go on then!” she laughed, and Belinda shot into the kitchen.

She sat down as Gran cleared away what was left of the croissants. Gran opened the cupboard and pulled out a pot of greyish-green 

stew, with small, beady eyes floating at the top. She placed it into the oven, waited 5 minutes, and took it out with the oven gloves. “Be a darling and put out some bowls.” she said to Belinda, placing the steaming, bubbling pot on the table. Belinda opened the draw and a small, desperate bat flew out. “Gran, one of the bats got trapped in the drawer again!” she said, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

“You know what to do. Write a quick apologetic 

note to its mother and send it back to the attic” She scribbled down a couple of sentences, gave the piece of paper to Belinda, and gave it to the bat, which flew off upstairs. Belinda sat down, again, at the table and Gran poured the thick, green liquid into two bowls. “Mmmm!” said Belinda, licking her lips. “Gran, this smells extraordinary!”

“Well, I did improve it quite a lot!” Gran chuckled.

They both grabbed a spoon and started eating. There was silence at the table.

Chapter 8

The Secret

“Belinda?” whispered Gran, “I need to tell you something.” Belinda leaned forward to hear. “Just before I told you that story when you were 5, you asked me if magic is real. Do you remember that?” Belinda paused, trying to remember, then nodded. “Well, the truth is, it really is, and you know the witches I told you 

about?” She nodded again. “Well, we’re them too.”

“We’re Witches?” Belinda gasped.

“Yes, Belinda, we are witches.” her Gran replied, calmly.

“So, does that mean my parents were a witch and a wizard?”

“Well, Belinda I’ve been meaning to tell you about your parents. Yes, they were a witch and a wizard, but they were doubted by the town. The townspeople believed they were evil, like