Petronella and the Janjilons Read online

  “Percy, stop it, we do not give in. Betty is the rightful Duchess of Westshire. And that’s the end of it. We have to find a way. If they were turned from humans to Janjilons, then it must be possible to turn them from Janjilons into humans. We need to sit and think about it – there must be a way,” Petronella said.

  CHAPTER 21

  Petronella and Percy decided that they needed to talk, to call a meeting to decide what they should do.

  “Most Janjilons will have to stay here to guard these wicked people. But I need a few Janjilons at our meeting. You know them better than me, Percy. So can you please choose three or four? And, of course, Betty must be among them.”

  That was easy. The brightest among the boy-Janjilons were: Soloman, Adrian, and Henry. Betty was the only girl-Janjilon. It had never entered Judge Ormerod’s head that a girl could rule the land in her own right. But now he was worried.

  “You other Janjilons,” Percy said, “get into four groups. Nine Janjilons to each group. And make a tight circle around each one of them. Guard them closely. They are dangerous and evil. And don’t believe anything they tell you.”

  The Janjilons were very happy to be on the winning side. So they jumped on and around Judge Ormerod and the weird sisters, before they joined paws and made a proper circle again around each of their prisoners.

  In the meeting, it was Petronella who spoke first. She wanted to know what had happened. Percy told her that everyone thought Janjilon Betty had drowned. But she managed to grab the stem of a giant underwater lily and insert her head in a big bubble of air trapped under the water lily's head. She managed to float to one side of the lake, at the far end, where the water was shallow. As she was floating around, there, sticking out of the lake’s bank, just below the water, was something shining brightly. It was the Golden Shield.

  She burst the bubble and tried to heave the Golden Shield out. It wasn’t easy. But with determination and a little luck, she managed to free it from the soil it was embedded in. After that, she walked around with it under her arm until she saw the tunnel. She thought she would hide in there. And that’s what she did. She dug some soil out of the wall of the tunnel and hid in there.

  “That’s where I met her. She waited for me to walk out with her and she had the Golden Shield with her. Then we both came out into the Janjilon grounds,” Petronella said.

  Percy went on to tell Petronella that Soloman, Adrian, and Henry had fallen into the water while looking for Betty. The three boys managed to save themselves by keeping their heads above water under the overturned boat while paddling to the water’s edge. They had not found Betty in the lake because she was already in the tunnel.

  Petronella listened to the story with interest. Percy must have found it hard to get all this information from the Janjilons. With time and patience, he put the story together and learned to understand the Janjilons’ gestures and to interpret some of their shrieks.

  Now, they had to think about what they were to do about Judge Ormerod and the weird sisters.

  Percy told Petronella how the Janjilons were forced to drink some vile liquid – a potion boiled up by the weird sisters. After drinking this the children were turned into Janjilons. And from that minute they were totally at the mercy of Judge Ormerod. From what Percy had heard, the weird sisters would all become Grand Ladies of Westshire. That was how Duke Ormerod would reward them.

  Petronella tried to imagine Lady Gesuelda, Lady Gismonda, and Lady Gasmina. She shuddered. Betty shuddered, too, still with the Golden Shield tucked safely under her arm, while the other Janjilons turned their heads away in disgust.

  “Do you Janjilons know what was in this potion you drank? If a drink made you like this, then there must be an opposite drink which can turn you into humans again,” Petronella said.

  “That’s good thinking, Petronella. But where will we find such a drink? And how do we know what’s in it?” Percy said.

  Janjilons Henry and Adrian scratched their heads. But Janjilon Soloman was bouncing around pointing to himself and nodding his head furiously.

  “He thinks he knows what’s in the drink,” Percy said.

  Janjilon Betty turned a somersault and ran around in fast circles on all four paws letting out screeches of excitement, thinking that she would soon be the Duchess of Westshire.

  “What’s in the drink, Soloman?” Percy asked.

  Janjilon Soloman gave a few low-pitched screeches and held his paw out for Percy to take. Then the Janjilon went towards the door and led Percy out through it. Percy looked back towards the others and said:

  “You all wait here. I’ll be back as soon as I have any news.”

  So off they went to the hut in the woods to see if they could find the right recipe. Soloman had seen the sisters make a potion when he had looked into their hut in the middle of the forest. They needed to find that recipe book.

  CHAPTER 22

  Back in the village, Edmundus was getting worried about his wife. He had to go and look for her. After asking everyone he met, he found out she had been seen going to Wilfred’s house. Edmundus had no choice but to talk to the old man. There was a notice on Wilfred’s door, just below the knocker. It read: DON’T KNOCK. GO AWAY.

  Well, this was important so Edmundus knocked anyway.

  Wilfred breathed out a deep sigh. He was fed up with village folk coming to spoil his quiet days. But this time Wilfred knew exactly what Edmundus wanted.

  “I suppose you’ve come to look for Citronella, haven’t you?”

  “No, no. I’ve come to look for my wife. Her name’s...”

  Wilfred interrupted him. Enough was enough and he could not stand being disturbed again whether he was looking for his wife, his aunt or his dog. Enough was really enough. So Wilfred showed Edmundus the giant mushroom at the bottom of the garden and said:

  “Just go and look under that. They all seem to be disappearing in there somewhere. That’s where you’ll find them!” he said quite firmly.

  Edmundus was a little hesitant at first. But if his wife was under that giant mushroom then he simply had to go and get her. Edmundus wasn’t always sure where she went off to when she went out. But that she spent her time sitting under mushrooms for hours and hours wasn’t what he’d suspected.

  When Edmundus arrived at the mushroom, Petronella wasn’t there. He stood scratching his head for a while and looked around him. Meanwhile the yellow liquid, seeping out of the mushroom, had dripped down all over his clothes.

  Like the others before him, Edmundus then saw a large gaping entrance and he simply walked straight into it. Though it was pitch black in there he had to go on. What trouble had she got herself into? So she wasn’t sitting quietly under a mushroom after all. On the contrary, she’d been walking down this frightening tunnel on her own. He always knew she was brave.

  Edmundus couldn’t work out how long he had been walking and calling out Petronella’s name. If she’d been in there, she would have answered. He walked and walked until he finally began to see some daylight in the distance. She must be out there. So he began to run until he was out in the open and surrounded by trees. A forest. Oh, well, that was a great help. Where would he find her amongst all these tangled trees and the undergrowth?

  “Petronella! Petronella!” he kept calling out.

  “Over here,” a woman’s voice answered. “I’m over here. I’ve been kidnapped and tied up.”

  Edmundus followed the voice until he arrived in a clearing. There before him was the most weird scene he could ever have imagined. Four people, a man and three women tied to trees, and surrounding them were four circles of monkey-like animals.

  “What on earth is this?” Edmundus said out loud.

  Judge Ormerod was the first to speak:

  “You must help us,” he said.

  “Help you? Who are you?”

  “I’m Judge Ormerod and these gentle ladies tied to trees are my friends. They...”

  The Janjilons were springing up and down all over the
place. Protesting. Edmundus put his hands over his ears to shut the terrible screeches out.

  “Stop it! Stop it! I can’t stand it,” Edmundus shouted.

  The Janjilons quietened down but they were all circling Edmundus now. They were trying to stop him getting to the Judge and the weird sisters; just in case Edmundus was persuaded to untie them. He couldn’t get past. But Edmundus, of course, had heard nasty things about Judge Ormerod, so he would not be easily fooled into letting him go free. Unless, of course, he had good reasons.

  “Do any of you know where Petronella is?” Edmundus shouted out over the Janjilons’ heads.

  “That terrible nasty woman was the one who tied us up here,” Gesuelda shouted back.

  “What are you saying? My wife would never do anything wicked.”

  The Janjilons all started nodding; up and down, up and down, up, down, up, down...

  “Yes, she would,” Gasmina shouted. “She gave orders to these vile creatures you have here in front of you.”

  The Janjilons all started shaking their heads: to the left, to the right; left, right, left...

  Edmundus didn’t know who to believe, so looked at Judge Ormerod for explanations.

  “My dear man, you must believe me. What the sisters said to you is true. A woman arrived here out of the blue and took us prisoners. Her name was Citronella, I think.”

  “No, it’s Petronella,” Edmundus said.

  “Well, whatever her name is, I think she’s gone mad. For no reason at all she doesn’t like me or my lovely friends, and she treated us most cruelly...”

  All together, the Janjilons were shaking their heads again. But one Janjilon out of the crowd, went and stood near Edmundus. This was Janjilon Simon, a boy from nearby Cedar Wood Village. Edmundus thought he saw the creature crying. What was this a crying animal? It held its paw out to Edmundus.

  “Stay away from that man. Just stay away from him. Do you hear me, you smelly creature,” Gesuelda shouted out to Janjilon Simon.

  Edmundus took no notice of Gesuelda and held out his hand to take Janjilon Simon’s paw. The Janjilon moved closer to him, turned its head and licked Edmundus’s jacket as a sign of affection to someone he could trust. The Janjilon kept licking the yellow liquid and clinging to Edmundus’s clothes.

  It’s taste was very bitter and Janjilon Simon’s tongue burned as if it was on fire. The creature violently threw back its head and through its wide open mouth, let out the loudest howl, straight up, piercing the air, where it echoed and echoed right through the forest – from north to south, and from east to west.

  Petronella was still at the meeting with Janjilons Betty, Henry and Adrian. The howl was so loud that they all ran out and went towards the clearing to see what was happening. Is that a Janjilon being poisoned?

  Percy and Janjilon Soloman were still looking for the hut, when they too heard the awful screams. They were nearer than Petronella’s group and got there first. Petronella and the other three Janjilons arrived soon after. It was panic stations.

  What could they do but to look at the terrible scene in front of them. The weird sisters were screaming out insults to Janjilon Simon for not keeping away from Edmundus’s stained clothes, and likewise they were shouting at Edmundus because he had let the Janjilon lick him. And amongst all this shouting was the still howling Janjilon Simon.

  The noise was so loud that Petronella put her hands over her ears while, at the same time, she ran towards Edmundus, her husband. She was so happy to see him.

  But looking down at Janjilon Simon, still holding Edmundus’s hand, she could see that Janjilon Simon had quietened down. What was this? Something strange was happening to him. The fur on his face was disappearing and his ears were no longer at the top of his head; they were at the sides. Just like human ears. On his head was a nice mop of blonde hair. Slowly, the rest of him changed. Simon was turning back into a human.

  “We’re ruined now,” Judge Ormerod yelled out.

  “Yes, ruined. All ruined,” Gesuelda answered, trying to free her hands, tied together round the tree-trunk. She fought and fought, but as she did so the twigs cut more and more into her wrists. So she stopped. Gasmina was crying and Gismonda was echoing Gesuelda and Judge Ormerod’s: “Ruined, all ruined.”

  “Stop it, all of you,” Petronella said to them, “You wicked people.”

  Soon Simon’s body was that of a human. All nice and smooth. No more fur. Simon was naked. Edmundus covered him with his jacket.

  “Quick, Percy, run along to the house with Simon. Get some blankets and bring them here,” Petronella ordered.

  And off they ran.

  So that’s how the Janjilons can turn back into humans. By licking the liquid dripping from the giant mushroom at the bottom of Wilfred’s garden. Which means that if you are a Janjilon and manage to escape down the tunnel, when you get back to the village you can turn back into a human by licking the liquid.

  “How did the liquid get there? Who stole my recipe?” Gesuelda shouted out.

  Gasmina looked a teeny bit peaky. She lowered her eyes and then blushed. Luckily, Gesuelda didn’t see her. Petronella and Betty knew it had been Gasmina.

  “I’m so glad to know it’s possible to go back to being a human. Who’d want to be a Janjilon?” Petronella said.

  Janjilon Betty was nodding furiously. She really liked being an animal. Though, of course, she would not be able to read all those exciting stories. Being an animal was nice for a while but she did so want to go back home to her family. Even Jack, who’d missed all the fun. But for Betty the worst thing about being a Janjilon was not being able to talk.

  The other Janjilons had absolutely no doubt. They wanted to be humans again as quickly as possible. One by one, they licked Edmundus’s clothes and one by one they changed back into humans, while Percy ran around with blankets for everyone, amongst the terrifying howling because of the bitter liquid on their tongues.

  The last one was Betty. The only female Janjilon to have ever existed. As soon as she was a girl again, she lifted the Golden Shield high up above her head in triumph. All the boys together with Petronella and Edmundus cheered and clapped their hands happily.

  “Long live the new Duchess of Westshire and three cheers for her,” Petronella shouted.

  “Hip, hip”

  “Hurray.”

  “Hip, hip”

  “Hurray.”

  “Hip, hip”

  “Hurrrraaaaay.”

  “Just a moment before you lot start partying. She can’t be Duchess of Westshire, she’s not old enough,” Judge Ormerod said, looking Betty up and down while giving her one of his sly grins.

  “No, she’s not old enough,” Gesuelda and Gismonda repeated. They threw nasty looks at Gasmina.

  “Oh, sorry. No, she’s not old enough,” Gasmina repeated.

  “You can’t rule the land unless you are twenty-one. It was in Duke Merrick’s will. I should know. I read it enough times,” said Judge Ormerod. “I will be Duke until Betty is twenty-one.”

  “No, you will not. Anyone but you,” Edmundus answered. Then he thought a moment and added, “Or those weird sisters, over there.”

  “What shall we do with these cruel people?” Petronella asked Betty.

  “Let’s lock them up in the house. It’s like a fortress, they won’t be able to get out,” Betty said.

  “Yes, yes,” the boys agreed. And they untied the wicked people and marched them to the house. When they had locked the heavy door, one of the boys shouted: “Let’s throw away the key.”

  “No,” Betty replied. “We will not be cruel. Mine will not be a rule of terror. We will leave them locked up for a while. Then we will let them go.”

  “But they are wicked,” Soloman said. “They will forever be trying to take your place. You cannot trust them.”

  “I know that,” Betty said. “What I didn’t tell you was that before we free them, they must drink some liquid. Yes, the potion. You, Soloman, must go and look for the recipe.
We will make the drink up and ask them to swallow it. I think they will agree.

  After all, being a Janjilon is not so bad.”

  CHAPTER 23

  The Judge and the sisters were safely locked up in the house of the Janjilon Education Centre. Soloman had carefully gone over the recipe and, with Henry and Adrian as helpers, had finally gathered all that was needed. He went back to the weird sisters’ hut and used their equipment to brew the drink properly.

  When they had finished, they poured the smelly liquid into eight bottles. Surely, if a bottle worked for a young person, an adult would have to drink two bottles? That wasn’t a problem. They had made plenty.

  Entering the Janjilon house, the three boys met Petronella and Betty guarding the entrance.

  “There has been a lot of door-banging,” Petronella said.

  “It’s all so exciting. Never in a million years could I have imagined I would be guarding a wicked villain and weird sisters,” Betty said.

  “Let’s get to work,” Petronella said.

  “We’ll go up and see if we can make them drink this,” Soloman said, holding up bottles of disgusting brown liquid. “Let’s start with the Judge first.”

  Soloman unlocked the door and the three went in, careful not to let the Judge out. He was lying on his bed and said that he would never drink the liquid.

  “Well,” said Soloman. “I’m afraid we cannot give you anything to eat or drink until you have drunk this bottle dry. The Duchess’s orders, you see.”

  “The Duchess. What Duchess? She is fake. She will never be my Duchess...” the Judge shouted out.

  “We will leave you to think all this over. The sooner you drink up, the sooner you will be free to roam,” Soloman said.

  They went into Gesuelda and Gismonda’s room and gave put their bottles on their window sills. Sooner or later these people had to give in. Humans can only live about seven days without drinking.

  “What about Gasmina?” Soloman asked.

  “No, not Gasmina. We’re giving her a chance. Duchess Betty is sure Gasmina poured the yellow liquid on the mushroom in Wilfred’s garden to help Janjilons in case they escaped,” Petronella said.