Interactions: n/a Mentions: n/a

Date: 30th August Location: The Thompson house, Brimingham

Outfit: x

- On the road -

The strangest thing to ever happen in Ottilie's life had initially been dismissed as a joke. She was grabbing some snacks from the cupboard and climbing on the kitchen counter top because ladders were for dummies and her mum kept trying to hide the chips on top shelf, when she heard a knock. Not particularly bothered, she continued to root around in the box until she found the treasured salt and vinegar. Finally snagging her chips and opening them as she headed to the door, she stood on her tip-toes to be able to look through the peep-hole. There was a person in a very strange pointy hat. "We don't have any money" she said, wondering whether this person was either extremely confused and thought it was Halloween or was trying to convince them that they needed to be wearing tinfoil hats ASAP because the world was ending soon. When they didn't appear convinced, she went and got her mom.

And now here she stood, stuffing the last of her collection of funny hats into her bags and wondering if she would need to bring two footballs. She was magic now apparently. She had always thought she was amazing and great and all that, but didn't being magic require well... magic? Ottilie wasn't completely sure if she believed this, but she was either heading off to boarding school or getting kidnapped and either way she didn't think one football was going to be enough. Really she had been meant to be ready five minutes ago, but her mother had been running around like a maniac shoving things into bags, so she supposed she would join in with the extra packing. "Have you got your water bottle?" a loud voice shouted from the other room. "Yeeees" she called back, giving up on stuffing the football into her bag and carrying it under her arm instead. "What about the snack bag? Enough socks?" the barrage of worried questions from her mother continued as she walked out into the living room. Ten minutes later, and socks completely forgotten, they were in the car and pulling out from the driveway.

The backseat had been converted into a makeshift couch, with a blanket, two bags of chips open and lots more emptied, a giant stuffed turtle and an eleven year who was extremely bored. The typical car ride games like I spy, the quiet game, and judging people in the other cars had already been played many times over (also she was NOT tired enough for a nap), and now the car was quiet apart from the radio. It was playing the "latest pop hits" and informing them that life insurance could save your loved ones thousands, which Tilly was not particularly entertained by. "Mum?" she said quietly. "Yes Tills?" said Bree Thompson, who was trying to drive and very much tired of being asked if they were there yet every five minutes. "Are you sure that this is all real? Maybe this is all like a joke or something" she said "And what if I'm really bad at all this magic stuff? What happens if they got the wrong person? Do I get to go home?". There was a few seconds of silence from the front seat, and she regretted opening her mouth. Her mom was probably just as confused as her.

And nevermind what she was going to do, what was her mom going to do? Would she be okay all alone without her? What if she really did get kidnapped? She knew that they couldn't really afford hundreds of dollars to get her back. "Sorry" she said lamely. Her mum leaned over and turned the radio down. "Oh Tills... Yes I'm sure this is real. It's all new for me as well, but we can work it out together" the response from the front of the car was kind, and felt like a big warm blanket being put over her. "You might be really bad at first" her mum continued "But I'm sure if you work hard at it, you'll catch up fast. Magic can't be that different from maths or anything else". "Okay" she mumbled, resting her head on the pillow beside her. She must've been more tired than she thought, because when she woke up the countryside rolling past them had been replaced with the high rise buildings of London.