[760] Charmain rushed at him, seized one of his blazing arms, and pushed him over into the water on the floor. This did no good at all. Charmain stared at the extraordinary sight of flames flickering away under the water and simmering bubbles appearing all round Peter, where the water was starting to boil, and hauled him up again double quick in a shower of hot water and steam. "Cancel it!" she shouted, snatching her hands off his hot sleeve. "What spell did you use?"
[761] "I don't know how!" Peter wailed.
[762] "What spell?" Charmain bawled at him.
[763] "It was the spell to stop floods in The Boke of Palimpsest," Peter babbled, "and I've no idea how to cancel it."
[764] "Oh, you are stupid!" Charmain cried out. She grabbed him by one flaming shoulder and shook him. "Cancel, spell!" she shouted. "Ouch! Spell, I order you to cancel at once!"
[765] The spell obeyed her. Charmain stood shaking her scorched hand and watched the flames vanish in a sizzle, a cloud of steam, and a wet, singeing smell. It left Peter looking brown and frizzled all over. His face and hands were bright pink and his hair was noticeably shorter. "Thanks!" he said, flopping over with relief.
[766] Charmain pushed him upright. "Pooh! You smell of burned hair! How can you be so stupid! What other spells have you been doing?"
[767] "Nothing," Peter said, raking burned bits out of his hair. Charmain was fairly sure he was lying, but if he was, Peter was not going to confess. "And it wasn't that stupid," he argued. "Look at the floor."
[768] Charmain looked down to see that the water had mostly gone. The floor was once again simply tiles, wet, shiny, and steaming, but not flooded any longer. "Then you've been very lucky," she said.
[769] "I mostly am," Peter said. "My mother always says that too, whenever I do a spell that goes wrong. I think I'm going to have to change into different clothes."
[770] "Me too," Charmain said.
[771] They went through the inner door, where Peter tried to turn right and Charmain pushed him left, so that they went straight and arrived in the living room. The wet trickles on the carpet there were steaming and drying out rapidly, but the room still smelled horrible. Charmain snorted, turned Peter round, and pushed him left through the door again.
Here, the corridor was damp, but not full of water any longer.
[772] "See?" Peter said as he went into his bedroom. "It did work."
[773] "Huh!" Charmain said, going into her own room. I wonder what else he's done. I don't trust him an inch. Her best clothes were a wet mess. Charmain took them off sadly and hung them around the room to get dry. And nothing was going to cure the big scorch mark down the front of her best jacket. She would have to wear ordinary clothes tomorrow when she went to the Royal Mansion. And do I dare leave Peter alone here? she wondered. I bet he'll spend the time experimenting with spells. I know I would. She shrugged a little, as she realized she was no better than Peter really. She had been quite unable to resist the spells in The Boke of Palimpsest either.
[774] She was feeling much more kindly toward Peter when she came back to the kitchen, dry again except for her hair and wearing her oldest clothes and her slippers.
[775] "Find out how to ask for supper," Peter said, as Charmain put her wet shoes to dry in the hearth. "I'm starving." He was looking much more comfortable in the old blue suit that he had arrived in.
[776] "There's food in the bag Mother brought yesterday," Charmain said, busy arranging the shoes in the best place.
[777] "No, there isn't," Peter said. "I ate it all for lunch."
[778] Charmain stopped feeling kindly toward Peter. "Greedy pig," she said, banging on the fireplace for food for Waif.
Waif, in spite of all the crumpets she had eaten in the Royal Mansion, was delighted to see the latest dog dish. "And so are you a greedy pig," Charmain said, watching Waif gobble. "Where do you put it all? Great-Uncle William, how do we get supper?"
[779] The kindly voice was very faint now. "Just knock on the pantry door and say 'Supper,' my dear."
