Broom Racing 3 - 2nd installment

 Oops the WfW went missing:

suitable rapturous smeared snuffle bookmark scoop 
and/or
snick funny twilight  espionage synchronicity feisty 

  In the end the apprentices came up with a suitable plan.
  My pulled a big book from her worn bag, It had several differently colored bookmarks sticking out of it. "This is not harder than the Sunshine potion, and we made that one together, we can do this too." She opened the book at the red bookmark and began reading: "1 vial clear spring water, 1 scoop dandelion fluff and a pinch of cobweb ... " They went into the potion room and began searching the cabinets and shelves as Susan took over the reading.
  After more than an hour of hard, concentrated work a red, foaming concoction sat in the small cauldron. The vapours stung their eyes and made them snuffle, but that was a small price to pay. My put a lid on the small cauldron, and returned the book to her bag, while Susan and Lis washed the utensils and Marit, Olav and Astrid put everything back the way it had been. Fiona and Veronika were still standing outside in the corridor, ready to intercept passers by, but no one passed. It was a lovely summers evening, and everybody was out somewhere enjoying it.
  Finally in the twilight they slipped out one by one, or in pairs and gathered in the small grove on the far side of the broomshed. From there they could watch the broomshed, but if they were just a bit careful no one would notice them. This was essential for their espionage to work. And yes, there they came. David in front, swaggering, leading his cronies, Josh the small Icelandic boy, Bjørn from Norway, Lukas, Britta, Kalle and Anna from Sweden and of course Tage.
  They tried turning on the walkie-talkie, but no sounds came from it. Either Tage was not sure that it was safe to use it, he had forgot, or maybe the battery in one or both of the receivers had run dry. But they could still look and listen from their hiding place, and they did.
  They saw them enter the broomshed, saw Anna come out again and go to the back of the shed, they could see Tage and Bjørn keeping watch. They heard the saw biting its way through the brooms, and even heard a word or two of David's hexes. Then David and his team left the shed, picking up Anna  on the way back. They waited, counting slowly to one hundred before they dared move. No one had returned, no one had left the farm buildings, everything was quiet.
  The moon rose, small and waning, it did not give off much ligth. They walked quietly up to the broomshed. The door was locked.
  "What now?" My whispered. "David must have pinched the key somehow."
  "Let me try, I have an idea," Olav said. He picked up a branch from the ground: "grein vertu lykill!" he whispered.
  "Oh," Heidi breathed, as the branch in Olav's hand shifted into a keyshape. "Can you really use that?"
  "We'll see," Olav answered in a whisper and stuck his wooden key into the keyhole.   "Luckily this is a very simple lock," he said smiling, as the key turned. With a loud snick the door opened and they were inside the broomshed.

 ***

First they looked for the brooms that had been sawed partway through. It was hard to see in the dwindling daylight, until Heidi suggested they began looking for sawdust on the ground. Susan called a small sphere of green handfire. The sickly glow helped a bit. Then they unshackled the brooms, and put one of the almost sawed through brooms in Tage's slot. They exchanged the other ruined brooms with their own broomsticks, only not Fiona, Marit and Astrid's as they were going to race tomorrow. Then they smeared the red potion on the tails of all the broomsticks. It stunk, but My assured them all that colour and stench would be gone by tomorrow.
  "This potion sucks up all hexes and jinks," she explained, "Doing so it disperses. We have to use enough so that all the jinxes and hexes are countered. I think this means that we do not need to put any on the brooms belonging to David's team. Or possibly not to the ones belonging to all those not participating in the race. Only the brooms of the Yellow team and the Competition," My said, as Heidi expressed doubt that the contents of the cauldron would be enough for all the apprentices' brooms. After some thinking and testing, they had most of them down, and with the remainder of the portion they smeared a couple of brooms they were unsure of for good measure.
  They left the broomshed, locked it and hurried home. My promised to wash the cauldron and put it back. "I'm staying in one of the small cubicles for boarders since yesterday. We're moving, and my parents thought it would be easier for me to stay at Unicorn Farm instead of going home to an almost deserted place to sleep. And I agree, only it's a bit lonely up there."
  "Oh, I wish I could stay here too," Susan said. "Maybe I could at some later time."
  "I did not know there were room for boarders," Lis said.
  "Yes," Astrid said, "They are above the teachers' rooms, just below the roof in the oldest house. When I was ill, I slept there together with Marit for some nights until Thora deemed me healthy enough for going through portals again."
  "Nice," Heidi said. "Now let's get on home before somebody returns from somewhere. Good night, My.
  "Good night," My answered ad slipped in through the door to the farmhouse.

***