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Chapter Four

“A spell?” asked the captain. His nose twitched and he muttered, “Mumbo jumbo hocus pocus—”

“Not that spell, Captain!” exclaimed the doctor, raising one pink paw in protest.

“I didn’t know that was a spell,” said the captain. “I’ll just nip down this hole while you get on with it.”

He’d no sooner finished speaking than he was gone, his magnificently long tail trailing behind him for a full half-second.

“Is this shrinking spell dangerous?” asked Peter, who was having second thoughts about the whole adventure. “Maybe I should just tell Mum I lost the DVDs…”

“It’s not dangerous at all,” said the doctor soothingly, as he rummaged in his waistcoat for a piece of chalk. Having found it, he quickly inscribed some magic marks on Peter’s white trainers. Since the chalk was white too, Peter couldn’t see the marks, but the doctor seemed satisfied.

“Now, I shall utter the spell,” said the doctor. He reached up over his head as if he were pegging out washing. “You may want to close your eyes, Peter. Being shrunk sometimes makes people vomit if they look.”

Peter nodded, but he didn’t shut his eyes. He was never sick, not even on the Planet Freefall ride at the Easter Show, which everyone called the Chucker-Upper.

The doctor started making strange motions with his paws, then began to dance anticlockwise around Peter, stopping every few steps to stamp his feet.

“Widdershins, widdershins, baker’s man (stomp stomp)

Make this boy as small as you can (stomp stomp)

But like the dough that makes the bread (stomp stomp)

He’ll rise again when the words are said!” (stomp stomp)

The doctor finished with a surprising triple spin that sent his tail whipping round in a circle. Then he lowered his arms as if he were trying to drag Peter down without actually touching him.

At first, the boy felt nothing; then the whole world went blurry and everything started to twist and roll around him. He felt himself shrinking, the cars growing taller and taller around him. The doctor loomed up past his waist, past his shoulders, and then the rat was standing right next to him and they were exactly the same size.

“You didn’t throw up,” said Doctor Norvegicus. He sounded surprised and disappointed.

“Mmppphhh,” said Peter, who was doing his best not to be sick after all.

“Ah, all rat-sized, shipshape and Bristol fashion!” declared the captain, poking his nose out of the drain. “Let’s get below!”