The Jelly Baby Adventures: Jack Ward and the Evil King Tosh

By Sarah Harvey

Jack Ward is propelled back in time into an imaginary world created by his eccentric grandfather years before. He discovers this magical land has been virtually destroyed by its evil ruler, King Tosh, and now only Jack has the power to save it. The trouble is, he doesn’t know how… Lost amongst the magic and mayhem Jack must break the spell before Jelly Baby Land is destroyed, or Jack will be trapped in another time, forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Apr 3, 2015
• ISBN: 9781483552590

Sarah Harvey

In September 2017 Sarah Harvey packed up her London life and moved to Tokyo, where she worked as a freelance book scout and publishing consultant for two Japanese literary agencies, Tuttle Mori Agency and The English Agency. Sarah now lives in London, selling book translation rights for over a decade, in all types of genres. She has worked on many bestselling non-fiction authors and brands, as diverse as Joe Wicks, The School of Life, BKS Iyengar, Deliciously Ella, The Dalai Lama, Tony Buzan, Cathy Rentzenbrink and Russell Brand.

Book preview

Fifteen

One

Tick tock, tick tock. Tick tock, tick tock…

One night in November, Jack was asleep at his desk, face down in some take-away BBQ chicken and veggies. He’d picked it up after studying till almost 9pm at the local library, and then he kept going when he got home. Well at least he’d eaten something. His parents often found him slumped over his school books after they’d returned home late from work too, his messy brown hair draped over his unremarkable hazel eyes. They cared about him, but were equally busy and distracted by their own lives.

Jack was a studious, self-absorbed 16-year-old, who cared about nothing other than getting ahead at school, and getting the best results. He had aspirations for a career in business, accounting, or maybe even law perhaps, so late nights and little sleep were a good start to any corporate career. Once a popular student, Jack had been close to his family but he had no time for games now, no time for friends, and definitely no time for his younger sister Mia.

That same night in November, Mia was curled up downstairs on the old chesterfield couch in the living room. Her brother had promised to help her with some maths homework, but it was close to midnight now and she’d started to watch an inappropriate late night TV show instead. No one was there to stop her, why shouldn’t she do as she pleased? Her parents were still out – they were always out – and she could hear Jack snoring upstairs. She wasn’t worried about him, she was mad. He’d promised to help her, he’d promised to help her many times, but there was always something more important…

Tick tock, tick tock. Tick tock, tick tock…

When the clock eventually clicked over past 12, Mia got off the couch and changed into her pyjamas. She checked that all the lights were off downstairs, except the hallway lamp, and stomped off to bed with the family dog, Ralph, mooching behind her.

The following week their parents were due to travel overseas for work, but at the last minute they decided that Jack should go with them. He didn’t want to go – it was just before exams and the final weeks of the term! This was the perfect time for him to get ahead further. He was fine! Everything was totally ok! So what if he had promised to spend more time with Mia? So what if he hadn’t noticed that she’d un-friended him on Facebook until someone else pointed it out? (Unlike…) Ok, maybe things weren’t that great, but she’d get over it! He resented everyone trying to make decisions for him – he was 16 for crying out loud! He had decisions to make about his future! But his parents insisted he accompany them on their trip, so he begrudgingly did as he was told. He still took a pile of books to study on the plane though – what else was he going to do for all that time? Relax and listen to some tunes? Download a movie? No way.

Mia didn’t want to go away with her family either, especially not with her crappy brother, so she stayed in school and took Ralph with her to Nan’s instead, who lived down south near the beach. She’d had enough of her family and the last thing she wanted to do was spend ‘quality’ time with them. On the morning that they were due to leave, Mia still wasn’t speaking to Jack. She hadn’t forgiven him for letting her down – again.

‘Morning!’ Jack said with fake brightness, as he walked into the kitchen. He knew Mia was pissed off, but he really didn’t care at the moment. He had too much to think about, especially if he was going to be out of school on this silly trip wasting time. Mia looked up from her toast through ratty blond locks, and glared at him. They’d been close years ago, but now the shattered friendship lay in pieces, scratched and broken.

‘Mia, dear! Your cab is here!’ their mother called from the hallway. Mia shot one last death stare at Jack and gathered her keys off the bench. She took a final gulp of juice, grabbed Ralph by the collar, and dragged him out to the front door, only stopping to plant a dismissive kiss on her mother’s cheek.

‘Good-bye, darling. Oh, now don’t be so grumpy…’

A few minutes later a taxi whisked Mia away to Cronulla.

One of Jack’s best friends from primary school, Charlie Brass, had moved to London with his family some years before. Jack was more than happy to stay with him instead of sitting around in hotel rooms while his parent’s attended their work conferences. The UK school term was still in session though, so Jack was left behind to entertain himself during the day. One morning, after some hours of study, he decided to head out for some lunch and explore the city. Bundled up in winter woollies, he didn’t actually mind the cold weather – central heating in shops, the aroma of hot food and drinks, the snow-covered trees that lined the road – and he wandered around through pre-Christmas shoppers already out in droves. Shop windows were laden with decorations and carols blasted from every street corner. The temporary festive feeling warmed his soul, a welcome distraction from his thoughts about deadlines, tests and assignments.

After lunch Jack decided he was bored and headed away from the local shops, day dreaming. Charlie had given him a map, just in case, so he hopped on the tube to Hyde Park to do some proper sight-seeing. He wandered all over the park, Rotten Row across to Wellington Arch, places that would normally be bursting with tourists, but the cold weather kept the crowds away and there weren’t many people around. He pressed on until he came across an old, cobblestone road. He stared at the map Charlie had given him but couldn’t make sense of it. Where was this road? It wasn’t marked anywhere on the map, so he pulled out his mobile and squinted at Google Maps for some direction, but the compass bounced about on the screen and wouldn’t settle on any focus point. Enchanted, Jack continued ahead, although it stretched on for what seemed like miles.

At the end of the road was a lush, green field. Jack looked at his watch – seemed a bit weird barely any time had passed? But as he walked across the field he came to the edge of a dense forest. Another unmapped laneway ran off into the dark forest, but the path was dimly lit with beautiful tall lamps and lined with towering snow-laced Jacaranda trees. Jack was sure jacaranda trees grew in the UK, at least not in parts with such cold weather, but it reminded him of the ones in his grandparent’s street at home. They dropped perfumed flowers all over the road and make a mess wherever they fell, but they were beautiful and his grandpa didn’t mind sweeping them up. Jack had never seen these trees covered in snow though.

He turned back to check where he had come from, looked at his watch again, and decided that the battery must have stopped. The hands hadn’t moved an inch. Uninhibited by the eerie woodland, he walked on and then suddenly smelled a whiff of cocoa and cinnamon floating through the trees. There, through the clearing, was a small cottage. Amber lights glowed in the windows. Jack approached with caution.

The cottage looked like a small bakery at the front, and Jack could just make out the words: Wilma’s Wonderfully Warm Chocolate Shop painted on a sign hanging off the roof awning.

‘What’s a bakery doing all the way out here?’

He wasn’t sure whether the shop was even open but thought there might be a phone inside that he could call Charlie on. Not only had his watch stopped, but there was no mobile reception out here either. The screen had gone completely black and wouldn’t respond when he tapped it.

He pushed through the creaky screen door and a bell tinkled. Inside the shop, Jack paused and waited, but there was no noise, and no one came out to greet him. He pressed his palms against the display counter and inhaled the mouth-watering smells. This was no bakery! The display cabinet was filled with hundreds of different coloured jelly babies: big ones, small ones, blue ones, read ones, square-shaped ones. Every type, flavour and shape of jelly baby imaginable was piled up in front of him.

‘Anything you fancy, my dear?’ said a voice. Jack jumped. ‘Why don’t you try some?’

The voice belonged to a short, plump woman with a kind face who appeared from nowhere behind the counter. She wore an old-fashioned blue dress under a white-trim apron and a dark bob framed her clear and ageless complexion. Jack guessed she must be at least in her late 50s. The woman beamed at him and scooped up a pile of the kaleidoscope-coloured jellies into a bowl, which he greedily accepted.

‘Ah, the orange ones,’ said the woman knowingly, ‘they were always your favourites.’

‘My… favourites..?’

The woman smiled again but didn’t say anything else; she only gestured for him to take more of the sweet treats. Then she turned away and stirred a large, gurgling pot behind her that smelled like cinnamon-flavoured chocolate mousse. Jack shook his head in disbelief and then remembered why he was there.

‘Um, sorry but I was wondering if you had a phone here I could use? My mobile doesn’t seem to be working and I need to call someone.’ Jack held it up and tapped the screen again, just to make sure it was really stuffed.

‘Of course, dear,’ said the woman and pointed down a hallway behind the counter.

‘Great, thanks.’ Jack was trying hard to sound polite, but he was cold and annoyed. He just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

‘Oh no, dear, don’t go in that room!’ she said suddenly in a low voice. ‘The phone is in the other room, further down the hall. Hicboo is making cat stew in that room.’

‘Cat stew?!’

‘Shh! Not so loud! You’ll upset Queenie! Goodness me…’

Cat stew? Hicboo? Queenie? Jack stared at the woman in confusion, but then he smiled for a moment. He remembered his grandpa had always threatened to catch the cat next door when it peed on the front door mat, and make cat stew out