 During a potion lesson to make the elixir of life, Mildred accidentally drops a cyberpup, lent to her by Ruby, into her cauldron. The potion froths and gurgles and overflows the sides of the cauldron. A creaking and groaning sound fills the classroom. The desk and floorboards are coming to life - as trees! The potion laboratory is wrecked. The cyberpup has also come to life - not harmless anymore, but spiky and ravenous and requiring endless attention. Miss Cackle seizes the opportunity for a complete modernization of the laboratory and decides to invite the Chair of the School Governors (who happens to be Mr. Hallow, Ethel s father) to inspect the damage and hopefully pay to re-equip the laboratory. Mr. Hallow arrives practically bursting with gadgets. He s keen to build the potion lab of the future: All Hallows Information Technology - The Software for Sorcery. Computers are installed and initially the girls are very excited - so are some of the staff, though not Miss Hardbroom. Meanwhile, unseen by anybody, Ruby s cybermonster seizes the opportunity to download onto the computer. Soon, the staff and students are feeding it nonstop. This attention is not enough for it however, and it plans to hook up to the Internet and enslave the world. Mildred becomes more and more concerned that her friends are becoming zombies at the mercy of the computers. While she is in the library, Fenella and Griselda draw her attention to an old fairy book and tell her the story of the Snow Queen who places a splinter of glass in Kay s heart, which puts him under her power. The comparison is obvious and Mildred looks for a spell that could undo the attention of the computers. Mildred s enchantment works on Ruby and Miss Hardbroom and in the nick of time, Miss Hardbroom saves the day.