The Bad Luck Lighthouse

by Nicki Thornton

  Where could she have gone? Taking another look at the scene of the crime, perhaps? Seth sprinted to the top floor. Sure enough, someone was crouched down, methodically but messily going through the contents of Mina Mintencress’s wardrobe.

  ‘Are you looking for something?’ Seth said, moving closer to the figure partially concealed by one of the open doors. ‘What are you after?’

  It was difficult to tell who was the more shocked; Seth, or Brockler, who looked up, his face startled, guiltily eyeing the terrible mess of discarded clothes behind him.

  The lawyer stood up, his knees creaking slightly, giving away the fact that he must have been crouched there for some time. He dropped the high-heeled pink shoe he was holding as if it was a hot potato.

  Then he recovered himself and took a step nearer to Seth and grabbed him by the collar. ‘I don’t answer to the kitchen boy!’

  ‘You just looked like you needed a hand,’ said Seth as mildly as he could. ‘Perhaps it’s something I can help you with, sir. That’s what I’m here for.’ Brockler released him.

  Seth straightened his tunic and began to slowly gather the hurriedly discarded clothes, placing coats and trousers back on hangers and tidying them back inside the wardrobe. His curiosity was soaring, but his mind was also working furiously.

  ‘Yes, I suppose you might be able to help me,’ said Brockler, with a small cough. ‘After all, I suppose you work for me now. If you want to keep your job.’

  Seth began to fold an array of jumpers in a whole rainbow of colours.

  ‘Of course, sir.’ He kept his voice very even and respectful, but he was already asking himself questions and wondering how he could get answers.

  Brockler leant against the wall and said easily: ‘I have to take charge of things now.’ He examined his perfect nails. ‘All this work half-finished. No builders. There is a lot of money at stake,’ he drawled. ‘You won’t understand any of that. Business. Difficult decisions. I am mostly thinking of young master Alfie’s future, of course. Someone needs to face up to the responsibilities.’

  ‘Of course, sir.’ Seth could have asked how any of that had led to him ransacking Mina’s wardrobe, but he carried on folding. ‘What is it you’d like me to do, sir?’

  ‘Pleased to see Mina made such a very good choice when she employed you, young man.’ Brockler gave a smile that made his mouth look over-full of teeth. ‘I might need someone I can trust. Can I rely on you?’

  ‘Of course, sir.’ Seth waited. He’d overheard the lawyer and Lark arguing over who would take charge of Mina’s business affairs. Hadn’t Lark said Mina had secretly made a new will? As her lawyer, Brockler hadn’t liked that news at all. Seth could understand if Brockler wanted to see a copy of that will urgently. Was that what he was searching for? But what Brockler said next took him completely by surprise.

  ‘I’m on the hunt for a small portrait. It was mine, but Mina took a fancy to it, so of course, I gave it to her.’ The shrug he gave was accompanied by his wolfish smile. ‘But I would rather like it back.’

  Seth’s thoughts echoed Lark’s words from earlier. What on earth was Brockler up to?

  ‘If you see it, bring it straight to me,’ Brockler said smoothly ‘Don’t mention this to anyone and we’ll see about you keeping this job of yours. Now, off you go.’

  Seth was glad of the chance to leave and sped back downstairs, not forgetting he was on the hunt for Angelique. As he passed Lark’s room he heard Dex and Lark chatting and slowed.

  ‘. . . Do you want to know the funniest thing, Dex? Mina was so pleased when she found this place had gone up for sale. But you know, the actual light she used to watch from our dreary boarding school wasn’t from here at all. They moved the light years ago to a better place along the coast. I mean, you think she could have worked it out – there isn’t even a light at the top of this place any more . . .’

  Seth dashed on. If Angelique had an idea that would give her a head start on locating Soul Snakesmouth’s laboratory, then he wanted to be in on it too. He tracked her down in the dining room. She was huddled over something she was holding in the flat of her hand and didn’t even glance up at him as he bounded in.

  As Seth drew closer, he recognized instantly what was in her hand and was confused. It was her Elysee library card – a card that gave you access to the secret library of magical texts. Studying books from the library was how sorcerers improved their magic, once they’d passed the Prospect and were invited to join the magical world.

  ‘Angelique, why do you need a book right now?’ he asked, closing the door quietly behind him.

  ‘Because it’s the quickest way I can think of finding out more about that book the wordstone came from: The Deadly Secrets of Darkwitching. I think Dex believes he’s going to get there first—’

  ‘You’re trying to beat Dex to finding Soul Snakesmouth’s book?!’

  ‘I’m not worried about beating Dex at all. Tracking down the book that Copious Bladderwrack failed to find is important. Copious had the word-stone and still he failed to locate the laboratory. There’s a possibility there might be more clues if we could see the actual book. Doing it before Dex is just . . .’ She allowed herself a small smile as the card continued to grow. ‘Thought I’d just see if the library might have a copy.’

  Seth had watched her do this once before, when he’d continually pestered her for details of the magical world and she’d actually been kind enough to check out him a book for him.

  But it was still astonishing and beautiful to watch as the card grew into a miniature room, and then that grew bigger in her hand until you could see the detail of the magnificent old library – vast, seemingly endless, with an arched ceiling, full of shafts of daylight that highlighted ancient maps and globes and shelves and shelves of books, towering upwards.

  He tried to ignore the ache inside that told him how much he longed to be part of this – to be invited to join the magical world and to be able to walk in that library – as he watched, utterly enthralled. She grew the room even bigger and began to walk her fingers along one of the long, book-lined stacks.

  ‘The trouble is that I don’t think I’m going to find the book quickly without help, and I’ve visited Ethylene Despair rather a lot recently and I hardly dare ask another favour. But I think it’s the only way.’

  ‘Ethylene Despair? The head librarian at the Elysee library has been helping you recently? With what?’

  Angelique hesitated.

  ‘You’re not going to tell me, are you? Why can’t you just trust me?’

  ‘Maybe because if I tell you the truth you have a terrible habit of not believing me anyway. And what I am trying to find out is incredibly complicated.’

  ‘You don’t think I’d understand?’ Seth snapped, noting the small sigh that accompanied her words.

  ‘No. It’s more than . . . well, all right, what I’ve been getting help with involves you.’

  ‘Me?’

  ‘What’s been worrying me is . . . well, it’s the possibilities of rescue from a firefly cage. And that is not easy to find out. Almost impossible, I’ve discovered.’ Angelique turned from the image of the room for a moment to raise her dark eyes to Seth’s. She fixed him with a long look. ‘I knew you’d have questions. I told you that’s why I didn’t want to get in touch. And there are almost no books on the subject. Now, I need to concentrate on this. That is the honest truth.’

  ‘I don’t think I understand what you’re talking about.’

  ‘To be honest, I don’t understand it either, which is far worse. Now, I won’t be a moment.’ She turned back to peer at the magical image in her hand. ‘I’m not simply borrowing a library book.’ Her long, tilted nose was pressed into the room. ‘I need to access the Problem section of the library. If the book is there, maybe Ethylene will let me have a quick look.’

  ‘We are actually going to visit the library now? Is that even possible?’

  ‘Most things are possible, Seth, just not very eas
y.’ As she talked, her eyes didn’t lift from where she was still walking her fingers through the library stacks, and she gave a small tsk of annoyance. ‘This is so difficult to find. And, just to be clear – Seth, you do not have a library card. So we are not doing anything – you can wait for me here, I’ll be as quick as I can.’

  ‘OK, I’ll just wait here then.’

  Angelique took a step back and glanced at him, suspicion creeping into her expression. ‘Really? Thank you.’ She gave him a quick, nervous smile before she was again fixedly peering into the image of the room and muttering: ‘Just need to find – ah! It’s not the easiest thing to use if I’m honest. But it should pick me up.’

  Seth waited until the air around her started to shimmer, readied himself, then at the last possible second he leapt right beside her and grasped her around the shoulders.

  27. Skyscrapers of Books

  This time he was much better prepared for the white noise of the teleport and not knowing which way was up. He concentrated on staying upright and not crash-landing.

  And he was nowhere near breaking his ankle this time when he landed. He was so getting better at this magic stuff.

  The sunlight streamed in through high-up windows and gleamed on warm polished wood. Seth looked at the serene room, with shelves that seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see – where on earth would anyone start? It was so impressive.

  Not that Angelique was impressed when she turned to him, fury written in her face. ‘What do you think you are doing,’ she spluttered, barely able to speak. ‘You cannot be here.’

  Even in the face of Angelique’s anger, all Seth could feel was complete joy that he was finally in that room with its skyscrapers of books.

  He shrugged as nonchalantly as he could manage. ‘I’m here now, Angelique. Tell me what I can do to help.’

  ‘I can tell you exactly,’ she hissed, earning herself a reproachful look from a woman dressed from head to toe in green tweeds, including a matching tie and shoes.

  ‘Don’t touch anything. Do not move. Do not talk to anyone and do not even watch what I am going to do. Got that?’

  He could easily spend a happy hour browsing in this beautiful, welcoming room. If someone put up a hammock he could happily move in here permanently. But he didn’t have long, he had only a few snatched moments, and he had an angry Angelique to deal with.

  She marched off in the direction of another stack of books, her face furious. She turned back quickly to see if he was spying on her. But Seth was studiously avoiding looking at her. The second she had gone, he carefully removed a couple of books from a shelf so that he could peer through the gap and watch exactly what she was up to.

  She took a quick glance over her shoulder, then approached a really higgledy stack of books that looked as if they were awaiting sorting. Some had their spines turned inwards so you couldn’t read the titles, big books on top of small, and others looked as if someone had started sorting them according to colour – the pink ones were grouped together, anyway.

  She walked up to the stack, lifted her left hand and placed it on the collection of pink books, palm flat, fingers splayed. Seth watched, entranced, as she reached with her other hand and dipped it into a sort of ancient leather bucket attached to the wall. She removed a pinch of some kind of powder and made a sprinkling movement, then opened her mouth to breathe hard and long into the dust she had released into the air, which formed into writing. It spelled out her name. Angelique Squerr.

  The shambolic shelf of books started to shift, one by one, and formed a doorway just big enough for Angelique to step through, and then the shelf closed behind her.

  Seth was now alone, illicitly, inside the Elysee library of magical texts. Where should he start? He thought of what Angelique had said – where would he find anything that mentioned a firefly cage?

  Famous Sorcerers and Their Even More Famous Cats.

  The Houses of the Family of Pod.

  Style Secrets of the Siegfried Sorcerers.

  Seth began to feel more urgently that his aimless wandering along, reading the titles of shelves, was not going to get him anywhere.

  He looked up and found himself face to face with another figure. He hadn’t even seen anyone coming. He remembered all Angelique’s warnings, put his head down and carried on along the row. If he was discovered, thrown out and tossed out of the Elysee library, he might never be allowed in officially. Banned before he started. Would Angelique be banned too?

  He tried to look busy and relaxed, as if he came here every day, trying not to sigh with relief as the person passed him. But when he turned sharply after the next stack, the same figure was in front of him.

  A tall person, with very short swept-back dark hair, wearing a violet-coloured close-fitting suit and a navy shirt. A sorcerer? He looked more like a businessman who had stumbled in here by mistake on the way to a meeting. Apart from the violet. When Seth noticed the stranger’s features, there was something about the soft line of the jaw and the narrow forehead that made him look twice, not quite sure if he was looking at a man or a woman.

  Seth tried hard to focus on the shelf in front of him. A section on witches through the ages. He felt himself the object of scrutiny and couldn’t help but look up. The figure had come much nearer, and Seth now felt sure he was looking at a man. The face was smiling kindly, with a pair of friendly light brown eyes.

  ‘Big place this is, isn’t it?’ the suited businessman said in a surprisingly deep voice, waving to the vast room.

  ‘Huge,’ agreed Seth. He’d promised not to talk to anyone, but a one-word answer couldn’t possibly count.

  ‘Can be tricky to find what you are looking for,’ said the man. ‘Sometimes we can all do with a bit of help.’ He stood there expectantly, hands behind his back.

  And it was on the tip of Seth’s tongue just to say exactly what he wanted. He had to almost force himself not to speak.

  He made a sideways move and grabbed the nearest book off a shelf, pretending he’d finally spotted what he was looking for.

  When he opened the rose-coloured cover, music started playing; violins and sweet piano. He glanced at the title. Love Potions for the Hopeful Yet Inexperienced. He quickly shoved the book back on the shelf and was relieved when the music immediately shut itself off.

  The man hadn’t moved. He was looking at Seth even more intently – suspiciously? The man could hardly know just by looking that Seth had no right to be here. Sweat started to prickle his palms nonetheless.

  ‘My job is not to make rules. My job is simply to advise,’ he said.

  Seth didn’t know what to do. What did he mean by rules? Was he going to demand to see Seth’s library card? Whatever happened, he would have to keep Angelique out of it.

  ‘And my advice is that love potions are not at all the best place to start for the inexperienced,’ said the man. ‘Fraught with trouble when things go wrong. And when things go wrong, people lose heart.’ He seemed to be looking so intently at Seth, so deep into his eyes, that it was as if he was trying to peer right into Seth’s mind. Seth wanted to look away, but couldn’t. ‘Was it love potions you were looking for?’ The man cocked his head on one side. ‘Or something else?’

  Seth took a step backwards.

  ‘I thought not. I know I shouldn’t really. But I can’t help myself. As I say, my job is not to make rules. I just want people to have the right books.’ He gave a little smile and thrust a book towards Seth. ‘Keep it for when you are ready.’

  Seth found himself with little choice but to accept the small book, bound in neat green leather. Curology: Herbal Essences and Their Magical Uses.

  It seemed to smell of the woods and leafy places and plunged Seth back into the kitchen of the Last Chance Hotel, in among all the herbs and brews he had experimented with alongside his father. All those days and evenings spent side by side as his father had taught him his love of cooking. And everything he had learnt as they had foraged and collected in the woods. He g
rasped the book firmly, feeling a desperate longing to find a quiet corner and read it.

  He didn’t know what he should say, but the man moved his face even closer to Seth’s, his nostrils quivering.

  ‘An affinity with curology, I’d hazard. Good at cooking, are you?’

  ‘Erm . . .’

  ‘Your affinity. You’ll discover most sorcerers have a type of magic they find comes much easier to them. I expect yours will be potions. Perhaps because of your father.’

  ‘Sorcerers have an affinity?’ began Seth. ‘But I’m not—’ He broke off as the man’s last words fully registered.

  The man was turning the corner at the end of the aisle, Seth just catching his words as he headed for the next stack.

  ‘Haven’t heard from your father for a while, you know. Hope he’s well?’

  ‘You know my father?’ Seth stepped after him. ‘ My father? But you can’t – he’s not part of the magical world. Don’t you mean my mother?’

  He turned where the man had turned, desperate to talk to him, arriving in the next stack only seconds after him, but it was too late. He had completely vanished.

  Seth felt a firm grip on his arm from behind. He swung around and was faced with Angelique’s angriest face yet.

  ‘I thought I told you not to wander off. And –’ she pointed furiously to the book he was clutching – ‘I definitely told you not to touch anything! You didn’t speak to anyone in the library, did you?’

  Seth coloured as she gave him a very piercing stare. ‘Sorry – I – er – Did you find what you were looking for?’

  ‘That book . . . where did you get it?’

  She jabbed it, and even her finger managed to look angry.

  ‘I . . . Someone might have . . . spoken to me. Thought at first he was a businessman in a suit. But he handed me a book.’

  ‘Businessmen in suits don’t just happen to recommend the perfect book for you, not even in the middle of a magical library.’