The Bad Luck Lighthouse

by Nicki Thornton

  ‘You mean who the hell was that,’ said Angelique, already after him. ‘That was Tiffany Bunn!’

  41. Causing Chaos the Whole Time

  ‘ Who the heck is she?’ said Dex. ‘Where did she come from?’

  Seth was the last to move, stunned to see the daughter of his former employers run out of the room. He’d warred with Tiffany for as long as he could remember. It was like a recurring nightmare he couldn’t escape. Now she was here.

  He’d known what she was capable of. Now he thought about it, this was the only answer – only Tiffany could be at the bottom of all of this. Only Tiffany Bunn being here made everything suddenly make complete sense.

  Tiffany had run away from the Last Chance Hotel, having first grabbed the firefly cage, a magical invention of enormous power that had been hidden for years. She’d escaped via a teleport, double-crossing her accomplice who’d helped steal it. But Tiffany would only have risked such a daring escape if she’d already had a good plan to get away. Tiffany must have known exactly where she was headed.

  That map covered with crosses Pewter had been examining wasn’t about some mad treasure hunt Pewter was engaged in. Of course, they were the places he’d searched. Pewter must have got a trace of her being somewhere near here. That meant he had been searching, probably since the moment she had left the Last Chance Hotel. And Seth had accused him of giving up.

  And Tiffany had actually been holed up here at the Snakesmouth Lighthouse causing chaos the whole time. She must have arrived by teleport, and even known she could get to the lighthouse using the tunnel under the sea. What a great place to escape to; an empty and secluded secret hideout, and former home of a sorcerer probably well known to Red Valerian.

  The plan had only gone wrong because the Mintencress party had moved in.

  Angelique, Dex and Pewter had all started to chase after Tiffany, but shock rendered Seth unable to move.

  He looked at the rumpled bed sheets, the dirty plates and cups littering the desk.

  But what really terrified him was that around the room were blasted patches and dark scorch marks. Places where the newly plastered walls were charred back to the brick. Exactly the same sort of marks he’d caused himself at the Last Chance Hotel. Marks from his attempts at magic.

  With a terrifying swirling sensation in his gut, he knew, with certainty, that in the time Tiffany had spent here she had been perfecting how to use the power of the firefly cage. She had been practising magic. It was Tiffany who had managed powerful enough magic to get Soul Snakesmouth’s darkwitching sorcery to start up again.

  Seth started to run.

  But his mind hadn’t stopped making connections. The light in the sky the locals had seen must have been Tiffany – crashing through the teleport carrying the powerful magical light of the firefly cage. The doors slamming, the food going missing, the builders’ accidents – Tiffany, trying to scare everyone away from her hideout by playing on all the rumours and local superstition about this place.

  She had got away with it while the work was focused on the main lighthouse. But then the builders moved to the Sunrise Wing. By then, Seth guessed, she had found some irresistible success at using the power of the firefly cage, and had tapped into the existing hidden magic. Stirring up the shadows. Seth could even imagine she had thoroughly enjoyed herself with the accidents, fear and havoc she had caused, using her new-found powers to scare off the family.

  And she almost succeeded in completely driving everyone away. The builders had fled. Lark and Brockler had pretty much agreed to talk Mina into getting out. But Tiffany hadn’t reckoned on someone quite so determined as Mina.

  He arrived in the kitchen to be met by Lark, her eyes blazing in a deathly pale face. Her hands were clenched by her sides. ‘She’s taken Alfie.’

  Mina whispered, ‘I hadn’t even had a chance to tell him I’m alive. Rendleton went straight after her and told us we had to wait here. The others followed. Outside.’

  42. What if He Was Wrong?

  The wind whipped at Seth as he plunged outside. He was shocked to see the sky was already midnight blue. All he could hear in his ears was the roar of the wind. Which way had they gone?

  Using his torchlight to guide him, Seth headed up to the cliffs and down the paths making towards Gull Cove – the best way on and off the island. But Jo wasn’t there in her boat. Surely Tiffany had no way of escape – they knew she hadn’t used the tunnel – but she did have Alfie.

  ‘Pssst, over here, Seth.’ It was Dex, crouched among some rocks with Pewter and Angelique where the paths went in different directions. Seth hurried over to join them.

  ‘First rule of war – know your enemy,’ said Pewter. ‘Seth, what would she do?’

  ‘She’ll have a plan. She’s smart. She’ll use Alfie to force us to help her. And she’s got a dark device of really sinister and immensely powerful magic that she won’t hesitate to use on him or us. She’s been practising magic. She’s got the shadows working for her. She’s become powerful and she’s responsible for those two deaths.’

  ‘I was thinking of something more positive.’

  ‘Believe me, there is nothing positive about having Tiffany as your enemy.’

  ‘And she’s been hiding at this lighthouse?’ said Dex.

  ‘Not so much lying low as spreading a little mayhem and murder,’ muttered Pewter. ‘I never dreamt she’d get so far with working out how to get the power out of that device.’

  ‘Everyone always underestimates Tiffany,’ said Seth.

  He knew his panic was growing, but he had to think. What would she be planning? Could they get one step ahead?

  ‘Why not wait for her to come to us? She needs us to get off this island,’ said Dex.

  Seth cried: ‘The boathouse! There’s an old rowing boat there. Leaving after dark in some sort of rickety boat would be exactly Tiffany’s plan – and we don’t have another boat to follow her.’

  ‘And she’s got the firefly cage to help her,’ finished Angelique.

  ‘You keep saying that,’ said Dex. ‘Are those things even real?’

  ‘Real, and deathly dangerous,’ said Seth.

  He’d barely got his words out before Angelique was flying through the darkness, heading for Gull Cove.

  The going was difficult in the dark, and there was no sign of Rendleton, Tiffany, or Alfie. Were they ahead? Or had Seth guessed Tiffany’s plan wrong? Was she hiding, ready to leap out and take them by surprise?

  They all hesitated at the top of at the ridge over-looking Gull Cove. From here there was a good view of the beach below.

  ‘Do we go down?’ wavered Angelique, as they crouched in the shadow of a large rock.

  The wind was sending clouds scudding across the starry sky. Every now and again they’d get a helpful slip of moonlight. Seth scoured the beach below, desperate for any sign of movement that told them they weren’t too late, that he had guessed correctly. The waiting was awful.

  Which way would Tiffany come? Or was she here, already in that boathouse, about to make good her escape? Seth tried to slow his breathing, afraid she would be able to hear him, imagining that in the dark she was right behind him. And she’d know how terrified he was.

  But he also couldn’t stop thinking about the tunnel. She knew about the tunnel, he was sure of it. What if she was planning to use that instead? What if she’d lured them all outside and then doubled back to the entrance in the kitchen?

  ‘You’ve been looking for her, haven’t you? Since you left the Last Chance Hotel?’ he said in a low voice to Pewter.

  ‘We’ve been searching places she might be hiding, yes. Never thought of the lighthouse, because she wouldn’t have a boat. Such a brave and dangerous game she’s played.’ Pewter sounded almost in awe.

  ‘Red Valerian must have still been after the firefly cage,’ said Angelique. ‘And knew where it was after Tiffany took it from the Last Chance Hotel – he’d had a hand in setting up the teleport she escaped in after all, and h
e’ll know all about Soul Snakesmouth. But he also knew about the Mintencress party moving in to the lighthouse. So he sent in that undercover maid to find the firefly cage and bring it back to him.’

  ‘But Tiffany has stayed one step ahead of Red Valerian – that isn’t something most people could do,’ said Dex, also sounding impressed.

  If they didn’t catch her she’d disappear. And she’d take the firefly cage with her. She’d get away completely. Seth pictured Tiffany, running free, a smile on her face. Only then did he think again of something else that had been increasingly bothering him. He always listened to how magic worked, tried to learn it all. And he’d thought for some time that there might be a sorcerer trapped inside that firefly cage.

  There was so much at stake. Tiffany still had Alfie. What if he was wrong? Should he go and check the tunnel? He couldn’t believe there was just silence, that nothing was happening.

  ‘We have to go down,’ he said, unable to bear just watching and waiting any longer.

  ‘Let’s plan a little surprise,’ said Dex, nodding.

  But Seth could only feel, as they moved cautiously down the cliff and the steep steps hewn in the rock, that any surprises were going to come from Tiffany.

  It was difficult to approach silently on shingle. Seth kept imagining Tiffany listening to their approach from the boathouse, already hauling out the boat, forcing a terrified Alfie to help her. And where was Rendleton?

  Pewter spoke quietly. ‘Just to be clear, our priority is Alfie. I’m afraid capturing Miss Bunn comes second.’

  Seth nodded in the darkness, but he hated that that meant there was a chance they’d have to let Tiffany get away.

  He was straining his ears, his eyes, his keen nose, but was only aware of the soft swooshing of waves trundling up the beach and the gentle crunch of shingle under their feet.

  Then the thinnest slip of moonlight broke cover from the clouds – it was enough, because they could make out two figures on the opposite side of the beach, already near the boathouse.

  There was a soft whimper and Seth could see a small shape being dragged by a larger one: Tiffany, holding an unwilling Alfie. She must have scrambled further along the clifftop than they had, knowing that the most dangerous part of her journey was crossing the beach.

  Dex’s thin blade glinted in the moonlight as they all crept closer. Seth spotted another figure close on Tiffany’s tail. Rendleton. And he really had no idea what he was dealing with.

  ‘Idiot, he’s going to get himself killed,’ said Dex, extending his dagger arm, but Rendleton was already between him and Tiffany.

  ‘Remember – we make sure Alfie is safe,’ said Pewter.

  The moonlight must have given Rendleton the same idea – that now was the best time to break cover. He launched into a sprint.

  But Tiffany was on to him. Seth watched in horror as she swung around and lifted aloft a tiny cage, gripped in the hand that wasn’t clutching Alfie’s arm. The firefly cage.

  A mesmerizing golden light spilled from between its intricate bars. Now Seth knew for sure how much Tiffany had been practising. The light was responding to her. It blasted out from the magical device in her hand, showing her face in all its gleaming triumph.

  The beam flew out of the cage and struck Rendleton right in the chest. Seth watched him collapse on to the shingle without even the chance to let out a cry. He dropped like a stone, and was no longer moving.

  Dex had lifted his dagger, but even he had paused after seeing how effortlessly Tiffany had dealt with Rendleton.

  But she didn’t pause; she was at the boathouse door and bundled Alfie inside.

  Dex sped past Rendleton’s prone body and on towards the boathouse. Seth pelted across the beach behind him with Pewter and Angelique, all three of them splashing through the incoming tide.

  Pewter was the first to reach Rendleton, and knelt to check for life-signs.

  He looked up. ‘Not dead, not quite, not yet. But we’re going to have to get him some magical medical attention as quickly as possible.’ He threw an anxious look at Dex’s running figure, and was already cupping a ball of pink light in his hand. ‘Seth, Angelique – help Dex. But don’t forget – the priority is that boy. Don’t let her hurt him.’

  Seth nodded and set off at a sprint, but by the time he and Angelique reached the small wooden building, all they found was Dex standing outside, looking furiously out from the empty boathouse into the inky darkness beyond, where Seth could just make out a boat pushing on into the cover of the night.

  43. A Dangerous Mix of Magic

  ‘ I couldn’t stop her. Not with Alfie there,’ Dex muttered in agitation, pushing a hand through hair already dishevelled by the wind. ‘We can’t let her get away. She took the boy with her.’

  Seth helplessly listened to the splash of oars from the retreating boat. Before he could even think of his next course of action, he saw the firefly cage being raised and dragged Dex out of its path.

  A jet of golden light flashed and they threw themselves on the ground. At the last second, the golden light turned to a bolt of white and made a direct hit on the cliff right behind them. There was an explosion and a section of rock behind them disintegrated, dust and debris raining down on them.

  Seth covered his head with his hands in a futile attempt to ward off the torrent of rocks and tried to scramble to his feet. A spray of grit flew right into his face, sending him into a fit of choking.

  He struggled to see. He knew Tiffany would be using these precious few seconds to pull away strongly in the boat, beyond their reach. He turned and, realizing there was no longer a need for secrecy, flicked on his torch. Its faint beam revealed Angelique’s dark hair laced with a covering of rock dust, and a trickle of red blood running down her hand. Dex’s face had lost its usual grin. He had come off the worst. Blood was pouring down his arm and there was a gash in his leather jacket.

  Another bolt shot over their heads, they ducked, there was an almighty crack and this time a huge shard of cliff dislodged. A massive boulder was falling towards them, fast.

  Then Pewter was there, and Seth felt a wave of air move past him, strong enough to nearly knock him off his feet. It deflected the boulder away from them at the last second, sending it bouncing effortlessly into the sea like a giant stone being skimmed.

  ‘Alfie?’ asked Pewter.

  Dex shook his head.

  Seth now had only one idea. He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled.

  ‘Alfie! Jump! Swim! You can swim, Alfie, it’s not far. You can do it! You can get away. She can’t stop you.’

  He knew Alfie would be terrified. But he also knew how strongly the boy could swim, and with Tiffany distracted by sending bolts of lightning after them, she couldn’t yet be so very far out. They were going to have to rely on the boy taking his chance. And if they could get Alfie to safety, they might stand a chance of capturing Tiffany.

  Another helpful shift in the clouds revealed exactly what Seth had thought – Tiffany was not yet far from the beach.

  ‘Now, Alfie – please, just jump!’ yelled Seth. ‘Swim to the shore!’

  He could see that the firefly cage was no longer being held aloft. Tiffany was making a huge effort to row away. But Alfie was rigid with fear.

  Seth remembered one thing that might make a difference.

  ‘Mina is alive! She’s waiting for you. Alfie, you can do this – you can swim. Mina is desperate to see you. She’s waiting back at the lighthouse.’ As he said the words he hoped she was keeping a safe distance and that she wouldn’t, like Rendleton, decide to blunder in, thinking she could help.

  Tiffany was rapidly putting clear water between herself and the shore. Pewter, Dex and Angelique were simply standing there. None of them could do a thing as long as Tiffany had Alfie. And then the firefly cage was lifted and swayed in her hand again.

  There was a rumble behind them. Pewter swung around, curling his arms and fingers and making a movement as if he was throwing so
mething towards the cliff. But the rumbling continued, and rocks began to tumble towards them.

  Seth felt helpless. But then he was convinced he’d heard a splash. He dashed up to his knees in water, scouring the dark sea, trying to make out what was happening, searching for the shape and movement of the boy swimming towards him. Pewter was working hard to counteract the rockfall, bringing the largest boulders to land gently on the beach. Angelique and Dex were helping him.

  Seth waded further out, trying to find Alfie in the darkness.

  The boy was fully clothed. It was dark and cold. Had Seth done completely the wrong thing telling him to jump overboard?

  ‘I think Alfie’s jumped!’ screamed Seth. ‘But I can’t see him!’

  Dex turned and sent an exploratory jet of fierce blue from his dagger flashing out towards the boat.

  Tiffany intercepted the shot with the firefly cage. She waved it, swaying it from side to side, until the sea around her started to bubble and boil, the waves rising.

  Alfie would be in the middle of that.

  And it was no longer just water. The waves were forming themselves into ice, becoming a torrent of sharp spears hurtling their way to the shore, right towards them.

  ‘Get down!’ yelled Dex, only feebly able to deflect a couple of spears with the light of his dagger. He and Seth hurled themselves flat on to the shingle and could only watch as the ice spears flew up the beach to where Pewter and Angelique were deflecting the last of the boulders safely.

  ‘Get down!’ yelled Dex again.

  Pewter turned just in time to sidestep the first spear. There were dozens coming at him and he and Angelique threw themselves behind one of the huge boulders. Ice spears smashed into the boulder and splintered into thousands of tiny shards.

  The inspector, dodging oncoming ice spears, ran right down to the edge of the waves, and gestured with his arms again. Seth watched as a bubble of magic scooped deep into the water and lifted a spluttering Alfie safely to shore, where he lay gulping like a fish.