StarChaser

by Angie Sage

  Oskar and Ferdie’s elder brother, Jerra, had been on Watch when they had Come Through the previous day. Jerra had listened to Oskar’s story, calmed him down, and made Oskar feel a whole lot better about the Ormlet and pretty much everything. Ferdie and Oskar had decided to keep Jerra company on his Watch and had spent a happy time catching up on village news.

  Jerra, who was dozing on a chair, opened one eye. “Someone coming?” he inquired.

  Oskar no longer doubted Ferdie’s gift of Feeling the nearby presence of people they were connected to. “Tod’s coming!” Oskar told Jerra. “Can you help us with the bolt?” The top bolt was just out of their reach.

  “Wait,” Ferdie said. “I can’t Feel her anymore. She’s gone away . . .”

  “Gone away?” Oskar said. “Why would she do that?”

  “It can’t have been her after all, Ferd,” Jerra said. Jerra was fairly skeptical of his little sister’s abilities. Unlike Oskar, he had not seen her in action.

  Ferdie swung around to Jerra. “It was Tod,” she said crossly.

  “Well, it can’t have been, can it?” Jerra said in his annoying trying-to-be-patient voice. “She would have Come Through by now.”

  “But it was Tod. I know it was!” Ferdie very nearly stamped her foot, but remembered just in time that she was meant to have grown out of that.

  Oskar was concerned. If Ferdie was so sure, then he believed her. “Let’s go and see,” he said. “She might be in trouble.”

  Jerra leaped up from his chair. “Hey, not on my Watch!”

  “Jerra,” Oskar said. “If Tod’s in trouble we have to help her.”

  “Of course Tod’s not in trouble,” Jerra said irritably.

  Ferdie went up to Jerra and looked him in the eye. “Jerra,” she said. “Remember that night the Garmin took me away?”

  Jerra went pale.

  “Well,” Ferdie continued, “Mum told me later that you thought you heard something in my room. But you decided you were imagining it.”

  Jerra swallowed hard. He hated being reminded of the fact that maybe he could have stopped Ferdie being abducted by the Garmin.

  “Well, even if I am imagining Feeling that Tod was near,” Ferdie said, “isn’t it better to check just in case?”

  Jerra nodded. “Yeah, Ferd. ’Course it is.”

  Each door had a spyhole to check on the traveler—no one wanted to inadvertently open the door to a Garmin, however politely it might knock. Jerra went over to the door where Ferdie had Felt something, flipped open the covering to the spyhole and checked the Way. “No one there,” he said.

  “We still want to check it out,” Oskar said.

  Jerra pulled back the bolts and opened the door. The musty, damp-earth smell of the Way poured into the Hub. “I’m keeping the door open. I’ll give you five minutes. Don’t go into the maze, okay? Just yell out. She’ll hear you if she’s there.”

  Oskar and Ferdie walked into the Vanishing Point, and then a thousand miles north of the Far, they crept out into the maze. “It Feels bad,” Ferdie whispered.

  Even Oskar could feel a sense of dread hanging in the air. “I’ll call out, shall I?” he whispered.

  Ferdie nodded. It went against both their instincts to draw attention to themselves, but if Tod was in trouble she needed to know they were there.

  “We’ll do it together,” Ferdie whispered. “One . . . two . . . three . . .”

  “Tod!” they both yelled as loud as they could. “Tod! Are you there? Tod!”

  The reply that came was not what they hoped for.

  Oskar saw the movement first. He began to run toward it, thinking it was Tod, but in a split second he had skidded to a halt. Behind him Ferdie screamed out, “Oskie! Come back!”

  With a giant, black, beast-headed skeleton at his heels, Oskar needed no telling. As soon as he was near, Ferdie grabbed her brother’s hand and pulled him through the arch. They hurtled through the Vanishing Point without a backward glance. In a moment they were rushing through the open door to the Far Hub.

  “Shut the door, Jerra!” Ferdie yelled. “Quick! Bolt it. Hurry, hurry!”

  Jerra slammed the door, shot the bolts and turned to the twins. “What was it?” he asked anxiously.

  Oskar shook his head. “Horrible . . .”

  “Jerra. Look through the spyhole,” Ferdie whispered. “See if it’s followed us.”

  Jerra flipped the spyhole cover across. Then he turned around to Ferdie and Oskar. One look at Jerra’s face told them the answer.

  “Will it break the door down?” Ferdie whispered.

  “We’re not waiting around to see,” Jerra told them. “Come on, we’re out of here.”

  “But what about Tod?” Oskar said.

  “You don’t know that Tod was there,” Jerra said. “But we do know there’s a Kraan outside. Come on.” Jerra went to grab hold of his little brother and sister, but they resisted. They were not leaving without Tod.

  “Jeez, you two,” Jerra said impatiently. “Come on, will you?”

  And then Ferdie Felt the Kraan leave. “It’s gone,” she said.

  Jerra sighed. “You can’t possibly know that, Ferd.”

  Ferdie reached up and flipped open the spyhole cover. She was too short to see through. “Then have a look, Jerra.”

  Rather nervously, Jerra peered through the lens of the spyhole. The tunnel was empty. He let the cover drop back and turned to Ferdie. “You’re right. It’s gone,” he said. He shook his head. “Weird.”

  “That’s our Ferdie,” Oskar said.

  Ferdie stuck her tongue out at Oskar and then felt bad. They were safe—but what about Tod?

  FRIGHT AND FLIGHT

  Tod was racing along the rat runs of the maze with the sole aim of putting as much space between her and the Kraan as possible. But the maze played tricks with her, just as it had done with the unfortunate possessor of the skeleton at the three-way junction. Tod ran blindly this way and that until, coming around a sharp bend, she saw the bony back of the Kraan no more than four feet ahead of her. It turned at the sound of her footstep and for a moment, Tod and the monster regarded each other with what appeared to be polite interest.

  The manners did not last. Tod’s green eyes were like a magnet to the Kraan. Suddenly the beast was after her, running with long, loping strides, its bony arms outstretched, ready to grab. Tod took off like a rocket. The skeleton was fast, but Tod had agility on her side. She scooted around the bends, ducking into narrow corridors and when at last she dared to look back, the path behind her was clear. She slowed to catch her breath, randomly took the next turn to the right and saw an archway ahead. It was not the one she wanted, but right then anything that would get her out of the maze would do. As Tod ran into the arch she was sure she heard Oskar calling her name. She hesitated, turned—and saw the Kraan heading fast toward her. She raced into the Vanishing Point and was gone.

  Tod emerged into a small Hub covered in snow. Its low enclosing wall was topped by stunted trees, their branches swaying in the brisk, cold wind that moaned through the Hub. She glanced back down the tunnel and saw a telltale disturbance in the white mist of the Vanishing Point; a second later she saw a tall, dark shape within. In a moment Tod was racing into the neighboring arch, hurtling toward another Vanishing Point.

  She came out into another Hub, this one knee-deep in dried grass like a collapsed haystack. She kicked her way through the grass and, trying to cover her tracks, she dove into the nearest arch. And so she continued: racing through countless Hubs, taking random arches, not caring where they led as long as it was away from the Kraan.

  After many Hubs, Tod emerged into a large, peaceful one. Covered in short, rough grass dotted with yellow flowers, it looked like an overgrown garden. In the center was a copper bowl with water trickling into it. Tod stopped her flight and mustered the courage to look back at the Vanishing Point she had just Come Through. The white mist lay undisturbed, with no trace of an emerging shadow.

  After
five long minutes staring at the Vanishing Point, Tod decided she was safe—or as safe as it is possible to be when lost in the Ways infested with Kraan. She drank from the spring bubbling into the copper bowl and sat on the grass beside it. In the distance she was sure she could hear the pounding of the surf, and a pang of homesickness swept over her. This was a strange, wild ocean. She longed for the quieter swish-swash of waves creeping up the beach at home.

  The Hub was heavy with heat and Tod sat for a while, letting it disperse the bone-chilling cold of the maze, all the while keeping watch on the arches and trying to forget how far away from home she felt. Now she understood that it was indeed possible to be lost in the Ways, and that tales of people wandering the world forever were probably true.

  As she began to feel warm again, Tod turned her thoughts toward what to do. She unclenched her fist and looked at her PathFinder: it lay warm and heavy in her hand. But without its onyx sphere to turn on, it was nothing more than a beautiful, useless object. After a few minutes it crossed her mind that she might be able to find a stone that would do the same job. She hunted through the grass and slowly walked the flagstone paths, but not one of the stones she found was the right size or shape.

  Tod sat down beside the copper bowl, still keeping watch on the arches. She took out the paint-splashed stone that came from beneath her house in the PathFinder village. She stroked it gently and watched its little legs unfold. Her stone had been given a Pet Rock spell when she had first become an Apprentice, but it had since spent most of its time in her pocket. Tod knew she neglected it and she put her Pet Rock down on the ground to have a run around. Then she turned her attention back to the PathFinder. “Please,” she whispered to it. “Please, show me the Ways home.”

  The PathFinder lay unresponsive in her palm, and so Tod, with an idea of looking it in the eye, put her thumb into its hollow dome and raised the PathFinder up so she was looking straight at it. “Show me the Ways home,” she said. “Please, PathFinder.”

  The silver pointer wobbled a little. Then, as though it was trying to get comfortable, it shifted its position on her thumb and settled so that it was pointing down slightly. Something told Tod that maybe, just maybe, the PathFinder would work like this. Very carefully, she put her hand down to pick up the Pet Rock.

  It wasn’t there.

  Tod looked at the ground, sure she would easily spot the green-splashed pebble, but she couldn’t see it.

  Pet Rocks move fast in the heat, and even faster when they have been cooped up in a pocket for weeks with nothing to eat but half an old toffee covered in fluff. Tod’s Pet Rock was now happily having lunch and was oblivious to her despair. It had found some dried crumbs of bread and was eating quietly, sitting beneath a similar pile of gray stones, its green paint obscured by the green shadows of the grass above.

  Tod could not believe how stupid she had been. Why hadn’t she watched the rock properly? Even if the PathFinder did work sitting on her thumb, it was no use without something from home to touch its pointer to.

  Tod got to her feet and began to walk slowly and methodically in circles, staring at the ground, sure that any moment she would see the bright green splashes of paint that Dan Moon had dropped while he had painted the windows of their house. The thought of her home gave Tod a pang of fear: how many years would it be before she found her Way home? If she ever did . . . She pushed down the fear and carried on with her search. Her arm ached with the effort of keeping the PathFinder balanced on the top of her thumb, and her eyes ached with staring at grass and shadows. Once or twice she dropped to her knees to check on a likely-looking pebble but not one was splashed with green paint.

  Tod looked up to rest her eyes, and as she gazed at the clear blue sky something Rose had said came into her head: the StarChaser Charm was from the PathFinder archive.

  A whisper of hope came to Tod. She lifted the StarChaser from around her neck and held it in the palm of her left hand. It lay heavy and cool, its mysterious oily-blue hue showing swirls of green and purple in the sunlight. Scarcely daring to breathe, Tod touched the smooth silver point of the PathFinder to it and then held the PathFinder up high, its lapis dome sitting snug on the tip of her thumb, the thin streaks of gold shimmering in the sunlight.

  The PathFinder tipped its nose up as if sniffing the air and then—it moved. Slowly but surely, it swiveled around and stopped, pointing to an arch. Tod felt like jumping with excitement, but she restrained herself: she was not going to upset the PathFinder. She cast a last glance around the Hub, hoping to catch a flash of green paint from her Pet Rock, but she saw no sign of it. She felt sad to be leaving it behind, but she hoped it would be happy; it seemed a nice place to live. Then she walked into the shadows of the arch thinking that when she got home she would look underneath the house for another green-splashed pebble. There were lots to choose from. Dan Moon was a messy painter.

  WAY SURFING

  This was the first time that Tod had traveled through the Ways with no idea how long her journey would be, and she found it hard to pace herself. Would the next Vanishing Point lead her to the welcome sign on one of the doors of the Far Hub, or would it be days, weeks or even months until she finally got there? Tod pushed away the fear that maybe she never would—that she would wander the Ways forever.

  Four more Hubs went by. There was another temple, this time small, dark and damp. There was a circle of huts inside a palisade, each hut with a Way inside. There was a Hub in the basement of a castle, where hundreds of rats emerged from their burrows in the walls and watched silently as she waited for the PathFinder to make its decision.

  As Tod walked into the arch the PathFinder had selected, the rats listened to the tinny sound of her footsteps, and when the sound suddenly stopped as she stepped into the Vanishing Point, they went back to their burrows and waited to greet the next traveler. It was unfortunate for the rats, who were an amiable tribe and merely curious to see who passed through their Hub, that the next travelers they scampered out to greet would be their doom.

  As the rats scuttled back to their burrows for their last time, Tod was already in the next Hub—a lake of milky green water. The sky was a deep blue, air warm and scented with blossom, noisy with the sound of cicadas. The Hub was bordered by a low wall of crumbling sandstone into which the arches were set, and from each arch a line of stepping-stones led to a large flat rock in the middle of the lake.

  Tod picked her way across the stepping-stones and stood on the central rock, holding her PathFinder up in the air. It teetered lightly on the very tip of her thumbnail and slowly turned and pointed to an arch. “Thank you,” Tod whispered. She took the PathFinder off her thumb and put it into her safe pocket—it was, she thought, time to take a break.

  The warmth of the sun and the cool of the water was a delight. Tod sat on the central rock, eating a WizzBar and watching the flickering of water snakes across the surface of the water. A small frog hopped out at her feet, regarded her with wide, froggy eyes, and then leaped back into the lake with a delicate plip.

  It was with some difficulty that Tod tore herself away to continue her journey. She set off across the stepping-stones and headed into the coolness of the next arch. She stopped for a moment to allow her eyes to adjust to the dim light and then walked into the tunnel. As soon as Tod had taken a few steps she knew something was wrong—there was no welcoming glow of the Vanishing Point. She switched on her FlashLight and walked slowly forward and then stopped, puzzled. The beam showed a change from brick to bright blue lapis lazuli; this was the line where the Magykal Vanishing Point began and it was always hidden by white mist. But there was no sign of any mist at all. Tod crept forward with a feeling of trepidation. The tunnels of the Ways always had an energy within that had made them feel like active, living things. But this one was like an ordinary, underground tunnel: damp, cold and pitch-dark. She walked on, her FlashLight showing nothing but bare lapis and a dusty stone floor. On the edge of the beam darkness lurked, deep and dense, and Tod pu
shed away thoughts of what creatures might be hidden within. She forced herself on, hoping that soon she would see the welcome sign of a hovering white mist.

  Tod had walked for ten long minutes, going ever deeper into the tunnel, when she noticed an unpleasant smell of sulphur in the air. Fearful of poisonous gas, she stopped, considering whether to turn back. It was then she saw that the lapis walls looked different. Gone were its glints of gold, and the brilliant blue had become dull. Tod put out her hand to touch it. The surface felt rough and powdery, just like the stone in Driffa’s ring. She took her hand away and looked at it: her palm was covered in fine gray dust. Driffa’s words came back to her: Like a slow fire inside a wall, the crumbling of our Enchantment will spread through the Ancient Ways . . . it will reach you eventually. . . . there is nothing you can do about it. Tod stared at the gray dust in horror, then she turned and ran, hurtling back through the lapis tunnel, knowing that soon it would all be dust.

  Tod emerged into the sunlight and calm of the dappled green water. She leaned against the warm stone, breathing in the sweet, fresh air. It took her some time to get the courage to take the PathFinder from her pocket, and when she did, she laughed with relief. The lapis shone deep blue and gold in the sunlight. She ran her finger over it to check the stone: it still felt hard and smooth to the touch. The PathFinder was healthy.

  The disintegration of the Way forced a decision upon Tod: she would go back to the Far Hub through the Ways she had just traveled. It would mean braving the maze, but she had no choice. She set off across the stepping-stones toward the rock at the center of the lake. As she reached it, a movement ahead caught her eye. Tod’s heart leaped with fear: a tall, dark shape was emerging from the very arch she was heading for. As Tod stared in horror, six red eyes locked onto her pair of green eyes.