by Suzy Turner
As she caught up with him, she went to grab hold of his arm. He spotted her just in time.
'No, Emma, no no! You must not touch me me unless I know you're going to to,' he scolded. 'You could have been been frozen. You could have been frozen frozen. If you touch me me, even accidentally, without me me seeing you, you will be like your friend friend,' he said pointing to Moira in the car.
'But couldn’t you un-freeze me?' she asked as she tried to make him turn back.
He shook his head, 'Therein lies lies the problem problem, Emma, the problem. It's this spell spell we're under. I only managed managed to escape escape part of it it. If you become frozen frozen, I cannot unfreeze you, I cannot cannot.'
'Hurry,' Lana yelped as a vampire with short bright red hair appeared in the castle doorway, scouring the area.
'You!' he bellowed, pointing to Jimble.
'Me?' Jimble replied, his face turning rather pale.
Fortunately the vampire was so focussed on getting his hands on the troll, that he neglected to notice the five Watchers now surrounding him.
Before he even had a chance to flinch, he had been tackled to the floor, held down by Declan's brute force, before he was held in place by a ring of fire.
'Now Jimble, now! Touch him now!' Declan yelled as Elliott opened up a gap in the fire for the troll.
'Ooh, it's hot hot, ouch ouch,' he cried as he pounced forward, his finger outstretched. Once he had made contact, he shot backwards.
'We don't like fire fire, it's too hot, too hot hot,' he grumbled, rubbing his hands together.
'Are you okay?' asked Emma as she approached to check him over.
Looking up at her, his eyes welled with tears and he nodded, 'You care care? You you really do do care?'
'Of course I care,' she chuckled.
'Shhh,' whispered Declan. 'There are still two more in there. We'll have to go inside.'
'But what about him?' asked Sammy. 'Shouldn't we do something with him?'
'What do you mean?' asked Lana, 'He's frozen isn't he?'
'Yeah but he's a... a... vampire. Shouldn't we put a stake in his heart or something? We can't just leave him there. What if this spell wears off? Then he'll just go back to killing people.'
'When the spell wears off, he'll be in the middle of crowds of people, he'll have no choice but to disappear. We can't worry about that now,' replied Declan from the front as he gingerly pushed the door open.
Inside a great hall were around thirty people, all lined up at the far end of the room, beneath what looked like an oversized dartboard.
'What's that?' whispered Sammy, pointing to it.
'It's just an imitation of an Arthurian round table,' replied Declan as they searched the room for signs of vampires.
'Cool,' whispered Elliott. 'I don't see them.'
'Me neither,' said the others.
'There's a door over there,' Lana said as she rushed towards it, followed by the rest of the group. 'It leads out into a garden. 'Oh, I see them.'
Declan dashed out in front of her, running alongside a pretty tunnel of plants made from curved trees until he reached a set of steps that led away from the castle. He could see a man and a woman disappearing down another set of steps leading back towards the centre of town.
Increasing his speed, he threw himself on top of the male vampire, punching him hard in the mouth. Fighting back, the vamp was soon back on his feet as his mate was stopped by Lana and Emma, who managed to kick her in the back, causing her to fall to the floor.
'Jimble, quick!' yelled Lana as they fought hard to keep her down. Seconds later, however, the female vampire had thrown the girls off her and jumped back onto her feet. She hissed at them as they slowly circled each other.
Pushing his long white hair over his shoulder, the male vampire flashed his sharp teeth before attempting to throw himself at Declan.
'Oh please, that is just so predictable,' yelled Elliott who threw himself from the top of the stairs, landing on his side on the floor next to the white haired monster. With his arms outstretched, flames erupted from his fingertips causing the vampire to hiss in pain.
The fire burned hotter and hotter before he had time to get out of the way and within the seconds, he was no longer a living creature but a mere pile of ash on the ground.
'No!' screamed his mate just as Jimble arrived to gently place his finger on her arm. Her features began to freeze over like a statue, fear and shock etched on her beautiful face.
'Shouldn't we burn her too?' asked Sammy as she tiptoed around the statue looking at her in fascination.
'We usually try to avoid killing, when possible,' Declan said as he dusted himself down and shot Elliott a sideways glance.
'Oh, sorry,' Elliott, replied, 'I got a bit carried away.'
'No, you had to kill him him. He was going to kill kill us, all of us... I know I know. You were were right to dispose dispose of him him,' Jimble said as he wobbled away.
'Where are you going?' Lana shouted to him.
'We must go go. We must go now now... the trolls are coming coming.'
The sisters looked at each other before they all ran back towards the car.
'Where are they?' asked Lana.
'Not far far.'
'But what about the people in the hall?'
Declan shook his head, 'We can't do anything about them now. We don't know where they were before they were carried in there. We'll just have to leave them be, for now.'
'Why are the trolls coming, Jimble?'
'The commotion commotion, they heard heard the commotion.'
As they climbed back into the car, Jimble hopped up into the boot and Declan asked him about the other trolls.
'Why are they bad and you're not, Jimble?'
'They are not not bad bad, it's just the spell. Just the spell spell.'
'But what is this spell?' he asked as he began to drive the car away from the castle.
'It started nearly two hundred hundred years ago ago. We were hibernating, like we do every year year. Every year,' he sighed. 'When we were rudely awoken awoken by all this noise noise, all this terrible noise. Bang, bang, banging, it was terrible terrible. My queen sent sent some of the trolls trolls to investigate. They found humans humans digging, right above us us. They were too close close for comfort, they were were. Building a tunnel, of all things. A tunnel for a train trail, of all things things,' he said, shaking his head. 'Anyway, one of the trolls trolls had had enough enough. And he went up there and he, well well, I'm not proud proud of what he did, but he... he...'
'What? What did he do, Jimble?' asked Sammy.
'He killed them them.'
'He killed them? Who did he kill?' Lana asked.
Gulping loudly, Jimble trembled, 'Some of the humans humans. About a hundred hundred... not all at once, mind you you. He did it over time time so the humans wouldn't become too suspicious suspicious,' he said, crying.
'Oh Jimble, it's not your fault. Don't cry,' Emma said as he looked at her and let her squeeze his hand.
'It gave us a bad bad name name. But that's beside the point, beside the point point. When the queen found out out about his murderous ways ways, she she sent him away. She told him him he was no longer one of us, one of us and she forbade him from ever returning returning.'
'But what has this got to do with the spell?' asked Declan who was keeping a close eye on the road as they finally exited Winchester.
'Well, Gordle - that's his name, it is it is - stole a precious stone stone from us, from beneath the tunnel where we lived lived. Well, that precious stone stone wasn't just any old precious stone stone, it was an artefact artefact from an ancient time time. We worshipped worshipped that stone. It was the Temporal Stone stone. With it, you could halt time time and play with it it however you wanted wanted. We never did did, of course we didn't didn't. We just worshipped it it. We didn't need to play with time time, we didn't. But Gordle took it it. We didn't know until it was too late late. We travelled miles and
miles miles trying to find him but we never did. The stone was gone gone.'
'Oh,' Lana said, 'So you don't know what happened to it?'
He shook his head. 'We never found out out but we always worried worried that one day it would return to haunt haunt us and now it has has. Someone has got their hands hands on the Temporal Stone stone and if we don't get it back... woooo, well, I don't know what what will happen to us all all.'
'We need to track down that stone,' Declan said seriously.
Jimble nodded enthusiastically, 'We do do. We certainly do. Sure do. We do do.'
'Here's what we're going to do, we're gonna follow the original plan and get Moira to the hospital in Arundel. Then we're gonna get to London as fast as we can. With Jimble's help, we're going to find that artefact and we're going to put a stop to whoever is playing this game.'
Lana and Emma had never heard Declan sound so serious.
CHAPTER 15
Eleanor and the girls had spent two hours flying above the town trying to locate Bryn, but to no avail. The American mentor was nowhere to be seen. Knowing Bryn, Eleanor was sure that he wouldn't be in hiding anywhere. Bryn was a fighter, which meant there was a small chance that he might have been caught out by the invisible pixie trolls.
Just as they were about to give up all hope of finding him, Daisy squealed from the back of the helicopter, 'Over there!'
Eleanor turned to see where she was pointing, holding her breath as she followed Daisy's finger to see a man lying on the ground amidst the crowds of people stopped in time.
'Oh no,' she muttered as the helicopter came in to land as close to him as possible. 'It's Bryn,' she sighed.
'Wait, Eleanor. He just moved - he's not frozen,' said Sara.
'But he is injured. We're going to have to get him on board. Daisy, is there much dust left?' Eleanor asked.
Daisy shook her head, 'Only a little bit. Enough for just one person.'
'In which case, I'm afraid you're going to have to go and get him. You're the quickest and strongest person here.'
Eleanor looked at the young girl who shuddered nervously before nodding.
'I can do it,' she said as she took out the last of the dust and covered herself with it.
'On three, Daisy. One, two, three, go!' yelled Eleanor as Daisy dashed out of the helicopter, the swift movement of the rotor blades blowing away some of the dust from her long hair.
She ran with such confidence and speed that Eleanor felt no need to worry - until Daisy reached Bryn and realised something wasn't quite right.
Something was blocking her way. As Daisy tried to walk closer, she felt something tug on her dust-covered jeans. Turning around, she took what little amount of dust she was carrying in her hands and blew it. Immediately, it became apparent why she couldn't get close to him. Bryn had been surrounded by little pixie trolls, all of them invisible. She breathed a sigh of relief that the dust on her clothes had worked.
As the rest of it scattered on to each of the trolls, Daisy didn't wait to find out what happened to them. Instead, she leant forward and grabbed Bryn, hiking him up over her shoulder and stepping slowly backwards, aware that the little creatures were everywhere.
As she tiptoed out of the circle, she turned as fast as she could and ran those last few steps until she reached Eleanor. The girls opened the side door and were waiting to pull Bryn aboard.
As Daisy lifted her feet off the ground, the helicopter immediately became airborne. She turned to watch as the trolls' bodies shook uncontrollably before their movements began to slow down dramatically. It was almost as if they were caught in slow motion.
'Bryn? Bryn? Can you hear me?' Eleanor whispered as she gently patted the man's face. 'Bryn? It's Eleanor. You're safe now. Can you hear me?'
When Bryn didn't make a sound, Eleanor turned to Amber. 'We need to get him to hospital immediately. I don't know what's wrong. Take us to Arundel. They'll know what to do there.'
Amber nodded and immediately turned the helicopter around, flying south east towards the small town in West Sussex.
oOo
Daisy had never been to Arundel before and she was surprised to see quite a majestic looking castle appearing before them.
Eleanor watched her young face and smiled. 'It's beautiful, isn't it?' she asked.
Daisy nodded, 'Mum and Dad used to take me to places like this during school holidays but we never came here. I wish we could have come here.'
'Well, you'll be pleased to hear that's where the hospital is,' she said with a chuckle as she turned her attention back to Bryn, whose breathing had become a little more shallow, and his skin had turned deathly pale.
As the helicopter landed on a large area of grass right in the middle of the stunning property, Eleanor watched as a small group of people appeared from one of the far off doorways.
She waved to them and, once they'd spotted who it was, they ran towards her.
'It's okay, it's safe here. You can get out,' a young man shouted as he approached.
'Hi Rhydian. It's Bryn - we're not quite sure what happened,' she said as Rhydian, his wife Megan and a few others helped them remove Bryn from the helicopter.
Carrying him back towards the smaller entrance from where they'd come, Eleanor and the girls followed eagerly behind.
'Eleanor, it's good to see you. Are you girls okay?' asked a familiar voice from within the darkness. As they walked indoors and their eyes adjusted to the light, Eleanor grinned when she saw Saleena. They hugged each other.
'We're fine. It's Bryn that isn't.'
The beautiful Indian woman's smile disappeared, 'What happened?'
'I'm afraid we don't know.'
'Have you heard from Declan?' she asked, frowning.
'I'm afraid not. We've lost all communications. I'm sure they'll be fine, though. He's with a good bunch of kids today. Don't worry,' she smiled as she placed a reassuring arm on her shoulder.
Bryn had been carefully placed on a stretcher as they carried him deep within the castle, far away from where any tourists might wander, to where Praxos hospital was located.
They entered a large open hall filled with beds, only a few of which were occupied. Some were covered with large white bubble-like covers, making it difficult to see who lay beneath.
Bryn was made as comfortable as possible while the hospital's number one doctor and his staff attended to him. Eleanor and the girls were encouraged to leave them to get on with their work.
They went with Saleena and Rhydian to a smaller room where there were a number of comfortable sofas. Daisy plopped down, immediately removing her shoes and curling her feet underneath herself while Eleanor began to explain everything that had been going on.
CHAPTER 16
'We're going to have to stop for fuel,' Declan said as they pulled into a petrol station. 'Jimble, are there any of your guys around here?'
Jimble shook his head without even looking.
'But you didn't even check,' Lana said.
'No need to look look. No need to to. We stay away from these places places, we do do. Scary places, smelly places, dangerous places. You're safe safe!' he said with a smile.
Declan grinned back and climbed out of the car which he had squeezed past a number of other queueing vehicles and parked alongside a small silver Smart car, where the owner was standing with a fuel pump in her hand, about to put it in the tank.
Carefully removing the pump from her, Declan placed the nozzle into the Range Rover and stood for a few minutes as the fuel poured into the car.
'Hey Jimble?' asked Emma.
'Yes, yes.'
'Why do you speak so funny?'
'Funny, funny?'
'Yeah, you keep repeating words all the time,' Emma replied.
'Yeh and it's kind of annoying,' Lana murmured under her breath, narrowly avoiding an elbow to her side from her sister.
Jimble shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. 'This is is just how I speak speak with you you. I don't know know why wh
y. Just the way it is is.'
After a few minutes and with a full tank, Declan put the fuel pump back into the woman's hand before taking his wallet out of his back pocket and removing two fifty pound notes which he put on the front seat of her car.
With a grin, he got back in and they continued on their way to Arundel.
Soon they were driving around a small roundabout, weaving in and out of the cars on the road.
'So this is Arundel,' whispered Emma as she took in the beauty of the large castle nearby.
'Yup, and that,' Declan pointed to the castle, 'is where we're headed.'
'Cool,' said Lana.
'Diarmuid would love this. I hope he's okay,' Emma said.
'Of course he is. He's probably doing architectural drawings of the Royal Crescent as we speak,' smiled Lana as she leant over and squeezed her sister's hand.
'Who's Diarmuid?' asked Sammy.
Lana smirked, 'Emma's one and only.'
Emma blushed.
'You have a boyfriend? That's nice.'
'Yep, they've been together for a few months now. They're totally loved up, kinda gross really,' Lana joked.
'It is so not gross,' Emma said, her cheeks remaining a permanent shade of red.
'I think it's sweet. I had a boyfriend but we broke up a few months ago.'
'Oh, sorry to hear that,' Emma replied.
'Don't be, he was a jerk.'
'Oh.'
Lana laughed, 'We all know our fair share of jerks. You're better off without him, Sammy. You can hang out with me and we can be young, free and single together.'
Sammy chuckled, 'Cool.'
'Although Lana LOVES boys, Sammy, she's like the biggest flirt ever,' Emma added.
'So what's wrong with flirting?'
Elliot glanced across at Declan and raised his eyebrows.
'Okay, we're here,' Declan said, grinning and putting an end to their teenage talk. 'Is that the chopper the girls used this morning?' he mumbled to himself. 'Jimble, can you check our surroundings again, mate?'
Jimble hopped up and looked out the window. 'No pixie trolls trolls. None. None here here.'
'Okay people, let's get out of here,' Declan said as they all began to open the doors and stretch their legs.
