by A. J. Ponder
“You’re an idiot,” Alec said, his face reddening. “She’s our cousin.”
“Oh.” Molly turned away. “Anyway, I’m not an idiot. I was right about there being fairies. You said they didn’t exist. So there!”
The driver tried to stifle a giggle into his hand.
Alec bit his lip down on his anger. The car jolted suddenly and the doors of the car started springing open and shut.
“Damn Event!” the driver yelled as the car rolled and swerved. One moment it was being sucked out over the water – and the next it began to plummet into the bay.
“Hold tight,’zids!” the driver said pulling the steering wheel left back towards the shore. The car responded by swerving further out into the bay, twisting and lurching through the air until it finally splashed down in the water, the driver slumped over the steering wheel, unconscious.
Perrin banged on the window and Molly yelled, “Mr driver, Mr driver, you’ve got to let us out.”
“Oh dear,” said Ike. “Not again.”
“What?” Alec said then looked down. His feet were wet, and the car rapidly filling with water.
Within minutes they were going to drown.
THE FRYING PAN
Molly jumped up onto the seat to avoid the rising water. “Mr driver,” she wailed, banging on the glass. “Wake up!”
“We’ll be all right,” Alec said. “The driver’s just...um...sleeping.”
“Sleeping?” Perrin said. She wanted to scream that everything was not all right, but that would only scare Molly more so Perrin decided it was best to just try to open the door.
“He’s hurt bad,” Molly said, not fooled for a moment. “We’ll have to save him too.”
“Mmmm,” said Alec, kicking at the door with his foot. The door didn’t budge.
“Wait, it’s a force-field. I can try to break it,” Perrin said, trying out a spell from one of her father’s old books. Fortunately seawater was the only component, and there was plenty of that about.
“Is it working?” Alec asked anxiously as the water climbed up past the seats.
“Not yet.”
“I don’t want to drown,” Molly blubbed. “I wanna go home.”
“Be quiet!” Perrin shouted, desperately trying to focus on her spell. “I need a moment.”
“Well, you’d better hurry,” Ike said. “I’m getting wet. And by the way the ambulance is coming. And the police, but probably not until after you drown.”
She tried again and again but it wasn’t working, the field was too strong.
Perrin tried a last-ditch spell her Grandma had taught her for opening jars and the door opened.
Molly cheered.
Perrin wasn’t so sure as she saw the force-field shimmer under the weight of all the water. She put her arm up to the field, but whipped it away as pain lanced through her shoulder. “By the seven dogs of pain, that hurt,” she exclaimed.
Alec tried too. “Ow!” he yelled, jumping backwards and clutching his arm.
“Don’t be silly,” Perrin said, swallowing down her fear at being left in a car to drown all alone. They didn’t all need to die. “It’s just magic, so you two will be able to get out through the field.”
“Good idea,” Alec said with a funny lopsided grin. “Molly, try and think about something that’s not magic.”
“You mean like school?” Molly said.
“I guess,” Alec said. “Anything like that, and then we hold hands.”
“Really? Yuk.”
“Yes, now shut up.”
Molly pouted.
“Sorry, just listen,” Alec said. “If you do as I say we might escape and see another fairy.”
“Yay.”
“Goodbye and good luck,” Perrin said.
“What?”
“I can’t go – it’s a magic user spell and I have too much residual magic. But you two don’t, so...so you should just save yourselves.”
“Stop fussing, Perrin. Now, Molly. One, two, three, hold Perrin’s hand, and – go!”
Perrin felt a blaze of pain as she was dragged through the magical field. “Ow! I’m never going to get used to that,” Perrin said, splashing madly to stay afloat.
“What?” said Molly.
“Ugh,” said Alec. “It was like pins and needles all over.”
“I didn’t feel anything,” said Molly, treading water with a practiced ease that made her brother’s dog paddling seem clumsy. Perrin copied it the best she could, and worked out she could swim very slowly backwards.
“What about you, Ike?” Alec asked.
Ike spluttered, shook himself and slammed his cover shut.
“The driver!” Perrin said. The car was sinking a lot faster now. If they didn’t save him now he’d be gone with the car.
“Rats.” Alec braced himself and took a deep breath. Molly followed, and between them they managed to open the door and pull the driver from his seat and up into the air.
“Grhumph bibble,” the wizard spluttered as they reached the surface. “Ow.”
He still seemed pretty groggy so Molly and Alec helped pulled him along while Perrin trailed behind, swimming slowly backwards.
“Thanks,” the driver said gruffly as they dragged him up onto the shore. He didn’t look too badly injured, just a nasty egg-like bump on his head.
“Concussion?” Alec asked.
“And third degree magic burns,” he groaned.
“The ambulance is coming,” Ike said. “You will be fine. Not me though. I have aged a hundred years today. Just look at all this water damage!”
“That’s terrible,” Alec said. Then he turned to Molly and gave her a little push. “It’s not safe here. You should run home as fast as you can.”
“You promised fairies,” Molly said, stubbornly refusing to budge.
“Shut up about fairies,” Perrin said finally catching up to them. “’sides, you two have forgotten the sword.”
Alec and Molly rushed back out to where the car had gone under and dove back down. At first they could see nothing. Then as Alec turned to go back to the surface he caught a glimpse of the car much deeper now. It seemed to be getting sucked out to sea.
“Go back,” Alec ordered his little sister when they reached the surface again.
“No, I can swim better than you,” she argued, and Alec grunted. Unlike him, she could swim like an otter.
He dove down in a flurry of bubbles and Molly followed.
“I told you...” he started, as they came back to the surface.
But Molly screamed, her shaking finger pointing at something behind him.
Alec turned and found himself face to face with the same spear-carrying half-human half-fish he’d met on his earlier dip in Wellington Harbour.
If he’d been angry before, this time the mer-creature was furious. “I warned you, human cub, so now you may make a last request before you die – although I warn you I’m unlikely to grant it. I have things to do.”
“So do I,” Alec said. “I need to rescue Wellington from the taniwha.”
“Not likely.”
“It’s true. I took the sword to break the magic.”
The strangely human creature jabbed the spear at Alec’s stomach. “You’re a liar. You have no sword.”
“He’s not a liar. The sword is in the car,” Molly piped up.
“She with you?” The merman looked again and did a double take. “Most odd.” He tipped back his head and laughed, giving Alec a better look at the creature’s pointy teeth than he would have liked. “Still, our territory is protected by treaty. Can’t make an exception for oddballs like you. Not at a time like this.”
“So you want the taniwha to wake?” Alec said.
“No. It’s very straightforward; you’re going to die because you’re breaking the rules. It’s all in writing, somewhere, I’m just following orders. Besides I’ve already been too nice and look how you repay me – the water is all itchy with magic. And things are not...good at the moment. There’s no room
for wriggles.”
It hefted its spear.
“Wriggles?” Alec thought fast; after all they were going to die and it was all his fault. “How about you let Molly go. She’s only a baby.”
“I’m not a baby, I’m-”
“Molly! The sword. Find it and rescue Dad. Go.”
Molly dived into the water.
“You two really are serious, are you? I can’t believe I’m here talking to a pair of baby ‘zids who don’t seem to know what they’re doing.”
“Technically,” Alec said, “I don’t think I’m a wizard at all.” He looked around just in time to see Molly come up empty-handed. She took a huge gulp of air and dived down again.
“One minute.” The man-fish dove down past Molly, shoving her out of the way, and grabbing the sword out of the car.
They both surfaced in sprays of water.
“I could have got it,” Molly complained as the man-fish waved the sword overhead.
“Not a wizard?” the creature said. “Then how come you could see the sword at all?”
“It’s tricky, that’s why I missed the first time,” Molly said. “Alec thinks it’s important to rescue Dad, but he also says our dad is inside a taniwha, and that’s silly.”
From nearer the shore Perrin gasped. “Molly!”
Molly smiled winningly. Alec wasn’t impressed but he half hoped the mer-creature might be.
“Even if you’re not lying,” the man-fish growled, sizing up all three of them with a scowl, “your plan of wrecking that car and polluting my ocean isn’t helping as far as I can see.”
“We didn’t crash, it was the driver,” Molly pointed out, not unreasonably.
Still, she had no idea what or who she was dealing with. Alec elbowed her and tried to explain.
“O’Kreafly thinks we can sever the link with this sword,” Alec started – but he didn’t finish because the distinctive sound of sirens wailed in the distance. It was too late to take Molly back home like he’d hoped. Or explain any more. It was too late to do anything but run and hope.
The man-fish called after him, “You stop the taniwha and you can swim any time. If you don’t – whether you’re on land or sea we will find you. And you will wish you were dead.”
“Hurry,” Ike called as they caught up to Perrin on the shore. “We need to find this phone booth without a phone.”
“I think I know where it is,” Alec said. “That way – quick!”
“Yes, not far, now,” Ike agreed. Just around the corner.
Alec sprinted as fast as he could along the beach in gloggy wet trainers, his heels rubbing painfully every time they hit the ground. Molly in bare feet had lost her party shoes and tripped along easily beside him, dodging rocks. “Ow-ow-ow she sang whenever she stepped on a rock or stone.
“Be quiet,” Perrin muttered, her black-booted foot splashing into a sandy tide-puddle.
Ike rustled impatiently. “Faster! The officers aren’t staying with the driver – they must be divining you. It’ll only be a moment before they catch up.”
“What will they do if they catch us?” Molly asked.
“Depends on who it is that catches us,” Perrin replied. “Now shut up and run.”
Alec’s hand felt like it was being dragged out of its socket as he grabbed Molly’s hand and tried to pull her along.
“Look, there it is,” Ike said. “Up those rocks. See the path?”
Alec could just see it. A flash of red above a steep rocky track, half hidden by Pohutakawa branches.
“Are you sure that is the one?” Perrin said. “Looks pretty normal to me.”
Alec didn’t bother arguing. Behind them were the police – in front of them Milly the Siren was scrambling over the rocks towards the path up to the road. A very wet, bedraggled and angry cat rode on her grey scaly shoulders, drawing blue blood with its claws and meowing angrily.
“Esmeralda darrrrling, I’m so sorry. It was an accide-”
She looked up and screeched in surprise. “You! Bignose wants you.”
Alec took a good hold of Molly. “Think school!”
Molly pouted, and disappeared.
“Where are you going?” the Siren hissed, pushing straggly wet locks of hair from her face. She held up her arms and pointed.
The air sizzled, but Alec took Perrin’s arm with his free hand and the magic disappeared, along with the Siren. They had almost reached the top when the Siren re-appeared and seized a handful of Alec’s shirt.
“I don’t think so,” she said, launching another spell with her free hand. It coiled itself around Alec and Perrin. He could feel it, tight as tree roots and smelling horribly of burnt sugar.
He found it harder and harder to breathe. There was nothing he could do, he couldn’t even think straight as Perrin wheezed beside him. “Fairies,” Molly yelled and stamped on the Siren’s foot.
The Siren screamed, and grabbed at her but the little girl yelled, “Maths homework.” She slipped right through the Siren’s fingers dancing around and poking her tongue out.
Perrin ran for the phone booth. Alec grabbed at Molly and dragged her after Perrin and slammed the door. “How do we get out of here?” Alec asked Ike, holding the door shut with the ball of his foot.
“Dial 137,” Ike ordered.
“But there’s no phone.”
The Siren shoved hard at the door.
Perrin rushed over to hold it shut with her shoulder.
A claw whipped out and scratched down the glass. The sound of nails cutting glass was tooth-shatteringly awful.
“No!” Perrin yelled. “She’s going to get in.”
“Right there,” Perrin said, pointing to a back shelf he hadn’t seen.
And there it was, just in his not-quite sight, shimmering and solidifying under his gaze.
“One, three seven. Dial 137, Ike repeated. Hurry.”
“But it doesn’t have buttons,” Alec said.
“It’s a dial – twirl it!” Perrin answered scornfully.
“Oh.” Alec’s fingers shook as he twirled the old-fashioned dial – still forcing the door shut with his foot. “ One...” He could feel the sweat running down the sides of his face as the dial rolled backward with a purring brrring. “Three,” he continued, trying to ignore the intense banging outside.
The officers had arrived – lots of them and all very, very blue. They were lifting a big axe and smashing the glass. “Seven,” Alec yelled the last digit.
For a moment nothing happened. They looked at each other and the triumphant smile on the Siren’s face. Then the phone rang and the floor dropped out.
They fell into the dark.
THE FIRE
Alec realised he’d been screaming when Perrin nudged him.
“We’ve stopped falling.”
“Oh,” Alec said, embarrassed. Now it was quiet he could hear Perrin and Molly’s frightened breathing, Ike’s rustling, and the heartbeat from his dream echoing all around them.
The feeling of being trapped was so overwhelming, like in his dream. He wanted to scream again, but he had to think of Molly as her little hand reached out and clutched onto his.
Ike’s gentle glow dimly lit the room – some kind of office, abandoned except for a red-and-gold bird fluttering restlessly inside a golden cage and a key hanging on a hook not so far away. The cage seemed to be surrounded by the hum of strong magic and a glowing flame-red aura.
Alec looked at the creature in wide-eyed wonder. “Te Keo.”
“What?” Perrin asked.
Ike rustled importantly. “Te Keo. The soul of the taniwha.”
“Pretty,” said Molly. “Can I take him home?”
“No!” Alec, Ike and Perrin all yelled.
“But he doesn’t look happy here. And I want him.”
“He’s not a toy, we need to set him free somehow,” Alec said. “There’s a door over there in the shadows – it might be a way out.”
“No problem. I’ll get the bird.” Perrin reached up
to grab a key from a brass hook in the wall.
“But – “ Molly’s hands were reaching for the cage “ – it’s not lock-”
Perrin didn’t seem to notice Molly, or the clank of the cage door being opened. She wrapped her hand around the key – and cursed. “Blinders, I’m a fool!”
The humming stopped. And out of the cage, in a flurry of red feathers and trailing a braided cord of light, came the bird Te Keo, heading straight for Alec.
Alec ducked.
Unperturbed, Te Keo twisted in the air and landed neatly on his shoulder. The long claws dug in painfully, before relaxing as Molly petted its feathers.
Then the world rocked, and the claws sank in again. Perrin, her hand still stuck fast to the dangling key, yelled, “Quick, the sword!”
“Yes,” Ike agreed. “We have to cut-”
Two wizards burst in, wands aglow, and Alec missed Ike’s last words. The sinister faces of Bignose and Nathaniel were thrown into stark relief.
“A trap,” Ike said, echoing Alec’s thoughts. Claws ripped his shoulder and a heavy weight – Te Keo – took off with a rush of air and beating wings.
The two wizards slowed as Alec raised the dragon sword.
“Perrin, what do we do?” he said, and glanced back just in time to see Perrin falling. “Perrin!”
Dangling from the key, she looked helpless, like a broken puppet. Molly was still gripping his other hand tightly. He needed to do something, but what? “Ike?”
There was no reply, just the dialling of the phone above. He could feel his legs, but they were stiff and unmoving. His arm remained poised mid-air. Alec fought but he couldn’t move a muscle. He was going to fall – not that it mattered. There were too many wizards now. They rushed in through the door after Nathaniel and Bignose – while bright blue Guards piled in from the ceiling all intent on stopping three kids and a book.
“Zid’s, relinquish the dragonhide sword and surrender.”
That’s right, the dragonhide sword. He’d forgotten that small detail. Still, te Keo was gone. It was over. There was no point fighting any more. Alec was beat. Nothing mattered. Not Wellington, not... Then unexpectedly Molly kicked him. It hurt. And her hand, still grasping his, was warm. Part of the real world – annoying sisters, cups of cocoa, his mum telling him off about his overactive imagination. He imagined himself back there – but with Ike and Perrin.
