“She isn’t powerful enough to make permanent ice,” he said. “That thin stuff she used didn’t hurt me. Just leave it.”
“If we try to get revenge, Jessie might come after us again,” added Laney. “She’s already starting to wonder why we’re hanging out together.”
Jessie wasn’t the only one who wondered. When Laney climbed reluctantly on to the school bus on that first Monday morning, there was a sudden break in the conversations around her. Feeling as if everyone was watching her, she made her way down the bus. The kids were divided up just as they’d always been. The faeries sat bunched together in their tribes away from the humans. Laney’s heart missed a beat knowing that most people couldn’t see which faces had gold-ringed eyes. Last term, before Awakening, she’d never known why everyone split into gangs like this.
Fletcher was with the older Thorns at the back. Claudia was sitting with some Greytail girls from Pyton. They all had a similar stylish look with streaked hair and earrings, and they were leaning towards each other, laughing. Laney headed towards them but Claudia warned her off with a tiny shake of the head. So she turned back, finding a place near the front by the window. She couldn’t sit with the Mists her own age – Jessie was there.
When they got to school she went in search of Steph. The corridors were heaving with kids and the occasional shout of a teacher rang out above the general buzz, telling them to hurry to their form rooms.
“Hey, Dreamy!” Steph tapped her on the shoulder. “I’ve been calling you for ages. Did you have a good summer? Shame you couldn’t come into town more.”
“I know – my dad was too busy to give me a lift most of the time.” Laney pushed away a twinge of guilt about lying to her friend. The real reason was that the search for the Myricals had taken up all her time but she was bound by her promise to keep the faerie world a secret.
“What’s up?” Steph studied Laney’s face. “Are you worried that everyone will talk about you breaking the water fountain on the last day of term? I think they’ve all forgotten.”
“Someone’s bound to go on about it.” Laney glanced at Craig Mottle, who was yelling across the corridor. “There are some things you just can’t get away from.”
After registration they made their way to the science lab and Laney scanned the faces around her, counting the pairs of gold-ringed eyes in the crowd. A strange feeling settled around her heart. Her old life had been about school and friends and she’d always thought of the faerie world as separate from that. It was stupid really – she should have known she couldn’t just go back to ordinary life at school and only be a Mist when she was in Skellmore. She got out her book and her pens and tried to look normal but the pens rolled off the desk on to the floor.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” said Steph. “You’re acting all twitchy. Has something happened you haven’t told me about?”
“I’m fine – just tired.” Laney bent down to pick up the pens.
“Right, we’re doing an experiment on materials that conduct electricity,” Dr Direley, their science teacher, called over the noise. “I need some help … let’s see. Laney. Fill a dozen beakers with water and bring them to the front, please. Water is one of the materials we’ll be testing. Jessie, please bring that box of leads.”
The room went silent. Laney went to the sink and turned on the tap. She felt the pressure of all the gold-ringed eyes that she knew would be looking at her. She could guess what they were thinking – that she would do something weird to the water: make it boil or turn a different colour. They thought she wouldn’t be able to control herself and keep her Mist power hidden.
“You can’t let Laney do it, sir. She’ll break everything,” said Craig Mottle. “She’s the one that bust the water fountain on the last day of term.”
“If you want to discuss it, Craig, you can come and see me at the end of school,” Dr Direley replied.
Hands shaking a little, Laney arranged the beakers in a row and began filling them. From the corner of her eye she could see Steph looking round in a puzzled way as she noticed the tension in the room. She stood the beakers on a tray and took them to the teacher. The water in every one was still and clear. She couldn’t resist a triumphant glance at Jessie, but the other girl wasn’t even looking.
“Now, before you begin let’s remind ourselves of some facts about electricity.” Dr Direley drifted into a monotone. “Here’s a picture of a lightning strike taken in Mexico. Lightning occurs when a cloud fills up with electrical charges.” He clicked his remote and a picture of red forked lightning appeared on the screen.
Laney couldn’t breathe. This was the Shadow’s attack spell – the red lightning – and it seemed ready to leap out of the screen at her. She jerked backwards, knocking one of the beakers with her hand. It tipped over and rolled off the worktop, smashing on to the floor.
“I told you, sir,” said Craig.
“I’m sorry.” Laney hid her trembling hands behind her back. “I’ll get something to sweep it up.”
Everyone sat in the same groups on the bus journey home at the end of the day. Resigned to it, Laney sat by herself and watched the fields roll past the window. She glanced up as an older boy moved to the seat behind hers.
“Mist training’s at eight o’clock tomorrow night,” he muttered. “Don’t use your wings to get there – don’t forget.”
Laney gave a slight nod, her insides lurching. Another chance to join Mist training – that had to be a good thing, didn’t it?
When the bus got to Skellmore, she waited outside the minimart for Fletcher and Claudia. Cathy Rainer and Leah Millbrook, the girls from Mist training, stared at her as they passed. Leah straightened her glasses and whispered something to her friend, and Laney’s heart sank.
Fletcher came over. “We need to carry on our search tonight,” he said quietly. “Let’s meet in the field behind the yard at seven.”
“See you then,” said Laney, and Fletcher crossed the High Street heading for Gnarlwood Lane and home.
“It’s always work, work, work,” Claudia grumbled. “When can we have some time off?”
“I bet the Shadow hasn’t stopped looking, wherever he is, so we can’t either.” Laney shivered. She knew she shouldn’t talk of the Shadow, but she couldn’t help it. It felt like they were always waiting, wondering when he’d appear again. It was starting to get on her nerves.
“You seriously need to chill out about the Shadow,” Claudia told her as they walked up Beacon Way. “He hasn’t been seen for weeks. Maybe he’s gone for good.”
“I doubt it. Sometimes I really get the feeling he’s not far away.” Laney didn’t add that she even thought she’d seen him a couple of times but it had turned out to be nothing.
“If he was, I reckon I’d know first – Greytail senses are basically perfect. Catch you later.” Claudia turned into The Cattery.
Laney carried on up the hill. She didn’t understand how Claudia had put their encounter with the Shadow on the night of the flood out of her mind so easily. It must be nice to live in the now without worrying about the past or future. Maybe it was time to admit to the others that she was still freaked out about the Shadow. She had faced him, fought him and yet now she felt more terrified than before. Knowing exactly how someone became a Shadow made it worse. She could imagine how, after a faerie died, someone had gathered the only thing that remained: the dust. Then they’d used it to create a powerful dark spell. She suddenly wondered whose body the Shadow faerie had used that very first time and the thought made her stomach turn over.
She stepped sideways to avoid a small cloud of sprites hovering over the pavement. Now she had to think of a good excuse to tell Kim why she needed to go out on a school night. Luckily, Kim was in a good mood and happily accepted Laney’s excuse about preparing for a geography field trip. This was partly true, as they’d been given a letter about a trip to study the environment in a few weeks’ time. Just as she was explaining about the homework, Simon, her dad’s work
mate, called in to grab some work tools from the garage and Kim forgot to ask any more.
Laney got to the yard behind the minimart at seven o’ clock and found Claudia sitting on the fence. “Where’s Fletcher?” she asked, surprised.
Claudia jerked her head at a maple tree in the field behind them. “He’s camouflaged up there. I saw him straight away but I couldn’t be bothered to tell him that. You can’t fool a Greytail.”
Laney climbed the fence and walked round the tree, trying to spot him. “Fletcher, what are you doing?”
As soon as he moved she could see him, halfway up, slouching against the tree trunk. He grinned and jumped down.
“Don’t want to be seen with us then?” said Laney.
“Just practising for the next Thorn training. It’s better if we’re not seen together too much anyway.”
“Thorn training probably means talking to flowers and singing to trees,” Claudia whispered to Laney.
“You talk to cats, so what’s the difference?” said Laney.
Fletcher got out his map. “I think we should start checking Hobbin Forest today. We’ve put it off for ages because it’s such a big place to search. Now it’s time to go in.”
Claudia switched from funny to fierce in an instant. “Just because you’re a Thorn doesn’t mean we have to search the forest first.”
“Don’t worry,” Fletcher said calmly. “I can read the trees for signs of danger. You’ll be safe in there with me.”
Claudia’s eyes narrowed. “Last time I looked I could take care of myself.”
Laney grabbed the map. The roughly drawn lines of the river and the roads curved across the paper. Most of the fields and farmland around Skellmore were already ticked off. Checking the village itself would be far too tricky during daylight.
“What happened to searching each place in order?” Claudia said. “I bet the forest isn’t the next place on that map.”
Laney looked from Fletcher’s serious face to the mass of trees on the other side of the field. There had always been something odd about Hobbin Forest. It didn’t seem like an evil place, just very old, as if it knew ancient secrets it would never share. People would come and go while the forest remained, wrapped in its own mystery and not caring about the wave of human life sweeping by. Wouldn’t the Shadow find it the perfect place to hide?
She lifted her chin. Maybe going in there and facing her fear would get rid of it. “We have to check the forest sometime,” she said. “I think we should just get it over with.”
“Fine,” said Claudia. “But it’s a huge place. It’s going to take ages.”
They hurried towards the forest. Laney tried to keep up with Claudia’s long graceful strides. She looked up at the dark treeline just before they plunged inside. A mob of crows flew squawking above the topmost branches, filling the air with their ragged black wings.
Fletcher led them deep into the forest, stopping now and then to check the lines on a tree trunk. Each time the crows broke into their rough chorus, Claudia paused, looking into the treetops and listening intently. As they walked on, the channels of sunlight coming through the branches began to fade.
“Right. If we start from this log, we can check a small area at a time and then come back here before we search the other way.” Fletcher pointed to a huge fallen tree covered with moss and fungi. In the half-light it looked like a resting giant.
“Searching here will be harder than it was in the fields,” said Laney. “We need to circle round every tree and bramble patch so we don’t miss anything.”
“We can mark the trees so we know where we’ve checked,” said Claudia.
“No, we can’t!” Fletcher said sharply. “Not unless you want the whole Thorn tribe on your case.”
“All right!” Claudia rolled her eyes. “Chill! It was just an idea.”
“I’ll start.” Laney took the adder stone from Fletcher. “We’ll have to stop once it’s dark. I know we can see in the dark better than a human, but we don’t know how clear the signs will be. We could miss something.”
“Actually, I took this from my dad’s shed.” Fletcher drew what looked like a white china globe out of his pocket. “I figured I could put it back before he realises it’s missing.”
“Sweet.” Claudia nodded. “Can you light it though?”
Fletcher shook the orb and a pale glow flickered inside it. “It’s got a little bit of power left. That’ll have to do.” He released the orb into the air, where it floated just over their heads.
Laney put the adder stone to her eye and began scanning the forest carefully for the telltale shimmer of spell vibrations. The orb followed her and so did Fletcher, marking things off on the map.
Suddenly he put his ear to a tree trunk. “I don’t get it. Today there’s nothing. It’s like the trees don’t want to talk.”
“It isn’t just the trees that are acting weird.” Claudia jumped down from a high branch where she’d been sitting. “The crows were making warning calls when we ran into the wood and now they’ve gone completely silent.”
“They were making warning calls?” Laney shivered. “Why didn’t you tell us before?”
Claudia raised her eyebrows. “You were the one who was all we have to check the forest sometime.” She put on a mimicking voice. “We should get it over with.” A tree branch behind her whipped against her legs and she leapt away. “Hey! Stop it!” She glared at Fletcher.
“I didn’t make it move, I swear,” he said.
There was a scraping above their heads and another long branch shifted downwards to point at them like an accusing finger.
“OK, this is freaking me out now.” Laney looked at Fletcher and his worried expression made her even more nervous. “Why are they—” A rustling noise began near her foot. Heart jumping, she grabbed the orb from the air and shone it on the ground. At first all she could see was earth. Then she caught a small movement among the fallen leaves. A knotted brown thing was creeping along, slowly pushing twigs and leaves aside.
“What is it?” said Claudia with a shudder. “It’s disgusting!”
Two more knotted brown things crept over the ground like ancient crooked fingers. Laney took a sharp breath. She recognised their twisted shape. “They’re tree roots. I saw one move like that on my way to Mist training three nights ago. I told you, remember?”
“You’re right – they are tree roots,” said Fletcher. “But what are they doing out of the ground? Only really high-level Thorns can do something like this and I’m sure there’s no one else around. Pass me the adder stone a sec.” He held out his hand for the stone.
Laney threw it to him and he looked at the roots through the hole. “There’s no sign of a spell,” he said at last. “At least, nothing I can see with the stone.”
One of the roots climbed on to Laney’s trainer and as she kicked it off she heard a faint, far-off scream.
Claudia’s eyebrows shot up wildly. “That’s a human!”
“Are you sure?” Laney said quickly.
“Yes. Come on!” Claudia flew up through the tangled branches.
Leaving the orb behind, they soared into the night sky. Air streamed past Laney’s wings and the forest blurred beneath her, turned silver by the half-moon.
The cry sounded again. It was closer now.
Claudia hovered above a tall beech tree and Laney knew she must be using her Greytail tracking skills. Suddenly she pointed down through the branches. “There!” she said. “Right below us.”
Laney plunged downwards, leaves and branches scraping against her wings. She landed and changed back to human form instantly. It was dark without the orb and her eyes took a moment to get used to the blackness. Claudia landed behind her, then Fletcher.
“Help!” yelled a boy. “Help, somebody!”
“That sounds like Craig Mottle,” said Laney.
Claudia sniffed the air delicately. “Yep, that’s Craig.”
“I didn’t know you could tell people apart by smell,” mu
ttered Laney.
“I can’t always,” said Claudia. “But Craig is truly unmistakable.”
Fletcher pushed through the trees in the direction of the shouting. “Hi, is that you, Craig?” he called. “Can you stop shining that thing in my eyes?”
Laney followed the waving beam of torchlight through a gap in the trees. Fletcher crossed the clearing in a few strides and knelt down next to Craig.
“I’m stuck, man.” Craig’s voice shook. “I can’t move.”
“Give me the torch,” said Claudia, and the torchlight stopped swaying.
Craig lay flat on his back with long knobbly roots wound round his arms and ankles. He was bound tight to the earth, only able to move his head. Laney gaped at the tree roots. There were so many of them.
“How did this happen?” cried Fletcher.
“I don’t know! Just help me, man.” Craig struggled. “I can’t get these things off me.”
Fletcher took hold of the root that was curled round Craig’s ankle and yanked on it. His face grew red as the stem pulled away but as soon as he let go it snapped back into place.
Craig groaned. “These things are tight. I can’t feel my right foot any more. I don’t understand how they got so twisted.”
Laney, Claudia and Fletcher retreated to the other side of the clearing. “Those roots – it’s like they worked together to tie him up,” whispered Laney. “How can they do that? Roots can’t think!”
“Someone could think for them,” said Fletcher.
Claudia shone the torch back at Craig lying immobile on the ground. “The way the trees are acting tonight, I could believe anything.”
Fletcher looked through the adder stone. “I can’t see any spell shimmer and why would anyone want to capture Craig anyway?”
They exchanged looks and Laney said what they were all thinking. “Maybe the Shadow doesn’t need a reason. And maybe there’s no spell shimmer because his dark magic doesn’t leave that kind of trace.”
“But if the Shadow had been here, we’d see withered leaves and dead branches – remember how he turned the plants brown before, as if he sucked the life out of things?” said Claudia.
Dark Tree Shining Page 6
