“What are you thinking? We can’t swallow them. What if something goes wrong?” shrieked Tilly.
“Look,” said Zac, “I’m not exactly crazy about the idea of swallowing this stuff, either. Tom can turn into a mouse, but it’s the only way I can think of for us to tag along with Granny and the others without being seen.”
Tilly thought for a moment, and then made a grab for the bottle of red pills. “All right,” she said.
Zac snatched them away from her. “No way,” he said. “This was my idea. I’ll go first. If anything goes wrong, it’s going to happen to me.”
He slipped the bottle of electric blue liquid into his pocket, then unscrewed the cap from the second bottle and tipped one of the little red tablets into his hand. Tom and Tilly held their breath.
“Here goes,” said Zac with a shrug. He popped the pill into his mouth and tossed the bottle to Tilly.
The taste was so sour it drew his jaws together and almost made his face turn inside out. After a moment a tingle began in his toes and spread upward until his whole body was prickling.
Then there was a loud ZING.
Tom and Tilly looked at each other in amazement.
Zac had disappeared.
“Where is he?” said Tom.
“Sshh,” snapped Tilly, holding up a finger. “Listen.”
They stood in silence.
“I’m here!” said a tiny voice.
Tilly peered down at the floor. “Sweet starlight!” she exclaimed. “I can see him. It worked, it really worked!”
Under the table in front of them, Zac was crouching behind one of the wooden legs. He stood only an inch or two tall, and was waving wildly.
“Well,” Tilly said, “here goes,” and she swallowed one of the pills. There was a second ZING and Zac found Tilly standing beside him, looking up at Tom. He seemed to be a hundred feet tall.
“Wow!” said Tilly. “This is unbelievable! Look how big everything is. I’ll never make fun of Tom for being a squirt again.”
“I’m just glad our clothes shrunk with us,” said Zac, patting his cloak. “I was a bit worried about that.”
“Hang on!” Tom yelled. “I’m coming.” His voice was so loud and booming Zac and Tilly were almost deafened. In the blink of an eye, Tom turned himself into a mouse.
Tilly fished a timepiece from her coat pocket. “It’s almost midnight,” she said. “We have to go, or we’ll miss our chance.”
“Jump on my back,” said Tom. “It’ll be much quicker . . . Ouch! Careful, you two, you’re pulling my fur.”
There were whispered apologies, and Tom scampered into action. They shot out of the laboratory, through the bedroom, past the old library, through the gap in the door, and back into the main corridor.
“You think we’re too late?” asked Tom nervously.
“No,” said Tilly. “Listen!”
They heard the voices of Granny and the Knights on their way to the room with the trampoline floor.
“Quick!” yelled Zac. “Follow them through the door!”
Tom darted through behind them, dodging nimbly between their feet. As they walked, the Knights discussed their task.
“So,” said Cornelius, “this pilot, what’s his name again?”
“Rigby Sundown,” said Julius. “He’s meeting us upriver. Thought it’d be safer than one of the airship stations. You never know who’s watching.”
“He’ll be there, will he? You’re sure?”
“I only gave him half his fee,” said Julius. “If he wants the other half he’ll be there.”
Back on the floor, Tom was finding it difficult to navigate the bouncing surface and avoid being crushed beneath the Knights’ gigantic feet. After a few close calls, they made it into the small chamber where the bathtub stood waiting.
“Oh, no,” whispered Zac. “How could I have forgotten we’d have to ride in that again?”
“How do we get in?” said Tom, his whiskers twitching. “The sides are far too slippery to scramble up.”
They watched as the three Knights clambered in.
“Look,” said Tilly. “There’s a gap underneath. We could squeeze in there.”
She was correct, as usual. The bathtub sat inside a metal frame on wheels, and there was a space between the two. It was only a few inches at most, but it was roomy enough for a mouse.
Tom’s stumpy mouse legs helped him scrabble up easily, then he turned and helped Zac to hoist Tilly on board. Just as Tilly landed, there were three thunderous thumps that seemed to shake the whole room.
“We’re about to go!” squeaked Tom in a tiny, panicked voice. “Hurry up, Zac, c’mon!”
The cart was already beginning to move. Zac sprinted after it. As it picked up speed, his lungs burned and his muscles ached. He couldn’t push his miniature legs any faster.
Held in Tom’s teeth, Tilly leaned dangerously out of the bathtub toward him.
“Jump, Zac!” she yelled. “JUMP!”
Zac leapt toward the cart. Tilly’s hand caught one wrist.
“Whose idea was this?” he said.
“Hold on!” shouted Tilly over the roar of the wheels on the track. “We’re going to swing you up. On three . . .”
Zac felt himself being swung backward and forward, building momentum.
“One!”
She was quite strong for a girl.
“Two!”
“I’ve changed my mind!” he yelled.
“THREE!”
As Zac landed, the bathtub suddenly burst forward in a breathtaking lurch of speed. They’d made it: well, as far as the front door of The Forty Winks, anyway.
At the front door, they watched as Granny stopped next to a peg where several fur coats were hanging. She took one and slipped it on.
“It’s still freezing out there,” whispered Tom. “We’ll never be able to walk through the snow quickly enough to keep up.”
“We’ve got to get into one of those coats,” said Tilly. “Inside a pocket or something.”
“Leave it to me,” said Tom, and he scrambled away.
The longest coat was trailing on the ground, and Tom bounded up to it and began to chew into the lining. In a matter of seconds there was a hole just big enough for him to squeeze through. He climbed in and poked his head back out at them, his whiskers twitching proudly.
“How does he manage to look smug, even as a mouse?” puffed Tilly, leaping gaps in the floorboards as she and Zac ran toward her brother.
As soon as they were all safely inside the coat, they felt it being lifted from the peg and heard Cornelius grumbling about it being itchy.
“Guess this is Grandad’s coat, then,” said Tom, grinning.
They felt the swish of the coat as Cornelius put it on, and heard the front door being unlocked. Then the door of The Forty Winks slammed behind them and they were off, peering out at the falling snow, as the Knights of Nod trudged through the city streets.
It was after one a.m. when they reached the harbor, and the snow was falling harder than ever.
Julius led them to the water, where he’d arranged for a rowboat to be moored. They climbed aboard and Julius untied the boat, setting them adrift. Cornelius picked up the oars and propelled them out toward the huge city gates. A security troll passed them without incident, and soon they were out on the vast river, so calm and black it looked like a puddle of oil.
When they’d rowed upstream a little, Julius said, “He should be waiting just over there, beside the old candy-cane lighthouse. Ah, yes — I can see a campfire.”
“That’s a start,” laughed Cornelius. “At least he turned up.”
As the boat bobbed across the great river, Zac and the others nestled into the lining of Cornelius’s coat and listened to th
e Knights talk about the pilot Julius had found to fly them to Port Town.
Rigby Sundown was known to be the finest sky captain anyone could ever hope to find. He’d escaped bandit skywaymen a hundred times, or so the stories went, although he’d been badly injured on more than one occasion. He’d flown farther over the Eternal Forest than anyone in history — at least, anyone who’d come back.
“Ever been on an airship?” Zac asked Tilly and Tom in a whisper.
“Never,” they both replied.
“Always wanted to, though,” said Tom.
“Imagine soaring above the clouds with the dragons and birds,” Tilly said dreamily.
“What about those bandits, though?” said Zac.
“Skywaymen?” said Tom, a faint smile creeping over his face.
“Yeah. I take it we don’t want to come across them?”
“I’ll say,” said Tilly. “They’re supposed to be ruthless.”
“They’re pretty rare now,” said Tom. “But I’d love to see them just once.”
“You must have a screw loose,” snapped Tilly. “They’re all thieves and murderers.”
“I know,” said Tom happily. “I’ve read all about them in —”
“Myth and Magic?” guessed Zac.
“Yeah!”
Zac said nothing more, but he certainly didn’t want to encounter any skywaymen. He took comfort from the fact that Rigby Sundown had escaped them so many times. And of course, Granny and the Knights would be there, too . . .
Cornelius brought the rowboat to a halt in the shallows, and the Knights ventured up the bank to a simple campsite that smelt of damp firewood. Zac peered out through the hole in the coat’s lining. There was a tent shaped like a tepee, and, less encouragingly, some dirty dishes and scattered bottles of rum.
“Hello,” Julius said. “Hello, Mr. Sundown?”
There was no answer.
A snarling blur among the snowflakes made them all jump. In a heartbeat, a huge wolf was on top of Julius, its teeth almost at his throat, its eyes glaring right into his. Julius let out a little moan.
A gruff voice thundered from the tent. “Maggie! Maggie, get down!”
The tent flap opened to reveal a man sitting in a makeshift chair with wooden wheels, his face thrown into shadow by the campfire. Dark brown eyes were just visible behind a curtain of straggly gray hair. He wheeled himself forward, and raised a hand encased in a fingerless glove to rub his stubbly chin. The flames lit his weather-beaten, scarred face for a moment, revealing the remnants of lost good looks, buried under many years of battle.
“Maggie,” he ordered the wolf. “Release!”
The animal was at the man’s side in an instant.
Rigby Sundown gazed at the Knights and smiled crookedly.
“You’ll be my fare, then, eh?”
“Erm, yes, yes,” said Cornelius, taking a step forward and extending his hand. The wolf growled again, and he hastily withdrew it.
“You got the rest of my fee?” the man demanded.
Granny signaled to Julius, who produced a leather pouch and handed it over to the pilot. He scanned its contents.
“Seems fine,” he muttered, and tossed the bag to his wolf. She caught it in her jaws and took it into the tent.
“So,” said the man, “you need me to take you to Port Town, eh?”
“That’s right,” answered Granny.
“Just the three of you?”
“Yes,” said Granny. “I’m Eve Wonder.” She motioned toward the others. “These are my friends, Cornelius Huggins, and of course you’ve already met Julius.”
The man nodded. “Rigby Sundown,” he said gruffly.
“Mr. Sundown,” said Cornelius, “we’d prefer to be off as soon as possible.”
“The ship’s ready to go,” Sundown answered. He took a flask from a pouch on the side of his wheelchair and helped himself to a long draft. “What’s your business, if you don’t mind me askin’?”
“That is not your concern,” said Cornelius.
“Hmm,” grunted Sundown, “when I’m asked to undertake a voyage in the dead of night over dangerous skies, riskin’ my own ship and my own neck in times like these . . . well, I’d say that makes it my concern.”
Cornelius sighed. “We’re looking for a friend,” he said.
“He’s been captured,” said Granny. “By Dream Stealers.”
Sundown’s eyes narrowed. “Dream Stealers?” he breathed. “Makes sense. Bad things been happenin’.”
“Maybe you’ve seen him, or heard something?” said Cornelius hopefully. “His name is Rumpous Tinn.”
“Can’t say as I have,” said Sundown. He wheeled away. “Nightstalker’s just over here. I hid her in some trees.”
“Nightstalker?”
“My ship,” said Sundown. “Maggie! Let’s go!”
The wolf reappeared, trotting beside the pilot as he led the Knights of Nod up to a wooded area.
“Wow!” said Tom, poking his head out next to Zac’s. “This thing is amazing!”
Granny and the others were standing in a clearing. In the center of it sat a rusty camper van. Its cream paint was peeling, and various pieces of equipment were barely hanging on — including a pair of nailed-on rickety wings that seemed to be made of wood and canvas. On the side of the old van, the word NIGHTSTALKER had been painted in untidy gold letters.
“That’s it?” Zac said, beginning to panic. “That’s the airship?”
“Why?” said Tom. “What’s the matter?”
“It’s not even meant to fly! It’s a camper van. Where I come from, they just stay on the ground.”
“That’s a bit boring, isn’t it?” said Tom.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Zac,” said Tilly. “These sorts of things pop out of the Dream Plains all the time.”
Zac thought of the old bus that had floated past them on the river the day before.
“I suppose so,” he said faintly.
“Hey, look, we’re going in!” said Tom.
Sundown had pulled a handle, and a door had fallen open, turning into a ramp. The pilot wheeled himself aboard and motioned for the others to follow.
The inside of the ship was cramped and cluttered, and contained an unmade bunk bed, various items of scattered clothing, more empty rum bottles, and three worn leather chairs jammed together behind the driver’s seat. A panel on the floor had been cut out and replaced with thick glass.
Sundown took his place at the wheel, twiddling knobs and flicking switches in preparation for departure. There was a great rumbling as the engine started, and the entire airship trembled. Granny and the others buckled themselves in just as Rigby Sundown pulled on a red lever, and Nightstalker heaved itself into the air. Zac felt his stomach drop as they climbed farther and farther from the ground. He glanced at Tom and Tilly.
“There’s no going back now,” he said.
Shadow stood at the wide window of an impressive manor house near the summit of Slumber Mountain. She stared down at the twinkling city.
Something caught her eye. Just beyond the city walls, the winking light of an airship lifted off from the banks of the river like a firefly. She watched until it had disappeared into the clouds, then she turned back into the room.
Gliding gracefully past a roaring fire, she took a seat at a wooden table. A pale, terrified-looking man sat opposite. Shadow stared at him from behind the lifeless black lenses of her skull mask. Finally, she spoke.
“So, Mr. Grub,” she said. He flinched at the sound of her voice. Every syllable cut through the air like a rusty razor. “In the time it has taken me to travel home from the North, Rumpous Tinn has escaped from our custody. He has beaten several of our guards in combat, even in his weakened state, and — oh, yes — h
e also subdued a mountain troll. Have I heard you correctly?”
The man was now shaking. “Y-yes, my lady,” he managed to stammer.
“Is there anything else?” she asked calmly.
“No, my lady.”
Silence.
“It’s only a matter of time before we catch him,” added the man in desperation. “He’s trapped somewhere. We’ll find him. And you have my word that this will never happen again.”
Shadow’s hex flew out toward him so quickly it was a blur. Grub was paralyzed. Only his eyes could still move, and they blinked desperately.
Shadow stood up and strolled around the table until she was right behind him. She placed a gloved hand on his shoulder.
“Mr. Grub, Tinn is gone. He will not be found unless he wishes it so. You were, however, correct about one thing: It will never happen again.”
Something flashed in the firelight and Grub slumped to the floor in a lifeless heap. Shadow leaned over the body and wiped her dagger on his clothes. There was a knock at the door. She straightened up and replaced the knife in her cloak.
“Enter.”
Shadow’s housekeeper, a tall blond woman with ashen skin, entered the room. She took a few steps toward Shadow, but faltered when she spotted the body on the floor.
“Is everything all right, my lady?” she asked.
“Fine,” said Shadow dismissively.
The blond woman tore her eyes away from the gruesome sight.
“The vampire has arrived, my lady,” she said. “Shall I show him in?”
“Let him wait,” said Shadow. “Do you have it?”
“Yes, my lady. We retrieved it yesterday, as you asked.” The woman reached into her pocket and drew out a little pouch. Shadow took it from her and carefully pulled open the strings, emptying its contents into her hand. A small copper object sat in her palm. She held it up to the fire to examine it.
“My lady . . . ,” said the housekeeper, hesitantly.
“Yes?” said Shadow.
“Why do you wish to possess an instrument that doesn’t work?”
“Does not work yet,” corrected Shadow. “This trinket — this so-called compass — could very well be the key to our ultimate victory. It will help us to seek out and destroy the Trinity — the only three people who stand between the Dream Stealers and supreme power in Nocturne. We must find them!”
Zac and the Dream Stealers Page 10
