Laney felt the energy of the ring more strongly now. Half hidden beneath the dead leaves, the dark circle filled the air all around with powerful shimmering magic. She edged away, fighting the longing to get closer to it.
Snarling, the hobgobbits charged. There was a blur of pitted brown bodies and flailing branches. Then a high yelp.
Laney gasped. One of the hobgobbits had got too close to the ring.
The creature was frozen in mid-air, its head tilted back and mouth open. The air around the faerie ring throbbed with energy. A spiral whirlwind surged upwards, sending the hobgobbit spinning.
Laney reached out, thinking to save the creature, but the whirlwind sucked it down into the ring and it was gone. The other hobgobbits shuffled away into the undergrowth without a sound.
Fletcher dropped his branch.
Claudia flew down from her tree. “I don’t like those things, but that was horrible.”
Laney stared at the dark circle of grass. “Can’t we help it? Rescue it?”
The others shook their heads. “The rings are a gateway to the Otherworld,” said Claudia. “I don’t think anything ever comes back.”
They were silent for a moment. In the gathering dark, Laney’s throat tightened. The loss of the hobgobbit left her feeling empty, as if the hungry darkness of the faerie ring had taken part of her too.
Fletcher unfolded the map again. “The other pools are just over here. Come on.” He folded up the paper and trekked off through the trees. Laney went after him, the image of the falling hobgobbit replaying in her head. Claudia followed in silence.
They reached a part of the forest where the trees grew more closely together. As darkness grew, the birds stopped singing. Laney felt a tingle on the back of her neck and told herself not to be silly. There was no need to freak out just because it was getting dark.
“I’ve found it,” said Claudia, springing through the undergrowth and landing by a pool with catlike grace.
Fletcher checked the map. “There should be two ponds. The second one must be over there.” He strode off, calling back. “Yes, it’s just here. They’re quite close together.”
Laney got ready to dive into the first pool. “The water’s moving.” She tested the gently swirling water with one hand.
“It must lead somewhere,” said Claudia. “Maybe there’s a stream that feeds into it.”
“I don’t think so,” said Fletcher, looking again at the map.
Laney felt her excitement rising. She dived into the first pool and searched it thoroughly, before returning to the surface disappointed. Another ripple passed her. There was definitely something funny about the water – she felt full of energy, as if they’d only just started the search.
Rushing through the trees, she plunged straight into the second pool and let the water stream over her wings. The water felt great here too, but she still didn’t find anything.
“There’s nothing here.” She flew out and shook water from her hair.
“It’s strange that the water’s moving,” said Claudia.
“It shouldn’t be.” Fletcher studied the map. “There’s nowhere for it to go.”
A silver fish swam to the surface of the pool, almost shining in the darkness.
Fletcher bent his head close to the map, trying to see it better. “That’s it. We’ve checked everywhere in the forest, and the river and the stream too. That just leaves the man-made ponds back in Skellmore. And also Faymere Lake, which is huge.”
“Is this where we are now?” Laney pointed at the map. “What’s that dotted line?”
“Just a sec – we need some light.” Fletcher looked up and whistled.
A cloud of tiny sprites drifted down through the branches and hung over the map and all around Fletcher’s head. Their petal-like bodies had a soft glow that lit up the paper.
“That’s handy,” said Laney drily. “If these are the two pools I’ve just searched, why would there be a line between them?”
Fletcher grabbed one of the sprites and held it closer to the map. It squeaked indignantly.
“Don’t hurt it!” said Laney.
“Don’t worry, it’s fine,” said Fletcher. “You’re right, the line stretches from the edge of one pool to the other.”
“Maybe Puddlewick’s pen slipped when he made the map,” said Claudia.
Laney stared at the dotted line, her pulse quickening. “Or maybe it’s something else. I’m going back in!” And she dived into the pool.
The water was dark but something luminous and silver flitted past Laney’s face – the fish she’d seen before. She caught her breath. There was a whole cloud of them. She began checking the sides of the pool for signs of the mirror and the fish followed her.
The silver shoal hung for a moment next to a large boulder wedged into the mud. Laney stopped to look and the stone trembled as she touched it. She dug her fingers behind the boulder and pulled and pulled, until finally it shifted to one side.
A gap opened up where the boulder had been. Air bubbles streamed from the newly made hole and beyond there was a place lit by a whitish glow. This must be why there was a dotted line drawn on the map. Between the two pools lay a tunnel, like a tiny underwater world.
Laney decided there was no time to explain her plan to the others. She squeezed through the small hole and flew on into the tunnel. Strange fish in colours from gold to electric blue swam past her and the walls were lined with weird-shaped coral. One fish nibbled her finger before darting away again. This was underwater heaven, except for the icy cold. Maybe it was cold down here because it never got any sunlight.
Carefully, she ran her hands along the tunnel wall, searching for something – a smooth patch or anything that felt different. The mirror had to be here. Its Mist power must have made this place special. As she moved on, the tunnel narrowed. Afraid of getting stuck, she twisted back and grazed a wing against the wall. A dot of white light appeared where her wing scraped the tunnel and she reached out to touch it with her fingertips. The light grew underneath her fingers, casting rays of silver through the water.
Laney scratched at the tunnel wall, digging her nails into the mud as she tried to reach the light underneath. The earth came away in clumps, muddying the water as stones broke off and sank to the floor. This must be it! She could see something now. It was a curved edge decorated with a crisscrossing pattern, just the same as the frame of the Crystal Mirror from her dreams.
She took hold of that edge and pulled. For a second nothing happened. Then a mass of soil and rock came away and she was left holding on to a heavy round object. It shone even brighter now that it was free from the wall, and the water around it churned wildly. Laney felt like her blood was churning too. This was the Crystal Mirror. The power coming from it felt awesome and the silver light was almost blinding.
Laney darted away, afraid that the falling earth and churning water might make the ceiling collapse. She pushed the mirror along in front of her as she flew towards the hole at the end of the tunnel. Thrusting the mirror through the narrow gap, she climbed through after it and shot up towards the surface.
“Laney!” Fletcher leaned down to haul her out of the pool. “What have you been doing?”
“He’s been going mental,” said Claudia. “He was trying to persuade me that we should go in to rescue you. Me and muddy water – it was never going to happen.”
“I’m fine,” gasped Laney. “Look!” She carefully placed the mirror on the bank, before taking Fletcher’s hand to get out of the pool. Sitting up on the grass, she tried to shake off the icy feeling that had seeped into her inside the tunnel.
The mirror’s silver brilliance faded a little but the air around it quivered with magic. Laney knelt over it, fascinated by the surface of crystal that glittered like a thousand stars.
“I can’t believe you found it,” said Claudia. “Where was it?”
“There’s a tunnel between the pools – an underwater one,” said Laney, leaning closer to try to make ou
t the reflection in the mirror.
“So that’s what the dotted line on the map is,” said Fletcher. “That makes sense. But we should get moving. Other things could be drawn to the power coming from the mirror.”
He bent down to take hold of it but Laney pushed him off. “Wait! Don’t you get it? This has all of the power of the Mist tribe inside it.”
“I know, it’s one of the five Myricals and that’s why we have to take it back to the Elders,” said Fletcher.
“I wouldn’t give it to a Thorn faerie, not unless it was Gwen and she’s probably still away,” said Claudia. “That Stingwood man is really mean and I don’t trust him. Miss Reed looks dodgy too.”
“Have you lost your mind? We can’t keep it ourselves!” snapped Fletcher. “We have to get it back to Skellmore and give it to all the Elders. They’ll make sure it’s safe.”
“And what if they don’t? What if they fight over it?” said Claudia.
Laney reached out to touch the mirror. She could hear Fletcher and Claudia arguing behind her but their voices sounded muffled, as if someone had turned the volume down. She felt dizzy, and when her hand met the sheet of crystal, a tingling sensation ran up her arm. She felt connected to the power in the mirror, as if she could do anything – bring water out of solid rock or lift up a whole lake if she wanted to.
Now she would show Jessie and Miss Reed. She had the essence of Mist power at her command. They would beg her to join their tribe.
She still felt very cold but she didn’t care. She’d found the mirror! She placed her pale, frozen hands on its surface and gave a happy sigh. The breath curling from her mouth was freezing cold too, and it looked strange, like a cloud of thick red fog. She pulled backwards in alarm.
She’d seen fog like this before…and felt this deep cold… She’d been freezing cold every time she’d dreamed about the Shadow and his search for the mirror. She’d felt it during the dreamwalk too.
The weird-looking vapour twisted and turned, spreading outwards rapidly. It crept over the ground and across the still pool. Laney stood up, shuddering as she felt a cold wisp curl around her knees.
“What’s happening?” said Fletcher. “Laney, what did you do? What is this red stuff and why did it come out of you?”
“I don’t know!” Laney cried. “It was in my breath.”
“Why?” Claudia’s voice rose. “What haven’t you told us?”
“Nothing, I swear!” said Laney.
The reddish fog climbed to waist height, curling and swirling as if it was alive, and suddenly Laney remembered exactly where she’d seen it before. The night she’d Awakened, the night of the red moon, there had been fog just like this. She had breathed it in and felt so cold, and at the same time she had seen the dark figure…
Laney picked up the heavy frame of the mirror. “We’ve got to take this far away, somewhere it can’t do any harm.” She broke off as the fog surrounded the Crystal Mirror, covering its bright surface. Then the mirror gave a pulse of dazzling light and all the fog vanished completely.
Laney caught her breath. The mirror had beaten the fog. It had won.
“It is finished,” said a voice full of horrible triumph. “The spell is complete.” A dark shape swept over their heads with its huge black wings stretched wide.
The Shadow faerie landed and the trees around it wilted and turned brown within seconds. Leaves withered on the branches before dropping to the ground. The black figure towered over them all and the air reeked of decay.
“No!” whispered Laney.
The Shadow rounded on her and folded its vast wings. A hood hung right over its face, but as its head turned Laney thought she caught a glimpse of its eyes – black eyes full of creeping malice. It stretched out its fingers, pointing at each of them in turn.
Laney found that she couldn’t move. She could barely lift her eyes to see that Claudia and Fletcher were motionless too. They were all helpless.
“Your part is over,” said the Shadow. “You have brought me the mirror, just as I knew you would.”
Laney tried to move her lips to speak, but no sound came out. The Shadow waved his hand and she found her mouth unfrozen. She moistened her lips. “But you were searching for it yourself. I saw you.”
“That was my first plan,” the Shadow hissed. “I prepared my enchantments, making them so powerful they could not fail to unearth the Myrical. Then just as my spell was perfect, you blundered along and breathed in my spell fog. Stupid girl!” He snapped his fingers and a crowd of tiny ice arrows flew at Laney. She couldn’t move to dodge them and they struck her like little knives before falling to the ground.
The Shadow clenched his fist and after a moment he regained his control. “You took the core of my finding spell with you that night and then only you had the power to discover where the Crystal Mirror was hidden, and retrieve it.”
Laney’s mind flashed back to the orange-red fog near the faerie ring on the night she had Awakened and how cold she had felt after breathing it in. That same feeling – being frozen from the inside – had come back time after time. “It must have been the spell working every time it wanted me to look for the mirror,” she muttered.
“Once I realised what you’d done, I knew I had to make you find it for me. It was simple to pretend to hunt for it. It sparked your curiosity – always a useful failing of the ignorant.” The Shadow gave a cold laugh.
“You made us think you were hunting for the mirror.” Fletcher struggled to speak. “But we were doing what you wanted all the time.”
“And there is one more thing you will do for me. Give me the mirror and then I will destroy you with the rest of your village.” The Shadow stretched out his hand and the mirror wobbled.
Laney’s mind reeled. She tried to hold tight to the Crystal Mirror but her fingers were stiff with cold.
“Laney!” rasped Fletcher. “Don’t give it to him—”
“None of you can stop me.” The Shadow sounded amused. “And this is what happens if you try.” A bolt of red lightning shot from his gloved fingers. It hit Fletcher in the stomach and he tumbled backwards through the trees.
Panic rose in Laney’s chest. In his frozen state Fletcher wouldn’t be able to work his wings to save himself. Next to her, she could see Claudia wriggling her fingers to try to break free from the Shadow’s spell hold. Her heart thudded as she tried to do the same. She could move her fingers a little but her hands felt strange and heavy. She tried harder and managed to move one arm. Then she stopped, terrified in case the Shadow saw.
“It took you long enough to accomplish the task of finding the mirror,” continued the Shadow. “But of course you do come from a second-rate family. Now I shall have what I came for.” He moved towards her.
Laney twitched one arm, and then moved her legs. She had done it – she had broken out of the Shadow’s spellhold. This was her chance.
With a strength born of panic, she held tight to the Crystal Mirror and launched herself into the sky. Straining her wings, she flew up high, carrying the mirror in both hands. A gust of wind nearly blew her into a tree but Fletcher grabbed her arm and pulled her away.
“Fletcher! You’re all right!” yelled Laney.
“Just fly, Laney!” he shouted back.
“He’s coming!” screeched Claudia, swooping beside them.
Crack! Red lightning blasted into a tree right next to them. Laney felt the heat of the attack on her wings and back. The tree gave a long creak and toppled over in slow motion.
She sped up, not looking back. Crack! Red lightning shot past her legs. Losing her balance, she went spinning sideways. She hit her head against something hard and fell through a net of branches, still gripping the mirror. Branch after branch broke beneath her and finally she crumpled to the ground. The Shadow faerie landed next to her, a spark of red lightning still crackling from his gloved fingers.
He took the Crystal Mirror, which slipped easily from Laney’s grasp. For a moment, he leaned over it. His bre
ath left no mist on its crystal surface, which made Laney wonder if he had any breath at all. Then he laughed and opened his great, black wings. The air around him festered like rotting meat. Laney’s stomach heaved and dark blotches swam in front of her eyes.
The Shadow held up the mirror and the glistening crystal surface darkened until Laney saw the grey river, rising up and spilling over its banks, filling Skellmore with a tide of water. Kim and Toby stood at the upstairs window of their house, calling out to her…
“Say goodbye to Skellmore, because there won’t be anything left of it after tonight.” He soared into the air and flew off into the darkness.
Claudia flew down between the branches. “We have to get out of here before he comes back.”
Laney staggered to her feet. “He won’t come back. He’s got the mirror now and he’s going to use it to drown Skellmore.”
“He’s so strong,” said Claudia. “We’ll never stop him.”
“We can at least warn everyone. If we tell the faerie Elders, they can get people out of the village,” said Laney.
“Are you sure he doesn’t just want you to think he’s starting a flood?” said Fletcher. “What if it’s another trick? We’ve already helped him once by finding the Crystal Mirror for him.”
Laney’s shoulders sagged. “I know. It’s all my fault. But I didn’t know I was helping him.”
“I’m not blaming you.” Fletcher took off into the air. “But we have to find out if he’s telling the truth. If there’s a flood, it’ll start with the river.”
Laney and Claudia followed him into the air, but Laney’s wings felt shaky and she found it hard to keep up with the others. As they left the forest behind, a gigantic fork of lightning burst out of the storm clouds in front of them, pointing straight down at Skellmore. Then the rain started.
At first, there was a scattering of raindrops. Then the shower quickened into a pitiless torrent.
Laney peered through the grey curtain of rain. The river rolled and churned below them – the wooden bridge was already underwater and only the top of the railing was showing. She remembered her rucksack that she’d left under a bush near the bridge that morning. It had probably been washed away by now.
Red Moon Rising Page 13
