‘Draw something to block the entrance!’ yelled Em, her legs flailing.
The demon lunged at her, seizing one of her feet before slowly dragging her back out of the tunnel. She screamed.
‘C’mon! C’mon! You need to get all the way inside!’ yelled Matt.
Em kicked furiously at the monster’s head with her free leg. Twisting around, she could see right into the demon’s jade-coloured eyes. Tanan’s eyes. He had animated the demon in the same way that Matt had animated the caladrius.
The demon was tightening its grip with one skeletal fist while it batted away her kicks with the other. The more Em struggled, the more amusement she saw in its cold, green eyes. She felt like a ball of wool in the paws of a very intent cat.
Behind you.
An aerosol can rolled against her back. Grabbing the container, Em sprayed mace directly into the demon’s eyes. It howled, loosening its grip.
Get inside now! I’m drawing a barrier across the entrance.
Em slid her foot out of her boot, dragging herself all the way into the tunnel within a breath of a steel door slamming down over the opening like a guillotine. Instantly, the demon started clawing at the earth under the barrier, trying to dig itself another way in.
‘That’s not going to stop it for very long,’ said Matt, wriggling around to face forward. ‘Let’s see where this tunnel goes.’
Em’s hand was on fire, blisters forming across the pads of her fingers where she’d gripped the animated sword. Matt glanced at her apologetically.
‘Sorry about your skin. But I had to be sure the sword animated directly into your hand, or the demon might have reached it first.’
‘It’s okay. It worked.’
Scuttling forward on their hands and knees, they climbed deeper into the island. The composition of the tunnel was changing as they crawled on, and Em thought the air smelled like rotting leaves.
After only a few minutes, the twins heard the monster punch its fist into the rock and yank the steel plate out like a loose tooth. There was a clang of metal as the animation dropped on the cave’s slate floor. Looking back, the twins saw the demon leap up into the opening and sit there for a second, its massive girth filling the space. Then it elongated itself into the tunnel, slithering after them.
Draw a cave-in!
That could bring the whole tunnel down on top of us, too!
Em’s hip throbbed with every movement she made. Matt’s knuckles were bleeding again. With each snorting breath, the monster’s black tongue flicked far out from its scaly mouth, stinging the bottom of Em’s stockinged foot.
Em was terrified. What if there were venom in the demon’s tongue?
One minute there was solid earth underneath them. The next minute, nothing. They were tumbling through darkness …
SEVENTY
Simon had managed to reduce Mara’s emotions and his own panic about the twins to a dull throb at the base of his skull. Finding Renard’s emergency key for the box that controlled the shipping beacon in the Abbey’s utility room, he unlocked the switch box in the boathouse and stripped the wires so he could change the signal. He could only hope that Zach remembered his Morse code.
With every long and short pulse of light he had flashed, he had willed Zach to be looking at the tower. Then, after ten minutes of sending the same message – hide – Simon had looked for the speedboat to get over to the island himself.
But the boat was gone.
Mara. He had to get her to animate a way across the bay. Simon prayed that his connection with Mara as her Guardian would be enough to bring her to her senses.
He sprinted across the lawn to Mara’s studio. The closer he got, the more intense the pain in his mind and his body. By the time had reached the studio steps, he was buckled over in anguish.
‘Mara,’ he croaked. ‘Are you in here?’
The studio looked empty, but Simon sensed her presence. Hobbling inside, the first thing he noticed was the mess – the smashed crates, the layers of broken glass everywhere. In the midst of the chaos stood an easel, displaying a small canvas.
Simon reeled. In the days before he disappeared, Malcolm had been infatuated with Duncan Fox and this painting, his appreciation for it something that no one else understood. Simon hadn’t seen the picture for years. It had lost none of its power.
A jolt of pain pushed Simon to his knees. And then he heard Mara’s soft sobbing from the corner behind the kiln. Simon looked up – and froze.
‘Who did this to you?’
Mara was leaning in front of Witch with Changeling Child, her arm fused into the painting. The evil crone grinned out at Simon as she clutched Mara’s hand in hers.
‘Tanan,’ Mara sobbed. ‘I thought … I thought we were partners. I thought we were helping each other. I was doing it all for Malcolm.’
Simon was appalled. ‘Tanan bound you like this?’
‘He’s a very powerful Animare, but he’s not strong enough to bind an entire person on his own.’
Simon took Mara’s other hand. His touch calmed her immediately. This in turn reduced a little of Simon’s pain. ‘But what does Tanan want?’
‘He wants Malcolm back. We thought he was bound in that copy of Fox’s painting and that only the twins could release him.’
Mara’s sobs racked her body again. Simon closed his eyes, struggling to find strength to settle his Animare. It was difficult. Mara’s anguish was coming from a place inside her that was full of bile, bitter and angry.
‘Why you, Mara? Why would you try to hurt Matt and Em?’
Her eyes blazed. ‘Because I love Malcolm. Even before Sandie came along, I loved him. I would do anything for him. He needs us to use the twins …’
‘Surely even Malcolm would not have hurt his own children!’ Simon protested.
Mara looked coldly at him. ‘Those children were a means to an end for Malcolm from the day they were born. He believed when they were older and stronger, they would be the doors to Hollow Earth. That’s why Sandie stopped him. We knew she had done something to him, but we never fully understood what until a few weeks ago.’
There was no more time to waste on Mara’s pain.
‘Mara,’ Simon said, using the last vestiges of his Guardian power on her. ‘Animate something to get me across to Era Mina. When we return, the twins can free you from this painting.’ Finding a scrap of paper on the floor near the kiln, he set it and a marker on Mara’s lap. ‘Do it now!’ he commanded. ‘It may already be too late.’
SEVENTY-ONE
The twins did not fall far, but they landed hard. Em had been following so closely behind Matt that when they dropped off the end of the tunnel she landed on top of him. He broke her fall, but the yell he gave convinced Em that she had broken his arm. He rolled on to his side, clutching his elbow and grimacing.
‘That hurt.’
Em pulled off her sweatshirt, knotting the sleeves behind Matt’s back and fashioning a sling. Gently she eased his arm through the hoodie, taking some of the pressure off the injury.
‘Where are we?’ she asked in a trembling voice.
Matt was afraid that he would cry if he tried to speak.
Directly above their heads, an amber glow filled the end of the tunnel from which they had fallen. The demon was still there, its tongue flicking out into the empty air, leaving a trail of light in the darkness.
Tanan’s trying to figure out where we went.
We can’t give ourselves away with a light.
As quietly as they could, the twins scuttled backwards until they hit the cold rock of the cave wall.
Close this end of the tunnel and we can trap him in the wall.
Like when we left London. Give me the paper and pen.
I don’t have them. They must have fallen when we did.
Em started running her hands in a circle around her, stretching her body as far away from the wall as she dared in her attempts to find the pad and pen. Above them, the demon leaned out over the precipice,
its head twitching and nodding as if deciding on the best moment to come in to fetch its prey.
The charcoal you used to draw the blanket. Do you still have it? We can use the wall.
In a blur of golden light, the demon jumped. It landed on its haunches in the middle of the cave. As it uncoiled itself to its full height, the sheen emanating from its scaly skin illuminated the entire chamber.
The twins gasped. The wall behind the demon was covered from top to bottom by a stunning cave drawing of a two-headed dog, a hellhound, like the gargoyles on the Abbey walls.
They had found Solon’s Cave.
The stories Renard had told them about the monk’s young apprentice, who had saved the monastery during a Viking raid, had been the basis of their own presentation for the tourists on Auchinmurn. And now they were here.
The demon began scuffing and scratching the cave floor with its foot, like a bull about to charge.
Then it pounced.
Em gripped her brother’s hand, squeezing her eyes shut. Matt threw himself in front of his sister, trying to protect her. But in mid-air the demon exploded, bursting into thousands of projectiles of copper light that ricocheted off the cave walls, showering the twins in a layer of thick red dust.
Em wiped the residue of the animation from her face with the back of one shaking hand. ‘What happened?’
‘Someone must have destroyed Tanan’s drawing,’ said Matt. He was starting to feel faint; his arm was agony.
Em walked the perimeter of the cave, taking advantage of the still glowing particles of the exploded demon to inspect the walls for any tunnels or crevices that might suggest a way out. She paused in front of the relief, her fingers touching the deeply etched lines of the massive hound’s two heads.
The instant she connected with the carving, the snarling heads shot out of the wall, snapping viciously. A surge of electricity soared through her arm, throwing her backwards on to the floor.
Stunned, Em got to her feet. The hound was still again.
‘Did you see that, Matt?’
She turned to her brother – and let out a cry. He had passed out. The jolt had not only travelled through her body, but Matt’s too. And in his weakened state, it had completely knocked him out.
Kneeling down next to him, Em took out what was left of her charcoal and sketched quickly on the cave wall. A set of stairs popped out of the rock face, leading up the precipice and back to the tunnel. If they could return the way they’d come, they’d be able to get out of the mountain via their own cave hideout.
Now all she had to do was figure out how to get her brother up the stairs, too.
SEVENTY-TWO
Zach hadn’t been able to telepath anything to Em for some time. But not long after the twins had disappeared up into the darkness, he had felt strong vibrations of sound shooting down the cave wall. Then, as if a thin cord connected them, he could sense Em moving deeper into the mountain.
Zach shifted Vaughn closer to him for warmth, tightening the blanket around them both. He was shivering from cold, and maybe shock, too. His ankle didn’t hurt him much any more, but it was swollen to three times its normal size.
Vaughn had been wheezing badly for the past ten minutes, but was finally regaining consciousness. Pulling himself upright, he grimaced with every breath he took. ‘Must have broken a rib when I fell.’
‘Were you hurt by the same creature that attacked me?’
Vaughn read Zach’s hands, then looked closely at the bite marks on his own. ‘No. But it looks like it took a few bites while it was waiting here for you.’
Zach explained what had happened as best he could; how he could now sense the twins moving deeper into the mountain.
‘If we’re going to help them,’ Vaughn said finally, ‘we need to stop Tanan. His only chance of freeing Malcolm is to hold the twins captive until he finds Sandie and the real painting. When he reaches the cave, we need to stop him.’
‘But how?’ Zach wanted to scream with frustration. ‘I’m not an Animare.’
Vaughn’s face contorted with pain as he reached under his jacket, pulling out a sketchpad. ‘Maybe not. But I am. Now, my young friend, let’s put an end to this right here.’
Tanan had animated a boat and crossed to Era Mina. Using a brush and ink he’d taken from Sandie’s studio, he’d then animated Fox’s demon directly inside the children’s cave, using the computer as his portal. Mara had proved useful after all with her regular stream of information about the twins. Then it had simply been a matter of chasing the twins from one cave to another. Although the demon had Tanan’s vision, he had left himself enough to be able to hazily distinguish his surroundings.
He had to admit he was enjoying his little game of cat and mouse.
When he had finally trapped the twins in the second cave, he heard an engine roaring to life at the Abbey’s dock. It sounded like someone was mounting a rescue – too late.
With the twins trapped helplessly in the cave, and the demon pawing the cave floor ready to attack, Tanan had made it round to Monk’s Cove. He would go up to the children’s hideout and let the demon bring the twins to him there.
Tanan sensed something shift in the air. He looked up from his drawing. Zach was poised on the rocks in front of him, his elbow cocked, bow at the ready. There was no time to react. Zach’s arrow tore through the canvas, destroying the demon in Solon’s Cave, and then piercing the flesh above Tanan’s black heart.
Em tried dragging the groggy Matt to the bottom of the steps she’d animated in Solon’s Cave, but his arm hurt so much that she had to stop. She couldn’t bear to feel his anguish inside her head any more.
‘Leave me here and get help,’ Matt slurred. ‘You’ll be able to move through the tunnel much more quickly on your own.’
For once, Em didn’t argue. She was just helping him settle into a more comfortable position, when she heard scratching from the other side of the cave wall.
Pressing her ear against the hard earth, Em closed her eyes and listened. There was something or someone above her, on the other side.
She began to yell and holler, screaming at the top of her lungs, ‘We’re in here! In here!’
Slowly, a laser of light pierced a tiny crevice in the cave’s dirt ceiling. Then it widened, and soon the entire beam from a torch filled the cave.
Vaughn leaned over the hole he’d torn in the hillside, his breathing even more laboured than before. ‘Are you both okay?’
Em beamed up at him. ‘I’m pretty sure Matt’s arm’s broken, but other than that we’re fine. Just really glad to see you. How did you find us?’
‘That’s another story altogether,’ Vaughn said breathlessly. ‘Let’s get you both out, and you can see for yourself.’
SEVENTY-THREE
Simon crashed the jet-ski Mara had drawn for him up on to the hard sand at the base of the tower on Era Mina. Shoving her drawing into his pocket, he clambered over the rocky beach towards the caves, and then paused to take stock of the situation. Up ahead, he could see the Abbey’s speedboat. He crept forward slowly under the cover of the cliff and peered around the rocks into Monk’s Cove.
The beacon light from the tower was illuminating a scene at the mouth of the cave that made his heart sing. With a blanket wrapped over his shoulders like a cape, Zach was laughing and high-fiving a man that Simon recognized as Vaughn. An archer’s bow was slung over Zach’s shoulder. And if that image was not amazing enough, Simon laughed out loud at the rest of the picture.
The twins were hovering above the tidal pools of jellyfish on the back of a magnificent peryton.
As soon as Simon reached the group, the extent of their injuries was obvious. Hugging Zach hard, he took out his mobile and called the Chief Constable, asking her to meet him on Era Mina.
The twins, Zach and Vaughn were clustering around him. Simon put away his phone and held his hands up. ‘So where’s this Tanan?’
Zach looked at the sand. ‘He’s gone.’
Vaugh
n was not going to let Zach’s heroism go unacknowledged. He handed Zach the paper on which he’d animated the bow and arrow. ‘Zach is quite the archer. I couldn’t manipulate the bow with my injuries. He had to. And he was brilliant!’
‘I already knew that,’ said Em, making Zach blush.
Simon beamed at his son.
‘By the time I got down the hillside with the twins, Tanan was gone,’ Vaughn apologized. ‘Zach’s shot clearly wasn’t fatal.’
Simon turned his attention to the extraordinary peryton. The beast folded its wings tightly against its sides, bending its forelegs, making it easier for Matt to slip off. The boys grinned at each other through their pain.
‘I think because we animated the peryton in such an unusual way, it stayed animated. Somehow it sensed where we were,’ explained Em, climbing down behind Matt. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered to the beast, resting her cheek on the peryton’s massive chest. Then she rushed over to hug Zach.
Despite his worsening breathing, Vaughn picked up the rest of the explanation. ‘After he vanquished Tanan, Zach saw the peryton up on the hillside, digging its antlers into the rock up there. It knew there was a way inside the island at that very spot. I managed to make it up the hill, and found the opening, but I couldn’t do anything else.’
Em finished the story. ‘The peryton seemed to know there was a wider opening in the rock. It charged its way in, and I was able to get Matt on to its back.’ She grinned at Zach. ‘And here we are!’
Simon stroked the peryton’s massive white head, running his fingers over its impressive, mottled ivory antlers. Standing at full height, the beast had to be as big as two stags, and its thick hide shimmered like silver in the moonlight. Awed by its presence, Simon bowed.
‘Thank you, indeed,’ he said.
The peryton shook its antlers, snorting as if in reply. And Simon realized that he could no longer sense Mara’s pain.
The peryton scuffed its hooves on the rocks, forcing Em and Simon to step away. When they did, it leaped from the rocks and galloped across the sand, its wings spreading out from its sides. After a few more bounding strides, it rose up into the starry night sky. It hovered for a moment; then, in a sudden flare of pure white light, it was gone.
Hollow Earth Page 23
