Daisy Malone and the Blue Glowing Stone

by James O'Loghlin

  She heard her dad enter the cave behind her. ‘Come on, Brian,’ he muttered to himself. (Obviously it was to himself. If he was muttering to Daisy he wouldn’t have called her ‘Brian’.)

  ‘No, Brian!’ continued Brian Malone. ‘That shadow isn’t a monster. Calm down! Just think about cake. Nice chocolate cake. Yum. Imagine eating a yummy chocolate cake. Chocolate cake, chocolate cake, chocolate cake. Yummy, yummy. But not too much now, it’s very fattening.’

  Progress was slow and Daisy was beginning to feel weak. Despite the energy the stone had fed her, nothing beats a peanut butter and honey sandwich, and she hadn’t had one of them, or anything else, to eat for a very long time.

  Daisy pushed the stone along in front of her, and then pulled herself after it. In this way she eventually emerged at the end of the squeeze and slid down the rock-and-mud slope she had scrambled up on her way out. Ben was waiting at the bottom.

  Next, Brian Malone stumbled down the slope, muttering to himself. ‘Stay calm, Brian. Chocolate cake. Chocolate cake.’

  ‘Are you okay, Dad?’

  ‘No, definitely not. Come, on, let’s go.’

  The earth’s shuddering was getting stronger. Walking along the passage was like walking on a rope bridge. Suddenly, a huge tremor sent Daisy flying into the wall and a rock hit her on the back, knocking her to the ground. Dust swirled everywhere and a dull roar filled her ears. She covered her head with her hands, terrified, wondering if this was the end.

  Slowly the shaking and the noise lessened. Daisy raised her head and looked around. Ahead, a few rocks had fallen but the passage wasn’t blocked. Ben appeared next to her, seemingly okay.

  Brian Malone was on hands and knees. He struggled to his feet. His face was twisted into a tight grimace.

  Daisy tried to rub the spot on her back where the rock had hit it, but it was right in that awkward part that you can’t reach no matter how hard you try.

  It had been that sort of day.

  They kept going. Soon they came to a bend and around it they saw the entrance to the chamber where the red stone had come from. They had made it!

  ‘Thank goodness,’ said Daisy. Just then another violent heave knocked her to the ground. The earth shook too much to risk trying to stand, so she crawled. The earth gave another tremendous heave, almost as if it was trying to stop her. She covered her head again as rocks and dirt rained down. Up ahead there was a tremendous crash.

  She thought that the whole roof was about to come down on their heads. Soon, however, the rumbling stopped. She crawled on. As the dust settled, she saw that the passage was now completely blocked by a wall of fallen rocks and rubble that rose to the ceiling. And the cave they had to get to was on the other side.

  Daisy stared at the wall. There were no holes or gaps anywhere. It looked impassable.

  ‘We were so close,’ she said forlornly.

  For once Ben had no reply. He was panting, tongue out, and his ears were drooping lower than Daisy had ever seen them.

  Brian Malone stumbled past them. ‘We’ll have to dig through it,’ he said, a tremor in his voice. ‘Come on.’

  Surely, Daisy thought, they couldn’t. Not with their bare hands. And even if they could, it would take too long. The hill was going to collapse at any minute.

  Brian Malone reached the wall of rubble and fallen rocks and pulled himself up it until he was at the top. He started pulling and pushing rocks, but none even moved. His legs were still shaking.

  Ben turned to Daisy. ‘Can you imagine how scared he must be? I mean, I’m scared, but for him, after what he went through with the cave-in, it must be a hundred times worse. But he’s still going. Come on, Daisy.’

  Daisy looked up at her father. It was hard to believe he was the same person who, just last week, had refused to leave the house because it had been raining and there were snails on their front path. ‘What if they attack us?’ he’d nervously asked.

  And now, there he was, single-handedly trying to dismantle an underground rock wall. Daisy felt a surge of pride. She struggled to her feet, climbed up the wall and started to help.

  ‘Aha!’ cried Brian Malone as he pulled at a rock and it moved a little. Grunting, he pulled and pushed it, gradually working it from side to side until, with a cry, he pushed it clattering down the rock wall to the ground.

  He tested the rocks on either side. ‘This one’s loose,’ he called and wiggled another one until he was able to pull it free and push it, too, to the ground.

  Another violent heave shook the earth, and more dirt rained onto them.

  ‘Daisy. Shine the light through here,’ said Brian Malone.

  Daisy climbed across to him and shone the red stone through the opening he had created. The removal of the two stones had opened up a narrow passage through the wall just under the cave’s ceiling. It ran for about two or three body lengths and was very narrow, but at the end of it was a hole that surely led into the cave where the red stone belonged.

  ‘Can you fit through?’ asked her father.

  Daisy pushed her head into the passage. Could she? Even if she could, had the computers in the cave already been smashed to smithereens by falling rocks? And where did the word ‘smithereens’ come from anyway?

  Daisy held the stone in front of her and peered down the passage. She pushed herself into the hole, lay flat and pulled herself forward. She found a foothold and pushed, and inched forward a bit further. She heard the rumbling start to build up. The roof above her shifted, and once again Daisy wondered if she was about to be crushed to death in a dark, muddy, squashed underground passage.

  She really hoped that she wasn’t.

  She scrambled forward again, bending around a protruding rock. She could now see into the cave through the hole at the end of the passage. There were a few rocks on the ground, but the computer screens seemed to be intact, as did the empty stone holder.

  Getting through the hole was going to be tight, though. Daisy pushed her head through and tried to squeeze her shoulders through. She twisted and turned and pushed and pulled and grunted and squeezed; she wiggled her elbows, pushed her feet and strained her everything, but either the hole was too small or she was too big. Or both. She pushed and pulled at the rocks on either side to try to widen the hole, but they were jammed tight. She kept pushing and pressing, flaying skin off her elbows and forearms, until sweat ran into her eyes and she began to cramp from exhaustion. Eventually she collapsed, panting. Her head and one arm were through, but that was all.

  She had an idea. Ben was definitely small enough to squeeze through. Maybe he could squeeze past her and carry the stone down into the cave in his mouth? But then Daisy remembered that the ledge upon which the stone’s holder sat was at the height of her shoulders, and she knew exactly how high Ben could jump: to her chest. He wouldn’t make it.

  She racked her brains. Maybe she could use the stone to widen the hole. She closed her hand around it and concentrated on moving the rocks back. They wobbled a bit, but as they did, the ceiling above her trembled. Dust fell on her, as did some small rocks. She stopped, sure that if she kept going the ceiling would cave in on her.

  Daisy laid her head down. She was hungry, thirsty, tired and, worst of all, defeated. She was dimly aware of Ben and her father calling her name behind her, but what did it matter? She had failed. The earth was going to be destroyed. Any minute now, the hill was going to collapse on top of them, and then the fault in the earth would widen and widen and eventually swallow up everything. She was maddeningly close, just a few steps away from being able to stop it happening, but she might as well still have been half the universe away. Daisy shut her eyes and let go. She just wanted to sleep.

  She lay there, drifting, waiting for the upheaval that would bring the end. She hoped Sinclair and Dennis would wake up in time to escape, and that they would take her mum with them. Her mum had always loved tr
avelling.

  Daisy wasn’t sure how much time passed before she heard a familiar noise. It was the slurping sound of something wet shuffling across the chamber. She opened her eyes. It was Fiona.

  Okay, you win, Daisy thought. You’ve got me now. If we’re all going to die anyway, then you may as well get some pleasure from eating me first.

  The earth shuddered again, and dust fell from the ceiling of the cave.

  You’ll have to be quick, though.

  Fiona blobbed over to the rock wall and slurped halfway up it, where she stopped. She advanced a tentacle towards Daisy. Daisy waited for it to grab her, but the tentacle stopped just short of her hand.

  Huh? Shouldn’t Fiona be trying to squeeze the life out of her again? The creature turned the end of her tentacle upwards and then laid it down again. Daisy stared at it uncomprehendingly.

  The creature repeated the movement. It was almost as if she was … beckoning? But for what? For Daisy to come through the hole? But she couldn’t.

  Once again, Fiona turned the end of her tentacle upward and then laid it down. Suddenly, Daisy realised what the creature was doing. She wasn’t reaching out towards Daisy’s hand. She was reaching out towards the stone that was in Daisy’s hand.

  Fiona wanted the stone!

  But why?

  And if she got it, what would she do with it?

  If Daisy kept hold of the stone she knew what would happen because she had been to the future. The hill would collapse on top of her and the world would end. So why not let Fiona take it? It wasn’t as if anything worse could happen.

  She opened her hand. Fiona reached out her tentacle and wrapped it around the stone. She lifted the stone, retracted her tentacle and descended the wall.

  Daisy let her eyes close. It would all be over soon. She waited to hear the splash as Fiona re-entered the water.

  It didn’t come. Daisy opened one eye a crack. Fiona had squelched her way across the room to the control panel and now stood, or sat, or perhaps just blobbed, in front of the computer screens. Slowly she lifted the tentacle holding the stone.

  Daisy jerked both eyes fully open. Surely she couldn’t. Or could she? Could Fiona somehow know that putting the stone back would stop the earth shaking?

  Daisy hardly dared hope. She held her breath. Every living creature on Earth should have been doing the same, because their fate hung on the actions of a creature they didn’t even know existed.

  Very slowly, carefully even, Fiona extended her tentacle and carefully placed the stone back in its holder.

  And the earth fell still.

  Daisy Malone let out a big breath and, for the first time in a long time, smiled. ‘It’s done,’ she shouted over her shoulder. ‘The stone’s back in place!’

  Behind her she heard cheers from her dog and her dad.

  But why had Fiona done it? Daisy remembered something Sinclair had said: We now use them to guard the stones. Morphangs will do anything to protect them. Of course. If the earth was destroyed then the stone, mighty as it was, would be destroyed with it. By replacing the red stone Fiona had ensured that it would continue to exist. She had done the only thing she could do to protect the stone, and in so doing had saved the world.

  Fiona shuffled back towards Daisy, and again climbed halfway up the wall and extended a tentacle. Daisy stared at the tentacle for a moment, and then understood. She lifted her hand and opened it, her palm facing upward. Fiona very gently placed her tentacle on top of Daisy’s palm. They stayed like this, creature and girl, sharing a moment Daisy would never forget.

  Then the tentacle wound itself around her hand and began to tighten, while a second tentacle wrapped itself around her forearm and pulled. Things were back to normal!

  ‘Hold on there. Wait now!’ said Daisy uneasily, pulling her arm back through the hole and using her other hand to unpeel the tentacles. Quickly she pushed herself backwards down the passage until she was out of reach. Fiona raised her eye to the level of the hole and looked long and hard at Daisy. Then she slid a tentacle in and along the passage. At first Daisy thought it was to try to grab her again, but the tentacle stopped in front of her and then rolled from side to side. Daisy realised Fiona was waving goodbye.

  She grabbed the tentacle and gave it a quick squeeze. ‘Thank you, Fiona.’

  The tentacle waved again and withdrew.

  Chapter 23

  OUT IN THE OPEN

  ‘Can we go now?’ asked Brian Malone, when Daisy had extracted herself from the passage.

  ‘No, let’s stay here a few hours longer and just hang out.’

  ‘Daisy, this really isn’t the time for sarcasm.’

  ‘I am getting good at it though, aren’t I?’

  They made their way back the way they had come. Daisy was so tired she could hardly move. The final crawl towards daylight took every last bit of her strength, but eventually they made it out and collapsed on the side of the hill.

  Daisy slumped next to Brian Malone. ‘We did it, Dad.’

  ‘Hooray! Where’s the chocolate cake!’

  They both laughed, and then Brian Malone put his hand around Daisy’s shoulders. ‘Seriously, Daisy, you did it. I’m so proud of you. And I’m sorry I let you down and made you come up here alone. I was scared. I’ve been scared for a long time.’

  Daisy leant into him. ‘I’m proud of you, Dad.’

  Brian Malone hugged his daughter tighter.

  ‘Sorry to break up the moment,’ said Ben, ‘but I think there’s a slight problem. We travelled back in time, right? So now, don’t we have to travel forward again back to where we were? Except that we can’t, because we can only do it with the red stone and we don’t have it anymore.’

  ‘Hmm. I don’t think we do. We’re probably nearly at the time that we travelled back from,’ said Daisy, ‘so I guess we just need to make sure that we don’t bump into our other selves. If they’re here. But maybe they’re not here, because we changed the past, so this is like some sort of parallel universe.’ Daisy’s brain was starting to hurt. ‘Let’s just go and find mum.’

  They crept down and across the hill towards the spot where they had left Jackie Malone and Sinclair and Dennis. They came over a ridge and suddenly, down the hill, Daisy saw them. All three of them were lying on the ground.

  ‘There they are!’ called Brian Malone.

  But Daisy didn’t hear him properly because she was running down the hill.

  First, she went to her mother.

  ‘Mum? Mum?’

  ‘Darling? Darling?’ panted Brian Malone who, with Ben, had followed Daisy.

  Ben was about to add ‘Jackie? Jackie?’ but stopped himself, figuring that the ideal moment for him to reveal to Jackie Malone that her dog could talk probably wasn’t just as she awoke from a long period of being in a hypnotised, zombie-like state. Ben was very sensitive like that.

  ‘Hmmm, wha …?’ muttered Jackie Malone. Her eyes fluttered open, then closed, then open. Then they closed again. It was sort of like slow-motion blinking.

  Daisy and Brian Malone gently lifted her into a sitting position.

  Jackie Malone’s eyes opened again. ‘Brian? Daisy?’ she said sleepily.

  ‘Are you all right?’ asked Brian Malone anxiously.

  ‘I … I think so. What …’ began Jackie but the next few words were lost in the huge hug her daughter gave her. Brian Malone put an arm around them both and joined in and Ben squashed himself up against as much of each of them as he could.

  Let’s just give them a moment.

  Eventually Daisy remembered Dennis and Sinclair. Were they alive? Had her attempt to recharge their heartstones worked? She moved over to them and put her ear next to Sinclair’s mouth. He was breathing!

  ‘Sinclair! Dennis!’ Sinclair’s eyes fluttered open and Daisy helped him up. Next to him Dennis also awoke and im
mediately sat up. ‘Is it still my birthday?’ he asked. Then the three of them excitedly said lots of very obvious things like:

  ‘You’re alive!’

  ‘We’re alive!’

  ‘The earth has stopped shaking.’

  ‘You replaced our hearts.’

  ‘We got the red stone back in place!’

  ‘You saved the world.’

  ‘We saved the world!’

  ‘I’m hungry!’

  That last one, of course, was said by Dennis.

  Ben sniffed and his ears pricked up. Daisy stared over Dennis’s shoulder. Two people were making their way up the hill. It was Prawn! With him was another man who Daisy recognised as one of the hypnotised people she had seen inside the cave.

  Prawn bounded up to them. ‘Man! It was, like, yikes! Like, that earthquake thingy! But now it’s cool again. And, like, I found my dad.’ He indicated the man next to him who looked like an older version of Prawn.

  ‘Like, hi,’ said Prawn’s dad. ‘It’s all, like, pretty weird, hey.’

  ‘You speak like that too,’ said Daisy, smiling.

  ‘So I’m, like, Barry,’ said Prawn’s dad, ‘but dudes call me Crab. ’Cos it’s, like, way cooler than Barry. Don’t you think?’

  Daisy didn’t, but she wanted to be polite. ‘It’s a nice name,’ she said.

  Daisy introduced everybody who didn’t know each other. They all looked at each other curiously. Daisy knew that soon everyone was going to start asking each other lots of questions, so she decided to get in first and started to explain everything that had happened.

  When she got up to her arrival in Gloomy Gulch, Brian Malone asked, ‘Why was everyone in Gloomy Gulch hypnotised?’

  ‘Gamion must have done it,’ said Sinclair. ‘Maybe to practise using the stone, or perhaps so that the townsfolk wouldn’t discover what he was doing.’

  ‘Or probably, knowing him, just for fun,’ added Daisy. ‘But why wasn’t Prawn hypnotised?’