‘Leave,’ Belle said.
‘We didn’t mean to tell them where you were,’ said Tick.
‘It just . . . slipped out,’ said Tock.
Cora could see that Tick and Tock weren’t getting anywhere. The woman still looked very angry. ‘Let’s just go,’ said Cora.
Tick and Tock turned to her.
‘Belle is a goblin,’ whispered Tock.
‘Hobgoblin,’ the woman corrected, clearly listening.
‘She knows a lot about magic,’ said Tick.
‘More than these two,’ said the woman.
‘She could help you,’ said Tock.
Cora looked over at the small, green woman. Perhaps she could try to persuade her?
‘Please,’ said Cora. ‘You wouldn’t be helping them. You would be helping me.’
The woman looked at Cora and crossed her arms. ‘Who are you?’
Cora thought for a minute. ‘I’m the reason why there is a very angry warlock and a very angry Jinx not far behind us,’ she said. ‘I have some kind of magic and I have no idea how to use it.’
The small, green woman looked at her with interest. Her eyes moved to where Cora’s eye used to be and then to where Cora’s bracelet sat on her wrist.
The woman paused. Then she stalked towards them, glaring at Tick and Tock. She pushed past them still glaring at Tick and Tock and entered her house.
Even though Belle was inside her house, Cora could still feel the hobgoblin’s stare. Tick, Tock and Cora stood where they were, uncertain.
‘Let’s go,’ said Tick.
‘Wait a moment,’ said Tock, listening for something.
Then from inside the house, Belle called out to them. ‘Come in. But don’t touch anything.’
Chapter Thirty-One
Cora crouched down as she entered the hobgoblin’s house. The inside was bigger than Cora had expected and she was relieved to find that she could stand up. Green vines from potted plants hung down from the ceiling and in the centre of the room stood a comfortable chair in front of a fireplace. A small fire crackled there.
Cora was about to ask if she needed to take off her shoes but when she looked down she found that she wasn’t stepping on a wooden or concrete floor. Instead, beneath her feet was an earthen floor.
‘Sit,’ said the hobgoblin as she pulled out a chair near a table made from gnarled tree branches.
Cora sat down obediently. Near her, on top of the table, were three bowls. One was filled with freshly plucked feathers, another with dark stones and the third was filled with what looked like white chalk dust.
Belle pulled out another chair and sat down in front of Cora. From close up, Cora noticed the woman wore a necklace that had a piece of wood carved into the letter ‘S’ hanging from it.
‘It’s charmed,’ said the hobgoblin, noticing her gaze. ‘Just like your bracelet.’
Cora stopped. She looked down at her wrist. ‘How did you know it’s charmed?’
The hobgoblin held up her hand, brushing away the question. ‘What did you do to annoy a warlock and a Jinx?’ she asked, fixing her with a stern gaze.
There was something about the woman’s green, unblinking stare that made Cora feel uneasy. She looked over at Tick and Tock who stood watching nearby. The fairies nodded.
‘I threw the warlock through a window and hit the Jinx across a lake,’ said Cora slowly.
The woman sat back in her chair. ‘Really?’
Cora nodded and looked away.
‘I’m impressed,’ said Belle with a small smile.
‘So were we,’ said Tick.
Cora didn’t feel very impressive. She felt very far from impressive.
‘The Jinx curse is too powerful. Almost impossible to break,’ said Belle, shaking her head.
‘We know,’ said Tick, Tock and Cora at the same time.
‘Cora’s magic . . . it’s not like any we’ve ever seen,’ said Tick.
The hobgoblin squinted at the fairies. ‘How so?’
‘It’s . . . strong and . . . unpredictable,’ said Tock.
‘Possibly . . . uncontrollable,’ added Tick, looking away.
Belle turned back to Cora. ‘What does it feel like?’ she asked.
Cora tried to put the feeling into words. ‘It feels like . . . water. Like a pool of water, just sitting there, inside,’ she said. ‘And when I tried to use it . . .’
‘It wouldn’t let you,’ finished the hobgoblin.
Cora nodded.
The hobgoblin sat in thought for a moment until she said, ‘It wants to be used. Magic always does. But you must let it become part of you. Don’t resist it.’
Cora wasn’t sure she wanted it to be part of her. The thought of it made her squirm with dread.
‘Only when it is part of you, can you control it,’ said the hobgoblin. ‘Otherwise . . .’
There was that word again. Otherwise.
‘You said it is like a pool of water?’ Belle asked.
Cora nodded.
‘Well,’ said Belle, clapping her hands together, ‘you must empty it.’
Cora stared back at the woman. ‘Empty it?’ she asked. That was it? Cora thought. That was all it took? She looked over at Tick and Tock. They shrugged.
The hobgoblin nodded.
‘How?’ Cora asked.
‘Close your eyes . . . I mean eye . . .’ said Belle.
Cora closed her eye.
‘Find the pool of water,’ came Belle’s voice.
Cora found it.
‘And just let the water leave,’ Belle said.
That was the hard part. Cora tried to let it leave. At least she thought she did. But the pool of water didn’t go anywhere. She gave it a small push. Yet it stayed right where it was. She took a deep breath. Focus, she said to herself. She imagined the water disappearing. She imagined it flowing down a drain. Then she took another look at it and noticed that the pool had become smaller. It was shrinking! Until, eventually, it was gone.
When she opened her eye, Tick’s and Tock’s eager faces greeted her.
‘Did it work?’ they asked at the same time.
‘I . . . I don’t know,’ she said honestly. The pool of water was gone but she didn’t feel any different. She felt the same.
‘Stand up and let’s have a look at what you can do,’ said Belle.
Cora stood up carefully from her seat. She wasn’t sure what to do. Without the pool of water, there was nothing for her to grab onto or to push aside or lock away. She closed her eye. She waited for the magic to appear. Then she felt it. Something small like a butterfly, fluttered within her. She tried to catch it but as soon as she felt it, it disappeared.
Cora shook her head. ‘I think I might be broken,’ she said.
Belle let out a small laugh. She stood up and handed her the chair she had been sitting on. ‘The magic is now part of you.’
Cora held the wooden chair in her hands, confused.
‘Break it,’ said the hobgoblin.
Cora looked down at the chair. It was made out of thick tree branches that were woven into shape. There was no way she would be able to break it. She closed her eye. The butterfly was back. She concentrated and then pulled the chair with both of her hands . . . and with a CRACK! it completely shattered into two parts!
Cora stared wide-eyed at the pieces of chair in her hands.
Tick and Tock clapped happily.
Belle smiled. ‘It will take some practice, turning it on and off,’ she said. ‘Now open that door.’ Belle pointed to a door that sat wedged into the tree wall.
Cora walked over to it and, grabbing it by the handle, she pulled . . . and with a groan the entire door flew out from the wall!
Tick, Tock and Belle ducked as the door went flying past them.
‘Oops,’ Cora said. A fear settled inside her as she stared at the door. How did I do that?
‘That,’ Belle said, ‘was my favourite door.’
‘What! Oh, I’m sorry,’ said Cora. She picked
it up and tried to put the door back in its place on the wall.
Belle laughed. ‘I’m only kidding.’
‘Wait until Archibald sees what you can do!’ said Tick with a clap of his hands.
Belle stopped laughing. ‘Archibald?’ she echoed, her smile fading faster than a dropped stone. ‘Archibald Drake? The warlock?’
Chapter Thirty-Two
Tick and Tock nodded at Belle.
‘Explain,’ Belle said seriously. ‘Now.’ The hobgoblin stared at the fairies. ‘You haven’t played one of your tricks on him, have you?’
‘No!’ said Tick adamantly.
‘He’s been after us ever since we delivered a message to him,’ said Tock.
‘What message?’ Belle asked. Cora could see something flicker in Belle’s eyes. Fear.
Tick shrugged. ‘Father gave it to us,’ he said.
Cora stared at the fairies. Father? she thought.
‘That was . . . before he banished us,’ said Tock.
Cora almost gasped. King Clang was Tick and Tock’s father?! She looked over at the fairies. Why hadn’t they told her? Then she realised that King Clang had banished his own sons . . . because of her. The soup in her stomach suddenly sloshed around uncomfortably.
‘What does Drake want?’ Belle asked.
Tick and Tock looked at Cora. The hobgoblin moved her eyes to her too, and there was a silence around the table.
‘You’re not from this world, are you?’ Belle asked.
Cora shook her head. ‘I don’t know what world I’m from,’ she mumbled truthfully.
‘You’re one of us,’ the hobgoblin said. ‘Anyone can sense it. Even them.’ She looked over at Tick and Tock. ‘But what kind . . . I don’t know.’ She tilted her head at Cora.
Cora sighed.
‘You’re not a witch,’ said the hobgoblin.
Cora looked over at Tick and Tock as if to say, I told you so.
‘It takes years for witches to be able to master breaking apart a chair without at least muttering a spell. No, you’re much more . . . advanced,’ she said.
Cora frowned. That didn’t sound good.
‘And you’ve been marked,’ she said, pointing a finger towards Cora’s bumpy, red scar.
‘I . . . that’s just . . .’ said Cora.
The woman nodded. ‘Witches leave marks like that.’
Tick and Tock looked at her as if to say, we told you so.
Cora remembered what Tick and Tock had called it. The witch’s mark. But to her, it was just . . . her. Then she remembered the jar of troll eyes in the witch’s shop. Was there a witch somewhere out there who had her eye in a jar? She shuddered at the thought.
Then Cora asked something she had been wondering for a while. ‘If I’m not a witch . . . then what am I?’ she asked.
‘Give me your hands,’ said Belle. Her unsettling green stare returned.
Cora looked at Tick and Tock, unsure. They shrugged.
Hesitantly, she held out her hands across the table towards the hobgoblin. Belle grabbed them tightly in her green ones and closed her eyes.
Cora did the same. She felt a strange feeling go through her, like a spark of electricity. Then it felt like someone was looking inside her, searching for something. Suddenly, the hobgoblin let go of her hands.
Cora opened her eye.
Belle quickly stood up from her seat. ‘You’re um . . .’ she said, stepping away from the table. ‘Not like . . . anything I’ve ever seen.’ She walked to the fireplace and pulled out a kettle from a cupboard beside it. She hung it over the fire.
‘But you’ve lived for a thousand years,’ said Tock.
‘You’ve seen everything,’ said Tick.
Belle didn’t answer them. Instead she busied herself with making a pot of tea.
‘Are you alright, Belle?’ Tock asked.
‘Yes, yes, would anyone like a cup of tea?’ she asked, not looking up from the fire.
Tick and Tock looked at each other.
‘What did you see?’ Cora asked. She stood up from the table. There was something about the way the hobgoblin was acting that worried her. She was different. Cora’s stomach squirmed with uneasiness.
The hobgoblin looked over at her. Her green eyes flickered with fear again.
‘I saw . . .’ she said with a shake of her head. ‘Something not possible.’
Cora looked over at the fairies.
‘Not possible?’ asked Tock.
Now Cora really felt sick. She walked over towards the hobgoblin. ‘Please,’ she said.
The hobgoblin looked at her. ‘I saw . . .’ she said in a whisper that only Cora could hear. ‘I saw a Jinx.’
A Jinx?! Cora felt like she was going to faint. Her dream, the one with Dot, suddenly came rushing to her mind. The one where she had shadows for arms. A Jinx.
Cora took a step backwards. Her mind was suddenly flooded with images of herself as a shadow creature. How would it happen? Would she wake up one morning huge and shadowy? How long did she have?
The hobgoblin paused. ‘No,’ she said. ‘You can’t!’ Cora looked around. Who was she talking to?
Then Belle grabbed onto her necklace. It glowed a bright yellow.
She looked up at the fairies, eyes wide. ‘Run,’ she whispered.
Then the hobgoblin smiled an unusual smile. Like she was being forced by someone they couldn’t see. Then Belle let out a soft, deep laugh that wasn’t her own.
‘Belle?’ said Tick.
‘Not anymore,’ the hobgoblin said. Then she held up her hands and Tick went flying into a wall.
‘The hobgoblin was strong,’ said Belle. ‘But not strong enough.’
‘No!’ said Tock. He flew up from his seat and darted towards Belle.
But she fell to the ground. Cora stared down at her, wide-eyed. Next to her, the air shimmered.
Cora’s bracelet tingled on her wrist. Oh no.
Tick and Tock stopped in mid-air. Standing in the hobgoblin’s home was none other than the powerful warlock, Archibald Drake.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Cora now stared wide-eyed at the warlock in front of her. When Archibald Drake’s eyes met hers, he smiled.
‘Go!’ cried Tock.
Cora watched as the warlock held his hands up and suddenly the walls of the hobgoblin’s home started to shake. Then the objects around them lifted up and one by one, they hurtled through the air towards Cora. Pots, pans, cushions, clocks. Everything in the house headed straight for her.
Cora froze in place. She didn’t know what to do. She looked around and grabbed the door that she had pulled off the wall from the floor and held it in front of her like a shield. The objects hit the door and ricocheted off.
BANG! CLUNK! CLANK! CLINK!
Peering over the door, Cora watched as Tick and Tock threw POP!s of magic at the warlock. Archibald ducked and wove and held his hand up as magic sparks went whizzing past him.
Then, remembering her magic, Cora threw the door she held in her hands at the warlock. It shot towards him with lightning speed, but right at the last minute Archibald pushed the door aside with his magic, embedding it into the wall next to him.
‘Impressive,’ the warlock said.
Tick and Tock sped over to Cora, grasped her shoulder and then with a POP! they were gone from the hobgoblin’s home.
Cora blinked and found herself outside near a waterfall. She held her hands up to her ears against the loud roar of the water. Tick and Tock hovered in the air next to her, their eyes wide with panic.
Tick twirled around to face Tock. ‘How did Drake —’
‘Possession,’ said Tock.
Tick’s eyes widened.
‘Dark magic,’ said Tick to Cora. ‘Used to control other magical beings.’
‘It’s forbidden. Even for warlocks,’ said Tock.
‘Is Belle alright?’ Cora asked worriedly.
Tock nodded. ‘She will be. Once she regains her strength.’
The fairies pa
used. They looked to their left and in front of them, the air shimmered.
‘Uh-oh,’ said Tick.
The shimmer turned into a shape and in seconds, Archibald Drake was standing in front of them again, a smile on his face.
Crud.
Tock threw a POP! of magic at the warlock and then he and Tick grabbed Cora. With another POP! they were gone from the waterfall.
Cora found herself standing in the middle of a small road. It was almost dark.
Tick and Tock were bent over, out of breath. They shook their heads, unable to speak.
Then Cora saw the air behind the fairies shimmer slightly. She pointed, eyes wide. ‘Guys,’ she said warningly.
Tick and Tock turned around to see Archibald Drake shimmer into place again. The fairies dove towards Cora, touched her and with a POP! they were somewhere else.
‘Take her,’ said Tick urgently. ‘I’ll lead him away,’
‘No,’ said Tock.
‘He’s tracing our magic,’ said Tick. ‘I’ll meet you at the gateway in Jade City. Go!’
And then with a POP! Tick was gone.
‘Tick!’ said Tock.
But before they could do anything, a shimmer started to appear in the air near them. Tock seized Cora and magicked them both away.
In a blink, Cora and Tock were in an alleyway. It was well and truly dark now. They waited, holding their breath. Cora whirled around on the spot, trying to see a shimmer in the air that was bound to come. Minutes went by and no shimmer appeared.
Cora let out an uneasy breath.
‘I should have known something was wrong!’ said Tock. The fairy kicked over a bucket that sat on the ground nearby. ‘Belle tried to warn us.’
The hobgoblin had helped her with her magic. Cora shuddered at the thought of what the warlock could have done if he had captured them. Then she thought of Tick. He had risked himself so that she could get away.
Tock sat on the ground, his head bent low in defeat. Cora walked over and sat down next to him.
‘I hope Tick is alright,’ she said.
‘I hope so, too,’ said Tock.
They sat in silence for a moment.
‘I’m sorry, Cora,’ said Tock.
Cora looked at Tock’s worried face. ‘It’s okay,’ she said. She put a hand on the fairy’s arm. ‘Tick will be back.’
Jinxed!: The Curious Curse of Cora Bell Page 11
