Jinxed!: The Curious Curse of Cora Bell

by Rebecca McRitchie

  Tock gave her a small, unsure smile.

  Then Cora remembered what the hobgoblin had told her. She had seen a Jinx inside of her. Cora swallowed and pushed the thought aside. ‘We should keep moving.’

  Tock nodded.

  Cora walked down the alleyway as Tock flew by her side. When they came to the end of it, Cora looked out to see a city lit up spectacularly in the night. Jade City.

  ‘Wow,’ Cora muttered.

  It was a sea of colour. Small houses with pointed gold spires and tall buildings with glass domes were glowing in hues of purple and pink. Even the pristine cobblestones beneath her feet were painted in soft, shimmering colours. She had never seen anything like it. She could hear distant POP!s of magic in the air and there was music coming from somewhere not far away.

  ‘Magical beings from all over come to Jade City,’ said Tock.

  Cora looked up and around as they walked. She noticed tiny, sparkling creatures zipping about in the air above them. Then Cora almost bumped into a tall woman wearing a sparkling red dress and walking in her direction. In one of her hands, the woman carried a matching red umbrella that shone in the light.

  ‘Sorry,’ Cora said, stepping out of the way.

  The woman glanced down at her before moving off and as she walked by, Cora noticed that she had four feet and that they made a CLOMP CLOMP sound as she walked.

  ‘Centaur,’ whispered Tock.

  They continued through the city and soon came to a bridge that crossed over a small canal. Cora wasn’t surprised to see the water beneath it sparkle a bright, shimmering blue.

  A man with two large antlers sat on the edge of the canal, his feet dangling in the water. He waved up at them and Cora waved back. Jade City was nothing like Urt.

  ‘The gateway is not far from here,’ said Tock. ‘We should stay near it in case Tick . . . we should stay near it.’

  Cora nodded.

  When they were closer to the centre of the city, Tock stopped outside a small, red building. Across the top it read, in glowing green letters, GATEWAY. It wasn’t hidden like the others they had found.

  A woman floated by them on the street. Cora stopped. She could see right through her. Then the woman turned and floated towards the red building and straight through the wall.

  ‘This way,’ said Tock.

  The fairy flew past the entrance to the gateway building. A few buildings down, he turned left. At the back of a round yellow building, Tock stopped outside a round metal door that stuck out from the ground. The fairy pulled on the metal door handle with his fairy arms but it remained firmly shut.

  Cora looked down at her hands. Practice makes purple, she remembered Tick’s words.

  ‘Let me try,’ she said. Then she took a deep breath and put both hands on the door handle. Cora pulled gently and the metal door swung open.

  Inside was a staircase that led into a cramped, dark room. There were used candles resting on upturned boxes and crates. A small pile of blankets lay on the cement floor.

  ‘Have you stayed here before?’ Cora asked.

  Tock nodded.

  They lay down and waited. Cora heard the light drumming of rain on the roof.

  Minutes and then soon hours passed. The evening stretched into night. And there was still no sign of Tick. Cora looked over at Tock’s worried face.

  Any minute now, thought Cora. She waited and waited. Eventually Cora found herself dozing off, her worried thoughts on nothing else but Tick.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  There was a fluttering noise in Cora’s ear. She turned around and opened her eye to find the tiny room bathed in morning sun. She also found Tock, flying frantically around in the air.

  Cora remembered where she was and sat up quickly. She looked around. And her heart fell. There was still no Tick.

  ‘He should have been here by now,’ said Tock. He had his hands behind his back as he flew back and forth in the little room.

  Cora wondered if the fairy had slept at all.

  ‘Maybe he lost track of time,’ Cora said, trying to think of a reason for why Tick wasn’t back yet. A reason other than being chased by a powerful and mad warlock.

  Tock shook his head. ‘Something’s happened,’ he said, his face grim. ‘Something bad.’

  Guilt ate at Cora. Why had she let Tick go? She should have stopped Archibald as soon as she saw him in the hobgoblin’s home. She should have done something, anything! Why had she just done nothing? Then Tick could have been safe. She thought about everything the fairies had done for her.

  Then on the other side of the room, there was a loud POP! of magic.

  Tock and Cora spun around towards it.

  Tick hovered in the air at the back of the room.

  ‘Tick!’ they cried.

  But Tick didn’t respond. He staggered in the air as he flew towards them. His eyes were barely open. Then he fell. Tock flew to him and caught him before he could hit the ground.

  ‘Tick!’ Tock exclaimed fearfully.

  Cora could see that one of Tick’s wings wasn’t fluttering like it was supposed to. The wing was bent oddly and the top of it where it was supposed to be transparent was charred black.

  ‘Lay him down,’ Cora said. She jumped to her feet and pushed together the blankets to make a bed on the floor.

  Tock placed his brother gently down on them.

  Cora could hear that Tick’s breathing was strained and heavy. And as she looked down at him, she noticed a large red gash on his dainty right arm. Cora swallowed.

  ‘Is he going to be okay?’ Cora asked.

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Tock. He sat by his brother’s side. And he and Cora waited. She felt like it was the longest time she had waited for anything.

  Hours passed and Cora looked over at Tock. His face was pale.

  ‘I’ll be back,’ the fairy said.

  ‘Where are you —’

  But before she could finish her question, there was a POP! of magic and Tock was gone.

  The room was silent. It was filled only by Tick’s strained breathing. Cora looked over at the fairy. Then she grabbed her pack. She rummaged through it and found the scarf Dot had packed for her. She paused, feeling its woollen threads beneath her fingers. Then Cora pulled each end, ripping it in half.

  Carefully, she wrapped a piece of the torn scarf around Tick’s injured arm. The fairy murmured in his sleep. What had Archibald done to him? She pictured the warlock hurting her friend and felt like ripping something else in half.

  There was a POP! and Cora turned to find Tock. He carried in his hands three big bowls of steaming myrtle soup, a bottle of what looked like mud, a loaf of bread and a bag of purple lollies.

  ‘Plum drops,’ said Tock with a shrug. ‘They’re his favourite.’

  Tock placed the items on the floor. Then opening the bottle of mud, he carefully spread a thick layer of it over Tick’s wounds. ‘Honeysuckle paste. It should help.’

  Cora and Tock watched and waited.

  When the mud on Tick’s wounds had completely dried and the morning sun was replaced by the afternoon, Tick opened an eye.

  ‘Are you alright?’ Cora asked.

  Tick nodded.

  ‘What happened?’ asked Tock gently. ‘Archibald, did he . . . is he . . .?’

  ‘Lost him,’ Tick croaked. ‘I think.’ He sat up, grimacing in pain.

  Tock handed him a bowl of myrtle soup and he ate it happily. Cora and Tock ate their myrtle soup too, watching Tick worriedly.

  When the fairy finished, he spotted the bag of purple lollies.

  ‘Are those plum drops?’ he asked from his place on the blankets. Cora noticed that Tick’s eyes were brighter than they were before as they focused intently on the bag of plum drops.

  Tick smiled as Tock handed him the bag.

  ‘What happened?’ Cora asked between mouthfuls of soup.

  ‘The warlock chased me all the way to Trufford Lake,’ said Tick.

  Tock stopped slurping. ‘Troll
Town?!’

  Tick nodded.

  Cora didn’t know where Trufford Lake or Troll Town were but by the surprised look on Tock’s face, she assumed they were very far.

  ‘Then,’ continued Tick, ‘when he realised Cora wasn’t with me, he . . . well . . . you know.’ Tick held up his hands and scrunched his face into a snarl, impersonating the warlock using magic.

  ‘Your wing,’ said Cora.

  Tick nodded. ‘I got away just in time.’ He looked over his shoulder at his injured wing sadly. He tried to flutter it but it flapped slowly. Tick winced in pain.

  ‘We need to get it fixed,’ said Tock, finishing his soup.

  ‘How?’ asked Cora. Every time she had a scrape or a cut, Dot was always the one who mended it. She remembered the little case Dot would take out to bandage her up.

  ‘He needs a fairy healer,’ said Tock. ‘We have to go to the Fairy Fountain.’

  Tick shook his head. ‘We’re banished, Tock. If they recognise us . . .’

  ‘The Fairy Fountain?’ Cora asked.

  ‘It’s where fairies go when they come to Jade City,’ said Tock.

  ‘We can’t,’ said Tick. ‘Look, I’m fine,’ he tried to fly up into the air but fell crashing down onto the blankets.

  Cora turned to Tock. She had made up her mind. ‘Can they fix Tick?’ she asked.

  Tock nodded.

  ‘Then I guess it’s settled,’ said Cora. ‘To the Fairy Fountain.’

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Tick, Tock and Cora left the small room and walked out into the bright afternoon sun. The brilliant colours of Jade City were even brighter in the middle of the day. Magical beings of all kinds filled the colourful streets. Some had wings, some had scales, some glided and some stomped. Some even appeared in the middle of the street in a flurry of flames or a puff of smoke.

  Tick walked by Cora’s side while Tock flew ahead of them, leading the way. Across the road, a pair of trolls yelled at each other.

  ‘Did you do this?’ Tick asked Cora, holding up the arm that had half of a scarf wrapped around the top of it.

  Cora nodded.

  ‘Thank you,’ said Tick. ‘It’s very nice.’

  ‘Dot made it for me,’ Cora said. She was glad she could use the scarf to help her friend. Dot wouldn’t have minded.

  They weaved their way through Jade City until the three of them eventually came to a stop outside a miniature brown door. Across the top of the door were markings Cora couldn’t understand.

  Tock knocked three times on the door. Then a tiny window in the middle of the wooden door slid open. Two beady brown eyes stared back at them.

  ‘Yes?’ the voice grumbled.

  ‘Three, please,’ said Tock.

  The two beady eyes looked at Cora questioningly.

  ‘Three?’ he asked.

  Tock nodded.

  ‘It’s three gold coins if you want to enter,’ said the fairy behind the door.

  ‘What?’ replied Tick. ‘Since when?’

  ‘Since a creature destroyed The Hollow,’ said the fairy.

  ‘Please,’ said Tock, ‘my brother is injured.’

  ‘Three gold coins and I will ignore that she’s not a fairy.’

  Tick and Tock looked at Cora. Tock shrugged.

  Cora wasn’t taking no for an answer. Tick needed help. But she didn’t have any coins. All she had was . . .

  ‘Shoe polish,’ she said.

  ‘Huh?’ responded the fairy behind the door.

  ‘Shoe polish,’ Cora said again. She dove into her pack and pulled out the round container. Dot had said it would be useful. She looked it over with her eye. It was the last thing she had ever collected in Urt. It seemed so long ago when she had found it. So much had happened. It reminded her of Dot.

  ‘This,’ she said holding it up, ‘is worth at least three packets of porridge . . . I mean, three gold coins.’

  The fairy stuck his hairy hand through the opening in the door.

  Cora shook her head, remembering what had happened in Urt the first time she had found shoe polish.

  The fairy grumbled something and slid the window shut.

  Please, please, Cora begged in her mind. She hoped it would work.

  The door swung open. Cora smiled. The fairy stood by the open door, his palm out. She handed the shoe polish to him and tried to ignore the feeling that she was giving away a part of herself.

  When the three of them entered the Fairy Fountain, Cora was surprised to see that behind the door was a smaller version of The Hollow. The trees, the lights, the music and even the small, round huts sat around a tiny pond in front of her.

  As they looked around, some fairies flew about and some lounged in chairs. Cora looked over at Tick and Tock. They had smiles on their faces. She wondered if Tick and Tock missed The Hollow like she missed Dot.

  ‘You both have a lot of nerve showing up here,’ said a voice from behind them.

  Tick, Tock and Cora turned around to find three fairies standing behind them. Two had their hands on their hips and one fairy with hair tangled into two long plaits on either side of his head, pointed a finger at Tick and Tock.

  ‘The Fairy Fountain is open to everyone,’ said Tock.

  ‘Including smelly fairies like you, Glug,’ added Tick with a smile.

  ‘We know what happened at The Hollow,’ said Glug, the fairy with the plaits.

  ‘You’re not even allowed to be here,’ said another fairy with hair cascading down from his ears to his knees.

  Cora remembered what Tick had said. Being banished from The Hollow also meant being banished from the Fairy Fountain.

  ‘I don’t think you heard correctly, Thump,’ said Tick.

  ‘Too much hair in your ears,’ said Tock.

  Tick laughed and Cora smiled.

  ‘You can’t laugh your way out of this one,’ said the third fairy. He had chin hair that curled meanly every which way.

  ‘How terrible must you be for your own father to banish you,’ sneered Glug.

  Cora watched as Tick’s and Tock’s happiness suddenly flew away from them like feathers caught in the wind. Their cheeky smiles disappeared. Then both of the fairies looked down.

  Cora stepped forward, anger strengthening her steps.

  ‘These fairies are the kindest fairies I have ever known,’ said Cora. She did not mention that they were the only fairies she had ever known.

  ‘We shouldn’t have come,’ Tick whispered to her, pulling on her sleeve.

  Cora brushed him away. ‘Tick’s injured,’ she said. ‘And needs help. We won’t stay long.’

  The fairy with plaits looked up at Cora and then over at Tick and Tock. ‘You two brought this creature to The Hollow.’

  Cora thought he was talking about the Jinx and she was about to say that it was her who brought the Jinx to the fairy kingdom, that she was the one to blame and not Tick and Tock, but then the fairy with plaits pointed a small finger in her direction.

  Me?! The creature?! thought Cora. ‘Hey!’

  The fairies glared up at Cora.

  ‘I thought fairies were supposed to help one another,’ said Cora.

  The three fairies in front of her continued to glare.

  ‘I thought people weren’t supposed to get jinxed,’ said the fairy with ear hair down to his knees.

  Cora glared back at them. ‘Tell us where we can find someone to help him,’ Cora said.

  ‘No,’ said Glug, folding his arms against his chest.

  ‘Or else,’ said Cora.

  ‘Or else what?’ asked the fairy, placing his hands on his hips.

  ‘Or else,’ said Cora. She hadn’t quite thought this through. ‘Or else . . .’ Should she use her powers? ‘Or else . . . the longer I wait here, the more likely it is the Jinx will find me.’ She placed her hands on her hips.

  Glug’s eyes squinted, but then, with a grimace, the fairy pointed over to one of the huts by the pond. And then he flew angrily away, the other fairies following
.

  ‘I never liked Glug,’ said Tick.

  ‘Me either,’ said Cora with a smile.

  Tick and Tock giggled.

  ‘Thank you,’ Tock said to Cora.

  Cora, Tick and Tock made their way over to the huts by the pond. Cora waited on a chair outside while Tick and Tock went inside.

  In no time at all, Tick and Tock emerged from the hut. Tick was flying in the air again. She saw that his wing had a bandage wrapped around the top.

  ‘Are you fixed?’ she asked.

  ‘Good as new,’ Tick said, flying up into the air in a spin, then he dangled upside down and gave her a wave.

  Cora smiled.

  Suddenly, there was a series of loud bangs from outside the Fairy Fountain followed by several POP!s of magic. They could hear cries and screams. The fairies around them stopped what they were doing.

  Cora looked at Tick and Tock. Their eyes were wide.

  They’d been found.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Was it the Jinx? The warlock? Cora didn’t want to find out.

  ‘We need to get out of here,’ said Tick.

  They raced out of the Fairy Fountain and entered the Jade City street. The street in front of them was flooded with magical beings. They were all headed towards the city centre.

  Confused, Cora, Tick and Tock moved with the crowd until they turned a corner and stopped in their tracks. Cora had come face to face not with a Jinx or a warlock . . . but with a giant dragon. She stared up at its red eyes, as it moved freely in the air in front of her. Then it twinkled and Cora realised it wasn’t a real dragon. Instead it was made up of small, blinking, coloured lights. It flew above the crowd who oohed and ahhed beneath it.

  In front of them, witches, trolls, centaurs, mermaids, hobgoblins and other magical creatures stood near stalls lined up from one end of the street and weaving all the way through Jade City, as far as she could see. People were selling food, clothes, jewellery, hats and all manner of strange and exciting items.

  Cora breathed a sigh of relief.

  It was a festival.

  ‘Oh,’ said Tock. ‘Much better than a Jinx!’