The Midnight Chimes

by Paula Harrison

  My neck throbbed painfully. “There are four of them,” I croaked. “Where’s the gingerbread? I’m going back in.”

  Aiden took a gingerbread mouse and snapped it into three pieces. “We’re all going in. One piece each. Ready?”

  We each put a piece in our mouth. After a moment the House of Sweets filled in again like a beautiful picture, with sparkling windows and a polished wooden door. Music began to play – a flute with notes so enchanting they made me ache inside. As the music stopped, a glistening framework like pink icing sprouted from the ground all along the walls, forming a cage across every wall, window and door.

  I grabbed hold of the weird pink mesh. It was so cold it burned into my hand and I let go again. “Geez, what is that?”

  “Something to keep the kids inside and us out here,” Aiden said grimly.

  I leant as close to the window as I could without touching the mesh. Miss Mason was circling the kids’ chairs, a hungry look in her eyes. As her skin grew paler, the black veins on her face darkened. Already three bright wish bubbles floated in the air.

  “But I can’t wish any harder!” whined Finlay.

  “Of course you can,” Miss Mason said sweetly. “And when you get it right you’ll get the Grand Surprise. You want that don’t you? Now say it again and you have to mean it this time.”

  Finlay gulped. “I wish Pearl was inde . . . indestruct-ible.”

  We Face a Swarm of Deadly Creatures

  oozy from the enchanted gingerbread, the kids inside the House of Sweets repeated Miss Mason’s words, bringing to life one terrible wish after another.

  “I wish Pearl had super-strength,” piped Annie.

  “I wish Pearl had the power to read minds,” said Finlay.

  “I wish that Mr Cryptorum would vanish for ever,” repeated the girl with the braids. A look of horror passed over her face as if she’d realized what a terrible thing she’d said. Then her face went blank again.

  A crowd of gleaming wishes hovered above the table. Each one had a smoky-grey surface but the picture inside was clear and sharp. They looked perfect – and deadly. If these came true then Wendleton and everyone in it could be wiped out by Miss Mason’s revenge.

  “Annie, stop!” I rattled the mesh, ignoring the burning cold. “Don’t say any more of her wishes!”

  “Robyn!” Annie twisted to face me, jolted from her daydream. The wish she’d just made about Pearl’s super-strength popped in a shower of colour.

  Miss Mason flashed me a look of pure hatred. “Annie, dear!” she said silkily. “I want to talk to you. Tell me: is your sister always nice to you?”

  “I . . . um.” Annie faltered.

  “Sisters aren’t always nice, are they?” The vampire smiled sweetly. “But I’ll be good to you and I’ll give you every kind of sweet you can think of.”

  Had I been nice to Annie? I couldn’t help thinking of all the times I’d wanted her to go away – all the times I hadn’t listened to her recorder playing, the times I’d told her to stop bothering me. . .

  “Have some more gingerbread!” The vampire thrust another piece into my little sister’s mouth. “You don’t need a sister when you have me.”

  I rattled the mesh but Annie didn’t turn this time. What was I going to do now?

  Nora had found a long stick, stuck it through the cage and wedged the letter box open. Aiden crouched down and fired a silver arrow through the narrow slot, but it missed. “I can’t shoot any closer! She’s standing too near the kids.”

  Stepping back, I swung at the mesh with my frostblade but the sword bounced off with a loud clang. “Annie!” I shouted. “Think of your real wishes. Remember how you wished to be a unicorn!”

  Annie didn’t move.

  “Now there’s one more wish you’re going to make!” Miss Mason hissed. “All of you say it after me: I wish that everyone born on the stroke of midnight would die.”

  The kids repeated the words in robot-like voices. Four identical wishes floated out of their mouths. Pearl Mason’s hand moved and I saw the knife hidden in the folds of her skirt. For these wishes to come true, they had to be the last ones the kids would ever make.

  “Annie!” I screamed.

  Annie coughed and the gingerbread piece came out of her mouth. Jumping up, she dashed to the door and flung it open, shattering the weird pink mesh. Then she ran straight into my arms.

  “Annie, stay behind me!” I told her. “Miss Mason is dangerous!” Annie clung to me even tighter.

  Miss Mason followed Annie outside, the dark veins spreading down her neck and arms like a deadly black river. She smiled and frost-white fangs grew in her mouth. This was Miss Mason as she really was – the vampire Pearl.

  “Fire arrows!” Aiden yelled, shooting off a volley.

  I pushed Annie behind me, fitted an arrow to my bow and fired. Only one arrow found its target. Smiling, Pearl yanked it from her shoulder and threw it to the ground. Then she pursed her lips and blew a deafening whistle.

  The undergrowth rustled. Snow tumbled off the swaying branches. Like a spiny tidal wave, the kobolds swept out of the shadows. Behind them, an army of bony white figures sprang into the clearing, clicking as they ran.

  “Scree sags!” I shouted.

  Annie screamed and ran back into the house, and Aiden raced after her calling to the kids to block the door. Nora turned her arrows on the kobolds, knocking them down one by one. A cloud of bats flew over the clearing. Gathering into a swarm, they swooped on the kobolds, with three or four attacking each one.

  Pearl sprang at me and I parried. My frostblade met her knife, stopping the blow. She twisted sideways and I felt my jacket rip under her blade.

  I pushed her away and took another swing. This time she dived in low. The blade missed my legs but caught me off balance and I went down. Two scree sags jumped on me, their bony fingers clutching at my jacket. Aiden charged them, his sword crunching into white ribs, and they collapsed into a pile of bones. Aiden grabbed my arm and pulled me up.

  “Thanks!” I gasped.

  “Sure!” He spun round and charged the next group of scree sags.

  I faced Pearl again. A nasty smile played on her lips as she swung at me. “You – will – not – win, Robyn Silver!” She aimed a knife blow with every word.

  Tearing the frostblade from my hands, she grabbed hold of me. Her fangs were close to my throat.

  “Robyn, here!” Nora ripped off the cellophane and threw me the garlic baguette.

  Catching it, I thrust the baguette at Pearl’s fangs. Shrieking, she fell back. The smell of the garlic was overwhelming. Then Nora lobbed the lump of garlic butter, which hit the vampire round the head with a satisfying thunk.

  That gave me enough time to grab the frostblade. I faced the vampire with my sword in one hand and a garlic baguette in the other.

  Snarling, Pearl leapt at me. Smashing the baguette out of my hand, her claw-like fingers reached for my throat. Her hands felt like ice. We struggled and I pushed her off, but she leapt at me again.

  Time seemed to freeze. I fumbled, trying to block her knife blow. Then she tripped over a kobold and fell right on top of my blade. For a terrible moment, her hands reached out for me. Then she crumbled, burning away until there was nothing left but a pile of ash on the snow. A knife with a razor-sharp point lay beside it.

  I stumbled backwards, the swirly markings glowing on my blade. The sword must have struck her heart. Then I’d won? A feeling of relief rushed over me, followed by a massive pile of kobolds, their spines scraping my skin.

  A torchblade swung through the air and the kobolds scattered. “Nora!” I scrambled up. “Pretty nice moves!”

  “Thanks!” she grinned and together we ran towards the House of Sweets.

  Aiden was fighting scree sags, his blade crunching into them one after another, but he was outnumbered and they were driving him backwards.

  “Aiden, come on!” I yelled. “Get inside the house!”

  A wave of kobolds a
nd scree sags chased after us, biting and gnashing. We slammed the door and leant against it. Aiden clutched at a long jagged cut on his arm. Annie and the other kids stared at us as if they’d just woken from a dream. The table and the sweets were fading and Pearl’s wishes were gone completely.

  “How are we going to get them out of here?” Aiden muttered. “There are too many monsters.”

  A terrible high-pitched cry went up from a cluster of scree sags gathered round the vampire’s ashes and this seemed to shake up the rest of the creatures. Some of the kobolds ran back into the trees and others started attacking each other. The scree sags ran at the house, drumming on the door and windows with their bony fingers.

  “I want to go home!” squeaked the girl with the braids, bursting into tears.

  “I’ll go out there and draw them away from the house,” I said to Aiden and Nora. “Then you can get the kids back to town.”

  “No!” Aiden glared at me, still clutching his bleeding arm. “Better if we fight together.”

  “You can’t though, can you? You’re hurt!” I said.

  “Robyn, you can’t do this on your own!” Nora cried.

  “It’s the only way!” I took Annie’s hand. “Listen, all of you! Aiden and Nora are going to take you home so be good and do as they say. I’ll catch up with you soon.”

  “I want the lemonade fountain with the chocolate fishes,” said the boy in the armchair. “I can’t see any of the sweets any more.”

  “Nor can I!” said Annie.

  I realized I’d probably swallowed the gingerbread sometime during the fight but with Miss Mason gone the enchantment must have lifted.

  “When we get back I’ll buy you mountains of sweets,” Nora promised.

  I hugged my sister. Her little arms fastened round my neck and I had to pull away. The bashing on the windows was growing louder. Snarling white faces leant right up to the glass.

  I grabbed the door knob. “Barricade it behind me until you know it’s safe,” I told Aiden. Then I unsheathed my sword and flung the door open, sending a few scree sags flying. Sweeping my blade in a wide arc, I leapt to the centre of the clearing.

  “Hey, monsters!” I yelled. “Come and get me!” Not the greatest line but it was the only one I could think of. Then I sprinted past the house into a patch of trees. I had to get deeper into the heathland and draw the monsters after me, leaving the way clear for Nora, Aiden and the kids to escape.

  I ran fast. I had no idea what lay ahead but I didn’t dare slow down. I looked back just as the moon came out from behind a cloud. A heaving mass of kobolds and scree sags were chasing me.

  I gulped. My plan was working!

  After a few minutes, I came to the network of ditches and pools that we’d stumbled into last time. A picture of the water monsters we’d seen popped into my head – the vodanoys with their grey slimy skin and webbed hands, and the nesha, the closest thing the Unseen World had to a deadly octopus. But there was no way to turn back so I jumped over the ditches, dodging the worst bits of swamp as best I could.

  When I glanced back again, the kobolds had stopped at the swamp edge. Their stubby legs weren’t long enough to let them jump the ditches. The scree sags were still coming at me though. As I watched, a pale tentacle rose from the marsh and took one down.

  I was starting to think I might make it to the other side before them, when I saw the etting. The great black bird swooped overhead, calling sharply. Obviously it had got tired of waiting for me to die and had come to finish me off.

  I was so busy trying to duck as it dived at me that I nearly ran straight off a cliff. For a moment I swayed over the drop, before grabbing a branch to pull myself backwards. A fierce icy wind whirled around me. Fumbling for my torch, I shone the light at the rock face. There was no safe way down. Except . . . there were some footholds and handholds just below where I was standing and if I could fool the scree sags for long enough I might just beat them.

  Switching off the torch, I turned to face them, sword ready.

  They slowed down when they saw the frostblade. Making a semicircle, they advanced on me, their faces grinning and bones clicking.

  I waited till the very last second. Bony fingers brushed my throat and with a yell I swung myself down the cliff. The scree sags gave their high-pitched cry and threw themselves after me. They fell, one by one and more scree sags piled after them. Cracking sounds filled the air as they smacked into the ground below.

  I was climbing by feel alone and I lost my foothold a couple of times. The cliff was cold and slippery with snow, but I held on. When I was sure the scree sags were gone, I pulled myself to the top and staggered back across the marsh. My legs felt like jelly.

  Something swooped overhead and I ducked, expecting the etting, but the engine roar and the lights meant this was no monster. The helicopter landed in the clearing on the other side of the house.

  I had a sinking feeling. I was pretty sure I knew who I was going to see. As I rounded the corner of the house, three lean figures in black leather leapt out of the helicopter. With a swish of their ultrasonic blades, they rounded up two sleeping kobolds from under a log and a scree sag with a limp. They had them all tied up in meta-tensile rope before I could say Beast Undercover Tracking Taskforce.

  “Hi, Robyn.” Rufus knotted the rope around the dozy kobolds. “We were passing by and we noticed all the monster activity on our subthermal scanner. Looks like you got pretty beat up.”

  Portia put away her sword and smoothed her hair into place. “Seems like we saved you. Good thing we stopped by.”

  It took a massive effort not to roll my eyes. “Shame you weren’t here an hour ago to help defeat a vampire and her army, but I guess your Mr Dray couldn’t be bothered with anything so small.” I glanced into the helicopter. Obviously Mr Dray had stayed safely at home.

  “Yeah, right!” Portia sneered. “Like you could defeat a vampire.”

  “I didn’t do it alone – Nora and Aiden were here.”

  “You reckon we’re going to believe that?” Tristan said.

  “I don’t care whether you believe it. I just want to use your helicopter.” I marched past them and climbed on board. “Well, are you coming or not?”

  Annie and Me Take Our First Helicopter Ride

  told the helicopter pilot to follow the road down from the snowy heath. We found Aiden, Nora and the kids just outside of town. The kids were falling over with tiredness. Nora was holding hands with Annie and the girl with the braids, while Aiden was giving Finlay a piggyback. The other little boy, who still had a red shoelace sweet dangling from his mouth, had sat down on the icy path and was refusing to go any further.

  We landed in the next-door field and I yelled to Aiden to bring the kids over.

  “We can’t have this many people on board,” Rufus told me as I put the kids on the helicopter. “You’ll overload it.”

  “These kids can’t walk any more,” I said. “So I guess some of us Chimes will have to walk instead.” I held his gaze until he looked away.

  “What! I’m not walking just because they decided to bring kids up here,” Portia said.

  Finlay burst into tears and after a minute of wailing Portia got off, muttering about the horrible noise. Rufus climbed down too. Tristan stayed in the corner with a stubborn look on his face. I made Aiden get on. He didn’t say anything but I could see from his face that the wound on his arm really hurt.

  “You should go!” Nora brushed off my attempt to get her on board. “Annie will feel better if you’re with her and someone has to show these guys the way.”

  “OK, thanks! Meet us at Grimdean House,” I yelled as we took off again.

  The helicopter soared over town. I held tight to my sister and I was pretty glad when we landed on the Grimdean lawn. Lights were on inside the house. Snow began falling thickly as Mr Cryptorum came marching down the garden.

  “What on earth do you think you’re doing landing here at this time of night?” he barked at the pilot
before spotting me inside. “Robyn! What’s going on?”

  By the time we’d got the kids inside and Miss Smiting had treated Aiden’s arm, I’d told Cryptorum all about the gingerbread enchantment and how we’d guessed the location of Miss Mason’s lair. Cryptorum’s expression grew scarily fierce at my description of the House of Sweets and how the vampire had forced the children to make her wishes. When I’d finished, he took us to the kitchen and made everyone jam sandwiches and mugs of warm milk.

  “You did well to find Pearl. It was a wild guess but instinct is what makes a good Chime,” Cryptorum said at last. “Miss Smiting and I found a group of vampires in the farmhouse hideout. They were easily beaten but there was no sign of Pearl herself. We knew something was wrong when the bats came to find us and we returned straight away. Dominic Dray’s reports about Pearl must have been mistaken.”

  It took me a moment to remember he was talking about Miss Mason. I couldn’t get used to calling her Pearl. I glanced at Tristan, who was sullenly sipping his drink. I had forgotten the information taking Cryptorum out of town had come from Dominic Dray.

  Cryptorum shook his head. “When I think how close Pearl got to making herself invincible. . . I should have destroyed that Wishes and Mysteries book long ago.”

  I shuffled in my seat. He hadn’t told me off for taking the book out of his study without asking but I felt pretty guilty anyway.

  “We musst worry about that tomorrow,” Miss Smiting put in. “For now we need to get these children home.”

  “Why are we here?” piped up the girl with the braids. “What happened to the place with all the sweets?”

  “The lemon sherbet was awesome!” Annie’s eyes lit up then her happy smile wavered. “But Miss Mason wasn’t as nice as before. Her eyes were really scary!”

  I put my arm round her. I wanted to say that none of it had been real but I couldn’t bring myself to lie. “You don’t need to worry about it. Everything’s fine now.”

  Tristan took out a small pyramid of polished bronze and flicked a button on the base. A green spark began dancing on its tip. “Give them a shock with this Cranial Neutralizer. That’ll zap their memory of the whole thing.”