Abe kicked the wolf in the head. Martin howled in pain but kept on gnawing at his leg like it was a bone. The house was still falling, plunging down towards them like a comet made of bricks and plaster. He tried the spell again but the pain was putting him off, and the wolf kept on attacking. He couldn’t let Cressida die, not by his own hands, not like this, smashed to pieces on the ground like she was nothing. But I was going to hand her over, he told himself. She would have died anyway.
“I have to do this for Grace!” he shouted. He recited his statue spell but the wolf narrowly evaded it, and Abe took the opportunity to fire a sleeping orb at the creature. Martin fell into a deep sleep instantly and lolled onto the ground, amidst the marble statues of Miss Weber, Seth and Ginger.
He took control of the spell once again but felt his power slipping from him. He was suddenly not strong enough to hold up the house. Surely the crystals had taken enough magical energy from the house’s inhabitants? Then he saw the other girl, Emily, holding one of his crystals in her hand. She smirked at him and threw it in the river, and the connection between the circle of crystals broke. The power going into him from them broke. The house continued to fall and he was unable to do anything about it. The girl would die, and the book would pass to whoever was the closest.
“Help me!” he begged the old man.
Bram looked at him in confusion.
“I don’t have the power to stop the house from falling!” he shouted. “With your help I might be able to do something! Please!”
Bram hesitated, but there was his grandson up there, the only family he had in the world, and he had to do something. He turned to Emily, who nodded and followed him to where Abe was standing. All three of them turned to the sky where the house was close to hitting the ground and said the most common of all spells; the levitation spell. The house groaned, grinding to a halt just forty meters from the ground.
“Now lower it down gently,” said Abe.
“We know what to do, you psychopath,” spat Emily. “Just don’t get any ideas of trying to kill us while our backs are turned.”
Just when Cressida didn’t think she couldn’t take any more, right after she’d vomited up last night’s dinner and watched it pull back onto the ceiling, the house came to a sudden and lurching stop. She just had a moment to celebrate when she came crashing down onto the floor with such momentum she felt several ribs break and the ceiling and several bookshelves come tumbling down on top of her. After that she blacked out.
Chapter 29 – Memories
“It’s dark up here,” Cressida whispered. She couldn’t see a thing but she could smell an awful lot; mildew and damp and dust.
Joe climbed up the ladder through the trap door behind her. He felt around for the string that would switch on the light but couldn’t find it. Cressida felt something creep across her shoulder and she screamed. It was a spider!
“Get it off me!” she shouted. “It might be poisonous!”
Cressida hated spiders! She’d even heard there were spiders that could float and phase into your body and lay eggs inside your heart. Who’d want spider eggs inside their heart?
“You’re so silly,” said Joe.
Joe laughed. He pulled the switch string off Cressida’s shoulder and pulled it. Suddenly the attic was illuminated with an eerie, low light. The mannequin in the corner seemed to be a menacing figure lurching out of the dark to grab them; the piles of old books and papers were the battlements of a castle under siege; the Elf skeleton hanging by a hook on the wall was a cursed enchanter, out for revenge.
“Why are we up here anyway?” Joe moaned. “I don’t like it up here. It gives me the creeps.”
He was idly flicking through a fifty year old copy of Teen Witch Monthly, jam packed with dead celebrities and nobodies. Cressida couldn’t imagine Joe’s grandpa as a young person. To her he’d always been old.
“You always said your grandpa wouldn’t let you up in the attic,” said Cressida, inspecting a mousetrap with an eon’s old corpse of a mouse stuck in it. “It made me curious. I want to know what’s up here. There could be treasure!”
The skeleton seemed to draw their interest. They had seen one before, but that had been at school in one of the big kid’s classes. They were only six so they weren’t really allowed to go in there, but they had. This Elf skeleton looked old, ancient, and she was sure she could hear it whispering powerful secrets to her.
“I think it talks,” said Cressida, putting her ear close to the skeleton. “I really think it said something then!”
“What did it say?” Joe asked.
“It said Joe is an idiot.”
“Could it be alive?” he wondered.
She touched one of its ribs and part of it broke off and fell to the floor. She quickly picked it up and tried to force it back into place but it wouldn’t go, so she dropped it on the front of a bookshelf next to the skeleton. The title of a book caught her eye. It was called “The Elf and I.” For some reason she couldn’t fathom she desperately wanted to read that book. It could be because the title intrigued her, or maybe because she’d never heard of it before, but it seemed to reach out and shout, “READ ME!” So she grabbed the book and pulled it. The book appeared to be stuck to the wall, so she pulled it again, and something magical happened; the Elf skeleton and the wall behind it dissolved, revealing a small doorway.
“Cool!” Joe exclaimed.
Cressida was seriously confused. “This doesn’t make sense. On the other side of this wall is the outside of the house. There can’t be a door there!”
Joe laughed and walked through the door. Cressida knew it didn’t have to make sense, it was magic, but it still annoyed her. Still, her adventurous side eventually won her over, so she followed Joe through the door into a bright orange light…
Chapter 30 - Alliance
“Cressida?”
There was a globe of magic light shining directly into her face, and she had to squint to avoid being blinded. The globe was moved away, and she tried to sit up but there was a little soreness in her ribs. She could have sworn she’d broken a rib or two during the fall, yet she seemed to be fine.
“What happened to my ribs?” she asked. Her dream started to fade, but she held onto bits of it, curious as to how the story ended.
“I healed you,” said an unfamiliar voice. She assumed it was an emergency medical enchanter or something, recently arrived at the scene of the devastation. She managed to stand up, hating to be lying down while strangers fussed around her. There was Joe, Grandpa Bram and Emily, cat cradled in her arms like the world’s biggest, furriest baby. Martin was sat near to her and she petted him to assure him she was all right.
“Where’s Mom?” she asked.
“He turned her to stone!” Emily screamed, pointing at the stranger. “That monster turned them all to stone!”
They were a few feet away from the wreckage of the house. She looked from the accused to her home, now consisting solely of one floor that was in danger of collapsing into itself at any moment. It looked like it had been whipped up in a tornado and spat out again once it was finished chewing with it. She’d spent all her life here. She had all her best memories here. Now it was gone.
“Then you did this to my home,” she shouted, facing the man. “You wrecked my home; you tried to kill me and my family and you turned my mom to stone?”
“Yes,” said Abe.
This man worked for the Shadow Assemblage. He had been ordered to capture her and the book and take them to his bosses. She should feel hatred for him; she should want to hit him and make him hurt like he’d made her hurt, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. For some reason he had healed her broken ribs, and for another she could see the remorse on his face. What kind of killer had remorse?
“They want me to give you to them so they can kill you but…” Abe started to cry. “I can’t let them. You’re just a girl.”
“You nearly killed me just then,” she accused him.
&nb
sp; “That wasn’t my fault,” said Abe. “The wolf bit me, getting me distracted, and the sour faced girl over there removed one of the crystals that were augmenting my powers so I could keep the house in the air.”
“I didn’t know,” said Emily. “I thought I was helping.”
Cressida was torn. She didn’t like this man; he was the enemy. He could be tricking her. He could have healed her because he might get into trouble for taking her back to his masters damaged. Either way she couldn’t really trust him, even though he did appear to be genuine. She had to focus on keeping alive.
Behind her the house caught fire. She didn’t know what had caused it but she turned away. She couldn’t see her home burn.
The Book of Fire was by her feet, waiting obediently like a faithful pet. She picked it up, considered throwing it into her burning home, but couldn’t be bothered. There would be no point. It’d just home in on her again.
“Right,” said Cressida, charging forward. “We need a plan. Emily, the defenses on your house are excellent. Can we stay there?”
“Lichen was the one holding them up,” said Emily. “They will have started to decay by now and I don’t think we have the time to build up more.”
She looked at Bram.
“I have some defenses, but not much,” he said.
She thought. “We need somewhere we can be safe, to besiege ourselves while the Shadow Assemblage attacks. Does anybody have any ideas?”
The crackling of flames seemed so much closer than before. Emily gave a shout as a ball of fire shot from the burning house and swept around them in a circle, leaving a trail of flames in its wake. Martin howled as he singed his tail, and they all felt deep panic as they found themselves trapped.
Elias Tombs, the librarian from the university that had set a book monster onto her, appeared from around the side of the house. He leered at the fire almost greedily before turning to face them.
“I could burn you all alive,” he said coldly.
Chapter 30 – Harmony
Elias’ chilling words washed over them as the ring of fire hemmed them in.
“Do you know ancient Elvish?” Cressida asked him. He shook his head. “If you burn me alive and the book passes to you you’re only signing your own death warrant.”
He laughed, moving closer. “I was only considering burning you alive. It was just a brief thought, that’s all.”
“You’re mad,” Cressida spat.
“I’m not mad,” said Elias. “I’m just an artist. I like making drawings with charcoal you see; the charcoal of blackened, burnt human bones.”
Cressida felt a little sick. Using human bones as drawing implements? That was as revolting as it could get.
“You’ve probably seen some of my drawings before,” said Elias. “They are up on display at the Magefield Art Gallery.”
“I’ve been there!” shouted Emily. “I think I’ve seen his pictures!”
“And did you like them?” he asked.
Emily squirmed. “Well, they were…Okay.”
Elias turned his gaze onto Abe, who flinched. “You betrayed us, Abercrombie Hayden. You should have brought her to us.”
Abe didn’t answer. He couldn’t. He didn’t know what to say. It was too late to turn back now. Once Elias informed Phobos about his betrayal then Grace would be killed. He had to get out of this and rescue her, but Elias Tombs was a very powerful, very sick enchanter. He could wield flames like they were living things under his command. It was likely he couldn’t get out of this. In a way he was glad. He’d never be able to live himself anyway, knowing that Grace was going to die.
“Cressida Widdershins, you have your maternal grandmother’s hair,” said Elias.
“My mom’s mother had black hair,” said Cressida. The ring of fire around them was hot, making her sweat. “If you’re going to taunt me at least get your facts straight.”
Elias giggled. “She had hair as long and white as yours and she combed it for an hour each and every day. It was a ritual she would never miss until the day she died.”
He put a hand down the front of his shirt and pulled up a gold-chained necklace. Hanging on the end of it was a lock of white hair, still silky and shiny.
“She gave me this before she died,” said Elias, sniffing the hair. “As long as I have this I’ll always remember her.”
He appeared to be genuine. Sure, the lock of hair could have belonged to anyone but it was the long, faraway look to his eyes that told her he was being truthful. He was lost in remembrance of someone who he had clearly loved, and it could just have easily been her grandmother Harmony. Had she died her hair black? Yet in the photos she’d seen the elderly woman had black hair, including on the day she died from cancer.
“I can see you trying to work it all out,” said Elias. “I wouldn’t bother if I were you. You’ll just give yourself a headache. Anyway, I’m tired of talking. It’s time for you to come with me.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you or any member of the Shadow Assemblage,” Cressida told him. “Do you think I’m stupid?”
“I think you’re highly intelligent,” said Elias. “You just don’t apply yourself at school. You think just because you don’t have the magic gene then there’s no point in even trying. Enchanters get all the best jobs. What do the rest end up doing? They end up cleaning sewers and doing jobs so menial even the most pathetic enchanter can’t be bothered to do. You have a brain, Cressida.”
He was right. That was exactly what she’d been thinking; until the Book of Fire had reactivated her magic gene, anyway. Now the world was her oyster, and she wasn’t about to let this creepy thin man hand her over to be killed.
“It’s a good job they knew you’d betray them, Abe,” said Elias with a smug grin, “or I might never have been sent to check up on you.”
Cressida was lifted off her feet and yanked from the ring of fire. Joe and Emily tried to grab her ankles to pull her back but she flew out of there so quick they didn’t have the chance. She landed on the grass, feet first, the book in her arms.
“They will be so glad to get this book back,” said Elias. “You’ve really managed to rile them up.”
“I know what you’re going to do,” said Cressida. “You’re going to resurrect Frostma.”
“Why would you think that?” said Elias. “There are hundreds of spells in that book. My masters could want the book for any number of them.”
“I’ve heard of the theories that Snow Day is celebrated a week early,” Cressida explained, linking up all the clues in her head. “This is why the Shadow Assemblage has been so desperate to get the book back. I imagine they have to recite the spell on the anniversary of her death. Only that way will it work.”
Elias regarded Cressida with respect. She had the tenacity and intelligence of Harmony.
“The Shadow Assemblage will bring Frostma the Ice Serpent back to life and she will freeze the planet once again, ridding it of the pestilence of life,” he said. “Together my superiors and I will create a new world, one that will be ours.”
He looked at the Book of Fire, resting innocently in the arms of the girl. So much power contained in so little space…
Elias continued. “A select few humans will be granted life once again but with their memories totally wiped. They will be forced to seek guidance from the Shadow Assemblage and they will become gods once again. Not in the literal sense, not at first, but after centuries of worship they will become more and more powerful until they are returned to their former selves; the proper, omnipotent beings they once were.”
Cressida didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the sheer arrogant scale of it all. Every single spark of life on the planet would be wiped out, burned away in a tide of frost, just so a bunch of insane shadows could become real gods again? To make it happen all they had to do was possess the book she had in her hands.
“Follow me,” Elias ordered. “Once we are with the Shadow Assemblage I will release the spell and your friends sh
all live.”
She hugged the book closer to her chest. “I don’t believe you.”
“I could fry them now if you wish,” said Elias. “It’s your choice.”
Elias began to casually walk towards the marble statue of her mother. He put his hands on her arms, and then began tapping it with his finger. Cressida’s heart began beating faster.
“Don’t you touch her!” she screamed.
“If she was to break then she would die,” said Elias idly. “I’d hate to do it. The woman is like a daughter to me, being the child of the woman I loved. Yet if I had to I would kill her. There’s more at stake here than just this one insignificant life.”
Cressida looked towards her friends, trapped in the ring of fire, and her mother, all of them helpless. She had the power to save them, but what would be the point if all life on the planet would be extinguished anyway if she gave up the book? All she had to do was make a run for it. She couldn’t save her family but she could save the world; her family or the world.
Chapter 31 – Evacuation
Corona stopped for a rest on a branch full of ripening blackberries. The colony was near, she didn’t have far to go. All she had to do was get there in one piece. Therein lie the problem; she had heard a wolf hunting her the moment she flew into the forest. Wild wolves ate the irie when they couldn’t find anything better to eat and it looked like, the one time she really needed to get home, there was a hungry wolf after her.
The wolf sprang out of the undergrowth, mouth wide open. She sprang into the air and soared higher just as a huge set of jaws snapped shut on the branch. The wolf got a few berries in its mouth but no irie. Corona laughed and continued on her way. Once she got close to the colony it would give up. After all a tribe of angry irie was more than a match for some scraggy skinny wolf.
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