“Get away if you can,” Lucy shouted over her shoulder as was dragged past.
“Not leaving you ’ere, Luce. Oi! Fido, scarper!”
The dog whined in confusion at hearing a cat talk.
“Go on, get out of it,” Smell yelled.
But the dog seemed to discover more courage and launched itself at Smell, grabbing him by the scuff of the neck. Smell yowled and spat with fury.
“Don’t hurt him!” Lucy yelled. She tried to dig her heels in but she was outnumbered. She was forced along to where Bertie was being held by Becky and the boy from the alley.
“You traitor, Becky!” Lucy yelled as her captors shoved her roughly up against the wall alongside Bertie, who started yelling too.
“Where’s my father? What have you done to him? I want to see him!”
“Phew. You two need to calm down, you’ll give yourself conniptions,” the violin girl said as the hairy dog trotted up to her and deposited a yowling, hissing Smell at her feet. “Barkis, you’re not to eat the cat. At least not yet. Guard him!”
Barkis obeyed, standing over Smell, growling menacingly.
“Are we going to put ’em in with the others, Valentina?” Tobias asked the girl.
“In a minute.” Valentina bent down and retrieved the mask she had dropped when transforming back into herself. Lucy shuddered at the sight of it. A rubbery version of Lord Grave’s face, with holes for the eyes and a slit for the mouth. Valentina reached up and hung it on a nail on the wall alongside an array of other masks. Two were recognisable as faces Lucy knew – Violet and Lord Percy, both with the same empty eyes as the Lord Grave mask. Others were blank and featureless and some were monstrosities with eyeholes lower or higher than they should have been and grimacing mouths that flapped open.
Valentina strode up to Lucy, only stopping when the two of them were just inches apart. “Admiring my creations, Goodly? Impressive, aren’t they?”
“Vile things,” Lucy said.
“It’s a shame we weren’t able to make a mask of you, Goodly. Tobias and then Becky both managed to mess that up. But we might still be able to get one for my collection. Tilly, Tim, keep tight hold of her.”
The black-haired siblings grasped Lucy by the upper arms. They both seemed to take great pleasure in digging their fingers painfully into her flesh. Lucy watched in horror as Valentina lifted the hem of her velvet skirt and slid a small but lethal-looking knife from her boot, along with a shiny coin the size of a penny.
“Leave her alone!” yelled Bertie.
“You ’urt ’er and you’ll be sorry!” Smell added.
Valentina dug the point of the knife into Lucy’s cheek. Lucy yelled out in pain as blood began to trickle down the side of her face. Valentina calmly swiped her thumb through Lucy’s blood before smearing it on the coin, which she then slipped into the mouth of one of the blank masks that hung on the wall. The coin began to fizz and smoke and the mask started to bubble and melt. A few drops of the rubbery substance dripped to the floor. Then the mask gradually shaped itself into an exact replica of Lucy’s features. Lucy closed her eyes, not wanting to look at the horrific sight of her own face dangling from a nail.
“I thought you were supposed to be brave, Goodly? Don’t you like your mask?” Valentina said, while the rest of the gang jeered.
Bertie began struggling again, trying to free himself from Becky and Tobias’s clutches. “Where’s my father?” he shouted.
“Hell’s teeth, you’re annoying. Right, everyone. Bertie wants to see his daddykins. Let’s reunite them. Goodly and the moggy as well.”
Lucy and Bertie were pushed and prodded towards a door that was set in the middle of the wall of masks. Barkis had again grabbed Smell in his jaws. Valentina opened the door and the three prisoners were shoved unceremoniously into the dank, windowless room beyond.
“We’ll be back shortly!” Valentina said, cheerfully slamming the door shut.
It took a few moments for Lucy’s eyes to adjust to the gloom, which was relieved only by a few meagre stumps of candle. What she saw made her clap her hand to her mouth in horror. Smell hissed and growled.
“Oh no! Father!” Bertie gasped. He rushed over to Lord Grave, who was lying on a pile of dirty straw alongside the bodies of Violet, Lord Percy and Vonk.
Feeling sick with helplessness, Lucy watched as Bertie knelt next to his father, groaning in despair.
“S’alright,” Smell said. “No one’s dead!”
“How do you know?” Bertie looked up, his face awash with tears
Smell sniffed deeply. “Death ’as a particular stink. That stink ain’t ’ere.”
As if to prove Smell right, Vonk stirred. He coughed and struggled to move, hampered by two pairs of iron manacles. One pair was fastened round his ankles and the other round his wrists. Lucy knew that the manacles immobilised Vonk in more ways than one: iron prevented magicians casting magic, so he wouldn’t be able to use it to free himself. She ran over to help him get into a sitting position, with his back against the damp brick wall.
“Oh no,” Vonk said. “They got you!”
“What have they done to you? What have they done to Father? Is he …”
“Don’t you concern yourself, Master Bertie. He’s asleep, that’s all,” Vonk said.
“Do you understand what’s been going on? That girl, Valentina, she makes masks that turn her into someone else! She turned herself into Lord Grave!” Lucy said.
“I know, Lucy. It’s bad, bad magic. They kidnapped us so that they could impersonate us.”
“How did they get you all here?” Lucy asked.
“They gave us all some sort of sleeping potion. I think the blades they used when they cut us were coated with it. Once we were asleep they brought us here. As far as I can work out, Violet and Lord Percy were both taken two days ago, a few hours after they were attacked. The following night the false Lord Percy went out for dinner with Lord Grave, and that’s when they took him,” Vonk explained.
“What about you?”
“Do you remember Lord Grave saying he wanted a word with me last night? That’s when they took me. Becky’s one of them, you know, a Hard Times Hall orphan. She’s been lying to us all this time.”
“But why won’t Father wake up?” Bertie cried.
“I think the stupid children—”
“Watch your mouth, old man,” Valentina said, yanking open the door and striding into the room followed by her gang. “It’s Tobias’s fault, if you must know. He made the sleeping potion too strong at first. Grave, Percy and that kid can’t seem to sleep it off. Mind you, I’m not convinced Grave isn’t shamming,” Valentina kicked Lord Grave’s huddled form.
“Leave him alone!” yelled Bertie. He tried to get to Valentina, but Becky and Tobias held him back.
Lord Grave moaned and twitched. Valentina hunkered down next to him. “You’d better wake up. I’ve got your darling son here. Tobias has a very sharp knife, as you know. Which bit of Master Bertie should we slice off first?”
Lord Grave moaned again and half sat up. His face was a nasty grey colour and there were deep shadows under his eyes. Bits of straw clung to his moustache and his clothes were muddied and torn.
“Bertie, my boy, are you hurt?” he said in a slurred voice.
“Don’t you worry about me! What have they done to you?”
“I’m fine, my boy. Fine. These young incompetents messed up their magic. I simply can’t stay …” Lord Grave’s head began to droop, like a wilting flower.
Valentina gave Lord Grave another kick. “Your daddy has something I want, Master Bertie. But he won’t tell me how to get to it. I’m giving you one more chance, you stupid old codger. Tell me how to get in or I’ll kill your son and Goodly. And Barkis will have a tasty cat supper. Makes a change from eating rats, eh, Barkis?”
With visible effort, Lord Grave lifted his head. “Very well. Take us back to Grave Hall. I’ll let you into the Room of Curiosities and give you what you’re looki
ng for.”
“That’s a wonderful idea!” Valentina said, clapping her hands together. “At least it would be if some of the most powerful magicians in the world weren’t arriving at Grave Hall right now. Do you think I’m stupid enough to walk into a trap like that? Tell me how to get in on my own.”
There was a long silence. Lord Grave began to nod off again. Valentina gave him yet another vicious kick and he jerked awake once more.
“Turner and Paige. Librarians. Have the keys.” Lord Grave was clearly fighting to stay awake, but whatever magic was working on him was too strong for him to resist. He lay down on the straw again and began to breathe deeply and slowly before snoring softly.
“Hell’s teeth, Tobias. I still can’t understand how you could make that sleeping potion so strong. Bone, do you know these librarians?” Valentina said.
“I know where the entrance to the library is, but I’ve never been able to get inside. Goodly knows how to.”
Valentina turned to Lucy. “You can tell me how to get inside this library?”
“I could. But I won’t.”
“Are you sure? Barkis here is willing to take a chunk out of that cat if I say the word.”
Barkis growled in a suitably menacing way and snapped his jaws inches from the scruff of Smell’s neck.
“Don’t you worry about me, Luce,” Smell said, cowering away from the dog’s teeth.
“And me and all my friends here,” Valentina continued, “well, we’ve all got our own methods of making people who don’t want to talk, talk. We don’t even have to bother using magic.”
Every member of Valentina’s gang reached down and whipped knives out of their boots. They formed a circle round Lucy, who looked over at Lord Grave’s hunched and sleeping body in despair. Suddenly, one of his eyelids opened and flickered a couple of times. Then his head jerked a little before his eyelid shut again. He gave a loud snore. Was he pretending to be asleep?
“So will you get me into this library, Goodly? Otherwise we might have to start hurting your friends. Maybe we’ll start with this one.” Valentina went over to Violet. She crouched down next to her, pointing her knife at the sleeping scullery maid’s cheek.
Lucy risked another quick glance in Lord Grave’s direction. He gave a miniscule nod. There was no mistaking it this time. Now she was sure that he was faking sleep and that he wanted her to take Valentina to the library. Lucy knew Turner and Paige had their own mysterious magical powers. Perhaps Lord Grave thought they’d somehow be able to overpower Valentina and stop her getting inside the Room of Curiosities. At least she hoped that was the plan.
“Goodly?”
“Please, please don’t hurt us!” Lucy begged Valentina. She tried her best to look terrified. It wasn’t difficult. “I’ll do it. I’ll take you to the library!”
“We’re getting somewhere at last,” Valentina said. “But don’t go thinking you’re coming back to Grave Hall with me. Just tell me how to get inside.”
“But you need me to go with you! Turner and Paige don’t let just anyone in the library, you know. They’ll only let me or Lord Grave in. And maybe Bertie.”
“Goodly, you’re forgetting something. I’ve got a nice Lucy mask and a nice Lord Grave mask. I can disguise myself as either of you.”
Lucy’s mind raced, trying to think of a way to persuade Valentina that she needed the real-life Lucy or Lord Grave to get into the library. But before she could think of anything, Bertie piped up.
“It won’t work!”
Valentina frowned. “Why not?”
“F-fingerprints. Getting into the library. The entrance only works if you have the right fingerprints. Maybe you don’t know. It’s a new discovery, but everyone’s fingerprints are different.”
Lucy closed her eyes, suddenly feeling rather sick. She understood why Bertie thought this would be a clever move, but she feared he hadn’t thought it through properly.
“Just cut her finger off, then! Or Grave’s!” said Tim, the boy who was holding Lucy. His sister Tilly cackled.
Bertie went pale. “No. N-no,” he stammered. “I don’t think that would work. The magic would know it wasn’t attached to a hand.”
Valentina sighed. “He could be right, we can’t risk it.”
“And ’course then there’s me,” Smell said.
“What about you?”
“Y-yes, that’s what I was just going to say. As well as the fingerprint, you need Smell’s pawprint,” Bertie said.
“That’s right!” Lucy added, grateful for Bertie and Smell’s quick thinking.
Valentina narrowed her eyes. “You’re trying it on, aren’t you?”
“We’re not!” Lucy, Smell and Bertie said together.
“Honest, it’s the truth, straight up,” Smell added.
Valentina thought for a moment. “I’m going to have to give you the benefit of the doubt. Tobias, fetch a pair of manacles for Goodly.”
Lucy couldn’t help gasping in dismay. If she was manacled, the iron would prevent her performing magic, which hugely reduced her chances of finding a way to stop Valentina.
“Huh,” Valentina said, seeing the look on Lucy’s face. “You didn’t think I was going to run the risk of you casting any spells, did you? I only wish we had an iron collar for the moggy.”
“Oi!” Smell said. “Stop calling me that.”
“Will if I want to. And be warned, if you try any feline cunning, Goodly will pay dearly.” Valentina brandished her knife once more before sliding it back into her boot.
Lucy and Smell looked at each other. They’d got themselves into a deeply dangerous situation. How were they going to get out of it alive?
Lucy, Smell and Valentina (disguised once again as Lord Grave), travelled back to Grave Hall in the coach. They arrived around nine o’clock. The grounds of the Hall were lit up as bright as day; every statue, tree and shrub had been imbued with a magical icy white light, and every window of the Hall itself was ablaze with candles and lanterns.
Valentina drove the coach up to the front door, where dozens of others were already parked. If Lucy hadn’t been in mortal fear for her life, she might have enjoyed the spectacle. It seemed as though the magicians were in competition, each vying to be the owner of the most extravagant coach. Lucy had always thought Lady Sibyl’s coach with its flying horses was most impressive, but tonight it was overshadowed by a great, gleaming black carriage that had bat-like wings of its own on each side.
A couple of grooms hurried over to Lord Grave’s carriage, but Valentina waved them away. She climbed down from the driver’s seat and opened the coach door, which she’d locked from the outside. Because Lucy’s hands were manacled behind her back, Valentina had to help her and Smell, who was tucked beneath the cloak Valentina had given Lucy to wear, down from the coach. The gash on Lucy’s cheek was stinging from the gleeful scrubbing Tim and Tilly had given her face before she’d left the lair. Valentina, worried that Lucy would attract attention if she turned up to the ball covered in mud, had ordered that she be cleaned up.
“Listen to me, Goodly, and you, cat,” Valentina said when Lucy had clambered to the ground and Smell had wriggled out from under her cloak. “Try anything, and your friends will be for it. I nabbed these from Lord Percy when we kidnapped him. I know how they work.” She dug into her pocket and pulled out two of Lord Percy’s chits. “Both of these are ready to go at my command. One’s a message telling my gang to kill Grave and his cronies. You try anything and I’ll send it straight away. And as an extra precaution, my gang know that if I don’t send this other chit to them a few minutes after midnight, telling them that our plan has worked, they’re to start hurting Grave and the others. Understood?”
Lucy nodded.
“Now, let’s get inside. Keep your cloak over those manacles – if anyone sees them you’ll be in trouble.” Valentina turned and began striding confidently up the drive towards the stone stairs that led to the front door.
“Better just follow ’er
for now, Luce,” Smell said softly.
Smell was right. Lucy trailed miserably after Valentina. But a sudden thought cheered her a little. Gathered inside Grave Hall were some of the most talented magicians in the world. Surely one of them would realise that seriously bad magic was going on right under their noses?
As Valentina entered the house, the guests thronging the entrance hall surged towards her. She was soon surrounded by well-wishers, eager to greet what they thought was Lord Grave.
“Good to see you, old man!”
“Wonderful to celebrate with you!”
“Looking forward to meeting your boy. Where is he?”
Lucy’s small flicker of hope that someone might realise what was going on soon died. It was obvious that none of them suspected anything untoward. Valentina’s mask might be bad magic, but it was brilliant bad magic.
More and more people surged into the house. Vonk, or rather the Vonk imposter, was taking the guests’ cloaks and coats. Whoever he or she really was, they clearly didn’t relish being treated as a servant. Vonk’s face was flushed and he was scowling as guest after guest piled him with garments.
“Where have you been?” he demanded when he spotted Valentina.
A couple of guests turned round, looking shocked. “Such insolence!” one woman said, raising a lorgnette to her eyes and peering disapprovingly at Vonk.
“Quite! How dare you!” Valentina said in a booming, very Lord Grave-ish manner.
Not-Vonk’s eyes widened a little. “Yes, er, sorry, your Lordship. I didn’t mean you, of course. I meant … the girl. I could do with some help.”
“You’ll have to manage without her, I’m afraid,” Valentina said loudly. Then she continued in a quieter voice, “We need to get them all into the ballroom.”
“Easy enough,” whispered not-Vonk. “Grave hired O’Brien’s Midnight Circus to do the entertainment. There’s a stage set up in the ballroom. They’re just waiting on his word to get started.”
With Lucy in tow, Valentina began barging her way through the guests. She was rather rude about it and a few of the guests grumbled.
Goodly and Grave in a Case of Bad Magic Page 9
