by Lyn Gardner
She found Netta and her sister sitting on a small bank by the side of a wide, picture-postcard lane edged with wild flowers. As she pushed clear of the brambles she thought she saw a glint of light as Aurora quickly pocketed something. Looking flustered, her sister said,‘Netta has to leave us here.’ She nodded towards the path. ‘But it doesn’t look too bad, does it?’
Storm said nothing, but she caught Netta’s eye, and in that second a look passed between them that said they both understood that, however dangerous the past had been, the future that lay ahead was more perilous still.
‘No, not bad at all,’ said Storm, forcing herself to sound cheerful. ‘Let’s get going.’
She hugged Netta fiercely and felt her throat constrict. Netta returned the hug and whispered, ‘I wouldn’t send you off on your own if I could come myself. And I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t have complete faith in you. Take care, Storm. And think before you leap.’ Then she embraced Aurora tightly.‘I wish I could do more for you, but I can’t. You must do it for yourselves. Good luck, my dears, you will need it.’ And she threaded her way back into the thicket.
The girls set off up the path. After a few minutes, Storm glanced back and saw a watchful silvergrey hare sitting in the very spot where Netta had disappeared.
At first the path was strenuous but not difficult and Storm set a cracking pace. But after just a mile or so the terrain became more treacherous. The tiny beck that had run down the side of the lane soon widened into a stream that spilled across the track, making the going slippery. Storm and Aurora slid all over the place on glistening chocolate mud and the stream quickly became an icy torrent. Both girls fell over frequently and they were soon wet through and splattered with dirt. The banks on either side of the path gave way to high rocky walls that rose sharply upwards. This narrow gorge was gloomy and dank, with strange twisted ferns and toadstools nestling in the dark, secret places that had never seen full sunlight.
They were not the first to come this way. On the rocky walls of the gorge many had left evidence that they had passed by carving their initials and names into the rock and adding a date.
Some of this graffiti was centuries old. Storm felt cheered to think of so many walking this way before her, and the fact that Hell Lane had clearly not always been such a creepy place, for many of the entwined names were those of lovers.
Waiting for Aurora to catch her up, she gazed around at the carved names and one inscription caught her eye.
Storm’s heart skipped a beat and, when Aurora arrived panting by her side, she silently pointed at the engraving, hardly able to speak, such was the mix of emotions in her heart.
When Storm finally tore her eyes away from the inscription and looked at Aurora, she saw tears glistening in her sister’s eyes.
‘Do you really think … ?’ Storm’s unfinished question hung in the air.
‘I do,’ said Aurora, sniffing. ‘It must be.’
The sisters might have lingered longer beside their mother and father’s names but for the unmistakable sound of a wolf howling somewhere far, far away.
Struggling ever upwards and ever wetter, grabbing each other for support as their legs slid from beneath them, Storm and Aurora were surprised when, after a violent twist, the path opened out flat at a crossroads where another ancient wooden signpost offered four choices.
Aurora looked longingly back in the direction they had come from, but Storm barely paused, merely glancing at the signpost before grabbing her sister by the arm and striding purposefully onwards.
‘Storm! Wait! It says danger,’ said Aurora, pulling back.
‘I know – I can read,’ Storm said impatiently, shaking her arm free and marching on.
‘Well, shouldn’t we heed what it says?’ her sister called, hesitant.
‘Not if we want to find Any alive. You really shouldn’t believe everything you read, Aurora. It’s a terrible habit. It will get you into big trouble one day.’
Aurora smiled wanly and hurried to catch up. ‘It’s just that I feel so scared not knowing what is going to happen, what dangers we are up against. If I only knew exactly what it was I had to be anxious about, I know I wouldn’t be so anxious,’ she confessed in a small voice.
Storm took her hand. ‘I do understand, Aurora. I feel the same. It’s like when you set me one of your horrible tests and the worst moment is just that second before you allow me to turn the paper over and see what the questions are. Once I know what I’m up against, it’s never as bad as I’d pictured it in my head. It’s the waiting and the not knowing that is so terrible. But whatever dangers are in store will come soon enough and then we’ll wish that—’
Storm never finished the sentence, for at that moment there was snarl. She just had time to hear Aurora’s scream of horror and catch a glimpse of flashing amber eyes and rows of razor teeth before she was pinned to the ground, her mouth pressed against matted fur and her nostrils filled with the earthy, ripe smell of wet wolf. She felt a shudder of hurt coil throughout her body as her head hit the ground and a hot white pain in her shoulder radiated across her chest as needle teeth sank into soft flesh.
I am going to die, she thought, with surprising clarity and even more unexpected calmness. The pipe around her neck burned red-hot. The wolf raised its head and opened its jaws for the kill. As it did so, two loud cracks cut the air. The wolf yelped in fear, leaped to its feet and bounded away.
Storm lay dazed on the ground. A stain of crimson was spreading slowly from her upper arm across her shoulder, but she didn’t care. She felt as still and peaceful as a reclining stone effigy in a country church. Apart from the tightening pain across her chest, everything was pleasantly fuzzy. The face of her dead mother floated in front of her. She saw little Any’s sad, beseeching eyes. She felt the pipe warm against her cold skin. Then she heard someone yelling in her ear.
‘Storm! Storm! Breathe! You’ve got to breathe.’ Shock had made Storm hold her breath. She opened her mouth and sucked greedily at the air like a newborn baby. Her lungs expanded painfully, her mother’s smiling face drifted away, her head cleared and she struggled to sit up. Aurora was kneeling beside her, quivering like a baby deer and transfixed by the tiny, smoking mother-of-pearl pistol that she still held in her quaking hand.
Shakily, Storm sat up and took the pistol from her sister’s trembling fingers. Aurora stared at her empty hand as if in shock and whispered, ‘I actually pulled the trigger. I shot a wolf.’
‘Strictly speaking, you missed,’ grinned Storm, ‘but it did the job. I’m impressed,Aurora, although given how much your hands are shaking it’s lucky you didn’t hit me.’ Aurora turned a whiter shade of pale. ‘Are you all right, Aurora? You look as if you’re going to faint.’
‘It’s the shock,’ said Aurora, feeling inside her knapsack and pulling out a small thermos. ‘We both need some of this.’ And she poured two cups of strong, sweet tea.
Storm looked at her sister in amazement.
‘You brought tea with you?’
‘What’s wrong with that?’ said Aurora defensively. ‘It’s come in useful, hasn’t it?’
Storm raised an eyebrow.‘I suppose so, but we’re not exactly going on a picnic, are we? You’ll be telling me next that you brought salmon and cucumber sandwiches.’
Aurora blushed. ‘Egg mayonnaise and cress, actually.’
‘Oh well, if you’ve gone to the bother of making them, I suppose I’d better eat one,’ said Storm, still grinning. They sat for a few minutes in silence munching sandwiches, then Storm said lightly, ‘Where did you get that pistol ?’
There was a tiny chafing silence, then Aurora replied, ‘Netta gave it to me.’
Storm looked a bit cross.‘Why you and not me?’
Aurora squirmed. ‘I don’t know.’
‘You do,’ said Storm hotly, egg spilling down her chin.
‘Well, if you must know, she said she thought it would be safer with me. She was worried that you’d be too reckless with it.’
/> ‘Me? Reckless?’ spluttered Storm indignantly. Then she added grudgingly, ‘I suppose she might have a point, given past history. Only a very small point, mind you. Anyway, it was rather lucky you had it, otherwise I’d be dead by now.’ She handed the pistol back to Aurora and said in a gruff voice, ‘Thanks.’
Aurora tied a neat bandage around the gash in her sister’s shoulder and they sat companionably for a few more minutes before heading on up the track, keeping a wary eye on the rocks above in case they were attacked again. Shock and the wound to her shoulder had taken their toll on Storm and she suddenly felt exhausted. So for once it was Aurora who led the way, helping her sister when the going got rougher.
Late in the afternoon, when the girls were about ready to drop, they came to a flat rocky outcrop by a waterfall and stopped to drink the cool clear water with relish. The temperature had dropped, and it had begun to snow again, great white flakes falling from a sullen sky. Storm glared up into the gloom. She was sure the weather had never been so volatile in the past.
She looked about for shelter and caught sight of a large crack in the rocks, half hidden by tall ferns. She picked her way to the opening and peered into a short tunnel. As her eyes grew accustomed to the gloom, she could see that the tunnel opened out into a bigger chamber.
Ignoring Aurora’s protests, Storm clambered in. It was warm and dry, with a smooth rocky floor and, at the far end, a small slit that let in the fading light from above. She called out to her sister. ‘Come on. It’s a cave. And it’s warm and dry. We can rest for a couple of hours and go on when the moon comes out.’
Aurora scrambled after Storm, watched from the bushes by a pair of small silvergrey eyes.
Storm smiled at her sister. ‘It’s not exactly a palace, but it’s warm and out of danger.’
‘Danger!’ said a voice very clearly.
Aurora clutched at Storm, who spun wildly round trying to locate the voice. It sounded strangely familiar but she couldn’t quite place it. She yelled back, ‘We’re armed. Beware!’
‘Beware!’ said the voice, and something detonated in Storm’s brain as she realized that the voice reminded her of her dead mother’s.
‘I am going to die of fear,’ moaned Aurora, who was holding onto Storm’s good arm so tightly that it hurt almost as much as her injured one.
‘Die of fear!’ came the voice.
‘We must go back,’ wailed Aurora, retreating towards the cave entrance.
‘Go back!’ said the voice.
‘It’s a terrible warning,’ whimpered Aurora. She fumbled for the mother-of-pearl pistol.
‘A terrible warning!’ retorted the voice.
‘Run for your life,’ cried Aurora, and took a few steps forwards before her knees buckled beneath her. She sprawled to the ground and the pistol fell from her shaking fingers.
‘Run for your life!’ the voice urged.
‘No thanks,’ Storm shouted back, a sudden sparkle stealing into her green eyes. ‘I think I’ll just stay here. But you’d better shut up.’
‘Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!’ replied the voice.
Aurora raised her head from the ground and pleaded with Storm, ‘Please be quiet! You’re scaring me to death!’
‘Death! Death! Death!’ replied the voice.
Storm grinned. ‘It’s nothing to be afraid of, Aurora, it’s just a silly old echo.’
‘Echo! Echo! Echo!’
Aurora looked at Storm in amazement tinged with admiration. ‘How stupid of me. Of course. An echo. There’s no reason to be afraid.’
‘Be afraid!’ replied the echo.
‘Be quiet, echo. I am staying whether you like it or not, and I am not going to talk to you. You are a dead thing,’ said Storm firmly.
‘You are a dead thing!’ came the echo.
A flicker of uncertainty passed across Storm’s face. ‘Echo, be gone!’ she cried.
‘Be gone!’ returned the echo.
‘Generally,’ said Storm, ‘I refuse to act on unsolicited advice. But there is something very creepy here. I think we had better go.’
‘Go! Go! Go!’ wailed the echo. The sisters didn’t wait to hear any more. They ran for the tunnel and scrambled through it as fast as they could.
They set off through the snow without pausing or speaking, following the path ever upwards. It was only later that Aurora realized that she had left the pistol on the floor of the cave.
Jelly Babies of Doom
It was close to midnight when Stor m and Aurora caught their first glimpse of Hell Heights. The path lurched to the right and, as they turned the corner, the snow abruptly ceased. Rising up in front of them was a castle, stern and unwelcoming. Bats flew around the tallest tower, which stretched upwards, like a forbidding finger reproaching the sky. The place looked deserted.
The sisters climbed the icy stone stairs and stood in front of an oak door. The huge iron doorknocker, in the shape of a grinning, open-mouthed ogre – the legs of his victim still protruding between his teeth – was covered with frozen cobwebs. Weatherbeaten signs proclaimed:
‘Well,’ said Storm, ‘at least Mother Collops has a sense of humour.’
‘It’s no joke being eaten,’ said Aurora exhaustedly. ‘And that’s what’s going to happen to us if we ring that bell.’
‘So what do you propose?’ said Storm furiously. ‘You know we need Mother Collops to help us find Any. Netta says she’s our only hope, and if that means risking being eaten, it’s a risk worth taking.’
‘Oh, let’s just get on with being eaten, then,’ Aurora sighed. ‘I’m so tired it can’t come quickly enough.’ And she pulled hard on the bell.
It took a long time for the ugly jangling to die away. But nothing stirred.
Storm pressed her hand against the door. It creaked open to reveal a vast hall, smothered in cobwebs. The girls walked slowly in, gazing at the dusty chandelier, the threadbare Afghan rug and a woodworm-riddled rosewood table. A tiny ‘tut, tut’ involuntarily escaped Aurora’s lips as she ran her finger over the dusty windowsill. She looked up guiltily and caught her sister’s eye. Storm grinned.
‘Hello?’ called Storm hesitantly. There was no answer. ‘Hello, is there anybody there?’ Silence. At the far end of the huge hallway was a gallery, from which two wide sweeping staircases descended on either side in a horseshoe formation. Below the gallery stood a huge saggy red velvet chaise longue.
There was no sign of a living soul but somehow Storm still felt that they were being watched. Pushing open a door set in the wall beneath the gallery, the children found themselves in another chamber. Although still extremely dusty by Aurora’s exacting standards, this room was warmly lit and a log fire blazed in the grate. In front of the fire was a small table laid for two. In the middle of the table were three covered silver platters. Storm lifted one of the lids and underneath was a salver of broccoli and succulent carrots like tiny fingers. The second revealed two aromatic potato-topped pies. The third dish was of ripe fruit: bunches of grapes tumbling over blushing peaches and wild strawberries.
Storm’s eye was attracted by a large mirror on one wall. Written in the dust on its surface were the words:
‘Well,’ said Storm, pulling back one of the mahogany chairs, ‘let’s tuck in.’
‘Maybe it’s another trick or enchantment,’ Aurora said, frowning.
‘Come on, remember what Netta told us. We must accept Mother Collops’ hospitality and refuse nothing. Anyway, it’s scrumptious,’ Storm said through a mouthful of pie.
Aurora looked suspiciously at the carrots.‘They might be poisoned.’
‘Who’s being over-imaginative now?’ said Storm, although it sounded more like ‘Whoa ben ova imgeentiv nia?’ as her mouth was full of potato.
‘Don’t talk with your mouth full. It’s rude,’ said Aurora sternly.
‘It’s rude not to accept hospitality when it’s offered. We mustn’t do anything to anger Mother Collops,’ retorted Storm. But Aurora was too nervous to eat and she
suddenly cocked her head anxiously.
‘What’s that noise?’
‘What noise?’
‘A tapping sound.’
‘I didn’t hear anything,’ said Storm, helping herself to more broccoli. As she did so she looked at the mirror. A new message was superimposed in the dust:
Aurora looked at her sister in horror. ‘We’re not spending the night here. We’ll be slaughtered in our beds and turned into sausages! We need to find Mother Collops, persuade her to give us the key and the map and get out quick.’
‘And how exactly do you propose to do that?’ said Storm angrily.
Aurora’s eyes filled with tears.‘I know I’m being cowardly. I’m not brave like you. I’m just me. And at the moment I feel like a very small, very frightened version of me.’
Storm took Aurora’s hand and squeezed it.‘You can leave and go back to Netta’s, if you like. I know this is hard for you, and I know how brave you’re being. I wouldn’t think less of you, Aurora, if you decided to go.’
‘Leave?’ said Aurora, staring wildly at Storm. ‘Leave, and let you face Mother Collops alone? What kind of a sister do you think I am? I will never, ever abandon you. Whatever the circumstances. I’d die first!’
‘Well, I am pleased that’s settled.’ Her sister smiled, and then turned on her heel and marched up the narrow staircase. It led to a bedroom, a vast gloomy room with an ornate double bed and ragged purple hangings, tartan wallpaper and a painted ceiling depicting a giant coiled sea-serpent devouring seven whales in a blood-red sea. Two crisp white nightdresses were laid out on the feather eiderdown.
Later, lying in bed, their frozen feet thawing on four huge hot-water bottles, Storm said quietly,‘I’d never, ever abandon you either, Aurora. Whatever the circumstances. I’d die first too.’ In the dark Aurora smiled, and then fell into an uneasy sleep.
In the morning they found a delicious breakfast of sausages, crispy bacon, scrambled eggs, soft white rolls, curls of butter and marmalade laid out for them. Even Aurora tucked in, although her appetite was still dampened by anxiety. After eating, Storm explored the house further, her sister trailing nervously in her wake, jumping at every unexpected noise.
