Stardust

by Linda Chapman

  ‘But you haven’t seen her for ages,’ Lucy said. ‘And maybe…’

  ‘No, Lucy,’ Xanthe interrupted gently. ‘I’m sure she’s not a dark spirit.’

  ‘So why does my magic keep going wrong?’ Lucy asked.

  ‘I don’t know.’ Xanthe took her hands.

  ‘We’ll try and find out, but I’m sure it’s not Joanna. Trust me.’

  Lucy looked into Xanthe’s blue eyes. Confusion rushed through her. Xanthe looked so convinced, but what had Joanna and Robyn been talking about then, and why did her magic keep going wrong when Joanna was nearby? ‘But what did all those things she said mean?’ she asked.

  Xanthe hesitated. ‘I think I might know, but I need to talk to her. But, Lucy, I promise you she isn’t a dark spirit.’

  Lucy didn’t know what to say. She wanted to believe Xanthe, but she couldn’t quite. She knew what she’d heard. She could remember the pleading note in Robyn’s voice: Mum, you’ve got to stop it…

  ‘OK.’

  Xanthe hugged her. ‘Oh, Lucy. Try not to worry. We’ll sort this out. I promise.’ She kissed her forehead. ‘You should go to bed. We can talk more in the morning.’

  ‘Bye,’ Allegra said, shooting a worried look at her.

  ‘Bye.’ Lucy left. As she walked slowly back to her house she thought about what Xanthe had said. She had seemed so sure that Joanna wasn’t a dark spirit. But what if Xanthe was wrong?

  Feeling utterly torn and confused, Lucy opened the back door of her house and caught her breath.

  Her dad was standing at the sink getting a glass of water. He stared at her as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. ‘Lucy! Where have you been?’

  ‘I…I…’ Lucy wished desperately she’d turned into a stardust spirit and flown next door. What should she say? ‘I went to see Allegra.’

  ‘At five o’clock in the morning!’ her dad exclaimed.

  ‘I had something I needed to tell her,’ Lucy replied, but even as she said it she was aware of how dumb it sounded. She felt sick as she stared at her dad’s shocked face.

  ‘Lucy!’ her dad said. ‘Are you seriously telling me you went round to Allegra’s house at five o’clock in the morning just to tell her something?’

  ‘I had to,’ Lucy said in a small voice.

  ‘No, Lucy,’ her dad said angrily. ‘You did not have to! Whatever it was it could have waited until the morning.’

  ‘But…’

  ‘No excuses, Lucy.’ Her dad looked very cross. ‘I am very disappointed in you. How could you possibly have thought it was acceptable for you to go next door in the middle of the night?’

  ‘I didn’t. I just wanted to see Allegra,’ Lucy put in desperately. ‘I’m sorry, Dad. I…’

  ‘We’ll talk about this in the morning,’ her dad said. ‘Go to your room – now!’

  CHAPTER

  Eight

  When Lucy woke up, she thought for a moment that she had imagined the night before, but gradually she realized it had really happened. It wasn’t just a horrible dream. Her dad really had caught her coming back from Allegra’s at five o’clock in the morning. She groaned and buried her face in the pillow.

  Half an hour later her mum knocked on the door and came into the room. She looked serious. ‘Dad told me about what happened last night,’ she said. ‘Whatever possessed you to go round to Allegra’s in the middle of the night, Lucy?’

  Lucy shrugged. She knew there was nothing she could say to make her mum understand.

  Mrs Evans sat down on the bed. ‘Lucy, you mustn’t ever go out of the house at night without telling us. Is that clear?’ Lucy nodded.

  ‘Well, Dad and I have talked about it,’ her mum said. ‘We can’t let you get away with something like this without punishing you and so we both think you shouldn’t see Allegra for three days. I’ll ring Xanthe and explain.’ Mrs Evans stood up. ‘Come downstairs for breakfast when you’re ready.’

  Lucy waited until the door had closed behind her mum and then buried her face in the pillow again. Now she wasn’t allowed to see Allegra in the day and she really wanted to talk to her about Joanna. And it’s half term, she thought despairingly.

  She thumped the pillow. It just wasn’t fair!

  After Lucy got up, her mum made her go to the supermarket with her and then to visit a friend she worked with. Lucy kept thinking about Allegra. They’d planned to make an exercise track for Thumper. What was Allegra doing instead?

  ‘Are you OK, Lucy?’ her mum asked.

  Lucy jerked out of her thoughts. ‘Yes. Why?’

  ‘You’ve been very quiet today. I know you’re upset about not being able to see Allegra, but you do understand that Dad and I had to punish you, don’t you?’

  ‘Yes,’ Lucy sighed. ‘It’s just…’ She broke off. After all, what was the point?

  Her mum gave her a concerned look. ‘You still haven’t told me why you went round to Allegra’s in the middle of the night.’

  ‘It wasn’t important,’ Lucy replied quietly.

  ‘But it must have been,’ her mum argued. ‘You wouldn’t have gone there at that time otherwise.’ She looked at Lucy. ‘You know you can always talk to me if there’s something bothering you.’ Lucy nodded.

  ‘There’s nothing wrong at school, is there?’ her mum persisted.

  ‘No,’ Lucy replied. She looked out of the car window. She could tell her mum was watching her, but to her relief she didn’t say anything more.

  ‘I can’t believe you’re not supposed to see me for three days!’ Allegra exclaimed as they swooped over the fields that night.

  ‘I know,’ Lucy said. ‘I wish my mum and dad were stardust spirits so that they understood.’

  ‘Do you really think Joanna is a dark spirit?’ Allegra said. ‘Xanthe says she definitely isn’t.’

  ‘But what about the things I heard her saying,’ Lucy said. ‘It sounded like she’s been trying to do stuff to me and she’s been there every time my magic hasn’t worked.’

  ‘But we never feel odd around her,’ Allegra said. Usually, when normal stardust spirits were close to dark spirits, they felt faint and sick.

  Lucy had been thinking about that. ‘But we didn’t around Dan either. Remember he said he and some other spirits had worked out a way of using power so that normal stardust spirits didn’t sense he was a dark spirit. Maybe Joanna can do the same sort of thing?’

  ‘Maybe,’ said Allegra doubtfully. ‘So what are you going to do?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Lucy admitted.

  ‘We’d better watch her carefully,’ Allegra said. ‘Then if she tries to do anything we can tell Xanthe.’

  Lucy nodded. ‘Good plan.’ She flew faster. ‘Come on! Faye and Ella will be wondering where we are!’

  When they reached the clearing, Ella and Faye flew over. ‘Xanthe wants us to go and check the river,’ Ella said. ‘A tree has fallen in and the water is building up. Some of the other adults are getting rid of the tree, but we need to check that the river isn’t overflowing.’

  As they flew out of the clearing they saw Robyn in a nearby tree. ‘Where are you off to?’ she called.

  ‘The river,’ Ella replied.

  ‘Great. Can I come too?’ Robyn asked.

  Lucy didn’t really want Robyn with them because she’d been hoping to tell Ella and Faye about Joanna, but she couldn’t exactly say no. ‘OK,’ she said.

  ‘Oh, no! Look!’ Faye exclaimed when they reached the river. Water was streaming down the banks, flooding the ground.

  ‘If there’s a tree in the river further downstream it will be acting like a dam,’ Allegra said. ‘That means the water here will get higher and higher until the tree’s moved.’

  ‘Look, it’s flooding the otter holt,’ Lucy exclaimed, seeing the water streaming into the pile of wood.

  ‘The otters will be fine, but what if it reaches the badgers!’ Allegra said.

  ‘We’d better get help,’ said Ella.

  ‘I’ll go,’ offered Fa
ye.

  ‘I’ll come too,’ Allegra told her. ‘Come on!

  Lucy took charge. ‘Ella, can you grow some more plants to keep the water in? And Robyn, why don’t you and I put shields round the badger sett until help arrives.’

  ‘Sure,’ Robyn said.

  While Ella got on with growing plants along the top of the bank to stem the flow of water, Lucy pointed at the badger sett. ‘Shield be with me!’

  Nothing happened.

  ‘Shield be with me!’ repeated Lucy.

  Still nothing.

  She tried to pull power up from inside herself, but it just wouldn’t seem to come. She looked round. Robyn was staring at her uneasily. ‘What’s the matter?’

  ‘My magic won’t work! Try yours!’

  Robyn pointed at the sett. ‘Shield be with me!’

  A perfect shield formed round the badgers’ sett. The water reached it, but couldn’t get through.

  Lucy’s thoughts raced. Joanna wasn’t there! So who was affecting her magic?

  Suddenly she sensed that she was being watched. She swung round, feeling as if icy fingers were running down her spine. A rabbit hopped away into the bushes and then Joanna stepped into the clearing. ‘Hello, girls. I just thought I’d come and see how you were getting on.’

  Lucy stared. How long had she been there? Before she could say anything, Allegra and Faye came swooping back to the clearing with four of the adults.

  ‘Good work, Robyn!’ Emma called, seeing the shield around the sett. ‘And Ella!’

  Allegra suddenly seemed to see the shock and confusion on Lucy’s face. ‘Are you OK?’ she asked in concern.

  Lucy was desperate to talk, but not with everyone there. She looked round and saw Joanna watching her with an inscrutable expression on her face. As soon as she caught Lucy’s gaze Joanna’s face relaxed into a warm smile. Lucy waved and walked over to Robyn.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Allegra said.

  ‘My magic didn’t work,’ Lucy hissed. ‘And Joanna was in the trees!’

  She glanced over and caught Robyn saying something in an urgent whisper to her mum. Joanna carried on smiling, but gave a quick shake of her head and then went to help the other adults. Lucy stared at Robyn. Robyn caught her gaze, flushed and looked away. Lucy felt fear and anger swirl inside her. Joanna was doing something to her and Robyn knew about it. She was sure!

  At last the riverbank was shored up enough and the water was dried up by heat and wind. When Lucy tried to help the other summer spirits with the heating up, she was relieved to find that her magic was working again. But all the time she was doing magic, she kept thinking about what had happened. Her magic hadn’t worked. Joanna had been there. She remembered the look on Robyn’s face when she had caught her gaze after Joanna had been talking to her. What did Robyn know? I’m going to find out, Lucy thought determinedly.

  When everything had been cleared up, the adults left to go and see how the others were getting on moving the fallen tree. ‘See you later,’ Joanna called.

  As soon as the adults had gone, Allegra flew over to Lucy. ‘So what happened?’ she demanded.

  Lucy ignored her and marched over to Robyn. Be careful, a voice said in her head, her mum might be a dark spirit. But she ignored it. ‘What’s going on?’ she said hotly.

  For a second, Robyn looked taken aback and then she smoothed her hair. ‘What do you mean?’

  Lucy glared at her. ‘Your mum’s doing something to me!’

  ‘Don’t be stupid,’ Robyn protested, but Lucy was sure she saw a look of guilt flicker across the other girl’s eyes.

  Anger rose inside her. ‘She’s stopping my magic from working,’ Lucy said, aware that Ella, Faye and Allegra had gathered round and were listening.

  ‘My mum? No, she isn’t!’ Robyn said, but her voice was high and Lucy was sure she was lying.

  ‘She is!’ she said. ‘She’s a dark spirit!’

  ‘Lucy!’ Ella exclaimed, horrified.

  Robyn just stared at Lucy.

  ‘Don’t act as if you don’t know!’ Lucy replied. ‘She’s doing something to my magic! She’s doing things to me because I’m the Last of the Summer Spirits! She’s…’

  ‘My mum’s not a dark spirit!’ Robyn interrupted furiously. ‘How dare you say such a thing!’

  Anger beat through Lucy. ‘She is a dark spirit! Why else would she be doing things to my magic?’

  ‘Because…’ Robyn cried. She broke off and shook her head. ‘Lucy, you don’t know anything! My mum’s not a dark spirit!’ she said, tears filling her eyes. ‘She’s not!’ And with that she took off into the air and flew away.

  ‘Wait! Don’t go on your own,’ Ella protested, going after her. She swung round to the others. ‘We can’t let her fly off on her own!’

  ‘Well, she’s not likely to get into trouble, is she? Her mum’s a dark spirit!’ Lucy exclaimed.

  ‘You don’t know that for sure,’ Ella said. ‘I’ll go after her.’

  ‘But, Ella, if her mum is a dark spirit, you shouldn’t be on your own with her!’ Faye said. ‘Wait! I’ll come too!’ And they flew after Robyn as fast as they could.

  CHAPTER

  Nine

  Silence fell. Lucy felt her heart gradually stop pounding and her anger fade. She looked at Allegra. For a moment neither of them spoke.

  ‘Joanna is a dark spirit,’ Lucy said, but suddenly she wasn’t quite so certain. Remembering the shocked and hurt look in Robyn’s eyes, she began to feel bad.

  Allegra chewed her lip. ‘Well, we think she is.’

  Lucy sighed. ‘She has to be! She’s doing something to my magic. I know she is! And actually,’ she thought back over what Robyn had just said, ‘Robyn sort of agreed with me. Just before she flew off.’

  ‘I know. I noticed that, but then she did seem really shocked when you said Joanna was a dark spirit,’ Allegra pointed out.

  Lucy nodded. Now her anger had gone she felt awful. It must have been horrible for Robyn to hear her mum being accused of being a dark spirit. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.’

  ‘Do you want to go back to the clearing?’ Allegra asked her.

  Lucy shook her head. She didn’t feel like being around other stardust spirits. ‘I think I might go home.’

  ‘OK. I’ll fly back with you,’ Allegra said. ‘Come on.’

  When Lucy got into bed, she lay awake thinking about Joanna. Was she a dark spirit? What did she want? She tossed and turned. When she finally fell asleep, her dreams were full of dark spirits and strange, creepy eyes watching her from the shadows of the trees. She woke up in the morning still feeling tired.

  Her mum was making a cup of coffee. Rachel and Hope were getting ready to go to the stables. Mrs Evans frowned when she saw Lucy’s pale face. ‘Are you all right, Lucy?’

  ‘I’m tired,’ replied Lucy.

  ‘Been going round to Allegra’s in the middle of the night again?’ Rachel grinned. ‘What was it you wanted to discuss this time? How long you should play with Thumper today?’

  Lucy ignored her and sat down at the table, rubbing her eyes.

  Rachel looked rather surprised at Lucy’s lack of response. ‘Ooh, in a mood, are you?’

  ‘No,’ said Lucy wearily. She couldn’t even work up the energy to be annoyed by Rachel that morning. What did her sister’s teasing matter when she had a dark spirit after her? She saw her mum look at her in concern.

  ‘See you later, Mum,’ Hope said, going to the door. ‘Come on, Rach.’

  Mrs Evans went over to Lucy. ‘You look pale, sweetheart. Did you sleep OK?’

  Lucy shook her head. ‘Not really. I had bad dreams.’

  ‘Again!’ her mum said. ‘What about?’ Lucy looked at the table and shrugged.

  ‘Just stuff,’ she said.

  Her mum sat down next to her. ‘Lucy, what’s wrong?’

  ‘Nothing…’ Lucy started to say, but her mum interrupted her.

  ‘I know something’s the matter. You’ve bee
n so quiet the last few days. It’s not like you at all.’

  Lucy stared at her hands. Her mum covered them with her own. ‘If you tell me I might be able to help,’ she said when Lucy didn’t speak.

  ‘You can’t,’ Lucy muttered. ‘No one can.’ She sighed. She couldn’t tell her mum, but she could see how worried she was. ‘Don’t worry, Mum. It’s not important.’

  ‘You’re not being bullied at school?’ her mum asked. ‘Or made to do something you don’t want?’

  ‘No,’ Lucy said quickly. ‘It’s nothing like that. It’s nothing to do with school at all. I promise.’

  Her mum looked at her for a long moment. ‘All right,’ she said at last. ‘I’m not going to make you talk about it if you really don’t want to.’ She squeezed Lucy’s hands. ‘I know you’re growing up and you have to work some things out on your own now. But Dad and I are always here for you. You know that. Even if we can’t help we can always listen. You’re never on your own.’

  Mrs Evans pulled Lucy into a hug.

  Lucy shut her eyes and for a few moments felt all her worries fade away. She was home and she was safe. For the moment at least…

  Lucy felt slightly better for the rest of the day. Although she knew she couldn’t tell her mum what was wrong, it was comforting in a way to know that her mum was there for her. And her dad and Hope – even Rachel, she realized, despite all her sister’s teasing. She might not be able to tell them about her stardust life, but Lucy knew they loved her. For the first time ever, she found herself realizing how glad she was that she had her normal home life as well as her exciting stardust life. After all the tension of the night before, and all her fears and worries, it felt strangely comforting to spend the day with her mum doing ordinary things like tidying her room, making biscuits, watching TV in the afternoon – and having her mum come into her room to say good night.

  ‘I hope you sleep better tonight,’ her mum said, stroking her hair.

  ‘I’ll try,’ Lucy said. It was the feast that night, but with everything that had been happening she wasn’t looking forward to it.