“Hurry,” said Mia. “I’ve got to get my sister out of there.” She stepped down to the first stair.
Emily hesitated, then she said with a gulp, “I’ll go too … I … I’m losing a lot of money since those kids I babysit got sick.” Then she tried to smile, but I knew she was scared. That made me think she was even more courageous.
“Wait,” I said. “We’ll need guards at the door to make sure the kids get out and that the fairies stay inside. Emily, Zach, and Mitch, I think you should stay behind and make sure no one gets through that door except humans.” The fairies weren’t going to just stand by and let us rescue our brothers and sisters and then shut the door between our worlds.
Again I thought about Forenza and how she’d made sure the Greystone sisters’ house remained free of the fairy spell. I closed my eyes and pictured the Christmas trimmings she’d decorated around the rooms.
“We’re going to need lots of evergreen and light,” I said. “The Celts burned a Yule log all night during the solstice and threw holly and ivy into the fire to keep them safe from dark magic.” Then as my ideas flowed, I said to everyone, “If we can keep a fire going at the entrance of the staircase, maybe the smoke and light from our fire will keep the fairies out of our world until the solstice passes.”
Digging the garden shears from my backpack, I handed them to Emily. “We’re going to need branches of holly and ivy
– go.” Then I turned to Zach and said, “You stay behind with Emily. Find a log, look under the rocks, and try to find a dry one for a Yule fire – hurry.” Zach and Emily raced to the edges of the rubble and began gathering greenery for the fire.
I turned to Mitch, “Just a hunch, but I’m guessing you know how to keep a fire going.” It wasn’t really a hunch. Mitch got in big trouble once in science for using the Bunsen burner to smolder a bunch of his notes.
Mitch produced his own matches.
“Remember – don’t let the fire go out,” I told him.
“Who made you boss?” Clive turned toward the steps.
“I’m going down to see what’s there.” “But how will we get the kids?” Mia asked me, ignoring Clive.
“I’m hoping we’ll figure that out when we find Amarjeet,” I said. Emily had come back with an armful of holly, and I handed a branch of it to Mia and to Clive for protection. “This might help.”
Everyone was willing to take on the fairies – however, I thought Clive was only coming along out of curiosity. He had no real sense of the danger.
“Keep your heads down,” I said as Mia and Clive followed me into the underground passageway.
I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Clive and Mia. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into.
Whatever it was, it wouldn’t be good.
CHAPTER 26 A Human Sacrifice
WE CREPT DOWN the stone stairway in the dark.
“We don’t exactly want to announce our arrival,” I said, “so we’d better keep our flashlights off.”
There were scurrying sounds on the staircase and a whooshing noise from above, but if it bothered Clive and Mia, they didn’t say anything. The chiming of the bell became louder and a sphere of red light grew at the bottom of the staircase until we stepped outside under a sky of red and orange clouds that glowed like molten lava.
“What … where …” Clive stood outside the tunnel and stared at the pitch-black trees with huge, silver leaves. Even though there was lots of snow on the ground, flowers with fleshy purple petals and dangerous black thorns clustered next to the trees. “Flowers, leaves, and snow all at once – it’s as if all the seasons collided together right on this spot.” He shook his head.
Day and night collided as well – while the sky was fiery bright, it cast a twilight glow, and long black shadows stretched out over the snowy landscape.
“Was it like this before in Fairy?” Mia asked me breathlessly. “Were the sun, moon, and stars all out at the same time?”
I looked up at the red sky and stared at stars that were a lot bigger than any stars I’d ever seen. They were as pointy as crystal Christmas tree ornaments. Shaking my head, I said, “Last time it looked more like fall, except … different …” There were things in Fairy you just couldn’t explain.
“This place gives me the creeps,” Clive said quietly. “It’s spooky, like some kind of alien planet.”
Or maybe it could be explained – Clive did have a point.
“So … okay … I am definitely in some strange land … so if there were such things as fairies … what would they look like?” Clive asked in a way that made me think this weirdness was finally sinking in for him. “Can’t we just grab them by their little wings and tell them to leave our town alone?” Now he was trying to sound cocky, but he couldn’t quite pull it off this time.
“The Grimoire girls … fairies … look like us,” said Mia. Her face grew so pale, freckles almost leaped off her face. “… like us, only …” Mia pointed to a thorny flower, “See how that rose is different from any flower you’ve ever seen? The same is true with fairies. They’re more …”
“More what?” asked Clive.
“More … beautiful and more terrifying …”
The way Mia said that gave me the chills and it silenced Clive right away. Then the peal of a bell rang nearby, and we followed the sound through a break in the trees. We stepped out into a tiny clearing, and my heart sped up.
Amarjeet, with her arm around Raj, stood with Sookie in the middle of the clearing. Mia’s little sister and all Sookie’s magician’s assistants crowded behind them. Amarjeet was shaking the bell, and its rings sent echoes around the circle of black and silver trees.
I drew in a sharp breath as Mia and Clive choked back a muffled cry when we spotted shadows spilling from the trees – that is, what looked like shadows until they came closer. Then those shadows began turning into black-haired, green-eyed Grimoire girls with their treacherous smiles, or white-haired boys and girls with pale blue eyes that looked like ice. As they got closer, I saw that when they grinned, their teeth were as sharp as razors. Amarjeet rang the bell and the fairies fell back, fading into shadows and melting behind the trees again.
A few of the little kids were crying, and all of them were whimpering, “I’m cold … I’m hungry … I want to go home.”
“It’s not so bad here,” Sookie said rather impatiently. “But if you’re that miserable, we’ll take you back home as soon as we can.” That’s when my sister spotted me. She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. “These kids don’t like it here.”
“Where’s Skeeter?” Clive shouted.
“Oh, Skeeter doesn’t mind it here. He wants to stay and play some more,” Sookie said matter of factly. “Jasper’s exasperated,” she sighed.
Only my sister would use a word like that at a time like this.
“What do you mean?” I asked calmly, desperate to know more about my friend.
“Jasper’s mad because he can’t make Skeeter come with us. But he doesn’t understand. Skeeter and I still have to find Buddy.”
“A little help here!” cried Amarjeet. “I’ve been ringing this bell for so long my arm’s going to fall off.” She lowered her voice and said, “Can we leave now?”
“What about Skeeter?” asked Clive. “We’re not going without him.”
“Help us get the kids back into the tunnel, and I’ll come back to get him,” I promised.
“Me too,” said Sookie.
Right, like that might happen, I thought. Mia, Clive, and I flanked the circle of children, brandishing holly branches and keeping the wraith-like fairies at bay while we backed up all the way to the tunnel.
We almost made it.
Standing in front of the tunnel entrance were my old soccer coaches, Ms. Sinster and Ms. Maliss.
“Hello, Cat,” said Ms. Sinster. Her long black hair hung like a veil over her head, and her eyes, still grey as gravestones, bore into me.
Sookie pushed up to the front o
f our group and was about to walk right past the deadly coaches. But I grabbed her arm and held her back.
“These kids want to go home now,” Sookie calmly told the coaches, as if they were teachers or neighbors and not evil-looking sorceresses. “I think you should allow them.”
The coaches shook their heads, and Ms. Maliss tucked a long white strand of hair behind her pointed ear. “Sorry, Sookie dear.” She actually said that with some affection, but it turned my stomach upside down all the same. “Don’t you remember? Father Winter is going to need the children’s blood to keep the solstice going for centuries. We require one drop of blood from each child – blood drawn by the holly leaf.”
“Take my blood,” I said suddenly
Ms. Maliss grinned, and it reminded me of the type of sly nasty gash in a jack-o’-lantern’s mouth. Mia wasn’t completely correct. Fairies did have beautiful features, but their smiles were ugly.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Sookie whispered to me. “The fairies don’t like you much.”
“Here,” I held out my fingers. “Take ten drops of blood from me. Let the children go, and let Jasper and Skeeter leave. Okay?”
With a wicked grin Ms. Maliss said, “Did I forget to mention that holly leaves in Fairy are poisonous? It could be deadly if you have to prick your hand ten times. But possibly not …” She laughed. It sounded like a witch’s cackle.
Several of the children began to cry louder. I was actually relieved when I saw that my sister began to look alarmed. Fairy hadn’t completely enchanted her – she still cared about others.
Both Ms. Sinster and Ms. Maliss rubbed their long slender fingers together. “A fairy fighter’s blood is powerful,” said Ms. Sinster. “A deal like that is hard to resist.”
“Don’t, Cat,” Sookie begged.
“You can’t trust them,” Amarjeet said through gritted teeth.
Not at all, I thought, because fairies were tricksters. But maybe I had my own trick planned. As Ms. Maliss and Ms. Sinster parted and stood on each side of the tunnel, I shoved Amarjeet forward and whispered that she shouldn’t worry about me because she and Mia had to get the children out of Fairy.
“You climb the stairs backward,” I told Mia, “and take your flashlight and my flashlight and shine the lights back down the tunnel. Celts used light on the solstice to keep fairies at a distance.”
Mia nodded and ushered her sister and the other kids into the tunnel.
“Hurry, you two,” I said to Clive and Sookie.
“I’m not letting you do this.” Sookie got that stubborn look. “I’ll stay – the fairies won’t hurt me. Besides, Skeeter and I have to – ” before my sister could finish, I took out my white feather and put it in her hand.
Sookie stared at the white feather she clutched in her hand as it glowed blue, green, and silver. A guilty frown tugged at her mouth. “But Mom said I could go up the hill. I didn’t sneak away, I asked permission …”
A tear trailed down Sookie’s cheek, and I quickly tucked the feather in her pocket before the coaches noticed.
“You know something wasn’t right with Mom,” I said.
Sookie hung her head.
“I need you to go now … in case it takes me a little while …” I tried to keep my voice level. “It’s really cold in our house, Sookie. Mom’s going to need more blankets.”
Then I whispered something in my sister’s ear. Slowly Sookie nodded and gave me a hug. “Don’t forget Buddy,” she said. Then she joined the other children.
“What did you say to your sister?” Clive asked me.
“Just that magic is misdirection. Don’t worry – I’ll get your brother.”
“And I’ve got your back,” said Clive, refusing to leave.
Mia, Amarjeet, and Sookie led the children away, as Clive and I remained behind with Ms. Maliss and Ms. Sinster. As soon as the last person disappeared into the tunnel, the fairy children spilled from the trees.
“We made a deal,” I reminded my former coaches.
“We did,” said Ms. Maliss, pointing to herself and Ms. Sinster. “But I can’t account for the rest of the fairies.” A Grimoire girl and a white-haired boy rushed into the tunnel, but they screamed and came flying back inside, rubbing their eyes. Mia hadn’t waited before she turned on the
flashlight. “No matter,” said Ms. Sinster. “We’ll have Cat’s blood.” I tried ignoring my pounding heart as Clive and I
followed the coaches and the fairy children back into the clearing.
CHAPTER 27 A Tithe of Blood
I STARED AT the holly bush with its shiny green leaves that had nasty pointed edges, and I wondered just how poisonous it was – in case my plan didn’t work.
“We’re in a rush,” Ms. Sinster said to me brusquely. “Hold out your hand and when we cut you, let the blood drip in a circle around the holly bush.”
“First I need to see Jasper and Skeeter,” I said.
“Who said that was part of the deal?” Ms. Maliss replied with a sly smile.
Clive stood beside me and surprised me by putting his arm around me. “We’re not moving until we have my brother and our friend.”
When did we end up on the same team? I wondered.
Ms. Sinster clapped her hands and two Grimoire girls scurried into the trees. As we waited, the red sky began to darken into a deeper crimson glow. A wisp of orange cloud cast a shadow on the white moon, giving it the appearance of a skull. A horrible chill made my teeth chatter. My scarf, coat, and hat didn’t help at all because the cold was coming from inside me.
“We need your blood now,” Ms. Maliss insisted. A few of the fairy children began moaning and fading into the darkening shadows. Ms. Maliss seemed to float toward me, her long black dress trailing like a tattered web along the snowy ground. The fairies were losing their grip on the enchantment. Like the moon, their power was waning as the solstice passed. If only I could stall a bit longer …
“Blood,” Ms. Maliss reached for my arm. I snatched it away.
“Fine, but I will do it myself,” I said as bravely as I could.
“Cat, Sookie was right,” Clive urged. “This is a bad idea.”
Then I did something I found terrible and so hard to do in front of Clive. I pretended to weep. “I … I’m so afraid …” And then I made dramatic sobbing sounds.
“Don’t do it,” said Clive.
I have to admit I was touched by the care in his voice, even though I hated acting weak in front of him. “Take half my blood too,” Clive told the fairies. “Maybe that way we won’t get too much poison,” he then whispered to me. But Ms. Maliss only laughed. Several fairies emerged from the trees and grabbed Clive and held him back.
I continued my fake-crying as I stood near the bush. One thing I learned in soccer is that you can’t always be the star, not if you want to win. As the saying goes, sometimes you have to take one for the team. I had to act terrified if I was going to convince the fairies that I was cutting my fingers on poisoned leaves and sacrificing my blood to them. The more it looked as if I was suffering, the more those wicked creatures would be distracted.
Ms. Sinster and Ms. Maliss held Clive back as two Grimoire girls half-dragged me to the holly bush.
Then as soon as the girls let me go, I slashed a holly leaf across my finger and made an agonized scream as a drop of blood landed on the white snow. Or at least, that’s what I made it look like. When I told Sookie how magic was misdirection, I meant that human magic was supposed to be about cleverness and creating an illusion.
When we’d been helping the children into the tunnel, no one had noticed me reaching into my backpack, and stuffing into my pockets the rowan berries I’d brought. Forenza had said rowan was a powerful agent for fighting fairies. Then when Clive stood in front of me, trying to defend me, I slipped the berries into my hands.
So instead of actually cutting my finger, I only grazed it with the prickly leaf. I dropped a rowan berry from my hand onto the snowy ground so that it loo
ked like a drop of my blood. By the time I dropped the sixth red rowan berry onto the snow and cried out, I heard Jasper.
“Stop, Cat – please.”
I looked up and saw that the fairies had brought Skeeter and Jasper into the clearing. They stood beside Clive, and all the boys looked horrified by my fake suffering. My face burned for tricking them too, but I kept on going.
When I dropped the tenth berry, I stumbled toward my friends and drew my hand across my face, pretending to wipe my tears. I sniffled before I said in a broken voice, “Can we go now?”
The fairies’ laughter shattered like glass, and they began closing in on us. Then the sky grew dark as the burning embers of a dying fire and the moon began to sink into the horizon. A warmer gust of wind blew into the clearing, and the fairies began to withdraw from us, howling as they were forced back into the trees’ shadows.
Ms. Sinster shrieked, “You wretched child. What have you done? The blood tithe didn’t work.” Then she screamed even louder, “The night is almost over and the solstice is passing!”
Ms. Maliss and Ms. Sinster appeared to leap toward me, but even though Clive and Jasper hurried to my side, it didn’t matter. A strong wind began blowing Ms. Maliss and Sinster back into the shadows.
“You’ll regret this,” screeched Ms. Maliss. “Sookie’s friend – Father Winter – is the Holly King, a most powerful fairy lord. He will never let you leave Fairy.”
A feeling of doom suffocated me, and an urgent voice in my head said, “Now you’ve done it.”
The other kids and I took off in a full sprint.
Just as we were about to head into the tunnel, we passed another holly tree much larger than the bush in the clearing. I let out a sharp cry, and this time I wasn’t faking. I looked at the back of my hand and a deep scratch stretched across it, down to the tip of my index finger. Blood welled along the scratch, and my hand began to burn.
Grim Hill: The Secret Deepens Page 13
