“Well done. Great job.” Moonzy carried Skaw over and dropped him next to the thin line. He squirmed out of her reach and then pulled himself up straight.
“Um. What should I do?” I bit my lip.
“Walk around the circle saying her name. You’ve got this, Coral!” Moonzy peered over at me.
I tried to speak, but I couldn’t. I spluttered, my eyes watering. I remembered the words Lyart had said to me in the graveyard about breathing slow and steady to calm me down. When my lungs started to fill and my airways opened, I began to walk, calling out the witch’s name.
My heart thudded faster than a dripping tap.
A cloud smudged the moon. Pushed by the breeze, a crisp packet flipped over like a winning card being played at a poker game.
I froze on the spot, not daring to move a muscle. After ages had passed, I let my breath out, ready to call it a night. I longed to be tucked up in my bed, cosy and safe.
Moonzy pursed her lips as though she was thinking really hard. “Lyart told me bad magic could work the opposite way from good magic.”
“That explains everything, cloth ears.” Skaw’s body sagged.
Moonzy tutted. “What I mean is, maybe you should try it again, except walk anticlockwise this time?”
I had never dabbled in magic before, so I was prepared to give it a go. Doubting it would work, I strode the other way around the stone, saying the witch’s name loud and clear.
Carline Deedclathes.
Carline Deedclathes.
Carline Deedclathes.
Moonzy and Skaw squinted nervously at the shadows.
Just as I was poised to kick at a juice carton in frustration, I heard a loud crack.
The ground shook and I lost my balance. The grass was damp under my hands and soaked the knees of my leggings.
The boulder rolled over, its underside alive with insects. They showered down on to the grass where they swarmed, searching for cover.
Moonzy flicked the earwigs away with her tail and Skaw wrestled with a couple of centipedes. I whipped my scarf off and used it to sweep the woodlice from my legs.
The boulder halted as it reached the edge of the hill. Without warning, it crashed down, causing the bench to flip over and the bin to topple, spewing out its contents in fright.
Moonzy wrung her paws together. Skaw didn’t once take his eyes off the bare patch of earth.
As I stood, a movement caught my eye.
A figure, silhouetted by an astonished moon, scuttled sideways up the side of the boulder on its hands and feet.
The squirrel and worm followed my gaze and gasped.
As the figure stretched, small pieces of decayed dress fluttered down like stunned moths. Carline Deedclathes shook herself, waking up every inch of time-withered flesh. She howled with anguish, lifted a straw-thin arm and pointed her finger towards the roof of the universe. Stolen moonbeams touched her curled nail and sparks flew. Her body lit up, reminding me of a crooked statue on a town square.
I clutched the tear catcher and inched forward. Just as I did, Carline Deedclathes shot into the sky faster than a satellite, scarred the face of the moon as she streaked across it, and vanished.
Moonzy was lost for words.
“That went well.” Skaw batted away a woodlouse with force.
Something whistled through the air. As I craned my head up to see what it was, I heard a thud.
Moonzy and Skaw’s mouths opened.
There, behind me, stood Carline Deedclathes.
Her hair hung in her face: the same pale yellow as grass that has been trapped under a plant pot, starved of sunlight. Carline Deedclathes’s skin was leathery and earth-stained. Her eyes stared out, unblinking, reminding me of some never-before-seen creature from a specimen jar in a museum. What was left of her dress was as fragile as leaf skeletons.
“I need to know why.” All the tendons stuck out on her neck. “Why have you done this?”
I teetered back from her, my heel grazing the edge of the Red Riot circle.
Carline Deedclathes made her eyes as narrow as wall cracks, searching for long-forgotten memories. She brought her hands up to her head and screamed. Clouds swirled and the tide raced out to sea. “My sisters: my poor, dreary sisters.” Carline Deedclathes’s eyes filled up with Devil’s Cape Black water.
I hesitated, unsure what to do.
Skaw nodded his head vigorously, egging me on.
If I didn’t get the tears, Lyart would never be freed, I’d lose the chance to be with Gran and children’s lives would be at risk.
I whipped out the catcher, leaned forward and pressed it against Carline Deedclathes’s cheek. A tear rolled into the tube, sliding down the side of the glass.
The witch growled and slapped my hand away. The tear catcher slipped from my fingers, twirled through the air and hit a stone, shattering into tiny fragments.
A cloud shielded the moon and shadows sneaked over the hilltop towards us.
Carline Deedclathes’s eyes gleamed the same way as wrecking lamps. She grabbed my wrist with coin-cold fingers and hauled me towards her. “Taking my tears can only mean one of two things: you’re making a spell to extinguish dragon fire or you wish to free Muckle Red from Halloway. And you don’t have what it takes to slay dragons.”
Fear rubbed against all my nerve endings until they frayed.
Moonzy let out an almighty sneeze.
The witch’s head cracked all the way round to look behind her. Carline Deedclathes let go of me, whirled over to the squirrel, and returned with her fingers wrapped around Moonzy’s neck. I could tell from Moonzy’s grimace the witch was hurting her.
Skaw flattened himself against the grass, desperate to make himself invisible.
“Why would you be wanting Muckle Red to escape from the graveyard?” demanded the witch.
Anger burned its way up my insides, barrelling past my stomach, heart and lungs. “You had a chance to keep Muckle Red inside Halloway graveyard, but instead you’ve made it possible for him to break free! It has to be one of the most useless spells ever cast.”
The witch snorted and another tear squeezed out from her eye, leaving an inky line down her face. “Every spell has its purpose.” Her voice was low, as though it came from somewhere deep inside her belly. She paced backward and forward so briskly, the ground was worn into mud. “Nippit Nebs. Bogle-Bo. Hellaine. Madrilda.” Carline halted, clutching her stomach, as though suffering a wave of pain. “Those were the names of my sisters who lost their lives because of Muckle Red.” Tears flowed freely; she wiped them, smearing Devil’s Cape Black across her cheeks.
The shards of the tear catcher twinkled on the ground and I cursed myself.
“He set me up by stealing hearts and making people think it was the dark magic of witchcraft. Before the villagers captured me, I made sure Muckle Red suffered for what he had done; locked in a coffin, to be trapped in the graveyard until the Hallow moon would show.”
Moonzy ceased struggling and hung limp.
I lunged to grab the squirrel but the witch spun out of reach faster than whirlwinds. Carline Deedclathes tensed with rage. “It was the townspeople of Saltbay who put my sisters to death, not Muckle Red. So, I gave him a chance to once again walk amongst them, because of what they did to me and my sisters.”
“You really wouldn’t care if he killed again? Especially after you know how it feels to lose loved ones?” I cried out.
A smile played on her Oil Slick lips. “If you gather the objects that release him, the deaths will be your fault, not mine.” Carline careered over to the circle, hacking at the line with her heel, leaving a huge hole in it.
I stared at her. Moonzy had mentioned circles were powerful shapes used in rituals – except only if the line remained unbroken. The witch was making sure the magic couldn’t work any more!
I flicked my eyes over to Skaw, but he’d vanished. My heart felt as though it had been kicked. He’d said it himself that he wouldn’t turn on Muckle Red, and n
ow with Moonzy captured, he’d left me on my own, to deal with Carline Deedclathes.
The witch raised Moonzy up in a way that made me shiver.
“Please, don’t harm her,” I pleaded.
Carline Deedclathes stared at me the same way a snake does before it strikes. She flicked her nails, Orange Blast sparks fizzing out from the tips of them.
A jagged line appeared by my feet, which widened into a yawning chasm, swallowing up grass, pill packets, coffee cups, a cider bottle and chip wrappers. The witch flung the squirrel headfirst into the crevasse.
“Moonzy!” I screeched.
Before I could leap in after her, the ground quaked, as the hole closed itself up.
Moonzy had been sealed in deep below the earth!
I saw red.
Carline Deedclathes should be inside the circle; it had raised her up and I was certain it had something to do with putting her back where she belonged.
I shoved her with every single ounce of anger I had in me. She twisted to the side, but I managed to catch her shoulder. The witch staggered backwards into the circle and fell, but immediately rose straight back on to her feet, as though hoisted up by invisible strings.
I sprinted over to the can of spray paint. If I could close the gap in the circle with it, the magic would work again.
Sparks shot out from Carline Deedclathes’s fingertips and there was a rustling noise. The blackberry bushes sprang to life, their branches hurtling through the grass towards me. I dropped the spray paint and gasped as they wound their way over my legs and waist. Each time I went to kick them off, thorns pricked me. The brambles entwined my arms and neck, dragging me into the centre of the circle, where Carline Deedclathes was waiting.
“One day they’ll dig under the stone and it’ll be your bones they’ll find, not mine.”
I tried not to picture the rock rolling over the top of my grave.
Lyart had said not to underestimate Muckle Red, but a world with Carline Deedclathes in it would be an equally dangerous one. We had been idiots bringing her back without knowing how to reverse the spell.
The witch lifted her hands and wiggled her fingertips. The brambles started pulling me downwards, towards the grass, the thorns needling my skin as I sank to my knees.
I thought of Gran and how much I had wanted to see her one last time.
All of a sudden there was a flare of light, which hadn’t come from Carline Deedclathes. The line of the circle was glowing Molten Metal. Shielding her eyes from the glare, the witch searched for the gap she’d made with her heel; however, the circle was once again complete.
I had no idea Carline Deedclathes could look even angrier.
I gulped.
The witch took a step towards me, but something flickered in her eyes. She hesitated for a split second, almost as if she was expecting me to say something.
That’s when it hit me. Could the spell to return her to the ground be as straightforward as the one that raised her up?
“Carline Deedclathes!” I shouted out.
The witch brought her hands up to her face. The ground beneath her softened and churned into a squelching pool of mud. Carline Deedclathes’s fingertips blazed as she pointed them at me, muttering words I couldn’t catch.
Branches tugged at my legs and I fell. New bramble shoots gripped my throat and tightened. I tried to loosen them by moving my head from side to side, but they choked me, robbing me of my voice.
I closed my eyes.
“Carline Deedclathes!” I rasped.
The witch howled with so much loathing, every part of me quivered. Her arms flailed as she sank up to her knees in the sludge. It was as though the grave was slowly reclaiming her.
If I could only say her name one final time.
A branch snaked into my mouth, scratching my tongue. The vines sliding over my nose and cheeks glistened with tears. I couldn’t breathe.
The stars swam. I tried to move but was held fast. I thought about Mum and Dad, and how much they’d already been through with losing Gran.
Gran had told me there wasn’t anything I couldn’t do if I put my mind to it.
I bit down as hard as I could on the bramble branch until it broke, and spat the pieces out. More shoots pushed against my face; I tilted my head as far back as it could go, thorns pressing into my scalp. I opened my mouth at the side, inhaling the tiniest bit of air. The vine encircling my ribs tightened and my ears rang. The edges of my vision blurred.
“Carline … Deedclathes!” It came out as barely a whisper.
The witch sank up to her neck in the gloopy muck. Exhausted, she kept as still as the night, watching me the same way as a wild animal does from a trap.
The shoots around my neck, face and chest loosened and my body heaved as I filled my tender lungs. I yanked at the branches, trying to untangle myself.
“I never meant for Muckle Red to leave Halloway,” Carline Deedclathes wailed. “Let me go. I’m the only one who can end this for good.”
I crawled out from the pile of brambles. Slowly, I got to my feet, my eyes never leaving hers for a second. “There are enough bad things going on in this world without you being in it. I’m going to do what you should have done in the first place. I’m going to stop Muckle Red from harming any more kids.”
A groaning noise made my head snap round.
“Now would be a good time to leave the circle, Coral,” said a strained voice. “Cannae hold this much longer.”
That’s when I saw him. Skaw was coated head to tail in Red Riot spray paint and had plugged the hole in the circle with his body. It had been the worm who had made it possible to reverse the spell. More radiant than an electric cooker ring, he started to flicker, like a bulb on the blink.
I peeled the last of the brambles off and stepped outside the circle.
As the mud reached her chin, Carline Deedclathes’s voice prickled with hatred. “If you want the bones, follow the path to Greystoor Caves and Sully Tarn.” Her eyes were full of cunning as she was dragged under the earth. Bubbles appeared on the surface, the only clue she had ever been here.
There was a giant crack and the boulder rolled over and lowered itself on the bare patch of earth, sealing her grave. It rocked backward and forward, settling itself once again to guard the witch.
Skaw lay flat out on the grass.
I crawled over to him. “Thought you’d done a runner.”
“I’m a worm. No’ an athlete.”
I gazed at Skaw. I’d misjudged him. Just because he was small didn’t mean he was useless. “I wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t been for you. Thank you.”
The worm avoided my eyes. “Didn’t do it for you. I did it so Muckle Red and I could travel the world together. Except that’s no’ going to happen now because you failed to get the tears. And no’ that I’m complaining, but we’ve just lost Mad Moonzy into the bargain, which is going to slow us down.”
Skaw’s words stung worse than scorpions because he was right; I’d made a mess of everything.
I hoisted myself to my feet and staggered over to the rock. I clawed at the earth with my fingers. “Moonzy? Can you hear me?”
“She’s under ten tons of rock and soil, Coral. I think you’re being a tad on the optimistic side.”
“Maybe we could raise Carline Deedclathes up again so that we can get Moonzy out?” I suggested.
“Are you joking? Have you completely lost your marbles?”
The clouds melted away and the moon and stars dazzled, their light colouring the sea Midnight Blue and crowning the waves with Crystal White crests.
My tears pushed the grit and bits of bramble leaves off my face.
There was no way I could leave without Moonzy.
A noise from the rock made me sit up straighter than lamp posts.
“Why is it witches never die?” Skaw groaned.
There it was again: plastic scraping against stone.
I limped forward, eyeing the boulder warily.
Something
moved under the soil at the edge of the rock. A flattened piece of plastic poked out from the ground. It crackled and popped, until it had reshaped itself into a cider bottle. “Do you think you could give me a hand? Some of us have just been squished by a giant boulder,” said the bottle.
Skaw and I glanced at each other.
“Moonzy?” I shrilled.
“Who else?” said Moonzy.
I knelt and brushed the earth off her. At the very bottom of the bottle, I spotted some Devil’s Black Cape liquid sloshing around inside.
Skaw whispered, his eyes practically out on stalks. “Is that what I think it is?”
“That would be a big fat yes,” said Moonzy, her ears swivelling. “That witch nearly got me good and proper.”
“I’m so glad you’re OK.” I’d never hugged a bottle before; her plastic sides crumpled. “I really thought we’d lost you.”
“Is the witch…?” Skaw nodded his head over in the direction of the stone.
“I can safely say Carline Deedclathes has been returned to her final resting place. I was lucky to get the tears.” The bottle trembled. “She tried to take me down with her.”
I picked Moonzy up and searched for my rucksack. I tightened the bottle’s lid so Carline Deedclathes’s tears wouldn’t spill out and rolled Moonzy up in my scarf. I placed the bottle inside the bag, with the top sticking out the side of it. She must have been bone-weary because she didn’t utter another word.
I returned for Skaw and tucked him into the brim of my beanie hat as I tramped across the grass to the path. We’d collected the witch’s tears: now all we had to do was find the cannibal bones and a wrecker bird. I gritted my teeth, more determined than ever to talk to Gran before she became heavenbound.
CHAPTER
12
The last rays of the sun flooded into the kitchen, turning Mum’s hair Garnet Glory. The washing-up liquid frothed up into bubbles as she swished her hand under the water, her Pool Party nail varnish making her hand look like a mermaid’s. The suds slopped over the side of the bowl as she slid the plates in.
The True Colours of Coral Glen Page 10
