Magdelena landed next to them. ‘Oh good – you’re alive.’
Lina untangled herself from the reeds and stood up on the swampy ground. When she looked back up, the swamp water was refilling above their heads. ‘We’re under the swamp.’
‘So, this is Swampton,’ Odge said, ducking slightly so she could fit down one of the swampy streets. ‘Home of the swamp fairies.’
Lina peered inside one of the buildings. They were made from rock and decorated with the same swirly lily pads that floated on the swamp’s surface. Swamp goo oozed from the windows and dribbled down the sides. If Lina curled up, she’d just about fit inside an entire building. It smelled of untended public toilets. ‘So the whole town is completely empty?’
‘Every single swamp fairy was recruited by the harpies to be the new police force on Mist. It was that or leave the Island forever, and the swamp fairies were scared of that,’ Odge said, tipping swamp goo out of her boots. ‘Apparently the harpies considered the wizards as their new police force, but wizards have got too much of a conscience, plus they don’t smell. Harpies like to assault all your senses: high-pitched voices to hurt your ears, smells to attack your nose and talons to go for your eyes.’
‘Do swamp fairies have talons like the harpies?’ Lina asked.
‘No, luckily,’ Odge said. ‘But they do have needle-sharp teeth. Horrible little things – although they are excellent chefs. Speaking of food, I say it’s about time we found some.’
Lina grinned. ‘And then we’ll figure out how to save Ben and Netty and stop the harpies once and for all!’
‘So it’s just us now,’ Odge said glumly over a delicious gloopy meal eaten while squashed inside a small diner known as Sloppy Susan’s.
With the entire rebellion being evicted and sent through the gumps, and her two friends captured by the harpies, it had dawned on Odge that she and Lina were the only ones who could stop the harpies. Given that Lina had only learned earlier that day that harpies definitely existed, it was not looking good.
Of course there was also Magdelena, but she was a ghost rat and not entirely reliable.
‘So were you a magical rat when you were alive?’ Lina asked, trying to lighten the mood.
‘No,’ Magdelena said. ‘I was an imp. But I stole some pearls from a harpy – I am a demon, after all – so they cursed me to live as a rat for all of eternity. Joke’s on them, though, because they picked a rat who lives in a five-star hotel.’
‘Well, that’s …’ Lina didn’t know what to say.
‘It’s late,’ Odge said, squeezing her way out of the restaurant. ‘Let’s find a place to sleep. Maybe an idea will come to us in our dreams.’
‘In your dreams,’ Magdelena couldn’t resist saying.
And so they wriggled their way into a hotel. Although it was quite small, and they had to crawl through the entrance, the rooms were very grand by swamp-fairy standards. Lina used the bed as a pillow while, across the room at the other side, Odge mirrored her.
‘This is all my fault!’ Lina blurted out, just as Odge had clicked off the tiny lamp. Gooey swirls of light danced around the room, reflected from the swamp surface above.
‘It’s not your fault at all,’ Odge said kindly. ‘It’s the harpies’ fault.’
Lina lay there in silence. ‘I can’t leave knowing the harpies haven’t been stopped – if I go, you’ll be all alone. That means we have almost no time left, and there’s no time for sleeping!’
‘Trust me, Lina,’ Odge said. ‘When you get a bit older, you realize just how magic sleep is.’
‘This time tomorrow, the gump will be closing,’ Lina said, jumping up and hitting her head.
Her backpack wriggled, and Ray climbed out. She scooped him up and cuddled him. ‘We have to stop the harpies – for everyone, but also for Ray.’
Odge smiled a sad smile. ‘Ray really likes you.’
‘We can do it, Odge. We can!’
‘I’m worried it’s impossible, Lina. I don’t want to think like that, but I can’t help it now. The harpies have won.’
‘You saved a prince when you were about my age! I bet everyone thought that would be impossible!’
Odge groaned. ‘Well, there was a lot of luck involved.’
‘But you did it,’ Lina said. ‘Imagine if you had said from the very beginning that it was impossible that you, Odge Gribble, would be able to save the Prince, and then you just didn’t try! You wouldn’t have saved him, even though you could have.’
‘This must be how Ben feels around me,’ Odge said, a smile breaking on her face.
‘You can do anything, Odge Gribble. You’ve just got older and you’ve forgotten, that’s all.’
‘You make an excellent point … for a human,’ Magdelena said, appearing through the wall.
‘What have you got against humans?’ Lina whispered. ‘You live with lots of them, all coming and going at your hotel.’
Magdelena shrugged. ‘They’re always screaming at me. I’m not even that scary; I’m just a ghost rat—’
‘Did you hear that?’ Odge interrupted, crawling over to the window.
Lina hadn’t heard a thing. She settled Ray down in the backpack and lifted her head as Odge turned, a look of panic in her eyes, and mouthed, ‘RUN!’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE PRISONERS
Up high in the mountains of Mist, the harpies had converted the attic room of Mrs Smith’s troll mansion into a prison cell. They had expected to evict everyone, but with Odge on the loose Mrs Smith decided it was best to keep the hag’s friends locked up, in case Odge managed to outsmart them, and they needed to bargain with her. Despite being a little on the irrational side, Mrs Smith was wise enough not to underestimate Odge Gribble.
Mrs Smith was happy to host them. She had the tallest towers, for starters, so there was definitely no way of escaping that didn’t involve death. Where once trolls had curled up reading their magazines or gazing at the stars, Netty and Ben now sat huddled together in a cold clump.
‘Odge and Lina will find us,’ Ben said, patting a terrified Netty’s back.
She was hyperventilating – not for the reasons he suspected, but because she was locked in a room with Ben.
As the most glamorous, gorgeous, boily hag on the Island, she could have her pick of suitors, but it was always Ben who had intrigued her. He was so nice and kind. And, yes, he had his downsides – he had no boils, not a single one. And his ear hair was lacking! But there was something magical about him nonetheless.
Netty turned to him and grinned with as many teeth showing as physically possible. Ben held on to his eyebrows.
‘Odge will come and save us,’ Ben said. ‘I hope she’s not throwing a strop and complaining about everything being impossible.’
He was used to Odge’s ways – her mood could change like the weather and she was wonderfully stubborn.
‘Oh, I’m such a beautiful idiot,’ Netty said. ‘If I hadn’t been so stupid and led the harpies to your hiding place, we wouldn’t be in this mess. What if Odge gives up? It’ll be all my fault.’
‘She won’t give up,’ Ben assured her. ‘She never gives up. And I don’t think Lina will let her.’
‘You’re right! Plus Odge isn’t the only hag with plans that could save you – I mean us,’ Netty said with a wink.
‘Is this the hair—’
‘The hair-rollers thing? Yes,’ Netty finished.
‘What exactly is the hair-rollers thing?’ Ben dared to ask. ‘Odge said you had a plan that involved them.’
‘It’s better if I don’t say,’ Netty said quietly. ‘In case they torture you for information.’
‘About hair rollers?’ Ben said, but Netty just winked again.
Ben got to his feet. ‘Do you think there is a way out? Maybe we could escape?’
‘Nope – absolutely no escape,’ Netty assured him. ‘I cleaned this room, and the only way out is through that locked door.’
Ben peeked through the ke
yhole and spotted a harpy talon in it.
‘Great,’ he said, sliding down the door. ‘The gump closes in twenty-four hours, and my parents and all our magical friends will be locked out forever.’
‘Not forever,’ Netty said. ‘Just nine years until the gump opens again.’
‘Nine years is too long,’ Ben said sadly. ‘And imagine, Netty – nine years locked up in here alone with me.’
Netty tried desperately to rearrange her face into an expression that was not one of joy.
CHAPTER TWELVE
TREVOR
Lina and Odge crawled fast through the streets of Swampton, pursued by the army of swamp fairies that had returned for the night after evicting most of the rebellion. The rest could wait on boats until the morning.
‘I can’t believe they’re back already,’ Odge hissed. ‘I thought we would have time to sleep!’
‘And make a plan to defeat the harpies!’ Lina added.
Unlike harpies, who shrieked and cackled, swamp fairies were deadly quiet. It was only the smell that gave them away. Most people, when they get a whiff of sewage, imagine it to be a burst pipe or an off sandwich – but on Mist it is almost always something much more sinister.
Lina pinched her nose as Odge pushed her fast through a town square, complete with a little gloopy fountain and bewildered-looking frogs.
‘There!’ came an ear-piercing voice. ‘I see them!’
Lina turned to see a small clump of swamp fairies hurtling towards them. Odge grabbed her hand, and they shot off through the maze of gloopy streets, the clump of fairies growing larger and larger behind them.
‘We need to get out of here!’ Odge shouted. ‘I bet, if we can just climb the buildings, we can break through the magical layer of swamp water.’
‘But they’ll see you leave,’ Magdelena said, who was scuttling along beside them.
‘If we can get up there without them seeing, the swamp water is so thick that they won’t see us swimming about up there,’ Lina said, talking fast. ‘They’ll spend hours searching Swampton, not knowing we’ve already left!’
Ray jiggled about in Lina’s backpack as they charged through the streets.
‘But there’s no way we can climb the tiny buildings, Lina!’ Odge said. ‘In case you haven’t noticed, in Swampton, we are quite massive. They’ll see us.’
Lina swung her backpack and unzipped it. She’d had an idea.
‘Ray,’ Lina whispered. ‘I know you probably can’t make mist, just like the other mistmakers on the Island, but we really need to lose the fairies and get out of this swamp. If there is any way you can, please will you make some?’
‘They have nowhere to go!’ a swamp fairy squealed in delight. ‘Nowhere at all!’
It was then that the most remarkable thing happened – Ray opened his mouth, sending a perfect stream of mist sailing through the air. It mingled with the clump of swamp fairies until they were more of a fluffy cloud than a smelly swarm.
Odge leaped up on to one of the buildings and pulled Lina up too.
‘I’ll go and create noise in a building over there to distract them,’ Magdelena said with a wink, and then she disappeared.
Odge and Lina stood tall on the building while the swamp fairies screamed and tried to fight through the mist. On her tiptoes, Lina could break through the magical layer of the swamp and poke her head out. It was so serene up there – all steamy, warm and filled with birdsong.
‘The bank of the swamp is just ahead,’ Odge said, winking gloop out of her eye. ‘Come on.’
Lina watched as Odge leaped on to the bank, landing in the soft mud. She followed, landing just short of it, and had to swim fast to the edge.
Lina hastily got to her feet. ‘Now what?’ she asked, just as she and Odge began to sink.
Odge scowled. ‘Those flying pests – they’re quick-mudding us.’
Lina could feel herself sinking through the mud, and with every move she made it just digested her some more. She stayed still, not moving a muscle.
Odge rolled her eyes. ‘It’s at times like this that I wish I were one of the more magical ones. A quick spell would sort this right out. Best thing I can do is grow impressive armpit hair. And often, I can’t even do that!’
‘Not the time!’ Lina shouted as some reeds snapped on to her wrists, and Odge’s too, and the pair of them were pulled clean out of the mud and hoisted into a tree.
At the top, holding the reeds, was an impossibly small swamp fairy, who introduced himself as Trevor. He was a squat little thing with a musty smell and a hat made of stacked lily pads.
‘You’ll be safe here,’ he whispered.
‘Um, aren’t you …’ Lina paused, unsure whether to say it. ‘On their side?’
Trevor grinned. ‘It wasn’t for me. I don’t like what the harpies have done to this island. I’m also a huge Ben and royal-family fan. They say you’re leading the rebellion and are going to help us all,’ he said, brushing the gloop off Odge’s blue boots.
‘I probably won’t help your friends,’ Odge replied, to the sounds of ‘FIND ’EM AND KILL ’EM!’ below. ‘They aren’t the nicest creatures, are they?’
‘Some of them aren’t so bad,’ Trevor said. ‘I think they’re just afraid of being hunted by the harpies or thrown out themselves if they don’t do what they’re told.’
‘Pah!’ Odge said. ‘That’s no excuse. Imagine if they all decided not to fight for the harpies – they’d be without an army and much easier to stop. Not standing up for what is right is the worst kind of bad, if you ask me.’
Trevor bowed his head, but said nothing. There wasn’t anything to say.
‘You’ll stay here until light, and then I will come and collect you. The tree is safe and magic.’ He snapped a branch, making it sprout more leaves to completely conceal them. ‘They won’t look for you here – the trees are too tall. They’d never imagine you could get to the top without magic. Now I must go back to Swampton and pretend I’m one of them.’
He waved and whispered, ‘Ben forever!’ before flying off, taking his distinctly musty smell with him.
Lina lifted a leaf and peeked out. The fairies were walking two to a row up and down and around the swamp, searching every inch of it.
‘It’s actually quite fun to watch them, isn’t it?’ Odge said with a satisfied smirk. ‘Look at them searching in completely the wrong place.’
Lina looked around the tree. The branches curled up and around each other creating a cosy, leaf-lined room. ‘I’m so glad Trevor exists. We would’ve never got up here without his magic. We would need to fly to get so high!’
‘That’s the problem with these swamp fairies and harpies,’ Odge groaned. ‘The flying – they’re impossible to stop when in the air.’
‘What if Mrs Smith wasn’t airborne?’ Lina asked, an idea coming to her.
Odge shook her head. ‘Flying high is what she does – if she sees you, the first thing she does is rise up and fly around. And you can’t defeat her that way. You saw them in action.’
Lina lay on her back and sighed, dangling her arms at her sides. She felt like she had the answer right there, but just an inch out of reach. She thought of meeting Odge and their journey here. Her stomach rumbled at the memory of the delicious chocolate torte. She snapped back up, her eyes wide. ‘Odge,’ she said urgently. ‘Odge?’
‘Yes?’ Odge said, not taking her eyes off the swamp fairies.
‘At the hotel, when we were eating torte, before Ray got huge, you told me about your aunt in London. Do you remember?’
‘Yes,’ Odge said absently. ‘She’s the only one in my family who lives in the human world.’
‘But you said something else – you said she was excellent at something.’
Odge looked up and whipped round to face Lina. ‘Balding people!’ she cried, covering her mouth when she realized how loudly she’d said it.
Lina nodded, a huge grin spreading across her face. ‘Balding. If we can get your aunt to bald
the harpies, they won’t have feathers to fly. Then we’d have a chance against them.’
‘Lina, you’re a genius! But you know what this means, don’t you?’
Lina nodded excitedly.
‘We need to take a trip to London,’ Odge said, smiling as the memories flooded back. ‘We need to go to platform thirteen.’
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
PLATFORM THIRTEEN
Lina barely slept that night, in part because she was balancing on a branch in a tree (in the smelliest swamp imaginable), but also because she was excited to visit London with Odge.
Trevor had arrived at dawn and, as promised, helped them out of the tree and back to the cove. From there, they stowed away on the last of the boats taking the rebels across the lake to the gump and arrived at the cave where a harpy hovered, eagerly kicking creatures from the rebellion out one by one.
‘Beasts,’ the harpy guarding the gump sneered.
‘Odge, what if they recognize us?’ Lina whispered.
Odge’s eyes grew wide. ‘Oh no, I didn’t think of that. I am very well known among the harpies, as you can imagine.’
‘Excuse me, but could you do us a huge favour?’ Lina said, turning to a troll and tugging on her beard. ‘We need to get through unnoticed, and I was wondering if we could hide behind your impressive beard?’
The troll looked delighted at the compliment and lifted her beard, and her friend did the same for Odge.
‘Good thinking, Lina,’ Odge whispered, from somewhere under fifty years’ worth of hair growth.
‘Beasts, yuck, ugh, beasts,’ the harpy snapped, occasionally kicking a magical creature for effect.
Lina could feel Ray shaking in her backpack, but there was no need to be worried. The troll beards worked a treat, and soon they were walking through the long tunnel towards platform thirteen.
The smell of salty seas was soon overpowered by the smell of sweet soaps and sandwiches, coffee and croissants. The rumble of trollies and trains filled the tunnel, and soon Lina could see people on distant platforms – real human people – running to catch their trains. Odge linked arms with Lina as they stepped into the bright light of King’s Cross station.
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