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Copper didn't reply. She was so cold her brain seemed to have stopped working. She was no longer afraid. She followed Granite blindly. He was going to lead her to her mother. That was the only important thing. The only thing she cared about.

At the bottom of the stairs, the air was moist. The sound of water lapping against rocks filled the air.

The light was very poor, but as Copper took a few tentative steps forward, she sensed a vast emptiness in front of her as the ceiling soared upward out of sight.

"The lake freezes up some years," said Granite, as if talking to himself. "Like the year that you came. Very cold. Come on, this way."

Granite led her along the side of the lake, then turned off down a wide tunnel to where a shallow cave was set into the rock wall.

At the back of the cave, a sheet of ice hung from the ceiling to the floor in frozen pleats and folds like a solid green and blue curtain. Granite was pulling her toward the ice, but Copper hung back, afraid. There was something in the ice, something terrible.

"Look!" he hissed.

Trembling, Copper drew nearer
.
"I can't.. ."

She looked back at Granite; his mouth was a twisted smile. If a forked tongue had slithered out it wouldn't have surprised her.

"Please ...," she begged in a whisper.

"There! Look deep into the ice," he said. "See the blue ice pillar deep inside? The ice inside the ice and inside that.. . Can't you see her? Can't you see her there, Copper? That's your mother!"

18. Amber

Copper swallowed. her
mouth was dry. She laid a hand over her heart, hoping to calm it. "My mother?" she gasped. "Dead?"

Copper took a tentative step nearer. Then another. Peering all the time into the beautiful iridescent ice, trying to look through it and into it and yet afraid of what she might see.

"Is that really my mother?"

The woman's features were hard to make out. Large brown eyes, a strong chin and a wide, pale face. Her right arm was held out; her eyes stared away past Copper.

"So sad," said Copper. "And wistful. She's reaching out for something."

Her long, wild hair floated in a still cloud round her face, like seaweed tossed and curling in a frozen current. Her ankle-length dress ballooned as if full of air.

Copper saw a glint of greenish gold on the woman's wrist and drew in her breath sharply. "I think it really is her."

Granite leaped forward. He had been watching her carefully. "Ah ha! You saw her bracelet, didn't you? I gave her that bracelet," he croaked. "I made it. I designed and fashioned every single charm, and I made her wear it. It won't ever come off. You could say it's the most expensive handcuff in the world."

"But you didn't make mine!"

"Ha! So you
do
have the charm bracelet!" snapped Granite. "I knew it. I knew she must have given it to you."

"Aunt Ruby gave it to me."

"But Amber made it."

"Amber made it?" repeated Copper breathlessly. "My mother made it for me?" The words brought a warmth flooding through her that made her skin tingle all over. She broke into a smile. "I'm so
happy
it was her."

"She was a genius with gold," said Granite crossly. "Such a talent. Such finesse."

"What did you do to her?"

"Nothing. It's suspended animation," growled Granite. "Nothing to do with me. She did it herself, some trickery to keep herself from me. But she's a Stone and she belongs here and here she'll stay. Free from me," said Granite. "Free from you, from Cedar, everyone. She didn't want any of you."

"That's dreadful," said Copper, looking anxiously from her mother to Granite and back again. "She loved Cedar. I'm sure she loved me. She looks so very sad.... I think she was
too
sad to go on. You made her sad, and she's locked herself away from the sadness, and it's all your fault."

Granite laughed nastily. "Maybe, maybe. I think she was a wicked girl and did this to punish me. She wouldn't do what I wanted, but now at last you're here."

"Why can't you get her out? Why can't we melt the ice and break it down and get her out?"

Granite took hold of Copper's wrist and squeezed it tightly.

"You stupid girl," he hissed, his face close to hers. "I cannot get her out of that ice prison because she put herself in there. The only way she will be released is by you—you and the gold charm bracelet." He let go of her suddenly, his voice softening into a wheedling whisper. "Only you can free your mother, Copper. This is what you need to do. You
need
to save your mother, so don't tell me you don't have the gold bracelet. You must have it!" He paused and wiped his face, trying to calm himself. "When she's free it will be the end of the quarrel. All over and done with. We can be friends. Your mother would want that."

"Is that true?"

But Granite had turned away and was lumbering back down the tunnel.

"Come on, Stick. Follow me. There's plenty of time to think about it."

Then Copper had a sudden flash of inspiration.

Seeing Granite's retreating back, she quickly reached for her ball of wool and slipped the looped end of it over an icicle. It was done in an instant and Granite didn't see a thing. Then, as she followed him out, the wool in her pocket slowly
unraveled, leaving a blue line. Now I can come back and find her all by myself, she thought. I'll set you free, Amber. I can do it.

"Go back to your room," Granite said, "and think about what I've told you. I'll leave you a few days. I should imagine that without food and drink you will soon come round to seeing things my way."

The door slammed behind Copper and she was alone in her cell again.

"Ralick." Copper gathered him into her arms. "My mother is here!" Quickly she told him what she'd seen and what Granite had told her. "I feel all unraveled," she added. "And yet coming together too."

"You
feel unraveled," said Ralick indignantly. "You don't know the meaning of the word. I'm coming apart at the seams. Loose. Frayed at the edges . .."

"Oh, Ralick, I'm sorry. Look, I'll wrap my hankie round you," said Copper. She bound her large hankie round his middle and tied it tightly. "That'll hold things in a bit."

"Thanks," said Ralick. "It's all mighty suspicious," he went on. "Why does Granite want Amber set free? I mean, why not leave her in the ice? He's got her, your father doesn't."

"It could be just that he loves her .. ."

"Nah
_,
" said Ralick.

"So what shall we do?"

"Escape," said Ralick. "That's what we shall do."

"Ralick, that's a very good idea," said Copper, looking round the tiny room. "But how? The door's locked. . .."

"Try your crochet hook."

"Another brilliant idea, Ralick," she said, jumping off the bed. She slipped the long hooked needle into the lock. "This is the sort of thing that people do in films," Copper whispered, "but I never thought I'd be doing it. How does it work?"

Suddenly,
click,
the hook caught and turned and the lock was undone.

"Like that!" said Ralick.

"Amazing. Off we go." Copper snuggled Ralick down the front of her coat, put her crochet hook back in her pocket and crept out.

The corridor was empty. Above her the hazy green vapor shimmered brightly. The walls glistened moist and cold. A bitter draft nipped at her legs.

"This way," she whispered. "Down the corridor and then we should find my wool on the stairs."

"You hope," growled Ralick.

"That's right, Ralick, I hope. Let's try to be positive."

As Copper slipped along the passageway, an eruption of loud, angry voices and hammering noises stopped her. She shrank back against the wall and held her breath, listening. From outside the Rock she could hear yells and shouting— that was surely her father's voice! Yes, and Questrid too!

They must be at the front door! The hammering echoed
and reverberated through the cavernous building. Doors slammed, and inside the Rock there was the scurrying of many feet along the stone corridors and more shouting.

"My father and Questrid, they've come to rescue us," breathed Copper, looking back to where the commotion was coming from.

"Let's go and be rescued, then," said Ralick.

"No. I can't. I have to help my mother."

"You can't be serious."

"I am. Oh, Ralick, it's great that Cedar came to find me, I'm proud of him, I
love
him for it, but they'll never get in the Rock. How can they? And this may be my only chance to get Amber out."

"But Copper . . ."

"No, I've made up my mind. I'm going to Amber."

Copper scampered off along the corridor. She took a lantern down from its bracket on the wall and, reaching the stairs, descended quickly into the darkness.

At the bottom, near the path leading to the lake, Copper picked up the end of the wool she'd left. She sighed with relief. Anyone might have found it. But they hadn't. She was safe.

She ran quickly, reeling in the wool and balling it up as she went. Her heart was racing now, like horses' hooves galloping in her chest, and she felt hot and clumsy inside her thick coat.

I'm coming, she thought. I've got the charms. There's nothing to stop me. I'll save you now, Mother, and then we'll
go to Cedar and be together like a real family and I'll have done it all. My mother . . . oh!

She stopped suddenly. "Did you hear something, Ralick?"

"Nothing except your blooming heart going like a piston in my earhole."

Copper took a few more steps: the light was very dim and the air misty with moisture from the lake.

She stopped again, trembling: there was a noise. Someone was there.

She darted forward, pulling at the wool, but the sound of hurrying footsteps was gaining on her, coming nearer, nearer. She froze, waiting for the heavy hand on her shoulder, the cold voice of Granite .. . then . ..
"Copper!"

She spun round in amazement.

"Questrid! Questrid, is it you?" she marveled. "It
is
you! How did you find me?" She threw her arms round him, knocking his hat to the floor. "It's so good to see you, you've no idea! How did you find me?"

Questrid grinned, and at that moment Copper thought it was the nicest, joiliest smile in the whole world.

"We were out searching for Silver," Questrid explained in a loud whisper. "Didn't even know you'd gone, when we heard the alarm. We thought it might be a fire, or rock rolling, but it wasn't, and then we saw your footsteps in the snow and the sled marks, so we knew you'd been captured. We all came up to the Rock—even your father—and started
shouting and trying to break open the door. It looks shoddy, but it sure is strong! Then the Rockers started yelling and chucking stones out the windows and we had to go back.... Well, the others did. I dodged round the stones and sneaked in through a broken window. This place is a real dump."

"But how did you find me here?"

"Oh, I tracked you. I hunted you down."

"Am I really so smelly?"

"You certainly are. You can follow a strand of wool, Copper, and I can follow a smell. And I found something really interesting. Come and see."

"Oh, not now, Questrid, we've no time, they might be following us. They might come and get us any moment."

"It'll only take a sec. Come on. You must see, it's so weird." And he pulled her round a corner to where a small metal door was set into the rock. From all around it, the brilliant green light shone brightly, as if it were trying to push its way out from the inside.

"What is it?"

"Come and see," Questrid insisted.

The key was in the lock and he quickly opened the door.

Green light poured out like liquid, bathing them in color and making them blink.

"This is where it comes from," he said. "There's a sort of hole or well in the floor, see? I can't imagine what it is. The green comes out and up all those cracks and pipes in the ceiling and then all over the Rock, I guess. Isn't it weird?"

"Yes. Fantastic! But now, come with
me,
Questrid. I've got
something to show you, and if we don't hurry, Granite will be after us."

She pulled him away and, following the wool trail again, made toward the underground lake.