Lily and the Prisoner of Magic (17 page)

Georgie stared longingly down the white passageway, pulling against Lily’s grip. Then all at once she slumped back with a sigh, slipping her hand into Lily’s. ‘You’re right. I just want to see him so much. You don’t remember…’

Now that they were close to their father, Lily could tell how desperate Georgie was. Not to have him rescue her from the magic that was poisoning her from the inside, but just to be with him again. Lily couldn’t remember him at all, and she’d only known their mother as a distant figure, one to be avoided at all costs. But Mama had ruled Georgie with a careful mixture of love and threats, and it had worked cruelly well. She longed for a mother or a father now.

Rose paced forward carefully. ‘I think that may have been the last spell,’ she said, frowning and reaching her fingers out in front of her, feeling the air. ‘Now we just have to unlock the cell door.’

‘That one,’ Georgie told her eagerly, pointing to a heavy, metal door that faced them at the end of the passage. ‘I can tell.’

Lily nodded. ‘Why doesn’t he call to us?’ she whispered to Rose. ‘I know it’s a heavy door, but I can’t hear him at all. He must know we’re here.’

Rose gave her a quick warning glance, but Georgie had already turned back to look at them, her eyes wide with fear. ‘You think there’s something the matter with him?’

Rose sighed. ‘How long has he been here?’

‘I’m not sure exactly. Nine years?’ Georgie frowned thoughtfully at Lily. ‘Yes. From when Lily was tiny.’

‘Nine years here…’ Lily shuddered.

‘Exactly. Georgie, he may not be how you remember him,’ Rose told her gently, as she walked towards the door.

‘I know,’ Georgie whispered. ‘Let’s hurry. He’s waiting for us, I’m sure.’

They all stared at the door cautiously, wondering where to begin.

In the end, Lily gave up being patient and careful. She stroked one hand down the heavy door, hearing the hiss of indrawn breath as the others watched her anxiously. She could feel magic seething inside the metal, the power rushing towards her touch. She snatched it away quickly, but not before she’d felt something else behind the door. A curious, friendly, adventurous magic that she was sure was her father’s.

‘The door’s got the same sort of spells they used at Fell Hall, but cast into the metal,’ she told the others. ‘Spells to squash down people’s magic. And they’re stronger, more alive. Maybe metal holds magic better than those little glass bottles.’

‘It does,’ Rose agreed. ‘Though they may just have used stronger ones to start with. They had no idea how powerful you young magicians could be. But these are enemies of the state they’ve got shut up in here. They’ll have made them as impenetrable as they can.’

‘So you didn’t cast these?’ Georgie asked anxiously, joining Lily at the door and pressing her fingertips into the buttery shine of the metal.

‘No… Only the guard spells.’ Rose frowned. ‘I don’t know who they got to make the building itself. It’s a mixture – real stonework and magical building, tied together so closely. I’ve never seen anything like these doors before.’

‘We need Argent…’ Lily said, frowning. ‘He took those spells off Georgie and all the other children.’

‘You don’t,’ Henrietta snapped. ‘He wouldn’t fit, for a start. And I have been your familiar for months now. We can do this ourselves. Georgie has been under these spells before, and so has she.’ The pug dog nodded her head towards the princess, and Lily cast Princess Jane an apologetic look. Henrietta was always very strict about Lily’s manners, but she didn’t think the same rules applied to her. ‘You managed to ward off the spells at Fell Hall – you never went under. So between you all you ought to know how to get rid of them again.’

The princess nodded, holding out her hands to Lily. ‘Can you see inside me? Can you feel where the spells were?’

‘Try it, Lily,’ Rose agreed. ‘Jane is probably safer than Georgie. It’s best not to go picking around inside you until we’re ready,’ she told Georgie apologetically.

Lily took one of Jane’s hands and cautiously placed her other hand flat against the door, waiting for the magic to swirl around her again. It was a mist, a thick, heavy fog that rushed into her blood, slowing and subduing her. She shook her head crossly and slammed it away, tearing her fingers from the door. ‘No!’

‘It’s strong, then.’ Rose frowned. ‘Perhaps we should…’

‘I can do it,’ Lily snarled crossly. She caught both Jane’s hands this time, sending her magic flooding through the old lady’s papery skin, searching for the places the deadening magic had lurked inside her.

Slow down. Gently…

She thought it was Rose at first, and then Georgie, talking inside her head the way she had on board the ship. But then she knew.

It was her father, speaking to her for the first time.

Be careful not to hurt her. She’s already fragile. Around her memories, I think.
And then, more faintly:
Are you really here? I can’t tell. Is it just another dream?

Lily gritted her teeth and pressed her fingers gently against the princess’s bony hands, sending her magic deep inside.

A serious little girl sat sewing on a gold brocade chair, watching a younger child dancing up and down with a handful of sugared flowers. She’d eaten too many, and she was going to be sick, Jane was sure. But no one ever listened to her – Charlotte could always wheedle more sweets out of Mama, or the ladies-in-waiting.

The scene was greyish around the edges and slightly wavering, as though its owner was doubtful about it. Lily wasn’t sure if that was just age, or if it was the result of the spells. Wouldn’t memories fade anyway as one drew further away? But the greyish cast that seeped through the gilded room was a spell, she was sure. A nasty, doubtful, tricksy mist of magic. Lily clawed at it, and felt Princess Jane’s fingers tighten on hers. She opened her eyes, suddenly frightened that she’d hurt the old lady.

‘Oh, Lily, do that again! I thought Argent had taken all the spells away but that was like someone cleaning a window – suddenly everything was brighter.’ The princess stared at her pleadingly.

Lily closed her eyes and concentrated, clawing and pulling away all the dirty mist she could find. The princess sighed happily, leaning against Rose’s shoulder, and Lily let go of her hands. She knelt down in front of the door, with Henrietta pressed close to her side. ‘Georgie, stand here with me. I felt Father when I touched the door, I’m sure I did. He spoke to me. I think I understand this spell now, or almost. Enough to try and work against it, anyway.’

‘We’ll watch you.’ Gus patted one soft paw against her hand. ‘We’ll pull you away if we think you’re in any danger.’ He touched his whiskers against Henrietta’s, a gentle little brush that left a golden shimmer floating in the dusty air around them.

Lily laid her hands back against the door, hating the way it seemed to pull and suck eagerly at her fingers. The metal was so soft, so yielding. It wanted her. Feathery grey wisps were already dusting themselves all through her, wrapping her tightly, pulling her down…

‘Lily, shake it off!’ Henrietta snapped, shoving her elbow, and Lily drew in a sharp, angry breath, dragging her magic out of the misty softness.

‘It’s so strong,’ she muttered grimly, pressing her nails sharply into the metal again.

Then she gasped. On the other side of the door she could feel fingers pressing back. Hopeful fingers, reaching for hers. Not part of the spell, but someone else working with her against the blanket of grey magic.

‘He’s there,’ she told Georgie excitedly. ‘I can feel him working against the spell from his side!’

Georgie hugged her tightly, and suddenly Lily could feel Georgie’s strength added to hers. Not the magic that she’d had to leave frozen inside her, but Georgie’s love for her little sister, and her desperate wish for a family for them both.

She pushed her hand further through the door, the magic in the metal giving against her fingers. ‘Come on,’ she hissed, stretching as far as she could, and feeling the spells fighting back against her. Silent, silken webs were wrapping themselves around her, making it hard to breathe. But if she could only reach a little further…

Suddenly, warm fingers touched her own, and caught, sending a huge rush of power into her, so strong that she fell backwards with a squeak, hitting her head against the floor of the passage.

The grey magic caught her at once, swirling triumphantly over and under and around and through her until Lily couldn’t find herself. She’d gone. She wasn’t herself any more, just a thin grey wispy thing, and she couldn’t see.

Then someone shook her, brushing the greyness away like a cobweb, and they were all there, staring down at her. Georgie, and Henrietta, her eyes bulging more than ever. And a man she didn’t recognise, but wished she did, with her own wild curly brown hair. Her father.

‘It almost had you,’ Henrietta said anxiously. ‘Lily, are you there? Talk!’

‘It’s all right. It’s gone. What did you do with it?’ Lily murmured.

‘He did it.’ Georgie nodded at the man. ‘The door disappeared, and he was there, and he dragged the magic out of you, Lily, and tore it up. Into shreds, horrible little grey shreds, Lily, I saw it.’

I rescued you, but only after you’d rescued me.
He was smiling down at her, and his eyes were like hers too, she could see now. He picked her up, setting her gently on her feet.
We should go. The guards aren’t due for a while, but someone will have noticed that. Could you tell the others? I – I can’t speak.

Oh!
Lily nodded. ‘He says we should go, before the guards come.’

Georgie blinked in surprise, but she nodded, and smiled up at their father as he took her hand, hurrying them down the passage towards the stairs.

Too late. They’re coming.

‘How do you know?’ Lily asked him, her voice sharp with fear. The grey magic had left her feeling shaky and weak – she wasn’t sure she could fight again.

He pointed ahead, and she saw that the dolls’ house was starting to shimmer and swirl apart – someone had unlocked it from the other side.

This time the house disappeared, leaving the passageway open. Standing there were a group of men in the familiar black uniforms, their silver buttons gleaming. But in the middle of them was a tall, white-haired woman who looked very like their own Princess Jane. Lily glanced between the two of them – the faces were so similar. It was only the way the skin was stretched over the bones that made them different – the same nose but sharper, the lips thinner. And the blue eyes furious.

‘How could you?’ Queen Adelaide snarled. ‘Have you no decency? No loyalty? How could you betray us like this?’

‘You locked her up! Your guards spent years convincing her she was mad!’ Rose yelled, as Jane clung to her. ‘How dare you criticise
her
?’

Queen Adelaide was practically spitting with disgust. ‘I don’t know why you’ve come back now. This country was a great deal cleaner without your sort. Traitorous scum.’

Lily gasped. She knew that people thought of magicians that way, and they’d heard it at Fell Hall, but it sounded worse coming from someone in a black satin evening dress and an actual crown. Even if it was only a little one.

‘Get us out of here,’ Gus was hissing, weaving his way round Rose’s ankles. ‘Look at the guards. They’ve got more of those spells.’

It was true. Lily could see that all of the Queen’s Men were undoing metal canisters that hung from their belts. Magic was seething out of them, a bluish, ugly vapour that was already making the inside of her nose burn.

Lily, darling, I can’t help you. My magic’s still weakened by all the spells they’ve fed me over the years. You girls will have to get us away.

Lily nodded, but she could feel that the door spells had worn her own magic down. It was still there, but only the tiniest spark. No matter how hard she tried to pull it into her skin, it wouldn’t flare up the way she needed it to now.

Rose was standing in front of them, Gus still circling around her feet, the touch of his silken fur clearly strengthening her. She was drawing tiny circles with her fingertips; Lily could see them in the air. It rippled like water – she was building a shield, to stop the guards’ magic reaching them. But there were at least ten guards, and the magic they were building up together looked strong, even if it wasn’t their own.

It wasn’t going to work, Lily could see that now. They would all be stuffed back into that cell, for who knew how many years. She couldn’t let that happen again.

ARGENT!
she screamed silently. He had said that they should call him. He had been furious that they hadn’t before, at the palace. Lily didn’t know what he would do, how he would reach them. But she was almost sure he would.

And he came. She could feel him coming, the rush of wings beating, the fury and determination as he tore at the stonework with his massive claws, gouging lumps out of the staircase and forcing himself underground again. He came on in a silvery rush, roaring, and for the first time, spouting real flame. It poured down the passageway, blue-white and lethal, sending the Queen’s Men scrambling to barricade their mistress inside an empty cell.

The Queen Regent screamed, fighting them, cursing her guards for cowards and ordering them to seize Princess Jane. But they slammed the door, and her voice was muffled and tiny behind the metal.

‘Look!’ Georgie gasped, her voice choked with dust and smoke. ‘On his back!’

Lily peered upward, past the dragon, who was anxiously coiling his neck around them all, trying to see if they were in one piece.

Crouched on the dragon’s back, holding on so tightly his hands were white, was a scruffy-looking boy. ‘Peter! You came to get us!’

Peter shrugged, as though to say he’d just been passing, and stretched one hand down to haul her up.

Lily clambered up behind him, and reached down for her father’s hand.

He was shaking his head, as though he wasn’t sure what he was seeing, and Lily laughed to herself. She had almost forgotten to be amazed about dragons. ‘Argent, this is my father,’ she told the dragon proudly, as she pulled him up onto the dragon’s back.