The Watching Wood (17 page)

She took a step back. Pain shot through her arms and legs, and she was suddenly terrified. She clenched her teeth and took another step away from the edge.

‘It’s cold,’ a voice said beside her.

Tormey Vause stood like his portrait, soaked and pale on the cliff edge.

‘It’s cold,’ he said again, shivering. ‘Stay close to the light.’

Rachel didn’t move.

‘Aren’t you very cold?’ he asked.

She nodded and bit her lip.

‘The light will keep you warm.’

Grace, Una, Jenny, Adie, Delilah. Rachel saw their faces at the forefront of her mind. As the little boy put out his hands to stop her, she turned away from the lamp, walked right through his ghostly form, and ran back into the woods.

17

The Sapphire Rose

Hunters’ ships. Four of them. Rachel could see them skimming along the barren landscape in the last of that night’s moonlight. The last half hour had been a blur. She didn’t know how she’d raced through the dense woods, barely aware of her surroundings, when her body was ready to drop with exhaustion. Her detour to the cliff edge had cost a lot of time, and there was no way she would cover the distance before the faeries advanced on the castle. But, from the direction of the Hunters’ Mansion, she saw the cavalry. Four ships, sailing at full speed, could take her directly to her friends. But only if she could get their attention.

They moved fast, eastwards towards the castle. They were some distance from her and it still wasn’t morning. They would never see her.

Think
, she said to herself.
Think, before you lose them
.

She needed a signal, something to catch someone’s eye. Could she light a fire? Frantic, she looked around for some dry bits of wood she could rub together to make a flame.

What the hell are you doing?
she thought.
You’re no freaking girl scout and there’s no time!

She sighed and looked down at her feet.

Flame.

Flame-running.

She could light a fire with her
feet
.

She was shocked at how much it took out of her just to rise into the air. With sweat already breaking out on her brow, she started running, hovering on the spot. She pedalled and pedalled, her breath coming out in gasps and wheezes. Her legs hurt. They were tired and sore and wanted to stop, but she kept running. Her head was light and fuzzy; coloured spots drifted into her vision.

A spark!

But not enough. Still no flame. The weariness oozed through her limbs like liquid lead, threatening to drop her to the ground. The desperation came out in a flood of tears.

‘Come on!’ she screamed at herself. ‘
Come on!
’

Another spark, and this one took. The blue flame swept from her heels to her toes.

‘Now,
move
.’

She obeyed her own command, and plunged her head
forward, leaving a trail of fire in her wake. She made as long a trail as she could before the parched earth swung up into her bleary vision. Everything went black.

She awoke on the solid floor of a ship’s deck. Alinda brushed the hair from Rachel’s face and, behind her, Aruj looked on, concerned.

‘What were you doing out here all alone?’ Alinda said.

‘The … faeries,’ Rachel struggled to clear her fuzzy mind, ‘they’re–’

‘Gathering by the eastern edge of the forest,’ Aruj interrupted. ‘We know. Since you saw the
mnathan nighe
we’ve had Hunters undercover, but the beasts were all too wary; we couldn’t find out when the gathering was to take place. Then a scout by the river saw the commotion an hour ago.’

Rachel looked past him to the morning sky.

‘It’s dawn!’ she gasped. ‘They were to attack at dawn.’

‘Movement west of Tithon Castle,’ someone shouted from the bow. ‘They’re swarming!’

Alinda and Aruj disappeared from her view, and Rachel rolled awkwardly onto her front to get to her feet. There were far more Hunters on the ship then had been on the scouting party days ago, and she had to push her way through leather-clad bodies to reach the others and look out over the helm. In the distance, the faeries did look like a swarm. She
thought of the Fungi and his words of warning.

‘Alinda,’ she said breathlessly, ‘listen, I think this is a mistake. That nuke, that mega-wish thing, you can’t use it.’

Alinda’s gaze was fixed on the army charging towards the castle.

‘So many of them,’ the woman whispered.

She looked frightened. Rachel grabbed Aruj by the shoulder and swung him around to face her.

‘This isn’t right,’ she said firmly. ‘This feud, this war … whatever it is, I think it’s all fake. Tormey Vause, Lark Walden, the Lost Ones, none of them ever existed. You and the faeries can share the island, there’s no need to fight.’

‘You met something in the woods?’ He gently gripped her shoulders. ‘You should never have gone there alone. They manipulate and twist the truth, they play games with your mind. Whatever creature led you astray, they lied to you.’

‘But it was Tormey Vause who led me astray.’

There was sudden silence on the deck. Rachel felt nervous now that all eyes were on her.

‘You saw the Lost Ones in the forest?’ Alinda gasped.

‘Yes! And they tried to lead me off a cliff. They’re not children, Alinda, they never were. I think they’re the dark spirits of the island. The Supremes knocked the spiritual balance out of whack or something, by trying to take the whole place for themselves. The light spirits got too weak and the dark ones got too strong. And the dark ones have been able
to keep it that way by convincing you that the faeries are all evil, and that they kidnapped innocent children and all sorts.’

Alinda looked as though she’d been kicked in the stomach. Rachel was flustered now, and conscious of the suspicious glares directed at her. She wasn’t sure she was being as articulate as she could be either. Still she ploughed on.

‘I mean, did any of you personally know anyone who knew the Lost Ones when they were alive? I mean, I know it was centuries ago, but aren’t any of them from any of your families?’

There was no answer.

‘Shouldn’t some of you be related to some of them some way?’ persisted Rachel. ‘Or did they just pop out of the blue?’

‘We all know the suffering of the Lost Ones,’ Alinda said.

She had recovered. Her voice was low but assured.

‘Because who told you? Them? Their ghosts? I’ve seen them too, but I know they’re not what they say they are. Please, Alinda …’

The distrustful look in the woman’s eyes made Rachel feel uneasy.

‘Aruj?’ Rachel looked to the handsome face for support, but he also looked wary of her now.

She was suddenly aware how dangerous her position was. If she wasn’t careful, they would suspect her of trying to help the enemy, even of being a spy. The Hunters surrounded her, each with a hand on the hilt of a sword, and the silence
stretched uncomfortably in the fresh morning air. Rachel decided on drastic action. She shook her head, putting a hand to her eyes.

‘I …’

She shook her head again and swooned, slowly enough for Aruj to step forward and catch her.

‘I …’ She looked up as if seeing him for the first time that day. ‘Aruj? I … I don’t know what’s … That fungi faery, he told me something, but I … I don’t think it’s true. My head feels all cloudy. Where are we?’

‘Heading for Tithon Castle,’ he replied, ‘and a great battle.’

She looked directly into his eyes.

‘The faeries. They’ll kill my friends,’ she said.

‘Yes.’

She pushed herself out of his arms and stood firmly on the deck.

‘Then let’s kill them first.’

The tense atmosphere dissolved and the Hunters spread out through the ship once more. Alinda looked to Rachel with pride and relief, and Rachel faked a smile in return. She had bought some time. If she could change the fate of the faeries and witches, she would. But her friends came first.

Shoulders pushed past Grace as she slunk against the wall. It was early morning when she and Jenny had finally
emerged from the sloping corridor that led to the dungeons, and they had expected the halls to be empty. They were anything but. Students from all schools elbowed and kneed their way through the packed passageways, everyone frantic to be somewhere else.

But not the same somewhere. The panic was not in one direction; it made the shuffle so much messier that the streams of human traffic were headed all over the place. The only good thing about this was that no one seemed to care anymore about the two filthy humans squirming their way through the crowds. Delilah had taken the little wood nymph in the opposite direction, en route to the Black Turret. Grace hoped she would get Adie and Una out okay.

In the rush, she grabbed a boy by the elbow. He looked terrified.

‘What’s going on?’ she asked. ‘Where is everyone running to?’

‘They’re coming,’ he gasped. ‘They’re coming to kill us all.’

‘Who’s coming?’

‘The faeries. Didn’t you know? They’re coming from the forest. Hundreds of them.’

‘Thousands,’ a girl said, tugging at the boy’s other arm. ‘No,
millions
. Millions of them and they’re going to overrun the castle and kill everyone, and we’re all going to
die
!’

She pulled the boy from Grace’s grasp and headed off
in a different direction to the one they had been going in. It was complete chaos.

‘You!’

Grace and Jenny spun around to see Victoria Meister, her eyes red and scared under her short, blonde hair. She pointed at them, her sleeve pulling up to reveal the bandaging on her arm.

‘You did this. You brought the faeries here.’

‘I’ve been in the dungeons, you twit,’ Jenny said. ‘Where
you
put me.’

‘Seize them!’ Victoria cried to no one in particular. ‘They’re the ones who called the faeries to the castle.’

She was ignored. The panic continued as bodies jostled around the three girls.

‘Seize them!’ Victoria cried again.

Grace felt a twinge of pity. The girl looked helpless and afraid, her pointing arm shaking and her frightened eyes darting left and right as she looked over the crowd. The lifeless sable swung as she turned, its dead legs slipping from her shoulders. Her world was falling to pieces around her, and she was all alone.

Grace looked to Jenny, who nodded, and they pressed on through the hordes. As they left her far behind they could still hear Victoria’s voice crying out.

‘They’re getting away, stop them! You, stop the humans. They brought the faeries down on us. We’re all going to
die
!’

Two turns after the dining hall, they were climbing a spiral staircase. It was part of the Summerland Wing – where the Supremes’ rooms were – and was pretty much a dead end. It was practically deserted – nobody wanted to get caught on a floor with only one exit. More than halfway up the stairs was a narrow window. In the early morning light Grace could see a dark mass advancing from the woods.

‘It’s true,’ she gasped. ‘And there are hundreds of them.’

‘We’ve got to move,’ said Jenny. ‘Or we’ll never make it to the beach in time.’

At the top of the stairs they reached a short corridor. There were torches fixed to the wall on one side, but their light had little effect. Black oozed between the cracks in the stone and the air felt heavy, oppressive, like a weight bearing down on them.

‘This place is bad news,’ Jenny groaned. ‘Like
really
bad.’

‘Then let’s not stay long.’

There were three doors. The first, on the left, was polished mahogany, with a geometric border burned into the wood. Next, on the right, was an oak door, solid and undecorated except for a tiny, corked bottle where a knocker would be. The glass was clear, and there was nothing ornate about the bottle. The final door on the left was white ash, but didn’t sit easily in the doorframe. The wood was warped so the curved top leaned out of the doorway, and several long cracks split the length of the door. Grace took a deep breath and felt
Jenny’s hand on her back as they pushed this door open, the misshapen timber scraping over red tiles inside the room.

Straight ahead, a messy four-poster bed with tattered lace hangings looked like it hadn’t been made in years. Next to the bed was a chaise longue, stained and mouldy with age, and a dresser with porcelain figurines that were draped with swathes of dense cobweb. Around the corner, the room opened into a much larger space, and Grace recognised it instantly. At the far end a huge snow globe sat, filling the space from floor to ceiling, and it looked like the only cared-for item in the room. Its silver base shone like it had just been polished, and the glass was crystal clear and without a single smudge.

Madame Three was hugging the globe, her arms pressed against the curved glass. On a table next to her sat a decanter of sparkling yellow liquid, and a small cup. She seemed oblivious to the girls’ presence.

‘We’re out of time,’ she said softly, ‘but don’t worry. They’ll not take you. I’ve always kept you safe and we will be together forever.’

Inside the globe, the exquisite silver statue stood with her arms outstretched; at her feet lay the sapphire rose. Grace stared at the blue flower that was her and her friends’ ticket home.

‘Madame Three,’ she said. ‘The castle will be under attack in a few minutes. You need to leave while you still can.’

‘I am happy here,’ the woman replied.

‘No, you don’t understand. The faeries are coming–’

‘From the woods, where we chased them.’ She looked up from the globe with a nostalgic smile. ‘I didn’t forget it all, you know. I remember the best of those times. I remember them running and screaming and crying. We had so much power, and they were too trusting.’

Grace didn’t like the look on the woman’s face.