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They had left the door of the green light room open, letting a wave of colored air waft along behind them. Everything shimmered greenly, like sunshine coming through a thick canopy of leaves.

At last they reached the cave. "Here, this way, she's in here," cried Copper. "Questrid . . . It's my mother."

Questrid gazed at the ice in amazement. He took a few steps back, then a few forward, resting his nose right against the ice to stare inside.

"Blimey!"

"Granite told me I was the only one who can set her free," said Copper, undoing her coat and pulling Ralick out. She began ripping open the stitches around Ralick's hat. "She's alive in there, Questrid, and I'm going to set her free, with this." She held out the bracelet. "There!"

It was like a handful of fireworks, fizzing and sparkling, glittering and glowing as if charged with electricity.

"Wow!" said Questrid.

"Poor Ralick, he said it had—I mean," Copper added, realizing her blunder, "Ralick was hiding it. I didn't notice it was so, so brilliant!"

"It's like it's on fire!" cried Questrid. "It's beauti—"

Suddenly a horrible, grating laugh resounded across the cave, hammering their ears and pounding into their heads.

"Ah ha ha! Ha ha haaa!"

It was Granite. He rose up slowly from behind a jutting rock like a genie, with an evil smile on his lips.

"Thank you,
Stick,
thank you very much. That's the bracelet I want. How extremely kind and thoughtful of you to bring it into the Rock for me."

19. Across The Lake

Granite waddled out
from behind the rock, but Copper quickly darted out of his way. She pushed the bracelet deep into her pocket, stuffed Ralick back down her coat and sped back toward the lake.

Granite swung round, grabbing at her, but didn't see the wool still stretched across the doorway: he tripped over it and fell, crashing to the floor with a heavy thud.

"RUN!" cried Questrid.

They ran. They ran, half skating on the icy floor, leaping over rocks and dodging the spiked icicles that hung from the ceiling. Back along the path they went until, panting, they came to the lake.

Green light had flooded through the open door and lit up the whole massive cavern. Even the lake water was emerald. Each tiny moving point in the water glinted turquoise and green and was reflected eerily in shimmering dots over the walls and ceiling.

"Look, there's a boat," said Questrid, pointing to a small
wooden rowboat tied up between the rocks. "Quick!" He wrenched the boat free from the chunks of ice that had gathered at the shore and pulled it near so Copper could jump in.

Copper yelped as she made contact with the wood. It was such a shock, like jumping into a living thing: as her fingers touched its sides, the boat gave a minute throb and shudder in response.

"For Wood people," she whispered.

Questrid leaped in behind Copper, unhooked the rope and pushed off from the rocks with an oar. The boat wavered off across the water.

A few seconds later, Granite appeared at the lakeside. He was bent over and gasping for breath.

"You'll never escape!" Granite called to them wheezily. But he didn't try to stop them. He crouched beside the water, legs apart, watching.

Minutes later, the cave filled with the thundering noise of feet, and twenty or thirty Rockers burst in. They climbed the craggy walls to stand on high ledges and ridges circling the lake. Then they too watched silently as Questrid and Copper rowed across the water.

"Oh, heck, look at that lot," whispered Questrid, squinting round over his shoulder.

"What shall we do?" gasped Copper.

"Get me out of here," whispered Ralick from inside her coat.

"Pray there are no more boats," said Questrid, "and that there's a way out of this place."

Peering into the gloom ahead, Questrid rowed the little boat through the lumps of bobbing ice, as far away from the shore as possible.

"It's like riding a horse," said Questrid in awe. "I can feel the boat trying to understand me and guess which way I want to go, but I don't know myself."

"There's something there," said Copper, pointing. "Look, a big black hole. A tunnel, I think. Can we get through?"

"We can try."

Questrid turned the boat and headed toward the tunnel entrance. "Yeah, plenty of room," he called out.

"What's that?" Copper nodded toward a tall, thin column that rose out of the water.

"Just a sort of tall stone," said Questrid.

"Odd place for a tall stone," said Copper, "right in front of the tunnel like that. Funny shape too, with that big stone on the top, like a hat." She looked up at the silent men, standing around the cavern walls. "Why aren't they doing anything? I hate this quiet. Why are they just watching us? What d'you think they're planning?"

"I've got a bad feeling in my seams," hissed Ralick.

Copper gave him a reassuring squeeze.

Questrid shrugged. "Nothing, I don't think. They're probably just mad that we're getting away—if it is a way out," he added. "We're nearly there now."

They were just five meters from the tunnel when a mighty roar went up and suddenly the cave was filled with sound and activity.

"NOW!" roared Granite, and as if by magic, a vast net swung down in front of the tunnel entrance, blocking off their escape.

Copper shrieked.

Ralick shrieked very quietly.

"No!" cried Questrid. The oars fell from his grasp and the little boat dipped and spun in a
crazy circle, like a beetle flipped on its back. Quickly Questrid caught the oars again and began rowing back toward the center of the lake.

"What are we going to do?"

Copper looked over to Granite. He hadn't moved. He waved at them, grinning.

"Thank you for falling so neatly into my trap," he called. "I knew you had the bracelet somewhere. I knew you'd go to Amber and try to set her free. Greedy, greedy little Stick. Now, come over here and bring it to me."

"Ignore him," said Questrid.

Copper took the bracelet out of her pocket. It was fizzing and sparkling.

"It's really crackling," she said. "It seems to draw energy from being here. It was never like this before."

"As if it's turned on," agreed Questrid. "This is how it was when it was near your mother, wasn't it? Do you think we can use it somehow? I mean, if it's magical enough to get
Amber out of the ice, like Granite says, then it must be magical enough to get us out of this. But how?"

"COPPER!" Granite's rough voice interrupted them. "You're wasting time! Come here!"

Copper ignored him. She let the bracelet dribble through her fingers, marveling at the way it trickled like gold water and the way tiny dots of gold flew off like sparks from a fire. "It's so beautiful."

"Yes, but make it do something," urged Questrid.

"What?" Copper scanned the charms hopefully. "There are two babies, a dog, a bird, a heart, a hammer . . ."

"HAMMER?"

"Yes, a teeny-weeny hammer, Questrid, it can't possibly do any good."

"Of course it will!"

Copper grinned. "Of course it will. Amber made it for a purpose. Now, what do people hit with hammers?"

"A nail?" came Ralick's whispered suggestion.

"Yes, but we haven't.. ."

"Are you talking to me, Copper?" said Questrid.

"No. Yes! That's it! Row back to that funny, tall stone thing, Questrid. It's not a funny stone at all. It's a nail!"

"What? D'you really think so?"

"Yes. A nail for hammering."

Ignoring the jeers and shouts from the Rockers, they rowed back to the giant nail-like stone.

Questrid tried to steady the boat as Copper got to her feet.

Holding the tiny hammer in her fingers, she leaned toward the column. The boat bobbed up and down.

"Shall I?"

"STOP!" roared Granite. "Don't do that! You don't know what it might do! Stop. STOP!"

Copper smiled grimly. "Good, he's worried. I think this was a good idea."

Carefully, she struck the top of the rock with the tiny
hammer.

Immediately a clear sound like the chime of an expensive clock rang out around the cave and the nail seemed to sink ever so slightly into the water.

"Do it again," said Questrid.

"NO!" yelled Granite.

"Yes," urged Questrid.

Copper hit the rock again.

This time there was a dull, distant noise like thunder followed by a roaring like a train rushing toward them. The water shivered and the rocks shuddered. The nail sank
farther.

"Yes, yes, yes!" cried Questrid. "Something's happening.
Do it again, do it again!"

"But. . . what about my mother?"

Copper looked back at Granite and could feel his anger reaching to her across the water. His eyes were black holes in his pale face.

"Later,"
said Questrid. "I promise we'll get Amber later."

Copper hit the rock a third time.

A roar, as if a jumbo jet were picking up speed to take off inside a hollow box, thundered and crashed and blasted the air around them. The nail slithered and sank, disappearing into the water with a slow, deep gurgle.

Then the cave was full of flying rocks and stones and grit and dust. The Rockers shouted and yelled, swarming over the rock ledges like angry ants.

A great swell rose under them, and Copper clung to the sides of the boat as it was lifted on a great wave like the back of a whale.

"That was some hammer!" cried Questrid as the boat soared toward the roof. Then suddenly they were plunging downward again, icy water sprayed over them, and Questrid had to grab for the oars before they were tossed overboard.

"Look!" he cried. "The men are on the net. It's sagging. It's going to break!"

Trying to escape the falling rocks, the men clambered over the net, clinging to it like monkeys. But there were too many of them, and bit by bit, the net was beginning to slip into the lake.

"If it falls, we'll be able to ... There! It's down!" she cried as the net finally fell. The Rockers toppled into the water with splashes and shouts and began swimming toward the shore.

Questrid strained against the oars, crashing through the choppy waves as the water rose and fell and swirled beneath them. He pointed the boat toward the mouth of the now unblocked tunnel.

"Uh-oh," said Questrid quietly, "more trouble. Look behind you."

Copper twisted round quickly.

Something was speeding up behind them—a
huddle of boats or rocks ... no, it was great slabs of ice, globs of sharp blue ice, spinning and twisting through the wild water.

"Look out!"

"I don't think I'm going to like this," moaned Ralick.

The ice splinters skimmed up behind them and hit the boat with a mighty smash, jolting them so fiercely that Copper would have tipped out if the wooden boat hadn't been gripping her fingers so firmly.

The mouth of the tunnel loomed up, and Questrid yanked in the oars just before they sped inside.

The tunnel was narrow, and the water moved quickly, roaring, screaming. They went faster and faster.

"Hang on!" cried Questrid. "Hang on!"

The boat was caught in a tidal wave, it was lifted and carried along, grazing the rock walls, tipping and dipping, shooting forward, then round in a dizzying whirl. Behind them, like an angry animal, came the mass of creaking, groaning ice.

Copper was numb with cold and fright. We're going to die, she thought. This is it. The end, and I've hardly begun .. .

"It's all right," whispered Ralick. "It's only like the rides at the fair."

In her mind's eye Copper saw Spindle House. She smelled the sandalwood in the sitting room, the apple wood in her
bedroom; she saw her father's face, the mother's face she would never know . ..

"But I must know her!" she shouted and immediately the panic melted away and she knew, she absolutely knew that she couldn't give up, because she
was
going to see her mother again and she
was
going to know her.

14. Home Again

The water thundered
around them, pounding, swishing and tossing them like toys in a tub, but it no longer scared Copper: she was going to win.