The Changelings Series, Book 1 (8 page)

The brownie turned Izzy's old shoes over in his hands, looking at the soles. “Apple Festival starts in a couple days. They say
she
is gonna grace everyone with her royal presence.”

“Oh really?” asked Selden. “The queen?”

Shank spat into his cup. “Ha! If she's the queen, then I'm Father Time.” He looked over his shoulder like someone might be listening at the door. “Should be a real spectacle,” he said more quietly. “She don't usually leave that castle she built for herself. Likes to send her little pets out to do her nasty work instead.”

Selden stared at the floor, scratching his nose. “Interesting…very interesting.”

Dree coughed. “A-
hem
.”

Selden snapped his head up. “Well, Shank, it's been lovely, but we should get moving. Izzy needs clothes as well. I'll leave you two to sort that out. Maybe you can find some baby elf pajamas small enough to fit her.”

Izzy rolled her eyes at him.

Shank grumbled something under his breath as Selden exited, then turned to Izzy again. “I'll get ya all set up, girlie,” he said, leading her to the clothes rack. “Got some pixie clothes that might be your size—hey! Get your filthy paws away from those dresses!” He scuttled over to Dree, who had been admiring a white lace dress. He swatted her hand away. “Those are expensive, much too good for you. Just look at your fingernails,” he said nastily. “Get on out of here before you stain everythin'!”

Dree's cheeks flushed pale pink, and she hid her hands behind her back.

Shank leaned close to Izzy. “Hope she didn't dirty up anythin' you're interested in,” he whispered loudly. “Every time she comes in here, she tries to talk me into a new dress, but that bag o' bones never has anythin' worth tradin'. I don't run a charity operation, you know.”

Izzy watched as Dree stalked to the front of the store with her chin held high. She recognized the look on Dree's face. It was the look of someone who doesn't want to give a bully the satisfaction of seeing them cry.

Izzy tried to block out Shank's groveling while she looked through the clothes for something that would fit her. Before long, she found a light-blue button-down shirt she could wear over her T-shirt, a navy jacket with a hood to replace her striped sweatshirt, and brown trousers to replace the jeans.

She gave Shank her leather belt in exchange for a hat from his collection. It was made from oiled canvas with a wide brim and a leather strap that cinched under her chin. Izzy changed into her new clothes behind a little screen, making sure to tuck the Scarlet Stairstep necklace under her new shirt. When she picked up her old clothes, something fell out of her jeans pocket and thudded onto the floor.

Izzy bent down to pick it up. It was the tiny blue bottle that she'd shoved into her pocket back at Netherbee Hall. She'd forgotten all about it until just now. She read the label again:
Root Revive
, written in scrawling cursive.

“Oh, Marian, I wish you were with me now!” Izzy whispered. She squeezed the bottle in her palm and tucked it in the inside pocket of her new jacket.

She stepped out from behind the screen, handed Shank her old clothes, and walked in front of the mirror. She almost laughed out loud at how ridiculous she looked, like someone who actually would steal chickens for a living.

Shank stood behind his counter, going through Izzy's old clothes and scribbling notes in a record book. “Come on up, and I'll get ya a receipt, unless you got somethin' else you wanna trade.”

Izzy's eyes drifted to the white lace dress on the clothes rack. She wondered how long it had been since Dree had a new dress. From the looks of it, her current one would disintegrate to threads before long. But Izzy didn't think what she had left to trade would be enough for the lace. Then she got an idea.

She set Hen's backpack on the counter and started feeling around inside.

Hen had packed all sorts of junk: a plastic tiara, some crayons, a kaleidoscope. Finally, Izzy's fingers landed on a plastic snow globe souvenir from their trip to the beach last summer. She flicked the snow globe so that it rolled out onto the counter toward the brownie.

“Oh dear!” she said, reaching for it. “Can you hand that to me, please?”

Shank picked it up and turned it over curiously. The white flecks of fake snow fluttered down onto a little plaster dolphin, poised in midleap. “That's an interestin' little trinket you got there.”

“Please handle that more carefully!” she chided him. “It's
very
valuable.”

“Is it?” Shank held it up and read the words on the bottom. “Fort. Walton. Beach. That a human town?”

“Oh yes. One of the greatest cities on Earth.”

Shank looked impressed.

“It's the capital of the United States,” she continued. “The president lives there.”

“Abraham Lincoln?” whispered the brownie.

“Mmm-hmm,” said Izzy, nodding importantly. “The dolphin is his special symbol. It represents…um…honesty.”

Shank clutched the snow globe in the crook of his arm. “Say, what would you trade for this here?”

Izzy put one hand to her chest. “Oh, I couldn't
possibly
let you have it. It's such an important treasure.”

“Come on now,” said Shank. “Everyone's got their price.”

She swept her eyes around the room to the rack of clothes. “Well, I guess I might be able to think of something.”

• • •

Izzy marched down the porch steps. She wanted to make the buckles on her new boots clink.

“Say, will you look at that!” said Lug, staring at her new getup. “That can't be the same girl I met back in Hollowdell, can it? You look like a real fairy farm girl in those clothes!”

“At least you don't look like a circus clown anymore,” said Selden. “But you took your sweet time in there, didn't you?”

“Mr. Shank drives a hard bargain,” said Izzy. “Actually, I think he did cheat me. Somehow, he talked me into giving him my whole backpack for this.” She pulled the white dress out from behind her back. “I don't know why I agreed to it. I can't stand to wear dresses.”

“You got swindled all right,” said Selden, turning his nose up at the dress. “Now, if the fashion show is over, can we finally get a move on?”

Lug followed after Selden, then turned back to Izzy and nodded at the dress in her hands. “You might give that to Dree if you don't want it. She loves dresses.”

Dree hadn't taken her eyes off it. Izzy held it out to her nonchalantly. She thought Dree might reject it if she made it into too big a deal.

Dree held out her glassy hand and took the dress. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“Oh, it's nothing really.”

Dree stared back with her soft, gray eyes. “It's something to me.” Then she turned on her heel and dashed after the others, a ghostly blur moving through the trees.

By midday, even the Changelings were dragging from the heat. They hadn't seen or heard any signs of the Unglers during their whole trip, so Selden eased up on the grueling pace and agreed they could take turns dipping in the creek. The stony stream they'd been following had grown wider and deeper, until it was more like a river. They now had to climb down a steep bank to reach the swift-moving water.

Izzy took the last turn. She stood barefoot in the cool shallows, tossing sticks out into the current and thinking about her sister.

The last time she and Hen had gone swimming, Hen had done a cannonball and soaked Izzy's journal. Izzy had been so mad she couldn't even speak. But that night, Hen made Izzy a new one out of stapled sheets of construction paper and slipped it under her pillow. That's how it always was—Hen bungled things, and Izzy eventually forgave her. Not this time. Now Izzy was the one who'd made a mess of everything, and Hen was nowhere to apologize to.

A voice from above jolted her out of her thoughts. “Come on, Izzy! You're slower than slithermold!” Dree, wearing the new lace dress, stood above on the rocky bank. She grinned down at Izzy playfully. “Last one to catch up to Lug has to smell his pits!”

“No fair! You can fly!” shouted Izzy, wading out of the water. She put on her socks and boots and then climbed up the steep bank to follow Dree. She ran after her for a few steps, then remembered something. “Just a second!” she called out, turning around. “I forgot my necklace!”

Izzy climbed back down to the creek where she had left her Scarlet Stairstep hanging. As she reached for it, she saw motion in the corner of her eye. She turned around and stifled a scream.

She stood two steps away from an exact replica of herself. Not a mirror. A flesh and blood, real-life Izzy.

She blinked her eyes. She opened her mouth to call out for Dree, but the replica put one finger to its lips. It smiled at her.

Izzy was mesmerized. “What—what are you?”

The replica said nothing. Izzy's own hazel eyes stared back at her from beneath her own dark eyebrows. Her clone hooked its thumbs together and fluttered its fingers in the air.

“Bird? Are you trying to say something about a bird?” asked Izzy.

It smiled and nodded, then pointed to the top of its head.

“Crown? Head? Brain?”

Another nod. The clone pointed at Izzy and then did all the hand signs together.

Izzy scrunched up her eyebrows, trying to understand. “Bird…brain…me. Me, bird, brain?”

Her double began to snicker. Spit flew out of its mouth as it folded over in hysterics, clutching at its side. “Your face! You should see your face!” it shrieked between fits of laughter.

Izzy's cheeks burned. She knew that voice. She shoved her double in the shoulder and stomped past it. Only it didn't look like her anymore. It had Changed back into what it really was.

Selden.

“I can't believe you actually fell for that!” he said, laughing as he climbed up the bank after her. “Don't you know that's the oldest Changeling prank there is?”

Izzy marched on, fuming.

“Oof, I think I sprained something squeezing myself down into your wormy little Likeness,” he said, rubbing his shoulder.

Izzy spun around and kicked her boot at his shin.

He dodged it easily. “Hey, what's that all about?”

“I am
sick
of you making fun of me! Why can't you just leave me alone?”

“Hey, hey, come on,” said Selden. “You've got to admit that was hilarious. You humans are too serious!”

Izzy turned away and started walking. “Oh, I know. According to you, we're too serious, too slow, too spoiled, too dumb—”

“Yes, you're finally catching on!”

“If we're so awful, then why go to Earth and switch places with one of us?”

Selden jogged along beside her. “When you're a Changeling, the Exchange is what you do. It's been going on for a thousand years. More, maybe. Ever since our worlds split off from each other.”

Izzy started to ask him what he meant but stopped herself. She was not about to give him the satisfaction of teaching her something. In fact, she was determined to act like she wasn't interested in him at all.

Mischief flickered in Selden's eyes. “Oh, don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about. In all those storybooks of yours, you never read about our worlds separating?”

Izzy clenched her fists and kept walking.

“I could tell you all about it,” he said in a singsong voice. “If you ask nicely.”

“Go jump in a bog,” she grumbled. But she only made it a few more steps before her curiosity overcame her pride. Izzy had read every fairy tale she could get her hands on, but she'd never heard of Faerie and Earth separating. She stopped and folded her arms. “Fine. I don't know what you're talking about. Will you please tell me?”

Selden waved his hand. “Well, the truth is, I don't really know much about the whole thing…”

“Oh, you are so
annoying
!” she shouted, running away from him.

He laughed and caught up to her. “All right, all right! I do know that fairies and humans used to live together in the same world. But they never could get along, so one day, they decided to split up. They were never meant to be completely separated though. Everyone assumed there would always be fairies and humans going back and forth between the two worlds.”

He continued, walking backward, with his hands in his pockets. “But then humans stopped coming here. Then they stopped believing in Faerie at all. And that's when Good Peter decided that every now and then, some humans would get swapped for fairies and vice versa. That's where we come in.”

Izzy rolled her eyes. “Aren't you important?”

“Yes, actually, we are. These days, the Exchange is the only thing keeping our worlds connected.”

She raised an eyebrow. “If you're so high and mighty, then why don't you live in some grand castle or something? Instead of hiding out like a bunch of scared criminals?”

Selden's grin disappeared. He winced, like he'd been stung. “You really want to know? It's because—” He paused and looked past Izzy, into the trees.

“Well? Because why?”

“Shhh!” Selden stood frozen, one finger to his lips.

A high-pitched squeal echoed in the distance.

Dree and Lug came crashing back through the brush, their faces tense with fear.

“Coming…through the trees!” said Dree, panting. “Unglers!”

Selden looked over Dree's shoulder. “How many?”

She held up two fingers.

“Did they hear you?”

“I don't know. But they're close and coming this way. We have to get out of here!”

Selden surveyed the dense bushes surrounding them. “We'll make too much noise if we try to run now. We can't let them know we're here. We need to hide!”

Dree took off her Scarlet Stairstep and tossed it at Lug. “Here, take mine!” In a flash of silver, she transformed into a bird and shot up into the forest canopy.

“Oh, why can't I do that?” whimpered Lug, draping the extra necklace over his head.

“Sit right there and be quiet,” said Selden, pointing to the base of a nearby tree. “They can't find you if they can't smell you.”

Lug huddled next to the tree and hugged his knees. He drew his head down between his shoulders. His skin grew mottled and patchy until he looked just like the moss-covered stone Izzy had seen on the path. He shut his eyes, and all trace of his face vanished.

More shrieks pierced the stillness, closer this time.

Selden grabbed Izzy's hand and pulled her toward the trunk of a large magnolia tree. “Climb up! Hurry!”

He laced his fingers together and bent down. Izzy placed her boot into his hands, and he shoved her up into the lower branches of the tree. She managed to climb a little farther on her own, but the higher branches were just out of reach. Selden Changed into the stoat and scampered up into a nearby pine. He coiled himself around a branch, his little black ears twitching back and forth.

Izzy hugged the tree trunk and strained to listen over the gurgling noises of the creek behind her. She peered down through gaps between the dark magnolia leaves. Slow, tense minutes went by. Then something rustled in the leaf litter below, shuffling closer. Izzy held her breath.

She saw their hands first. Long fingers, gray and gnarled like dead twigs, felt their way forward, groping constantly over the forest floor as if they had eyes at their tips. Their arms were stringy, nothing but gray skin and coarse hair stretched over bones. They lumbered slowly into full view, their backs hunched over like old men. But these beasts could never be mistaken for men. They swung heavy, tusked heads side to side, sniffing the air with hoglike snouts.

The two Unglers worked their way toward Lug until they stood directly in front of him. One rose up on its back legs and lifted its head to sniff the face of the boulder. Folds of warty skin covered the sockets where its eyes should have been.

Izzy bit down on her lower lip. If Lug lost his concentration, he might let go of the Likeness of the boulder. She had to help him. She reached for a magnolia cone and twisted it until it snapped free from its branch. She tossed the dried cone away from Lug, where it thudded onto the ground.

The Unglers wheeled around in the direction of the sound. But instead of following after the cone, one of the Unglers dropped to the ground at Lug's feet and rooted in the dirt. He jerked his head up and gave two wet snorts. The other one joined him. They snorted back and forth at each other, then began creeping toward the magnolia.

Izzy held her breath, waiting for them to keep moving on. But the Unglers didn't leave. They circled the magnolia slowly. Izzy reached her fingers up to her neck. She felt for the Scarlet Stairstep that Lug had given her, but her neck was bare. Her stomach dropped. She'd left it hanging from the branch beside the creek.

Directly below her, the Unglers pressed their snouts against the magnolia, leaving dark, slimy trails along the trunk. The wheezing snorts grew faster and heavier. Izzy cringed at the disgusting sound and rose up on her toes. She had thought she was high enough off the ground, but now she realized the Unglers might be able to reach her with their long arms.

She grabbed a branch overhead, holding onto it for balance as she carefully inched out farther along the tree limb. If she could only get farther away from the trunk, she could reach a smaller branch and pull herself higher up into the tree. She glanced at Selden. He shook his head at her and mouthed the words,
Be still.

Suddenly, an Ungler shot its arm straight up at Izzy, grazing the heel of her boot with its fingers. She kicked her foot away and scooted faster out onto the limb.

“No, Izzy! Stop!” Selden hissed from his perch in the pine.

Izzy couldn't breathe. Could they climb trees with those hands? No longer worried about being quiet, she scooted out along the branch. The Ungler beneath her groped for her legs while the other stood at the base of the tree, squealing shrilly. Above her, she saw another, thicker branch. Izzy reached for it. Six more inches and she could make it. She stood on her toes…

Crack!
The branch beneath her snapped. Izzy crashed onto the ground. The two Unglers spun around. Their wet nostrils flared in and out as they stepped slowly toward her. Izzy struggled to her feet.

“Be still!” Selden called. He Changed back into a boy and clapped his hands. “Hey, hey, look up here!” he shouted.

The Unglers didn't turn at the sound of his voice. They felt the air around Izzy's head, their leathery fingertips wriggling like thick worms. Izzy stood still, her heart pumping so hard she could hear it.

“Hold on, Izzy,” said Selden, climbing down. “Don't run—”

Their fingers hovered inches from her face.

Izzy turned and fled. Her hat fell behind her, catching on the cord around her neck. The Unglers were close behind, loping through the woods with their hands on the ground like apes.

Izzy screamed and ran faster. She heard the sound of rushing water as the steep bank of the creek appeared suddenly in front of her. Before she could climb down, she felt hands on her back. She threw herself onto the ground and covered her face. The Unglers scrabbled over her, clawing at her neck and arms, trying to turn her over. Saliva dripped onto her, rolling down her collar.

Izzy grasped at the ground until her fingers found a stick. She rolled over, face-to-face with one of the beasts. She jabbed the stick as hard as she could into the place where its eye should have been. The creature squealed and recoiled. It held the side of its face and backed away.

She heard a growl, then snarling and gnashing teeth, and suddenly, the other Ungler was off her as well. Izzy jumped to her feet. The Ungler Izzy had stabbed writhed on the ground a few yards away. A black wolf had its jaws clamped around the other's shoulder, pulling it down to its knees. The monster reached up and clawed at the wolf's face. Selden yelped and let go. He backed up, hackles raised, until he stood in front of Izzy.

The Ungler stood before them, its hunched back heaving up and down. Its companion got to its feet, still clutching its bleeding eye socket. Both swayed their heads as they advanced toward Selden and Izzy. The Unglers looked straight at them like they could see. The closest one charged forward.

Wham!
Something massive and brown slammed into it. The monster shrieked as it fell over the edge of the steep bank, splashing into the water below. It flailed its long arms, grasping for something to hold, but the swift current dragged it into deep water and away downstream.

The Ungler Izzy had stabbed stood swaying on its back legs, turning its wounded head back and forth. It snarled, bared its teeth, then turned and ran. It galloped away on all fours, its squeals fading behind it.

Izzy exhaled, relieved. Beside her, a shaggy bear lay on the ground, covering his head with both arms. Lug's whole body shook as he Changed back to himself. Selden, also back in his boy form, pressed his fingers to the scratch on his cheek.

Izzy wanted to thank him for saving her life, but she could barely get the words out. “Selden—I—”

“What are you doing without your Scarlet Stairstep?” he shouted. “I'm sure you're covered in Lug's smell. You nearly got us all killed!”

Izzy pointed upstream. “I went back to get it, but then
someone
thought it would be funny to play a trick on me!”

“Oh, so now it's my fault? I should've let them rip you to shreds!”

A bird swooped down and landed at their feet, transforming back into Dree. “Shut up, both of you! Who cares whose fault it is? The real question is, how did they find us?”

They all went quiet.

“I thought you said they stay near the Road,” said Izzy.

“They do. Or at least they did,” said Selden. “We've never seen them this far from it before. Dree, did you see where that one went?”

She nodded. “Back in the direction we came from. He's probably gone to get reinforcements.”

Lug groaned. Izzy helped him stand up and held on to his trembling hands.

Selden rubbed his cheek. The blood already had begun to dry. “I don't know if we could handle more than two of them.”

“Absolutely not,” whimpered Lug.

“Let's cross the creek here,” said Selden. “It'll help mask our scent. We'll bushwhack straight for the Boneyard.”

They backtracked to the spot where Izzy left her necklace. The mud all around had been kicked up and trampled. As they were leaving, something on the ground caught Izzy's eye. She bent down and picked it up. It was a cluster of broken snail shells and acorns strung together with a piece of twine.

“That's from our mobile!” cried Lug, reaching out for the shells. “The one I made for Dree's birthday!”

Dree's hands flew to her mouth. “Do you know what this means?”

No one answered, but everyone knew. The Unglers had found Yawning Top. Izzy could see the fear spread over each of the Changelings' faces as they realized their home was no longer the safe haven it once had been. Without a word, Selden turned and motioned for the others to follow him. Lug let the cracked shells fall out of his hand and stepped on them, grinding them into the mud.