The Crystal Mirror (14 page)

Kim came back downstairs with a bag full of Toby’s things. “OK, we can manage without everything else. Let’s go.”

Laney stood in the sitting room, looking round the edge of the curtain. She’d been expecting to see Mr Stingwood, or one of the other Elders, striding up the road to their front door. Jessie had tried to convince them that she’d caused the river to burst its banks and she was sure a lot of them had believed it.

The back door banged and Fletcher and Claudia ran through from the kitchen, dripping wet. “We didn’t know if you’d made it back here,” said Claudia. “It’s crazy out there and—”

“Yeah, we’ve decided to leave in the car,” said Laney, with a warning look towards Kim. “Better to go now.”

“Better to stay here,” said Fletcher quietly. “The High Street’s now underwater. At least here you’re part of the way up a hill. There’s a chance the water won’t reach you.”

Kim turned white. “But if it gets worse we’ll be cut off.”

“Mummy?” Toby, dressed in red firemen pyjamas, bumped down the stairs on his bottom one step at a time. “Where tiger?”

“There’s a tiger toy in the kitchen,” said Fletcher.

Toby reached the bottom stair and toddled away
to find his tiger.

“It’s his new favourite bedtime toy.” Kim rested a hand on her forehead. “I just can’t believe it – we’ve never had a flood around here before. Do your parents know that you’re all right?”

“Don’t worry about that,” said Fletcher.

“All right, I’m going to try your dad’s phone one more time, Laney.” Kim went back upstairs.

As soon as she’d gone, Laney rounded on the others. “I have to get her and Toby out of here. If the High Street’s blocked then we’ll have to fly.”

“But the faerie world—” said Claudia.

“Stuff the faerie world!” said Laney.

“No, Laney, wait,” Claudia insisted. “Faeries have stayed secret for hundreds and hundreds of years. You can’t just… I don’t believe it, I sound like my mum!”

“I know you want your family to be safe,” said Fletcher. “But what about the other humans living here? You won’t be able to carry everybody to safety. You can’t put yourself in danger just because you think the flood is your fault.”

Tears filled Laney’s eyes and she turned back to the window. “It is my stinking fault! I
gave
the mirror to the Shadow with all the Mist tribe power inside it. So, really, Jessie’s right about everything!” She stared up at the storm clouds still pouring grey water over the village. She wasn’t going to cry. It
wouldn’t help anyone.

Another bolt of lightning split the sky, followed by a boom of thunder. Laney closed her eyes for a second. She could still see the shape of the lightning on the inside of her eyelids. One jagged line at the top split into three pathways that split even further at the bottom, like the shape of an upside-down tree. It was almost pretty.

It had been raining for ages. How could the storm keep on going and going like this? How was there enough water in the sky for it to keep gushing down?

Her eyes snapped open.

There was
one
way the Shadow could make sure the storm didn’t stop – one way he could make sure the rain kept on pouring. Now that she’d touched the mirror and felt its power it all made sense.

“What is it?” said Claudia. “You’ve suddenly gone all buzzy.”

“How do you know?” said Fletcher.

“Greytails are very sensitive to changes of mood,” said Claudia in a dignified tone. Fletcher coughed in a way that sounded a bit like “As sensitive as my armpit”, but Claudia ignored him.

“Listen!” Laney told them. “The Shadow is using the Crystal Mirror to cause the flood, right? So 
he must have taken it up there inside the clouds, otherwise the rain wouldn’t keep going for this long.”

“Laney?” Kim called. “I’ve just had a message from Tracey Mottle. She says the flood’s reached window height on the High Street and there’s water creeping up Beacon Way. That means the flood could be here in minutes. Check all the windows and doors are shut.”

“OK,” Laney called back.

“So what are we supposed to do?” hissed Claudia. “Fly up to certain death in the middle of a cloud? No thanks!”

“If we don’t get the mirror back, he’ll be able to drown the countryside any time he wants,” said Fletcher. “People die in floods all the time. Their cars get washed away or they get hurt by the wreckage that’s loose in the floodwater.”

Laney shivered. She couldn’t stop thinking of her dad. He can fly, she told herself, and maybe the flood wouldn’t get as far as the road to town.

“Just a second.” Fletcher ran upstairs and returned a moment later. “I’ve told Kim we’re checking on the neighbours to see if anyone needs help. That’ll stop her worrying about where we are.”

Laney raced to the back door, which was slightly open, showing a tiny glimpse of the darkness outside.

“I still think this is a crazy idea,” said Claudia. “Even if we find the Shadow, how are we going to take the mirror from someone that powerful? Laney? What’s the matter?”

Laney stopped dead with her hand on the back door. “Where’s Toby?”

The kitchen was empty. The living room was empty too.

“He didn’t go back upstairs,” said Claudia. “I would have seen him.”

They all looked at the back door standing ajar.

A small furry tiger lay on the kitchen table. “He came in here to get that toy,” said Fletcher.

Laney spun round, searching behind the door, under the kitchen table and behind the sitting room sofa – anywhere she could think of. She felt as if a giant hand was squeezing her ribcage.

“Stop a minute!” Fletcher grabbed her arm. “Are we sure he went outside? Claudia?”

Claudia closed her eyes. “He’s definitely not in the house. I’d be able to sense him through sound or smell.”

Laney ran out of the back door. “Toby!” A rushing, gurgling sound came from the front of the house. She ran down the side alley just as a cascade of water washed down Oldwing Rise from the direction of the stream at the end of the street.

Something small and red moved by the front wall. Toby, in his firemen pyjamas, opened the gate and pushed himself through on his ride-on car. He stopped to look at the torrent gushing down the middle of the road.

Laney tore down the front path just as Toby got off the little plastic car and crouched down by the edge of the road. The flood rose, pouring on to the pavement and surging into the front garden. Toby reached out for something that was sweeping past him in the water. He wobbled and fell in.

Laney dived towards him but he was swept away down the road. She tried to yell but her face went under the water. Surrounded by the flood, her Mist energy fizzed through every cell of her body. She seized power from the water and transformed. Wings burst from her shoulders and she soared into the air.

Claudia and Fletcher were flying over the rooftops at high speed. “He’s nearly got to the street corner!” Claudia shouted. “And the flood that’s rising up Beacon Way has joined up with water running down the main road from Skellmore Edge. If he falls into that he could get sucked under.”

Beneath the roar of the water, Laney could hear Toby crying. She flew low over the flood and saw a small face and arms with red pyjama sleeves swirling in the water.

Fletcher flew down. “Catch hold of the tree, Toby!” He pointed at a beech tree that bent its branches over the water for the little boy to catch hold of.

But Toby missed the tree and was swept on, still crying. His little face looked up for one last moment as he reached the corner of Beacon Way and went under. Laney plunged into the flood after him. She swam hard, slipping round sunken garden furniture and other rubbish that had been carried along by the torrent. She found Toby, grabbed hold of him and held him tight. Together they broke through the surface of the water, rising up into the warm night air.

“Toby, are you all right?” Laney gasped.

Toby coughed and clasped his little arms round her neck. “Laney got wings!”

“You scared me,” said Laney. “Don’t do that! Stay inside with Mummy.” She flew up over the rooftops, avoiding the windows of Oldwing Rise and any humans that might be watching.

“I rescued the little car.” Fletcher flew past with the ride-on car under one arm. “Claudia’s on the ground. Her wings got too wet to fly.”

Laney hugged Toby tighter as they flew downwards. Lightning cracked the sky and the thunder roared. Toby whimpered, but she shushed him gently.

“Laney, look,” said Fletcher, pointing skywards. In the thickest part of the storm clouds, red lights flickered.

“That’s where he is,” whispered Laney. “That’s where he’s holding the mirror.” Looking at Fletcher’s face she could see he thought the same.

They swooped down to Laney’s back garden where Claudia was waiting. “My wings gave out.” A pair of bedraggled wings dripped behind her shoulders.

Laney flew to the ground and handed Toby to Claudia. “Stay here and look after them for me, please.”

Claudia hugged Toby. “Are you still going up there? Laney…what if it’s impossible?”

“He’s not going to stop until he’s drowned the whole place,” said Laney. “Until everything and everyone gets swept away.”

“Here – you’d better have this.” Claudia set Toby down for a moment. She unfastened a thin black cord from around her neck. It had something pointed and pearly-white dangling from it. “It’s a wolf’s tooth. It’s supposed to help with speed and stamina.”

“Thanks.” Laney put it on as Claudia hurried inside with Toby and shut the door.

Laney flew upwards with Fletcher beside her. They headed straight for the thickest part of the storm
clouds. Below, Skellmore lay under a shifting mass of water. People stood at their upstairs windows, watching the flood rise. The grey water swept a tide of junk along with it. Plastic bottles, tree branches and a dustbin floated by. On the High Street, only the roofs of the parked cars could be seen above the water.

Laney rose into the night sky. She knew she had to climb quickly, before the dread of what she had to do caught hold. The wind and rain battered her, making it hard to fly in a straight line.

“The higher we go, the thinner the air will be,” shouted Fletcher. “It might get hard to breathe.”

Laney watched the world below shrinking. The Skellmore streetlights were now tiny orange pinpricks. She spread her wings and flew harder. Up here the rain was half frozen. It stung her arms and legs. Fletcher puffed beside her, his face slightly blue.

“Go back! It’s OK,” she told him.

Fletcher didn’t answer. He pointed.

Red lightning flickered round the inside of the cloud above. Fear spread through Laney like a poison. She had thought she could do this. She had planned to be brave.

“Hey!” Fletcher coughed. He cleared his throat. “Hey!”

“What are you doing?” said Laney.

Fletcher swept past her and the cloud swallowed him up. “Hey!” he shouted. “Where are you, you monster?”

Laney’s heart raced. He couldn’t go in there. He didn’t have water wings like she did, and when the Shadow saw him… She shot after him. The rain cloud surrounded her and red lightning crackled through the greyness.

A dark figure loomed out of the cloud vapour. In one black-gloved hand he held the Crystal Mirror and in the other he held Fletcher by the throat.

Laney could see Fletcher’s eyes and she understood. She should get the mirror now, before the Shadow saw her. She stretched out her hands and with all the Mist power she could gather, she commanded the cloud water to seize the mirror and carry it to her.

The Crystal Mirror spun free from the Shadow’s hand and floated through the fog.

The Shadow turned with a furious cry. He let go of Fletcher, who collapsed, falling through the cloud and disappearing. Laney caught hold of the round mirror and threw herself sideways, just as the Shadow stretched out his hand and let loose his red lightning.

Laney’s arm filled with pain and she knew the lightning must have hit her. She hugged the mirror to her chest as she fell. Above, a great black shape opened his wings and plunged after her.

Skellmore rushed closer. She knew she should open her wings to slow her fall, but they wouldn’t unfold. It doesn’t matter, she told herself. I rescued the mirror and took its power away from the Shadow, and that’s what I meant to do. Her head was spinning. Weariness spread outwards from her wound like a poison, travelling up her arm into her shoulder and neck.

She carried on falling. She could see the High Street below her and the lights of the houses. The park’s oak tree stood in a lake of water, except for the green circle of the faerie ring. The floodwater swirled round the ring without touching it. Voices sang to Laney. She shouldn’t be afraid, they said; the ring would catch her when she fell.

“Laney!” Fletcher yelled from a nearby roof. “You’re going to land too close to the ring.”

Laney unfolded her wings and struggled to change direction but the mirror dragged her downwards. She couldn’t move her wounded arm at all now and her wings hardly worked. But the darkness coming from her wound felt gentle now, like soft snow. She closed her eyes.

“Laney!” Fletcher’s voice sounded fainter.

She felt a rough jolt and opened her eyes. The Shadow grasped the mirror, his dark hood nearly touching her face. “Give it to me!”

“No!” Laney could feel the power of the faerie ring now. A vortex of air sucked her downwards and sweet voices sang, inviting her to a new home beyond the ring.

The Shadow felt it too. He wrenched the mirror out of Laney’s hands, but a gust of wind pushed him sideways and knocked the mirror away. Seeing the mirror falling finally woke Laney up. She spread her wings and fought against the swirling pull of the ring. The Shadow struggled against it too and broke free, only to fall into the floodwater.

Laney dragged herself away from the ring. She hit the icy water and sank instantly. The water trembled around her, full of unnatural power. If she could just get to the mirror first, she could send the flood away into the ground. She could save Skellmore.

She groped through the murky water until she saw a glimmer of brightness lying on the bottom – the reflection that looked like a thousand stars. She took hold of the mirror and with all the strength she had left she silently commanded the flood to leave – to sink back into the earth where it belonged.

Her wound throbbed. She felt the flood churn around her and finally the darkness inside her
grew so strong that she couldn’t stay conscious any more.

When she came round she was lying halfway down Gnarlwood Lane with her feet propped up against a tree and mud in her hair.

Fletcher looked down, his dark fringe hanging over one eye. “She’s waking up.”

“Let her rest a little,” said a quiet voice that Laney knew at once belonged to Gwen.

She blinked. The sky above her was scattered with stars. That meant the storm clouds were gone. Realising her hands were empty, she panicked and tried to sit up. “Where’s the mirror? Have we got it?”

Gwen smiled. “Yes, we have the Crystal Mirror. You were holding it when we found you, and the flood’s going down too. So just lie still for a minute. You were out for quite a while.”

“Gwen did a healing spell on you using willow bark and skullcap leaves,” said Fletcher. “It was pretty amazing. You had loads of cuts and they all just vanished.”

Gwen turned away and began whispering to something in the palm of her hand. A crowd of little brown dots hovered in the air for a moment and then drifted away.

“Is that seed magic?” said Fletcher. “I’ve never
seen any done before.”

Gwen tucked her white hair under the edges of her purple rain hat. “It is indeed seed magic, Fletcher Thornbeam.”

Laney could tell that Fletcher was hoping Gwen would explain a bit more, but she just smiled reassuringly. “Would you like a cookie?” She produced a small flowery tin from her pocket and offered it to them.

“Yes, please. I’m hungry.” Laney pulled herself up, trying to ignore the way her head was spinning. She took a bite from the cookie, noticing that the mirror lay a little distance away on the ground. Even smeared with mud it still gave out a feeling of immense power. “What happened to the Shadow?”

“I saw him fall into the water,” said Fletcher. “I flew above the flood and tried to see whether he was washed away from here, but I didn’t see him again.”

“The Shadow will not have left forever,” said Gwen. “I suspect after tonight he will be drained of power and won’t be able to make more trouble for us straight away. But we cannot be too careful – we must hide the Myrical immediately.”

“I wish I’d never found it!” said Laney. “That’s what he wanted all the time.”

“It doesn’t matter now. You got it back and you were incredibly brave to do so,” Gwen told her.

With a rustle of wings, Claudia flew down beside them. “Laney! You’re OK! I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Gwen! You’re back!”

“I flew back as soon as I heard reports of the flood on the television.” Gwen gracefully caught the handful of seeds as they returned from wherever they’d been. She listened to them for a moment and then put them in her pocket.

“How are Kim and Toby?” Laney asked Claudia urgently.

“They’re fine. I stayed with them until the flood went down,” said Claudia. “The water came right through the front door, but we were OK upstairs. Then your dad came back. He’d obviously heard about the flood while he was waiting for his van to be fixed. He had to make up a story to tell your stepmum about how he managed to get back here without driving.”

Laney sighed with relief. “They’re all safe.”

“They’ll be even safer once this Myrical is hidden.” Gwen picked up the Crystal Mirror. “Have you got enough strength to fly, Laney?”

“I think so.” Laney looked down at her sodden jeans and T-shirt. “I just need some wings.”

“That’s the easy part, my dear.” Gwen touched Laney’s shoulders and her wings sprouted.

A pale morning glow appeared in the east as they flew away from Skellmore. Sunrise wouldn’t be long
now, Laney thought. She needed sleep.

Too tired to talk, Laney, Claudia and Fletcher followed Gwen across the dark fields. They skirted round the edge of Hobbin Forest and landed near the river. On a nearby hilltop a huge round stone with a hole in its centre stood outlined against the lightening sky. Laney could feel the power coming from the faerie ring that lay behind them near the riverbank.

“Why have we come to Mencladden Hill?” said Claudia.

“If we hide the mirror like a human would – bury it or lock it away – the Shadow will find it,” said Gwen. “He’s already proved that he wants to use its power. But if we lock the Myrical away inside Time itself, then nobody will be able to touch it.”

“Not ever?” Laney didn’t know how she felt about never seeing the Crystal Mirror again.

“The spell lasts for a year and a day, and it can only be performed at sunrise, so we need to hurry.” Gwen walked up the hillside towards the standing stone with the mirror in both hands.

“Can’t we just fly up there?” said Claudia, yawning.

“Not this time,” Gwen called back. “We don’t want to upset the vibrations in the air, especially after the storm last night. This is a delicate spell we’re going to perform and the Mencladden Stone
is an unusual place.”

Laney hurried to keep up, surprised at how fast Gwen was climbing. “What do we have to do?”

“It’s what
you
have to do,” said Gwen. “Only someone that belongs to the Myrical’s tribe can perform the spell, so in this case it has to be you. It’s quite easy. You simply pass the mirror through the stone.”

“
Through
the stone?” Claudia’s eyes popped. “That’s some kind of magic.”

“She means through the hole in the middle,” said Fletcher drily.

“Oh! I knew that,” said Claudia.

When they reached the top, the landscape was turning from black to grey, and a golden spot gleamed in one corner of the sky where the sun was about to rise. The Mencladden Stone towered over them. Laney wondered why she’d never noticed before that the outside of the stone was perfectly round while the hole in the middle was oval. It reminded her of a cat’s eye.

“We only have a few minutes.” Gwen straightened her purple hat. “Quickly, Laney. Stand behind the stone so that you can see the sun as soon as it peeps over the horizon. You must be standing in exactly the right place. Then, when you see those first rays, put the mirror right through the hole.”

Laney shifted sideways until she could see the
glow in the sky where the sun was about to appear. She leaned on the weather-worn stone to steady herself. It had been a very long night.

Fletcher handed her the mirror. “Shall I stand on the other side and take the mirror when she’s passed it through?” he asked Gwen.

“If all goes well there will be no need,” said Gwen.

“Sorry?” Fletcher looked confused.

“She said there will be
no need
,” said Claudia, not very helpfully.

Laney took a slow breath to try to calm her racing heartbeat. What if she did this wrong? What if she didn’t put the mirror through at the right moment? “What else do I need to do, Gwen?”

“Just watch for the sunrise,” said Gwen.

Silence settled over the hilltop and colour gradually seeped into the grass and trees and sky. When the curved edge of the sun rose it looked like liquid gold. The mirror reflected those first rays of sunlight in its crystal surface a thousand times over.

“Now, Laney!” Gwen said.

Laney lifted the heavy mirror in both hands and tilted it to fit into the hole in the stone. Carefully she posted it through, but as the mirror reached halfway it stopped and stayed stuck in mid-air.

“Go on,” said Claudia. “Put it all the way through.”

“I can’t!” Laney shoved harder. “It won’t go.” She looked at Gwen for help, but Gwen said nothing.

“Here, I’ll do it.” Fletcher strode forwards.

“It has to be someone from the Mist tribe,” said Gwen. “Laney, you
must
make it pass through, my dear. This is our best chance to keep the mirror safe.”

Laney pushed with all her strength, throwing her whole weight against the Crystal Mirror, which was shining brighter and brighter in the growing sunlight. For a few seconds she stayed like that, pushing against something that hung in mid-air inside the hole.

Her hand throbbed painfully and a bright-red mark blossomed on her middle finger. Then a tall flame burst from the top of the Mencladden Stone and blazed brightly for a few seconds before flickering out. At the same time, the mirror slid the rest of the way through the gap and vanished completely as if it had never existed.

With nothing left to push against, Laney fell over on to her knees, clutching her sore finger and feeling sad that the Myrical was gone.