“Has already arrived in the forest. I have sentinels keeping tabs on her.”
Clarissa breathed out audibly. “We’re on then.”
“We most certainly are.” Grappletwigs’ inky black eyes glittered dangerously. “But for now… we wait.”
Clarissa may have dozed.
She nodded awake with a start, imagining she’d heard someone calling her name. She blinked. Night had fallen some time ago, and above her the moon—large and round—shone brightly, as though with some mysterious and magickal internal illumination. Scattered black clouds flew across the sky at a rate of knots, but it looked as though they were in luck. Nothing would block the light of the moon for any length of time.
“Clarissa?” It turned out somebody had been calling her name.
Instantly alert, she leapt to her feet, disturbing Toby who’d rolled tightly into a ball on the ground next to her feet, dreaming of being chased by angry bees.
“Urgh,” he said, shaking his head to clear the remnants of the nightmare from his mind. “Wossgoingon?”
“It is time.” Nibbles moved into the clearing.
Clarissa pulled at the strap of her handbag and patted the side of it as it lay against her hip, needing reassurance that the stones remained inside. No turning back now.
“Let’s go.” She shook Catesby who jumped awake and, instantly apprising herself of the situation, nodded groggily.
They quietly and calmly vacated the clearing, joining what would have been a worn path had it not been chock-a-block with squirrel spectators. The squirrels ceremoniously parted the way to let the group through, and once they’d passed, began to follow along behind them, flanking them like a squadron of specially trained soldiers. Clarissa glanced around at the sea of tiny faces and bushy tails, marvelling that the only sounds were the occasional clicking or squeaking of a squirrel who had been barged into by its neighbour, and the crunch of twigs and dried leaves under Catesby’s or Clarissa’s less nimble feet.
The forest spread out around them, silently waiting for something to happen.
The group moved on and eventually the squirrels began to drop back until only Nibbles and Grappletwigs marched with them. Clarissa recalled this path from her previous visit, nothing more than a track that had been lain down many centuries previously. Last time she’d expected something magickal—fairy lights or some mysterious, romantic mist—but there was no indication that the rough path led anywhere special. Quite the contrary. Any hiker who strayed here would have struggled to pick out landmarks to help find a route back.
But there was one marked difference.
The further along the path they walked, the purer the air became. Clarissa had the sense she was breathing oxygen that had been created mere seconds ago. Air that had not been tainted by the modern world, that had yet to be contaminated through the pollution spewed out by factories and farms and vehicles.
She followed Grappletwigs into the final clearing. This had been carefully prepared; swept clean, probably by an army of squirrels. Here there were no fallen trees or broken stumps, no branches, brambles, fern, gorse, pebbles, pieces of small flint, seedpods or rocks. No forest detritus at all. Only a neat circle, lit by the bright light of the moon.
Clarissa’s senses started to tingle, her skin buzzed in response to an unknown energy, and the hairs on her scalp stood up. She couldn’t see it yet, but Jebediah’s tree was here. Toby pricked up his ears and sniffed at the centre of the clearing. Catesby held her hands out in front of her in wonder. She too felt the magick of this place.
“Is it here?” Catesby asked, and Clarissa nodded.
“It’s always here,” she said.
She swivelled 360 degrees, scouring the edges of the clearing, peering into the shadows. Everything was going to plan—Merrybutton had mis-sent the message to Jewel as they’d arranged—and Miranda Dervish was out there somewhere.
Perhaps she lay in wait. Watching them.
Clarissa shivered in spite of the warmth of the evening.
Grappletwigs danced into the circle of moonlight and lifted her hands. “Only those who are blessed with the sight can see this powerful tree,” she announced, and Toby quickly translated for the others. “And those who witness the glorious spectacle of Jebediah’s Beech Tree are honour-bound to protect its location and all knowledge relating to its existence. You must swear this on your lives.”
“Re-swear it,” Nibbles prompted Toby.
“I swear,” Toby responded, his face grave.
“I swear,” Clarissa said, one hand over her heart.
“And I swear,” Catesby finished.
Satisfied, Grappletwigs nodded at her eldest son. “Then it will be done.” Nibbles scurried gracefully up the nearest tree and disappeared in half a dozen bounds.
“Now is the time to make yourself ready,” Grappletwigs prompted Clarissa.
Clarissa nodded and peeled her handbag from around her neck, dumping it on the floor. Toby watched anxiously as his human rummaged around inside that vast sack of hers, knowing her tendency to fail to locate anything when urgently required.
But he needn’t have worried. Clarissa found what she wanted straight away, pulling out a pair of matchboxes. She knelt on the ground and opened both boxes, carefully unwrapping tissue paper from each stone. The onlookers blinked and looked away as first The Five Stone—shining a bright luminous blue—and then The Four Stone—a deep magickal green—were revealed, dazzling the clearing with their intense light.
Clarissa stuffed the wrappings back inside her bag and gently palmed the stones, blocking their light from the world once more. She stood, leaving her bag where it was, her fists vibrating with an intense and powerful energy. She could feel the skin of her hands beginning to warm up in response.
She inhaled deeply, several times, taking a moment to steady her nerves, before holding up her hands. “Ready.”
Nibbles, waiting in the wings, jumped down from his tree clutching a beech nut between his front paws. He stood to attention, handed the nut over to his mother, bowed respectfully and scurried away, disappearing from their view in the undergrowth.
“In Jebediah’s name!” Grappletwigs raised the beech nut above her head and shot Clarissa a warning look. Clarissa retreated a few steps, Toby and Catesby following her lead. They held their collective breath.
“Kommana sureeta chirrah levitato medaleo. Burnificia garganta!” Grappletwigs shouted. She launched the beech nut into the centre of the circle of moonlight, where it exploded in an impressive burst of fiery gold sparkles. The main section of the cloud shot high into the air, ten feet, eleven, twelve and higher. Catesby ducked in surprise, but Clarissa and Toby only stared upwards, knowing the sparks would not fall down to earth.
Instead, when the column reached its full height, it began to spread out, reaching sideways with glittering fingers, creating the shape of a tall beech tree with a full skeleton of branches covered by a healthy mop of leaves. It continued to spread in every direction until Clarissa could no longer see the crown, shimmering with its bright, hopeful energy.
Grappletwigs clapped her hands in delight and bounced over to the tree, laying her hands on the trunk and twisting her head to listen. After a second, she smiled. “All is well. It draws on the blood of the earth and nourishes the atmosphere.” She beckoned Catesby over.
“Stroke the trunk,” Grappletwigs ordered.
Catesby frowned, unsure what she meant.
Clarissa raised her fists. “My hands are full. Grappletwigs needs you to stroke the trunk. Reach as high as you can and stroke the bark in a smooth motion, right down to the roots. It will cause the tree to split open and reveal the stones.”
“Got it,” Catesby responded, and wrapped one arm around the wide trunk of the tree in order to balance herself as she stretched on tiptoes as high as she could. In one smooth, firm movement she ran the palm of her hand all the way down the front of the beech tree.
The trunk rippled smoothly, as though forged fr
om nothing more significant than a silk sheet, before splitting gently apart. Catesby hopped back and gaped in astonishment as the small holes, created by Jebediah to carry the magickal stones, were revealed. The three at the top were blind, but the bottom three winked open, bright light spilling from them. They illuminated the tree’s surroundings in magnificent technicolour. A red flame-shaped stone at the bottom, an orange sun in the middle, and a yellow half-moon shaped stone above those.
Grappletwigs exchanged glances with Clarissa, who now stepped forward, wondering whether she should place her stones in position or wait a little longer for the tree to settle down.
The decision was wrenched from her with one sudden, violent act.
A rustle in the bushes warned Toby of someone’s arrival. He turned and stepped towards the noise—alert to danger and yet half expecting a stray squirrel—but before he could fully investigate, a bright ball of fire shot out of the darkness. He twisted and jumped sideways, but too late. The ball of magick nicked his right paw.
He screamed in agony and fell to the ground, frantically licking at the heat of the injury, imagining the paw had been crushed beyond recognition, such was the pain.
Clarissa shrieked and ran towards him, still clutching the stones in her hands.
Miranda Dervish strode into the circle of moonlight, a twisted wand held lightly in her hand. This wasn’t the sharp dressed Miranda Dervish they had come to expect, in an immaculate suit and carefully coiffed hair. This was a Miranda Dervish in dirty, smoke-infused clothing and a lopsided wig. Her face, devoid of make-up, had an unhealthy sheen. Her eyes were wild, feverish even.
“Miranda!” Catesby cried, darting forwards. “Don’t—"
“Stay back,” Miranda warned, lifting her wand with evident intent. Both Catesby and Clarissa stopped dead in their tracks. “Nobody moves or I’ll kill the dog.”
Miranda redirected her wand at Toby, and Clarissa cried out. “No! Don’t hurt him!”
“I’ll start with him and move on to the squirrel.” Miranda locked eyes with Grappletwigs, who glared at her in defiance.
“You’re surrounded, Miranda Dervish. You cannot get away,” Grappletwigs told her.
Miranda sneered. “I’ll burn your goddess-forsaken forest to the ground if you make a move against me, I can assure you. Without thinking twice.”
Clarissa panted in fear, her heart beating like a bass drum. Toby cried quietly, huddled over his injured paw. At that moment, unable to reach her beloved furry pal, Clarissa understood she would do anything—absolutely anything, no matter what it cost her—to save him from further harm.
“Do either of you have wands?” Miranda asked. Catesby stole a look at Clarissa, and they both nodded. “Throw them on the ground here.” Miranda nodded at a spot in front of Toby.
Clarissa had to shift one of the stones and hold them both together to free up a hand. They clinked against each other, the bright light spilling through her fingers.
Miranda’s eyes lit up at the sight. “Soon, my beauties,” she smiled. “Soon I’ll harness your light.”
Her smile revealed teeth now black with decay, and Clarissa, forgetting her wand for a second, stared at her in revulsion. “You’re ill,” she said.
“You’re impertinent,” Miranda fired back.
“She has been sick for decades,” Catesby told Clarissa, dropping her wand where Miranda had directed her to do so.
“Shut up,” Miranda spat. “It’s none of your business.”
“Some neurological condition that becomes increasingly debilitating as you age,” Catesby carried on, shooting Miranda a look of pure hatred. Clarissa remembered the bottles of pills on the nightstand in the mausoleum’s bedroom. Miranda’s illness explained both those, and the peculiar turn Toby had witnessed at Temperance House after she’d killed Lady Amphitrite.
“Shut up!”
“Her condition is incurable and it’s killing her,” Catesby added, her voice laced with a quiet note of triumph. “She can’t hold it back any longer.”
“Shut up!” Miranda screamed and fired a bolt of heat at poor Toby again. He whimpered once and fell on his side.
Clarissa screeched and started to run towards him, but Miranda directed the wand at her.
“Stay where you are!” she ordered. “Throw your wand down here.”
Shivering uncontrollably, tears streaming down her cheeks, Clarissa extracted the wand from where she’d placed it in the back pocket of her jeans. She’d imagined that by tucking it in there it would enable easy access, but now it appeared she wouldn’t get a chance to use it.
How had she ever imagined she would never be able to kill someone? Right now, Clarissa would have happily torn Miranda Dervish limb from limb and fed her to the ducks in her local park, and all without breaking a sweat.
“T-T-Toby?” she called, hurling the wand on top of Catesby’s.
Miranda laughed, full of glee, her eyes lit up like a bonfire. “Sizzle!” she screeched. A flash of light scorched the earth between them and both wands flared, burned brightly, and dissipated in a cloud of sparks and ash.
“You!” Miranda smirked at Catesby. “Sit there, next to the dog. Don’t touch him! Hands on your head.”
Catesby hesitated and Miranda pointed her wand at Grappletwigs. “Do it or the squirrel gets it.”
Reluctantly, Catesby slid over to Toby and sat down, crossed her legs and folded her hands on top of her head.
“Squirrel!” Miranda snapped. “Do the same.” Clarissa watched, her teeth clenched, as Grappletwigs inched her way over to Catesby to sit in front of her, tiny paws on her furry head. “Good.” Miranda grunted in satisfaction. “Not one false move from any of you, or I’ll turn you all into forest mulch.”
Clarissa steeled herself to look at Toby, her breath hitching in despair. Was he beyond help? Dead? He lay on his right side, his paws stretched out, his left eye open to the sky. ‘My boy!’ she cried inwardly, a scream of internal anguish.
He blinked.
Clarissa’s heart stopped. She opened her mouth to say something, saw Miranda turn her way, and closed it again. He’s alive?
Miranda took a few steps towards Clarissa, raising her wand once more. Clarissa cowered, using the movement to duck her head and peer past Miranda to check on Toby again.
He winked at her.
Miranda, still holding her wand out, used her free hand to reach down the front of her stained cream-coloured blouse to extract The Six Stone. It spilled its brilliant purple light around the clearing, forcing them all to look away momentarily.
She handed the stone over to Clarissa.
“Now… insert the stones in the tree. No funny business.” She stepped back, her wand aimed squarely at Grappletwigs.
Clarissa nodded her understanding, flicked her eyes to Toby once more, and slowly shuffled the few feet to Jebediah’s tree.
She began with The Four Stone. Her clumsy fingers struggled to slot it in the right way; the odd shape of the leaf made it more complicated than it needed to be, and she found herself blinded by the brightness of the light in any case. She persevered until finally it slipped in and began to pulse. The Five Stone, a perfectly round blue stone, was much easier, slotting happily into place with a satisfying click.
That left The Six Stone. The one Miranda Dervish had killed Old Joe for. A purple-coloured star, it lay on Clarissa’s hand, warming her palm and throwing its light far and wide. Once she placed this stone in the tree, what then? It would complete the collection. Miranda would harness the power of the tree and use it for ill.
“What are you waiting for?” Miranda called. “Get a move on.”
It doesn’t look evil, Clarissa thought. None of the stones do. When I place this stone in Jebediah’s tree, I will have fulfilled my grandfather’s wishes. He knew how this would end. He planned it. Every step of the way. I have to trust him. My grandfather sacrificed his life for us, knowing eventually the main players in this sorry saga would end up here.
; “Place The Six Stone in its slot!” Miranda hissed, her face red with fury. To Clarissa’s ears, the woman sounded increasingly deranged.
Apoplectic.
But The Pointy Woman’s demented wrath only served to calm Clarissa. Without glancing away from the tree, she knew Toby was biding his time, willing her on. She sensed him there… behind her… watching… waiting…
“Old Joe made the ultimate sacrifice and he did it for love.” Clarissa, her voice quiet, lay her cheek against the trunk of the beech tree, reaching up with her right hand to place The Six Stone in its slot.
Yes he did, the tree replied, although it may have only been the rustling of the breeze through the leaves.
“And I will do as he asked.” Clarissa pushed the purple star into place.
Immediately, the bark beneath Clarissa’s face began to vibrate. She hopped backwards, watching as the gemstone lights started to blink, on and off, one by one, off and on, but no rhythm to them…. faster and faster until… On. Off. On. Off. On.
Then the lights went out altogether.
Miranda gasped. “What—”
The moon disappeared behind a cloud, plunging the clearing into darkness. A long second, then it reappeared. Jebediah’s tree sent out a pulse of electricity as all the stones lit up at once, so powerful, Clarissa could hear the canopy shifting overhead. The tree bloomed into life, a bright kaleidoscopic prism of colours that spread up from the roots and reached into the furthest of its extremities to the tiniest of branches and the teeniest of leaves. It shimmied in the moonlight.
“Haha! That’s it!” Miranda’s maniacal laughter filled the clearing. “Now I have it! Now eternal youth can be mine!”
“Ya think?” Toby had taken advantage of the brief blackout—forever after to be known as the Bark Side of the Moon—and, unseen by Miranda, had darted upright. Now he stood on three legs, his right paw tucked in towards his chest.
Miranda rounded on him, wand poised to obliterate his very existence, but three things happened simultaneously to prevent her. Firstly, Catesby, still buoyed up by the presence of squirrel mana in her bloodstream, leapt to her feet and, crouching low, bowled into Miranda’s midriff. Bang on target she sent Miranda crashing to the earth, before rolling out of harm’s way and ducking behind a tree.
Bark Side of the Moon: A Paranormal Animal Cozy Mystery (Spellbound Hound Magic and Mystery Book 3) Page 18