‘Here,’ said Ogg. He turned and handed her his open notebook.
Drawn delicately onto the rough paper was a portrait of Cora. Standing alone on the page, the drawn Cora smiled back at her. She wasn’t pale. Her eye wasn’t sunken or dark. Her hands and arms weren’t cracked. She looked like herself. She looked perfectly ordinary.
‘What do you think?’ Ogg asked.
Cora was speechless.
‘You forgot the stink lines,’ said Tick, peering at the drawing.
Tock giggled.
They made their way down the street, Cora’s eye on the drawing. Then a cool wind blew the pages over in her hands. The pages flipped past and Cora saw the amazing creatures that filled Ogg’s notebook. Dwarves, elves, nymphs, ghouls. She turned the pages. Fauns, pixies. There were so many. And then Cora came to a page that made her stop in her tracks. Her heart jumped up into her chest as she gazed down at the page. On it was a drawing of someone she had seen many times before. Someone with hair that was sharp like knives, and a dark, hollow stare.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Cora almost dropped the notebook in her hands.
‘What is it?’ asked Tock.
‘Is it a drawing of us?’ asked Tick. ‘Do I look prettier than Tock?’
‘Hairier, maybe,’ said Tock, sticking his tongue out.
Cora felt her skin go cold as she stared down at the image scratched onto the page. The drawing was of a crowd of magical folk and amongst them, staring back at her . . . was the silver-haired man. He moved, half hidden amongst a crowd but to Cora, he stood out like a silver moon in the night sky.
‘Whe-where did you . . .’ she began, unable to take her eyes from Ogg’s drawing.
Tick and Tock flew over to her.
‘Is that . . .’ added Tock.
Cora nodded. She held up the notebook to Ogg, showing him the drawing.
‘What?’ asked Ogg. ‘You don’t like it? I thought it was some of my best work.’
‘It’s not that,’ said Cora. ‘Where did you see him?’ she pointed to the man in the crowd.
The fairies fluttered next to her and crossed their arms seriously.
‘And when?’ asked Tick.
‘I–I don’t know. A few days ago,’ said Ogg. ‘In Edor. Why?’
‘What was he doing? Where was he going? Did you talk to him?’ Cora asked.
Ogg shook his head.
Cora looked at Tick and Tock.
‘But he was with someone else,’ said Ogg. ‘I think I drew him too. A strange-looking man.’
Ogg took the notebook and flipped through the pages, stopping at one of them. ‘Him,’ he said pointing to the page. He handed the notebook back to Cora and the fairies.
Drawn in rough black lines on the page was a man with long, dark hair that greyed at the sides. He was standing on a street corner, wearing a familiar cloak and boots. His face looked like it was stretched uncomfortably across his bones. Annoyance flickered in his eyes, and his mouth was set in a permanent grim line. An obsidian ring glinted from his hand.
It was Archibald Drake. The warlock.
‘But . . .’ breathed Cora. ‘The Jinx.’
She remembered watching the warlock get thrown across Jade City by the Jinx.
‘Are you sure they were with each other?’ Cora asked.
Ogg nodded.
Archibald Drake and the silver-haired man. Was the silver-haired man working with the warlock? If Archibald knew she was a syphon . . . did that mean the silver-haired man knew too? Flashes of Princess Avette’s memory entered her mind. The lightning. Feathers spattered with blood. Screams. The echo of an evil laugh.
‘Maybe they’re both warlocks?’ Tock suggested.
‘Warlocks do like to calculate,’ said Tick, thinking.
‘Congregate,’ corrected Tock.
‘They do like to congregate,’ said Tick.
A group of trolls entered the street where Cora and her friends stood. They came out of one of the shops chatting loudly about the price of cabbage.
Ogg, Tick, Tock and Cora quickly ducked out of the street and hid in the shadows of a narrow path between two homes.
‘Who is Archibald Drake?’ Ogg asked as he led the way down the path. Cora handed the notebook to Ogg and he placed it back inside his coat.
‘Archibald Drake is a warlock,’ said Tock.
‘He’s mean, scary and dangerous,’ said Tick.
‘He knows that I’m a syphon,’ said Cora. ‘And tried to kill us in Jade City.’
‘Oh,’ said Ogg.
‘The other man,’ Cora stopped. How could she explain the silver-haired man? She thought of Princess Avette, Artemis and the avian kingdom. ‘We’re not so sure who or what he is,’ Cora said.
‘But we know he is also mean, scary and dangerous,’ added Tick.
‘He destroyed a kingdom . . . and a princess,’ said Cora.
‘Oh,’ said Ogg again.
‘Ogg, how far away is Edor?’ Cora asked fearfully.
‘Not far,’ said Ogg.
Cora blanched. The thought of Archibald Drake and the silver-haired man being nearby made her skin crawl.
‘Maybe if we find the silver-haired man, the council will forget that you’re a syphon who syphoned their magic?’ Tick suggested.
‘Doubtful,’ said Tock. ‘We should stay away from Edor.’
Cora had to agree with Tock. The further they stayed away from the two men the better. She just hoped that the two of them weren’t looking for the same thing they were.
‘But . . . the dew suckles,’ said Tick mournfully.
The narrow path ended and the three friends and Ogg stepped around a corner into another street.
‘I can’t believe it. A real adventure,’ Ogg said happily. ‘Many trolls tell stories of their adventures. Of dragons! And hidden treasures! I’ve never been allowed —’
Then Ogg came to a sudden stop in the snow-covered lane.
Ahead of them, Cora saw a woman step out from the shadows. She walked out into the centre of the street and stopped. Her eyes on them.
Cora’s stomach backflipped as she recognised who it was. The woman had yellow hair. And hands that glowed red like fire.
The syphon hunter.
She had found them.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
‘Hunters!’ said Tick and Tock.
‘This way,’ said Ogg. He darted across the lane and into a side street nearby.
Cora didn’t hesitate. She turned on her heel and ran after the troll. The fairies weren’t far behind. They sent sparks of fairy magic at the hunter before zooming after Cora and Ogg.
Crates, boxes, sleds, shoes all shot up from where they lay in the street and came soaring towards them, glowing red. They crashed against the walls of shops, missing their heads as the friends darted down the side street.
Running down the path, Ogg raced ahead and Cora did the same. Heart thumping, she glanced down at her hands. They were still cracked. The last time she had used the unstable warlock magic she had ended up possessing the magical being.
The four of them shot in and out of tiny streets. Sliding and sprinting as fast as they could around corners, hoping to lose the hunter on their tail. With every corner they turned, flying objects crashed against the walls behind them, narrowly missing them.
Cora saw more trolls start to appear in the streets as they ran down them.
‘Go, run!’ Cora cried out to them, hoping they would go in the opposite direction to the woman with glowing hands or take shelter in some of the shops.
But the trolls just stared back at her, some trolls stopped. Others pointed. And some recoiled at the sight of Tick and Tock fluttering past.
Ogg skidded around a corner. Cora was close behind him, her boots sliding in the slippery snow. As they dove into the street, they collided with a pair of trolls and tumbled to the ground. The pair of trolls toppled with them to the floor.
‘Sorry!’ said Cora.
‘Sorry!’ said O
gg, helping the trolls to their feet.
‘That’s alright — ah! Fairies!’ said one of the trolls as she jumped back at the sight of the fluttering Tick and Tock. ‘Shoo!’ she said, waving her hand at them.
‘We will not,’ said Tock.
‘Wait a minute,’ said the other troll. ‘Aren’t you three those —’
But whatever the troll was going to say, they didn’t hear it. A pile of skates on the ground glowed red with the hunter’s magic. The skates lifted up into the air, but before they could be flung in their direction, Ogg grabbed Cora’s hand and the four of them barrelled down the street at high speed, turning down another narrow pathway.
They weaved in and out of trolls and magical beings as they filled the streets. It looked like Ogg was leading them closer and closer towards the centre of Troll Town. Some creatures saw them coming and moved out of their way until Ogg finally steered them down a short road hidden from view behind a pie shop.
Ogg slowed, and happy with the distance they had put between themselves and the hunter, they stopped.
Cora put her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath. ‘How did they find us?’ she asked Tick and Tock as they fluttered in the air next to her.
‘Some hunters use tracking spells,’ said Ogg, panting. ‘Did they touch any of you?’
Cora, Tick and Tock shook their heads.
‘Do you have anything of theirs?’ asked Ogg.
Cora thought back to what had happened when the hunters found them in the grass field. She remembered the warlock magic taking control and that she had accidentally possessed the hunter. That . . . and the dart in Tock’s leg.
‘The only thing I can think of . . .’ Cora stopped and looked at Tock.
The fairy smiled sheepishly.
‘Don’t tell me you kept it,’ said Cora, eyes wide.
Slowly, Tock pulled the dart out from his pack.
‘Tock!’ said Tick.
‘What? It’s a souvenir,’ said the fairy defensively.
Tick tried to grab the dart from Tock, but the fairy held it up high out of his brother’s reach.
‘A souvenir that’s going to get us killed,’ said Ogg. ‘Or worse.’
‘Give it, Tock,’ said Tick. He finally wrestled the dart away from his brother. Then, flying up high into the air, Tick threw the dart as far in the opposite direction as he could. It skated and bounced across the roofs of the shops and houses in the street.
Tock crossed his arms and mumbled an apology.
‘We need to keep moving,’ said Cora.
Having caught their breath, they walked to the end of the narrow path and onto the street in front of them. The street opened up into a wide square. It looked like they had reached the Troll Town square.
Ogg turned to the fairies. ‘You might need to blend in.’
Tick and Tock flew to the ground and scrunched up their faces. They walked back and forth, slow and hunched over like they were looking for something on the ground.
Cora raised an eyebrow at them.
‘These are our troll faces,’ said Tick, peering up at Cora and Ogg through squinting eyes.
‘And our troll walk,’ said Tock, hunching over even more.
Ogg shrugged and together they entered the Troll Town square. Shops sat around the edges of the square, which was crowded with trolls and other magical folk. Some trolls skated past on the snow on boards like Ogg’s and glowing skates. Some pulled other trolls or their purchases on sleds behind them.
Trolls called out to passersby in the square, selling items Cora had never seen before. One troll sold exploding earwax. It cracked and popped next to him. Another troll sold talking tambourines.
‘What fine weather we have today,’ the box of tambourines said as she passed them. ‘Did you see the score of the big game? Should you be wearing that hat?’
Tick paused in thought by a troll selling hiccup berries before Tock dragged him away.
Cora glanced into a few of the shops to her left. One sold floating stew pots, and another had wooden troll dolls in the window. The troll dolls turned their heads and blinked at her as she walked past.
Cora looked over her shoulder. She searched the crowd and square for any sign of the woman chasing them. When she heard a loud whoosh above her, she peered up into the sky, searching it with her eye. It had sounded like gliding wings. But she couldn’t see anything other than the mottled grey and blue sky. Her rapid heartbeat slowed. Perhaps they had lost the hunter. Perhaps the woman preferred to stay in the shadows, away from the crowd of people. Cora tried to relax.
‘C’mon,’ said Ogg.
Keeping their heads low, they continued through the square. They were about to turn down a street next to a shop when the crowd in front of them parted.
Cora bumped into the back of Ogg. He had slid to a sudden stop in the middle of the square. And looking up ahead, Cora could see why.
The crowd had parted to reveal the woman with glowing red hands. Cora’s heartbeat quickened as the woman stared at them with a smile. She obviously didn’t care about crowds at all. And this time, she wasn’t alone.
Next to her Cora recognised the short man who knelt on all fours. He giggled as he bounced up and down.
Then there was the sound of large beating wings again. And the third syphon hunter landed next to the others. His hair sat in spikes on his head.
That must have been the whoosh, she thought to herself.
‘Possession is a dirty trick,’ said the woman, her voice croaky and dry. She clicked her tongue disapprovingly. ‘Even for a syphon.’
Cora stepped forward. She didn’t know what she was going to do. Maybe her unstable magic would be enough to distract the hunters long enough for Ogg, Tick and Tock to escape.
‘Cora,’ whispered Tock. He pointed to her hands. She looked down and saw that the cracks were fading. She hadn’t noticed it until now but the headache that had been with her for days had almost disappeared. The uncomfortable rumbling of the magic inside her had quietened. Even the warlock magic lay still. She stared down happily as she watched her hands slowly colour back to normal. The ice-stone necklace had worked.
Where tiredness once was, Cora felt strength fill her up in its place. The magic inside her felt new and powerful. No more running, a voice inside her said. But this time, it wasn’t the voice that had been with her since Jade City, the one that sounded like stone. It was her own. She looked up at the syphon hunters and couldn’t help the smile that spread across her lips.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Light snowfall drifted down from the sky.
Cora glanced around the square. The trolls and magical beings that had once crowded around her were now running in the opposite direction. Some hid in shops and others quickly jostled down side streets carrying their belongings. It wasn’t long until Cora, Ogg, Tick and Tock, and the three syphon hunters were the only ones left in the empty square.
In front of her, the female hunter lifted her glowing red hands into the air, and Cora saw the red net that had captured her before swivelling out from behind the hunter. Except this net looked different. It looked like a giant, glowing mouth. It had sharp, red teeth and whipped about behind the hunter, lashing from side to side like an eager animal, ready to be let out of its cage.
‘You don’t have to do this,’ called Cora. She snatched up the warlock magic and it dashed to her hands, crackling, black sparks at her fingertips.
The hunter on all fours bounced up and down, letting out a high-pitched giggle with every springing jump.
‘Oh, we know,’ called the woman with a shrug. ‘But we want to.’
Then the red, glowing net flew at them. It shot towards Cora with a fiery crack!
The warlock magic at her hands, Cora grabbed the nearest thing on the ground and threw it in front of her. It was the box of talking tambourines. ‘What fine weather we have. Did you see the score of the big game? Should you be wearing that hat?’ the tambourines chattered as the box went so
aring into the air before crashing into the mouth of the red glowing net. The net stopped in the air, snaring the tambourines in its grasp and dropping to the ground. The red glowing teeth then crunched down onto the box ferociously, tearing apart the tambourines. The chattering stopped as pieces of tambourine flew into the air amongst the snow.
Cora swallowed. That was also new. She made a mental note not to let the net with teeth get too close to her and her friends.
Quickly, Cora grabbed onto the princess’s magic. Calling up the frosty wind, the air swirled faster and faster around her, rapidly picking up snow on the ground as it whirred loudly, growing bigger and stronger.
Ahead of them, the hunter with wings shot up into the sky like an arrow.
Tick and Tock looked at Cora before nodding and soaring up into the air too. The flying hunter dove at Cora. Tick and Tock expertly flew into the hunter’s way as he barrelled through the sky towards them. The fairies sent sparks towards him, one singeing his wing. The hunter faltered and flew away from Cora, Tick and Tock flying after him.
‘You’ll have to do better than that,’ Tick said.
Tock stuck his tongue out at the hunter and sent more sparks of magic in his direction.
‘Cora!’ called Ogg next to her.
Cora shouldn’t have taken her eyes off the hunters on the ground. She looked back to find the net with teeth flying at her again, its mouth opened wide.
Cora threw the wall of wind that she held in her hands towards the net. The wind hit the net, sending the glowing mouth tumbling backwards towards the hunters. It chomped the air madly as it spun out of control. Cora winced as both of the hunters dove out of the way of the flying net easily.
You’ll have to do better than that, Cora repeated Tick’s words to herself. If they were going to stop the hunters, she needed to do better. She needed to do more.
Cora looked over at Ogg. She wanted to tell him to go. To find somewhere safe. To help get the others to safety, away from the town square and the syphon hunters. But he met her gaze and squared his shoulders, his feet firmly in place.
Havoc!: The Untold Magic of Cora Bell Page 12