“Oh, I don’t think so,” she said, deftly unscrewing the arm from her glasses.
Zac was swallowed up by fear. He could see that Granny was ready to fight — but just how strong was the Dream Stealers’ dark magic? Then he felt a surge of heat rushing to his fingertips, and the more he thought about the danger facing Granny and his friends, the hotter his fingers became, until at last they felt as if they might burst into flames.
Twist stepped toward Granny. “Take her!” he spat.
Blinding light erupted from Zac’s hands, filling the room. There were cries of shock, and the sound of spells being fired, and then the light was gone. Zac dropped to his knees. Everyone was stumbling around, trying to adjust to the darkness. Zac clambered up and walked into a wall. There was another flash of light as Granny stunned one of the Dream Stealers. Someone grabbed Zac’s hand and dragged him across the room, and then he was lurching after Cornelius through the darkened passageway and up the stairs.
Granny threw open the front door and they rushed out into the night.
“What happened back there, Zac?” she said.
“I don’t know —”
A terrible noise filled the empty darkness. It was a deafening, screeching call.
“It’s Raven!” said Tom. “He’s calling the other vampires. I read about it in Myth and —”
“This way!” Cornelius hollered, leading them up a winding lane. Blood pounded in Zac’s ears as he followed. He caught a movement in the corner of his eye and turned to see something that made the blood freeze in his veins.
Vampires were spilling from every door and window. They crawled on the walls like huge shadowy spiders and called out to one another with terrible, shrieking cries.
“They’re everywhere!” he shouted. “Come on!”
With shadows closing in, they swung around the corner, and Zac could see what looked like a crumbling church looming over the village. As they ran toward it, it became clear that the stone had been blackened by smoke and fire, and there were places where the building had been ripped apart.
“We’re surrounded,” said Granny. “I think the church is our best chance. Cornelius?”
“Let’s head to the roof,” he said. “At least we’ll be able to see them coming.”
Tinn was leaning more and more heavily on Noelle. She was leading the way now, following the dial on the locator compass. Behind them in the dark, they sensed the goblins were closing the gap.
The trees were becoming sparse. Noelle’s heart quickened. Perhaps they were approaching the boundary of the Eternal Forest. Sure enough, a little farther on they reached open ground. Noelle stopped in her tracks.
Ahead of them was a cliff face, stretching up at least fifty feet.
“No!” she said. “Not now. We’re nearly there, I can feel it!”
She looked at the compass. It was pointing straight at the rock.
“What do we do?” she said, turning to Tinn. His face was ghostly.
“We climb.”
“You ain’t able!”
“I will manage,” he said.
“But what if you can’t?”
“Then you will leave me behind,” said Tinn. “Do not argue! And when you reach the summit you will run. Do you understand?”
Noelle stared at him, tears in her eyes. She threw her arms around him.
“Ouch!”
“Sorry,” she said, unclasping him and wiping her face.
Then Noelle began to climb. It was easier than she had expected, as there were many footholds. In just a few minutes, she was almost a third of the way up the cliff, and she stopped to check on Tinn. He was coming up slowly behind her.
“Keep moving!” he yelled.
Noelle forced herself to continue. It was so hard not to turn back.
On she climbed. The cliff top was almost within reach. Her arms and legs started to ache, and the sharp rock cut into her hands, but she ignored the pain and struggled upward. At last, with one final push, she was lying on the snow-covered grass, gasping for breath. She’d made it.
She clambered to her feet and saw she was on the edge of a small village. It seemed deserted. The houses were falling apart, and some looked as if they had been torched. Narrow lanes and alleyways wound into the darkness.
Breathless and exhausted, Noelle somehow forced her legs to carry her to the village, where she banged on the first door she came to.
“Help! Please help!”
There was no reply. The other houses were in total darkness. She spotted an old barn and rushed toward it. When she reached the doors, she became invisible and passed straight through. Inside, old rusty tools hung from the walls, and several bales of hay had been stacked in a pile. Then she saw it: a length of rope dangling from a beam. She grabbed it and headed back to the cliff.
There were a few trees near the cliff edge. She selected the sturdiest and tied one end of the rope around its trunk, then began lowering the other end toward Tinn. He still had a way to climb.
Beneath, there was a terrible chanting, and Noelle’s heart skipped a beat as goblins began bounding from the forest and onto the cliff.
“Mr. Tinn!” she yelled. “Grab hold of the rope!”
She peered over the edge. The rope was swinging precariously beside Rumpous Tinn, who was doing his very best to grasp it. The goblins had started firing arrows again, and Noelle had to dodge more than one as she kept the line steady.
She felt a sharp tug as Tinn managed to clutch the rope.
“Keep climbing!” she yelled. “I’ll take some of the weight!”
She heaved with all of her might. It was working! He was climbing much more quickly than before, and soon he was almost at the summit.
“I told you to run!” he yelled through gritted teeth.
“Be quiet and climb!” shouted Noelle, and soon Tinn was lying in a heap in the snow beside her.
The old man was so pale he looked almost transparent, and weak little puffs of steam hung in the freezing air as he struggled to breathe. Noelle was scared.
“Come on,” she said. “We have to get you indoors.”
Tinn did not answer. He merely leaned on her and allowed himself to be led away. As they went, Noelle could hear ominous scraping noises from the cliff. The goblins would soon reach the top, too.
She and Tinn cut along one of the narrow alleyways, which took them past row after row of spooky, crumbling houses.
“I’ve a bad feeling about this place, Mr. Tinn,” she whispered. “Something’s not right.”
They turned out of the lane and into a deserted square, where the skeleton of a church stood high over the village.
“Come on,” panted Noelle. “We can hide in there.”
She led Tinn toward the church, and pushed the battered door gently. It creaked open and they slipped inside.
The building was a shell. The smell of fire still lingered, and the stained-glass windows were black-ened and shattered. Most of the benches were burned to ash, and flecks of snow fell through large holes in the roof.
Noelle helped Tinn past the scorched wood and crumbling stone to a seat on a fallen statue. When she was sure the old man was comfortable, she set to bolting the doors. They were misshapen, and it wasn’t easy, but eventually she managed to close them and return to his side.
“Mr. Tinn?” she said softly.
He gazed at her through glassy eyes and coughed.
“I would like to thank you, Noelle,” he said, his voice weak. “You have shown courage, kindness, and bravery — far more than that of an average person. I have been thinking about what you asked of me, and I have come to my decision. If I make it out of this with my life, I shall take it upon myself to make you a Knight’s apprentice. Perhaps you were correct after all. Perhaps we were suppose
d to meet. I am beginning to suspect, Noelle, that you may have a part to play in Nocturne’s future.”
Noelle grinned widely. “Oh, thank you, Mr. Tinn! You ain’t gonna regret this, I promise —”
A terrible noise enveloped them — a deafening, grating screech — and they instinctively covered their ears.
“What in Nod was that?” said Tinn, wide-eyed. “Noelle, what’s wrong?”
Noelle could hardly move. She knelt beside Tinn, shaking violently. It couldn’t be. Not again.
“I’ve heard that noise,” she whispered, “one time before, when I was only little. It’s the sound I heard the night our village was attacked. It’s the call of a vampire, the call of their leader.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’ll not forget it, not ever.”
“Then we must leave,” said Tinn, struggling to his knees. “But first, I wonder if you couldn’t do me one last favor?”
“Just name it.”
“I was wondering, Noelle, if you’d be so kind as to pull this arrow from my back?”
“What? Me? I don’t know anythin’ about treatin’ wounds. What if I pull it out wrong? What if I pull it out and there’s a lung on the end of it?”
“I will take that chance,” said Tinn with a little smile. “I have been able to hold off the goblin’s arrow poison thus far, but it is beginning to take its toll.”
Noelle wrapped her shaking hands around the shaft of the arrow. She felt queasy.
“You ready?” she asked.
Tinn closed his eyes and nodded.
“OK,” she said slowly. “Here goes. One . . . two . . . THREE!”
She pulled hard and felt the arrowhead rip from Tinn’s back. The old man let out a howl of agony and slumped to the floor. There were patches of deep red all over his white robes.
“Mr. Tinn,” she said, “you all right?”
“I have been better,” he grimaced. “But that had to be done. Goblin arrows, you see, have a rather nasty habit of carrying some potent poisons. In this instance I think I have been lucky. If this arrow had contained one of the more deadly strains, I might already be, well, dead!”
He took a deep breath and, groaning loudly, managed to get to his feet without her help. “I shall have to buy new clothes,” he said with the hint of a smile.
BANG!
Noelle whirled around. “What was that?”
THUMP!
Tinn stared past her. “Come, we must hide,” he said.
They sneaked back among the shadows, holding their breath.
BANG!
The door was blasted open. Noelle peered out, expecting to see a swarm of stinking goblins pouring into the church. Instead a motley group of people stood in the doorway. There were three children, an old man in a long black coat and cowboy hat, and a stout old lady who seemed to be clutching her spectacles tightly in her hand.
“Good work, Cornelius!” said Granny.
Cornelius tipped his hat and forged ahead through the gloomy church.
“This way,” he said. “Up to the roof.”
Zac and the others followed him through a small doorway to a steep staircase. They bounded up the steps and through a rickety door on to a wide, flat roof. Snow had begun to fall and the wind had picked up. Cornelius ran to the edge and peered over the low wall.
“They’re coming!” he yelled.
Shrieking calls signaled the vampire takeoff. Dark shadows filled the air.
All around him, Zac could see hovering vampires attempting to land on the roof while the Knights fought desperately to keep them at bay, lighting the darkness with flashes of blazing magic.
“Look out!”
Someone pushed him to the floor as a wayward spell streaked overhead.
“What the —?”
The air fluttered and a fearsome-looking girl appeared from nowhere. She stuck out her hand.
Puzzled, Zac did the only thing he could think of and grasped it. A powerful electric feeling shot up his arm.
“Owww!” they cried in unison.
“What was that?” cried Zac, staring at his hand.
“I haven’t a clue, but we haven’t time for that now. I’m Noelle,” said the girl. “I’m here with Rumpous Tinn.”
“Tinn is here?” exclaimed Zac. “We’ve been searching for him!”
“He’s on his way,” she said.
Zac glanced across the rooftop. Cornelius was struggling with one vampire, Granny was desperately fighting another two, and Tom and Tilly were dodging attacks from every direction.
“I wish he’d hurry up!” he said.
Among the shadows in the burnt-out church below, Rumpous Tinn hobbled toward the staircase.
High above, he could hear yells and screams and exploding spells. Through a hole in the roof, he saw flashes of colored light. He knew his friends were up there, and by the sound of it they were in trouble. Injured as he was, he was still their best chance.
When he reached the doorway, something made him stop in his tracks. The air inside the church had suddenly changed. It seemed to be crackling with magic.
And then he heard a voice, metallic and grating.
“Mr. Tinn. What a pleasant surprise this is.”
Tinn turned slowly. Shadow stood in the aisle, a dark ghost, her long black cloak trailing on the ash-covered floor.
“It’s over,” she said. “You are weak. Your friends are outnumbered and outmatched. Accept defeat.”
“I may be injured,” said Tinn with a grimace, “but I can assure you that there is still fight in this old body.” He straightened up.
For what seemed an age nothing happened. Sounds from the battle above echoed through the cavernous space. Tinn and Shadow stood perfectly still, staring, each waiting for the other to strike first.
At last Shadow moved. She spun majestically, her arms outstretched. The air around her seemed to glow for a moment. And then a blinding shockwave thundered through the church. Tinn had no time to react. He was thrown back against the wall and dumped heavily on the floor.
Then he stood up. The adrenaline of battle seemed to have freed him from the pain of his injury. He smiled.
“My turn,” he said.
“HA!” Granny let out a yell of triumph as her spell hit a particularly horrid vampire. But her jubilation was short-lived; more of them were arriving every minute — among them, Raven. The leader of the vampires bared his fangs as he advanced toward them.
Zac found a wooden plank buried in the snow and began swinging it wildly at any monster that came too near. As Granny ran to him, Zac noticed she looked exhausted. The Knights were tiring with every spell they fired. A bolt of fear struck him.
They couldn’t hang on forever.
BOOM!
The whole building shook. A beam of white light erupted from the hole in the roof, reaching into the sky like a searchlight. A moment later it was gone.
“What in Nocturne was that?” said Granny.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Raven stopped in his tracks as three arrows plunged into his body. He threw back his head and screamed in pain and anger. Suddenly there were dark shapes pouring over the church wall, attacking anything that moved.
“Goblins!” yelled Granny.
BOOM!
The door to the staircase was blown clear across the roof. Two figures came stomping out into the open, dueling wildly. The first was an old man with blood-soaked white robes and a bushy white beard; the second was a woman in a sparkling black skull mask and long black coat.
Zac felt the air become heavy with magic.
Rumpous Tinn had arrived, but so had the Dream Stealers.
“It’s Tinn!” yelled Granny. “He’s here!”
Tinn and Shadow were lighting up the entire village with explosions of awesome magic. The searing heat from their spells was almost overpowering. Zac had never experienced anything like it. His hair was standing on end.
Shadow began to force Tinn to his knees. Seeing their friend in trouble, Cornelius and Granny tried to make their way toward him, but before either of them could get close, Shadow spun around and sent both of them careering across the roof with a powerful blast of dark magic.
Suddenly, the air beside Zac fluttered and Noelle appeared next to him. Zac felt the strange electricity course through his veins again.
“We have to do something,” Noelle said.
“Like what?” said Zac. “How can we possibly fight her? Look at what she’s done to everyone else!”
“Try to distract her,” snapped Noelle. “I’ll think of something.” And she disappeared again.
“Distract her. Great idea!”
WHAM!
Zac hit the floor. Then another blow hit him hard in the face. He gazed up blearily to see the lopsided Dream Stealer sneering down at him.
“Gotcha,” Twist snarled, unsheathing a small sword.
Zac closed his eyes. This was it. He was going to die, and he hadn’t even been able to help Noelle.
WHACK! A fist came from nowhere and smacked Twist across his ugly face. As the Dream Stealer folded to the ground, Zac looked up again to see a tall handsome boy standing over him, his dark wavy hair falling across his forehead.
Zac froze as the boy took his arm and pulled him to his feet. To his shock, as the boy’s hand wrapped around his arm, Zac felt the same surge of electricity as when he had touched Noelle’s hand. The boy snarled and stepped back, revealing a sharp set of fangs.
A vampire!
“Who are you?” spluttered Zac.
The boy shook his head. “I can’t explain . . .” He turned Zac to face Shadow and Tinn. “Go! Help!”
When Zac glanced back, the boy had disappeared.
A friendly vampire? Surely there was no such thing . . . But there was no time to ponder his strange encounter; Noelle and Tinn needed him.
Zac and the Dream Stealers Page 16