Pale Peak Burning

by Paula Harrison

  Laney pulled the stone and it came away easily. As soon as her arm was free from the spell smoke, the terrible prickling stopped. The Sparkstone lay heavily in her hand, a smoky-grey crystal with a long flat shape. The edges were angular and each side gave a glimpse of its nearly hidden centre, like doors to the power within.

  Holding it tight, Laney wrenched herself from the Shadow’s grip and fought to make a flame. Now she had the Sparkstone she had to use it. She wished for as much fire as the stone could give her – tall, billowing flames of gold and red – but the Sparkstone remained cold and the fire didn’t come.

  “Burn!” she told it desperately. “Please!” Surely the Shadow’s spell hadn’t been powerful enough to crush all the Blaze power in the stone. There had to be a tiny glimmer of magic left.

  “You have lost this fight,” said the Shadow. “I will keep this Myrical. My ally, the White Shadow of the north, will take the Greytail and Kestrel Myricals and together we will rule over all the faerie tribes. Once the Mist and Thorn Myricals are released from where you and that Whitefern woman hid them for a year and a day, we’ll take them too.”

  Laney shivered. The Shadow had spoken of another dark faerie once before. She held on to the Sparkstone tightly. Why hadn’t he tried to take the stone back from her? With a sickening lurch she realised she could no longer feel her legs. Black smoke was twisting around her lower body, weaving and climbing. Her stomach prickled and turned numb. Her heart beat like crazy. An icy fist seemed to squeeze her chest until she couldn’t feel it any more.

  The Shadow leaned in close, took the Sparkstone from her stiffening fingers and hid it under his cloak. “Goodbye, Tainted girl.” His hood was so close that for a second she caught a tiny glimpse of a thin mouth and pointed chin. The sight of his face made her shudder. Who was he and how did he seem to know so much about her?

  He turned, his cloak swirling. Then he blasted red lightning at the hole to widen the tunnel. Sweeping through, he released another battering of lightning and the passage crumbled behind him, leaving the way out blocked by a heap of pale rock.

  Laney remained frozen, unable to drop the arm that was stretched out in front of her. Her hand felt so empty without the Sparkstone. She moved her eyes to look at Tyler, motionless on the other side of the cave. He seemed smaller than before with his curly black hair flopping over his face.

  She kept her eyes fixed on him as the black smoke swirled up to her neck. Then her vision glazed over and her lips turned numb and finally everything went black.

  When Laney came back round she was still frozen in the same position, her hand lifted in the air. The loss of the Sparkstone hit her immediately. Not only was it gone, but the Shadow had worked some kind of spell to smother its power. He’d said he was destroying all Blaze magic. Was he really strong enough to do that?

  She could move her shoulders and head now, which meant the effect of the black smoke must be wearing off. Her arms and legs were still numb. She took a deep breath to calm her panic but a sudden noise made her heart jump. Tyler was digging at the pile of broken rock on the other side of the cave where the entrance used to be.

  “Tyler,” she called weakly.

  “You’re awake!” He came over to her. “I don’t know how long I was out for. I came round a while ago and I’ve been waiting for you to open your eyes.”

  “I still can’t move.”

  “My arms and legs took a while to come back to life too.” Tyler touched her arm but she couldn’t feel it.

  “He took the Sparkstone,” Laney said miserably.

  The faint phosphorescent light from the cave roof glinted on Tyler’s glasses. “It isn’t over. We’re going to get it back and make him pay.” He went back to the pile of rocks and carried on pulling stones away from the rubble.

  Laney’s body tingled as it returned to life. “We have to shout for help. The others that were frozen by Shadow magic ought to be free now too. They might be able to dig us out.”

  “Good plan.” Tyler cupped his hands to his mouth. “Hello! Anyone? Dad?”

  “Uncle? We’re in here!” Laney joined in.

  They yelled for a while and then stopped to listen. There was no sound beyond the caved-in wall.

  Laney opened her hands to make fire, thinking that more light would help, but no flame appeared. “My fire’s gone,” she said.

  Tyler tried to make fire too. When he couldn’t, he sat down on the cave floor and sank his head in his hands. “Our magic’s gone! He’s destroyed the Sparkstone.”

  “Maybe his spell will only last a little while. Maybe it’ll wear off like the one that froze us into statues.” Laney pulled at the crumbled rock, her fingernails full of dirt. Suddenly the cave felt small and stuffy. “Help me, can’t you?”

  Tyler started digging again in silence.

  A moment later there were voices on the other side of the wall and a thumping sound started up.

  “We’re in here!” Laney shouted.

  “We know! Stand back a minute – we’re coming through,” Claudia called back.

  The thumping accelerated, shaking the whole cavern. Then a metal spade punched through, showering earth and rock across the ground. It burst through again, forcing a hole into the cave wall.

  Tyler began pulling the larger boulders out of the way. Then he stopped short. “Oh, it’s you!”

  The man holding the spade peered through. “Yeah, it’s me,” said Chips Delaney. “She found me and said you needed rescuing.” He glanced at Claudia before carrying on digging.

  Claudia waited behind him, brushing the dust off her clothes. “Dizzy found him, actually. He was the only one out on the hillside.”

  “Not the only one in the air though,” Delaney said grimly and Claudia shivered. He finished digging and stepped back to let them through the hole. “There. That should be big enough for you to get through.”

  Laney climbed through first. “The Shadow has the Sparkstone,” she told Claudia and Delaney. “We have to find out where he’s gone.”

  “We’re defenceless like this,” Tyler snapped. “We can’t run around chasing the Shadow with no powers at all. We have to find Hillburn. He’s the Elder.”

  “Our Blaze powers are gone,” Laney explained to the others. “They disappeared when the Shadow took the Sparkstone.”

  Delaney rested on his spade, a look of pity on his face. “It’s daylight. I can’t believe the Shadow will want to be seen in the open so I suggest we get out of the tunnels. I think I can still remember the way out.”

  “Good, I’ve had enough of this place. It’s creepy.” Claudia wrapped her arms round herself.

  Delaney led them through the dark tunnels, lighting the way with his torch. There were no statue-like figures against the walls this time. Laney was glad that the others had also broken free, but she felt the hairs rise on the back of her neck at the thought of what the Shadow had done.

  Climbing up a steep tunnel, they reached the surface and scrambled past a bush that hid the cave entrance. Laney came out last, blinking in the cold morning light. She scanned the grey sky and was relieved to find that the red moon had set. She never wanted to see that kind of moon again. She went to follow the others when she noticed that the leaves on the bush had shrivelled and turned brown.

  “What is it?” Tyler asked, noticing her expression.

  Claudia answered for her. “If the Shadow gets close to a plant, it turns brown and dies. It must be the effect of his magic or maybe it happens when he’s just finished a spell. I guess he must have come this way.”

  Laney hurried past the wilted plant and they walked down the hill in silence. Dizzy joined them as they followed the road into the village. When they got to the first row of houses, Delaney stopped.

  “Aren’t you coming to the bakery to find the Elder?” Laney said.

  “Am I following you into Blaze headquarters? No, I don’t think so.” Delaney’s mouth twisted. “I think I’ll head home.”

  “Thanks for d
igging us out.” Laney couldn’t think what else to do, so she held out her hand and he shook it briefly before turning away.

  “I ran into him at the bottom of the hill. He said he was wondering what was going on with the red moon,” Claudia said quietly as they walked on. “He fetched his spade as soon as I said you needed help, though I think he partly brought it to use as a weapon against the Shadow. Your cousin doesn’t like him, does he?” She nodded her head at Tyler, who was walking ahead of them.

  “Lots of the Blazes don’t like Mr Delaney. His parents were from different tribes and he fell out with them all years ago.”

  The bakery door opened a crack as Tyler approached and he slipped through the narrow opening. The door shut again.

  “I don’t think I should go in there,” Laney said. “Not after last night. Tyler will tell the Blazes what’s happened.”

  Dizzy mewed and Claudia nodded. “We’re going to the nearest Greytail house. I can ring my aunt from there,” she told Laney. “Don’t go looking for the Shadow, OK?”

  “I’ve got to help!” Laney said. “I was the one that gave him the Sparkstone.”

  “Only because you had no choice, right?” Claudia replied. “This isn’t your fault and you’re helpless without Blaze powers.”

  Laney watched Claudia and Dizzy cross the street and turn down the road with all the Greytail houses. Turning away from the bakery door, she walked back towards Pebblenook Cottage. She was exhausted. She didn’t know what time it was but it had to be really early because there was no one else about. If she turned up now Kim would know something was wrong and she’d want to know what had happened. She didn’t think she could face lying to Kim again.

  The curtains were drawn at the cottage windows so Laney went into the field next door and climbed on to the gate to wait for a while. She opened her hands and concentrated on making a flame appear. She did it the way Tyler had taught her – finding the fire in the pit of her stomach – but nothing happened. Could a Shadow spell erase her magic just like that?

  She touched the round red mark on her middle finger where she’d been burnt that first time. Her dawn mark. What would the Blaze tribe do? Were they getting ready to take on the Shadow? She knew they wouldn’t share their plan with her. They hadn’t told her that they had the Sparkstone all this time.

  She breathed in the cold air. Rainwater from last night had collected on the gate hinges like round glass beads. She touched a drop and it stuck to her finger. How was she doing that? Wasn’t all of her magic gone?

  “Laney!” Tyler sprinted down the street. “I didn’t realise you weren’t there till just now. I told the Elder what happened in the cave but he already knew the Sparkstone had been taken – he sensed it straightaway – and none of us have any power.” He leaned against the gatepost, panting for breath.

  “We have to get the Sparkstone back before things get even worse,” Laney said. “The Shadow will have a plan for the Myrical. He always does.”

  “We have a plan too – but it won’t be easy,” Tyler told her.

  Something glinted at the corner of Laney’s eye.

  The water drop lifted slowly from her finger and hung glistening in the air. Then, one by one, the other beads of water on the gate lifted too. They joined together making a little transparent ball that hovered, unblinking, almost as if it was waiting for instructions.

  “Are you doing that?” Tyler’s voice rose in disbelief. “You’ve been using Blaze power all this time, so how can you move water as well? No one has more than one kind of magic.”

  Laney flushed. “I don’t know what’s happening!”

  “But it’s you doing it, isn’t it? So what are you?” Tyler stared accusingly at her. “I don’t understand you!”

  “I don’t understand what’s happening either but I’m trying to work it out. Please don’t tell anyone!”

  Tyler looked at her for a moment. “I won’t. But this is really weird, Laney.” He broke off, frowning. “I’ve got to go. I’ll see you later.” And he ran off down the road.

  Laney let herself into the cottage as quietly as she could. The clock in the kitchen told her it was six thirty in the morning. She managed to creep upstairs without waking Kim or Toby and then she collapsed on her bed and kicked off her shoes.

  She was a Tainted. Worse – she’d had two different kinds of magic, until the Shadow had destroyed one. But having two kinds of magic at the same time wasn’t possible even for children of mixed-tribe parents. Maybe there was something strange about her just like the red moon prophecy said:

  Born under a Wolf Moon

  The Child of Aether joins together powers far apart…

  Well, if she was some Child of Aether it hadn’t helped much when she faced the Shadow last night. She used to have fire and water magic.

  Now she only had water.

  When Laney woke up later, she was still lying fully clothed on her bed. Kim had obviously been in because her shoes had been tidied away and the curtains had been drawn. She wasn’t sure how long she’d slept.

  She’d been dreaming and the pictures had been as bright as a flame. She’d drifted to a time when she was very small and they were living in the countryside – a place where a big hill rose up behind the garden. One night her mum wrapped her in a blanket, picked her up and ran out of the house. Lightning split the dark sky all around them. Her mum hid her in the river and the water kept her safe.

  Then the dream had shifted.

  She was playing on a rug, banging on a little drum, and there was another baby opposite, so similar to her it was like looking in a mirror. Then the image faded and she was alone on the rug again.

  Laney shook back her hair and the last threads of the dream evaporated.

  The light seeping through the curtains was a strange bluish-white. Pulling them back, she found that it was nighttime again and snow was falling heavily. Her chest tightened. It was May, which was a pretty odd time of year for snow. It was hard to look away from the drifting flakes with their relentless rhythm. Kim’s car was already covered with snow. The apple tree branches were sagging under the extra weight, the spring blossom smothered by frozen whiteness.

  Laney let the curtain fall. She knew too much about the power of the Myricals to think this was a coincidence. If this was a Shadow spell then what was it for?

  She lay down again, overcome by tiredness.

  When Laney woke again it was morning. It had stopped snowing and the landscape glittered like white icing. The second she sat up, Laney thought about the light of the Sparkstone going out and her head spun.

  Kim was in the kitchen making scrambled eggs for Toby, stirring the mixture with a wooden spoon. “You’ll be pleased to know that school’s cancelled. All the roads are blocked because of this silly weather. Snow in May – it’s crazy!” She studied Laney. “Are you OK? You didn’t even stir yesterday. Did you stay up really late at Claudia’s?”

  “I just needed to catch up on sleep, I guess.” Laney poured some juice for herself and Toby. “When did it start snowing?”

  “Around lunchtime yesterday and it just went on and on. The weather people on TV are blaming a freak weather system that’s come from the Arctic.”

  Laney nodded. Humans always found an explanation for these things. It was amazing really.

  “Snow!” Toby flung a crust in the air.

  “Toby!” Kim picked it up from the floor. “He’s been very excited about the snow. We played out in it yesterday while you were asleep.” She smiled at Toby. “We went out in our wellies, didn’t we?”

  “Wellies!” Toby threw another bit of crust.

  “Toby! That’s enough.” Kim took his plate away. Then she started dishing out the scrambled eggs. “So where did you really go the day before yesterday?”

  Laney thought she hadn’t heard right for a moment. “I went to Claudia’s. I told you.”

  Kim handed her some eggs and then sat down opposite. “Yes, you told me. Now, do you want to tell me where y
ou really went?”

  Laney started slicing the toast to give herself some thinking time. Kim had noticed more than she realised. She couldn’t explain about the faerie world but it was about time she told her stepmum about the Embers. “Look, I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you before, but I found out that my mum came from here – I mean she grew up here in Little Shackle.” Her cheeks flushed. “And her brother – my uncle – still lives here. I’ve met him and my aunt and my cousin.”

  “Oh, Laney, are you sure they’re your uncle and aunt?” Kim said. “How did you find them?”

  Laney explained how she’d met her uncle. She talked about the Embers family and the repair shop, and how her aunt and uncle had welcomed her. She should’ve known that Kim would be fine about it and it was funny how carrying one less secret made her heart a little lighter.

  “Once this snow melts I’d love to meet them. Your dad would want to see them too.” Kim’s face fell. “I’d hoped to go to the hospital today but I don’t suppose they’ll clear the snow off the village roads.”

  The light bulb flickered and went out. Kim pressed the switch but nothing happened. She sighed. “That means the electricity’s off now too.”

  “Maybe I could go to the corner shop and get something to cheer us up,” Laney said quickly. “Some cherry slices or something.” She really wanted an excuse to walk into the village and find out what was going on.

  “That’s a nice idea!” Kim took some money out of her purse. “Cake would be good, and we need some milk and margarine.”

  “Chocolate,” said Toby.

  Laney had to borrow Kim’s wellies to walk into the village as she’d left hers behind in Skellmore. As soon as she was out of the house she let herself think about the Shadow and the stolen Myrical. It hadn’t seemed safe to think about those things around Kim and Toby. She felt like it would bring evil into the cottage somehow.

  Deep snow covered everything, so deep it came up to the top of her wellies. A few thin flakes were still falling. Laney wondered again whether this was the Shadow’s work. He could never have used the Sparkstone’s power to create this snow – the stone held the essence of fire magic. But maybe he was trying to break the Myrical’s power…