by Angie Sage
“I found this at the back of the cupboard.” Alex took out the little handkerchief, and Hagos gasped.
“The handkerchief I made for Pearl! Oh, poor Pearl . . . ,” he said, his eyes filling with tears.
“I was thinking of the Tau, and it took me there. Like you said it would,” Alex explained. She passed the handkerchief to Hagos. “Here, Poppa. You need it.”
Hagos blew his nose noisily on the little handkerchief and hurriedly stuffed it in his pocket. The rowboat rocked, Alex fell sideways, and the Tau tumbled to the floor.
“Please put the Tau back in your sash,” Hagos begged. “Do you know how deep this harbor is?”
“Two hundred feet,” Benn informed them cheerily. “Do you want a hand getting out, Mr. RavenStarr?”
Hagos suddenly felt very shaky. He took Benn’s hand, staggered onto the steps and waited while the rest of the rowboat’s passengers followed. Benn secured the boat, and then he and the young gate guard made their way up the long winding steps to Deela’s cottage.
But the Enchanter and the Enchanter’s two children took the narrow path around the rock to the Oracle Chamber. There was some serious Disenchanting to be done.
Chapter 41
The Power of Three
IT TOOK ALL THREE OF them—Danny, Ratchet and the gate guard, who had shyly told Ratchet that her name was Mavis—to coax the Big Puffer back into life. Ratchet was shoveling in yet more coal when Mavis called out anxiously, “Skorpas!”
“It’s not after us,” Danny said.
Ratchet was not so sure. “It was after you before, Danny.”
“Mistake,” Danny said cheerily. “I reckon it was after Alex. She’s not here now.”
Ratchet watched the creature high-stepping its way toward them. “We ready to go?” he asked anxiously.
His answer was a sudden hiss of steam from beneath the driving wheel and a pressure dial dropping back to zero. “No,” Danny said. “We’re not.”
In the chill of the Oracle Chamber, Hagos RavenStarr took off his cloak, carefully laid it on the smooth rock floor and sat down cross-legged in front of it. “Come,” he said to Alex and Zerra, “let us sit around the cloak. It is our fire.”
Zerra made a snorting noise as though Hagos had made a bad joke. Alex sat down and frowned at her father. Why didn’t he tell Zerra to be more respectful? But Hagos merely took his codex from his pocket and laid it on the cloak. Zerra fidgeted and uncrossed her legs so that her feet stuck out and dropped sand on the cloak.
Alex watched Zerra warily; she was sure she would do something to mess up the Disenchantment. In fact, Zerra was already spoiling things by not taking them seriously. Determined to push Zerra out of her thoughts, Alex turned her attention to the codex, which sat quietly on the threadbare red cloak. She thought how happy she was to see it again. Ever since Nella had given it to her, the heavy little book had felt like a friend. It had been a window into a world that Alex had been so excited to discover she was truly part of. And now it was about to allow her to be truly part of the real world too, just like anyone else, and to live anywhere she wanted without fear of the Twilight Hauntings. Alex glanced at Zerra. It was the same for her too—not that Zerra seemed to understand that. Alex supposed it was because the only time Zerra had been outside Luma or Rekadom at night she had been protected by Flying the Hawke. Until her encounter with the Rocadile, Zerra had had no idea what it was like to face a Haunting. And clearly even that hadn’t made much of an impression, as she was now busy picking her nose. Alex looked away in disgust.
Hagos was opening the front cover of the codex to show the little pocket in which Alex’s set of seven Hex cards sat in their rightful place. “We have the codex, and we have the cards. ‘One is One. Two is One,’” he quoted from the codex.
Zerra extracted her finger from her nose and rolled her eyes.
Steadfastly ignoring Zerra, Alex finished Hagos’s quote. “And Tau is Three,” she said. Alex felt butterflies in her stomach—this was the moment she had been longing for. From inside her sash she drew out the Tau and let it lie in the palm of her hand, its brilliant blue light illuminating their faces in an ethereal glow.
“‘One to make it. Three to break it,’” Hagos quoted. “We can now break all Enchantment of the Twilight Hauntings; both the perfect and the imperfect, the complete and incomplete. Wherever they may be. Forever.”
Zerra watched the Tau warily. This was all so weird. Suspiciously, she watched Hagos open the codex to show a block of pages all stuck together with brilliant blue edges. On top of the block was an empty T-shaped pocket. Zerra made a face—even she could tell what needed to go in there. It was stupidly simple, like a baby’s puzzle.
Now Hagos was speaking in a low voice. “Alex, you rescued the Tau, so it is right that you unlock the sealed pages.”
Zerra scowled. As ever, it was Alex doing the important stuff, Alex getting the attention. No one had asked her to do anything. She had had enough. She stood up and said, “This is so stupid. I’m going.” And she headed out of the chamber to the narrow path above the sea.
A flash of irritation crossed Hagos’s face and he got to his feet.
“Let her go, Poppa,” Alex said. “She’ll just mess it up anyway.”
“No,” Hagos said. “The three of us began it and the three of us must end it.”
Alex watched her father head off in pursuit of Zerra. In the blue light of the Oracle Chamber, she sat alone by the red cloak. Here together at last, she thought, were her Hex cards, the codex and the precious Tau. This was the moment she had longed for and fought so hard for. She’d braved all kinds of Hauntings—the Gray Walker, Xin, Stinger Eels, Skorpas, Rocadiles—for this precious moment when she and her father would use the power of Three to rid the land of them all. Forever. This was the moment when at last she would be able to live her life free of fear and to live it with people who truly cared for her. And what happens? Alex thought angrily. Zerra. Zerra happens.
Alex could hear the low urgency of Hagos’s voice outside the chamber as he talked with Zerra. She felt furious. She didn’t want Zerra to be her sister. She didn’t want to share her father with Zerra. And, most of all, she did not want Zerra to have anything to do with this precious Disenchantment, and most probably ruin it on purpose. And so, as the voices continued outside—Zerra was now arguing back—Alex cradled the Tau in her hands. The buzz of its Enchantment swept through her, followed by a sense of calm and purpose. I am with you, you are with me. We are Two with the Power of Three, she heard. It was the same voice that had guided her out from the horrors of the Iron Tower, the same voice that had come to her as she had fallen from the cliff, the same voice that had spoken when Merry was being swept out to sea.
Unaware that Hagos and Zerra had just walked back into the Oracle Chamber, Alex slipped the Tau into its pocket at the front of the sealed pages. There was a blinding flash of brilliant blue and somewhere in the distance, Alex heard Zerra scream.
Squinting through her fingers, Alex watched the iridescence of the sealed edges melt into a puddle of blue and the pages flutter as they drew apart. She became aware of a movement by her side and she looked up to see her father, his eyes shining with excitement.
“You did it,” he said. “You did it!”
Alex looked at the codex. The sealed pages lay open, their liquid blue seal pooled upon Hagos’s cloak. But now, she realized, came the part she did not know how to do—the actual Disenchantment.
“Sit!” Hagos told Zerra, as if she were a bad puppy.
To Alex’s surprise, Zerra sat.
“There are three parts to the Disenchantment,” Hagos said. “Each must be spoken by a different Enchanter. I shall go first, then Zerra—”
“I told you. I’m not an Enchanter,” Zerra said sulkily.
“Tell that to the next Rocadile you meet.”
Zerra rubbed the gash on her arm and sighed dramatically.
“Like it or not, Zerra,” Hagos told her, “you are an E
nchanter’s child. You will speak now. And Alex will finish. Ready?”
“Ready?” Up on the cliff top, Ratchet was asking Danny urgently. “Because if not, we need to run for it right now.”
Danny watched the approaching Skorpas warily. He didn’t like the way it was arching its tail over its back. And he really did not like the way it was pointing the barb right at the driver’s cab.
“We used to watch them from the gate lookout,” Mavis said. “They never miss, you know.”
“Okay, okay,” said Danny. “I got this.”
“Get down!” Ratchet yelled. “Get down!” Mavis threw herself to the ground. “Danny!” Ratchet yelled. “Get down now! Now!”
“Now the Disenchantment begins,” Hagos was saying.
Hagos picked up the codex. He passed his hand across the pages, which fluttered open like butterfly wings in the breeze and settled on a page with a dense forest of writing in tiny, cramped letters. In a low voice, Hagos slowly spoke three words, and as he did so, the same three words on the page lit up in blue. He passed the codex to Zerra, his finger pointing out the next three words for her to speak.
Alex held her breath. Please don’t let Zerra destroy this. Please, she thought.
In a surprisingly serious voice, Zerra spoke the words, watching the page intently as they too became a brilliant blue. Then she turned to Alex and handed her the codex.
Alex needed no prompting, for she saw the last three words of the Disenchantment already burning bright upon the page. With a sense of awe, she slowly spoke them: “Ita fiat esto.”
There was a blinding flash of blue light and Alex felt the world around her shift. She felt the vicious Night Wraith, the Gray Walker—which was at that very moment curling out of the sink plughole and into Nella’s kitchen—dissipate like smoke on a windy day. She felt the Netters Cove Xin—which were advancing on Kirrin as she worked late in the Harbor office—shatter into a million shards and fall harmlessly to the ground. And she felt Danny poke at a small, yellow desert scorpion that had fallen at his feet and laugh out loud.
Hagos picked up the codex, which Alex saw was a whole lot thinner, and handed it to her. She nearly dropped it in surprise. It felt so light. “The weight of the Hauntings has gone,” Hagos said. He lifted his cloak off the ground and put it on, and Alex saw how it shimmered all over with the blue from the edges of the sealed pages.
Hagos, Alex and Zerra walked quietly out of the Oracle Chamber and stopped for a few moments to look out over the ocean, which was sprinkled with sparkles of phosphorescence. A great feeling of joy came over Alex as she watched the gentle swell of the sea. She was free. Free to live where she wanted, free to go where she wanted and free to be herself.
Chapter 42
The Midnight Train
ALEX, ZERRA AND HAGOS HEADED back up to the cottage, where they found Deela, Palla and the young guard warming themselves by the fire in the little sitting room. Hagos gave them the news that the Hauntings were gone and Benn let out a loud whoop. “You can come and live with us now,” he said to Alex.
Alex smiled. “I’ll just go and say good night to Louie,” she said, and slipped out of the room. She found Louie already asleep on cushions beside Deela’s bed with the pokkle curled at his feet. Francina lay sleeping peacefully in Deela’s bed. Quietly, she laid the wristband from Danny on Francina’s pillow, and then she kissed Louie good night and pulled his quilt up around him. She turned to find Zerra standing in the doorway, watching her.
“Oh,” Alex said.
“Yeah,” said Zerra.
There was an awkward silence and then Zerra said, “It’s good that Frannie and Louie are okay. You know, after all that’s happened.”
“Yes,” Alex agreed. “It’s been horrible for them.”
“Do you . . .” Zerra paused. “Do you know what happened to Ma?” she asked.
“Mirram?” said Alex. “You mean after you Named her, got her locked up in the Vaults and put on trial?”
Zerra looked down at the floor. “I mean after you rescued her. Where did she go?”
Alex wished Zerra would get out of the way. She was blocking the door. “She’s in Santa Pesca at the moment. Excuse me please, I’m off to bed. Good night.”
Zerra stood back for Alex to leave. As she went by, Zerra said, “Your—I mean our—dad’s okay, isn’t he? I mean, he’s a nice guy.”
Alex nodded. “Yes. He is. G’night, Zerra.”
“G’night, Alex,” said Zerra as she climbed into bed beside Francina.
Halfway out the door, Alex paused for a moment. “Sleep well, Zerra,” she said.
Zerra looked up, surprised. Then she looked Alex in the eye. “You too,” she replied.
Hagos and Benn were outside on the landing waiting for Alex. Each was holding a lantern. “I came to say good night,” Hagos said. “I can’t sleep until I know that Danny is safe. The causeway is clear and Benn has kindly offered to guide me up those hateful steps inside the cliff.”
“I’ll come too,” Alex said.
“I thought you’d say that,” Benn said, smiling.
The pale sand of the causeway shone in the light of the moon and as they walked across the wet sand, Hagos’s Enchanter’s cloak glowed with its new brilliance of blue sparkles. Benn led the way into the cliff and Alex followed Hagos, lighting the way for him up through the damp and dingy steps that reminded him way too much of the Rekadom dungeons. Two-thirds of the way up, they took the branch to the right that would take them out at Oracle Halt. As they neared the top, they all began to feel fearful of what they might find.
They pushed up the trapdoor and emerged into the moonlight to see the square shape of the Puffer dark against the starry sky, steam pouring from the funnel and hissing from the vents beneath the wheels, an orange glow coming from the driver’s cab. “Danny?” Hagos called out. “Danny, are you there?”
There was no reply.
“Danny?” Hagos called out. “Danny?”
There was a sudden movement from inside the coal tender and a dark shape reared up. It was brandishing a shovel. “Ah, Enchanter,” came Ratchet’s rasping voice. He threw the shovel to Mavis, then he stepped down and shook Hagos by the hand. “I can call you Enchanter now. Ugly name, Beguiler, don’t you think?”
“I do indeed,” Hagos agreed. “But where is Danny?”
“Hey, Danny!” Ratchet yelled out.
“What?” yelled Danny from inside the driver’s cab.
Hagos laughed with relief. He hurried through the belching steam and stopped at the footplate. “Danny,” he said. “You’re here.”
Danny grinned. “So I am.” He jumped down to join Hagos. “Got something to show you,” he said, taking a small toolbox off the footplate and placing it on the ground. “Stand back, guys. The occupant is just a teeny bit angry.” Danny flipped open the box with the tip of a screwdriver, and then he picked up a lantern and held it above the box. “Just don’t get within spitting distance.”
Gingerly they leaned forward and peered in. Lurking in the darkest corner was a tiny, iridescent yellow scorpion.
“Skorpas?” asked Alex.
Danny grinned. “Ex-Skorpas. It’s the one that came gunning for us. It was about to shoot when there was an enormous blue flash and it vanished. Or I thought it had. Then Ratchet spotted it, looking not at all pleased, I can tell you. So I picked it up with the tongs.” Danny closed the lid, picked up the box and handed it to Hagos. “It’s for you. I thought you’d like some proof, Mr. RavenStarr.”
Warily, Hagos took the toolbox. “Why, thank you, Danny. No one’s ever given me a scorpion before. But I really do appreciate the kind thought.”
“My pleasure. We’re off now. Taking the Puffer up to the Rekadom loop, turning him around and heading right back. I want to be there by morning for when Jay arrives. Can we give you guys a ride?”
Benn looked at Alex. “I’d like to get back to see Jay too. And Gramma.”
Alex felt wistful. She wanted to go
with Benn to see Nella, but she also wanted to be with Hagos.
“Hey, don’t look so sad,” Danny told her. “We’ll be back tomorrow. I promised Francina, remember?”
Ten minutes later, billowing steam and with much hissing of brakes—gently applied this time—the Big Puffer drew into Rekadom Station for the first time in ten long years. Ratchet and Mavis threw open the gates of Rekadom and began spreading the news about the ending of the Hauntings and the king’s fall from the cliff. Slowly, lights came on all over the city and people ventured out into the streets. The king’s Slicers were rapidly dispatched, and for the first time in ten long years the nighttime streets of Rekadom echoed with the sound of excited voices and laughter. As the hubbub of excitement spread, people came out of the city to see the Big Puffer and the few remaining guards threw down their javelins and came out to join them.
And so it was that once again Hagos and Alex found themselves in the middle of a crowd on the Rekadom platform at midnight, with the Big Puffer belching steam, ready to go. And this time they held tightly on to each other’s hands and did not once let go. The mews clock struck twelve and Hagos put his arm around Alex. “Boo-boo. Sorry. I mean, Alex . . .”
Alex smiled. She didn’t mind being called Boo-boo at all, she realized. In fact, her baby name made her feel special. And it helped her understand that she had been fortunate. Unlike Zerra, she had at least spent time with her father when she was little. “You can call me Boo-boo if you like, Poppa,” she said. “It’s nice.”
Hagos returned her smile. “Well, Boo-boo. When I last stood on this platform at midnight watching the Puffer, it was taking you away. And Zerra too, of course. I never dreamed that one day it would bring us both back to Rekadom together.”
With a strangely happy-sad feeling, Alex watched the Puffer pull slowly away from the station, taking Benn and Danny back to Lemon Valley. She followed the progress of its solidly square, dark shape, illuminated by cascades of orange sparks flying out into the night, until she could see it no more. Then, arm in arm with her father, she walked through the open gates into the city where she had been born. They stopped for a moment under the Beguiler Bell and waited. It stayed silent.