Archie Greene and the Raven's Spell

by D D Everest

  Archie had a sudden thought. ‘Rosie,’ he gasped. ‘Where is she? Isn’t she here with you?’

  ‘She is closer than you think, Archie,’ said his father. ‘She always was. You will find her. Now we must say goodbye.’

  ‘Don’t leave me!’ cried Archie.

  Amelia and Alex Greene smiled at their only son. ‘Don’t worry, Archie. As long as you remember us, we will never leave you. You are the love and the magic that we brought into the world, and we will meet again in your dreams.

  ‘Now you must play your part. The future of magic depends on you. Your father asked Grey to leave something at Folly & Catchpole. It holds the key to everything. You must find the receipt and look for the raven’s coming.’

  As Archie watched, the scene began to fade like a mist evaporating in the sunshine and Alex and Amelia Greene with it. Archie found himself back in the Library of Lives.

  As he turned away from the bookshelf, a candle ignited behind him and then another, guiding him back through the labyrinth. He followed the trail of lights retracing his steps until he could see the large door with the brass knocker standing open.

  24

  The Penfriend

  When Archie awoke the next morning the dream was still vivid in his mind. When he told Bramble and Thistle about his mother and father, they all knew it was more than just a dream.

  ‘It’s The Book of Prophecy,’ said Bramble. ‘Somehow its magic is still working through you.’

  She hugged him and Thistle put his arms around both of them. Archie felt the tears hot on his cheeks and buried his face in Bramble’s shoulder. He felt his chest heaving with suppressed emotion, and then the tears flowed.

  The three of them embraced until the sobs subsided. When Archie looked up, his cousins’ cheeks were wet with tears, too, and he knew that he would never be alone as long as he had them in his life.

  He wiped his face with his sleeve and sniffed. Bramble smiled and wiped her eyes.

  ‘Grey left something at Folly & Catchpole,’ said Archie, remembering what his mother had said. ‘We need to find that receipt.’

  *

  The sky was dark with rain clouds as they walked into Oxford. It was still early when they reached the Aisle of White and they decided to check the laboratory for new messages. The bookshop wasn’t open yet, so Archie let them in and they hurried downstairs. There was another note on the bench.

  I have urgent news. Meet me here tonight (Thursday) at seven.

  FG

  ‘Looks like we’re finally going to meet our mysterious penfriend,’ said Bramble. ‘I’ll let Arabella know.’

  ‘What about Rupert?’ asked Thistle.

  ‘He won’t be able to make it – he’s in London,’ said Bramble. ‘We’ll have to tell him what happens later. We can meet here at six thirty,’ she added.

  Archie nodded. ‘There’s something I need to do before then.’

  *

  When he passed the Scriptorium on his way to the Lost Books Department, Archie noticed that the old sofa that had been in the corridor the night before was gone. He shook his head. It didn’t seem right. It felt as if all traces of Hawke were being erased.

  When he reached Lost Books, there was a new sign on the door of the office.

  Dr M Brown, Head of Lost Books

  He heard voices. Faustus Gaunt was talking to Motley Brown.

  ‘A third verse?’ said Brown. ‘But you said there were only two verses in Dee’s prophecy.

  ‘Yes, well I was wrong,’ said Gaunt. ‘The last verse was on a page that had come loose. We’ve only just found it now.’

  Archie’s heart quickened.

  ‘And what does this third verse say?’ asked Brown.

  ‘I’ll read it to you,’ said Gaunt.

  ‘To stop the dark

  There is a price

  A selfless act

  Of sacrifice.’

  ‘Oh dear,’ said Brown. ‘That doesn’t sound good. What does it mean?’

  ‘There’s a price to be paid to defeat the Dark Flame,’ said Gaunt. ‘I suspect someone will have to pay with their life.’

  His words hung awkwardly in the air. Archie swallowed hard. He had a sinking feeling.

  ‘You have seen The Book of Reckoning. We are running out of time,’ said Gaunt.

  ‘I am well aware of that,’ said Brown.

  ‘You must do something,’ urged Gaunt.

  ‘I know what you are trying to do, Faustus. You are trying to force my hand, but I won’t have it. If you continue with this I will have to inform Uther. There is only one Flame we answer to, and I think you have forgotten that. The time is coming when we must all stand up and be counted.’

  ‘It is you, Motley, who have forgotten. The Dark Flame is rising and we can either join it or fight it. We must all choose which side we are on. I would hate to think that you were on the wrong side.’

  ‘Are you threatening me, Faustus? My apprentice is a witness to this, you know.’

  Gaunt swept out of the room, nearly bumping into Archie as he did.

  Brown was sitting behind the desk peering at an open book through Hawke’s imagining glass. Peter Quiggley was slouched in an armchair by the fire.

  Archie knocked on the open door and Brown looked up.

  ‘Ah, Archie,’ he said, a smile flickering on his lips. ‘Just the person I wanted to see. Come in. Sit down.’

  He waved a hand absent-mindedly towards a stiff-backed chair that was in the place where the sofa used to be. Archie had to admit that the chair was a more sensible size for the room, but the study had lost some of its character. He wished he could relax into the soft embrace of the old sofa, but instead he perched on the uncomfortable chair.

  Quiggley’s eyes followed him from across the room.

  ‘We heard you were attacked by another of the Pale Writers,’ said Brown. ‘Are you recovered?’

  ‘I’m feeling much better, thank you,’ said Archie.

  ‘That’s the ticket,’ said Brown. ‘Of course, you’ll never fully recover from such an attack,’ he murmured, more to himself than to Archie. ‘But the important thing is that you fought it off. How did you do that exactly?’

  Archie shrugged. ‘Just lucky, I guess,’ he murmured.

  He didn’t want to admit that he’d used the Torchstone. He felt terrible about losing it. He hadn’t even told his cousins yet. His one consolation was that there was a spare. If he could get another ember from the Flame of Pharos quickly, no harm would have been done.

  Brown peered at him through the tinted lens of the imagining glass, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

  ‘No matter,’ he said. ‘The thing is, Archie, as you know Gideon hasn’t been himself lately and, well, I’ve been asked to step in and help out. Just for a while, you understand.’

  Archie thought about the sign on the door. It suggested the appointment was more permanent. He glanced at Quiggley who was making himself at home in the chair by the fire with a big smirk on his face.

  Archie gazed around the room. There were the signs of a hasty search. Books had been pulled off the shelves and dumped on the ground. The locks on Hawke’s desk drawers had been forced and his things emptied on the floor.

  Brown saw him looking. ‘It’s not pretty, I know, Archie, but there isn’t much time and we can’t afford to stand on ceremony. I need to know what Grey saw in The Book of Prophecy and I think Gideon was getting close. What did he tell you about it?’

  Trust no one, Hawke had said, and as far as Archie was concerned that included Brown.

  ‘Nothing,’ Archie said. ‘He never discussed it with me.’

  ‘Never?’ asked Brown.

  ‘Well, he mentioned it in passing, but no more than that,’ said Archie, guardedly.

  ‘You’re quite sure about that?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Archie, trying not to look too shifty.

  Brown’s face crumpled with disappointment. ‘I thought he might have confided in you,’ he said. ‘Oh well, p
erhaps he didn’t trust you with something so important. I’ll just have to keep searching. If you think of anything, or remember anything Hawke said that might be a clue, you must tell me immediately.’

  Archie nodded. ‘What will happen now about my apprenticeship?’ he asked. Brown gave him a distracted glance.

  ‘Well, I haven’t got time to teach you anything at the moment. I’m too busy trying to defeat the Dark Flame. What were you working on last?’

  ‘Delving spells,’ said Archie.

  Brown looked more interested. ‘Really?’ he said thoughtfully. His eyes narrowed as an idea came into his head.

  ‘Of course!’ he said, speaking to himself again. ‘With your book whispering and magic writing you’d be perfect. Hawke would have seen that. Why didn’t I think of it before?’ He suddenly seemed to realise he was speaking out loud.

  Brown glanced at Quiggley. ‘Perhaps you could show Peter what you’ve been learning.’

  Quiggley sat up in the chair and glared at Archie. ‘I don’t think Greene has anything to teach me,’ he said with a sneer. ‘Not after what I’ve been learning recently.’

  Archie wondered what sort of magic Quiggley had been taught. Hopefully, Brown had been teaching him how to care for the magical creatures in the menagerie.

  ‘Yes, well, we can all learn from each other,’ said Brown. ‘Archie has some particularly rare talents. I want you to share what you know.’

  Quiggley shot him a hopeful look, but Archie turned away.

  That wasn’t going to happen, Archie decided as he left the office. If Brown thought for a moment that he was going to share any of his secrets with Peter Quiggley he had another think coming! But right now he had other things on his mind.

  He walked purposefully towards the archive. There was something he needed to do. He let himself in with his key and hurried through to the room where the Torchstones were kept. Now all he had to do was get another ember from the Word Smithy.

  But the glass case was empty. The spare Torchstone had gone.

  Archie’s heart sank. What was he going to do now? Hawke had asked him to be a flame carrier and he had managed to lose the first Torchstone. Now the second one had disappeared. He felt helpless. Who could have taken it?

  He was beginning to lose hope. Then he had another thought.

  ‘You have to find the receipt for Folly & Catchpole.’ That’s what his mother had said in his dream. If he could find that then everything might still be all right. But where could it be?

  In the dream, Grey had shown the receipt to his father outside Folly & Catchpole’s office. But what had he done with it after that? Archie had seen Grey put it in the pocket of his cloak.

  Something stirred in Archie’s mind. A light suddenly went on in his brain. Grey’s cloak!

  Grey had travelled to Oxford to hide the Grimoire in the Darchive. Rusp had said he was arrested immediately after: ‘Taken by surprise – didn’t even have time to get his cloak.’ Perhaps the receipt was still in it!

  Archie raced back through the archive to the alcove with the little door. Where better to leave a cloak than in a cloakroom?

  Grey had locked the door with a magical spell. People had been trying to open it ever since but no one had discovered its secret. Archie examined the door. What kind of spell would prevent people opening a door?

  He reached out to touch the door – and as he did he felt a strange tingling sensation in his hand. It was coming from Fabian Grey’s ring on his finger. The mirror entrance to the secret library at the Royal Society was operated by Dawlish Hooke’s magical ring. Perhaps the spell that Grey had put on the cloakroom used the same sort of magic?

  The ring gleamed with a bright golden light and the lock that hadn’t been turned in centuries clicked open. Grey must have put the spell on it when he was arrested knowing that it could only be opened by someone wearing the ring he’d left at Folly & Catchpole.

  Archie was so excited he could hardly breathe. He pulled the little door towards him and peered inside.

  There it was, hanging on a hook on the back of the door: Fabian Grey’s scarlet cloak, just as he’d left it three hundred and fifty years ago. Archie felt goosebumps.

  He fumbled with the material of the cloak, searching for an inside pocket. His hand touched a piece of parchment. It had a name and address printed on one side.

  Folly & Catchpole, Gutter Lane, London.

  Scarcely able to believe his eyes, Archie turned it over and read the words written on the other side.

  Property of Fabian Grey.

  Do NOT remove.

  Owner will collect.

  He’d found it! The clue that Hawke and Brown had been searching for! It had been in Grey’s cloak all the time.

  Now that he’d found it, what was he meant to do with it? What would Hawke have done with it? Trust no one, he’d said. Archie was sure he wouldn’t have handed it over to the authorities and Archie wasn’t about to either. Besides, that very evening they were meeting the mysterious FG. Maybe he’d get a chance to return it in person!

  *

  When Archie arrived at the Aisle of White, Bramble, Thistle and Arabella were waiting for him outside.

  ‘Where’ve you been?’ asked Arabella. ‘And what’s that?’

  ‘Fabian Grey’s cloak,’ said Archie. ‘It’s a long story but I’m hoping that he might want it back. I’ll explain later.’

  ‘Do you really think the notes are from him?’ asked Arabella.

  ‘Only one way to find out,’ said Bramble.

  Archie let them into the bookshop and they crept downstairs. They could barely contain their excitement.

  ‘If we wait in here,’ Archie said, opening the door to the mending workshop, ‘we’ll hear whoever it is come down the stairs. They’ll have to come in here to get the key to the lab.’

  ‘But if it’s Fabian Grey, he’ll have his own key!’ said Thistle.

  ‘Good point,’ said Archie. ‘But in any case we’ll hear them come past.’

  They settled down to wait. The only light came from the Flame of Pharos burning in the Word Smithy. The Flame looked weaker than ever. Archie wondered what was wrong with it. Old Zeb had said that the Flame was hard to extinguish but it definitely looked like it was guttering.

  Archie thought about the Torchstone again. If only he hadn’t lost it! Arabella interrupted his thoughts. ‘It’s gone seven,’ she said. ‘He’s late!’

  ‘Shhhhhh,’ hissed Bramble. ‘I think I just heard something.’

  They instantly fell silent, straining their ears for the slightest sounds of movement coming from the bookshop above them.

  Then they all heard it, the cautious tread of footsteps on the spiral staircase. Someone was descending very carefully. The children glanced at each other. In the poor light from the furnace, their eyes were visible, glistening with excitement.

  Archie had a sudden thought. ‘What are we going to do if it is Fabian Grey?’ he whispered. ‘I’m not sure what you say to a three hundred and seventy year old alchemist!’

  There were footsteps in the corridor. Someone was approaching stealthily. As they strained their senses to catch the slightest sound, the footsteps stopped outside the second door, the one that contained the bookend beasts.

  The footsteps carried on down the passageway. Slowly they drew closer. Archie’s mouth had gone dry. He felt goosebumps on his arms and the hairs on the back of his neck prickled.

  The footsteps had almost reached the workshop now. Archie couldn’t quite believe that after all this time he might be about to meet Fabian Grey, the most brilliant and infamous alchemist of all time.

  The footsteps continued down the corridor and they heard a key turn and the door to the laboratory groan open.

  ‘He’s got his own key!’ gasped Thistle.

  ‘Quick, he’s inside the lab,’ said Archie. He opened the door to the mending workshop and crept down the corridor. Arabella hesitated at the workshop door, looking back up the passageway.
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  ‘What’s the matter?’ Archie whispered.

  She shook her head. ‘I thought I heard someone behind us. But there’s no one there. I must have imagined it.’

  When they reached the black door, Archie paused, with his hand on the handle.

  ‘Ready?’ he asked the other three. Bramble, Thistle and Arabella all nodded. ‘On three. One, two, three …’

  25

  The Raven’s Story

  Archie threw the door open and they all stared into the room expectantly with eyes as big as saucers.

  ‘The Alchemists’ Club, I presume!’ said a familiar voice. ‘Good evening, Archie, Bramble, Thistle and Arabella. It’s a shame Rupert can’t be here.’

  Feodora Graves arched one eyebrow at them.

  ‘Oh!’ gasped Bramble. ‘Feodora Graves – that FG!’

  Graves raised her other eyebrow. ‘You sound disappointed. Who were you expecting?’

  The four children cast embarrassed glances at each other. Graves frowned. ‘Don’t tell me,’ she tutted. ‘You thought I was Fabian Grey!’

  Archie looked sheepish. ‘It was the initials,’ he said lamely, trying to explain. ‘FG?’

  Graves allowed herself a rare smile. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I suppose I should be flattered.’

  ‘How did you know about the laboratory?’ asked Thistle.

  ‘You didn’t really think that all your comings and goings to the Aisle of White had gone unnoticed, did you?’ said Graves. ‘Old Zeb guessed what you’d discovered behind the black door. He told Gideon and I.’

  ‘But how did you get in without the key?’ asked Thistle.

  She held out her hand and they saw she had another key. ‘There were five keys, one for each of the original members of the Alchemists’ Club. Zeb found this one long ago. It was easy for me to leave my messages on the bench for you to find.’