The Jinx roared in pain. It looked up and used both of its arms to grab Artemis and yank the bird off. But Artemis was too fast. He flew up and soared out of the way of the Jinx’s long arms just in time. Tick and Tock continued throwing magic at the creature. The Jinx toppled backwards, falling to the ground. Then it heaved itself to its feet.
Cora felt her magic weakening. She couldn’t hold onto the wind much longer. She let go of the magic. Breathing heavily, she fell to her knees. Dizziness clouded her mind. She shook her head and tried to ignore it.
She watched as the Jinx dove at Tick and Tock. Cora winced as it let out another roar, blowing Tick and Tock over in the air.
Cora caught her breath. She needed to help them. Perhaps she could throw something? Like she had done at the lake? She searched around her for something she could use. Lying on the ground next to her was Artemis’s walking stick.
Cora picked up the walking stick and looked for the strength of the Jinx inside her. She found it. Then she threw the stick as hard as she could in the direction of the Jinx. She used the wind around it to push it through the air like a spear. It shot towards the creature but the Jinx turned at the last minute and the walking stick went soaring right past him and through a nearby window. The Jinx didn’t even flinch.
Come on, Cora, she said angrily to herself.
Artemis dove at the Jinx again but the creature moved out of the way. Sparks of magic flew up at the Jinx from the ground. Cora looked around and saw the magical beings of Jade City helping them against the Jinx.
The creature roared down at them in anger. Then with one giant hand the Jinx jumped up and grabbed Tock, plucking him out of the air. The fairy was trapped in the creature’s claws.
‘No!’ Cora cried.
The Jinx let out a roar and then lifting up its arm, it dangled Tock from two of its claws. The Jinx opened its mouth wide and lowered its arm. It was going to eat Tock!
Chapter Forty-Two
Cora ran. She ran towards the Jinx as fast as she could. She could only watch, her heart beating fast and her eyes wide, as Tock was lowered towards the Jinx’s mouth. From above, she saw Tick fly down to the Jinx, towards his brother but with its other hand, the Jinx swatted the fairy away. Tick went flying up into the air.
‘Tick!’
She raced towards them. When she got closer, she could see Tock still in the Jinx’s clenched hand. He tried to squirm out of the creature’s grasp. ‘Stop!’ Cora cried as she ran. ‘Don’t! I’m here!’ But she was too far from them, the Jinx couldn’t hear her.
The Jinx’s arm got lower and lower. Tock tried to scramble away from the gaping black hole that was the Jinx’s mouth.
Cora gritted her teeth. She felt the magic inside her. She grabbed the princess’s magic. She grabbed the air. And used it around her to push herself faster towards them.
Don’t!
Then the Jinx stopped, Tock inches from its mouth. The Jinx turned in her direction and looked down at her.
Could the Jinx . . . did he hear her? She was close enough to smell the shadow creature now. She looked up and into the sky. It was time all of this came to an end.
‘It’s me you want!’ she yelled. She continued running at full speed. The air around her pushed her forward. Then grabbing the strength of the Jinx she had inside, she reached the Jinx’s leg and pushed as hard as she could.
‘Argh!’ she cried.
The Jinx’s leg flew up and backwards into the air, then it fell, crashing down onto a building behind it. A dusty plume of smoke went up into the air and the ground shook beneath Cora. She waited for the Jinx to get up. But it stayed down. She saw Artemis fly over to it and dive into the grey smoke to find Tock.
Cora looked around. Some of the magical beings nearby were watching from hiding places. Others were breathing heavily from using their magic against the Jinx. She saw the smoke and the buildings and homes around her destroyed.
Breathing heavily, Cora waited for Artemis and Tock to emerge. She felt the strength still under her skin. Then suddenly Cora felt something grab her by the throat. Its grasp became tighter and tighter until she couldn’t breathe. She looked around, wide-eyed but she couldn’t see anybody. She was lifted up off the ground, her feet dangling beneath her. She clutched at her neck. Her vision became blurry. Then someone slowly spun her around in the air.
Standing in the street behind her, his coat and dark hair trailing in the wind, was Archibald Drake. The warlock.
Cora heard a squawk in the air followed by quick POP!s of magic. She watched silently as Artemis, Tick and Tock came into view, diving towards the warlock.
No.
Archibald looked up, then holding up one of his hands, he motioned to the huge gold bird and suddenly Artemis hung suspended in the air, just like Tick and Tock had been in the witch’s shop. Then Archibald turned his hand and Artemis twisted and turned in the air.
‘Artemis!’ she rasped.
He let out a loud squawk of pain.
Then Tick and Tock sent sparks of magic at the warlock. One of them hit Archibald in the shoulder and he dropped the hand that was holding her throat.
Cora fell to the ground, gasping in all the air she could.
Archibald curled up his hand and moved it up and then down, sending Artemis flying upwards and then straight down, right through the roof of a home nearby.
‘No!’ she croaked.
Cora waited for Artemis to emerge, soaring up into the sky from where he lay slumped amongst broken beams. But he didn’t.
Tick and Tock sent more POP!s of magic at the warlock from the air. Archibald deflected them, sending the sparks of magic back at the fairies. Tick and Tock tried to fly out of the way in time but they weren’t fast enough. The sparks of magic hit them.
‘Tick! Tock!’ Cora yelled.
The fairies tumbled out of the sky. They fell down, down, down in what seemed like slow motion. Then Tick and Tock hit the ground, rolling with a bounce to a stop. Unmoving.
Cora stared at her friends. She willed them to get up. To smile and brush it off. But they lay still.
Cora turned around to find Archibald, his dark eyes on her and a smile on his worn face. An anger, which Cora had never felt before, bubbled and popped beneath her skin like a boiling stew. It was more than she had ever felt before. More than she knew she could ever feel. Was it the princess? Was it the Jinx?
She thought about the scavengers in Urt. The ones who had taken the shoe polish from her. She thought about what she would have said to them if she’d had the courage. And as she glared at the warlock, she only knew one thing.
You’ve messed with the wrong girl.
Chapter Forty-Three
‘Do you have any idea the power I wield?’ the warlock called out to her. ‘For sixteen years I was Warlock of the Seven.’
Cora wasn’t listening. She focused on the princess’s power. She focused on the Jinx’s strength. She combined them in her mind. She felt her skin sting as her fists clenched shut by her waist.
‘And then a girl with one eye throws me through a window,’ the warlock growled. ‘For everyone in the Black Market to see.’
The warlock lifted a finger and Cora felt something run across her arm. She looked down to see a small cut. A terrible fury rolled around inside her. It became stronger and stronger with every word the warlock uttered.
‘Your power,’ he said, pointing to her scar. ‘It won’t last.’ He took a step forward towards her. ‘I felt it when I first saw you. You can’t control it.’
Cora ignored him. She focused on what she was doing. Both magics took a hold of her. She felt stronger. More powerful than she had felt before.
‘I wasn’t prepared for you,’ he said. ‘But I am now.’ The warlock held his hands out at either side of him as he continued walking towards her. Black sparks crackled at the tips of his fingers.
Cora watched as a malicious grin spread across Archibald’s face. He’s playing with me. Just like Scratch used to do with
the mice he would find behind the wall. But why?
‘It’s going to eat you alive,’ said the warlock. ‘You’re pathetic. A nobody. You’ll never be able to keep absorbing magic.’
Another cut sliced across her leg. She ignored it. She held onto the princess’s magic tightly. The sky above her darkened with rolling grey clouds. White rage thundered through her.
‘Well,’ the warlock spat, ‘show me what you can do!’ The warlock pointed at her and Cora felt another cut slice across her leg. She didn’t look down this time. Artemis’s words flashed through her mind, People will come for her . . . if they discover what she is.
‘Can’t you do it because your flying friends aren’t around to help you anymore?’ Archibald goaded. Pointing, the warlock sent a cut across her cheek. Cora breathed in. Cora remained still, trying to control the magic inside her. She could do it. She could hold on —
‘Fairies are the dirt beneath our feet,’ sneered the warlock.
And with a SNAP, Cora’s anger exploded like lightning. She closed her eye and called up the air around her. Along with everything she had left. All of it. Every pain and worry she had. Dot. Scratch. Urt. Tick. Tock. Artemis. Their faces flashed in her mind. Everything she had ever felt, she rolled it all into one.
Suddenly the air around her transformed into a whirling, booming gale. Her hair flew out of its ribbon as she focused on the magic inside her.
Archibald glanced up at the darkened sky, then around them at the roaring wind. Then he laughed. ‘Is that it?! Is that all you can do?! You don’t scare me, girl.’
Cora opened her eye and stared daggers at the warlock.
‘You don’t scare me either,’ she said.
Then with all the strength she had left, Cora sent the wind towards the warlock. She grabbed him, plucking him off the ground and pulled him towards her so fast that she almost didn’t see him. The warlock struggled against the wind, reaching out both hands to grab her. But Cora held him back. She pushed him down towards the ground so that she could look him in the eyes. He writhed in front of her, breaking free from her hold. Cora shoved him back, using the strength of the Jinx but the warlock held up his hands and her strength bounced away from him like a pebble ricocheting against stone.
Cora swallowed. She felt herself weakening. Archibald had started to get to his feet. He was too powerful. What could she do? There was only one thing left she could think of. But could she do it? She had done it before. Although, not on purpose.
Before Archibald could stand up straight, Cora quickly put her hand over the warlock’s face.
‘What are you doing,’ he spluttered.
Cora felt the familiar shock shoot through her entire body. It sizzled from her toes to her nose. She closed her eye and let it seep into her, filling her up with energy. When the feeling faded away, she let go of him.
The warlock dropped to the ground in front of her.
Cora stepped back. Her head pounded with pain. Her vision was blurred around the edges. Her legs were wobbly beneath her. The wind and dark clouds slowly disappeared.
In front of her, the warlock clambered angrily to his feet. ‘You can’t,’ he said. ‘You’re not strong enough.’ He stumbled, holding his hand to his face where she had touched him. ‘I’m too powerful for you to withstand!’
Cora straightened and stared back at him. Then she held out her hands either side of her. Black sparks crackled at the tips of her fingers.
The warlock’s eyes widened.
Then Cora noticed a dark shadow behind the warlock. It was the Jinx. It must have removed itself from the building and was now lumbering towards them.
Archibald’s face was twisted with rage. He was so consumed with anger he didn’t even seem to feel the ground shaking beneath their feet. Instead, he held his hands up in the air, his eyes on her wrist. Then Cora felt the skin on her arm become hot like it was placed over a fire. She lifted up her arm and watched wide-eyed as her bracelet fell apart like soft snow, melting off her wrist to the ground.
‘Now there’s nothing to protect you,’ he snarled, blood dripping down from his nose.
Then Archibald lifted Cora up off the ground with his magic. Her throat began to tighten again. She could see that the Jinx was close. She didn’t have much time. She searched inside herself. She found the warlock’s power. It sparked and fizzed like electricity. She let it become part of her, flowing through her like a current. Then she searched for what she was looking for. And found it. Using her hands, she broke free of the warlock’s hold on her and dropped to the ground.
Sucking in air, Cora stood up and with both of her hands she held the warlock in place, lifting him up into the air, just like he had done to her.
Before the warlock could do anything, the Jinx was on them. From right above the warlock, the creature looked down, and then with one gigantic swipe, it swatted the warlock out of its path.
With a cry, Archibald Drake went flying up into the air like a doll before falling back down streets away, somewhere in Jade City. Cora hoped it was the last they would see of Archibald Drake.
She held onto the warlock’s magic as the Jinx looked down at her. She braced herself. Was it her turn next?
Then slowly, the Jinx bent down so that it was crouched on one knee. Its head was now at her height and the creature peered at her with interest.
Cora tried to still her heartbeat as she stared into the Jinx’s glowing, yellow eyes. This is it, she thought. The thick smell of ash and smoke filled the air. From up close, she could see the shadows that made up the Jinx. They floated around her like thin, black curtains.
Then the Jinx bent towards her and its two big nostrils sniffed the air around her.
Cora closed her eye.
She waited. What was taking so long?
Cora opened her eye to see the Jinx still in front of her. It hadn’t moved an inch. She looked down at herself. It definitely hadn’t eaten her. Why hadn’t it eaten her?
Then the Jinx extended a hand towards her.
Cora thought it was about to grab her but it stopped and instead touched her gently on the forehead. Its hand felt cool against her skin. Cora shuddered.
Then the Jinx let go and placed the same hand on its own forehead.
Cora didn’t understand what it was doing.
The Jinx stood up. The ground shook as it got to its feet. The creature stared down at Cora and then with a shudder, its shadows floated up into the air and the Jinx disappeared.
Chapter Forty-Four
Cora suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion. She collapsed onto the ground and sat with her head in her hands. What had the Jinx done? She still felt its strength inside her. But she also felt lighter, somehow. She looked around her. Most of the Jade City street was destroyed. The homes and buildings lay in crumbled parts.
Crud.
There was movement in the rubble nearby. Cora turned to find Artemis. No longer a bird, he hobbled over to her. His leg looked worse than before. She probably shouldn’t have thrown his walking stick into a building.
‘Are you alright?’ Cora asked. ‘Your walking stick is, uh,’ she pointed vaguely to one of the buildings in the distance.
Artemis nodded. ‘What happened?’ he asked, a hand on his head.
‘I’m not entirely sure,’ Cora said honestly.
She looked around the street. There was no sign of Tick or Tock.
‘Have you seen . . .?’ she began and then she heard the flutter of wings.
From a bit further down the street, the fairies flew over to them. Relief washed over Cora as she watched Tick and Tock fly and land on the ground beside her with a THUD.
‘You’re both okay,’ said Cora happily. She couldn’t shake the memory of the fairies still and unmoving on the street.
Then the fairies collapsed on their backs, breathing in and out heavily.
‘That . . .’ breathed Tick.
‘. . . was close,’ groaned Tock.
Cora looked the fairies over care
fully. They were covered in scratches and bruises. Tock’s nose was bent at an odd angle and his face was bruised with blotches of purple. And when Tick smiled up at her, Cora thought that the fairy might be missing a tooth or two.
‘What did we miss?’ asked Tick.
The fairies and Artemis glanced over at Cora.
She paused. Cora wasn’t sure what to tell them.
‘Did you defeat the Jinx?’ asked Tock with a smile.
‘Not exactly,’ said Cora. She thought about the Jinx and how it had just disappeared. Why didn’t it eat me? she wondered.
‘And Drake?’ asked Tick.
Perhaps it was better to show them? Cora held out her hands either side of her. Black sparks flickered from her fingertips.
Tick and Tock sat up, their eyes wide.
‘You . . .’ said Tick
‘Warlock magic?’ finished Tock.
Cora nodded.
‘Cora, warlock magic, it’s . . .’ said Tock.
‘Dark magic,’ finished Tick.
‘I know,’ Cora said, remembering what they had told her about Archibald. ‘But it was the only way to stop him. It was the only way to . . . protect everyone.’ At least, that’s what she thought at the time.
Tick and Tock looked at each other.
‘You must be careful with it,’ said Tock.
‘What about the Jinx?’ Tick asked.
‘It didn’t try to eat me,’ she said.
The fairies raised their eyebrows at her.
‘It could have. I was right there,’ Cora said. ‘But it just touched me. And then . . . it disappeared.’
‘It didn’t eat you?’ asked Tick.
‘Not even a nibble?’ added Tock.
Cora shook her head.
‘The curse,’ said Artemis.
Cora and the fairies looked over at him.
‘It must have freed you from it,’ Artemis said.
‘Do you feel any diapers?’ Tick asked.
‘Different,’ corrected Tock.
Jinxed!: The Curious Curse of Cora Bell Page 15