Secret of the Changeling

by Tommy Donbavand

  “Fair enough, but Ditto?”

  “I think it suits her,” said Cleo. “It means ‘a copy of something’,” she added helpfully.

  “I know what it means,” scoffed Resus. “I’m not as dumb as you seem to think I look!” Then his brow furrowed as he tried to work out if he’d just insulted himself.

  Cleo rolled her eyes and climbed through the Hex Hatch after the changeling, hurrying to catch up with her before she ventured too far.

  Luke and Resus followed, and together they set off along the red brick path.

  Half an hour later, they came to a bridge that crossed a clear, trickling stream. They decided to take a rest and sat watching Ditto collect up pebbles and toss them into the sparkling water.

  “It’s lovely here,” sighed Cleo.

  “I’ve been to worse places,” agreed Resus. “Mainly since I’ve known you,” he added, grinning at Luke.

  Luke laughed and pulled The G.H.O.U.L. Guide from his pocket. “It’s certainly hard to imagine anything bad ever happening here,” he said. “I wonder what Twinkle was so worked up about? It’s nice and quiet.”

  “A little too quiet, if you ask me,” said Samuel Skipstone from the cover of the book. “I’ve only ever been to the fairy realm once, years ago, but back then it was a bustling place. Fairies everywhere, enjoying the sunshine or heading to and from market. Not deserted, like this.”

  “Maybe it’s a public holiday?” suggested Resus.

  Luke shrugged. “Or maybe Twinkle was right, and everyone’s hidden themselves away because the fairy realm is at war.”

  Cleo heard a sound and turned to look down the road. “Nonsense,” she said. “Look, there’s someone coming now…”

  Luke and Resus squinted against the bright sunlight to see a carriage heading their way. It was round and orange and pulled by two squat, brown horses.

  “Is that… Is that a pumpkin?” asked Resus incredulously.

  “Only if those horses have whiskers and large, pointy teeth,” replied Luke.

  “They’re rats!” exclaimed Cleo as the coach drew nearer. “Who rides around in a pumpkin coach pulled by giant rats?”

  By way of an answer, a face appeared, leering out of the window of the coach. At first it appeared to be a skeleton, but as it drew closer the trio could see scraps of skin hanging off the emaciated frame. The figure was dressed in what appeared to be a dirty, torn ballgown, and clumps of straggly, dry hair whipped about her head in the breeze.

  “I don’t like the look of her,” cried Resus.

  “She seems to like us, though,” said Luke. “She’s coming straight for us!” He was right, the huge rats were thundering directly towards them, their dull fur spattered with dirt and dried blood and spittle foaming at their mouths.

  “Quick – down here!” called Cleo, grabbing Ditto and sliding down the bank to take shelter under the bridge. Luke quickly dived after her. As Resus made to follow, he noticed that the strange creature in the pumpkin coach was gripping something in her withered hand – some kind of sparkling shoe.

  “Why is she…?” he began.

  With unexpected strength and accuracy, the woman hurled the shoe directly at Resus’s head, catching him in the face with the sharp heel. Within seconds, blood was pouring from a gash just above his left eye.

  Luke’s hand appeared from under the bridge, grabbed Resus by the ankle and pulled him to safety.

  Cleo took one look at the vampire and gasped. “What happened?” she hissed, tearing off a piece of bandage and using it to mop up the blood.

  “That crazy woman threw a shoe at me!” Resus cried.

  “A shoe?” exclaimed Luke.

  Resus reached up and touched the gash. “Not just that – a glass shoe!”

  The coach now thundered above them, shaking the bridge violently as it clattered over the bricks. The woman in the back was cackling insanely and muttering to herself, “Bong! Bong! Hee hee hee! Must be home by midnight, deary!”

  Luke peered out from their hiding place and was horrified to see the coach turning around. The scrawny woman had another slipper clutched in her putrid hand.

  “She’s coming back!” Luke cried. “We have to get out of here.”

  “We can’t go up there,” said Cleo. “We’ll be sitting ducks.”

  “We could run for the trees,” suggested Resus, blinking away the blood that was dripping down into his eye.

  “Maybe we could make it,” said Cleo, “but Ditto is far too slow – and I won’t be able to run if I’m carrying her.”

  Resus opened his mouth to speak, but Cleo cut him off. “And before you say anything, no, we’re not leaving her behind!”

  “Maybe her secret is that she can fight off terrifying zombies with just her bare hands,” suggested Resus.

  “I don’t think so,” said Cleo as she hugged the trembling child.

  “Then we’re trapped,” said Luke. “Shield your faces in case she throws the other shoe!” The group ducked – but instead of the coach, a vast white horse leapt over them, landing on the bridge in a shower of sparks as its hooves made contact with the stone.

  On the back of the horse sat a handsome, bronzed man with piercing blue eyes. He was dressed like a cowboy from a movie, and weapons of all descriptions were strapped to both his belt and the horse’s saddle.

  Resus stared up at him. “This is now officially weird…” he breathed.

  The newcomer glanced at the vampire and sneered. “Stay down!” he growled.

  Infuriated at the sight of the rider, the woman in the coach screeched and hurled her glass slipper straight at him.

  Unfazed, the man waited until the shoe had almost reached him before snatching a sword from his side and slicing it right down the middle. The two glass halves flew over the side of the bridge and splashed harmlessly into the stream.

  The gaunt woman let out a piercing scream and urged her carriage onwards. She was now almost upon the rider and his horse, who stood motionless on the bridge.

  Fast as lightning, the rider sheathed his sword and produced a crossbow loaded with what appeared to be a thick, sharp arrow. He fired it at one of the two rats, spearing it in the leg. The creature let out a bellow of pain and turned, dragging the stinking chariot off the road and into the trees despite the anguished cries of its mistress. Before long, silence fell over the woodland again.

  The man slotted another sharp stick into his crossbow and clipped it back onto his belt. “You can come out now,” he grunted. “Skinderella has gone.”

  Luke was the first to climb up the bank. “Skinderella?” he said.

  The rider nodded, the corners of his mouth curling into what might have been a smile as Resus, Cleo and Ditto joined their friend. “But we can’t stay here. She’ll be back once she’s got control of the rats.” He snapped the reins on his horse and it turned to continue its journey along the red brick path. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

  Luke, Resus and Cleo hurried after their mysterious rescuer, Ditto clinging tightly to Cleo’s hand. “Th-thank you,” stammered Resus.

  “Who are you?” demanded Cleo.

  The rider took a wide-brimmed leather hat from his saddlebag and pressed it onto his head. “I’m Prince Harming,” he drawled. “Vampire hunter.”

  Chapter Six

  The Queen

  Resus slid his hand into his pocket and ran a finger over his false fangs. “Did you say vampire hunter?” he asked, glancing nervously at his friends.

  “Sure did,” growled Prince Harming. “And there’s only one vampire around here…” He whipped out a battered old hand mirror, which he held up in front of Resus’s face. For a moment, the vampire thought the newcomer was trying to prove that he had no reflection. But suddenly the glass began to blur and ripple.

  “It’s changing!” said Cleo.

  An indistinct image began to appear: a tall woman with long, dark hair, wearing a bright red dress and relaxing on a luxurious throne. The trio watched as she reached in
to a basket at her side and produced two cakes, handing one to a tiny, blonde-haired figure kneeling beside her.

  “Who’s that?” asked Luke.

  Before Prince Harming could reply, the woman suddenly looked up, as though she could see the figures on the other side of the glass. She jumped up and ran across the throne room towards them. Luke, Resus and Cleo stepped back as the woman pointed at them with a red fingernail and opened her mouth in a wicked sneer, revealing long, glistening fangs. Ditto screeched and ducked behind Cleo, a tail bursting through the back of her dress.

  Prince Harming quickly slipped the mirror back into his pocket. Cleo spun round to comfort Ditto, who was beginning to tear out her hair again. Luke and Resus tried to catch their breath.

  “That,” said the hunter, “is the Crimson Queen. The cause of everything that’s wrong in the fairy realm.”

  “It felt like she could see us!” exclaimed Luke.

  “She could,” said Harming. “She might not be able to see her own reflection, being a vampire and all, but she sees anyone and everyone who ever looks into a mirror in this here land.”

  “That’s impossible,” scoffed Resus.

  “I used to think that too,” replied Prince Harming. “But it turns out she’s got a magic mirror. It’s where she keeps the fairies trapped.”

  Luke frowned. “She’s trapped some fairies?”

  “Not some fairies, boy – all of them. Every single one.”

  “And she keeps them in a mirror?” asked Resus. “Must be crowded in there.”

  “Don’t reckon I know the specifics,” said Prince Harming, “but I do know the Crimson Queen is as cruel as she is beautiful. Now the fairy folk are her prisoners, she can take whatever she wants from them. She lives a life of luxury while their old kingdom is overrun by creatures of terror.”

  “You mean like that zombie?” Luke said. “What did you call her? Skinderella?”

  “Her and plenty more besides,” replied the vampire hunter. “This is dangerous territory for a bunch of kids to be wanderin’ around on their own. Who are you, anyway?”

  “I’m Luke, and this is Resus and Cleo,” said Luke. “We’re, er … tourists.”

  “Tourists?”

  Resus nodded enthusiastically. “You know, seeing the sights, taking in the culture…”

  “Uh-huh,” grunted Prince Harming, although he didn’t look convinced. He turned his horse round to face Cleo. “How’s the babe doin’?”

  Cleo was clutching Ditto tightly to her chest. “Seeing that woman scared the life out of her,” the mummy replied. “Just like Resus did. Which confirms what we thought.”

  Luke and Resus gestured frantically for Cleo to keep quiet, but it was too late.

  “And what’s that?” demanded Prince Harming, twisting round in his saddle to look at the young vampire. “Might it have something to do with why you’re dressed in a vampire cloak?” As he spoke, he unclipped his crossbow from his belt and began to thumb the sharp wooden stake loaded into it.

  “What, this?” said Resus with a nervous smile. “This is just a costume. I’m not a vampire at all – look.” He opened his mouth to display his lack of fangs.

  “Then why would this here little ’un be scared of a slip of a boy like you?”

  “It must be because Resus usually dresses in bright red – like the queen,” Luke said quickly.

  “Does he?” asked Cleo.

  “Yes, he does,” Luke insisted, trying to catch Cleo’s eye. “Don’t you remember, he had his red suit on this morning at school, but he had to get changed because the kid next to him had slug flu?”

  “Oh, yeah,” said Cleo, finally catching on. “And it’s better to be safe than sorry, so we burnt his suit and now he’s using this vampire costume we found in the dressing-up box!”

  Prince Harming frowned. “You burnt his suit?”

  Cleo flashed him her brightest smile. “You can’t be too careful with slug flu!”

  Thankfully, the vampire hunter was suddenly distracted by the sound of a scream echoing among the trees. He clipped his crossbow back onto his belt. “We’d better make tracks,” he said. “And I think you youngsters ought to stick with me for the time being.”

  “Where are you heading?” asked Luke.

  Prince Harming’s lip curled into a snarl. “To the palace of the Crimson Queen,” he said. “I got me some unfinished business there.”

  Luke nodded. “Then yes, we should stay with you.”

  Harming held out a hand to Cleo and Ditto. “Care to join me, ladies? If you promise not to set my clothes on fire, that is?”

  Cleo blushed beneath her bandages as the tall, strong vampire hunter took her arm and lifted her and Ditto effortlessly onto the saddle in front of him.

  “I’m afraid you two fellas are going to have to do a little walking…”

  “That’s OK,” smiled Luke. Resus said nothing, his eyes still fixed on the vampire hunter’s loaded crossbow.

  And with that, Prince Harming clicked his heels and rode on, leading the children towards the palace of the Crimson Queen.

  The group walked in silence for about an hour. The only sounds were the horse’s hooves clopping steadily along the path, and the occasional desperate shriek from somewhere deep in the woods – but these seemed to be getting more distant as time went on.

  Ditto had now recovered from her fright and she sat contentedly in Cleo’s lap, her newly restored curls bobbing to the rhythmic steps of Prince Harming’s steed.

  “What is it you can do?” Cleo asked her, wishing she could discover the changeling’s hidden secret. “Can you fly?” She lifted the toddler up and spread her arms in case it would encourage her to become airborne, but the baby squealed with fright and reached out for the mummy with shaking hands.

  “OK, then it’s not that,” said Cleo, cuddling Ditto to her chest. “I guess you get to keep your secret a little while longer.”

  Luke marched along behind the horse, keeping a sharp look-out, staring hard into the shadows among the trees on either side of the path.

  Resus, however, was starting to struggle. “My head’s really hurting,” he admitted eventually, slumping against the trunk of a large oak tree.

  Prince Harming pulled on his reins and dismounted to examine the vampire’s wound. “Looks like there might be a sliver of glass in there,” he said. “You’d do best to clean that out before it gets infected.”

  Resus took a first-aid kit and a small mirror out of his cloak. He had just lifted the mirror up to check the cut when the vampire hunter knocked it out of his hand. The glass shattered as the mirror hit the ground.

  “Are you crazy, boy?” he demanded, grinding what was left of the mirror to dust beneath his boot. “Why don’t you just invite the Crimson Queen over for dinner?”

  “I… I’m sorry,” Resus muttered. “I guess I wasn’t thinking.”

  “Too right you weren’t thinking,” growled Harming. “Now, get down to the water and clean that cut before it lets any more madness inside that head of yours!”

  Sheepishly, Resus scuttled down the shallow bank to kneel beside the stream that still wound its way beside the path.

  It seemed like a good time for them all to take a break, and Luke reached up to help Cleo and Ditto down from the horse. “That was a bit harsh, wasn’t it?” whispered the mummy.

  “I thought so too,” hissed Luke. “But I suppose he’s right: we can’t risk being caught by this Crimson Queen.”

  Cleo glanced round to check the vampire hunter was out of earshot, and she saw he was busy chopping down a nearby branch with his sword. “Luke,” she said quietly, “I saw something in the mirror, just before the queen came running at us. She had a little girl with her. I think it might have been Poppy.”

  Luke nodded. “I saw her too. I’ve been waiting for a chance to talk to you and Resus about it.”

  “It was the Crimson Queen who took Poppy and left the changeling behind, wasn’t it?”

  “I
t looks that way.”

  Cleo breathed a sigh of relief. “At least we know she’s safe.”

  “Safe until Prince Vampire Hunter charges in, all crossbows blazing,” Luke pointed out.

  “Do you think we should tell him why we’re here?” asked Cleo.

  Luke shook his head. “Not for the moment,” he said. “We don’t know how—”

  “I reckon we should rest here for a while,” announced Prince Harming, striding over. The pair hurriedly stopped their whispered conversation and smiled in agreement, trying not to look guilty.

  The vampire hunter snapped his newly acquired branch in two and began to sharpen the end of one of the sticks. “Best tell your friend our plans,” he said.

  “Resus!” Luke called down to the figure kneeling at the edge of the stream. “No need to rush, we’re staying here for a while.”

  But Resus wasn’t listening. He was staring into the face of the Crimson Queen.

  Chapter Seven

  The Offer

  Resus was dabbing at the gash on his forehead with a handkerchief he had soaked in the stream, when suddenly his reflection rippled and changed into that of the Crimson Queen.

  “Boo!” she said.

  Resus jumped and tumbled forwards, putting his hands out to stop himself from falling in. He glanced over his shoulder to see if the others were close.

  “Don’t call them, Resus,” said the queen gently.

  Resus turned back to stare at her. “How do you know my name?”

  The queen smiled. “Oh, I know more about you than you could possibly imagine. I can see your every thought and desire. For instance, I know what you really are…”

  Resus could feel his false fangs in his pocket. They seemed to burn red hot against his leg. “You’re bluffing.”

  “Am I?” asked the queen, amused. “Then why don’t we call Prince Harming over for a bit of a chat?” She licked her fangs with the tip of her tongue. “How do you like your stakes, by the way? Rare? Medium? Well done?”