by Lari Don
“Whoever left them splashed water about to cover them. But you can still see a heelprint here and a toeprint there.” Innes looked round. “That’s the library, at the side of the school. The footprints go in the other direction, to that bike shelter.”
He walked cautiously towards the long wooden shelter, which was open on one side, and patchy with peeling green paint. Molly followed and urged Atacama to join her.
Innes pointed at a scattering of paint flakes at the base of one of the posts holding up the sagging roof, then touched a scrap of grey cloth impaled on a splinter just above shoulder height.
He whispered, “Someone climbed the fence, landed in that puddle, covered their trail and climbed onto the roof. Someone is hiding here.”
“It might not be anything to do with us,” Molly whispered back. “It might just be local kids, playing.”
“Can we take that risk?” Innes pulled the fabric off the wood and held it out. “Atacama, sniff this.”
“I am not a dog!” snapped the sphinx.
Innes smiled. “You could forget everything else in the world and still be absolutely sure you’re not a dog, couldn’t you? I know you’re not a dog, but you have a better sense of smell than me or Molly. So, sniff, please.”
Atacama sniffed the scrap. He sniffed the paint. He lifted his head towards the roof and sniffed the air.
The sphinx nodded. “I recognise the scent. It’s someone I should warn you about, but I can’t remember…”
There were lots of magical creatures Atacama should warn them about. But Innes could only focus on one.
“My father! Is it my father? Is he up there? Has he followed me? Is he about to attack me?”
Molly murmured, “How could he have followed you? Whoever’s up there got here before us.”
“Atacama, is it my dad’s scent?”
But the sphinx just shrugged.
Molly had seen Innes face carnivorous sea monsters and eye-pecking crows with calm courage and sarcastic remarks. But right now he was scared. Not nervous, or worried, or wary. Actually scared. His hands were shaking, his breath was stuttering.
Molly said quietly, “Let’s back away, over to the library.”
“No. I can’t walk away. Then he’d be behind me and I’d never feel safe. I have to deal with this now!”
Innes reared up as a huge white stallion and kicked the roof of the bike shelter.
The edge of the roof splintered and crashed down around them in a shower of rotten wood, sharp slates and a falling grey figure.
Molly ducked out of the bike shelter, covering her head. As soon as the last beam had fallen, she stepped back in.
She saw a skinny girl in ragged grey clothes, holding a length of wood in one hand and a shard of roof slate in the other. Innes and Atacama were threatening the girl with their hooves and claws.
The girl slashed out with the broken slate. Atacama dodged out of the way. At least he hasn’t forgotten how to move in a fight, thought Molly, as she ran forward, picking up a slate of her own. She stood between Innes and Atacama, pointing the sharpest edge of the slate at the girl.
The girl jabbed the spear of wood towards them.
Innes kicked and the wood splintered.
The girl threw the stump of wood away and jerked the slate forward again.
Molly said, “Don’t be silly. There are three of us and only one of you. Put down your weapon, now.”
The girl ran at Molly, waving the slate blade. Molly dropped down and rolled at the girl’s feet, knocking her over. Atacama lashed out, swiping the blade from her hand. And Innes stood above her, one hoof raised over her head.
Molly stood up.
The girl lay on the ground, staring at them. She had a thin face, a sharp nose, big dark eyes and short shaggy black hair.
Atacama looked confused and Innes was still a horse, so Molly spoke. “You’re a curse-hatched.”
The girl at her feet nodded.
“You ambushed us last year. You helped tie my hands so I couldn’t shift and escape. You stood and watched when Corbie threatened to kill my friends by pecking their eyes out.”
The girl nodded again.
Innes crashed his hoof down, just millimetres from her head.
The girl curled up and started to sob.
Innes turned back to a boy. “Watch out! She might shift and fly away.”
“No, she won’t,” said Molly. “When Theo ripped the coats and cloaks of the human curse-hatched, he took away their ability to grow wings. You’re earthbound, aren’t you?”
The girl sobbed louder.
Molly had a sudden cruel desire to ask Innes to make a sparrowhawk’s call and turn her into a songbird, so she could flutter above this flightless crow-girl – just for a moment, just to remind the girl of what she had lost.
But instead Molly crouched down. “Stop crying and talk to us. What are you doing here?”
The girl sniffled. “I’m—”
They heard slate fragments crunch behind them.
They all looked round.
A tall dark-skinned boy stood in the watery sunlight, outside the tattered shadow of the wrecked bike shelter.
The boy was wearing pale linen clothes and sandals. He had thick glossy shoulder-length black hair and a grin on his face.
“What are you doing here? I’m meant to be on retreat, staying quiet, meditating on the music of the multiverses. And here you are, demolishing buildings in broad daylight! Let’s get indoors and hope no one heard you.”
Innes said, “It’s not just us, Theo. We have a captive. You might not want to take her into your secret library.”
Theo stepped into the shelter and looked down. “A wingless crow. She’s not very big and she can’t fly away. Anyway, the library isn’t mine and it isn’t secret. And, unfortunately, there are plenty of other closed libraries I could work in. Bring her indoors, before anyone else comes to investigate all that crashing and banging.”
Molly grabbed the girl’s arm and pulled her up. “Come on. It’s ok, I promise we won’t hurt you.”
Innes snorted. “Don’t make promises on my behalf.” He stayed close behind the crow-girl and Molly as they crossed the playground.
Once they were inside the library and Theo had locked the door, Molly let go of the girl’s cold goose-bumpy arm. The girl slumped down on the floor and started to cry again.
Innes sighed, loudly.
Theo crouched beside her and she flinched. He smiled gently. “I don’t know what these local brutes have been doing to you, but I didn’t attack you. There’s no need to be afraid of me.”
“You did attack me,” she whispered. “You stole my wings. Last autumn.”
“True. You were threatening to kill us at the time, so I thought removing your ability to shapeshift was a reasonable response. But right now you’re in a nice safe library, and no one is going to kick you or bite you or cut you – Molly, put that slate down please – or cast any spells at you.”
He looked up at Innes. “Where did you find her?”
“She was on the roof of the bike shelter. Watching you, perhaps, or waiting for us. We saw footprints and signs of someone climbing up. So I kicked the roof apart, she fell down, then attacked us with a slate and a spear of wood.”
Theo frowned. “I told the crows to stay away from my friends. I told Corbie to keep his head down and stop interfering with the curse arc. So who are you and what are you up to?”
She didn’t say anything, just stared at him, pale-faced and shivering.
“We know who she is,” said Innes. “She’s one of Corbie’s little monsters. Feeding on curses and trying to take over the world.”
The girl shook her head. “We aren’t. We can’t. Your magician ripped our wings, your hare killed our leader. We can’t build an army now. But you’re right. I am one of Corbie’s little monsters and you probably should kick me or bite me or attack me with magic spells. Because I’ve been sent here to spy on you.”
Chapter Eight
> Innes grabbed Theo’s shoulder to pull him away from the crow-girl. “Careful, she’s a spy.”
The crow-girl wiped her nose on the back of her hand. “I didn’t say I was a spy. I said Corbie sent me here to spy on you. But I don’t want to do what my big brother says, I don’t want to be a spy or a soldier or even a curse-hatched.” She looked up at them all. “Really. I don’t want to spy on you.” She sniffed again.
Molly found a dusty box of paper hankies on the reception desk and handed it to the crow-girl. “Whether you want to or not, you weren’t very good at it. You didn’t cover your tracks properly. And why did you come here to spy on us anyway? We didn’t even know we were coming to Aberrothie until less than hour ago.”
“Corbie thought once you realised your curses were charging up, you’d visit your most powerful friend for help. I waited near the magician’s lair, hoping you’d arrive so I could spy on you. But also hoping you wouldn’t arrive, so I didn’t have to spy on you. I don’t want to. I think you might be right. Maybe we are monsters, maybe we should be defeated…”
Innes said, “How were you going to tell Corbie what we’re up to?”
The crow-girl pointed to the high windows. “There’s always someone watching. There’s always someone to carry a message.”
Molly saw black specks dotted across the sky.
The girl asked, “What are you going to do with me?”
Molly said, “Why don’t you just go home and tell Corbie you don’t want to spy on us?”
The girl blew her nose. “I can’t. He’d be angry with me. And he’d send another spy. Maybe I could stay here, with you, then he’d think I was doing my job and he’d leave me alone.”
Innes laughed. “If we let you stay, so you can listen to us and watch us, we would be helping you to spy on us.”
“But I don’t want to spy on you!”
“Who is this girl and why is she crying?” asked Atacama.
“Haven’t you been listening?” said Theo. “Have you forgotten to wash your ears recently?”
Innes said, “His ears are fine. It’s his memory that’s the problem. Can you tie this sneaky crow-girl up with magic, so she can’t get away while we tell you why we’re here?”
Theo shook his head.
“Don’t be all gentlemanly about this. She’s our enemy, she admits she was sent here to spy on us. We can’t let her wander round your library.”
“It’s not my library, it’s the village’s library. And I can’t restrain her with magic.”
“Why not?”
“Because…” Theo pointed his finger at the curse-hatched and said firmly, “Stay there. Don’t move.” She flinched again and nodded.
Theo beckoned his friends over to the children’s section, which was full of stained purple and orange cushions but empty of books, and he whispered, “I can’t restrain her with magic, because I can’t do magic.”
Molly looked at his glossy shoulder-length hair. “But you can store lots of life-force in your hair now. Can’t you use that?”
“That’s the problem. My hair has grown back thicker and healthier, and it stores too much raw power, at an even higher potency. If I use any power, even the tiniest amount, I use too much. So any magic I do becomes a bit exaggerated, a bit… dangerous.”
Innes grinned. “Dangerous. Excellent. Just what we need to deal with the curse-hatched.”
“No, it isn’t. Not unless you want me to flatten the Cairngorms and boil the Spey to steam as side-effects of a small spell.” Theo sighed. “I’m so powerful that I’m powerless. It’s like a riddle and you know I’m rubbish at riddles. So, I can’t do magic. We’ll just have to keep an eye on her.”
“Or tie her up in a more traditional way.” Innes ripped faded bunting from the edges of the nearest shelves and marched over to the girl, who was still sitting near the front door. “Get up.”
She looked at him, lips trembling.
Molly followed him. “Get up before he gets really annoyed.”
“Why is he so annoyed?”
“You wrapped him in elastic so he couldn’t shapeshift, then threatened to peck his eyes out.”
“Oh, yes. Sorry.” She stood up.
Innes said, “Sit on that chair.”
The girl sat on a whirly chair by a bare computer desk. Innes spun the chair, winding the bunting round her and the back of the chair. Then he walked off.
The girl looked at Molly. “Please…”
Molly shook her head. “You tied us up much tighter than that. We can’t trust you and we can’t be gentle. You’re too dangerous.”
The girl sniffed. “I’m not dangerous. I don’t have any power at all.”
Molly said, “Don’t sniffle. You left the hankies on the floor.” She walked away, leaving the girl wrapped in flowery bunting on a slowly spinning chair.
Molly joined Innes, Atacama and Theo in the non-fiction section. Innes was saying, “…so these curses seem to have more power, more energy, more general nastiness. We need you to lift Atacama’s curse, then use your research skills to help us find out what’s going on.”
Theo frowned at Molly. “Mice, worms and goats? Have you been a toad yet?”
She grinned. “No amphibians so far.”
“Don’t try it. It’s no fun. So, let’s get your memory back, Atacama.”
The sphinx looked up at him, vaguely.
Molly said, “But how can you lift the curse, if you can’t do magic?”
“Undoing magic is different.” He faced the sphinx. “I’m sorry I didn’t do this before. You found such an elegant way round the curse, I considered it broken already.”
He stood in a clear space, away from the shelves and armchairs, and lifted his hands to shoulder height. “I, Theodorus Ptolemy Hekau of the Alexandrian Order, hereby lift the minor amnesia curse from the sphinx Atacama of Speyside. The curse is… lifted.” He raised his hands over his head.
Then he sat down, gasping for breath.
Innes asked, “Are you ok? Are you out of practice?”
“I haven’t done magic for a few weeks, not since I accidentally… em… But even so, that took more power than I’d expect to use lifting a lightweight curse. It felt like the curse held more energy. Not like Molly’s altered curse last year, where the curse was at the same level of magic but the rules had changed just enough to make her life more difficult and dangerous. This was like Atacama’s curse had moved up a level, had more magical charge pumped into it. I’ve never read about that happening to curses, or any other promises.” He stood up. “Perhaps your curse mirrors will show what’s happened. We need to visit the Promise Keeper—”
Atacama laughed. “I remember everything! I even remember my original riddle. It’s not as good as the one we made up!” He looked at the magician. “Thank you, Theo. But please don’t curse me again.”
“No, my friend, I won’t. I doubt I’ll curse anyone again. Who’d want to hatch another of those?”
They all turned round to look at the curse-hatched girl.
The bunting was curled on the floor round the empty chair.
“She’s escaped!” said Innes. “Where’s she hiding?”
“She isn’t hiding.” Molly pointed to the nearest window, where the girl was standing on a stool, staring up at the sky. She wasn’t sniffling any more, but there were bright tears running down her cheeks.
Innes yelled, “Get down, crow-girl.”
“I have a name, you know. I’m called Snib. I have a name, and I have brothers and sisters, and one of them just died. Her name was Ammie. And she died when you lifted that curse.”
She jumped down and walked to Theo. “When you raised your hands, my sister died. I don’t know where she was this afternoon. Perhaps she fell from a branch or a fence post, perhaps she fell all the way from the clouds. But she fell. And now she’s dead.”
She whirled round, looking at each of them in turn. “We don’t want to be like this, you know. We don’t want to be tied to curses
. I don’t want to live on other people’s anger and pain. I don’t want to live in fear of my curse being lifted or broken, so I fall dead from the sky. Not that I can fly any more, since your bald-headed desert boy ripped my wings from my back.”
Snib sat on the chair and started to wrap the bunting round herself. “Don’t you want to tie me up again? So you don’t have to be scared of me, while I sit and grieve for my dead sister.”
Molly said, “I’m really sorry about your sister. But you can see why we have to be wary of you…”
Snib laughed. “Why? Because you so cleverly found me spying on you? I wanted you to find me! That’s why I left a trail of obvious clues. I wanted you to know I was there! I thought you’d be nice to me, the way you’ve all been nice to Theo even though he cursed one of you, and to Molly even though she’s human, and to Beth even though she wishes you weren’t who you are, and to Atacama even though he didn’t let you through the door, and to Innes even though he’s a monster.
“You’ve all been kind and friendly to each other, even though none of you are perfect, so I thought you’d be nice to me too.” She sighed, and tied the bunting round her tummy. “Even though you’ve not been kind at all, I still don’t want to spy on you. Because I don’t want to be like this. Most of us don’t. It’s horrible, knowing that when a good thing happens to someone else, one of us dies. I’m happy for you, riddling cat, that you’re not cursed any more. But when you got your memories back, my sister lost her life.
“Ammie thought she was safe, because you’d worked round your curse. When a victim learns to live with their curse, like you did, the curse-hatched crow can finally stop worrying. But now curses are being charged up, getting bigger and scarier, so victims are putting in more effort and taking greater risks to break or lift their curses.”
Theo said, “Curses are charging up! Why? How?”
Snib shrugged. “Corbie doesn’t tell me everything. But maybe I could help you discover where the extra strength of the curses is coming from, and help you stop it, because it’s putting us at risk, just as much as the curse victims. Molly, your curse-hatched was safe until you became a mouse and a worm and a goat. You were happy as a hare, weren’t you? And my brother, your curse-hatched, he’s happy as a bird. So there was balance. But now, your charged-up curse is endangering him just as much as it’s endangering you, because it’s making you more determined to break your curse. And if you break your curse, my brother will die.”