The Witch's Guide to Magical Combat

by Lari Don

  Innes grinned and turned to Molly. “Dad won’t be able to catch me on open ground, in daylight, with his injuries. So we’ll meet you at Ballindreich tomorrow.”

  He tidied up his clothes and hair. Then he said, “Thanks for stopping the fight. For shutting my dad up. For shutting me up.” He nodded at Snib. “Thanks for preventing us hatching out more crows with more stupid curses. That can’t have been easy for you.”

  Snib frowned. “It might be better if my un-hatched brothers and sisters never leave their eggs. Less pain, less fear, for everyone.”

  The two girls watched Innes and Theo walk into the mill-house. Snib was standing with her arms wrapped round herself, looking cold and somehow a bit wet, even though it hadn’t rained for hours.

  Molly sighed. “Where are you going to sleep?”

  “I can’t go back to Stone Egg Wood, because Corbie will demand to know what you’ve been talking about. I’ll just find a wall to sleep behind, or something.” She shivered.

  “Don’t be daft. Come home with me. I’m sure Aunt Doreen won’t mind.”

  ***

  Aunt Doreen didn’t mind. She made a larger pan of pasta, and gave the girls a blow-up mattress and duvet to make an extra bed in Molly’s tiny room.

  “So, Snib,” Doreen said, as she sliced more bread, “where do your family live?”

  “Out in the moors, towards the mountains,” said Snib.

  “Do they farm there?”

  “My big brother runs a sort of security business, which I think he’s trying to expand.”

  Molly changed the subject, asking Doreen about her chickens’ constant bickering and unsuccessful egg-hiding. After bowls of rhubarb crumble, the girls went upstairs to make Snib’s bed.

  As they lay in the dim room, looking through the skylight at stars being hidden and revealed by invisible clouds, Molly asked, “Did you hear what Mrs Sharpe said?”

  “No,” said Snib drowsily. “What? When?”

  “When she dropped the popcorn, she said to me: ‘Ask the crow about the box.’ So do you know anything about a box?”

  Snib sat up. “I don’t know about any boxes. Everyone in Stone Egg Wood keeps their possessions in nests, not boxes.”

  “What box could Mrs Sharpe have meant?”

  “Maybe she didn’t say ‘crow’. Maybe she said ‘Joe’ or ‘snow’ or ‘toe’—”

  “It was definitely ‘crow’ and I was right beside you when she said it, so I’m sure she meant you.”

  “Let me think… A box…?” Snib frowned. “No, no idea.” She rubbed her right arm and lay back down.

  Molly decided not to press Snib. Either the crow-girl didn’t know, or she wasn’t going to say. Instead, Molly asked, “What’s it like, living in Stone Egg Wood?”

  “Noisy! All those baby birds! And sad too, because so many of us die young. Lots of curses only last a couple of days, or less. And it’s been even sadder since so many of us lost our wings. Imagine being able to soar and somersault in the air, then having that torn away from you. To be earthbound when you’ve owned the sky! I almost wish I’d never flown at all.”

  Molly nodded. “I know. If I can force Mr Crottel to lift my curse, then I’ll never run at hare-speed again. And I will miss it. But I can’t wish I’d never become a hare, because at least I’ll have memories of speed and strength and beating Innes. And of how much better it is being a hare than a worm or a mouse. But I’ll keep turning into worms and mice unless I can find Mr Crottel, and that’s not going to be easy, now we know he can turn into a huge green dog as well as a grumpy old witch.”

  “Your caster is a deephound?” asked Snib. “A big shaggy green hound?”

  “Yes, he changed into one this afternoon to chase me.”

  “Then I might know where he is! When I was leaving Stone Egg Wood to spy on you, a deephound was scratching at the doors. Perhaps he asked Corbie for sanctuary—” Snib gasped. “Oh, I shouldn’t have told you that. Now you’ll go to Stone Egg Wood tomorrow instead of the big house, and Theo will use his power to force the hound to lift your curse, then…” she put her hands over her eyes, “then my wee brother Mickle will fall.”

  “Don’t worry about that tonight,” said Molly. “My first priority is weakening Estelle, to help the other victims. So I promise I won’t tell anyone where Mr Crottel is until we’ve found that star iron.”

  Snib smiled at her. “Thank you! So Mickle is safe for another day!” She sighed. “But I wish there was a way to break the link between curses and curse-hatched. Then I could genuinely want you to lose your curse, because your safety wouldn’t mean Mickle’s death…”

  Snib started to sniffle. Molly leant down and patted her shoulder, but the crow-girl rolled away and hid her face under the duvet.

  Molly lay back, stared up at the dark ceiling, and wondered if Beth was right about her after all. Had she made that promise to Snib because she didn’t want to upset her, because she genuinely wanted to help other curse victims, or because – like Beth kept saying – she wasn’t really prepared to do everything possible to lift her own curse?

  Snib was breathing calmly now. But Molly took a long time to go to sleep.

  ***

  “I’m not good with wheels,” said Snib, early the next morning, as Molly pulled her own bike and her aunt’s bike from the shed. “I’m used to wings.”

  But Snib stopped wobbling after the first mile, so they cycled fast enough to reach Ballindreich House just before nine o’clock. They pedalled along a frosty avenue of trees shaped oddly like lollipops, then into a car park surrounded by a tall fence formed of trees bent and linked together into uncomfortable-looking curves.

  The big house looming over the car park had lots of pale-grey stone carvings and one tall round tower. Just behind it was a ruined castle, with tumbledown walls and broken staircases.

  They put their bikes in the bike shelter, which was much fancier than the one in Aberrothie. It had a gilded clan crest on the brusque sign saying: Bikes are left at owners risk. Molly glanced at the floor to see if the apostrophe had fallen off, then she heard hoofbeats.

  Innes and Theo were approaching across a field, from a line of trees that looked more natural than the trees near the house. Theo slipped off Innes’s back, and Innes hid behind the bike shelter while he shifted.

  Atacama appeared from the trees just as a yellow car drove into a space marked: Staff Only

  The sphinx slid along the ground behind the bike shelter, while a tall lady in green tartan locked the car, then unlocked the huge carved door to the house. “We don’t open until half past nine,” she yelled, and slammed the door behind her.

  Atacama said, “When she lets you in, I’ll wait outside and keep watch.”

  “Keep your eyes and nostrils open for my dad, please,” said Innes, “and for any other dangerous arrivals.”

  “Who else is likely to be following us?” asked Molly.

  Innes shrugged. “Perhaps a little bird has told Corbie what we’re doing this morning? If Corbie approves of Estelle charging up curses, he might try to stop us.”

  Snib stared up at him. “If you mean this little bird, I was with Molly all night. And I’m on your side. If Corbie approves of what the Promise Keeper is doing, he’s wrong. I haven’t told him anything, honestly.”

  “I believe her,” said Molly. “But you should look out for Mr Milne, Atacama. Though haven’t you been up all night?”

  “I’m fine,” he said. “I’m used to nightshifts.”

  While they waited for the custodian to open up, they wandered round the outside of the house. Innes led them to the foot of the tower. “The cabinet is in the room at the top. Look, you can see the window.”

  Theo walked round to the ruined castle and stood under a crested sign saying: Do not allow children to play on the stonework. Ballindreich House takes no responsibility for any injuries.

  Theo looked at the crumbling walls. “The old house was built right onto this older ruin.”

&n
bsp; They heard the front door being opened wide on creaky hinges. Molly used her holiday money to pay for four of them to enter at child prices.

  The woman in tartan asked, “Do you want the children’s treasure maps or the adult guides?”

  Innes said, “Treasure maps, please,” at the same time as Theo said, “Proper guides, please.”

  Molly said, “One of each, thank you.”

  The woman said, “Do you want crayons, to colour in the treasure map?”

  Molly shook her head. “Not today, thanks.”

  The woman shrugged and picked up a magazine.

  They walked into the first room, where they squashed into a corner behind a golden rope, and stared from a distance at flowery armchairs and portraits of children on ponies.

  They walked along the corridor, peeking into a dining room with dusty plates and four forks per setting, then a library full of leather-bound books, with volume numbers stamped in gold.

  Molly wanted to stop and decipher the faint book titles. What subject could possibly need twenty-five volumes?

  But Innes said, “Come on, the tower is at the other end.”

  They walked briskly past all the other rooms.

  When they reached the curving stone staircase, they saw something sitting on the bottom step.

  A cat.

  A pale cat, with dark paws and dark ears. A slim sharp Siamese cat, looking quietly at them.

  Snib whispered, “Molly, be very careful.”

  Innes said, “If your curse is triggered and you shift, run straight to one of us. We’ll scoop you up and keep you safe.”

  The cat opened its mouth.

  Molly flinched.

  But the cat simply yawned, silently. And started washing its ears, gently and silently.

  Innes said, “Let’s get past, without disturbing it.”

  He stepped carefully onto the bottom step.

  The cat hissed at him.

  Molly changed into a mouse.

  And the cat leapt off the step…

  Chapter Fourteen

  Molly wanted to run away.

  She was becoming familiar with her mouse body. Her mouse form was nimble, though not able to move fast enough or jump far enough for her liking, and that tail was just asking to be pounced on. She knew that every tiny bone in her mouse body wanted to run. Away from the suddenly intent cat, away from the dangerously lumbering humans. She wanted to find a small space and hide there, shivering.

  But she remembered what Innes had said. Run towards one of them and they’d keep her safe. So she ran, straight towards the cat. Straight towards her friends’ tree-trunk legs.

  She felt a hand scoop her up. A terrifyingly huge hand, smelling of bike oil, toast, pencil lead and feathers.

  Snib’s hand.

  She heard the cat yowl and Snib yell, “Oy, get down!”

  Innes said, “No scratching. Leave her alone!”

  Molly was dropped into a small space. She fell on her back, her paws flailing. She righted herself in a warm corner of Snib’s cardigan pocket. Tiny holes in the knitting let in enough dim light for her to see a long wooden object, which she had an immediate desire to gnaw. She rolled over onto a crinkly sheet of something less comfy than the soft fabric.

  Then the huge hand grabbed her again and pulled her out.

  Molly was squirming in Snib’s fingers, high above Snib’s head.

  She heard Innes’s voice. “Hey puss. You’re not getting the mouse, so stop climbing the crow’s legs.”

  The voice of the custodian echoed up the corridor: “Is everything alright?”

  Theo called back, “It’s fine. We’ve just met your cat.”

  “He won’t bother you, so long as you stay behind the ropes.”

  “And so long as none of us are mice,” muttered Innes.

  Molly was still in Snib’s hand, her tail and body floppy with fright and frustration.

  Snib said, “Theo, can’t you get rid of this cat? You’re the one with all the power…”

  Theo said in a distracted tone, “No, if I do any magic, I risk blowing up the whole county. Innes?”

  “No space to turn into a horse, and if I become a pike this beast will try to eat me. Snib, I don’t suppose you have power over cats?”

  “No more than anyone else. But I’ll give it a go.” Snib passed Molly to Innes, who held her gently cupped in his hands, close to his chest. Molly peeked between his fingers, as Snib bent down, looked the cat in the eyes and hissed.

  The cat backed away, then ran up the stairs.

  Snib stood up. “I’d better take her again, Innes, your jeans are too tight for her to be safe in your pocket.”

  Innes handed Molly over.

  “Are you ok, Molly-mouse?” Snib smiled at her, a scary tooth-filled grin. “I’ll put you in an empty pocket, that’ll be comfier.”

  Molly landed in the empty pocket, slightly annoyed there was nothing to chew on. She was bounced into a woolly corner, as the crow-girl followed the kelpie and the magician up the stairs.

  Innes said, “Don’t bother with the nursery or the servants’ rooms. The cabinet is at the top of the tower.”

  Molly hoped the cat was hiding from Snib in one of the rooms they walked past, rather than waiting for them at the top.

  When they reached the last step, Snib lifted Molly out of her pocket. “So you can see. It’s probably not nice hiding in a pocket.”

  Molly couldn’t tell her that mice like hiding in small spaces, and that mice don’t like being held in big hot hands out in the open.

  But she looked around anyway.

  Innes pointed over another golden rope at a glass-fronted cabinet with rows of objects on its shelves. “The cabinet of curiosities!”

  Theo read from the guide: “It contains fascinating fossils, genuine geological specimens and real royal relics from Scottish history. Apparently.”

  Innes read from the treasure map. “Also a hilt from a Portuguese pirate’s sword, medals won by families on the Ballindreich estate, a fairy princess’s acorn tea-set and a prehistoric shark’s tooth. And a stolen meteorite, of course.”

  Theo stepped over the rope.

  Molly saw a sudden predatory movement, so she yelled a warning at the top of her voice, which came out as a pathetic squeak. The Siamese cat leapt at Theo, scratching his knee through his linen trousers.

  Theo backed off.

  The cat jumped to the top of the cabinet and crouched there, one paw dangling down, claws scraping against the glass door.

  Innes laughed and helped Theo back across the rope. “It’s a guard cat. Let me try.” He climbed over the rope and walked towards the cabinet.

  The cat swiped at Innes’s face. He ducked.

  “How do we get past it?” asked Snib.

  Innes said, “Molly-mouse could run round the room to lure the cat away, while I get the star iron.”

  Theo and Snib both said, “No!”

  Innes shrugged. “Ok. Lend me your cloak then, Theo.”

  Innes wrapped the fabric round his hand and tried to open the glass door. The cat’s claws slashed down.

  Innes stepped away, looking at the blood seeping through the pale linen. “It’s locked. We can’t pick the lock with that mini-tiger up there, and if we break the glass the tartan lady downstairs will hear. We need to find the key or get rid of that cat.”

  The cat slashed again, his tail lashing. Molly saw the tail knock a white shape from the top of the cabinet, which fell to the floor with a crash.

  They heard a distant voice: “What are you children doing up there?”

  Snib said, “We should leave now and come back later.”

  Theo nodded. “Innes, get back over the rope.”

  Snib yelled down, her voice so loud that Molly vibrated in her hand, “Your cat knocked over a coronation mug. We’re just coming down—”

  The woman’s voice boomed up the stairs. “I’m coming up. Stay where you are.”

  They stood in the middle of th
e floor, looking guilty; the cat sat on the cabinet, washing his paws and looking innocent.

  Snib hid Molly in her pocket as the custodian reached the top of the stairs.

  “The cat knocked that mug down with his tail,” said Snib. “It was nothing to do with us. We were all behind the rope, all the time, honestly.”

  The woman scowled. “That cat is a menace, but he belongs to the owner, so I can’t get rid of him. I’ll sweep it up later. Where’s your friend? There were four of you.”

  Innes said, “She’s looking at the nursery. She likes cuddly toys. Especially toy mice…”

  “Please leave together. It makes it easier to keep track.”

  As she stomped down the stairs, Theo muttered, “We’ll have to return for the star iron.”

  “Which stone is the star iron?” asked Snib.

  Theo glanced at the guide, then pointed to the top shelf. “That shiny rock there, between the sword hilt and the royal relics.”

  Innes said, “But—”

  Molly heard a thump and Innes said, “Ow. Ok. Yes. That’s it. The shiny one on the top shelf. I remember it.”

  As they walked down the stairs, Snib asked, “What will we do about Molly? That woman expects to see four of us leave.”

  Innes said, “But Molly can’t shift back until we cross the estate boundary.”

  Theo smiled. “So let’s create a boundary here.” He stepped into the dining room. “Put Molly on the floor. Snib, keep an eye out for the cat. Innes, create a boundary around Molly.”

  “Why me?”

  “You created a circle to imprison me last year.”

  “But it took ages to prepare. Can’t you do it, Theo?”

  “You know why I can’t do it.”

  “Can’t the crow-girl do it?”

  “Not since I removed her shape-shifting magic.”

  “But… I don’t want to do it wrong!”

  “You won’t. I’ll be watching.”

  Innes ducked under the rope and lifted a sugar bowl off the dining table, then laid the dusty round-edged sugar cubes in a careful circle round Molly, who was desperate to sneak forward and nibble one.