Mask of Aribella

by Anna Hoghton

  Her mind raced, reaching for explanations, but then the oar hit with her head again and she was knocked sideways out of the gondola. She heard Seffie screaming and Theo shout her name as the world flipped upside down, and Aribella plunged, head first, into the icy water.

  Aribella kicked upwards desperately but her cloak was dragging her down . . . Her lungs squeezed . . . she was running out of air . . . Suddenly, arms clasped around her waist and Aribella was propelled upwards. She broke the surface and gasped. Her chest was tight and her throat burned with salt. She coughed painfully and the arms around her loosened.

  ‘Ari, are you all right?’ Seffie shouted over the wind. ‘Hold on, I’m going to swim us to the gondola.’

  Seffie put her head down and started kicking hard, still gripping Aribella. Aribella tried to kick too, but her legs were only getting in the way. Her cloak was hindering their progress. She unleashed the clasp and let it sink. Without it, they moved more easily and soon made it to Ursula’s gondola. It was overturned, and they clung to the side.

  The wind roared in Aribella’s ears. The waves seemed enormous. Above, the blood moon shone down, and fresh fear filled Aribella’s heart as she saw that Theo’s boat was nowhere to be seen. She had to hope he had rowed to safety. She tried not to think that he might have abandoned her, as she had abandoned him.

  The cloaked attacker had disappeared – and, she realized with a lurch, so had her mask. It had been in the bottom of the gondola.

  ‘Oh Seffie, I’ve lost my mask!’ She felt sick with shame and tears rolled down her cheeks. ‘I’ve ruined everything. It’s all my fault.’

  Seffie shook out her wet curls and frowned. ‘Ari, none of this is your fault. And the boundary isn’t open yet. There’s still time to find the island. But not if we stay here crying.’ Seffie’s green eyes flashed fiercely. She was being so strong and brave that it made Aribella feel stronger and braver too. ‘Let’s get this gondola the right way up. The permesso will help us.’

  The permesso! Aribella felt another wave of despair. For the miniature gondola was in the pocket of her cloak, now at the bottom of the lagoon along with her mask. She tried to stay positive, but without a working gondola what hope did they have of getting to the Island of the Dead and stopping Zio?

  ‘It was in my cloak,’ she told Seffie. ‘It’s lost too!’

  ‘Hold on,’ said Seffie. ‘I won’t be long.’ She put on her mask and dived down into the dark water.

  ‘Seffie!’ Aribella gripped the side of the gondola and peered into the water’s murky depths. A few bubbles popped up. But for several minutes, Seffie did not reappear. Aribella felt horribly afraid that something had happened to her friend. But just as she was starting to panic, Seffie’s head resurfaced.

  ‘I found something even better,’ she called.

  Beside her, the noses of two large dolphins broke the water. They tipped their heads back and made clicking sounds. Aribella stared at the beautiful creatures in amazement.

  ‘I knew they hadn’t left, Ari. And they knew Venice would need them . . . Clever things. They’ll be able to take us right to the island. They can find anything.’

  ‘That’s great, Seffie!’ But during the time Seffie had been underwater, Aribella had decided what they needed to do. ‘Now you have to get one of them to take you back to the Halfway Hotel. I’ll go on to the island alone.’

  ‘What? No way!’ Seffie protested, just as Aribella had known she would.

  ‘You have to go back to Halfway and tell Rosa,’ Aribella replied firmly. ‘Now we know it’s a blood moon and there’s an attacker out on the lagoon, we need as much help as we can get.’

  ‘Come back with me,’ Seffie said. ‘We can get help together.’

  Aribella shook her head and looked up at the crimson moon. ‘I don’t think there’s time. I will try and find the Mask of Venice before Zio can. Besides, spectres are afraid of fire so I should be able to hold them off for a while.’ But without her mask, for how long . . .

  ‘I don’t want to leave you.’

  ‘You have to.’

  For a moment, Aribella thought Seffie would continue to protest. But she could see Seffie knew this was their only chance.

  ‘All right. But if you die on that island, Ari . . . I-I’ll kill you,’ Seffie said fiercely.

  In spite of everything, Aribella laughed. ‘Go now. Quickly. The sooner you can get help the better.’

  Seffie nodded. ‘I’m not saying goodbye. I’m saying see you soon,’ she said firmly.

  Aribella nodded, unable to reply, hoping that Seffie was right.

  Seffie reached out and held on to one of the dolphin’s fins, before making clicking noises at the back of her throat.

  ‘I’ve told this one where to take you,’ she said. ‘Just hold on to its fin when you’re ready.’

  The first dolphin turned in the direction of the main island and started to move away, taking Seffie with it.

  For a moment, Aribella watched as Seffie and the dolphin sped back towards the main island. Her friend Seffie, who was a living, breathing reminder that there was good in the world, good that was worth fighting for. She turned back to the lagoon. On the horizon a thin line of white separated sea from sky. The mist.

  Pushing her fear down inside her, Aribella gently took hold of the dolphin’s fin. The skin felt smooth and slippery but she managed to get a grip. The dolphin gave a powerful kick of its tail and propelled them through the water. Spray rushed past them as they cut through the waves.

  All too soon they were inside the mist and it engulfed everything so that Aribella could see nothing but hazy whiteness around them. She gripped the dolphin’s fin more tightly, scared she’d slip off and be left behind. The dolphin kept speeding onwards. Then, the mist cleared and everything was bathed in that terrifying red light from the blood moon again. And in the middle of the water was an island.

  The Island of the Dead.

  It looked just the same as before – floating strangely in the mist, just as deserted and frightening. This time, with the dolphin’s help, she got close enough to see wind-blasted trees and vine-choked cherubim above the door of the crumbling palazzo on top of the central hill. As they neared the shore, the dolphin slowed. It seemed afraid to move any closer, and Aribella didn’t blame it. She let go of its fin.

  ‘I’ll swim the rest of the way,’ she said, hoping it would understand. ‘Thank you.’

  She looked into the dolphin’s eyes and somehow knew that it did. How could people ever think animals didn’t have thoughts and feelings the same way people did? Seffie was right, you only had to look a creature in the eye to know.

  With aching limbs and a heavy heart, Aribella dragged herself through the last stretch of choppy water towards the island, trying not to think about what might confront her. She wished she had her mask. She was doing this for Theo, she reminded herself, and for Papa and Seffie, and for everyone else in Venice.

  As soon as she reached the shore, the rain stopped and the wind dropped. An unsettling silence pressed against her ears. Aribella shivered as she hauled her exhausted body up from the water and stood on the beach. The sand looked as if it were made of fragmented bone.

  A gondola she didn’t recognize was beached on the shore. She’d never seen a gondola out of water before and there was something unnatural about the way it was lying there on its side, like a wounded animal. She searched the hull for the winged lion, but could see only the remnants of a symbol. This had to be the gondola she’d seen on the lagoon. Her cloaked attacker was already here.

  Nervously, Aribella looked up towards the ruined palazzo on the hill. A light glowed in the window of the top turret. A fresh prickle of fear crawled down her spine.

  Was Zio up there? Did he already have the Mask of Venice?

  There was nowhere else to go but towards the light.

  She had no plan, no mask, and no one to help her. Her power was barely under her control and she had no idea if she’d be able to use
it without her mask. It was suddenly hideously apparent how powerless she really was against this great evil that threatened Venice, this Zio who had thwarted the other Elders. She was just a thirteen-year-old girl . . .

  But if the Halfway had taught Aribella anything, it was that sometimes the impossible is possible.

  She had to try.

  Another cloud scudded across the blood moon, throwing bands of light and shadow ahead. How long would the blood moon last? Aribella wondered as she climbed the hill. What would happen if she was on the Island of the Dead when it disappeared? Would she disappear too?

  All her instincts screamed to turn back, but she concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. Her breathing grew heavier with every step. Her mouth was dry. It felt so odd, this silent, slow progress towards certain danger, like the terrifying calm that often falls before the worst storm.

  The frigid air pressed Aribella’s sodden clothes to her tired body. She continued on, growing colder and colder. Her fingers prickled in anticipation. But could she control her power without her mask?

  It wasn’t far now. The ancient walls of the palazzo gleamed in the red moonlight. Clumps of rotten ivy clung to the crumbling walls. Gargoyles lined the roof, blackened with soot, missing faces and wings. The stone cherubim over the entranceway were so choked in vines that it looked as if their mouths were open in silent screams.

  The wooden door was half rotten, but when Aribella pushed it the hinges did not screech. Goosepimples rippled across her skin. She hesitated, peering into the gloom beyond. For a moment, she thought she could not bring herself to move a step further, but she forced herself on.

  The courtyard inside was in a severe state of disrepair. There was a stench of stagnant water and the ground was littered with rubble. Many of the surrounding pillars were missing so that it looked as if the floors above could come crashing down at any moment. The stone staircase looked as if it was disintegrating.

  Aribella held her breath. The air was pulsing.

  A shadow moved across the edge of her vision. Aribella whirled round, her heart pounding, imagining a spectre. But the shadow was gone. Was her mind playing tricks? Her nerves were already so frayed, the last thing she needed was imagined fears on top of all her real ones.

  Aribella picked her way across the courtyard, treading as quietly as possible across the rubble. But as she moved, she saw something that made her blood run cold.

  A body lay on the ground. Her heart lurched. His floppy hair was unmistakeable.

  Theo.

  Aribella scrambled over the rubble towards him. Theo was unconscious, his skin ice-cold, but he was breathing. She whispered his name but he did not respond. She dropped to her knees, checking his face and neck, and gasped. For on his neck was the black bite of a spectre. And this time there was no Four Thieves Vinegar or Rodolfo to save him.

  ‘Aribella?’ called a soft voice behind her. It was a voice that Aribella recognized but for one disorientating moment could not place . . . Then she realized who it was. Relief washed over her as she whirled round and saw the figure at the foot of the staircase. They were saved. Seffie had managed to get to the Halfway in time.

  ‘Ursula! Oh, thank goodness. I’m so glad you’re here. You have to help. Theo has been bitten.’

  ‘How did you get here?’ Ursula’s voice was sharp. ‘Is anyone else with you?’

  At this, Aribella’s relief faded and confusion replaced it. Then the pieces of the puzzle began to slide into place.

  ‘It was you,’ she said slowly, her voice breaking. ‘You’re the one who’s been helping Zio. You’ve been on his side the whole time. You drugged Nymeria!’

  How had she not seen? How had none of the Elders seen? But Ursula could read other people’s minds which means she could manipulate them. Aribella had mistaken her for someone who fainted and cared too much about her appearance. She’d mistaken her for being kind.

  Aribella felt a nudging in her head. She tried to protect her thoughts but it was no good.

  ‘So it’s just you. Good.’ Ursula seemed to relax.

  ‘Why would you help him?’ Aribella cried.

  ‘Because he’s going to give me what I want.’

  ‘And what’s that?’ Aribella spat.

  ‘What everyone wants: to be young and strong and beautiful for ever. When Zio is master of both worlds he can give me this. Do not judge me,’ she added. ‘You’re young. You do not know yet what it’s like to age, to see your beauty and power fade.’

  ‘There are more important things,’ Aribella replied passionately. ‘Like kindness and goodness, honesty, bravery, friendship.’

  For a moment, Aribella sensed Ursula falter, but then came a cold laugh above them.

  ‘Friendship?’ said another voice that Aribella, once again, recognized but could not immediately place.

  She looked around the shadowy loggia for the speaker.

  ‘Friendship makes you weak, just like all the other Cannovacci. But tonight, that changes. For too long, I have been forced to waste a potential that is my birthright. But after tonight I will no longer be subject to the rules of those who are beneath me.’

  The speaker appeared at the top of the staircase. For a moment, Aribella was so stunned that she did not believe it. For there in white robes, his face covered as usual by the glittering diamond mask, stood the Doge of Venice.

  ‘You’re Zio?’ she whispered, shock coursing through her. This couldn’t be right. It didn’t make any sense. The Doge was kind and good and sick. The fishermen had always loved him. He’d cared for the poor islanders for decades. He’d promised to help Papa . . .

  The Doge lifted his gloved hands and removed the diamond mask. Aribella recoiled. Underneath was a face she’d seen half of before – in Zio’s masked portrait at the Halfway Hotel, with the white petals laid underneath. The pale skin of the portrait now looked half-dead – grey and blistered – exposing bone beneath. His teeth were black. And his pale blue eyes fixed upon her.

  ‘But how?’ she stammered. ‘It’s not possible . . . You were a guest at the Halfway . . .’

  Zio’s lips turned up in a sneer. The effect of this on the rest of his rotten face was ghastly. ‘Ten years ago, when Clara stole the Mask of Venice from the bonding room – stole my mask – she made me believe she’d hidden it here, on the Island of the Dead. Clara meant to trap me, you see. And it almost worked for I did not find it before the blood moon began to fade and the island disappeared. I escaped but I paid a price . . . My soul split from my body that night. As I had bonded with the Mask of Venice, so my soul was able to occupy the body of Venice’s leader – the Doge. All this time I have waited for the next blood moon and my next chance.’

  ‘You k-killed the Doge?’ Aribella stammered, horrified.

  ‘Not yet. But soon, when I am done with him, he will be part of my spectre army. As you will be. And your little friend.’

  ‘Never!’

  Zio smiled. ‘For a moment I thought you were Clara, brought back to life . . . Did you think so too, Ursula?’

  Ursula did not respond. Aribella couldn’t look at her. How could she have helped Zio for the sake of her own vanity? Now everyone at the Halfway, everyone in Venice, was going to die.

  ‘Where is Clara?’ she asked.

  Zio’s smile became a scowl. ‘Perhaps she is also between worlds, half-alive, half-dead, too weak to claim a body. No matter. Everyone assumed she murdered me, thanks to a little help from Ursula.’

  ‘You made people think Clara was a murderer when she was trying to protect Venice!’ Aribella gasped.

  ‘Honesty, bravery, friendship,’ Zio sneered. ‘What does any of that matter? All that matters is power.’ He reached into his robe and held up another mask.

  She knew it immediately. The scratched, unremarkable-looking face. Her mask. Aribella stared.

  And all of a sudden a memory came rushing back to her.

  She was in the Mask Maker’s shop. She could see the black curtai
n swaying ahead, only it seemed a lot bigger. Or she was a lot smaller. There was a woman there – a woman with long dark hair.

  ‘Shh, Aribella. I just need to look for something. Stay here.’

  Aribella stayed on the floor, but there was light underneath the curtain, changing from blue to green to orange. She crept towards the curtain and crawled under it, gazing up at the stand in the middle of the room – just as she had when she had visited the Mask Maker’s for her fitting. Only this time the stand wasn’t empty.

  A beautiful golden mask was fastened to it, a mask with the face of a lion.

  Aribella gazed up at it and the face seemed to turn to her, seemed to see her. And she felt the same feeling she’d had looking in the Mask Maker’s mirror, a feeling of belonging, of coming home.

  ‘Aribella, get out of there!’

  Aribella snapped back to the present with a jolt. Her head was ringing and her heart was beating impossibly fast. Finally she knew the truth. Her ugly old mask was the Mask of Venice. It had chosen her in the shop because – somehow – she had bonded with it as a child.

  And Ursula had drawn her out on to the lagoon, had told her of the full moon, had given her a permesso to make it easy . . .

  Her fingers tingled. Could she use her flames to kill Zio? She’d only have one chance. And if the real Doge was still alive in that body then she might harm him too . . .

  ‘I have waited so long for this moment,’ Zio said. ‘I thought the last blood moon would be my only chance. But as the boundary has been weakened so another blood moon came, much sooner this time. I knew you were connected when you came to the palace – though you lied. Ursula told me about your mask afterwards. But I felt it. I felt its power, calling to me.’

  So that explained the stinging Aribella had felt at the palace and just now on the lagoon . . . The mask must have felt Zio close both those times. She shivered. Maybe it’s trying to get back to him. Was that what it had been trying to do this whole time? Had her name already been scratched out in the lining and replaced by his? Was the mask Zio’s now? Or was it still deciding its true owner? If she could show the mask she was worthy of its power, would it choose her again, as it had in the shop?