Olivia Stone and the Trouble with Trixies

by Jeffery E Doherty

  That is just too embarrassing.

  “We made it to the roof, but something got up there and smashed Cygnet’s arm. That’s what made him fall.”

  Olivia winces. She remembers the fall from a different angle, a much lower angle.

  “I couldn’t see what did it, but it has to be powerful, much more powerful than a Trixie.”

  Olivia gives him time to sort out his thoughts and doesn’t interrupt.

  “Trixies can’t stand sunlight and they certainly can’t cross into the school grounds.”

  “Why not?” Olivia asks.

  “Sacred ground,” he says. “The school might not be a priory any longer but the wards are still maintained.”

  “So,” Olivia sums up, “something powerful has gathered a bunch of usually harmless Trixies together and is making them play deadly tricks on people.”

  “Exactly,” Yip says. “And we have to find out what is doing it and stop them.”

  Olivia holds up her hand and shakes her head. “I’m twelve years old and my left arm and leg don’t work properly anymore.”

  She holds up her hand as Yip is about to speak. “And, I’m not allowed out after dark.”

  Olivia looks at the darkening sky, expecting a shout from Mum any minute now. “I got you out of the storeroom. I’ve done enough.”

  Yip grumbles. There isn’t anything he can really say against her argument.

  “Well I have to go and see what I can find out and try to stop the worst of tonight’s mischief.”

  “Olivia,” Mum calls from the back door.

  “Coming,” Olivia replies. She turns to Yip. “You be careful and don’t go back to the school in the morning. Whatever is doing this is still there.”

  “How do you know that?” he demands.

  “Brother Westerman was hunting around muttering, ‘It shouldn’t have been able to get into the school’. I assume he was talking about the same creature.”

  “It gives me a place to start,” Yip says.

  “Yes, but if you are frozen up on the roof all day tomorrow, the thing will be able to climb up and get you like it did to Cygnet.”

  “Do you know,” Yip says, “you’re not completely stupid… for a human.”

  “For someone who’s supposed to be a Guardian of humans,” she says, “you don’t think very much of us.”

  He touches a long finger to his nose and winks. “We protect you from things that you don’t even believe exist.” He leaps up and snaps his stony bat wings down.

  Yip streaks into the air and lands on the roof of the terrace house. He gives Olivia a brief salute and disappears.

  Olivia heads into the house and hobbles up to the bathroom. She rinses her palm and the burning red spiral of skin around her wrist under a stream of cold water. She rubs some antiseptic cream onto the friction burns before going to the kitchen for tea.

  Luckily, she gets through tea without Mum and Dad noticing her newest injury.

  Up in her room Olivia sits on the bed worrying about Yip—hoping he doesn’t get hurt out there. He is such a small Grotesque to carry the responsibility of the whole city on his stony little shoulders.

  Chapter 26

  The Last Guardian

  Yip carefully works his way from Olivia’s house to the school. He keeps to the shadows, picking his way from building to building with ears and eyes alert for signs of disturbance. His plan is to search the school for any sign of the creature causing the problems with the Trixies. If he can deal with it, the Trixies should revert back to their natural habits. They will be little more than a nuisance again.

  First, he has to discover what is driving the Trixies and work out how to beat it.

  The blackened remains of the backpacker hostel stink of burnt timber and worse. Yip wrinkles up his nose. There have been deaths here and he feels them as a personal accusation.

  If he hadn’t been stupid enough to fall into the Trixie trap, Cygnet would not have been injured. He would not have fallen and the Guardians would still be at their posts protecting the city. A wave of despair washes over him.

  It had taken years of arguing with the other Grotesques, to convince them that he was capable enough to be a Guardian, not just the pathetic little oddity they thought him to be. In fact, it had taken all those years for them to allow him to help in even the limited capacity of a scout. Now there was only him.

  The last Guardian.

  Yip knows he isn’t up to the task. He is just a silly little pest and Brother Westerman should never have breathed life into him. It had been a waste of the Guardian magic.

  i>Even so, Yip thinks. There is no one else.

  It’s all up to him.

  Yip scurries down the blackened wall of the opposite building. It’s sheer luck it hadn’t gone up in the fire too. He crosses over the narrow alley and pokes about in the ashes, sniffing and flicking his long snake-like tongue out, tasting parts of the rubble. The burnt stench is too strong to be positive but he is fairly sure there is a hint, a small aftertaste, of Trixie still lingering in the air. One of the creatures perished here too. That’s one positive thing.

  ~~~

  Standing on the school’s empty roof almost crushes Yip’s resolve. He moves to each vacant plinth in turn. Imagining what each Guardian would have to say to him.

  Leonine, the lion faced Grotesque, is the easiest to guess. “Useless little trouble maker. See what you’ve done now?” He had always been the most vocal when the others had grudgingly agreed to allow him to act as a scout. He had never asked Yip to scout for him. Tank, carved like a boulder troll, rarely talked. He didn’t have to; Yip could see his blocky brows furrowing with disapproval.

  He imagines that not even Angel would have a kind word for him.

  The final plinth he visits is Cygnet’s. His heart sinks. The other Guardians are just statue-trapped. Put them back on the roof and they will live again. Cygnet on the other hand…

  Yip pounds a fist into his thigh. The sound, like bricks smashing together, echoes into the night.

  I should just give up. Leonine and the others are right. I’m not capable of being a proper Guardian.

  Yip stands there on the roof for a long time, staring out into the night.

  “No!” he eventually yells.

  He steps onto Cygnet’s large lichen-stained plinth and stands to his full height.

  “I am a Guardian.”

  He is going to find out what twisted creature killed Cygnet. He is going to find it and make it pay.

  Yip launches into the night, searching for Trixies.

  Chapter 27

  Interfering Girl

  Bitti and Gia prowl the yard of the yellow terrace house where the interfering girl lives. They listen at the doors and peek in through the windows. Bitti wonders what it would be like to live in a house with a family. She wonders how it would feel to sit at a table in a warm kitchen with a mother and a father. Trixies don’t have mothers and fathers, or none that any of them can remember. They just are. Creatures of magic—sneaky and immortal.

  When a Trixie dies, it’s drawn back into the shadow realm and reborn as a formless spark of life. It takes years and willpower to reshape itself into a solid form again. The harder a Trixie dies, the harder it is to reform. Those who don’t have the strength or the will are doomed to drift the shadow realm as faery lights.

  Tru had died hard.

  Bitti decides she isn’t going to face the wrath of the leader. It is going to make sure the ugly little girl sitting in the kitchen never interferes in Trixie business again.

  Bitti and Gia extend long clawed fingernails and crawl spider-like up the rear wall of the terrace. When the light from the upstairs bedroom flickers to life, they hang there, malicious eyes glaring in at the girl.

  They watch the girl dress in her pyjamas and sit pensively on the bed. There are noises from downstairs that tell them the adults are still up and about. It’s time to be patient, time to wait for the perfect moment to sneak in and finis
h the girl.

  When the girl leaves the room to visit the bathroom, Bitti extends its longest, sharpest finger-claw and slides it into the narrow gap in the windowsill. It wriggles the claw across, flicking the latch open. The faint scratching sound is drowned out by running water splashing into a sink.

  Bitti smiles at Gia.

  The girl switches off the light and snuggles into her bed.

  ~~~

  The house is quiet. Bitti has sensed no movement for over an hour. It’s time to act. A clawed nail slips under the window pane and slides it open. The slight squeak sounds loud in the silence but the girl lies still in bed.

  Bitti and Gia slip inside.

  As they approach the bed, they hear a low rumbling growl. The growl turns into a hiss.

  “Cat!” Bitti snarls.

  ~~~

  Olivia’s eyes flare wide in surprise. She opens her mouth to scream but one of the childlike intruders presses the pillow over her face, muffling the sound. Olivia thrashes and kicks but the girl is strong, too strong for her tiny body.

  Rum-Tum’s tail fluffs up and he thrashes in fear. He doesn’t see the child-glamour. Cats never do. They can see the things, the fanged, spindly-armed monsters with glowing red eyes. Every fibre of his body warns him to run but they have Olivia. The big tabby hisses a second time and darts out from under the bed with a wild yowling cry. He jumps onto the Trixie with the pillow, raking his claws into her back and head. He bites down hard on her ear tasting putrid blood in his mouth.

  The Trixie jumps up and Olivia struggles free.

  Clawed nails rake down at her. Olivia flings her left arm up before her face. The claws skid off the stony skin of her forearm and she rolls away, off the bed and starts screaming.

  Rum-Tum jumps clear of the Trixie and lashes at the second one’s leg.

  It hisses at the stinging pain and kicks out catching Rum-Tum in the side. He flips through the air and hits the wall hard.

  Rum-Tum staggers to his feet and stands protectively between the Trixies and Olivia. He snarls ferociously.

  The Trixies’ arms seem to extend, long fingered hands dancing with even longer fingernails. They smile, flashing needle-sharp teeth.

  Rum-Tum launches himself forward, sinking his teeth and claws into the face of the nearest Trixie. It squeals, staggers back then crashes through the window taking Rum-Tum with it. Sharp nails rip into his side as they fall. The Trixie dissolves under him after they hit the hard concrete.

  The pounding of feet on the stairs sends the second Trixie fleeing. The old cat sees it scamper onto the roof and disappear.

  Olivia’s face appears at the window. It’s the last thing Rum-Tum sees before everything turns black.

  Chapter 28

  Out of Their Depth

  A movement in the hospital car park catches Yip’s eye. He spirals down for a closer look, landing on the top of the north-most floodlight and scans the area.

  Nothing.

  Maybe he imagined it. He is about to leave when he notices a partially open door in one of the outbuildings.

  It is dark in that corner of the carpark. The nearest floodlight to the door is out. Even the downlights under the awning are off. Deep shadows stretch all around the small building.

  Definitely odd. Yip snaps his wings out and glides across to the broken floodlight. He swings his head under and sees the broken globe. A sprinkling of shattered glass and a golf-ball-sized rock lay on the ground at the base of the pole. He glides down into the shadows and backs up against the wall next to the door.

  Generator Room, the sign above the door reads.

  He hears the clang of metal-on-metal and giggling coming from inside.

  “Trixies!”

  If the Trixies damage the generators and the power goes out, the hospital will be thrown into chaos. The sickest patients who rely on machines to monitor them and keep them alive will be helpless if the generators fail.

  Two voices come from inside the building.

  Yip slips inside, making his way quietly toward the clanging.

  The Trixies have hammers and they are adding the final touches to the mangled equipment. Panels are smashed; cables have been ripped from generators and the wall and look like tangles of spaghetti. Fuel lines have been slashed and leak acrid diesel fuel everywhere.

  It is too late, the generators are beyond repair.

  Anger bubbles up inside Yip. He strides out into the open—fists clenched and foot talons clacking on the concrete floor.

  The Trixies spin to face him. Although they are the size of kindergarten children, they still tower over Yip. And he knows they are strong.

  “It’s the little Guardian,” a fiery orange-haired Trixie says with a laugh.

  The second one is slightly smaller with black hair teased up into rows of sharp spikes. It doesn’t laugh. It snarls grimly and flings its hammer.

  The hammer hurtles toward Yip like a spinning missile. He jumps aside but not fast enough. A small chip of stone flies from his upraised arm as he deflects the hammer away from his face. Yip grits his teeth against the pain and launches himself at Spike. He slashes his claws down in an arc and tears bloody lines down the dark-haired Trixie’s cheek.

  It yowls in pain, staggering back, but Yip presses forward. The Trixie spins around to run but Yip locks his claws into its spindly arms and twists them behind its back.

  The second Trixie steps up behind and raises a hammer with an evil grin. It sweeps down at the back of Yip’s unprotected head.

  Yip sees the reflection of the second Trixie in a piece of twisted metal. He spins at the last second and sees the look of horror on its face as the hammer smashes into the head of its spiky-haired friend. Spike explodes into shadows and comes apart in his hands—dissolving into nothing.

  Yip lunges forward and clasps his hands around the remaining Trixie’s throat.

  “Why are you working in groups?” he demands.

  The Trixie claws at Yip’s arms but its nails rake harmlessly against his stony flesh. Panic fills its eyes. The Trixie makes a gurgling noise and Yip loosens his grip just enough to let it speak.

  “The leader makes us.”

  “What is this leader?” he asks.

  The Trixie looks blank.

  “What sort of creature can call all the Trixies together?” he snarls and shakes the Trixie. Its head cracks against the wall and causes a cry of pain.

  “Not a creature,” it says. “A Trixie.”

  “Ridiculous,” Yip says, giving her another shake.

  “She’s old—a teenager,” the Trixie whines. “She has powers and we can’t resist when she calls. Tru tried to but…” The Trixie breaks down and starts to whimper.

  “Where is this leader now?”

  “I don’t know. She sends us out but I don’t know where she goes.” The Trixie slumps in Yips hands.

  “How many of you are there?” Yip demands.

  “Twenty-three…” The Trixie hesitates and looks at the spot where the other Trixie died. “I mean twenty-two now.”

  Yip whistles. There were only a dozen Trixies when they sprung the trap that led to Cygent’s fall. Cygnet was the strongest Guardian and he only just managed to escape. Now, there are almost twice as many Trixies and only him.

  Yip gulps.

  The Trixie’s lip curls up at the corners.

  Chapter 29

  The Lights Go Out

  Yip snarls again and bares his teeth. He pulls the Trixie close, until their faces are almost touching. He roars, watching its eyes flare wide.

  “Run to the shadows, Trixie. Run fast and don’t stop,” Yip orders. “Find every Trixie on the other side and warn them to stay away from the human world.”

  Yip lets go of its throat with one hand and digs a claw into the flesh of its shoulder. He draws his clawed hand down and a strip of skin coils away from her arm.

  She screams.

  “If I ever see you again, I will peel every inch of skin off your body. You will die so
hard you will never come back.”

  The Trixie closes her eyes tightly, making a whimpering noise from deep in her throat.”

  “Understood?”

  It nods once and Yip flings it across the room toward the door. The Trixie runs out into the night and disappears.

  Yip trips the alarm. At least the humans will come and find the damage. It’s the best he can do.

  If they’re doing this to the generators, Yip is certain there’ll be others at the power plant. He leaps skyward and flies as fast as he can.

  ~~~

  There are six of them sneaking around at the power station, way too many Trixies to fight with teeth and claws. He looks for a weapon and finds a large spanner left out on the upper landing. If he darts in fast and hard, making as much noise as he possibly can, maybe the security guards will come in time to stop the Trixies blacking out the entire city.

  Yip bellows a challenge, swooping down, clanging the spanner against every metal surface on the way. He hits one of the Trixies and it screeches in pain. The others swarm him. He stands his ground wailing at the top of his lungs, spinning and lashing about him with the heavy metal tool.

  He feels it bite into flesh and hears a Trixie’s satisfying grunt right before a searing pain explodes in the middle of his own back. He lurches forward—right into a clawed fist. His head snaps back and the spanner spins out of his hand.

  His cry of challenge turns into yelps. The Trixies attack en masse, driving him onto the ground. He bites into something fleshy and hears another screech of pain. Through the tangle of arms and legs, Yip sees the flash of torch lights play on the wall and ceiling.

  The guards are coming.

  Yip hears the sizzling noise and tastes the ozone smell of an electrical storm.

  All the lights flicker out.

  “No,” Yip yells.

  The Trixies scatter, leaving him curled on the hard floor.

  He can’t stay here. He has to get away before the security guards arrive.