The Crystal Mirror

by Paula Harrison

  Laney sped up, scared that any second she might make it rain on them – or something worse. She hurried down Oldwing Rise and her stomach turned over when she reached her house. The effect was quite faint, but it was definitely there – a dappled blue light played across the walls as if the whole house was underwater. Maybe becoming a Mist faerie had changed her house too.

  Kim’s car was gone, which probably meant that she and Toby had gone shopping. Her dad would be out with his work mate, Simon, fixing somebody’s water pipes. She let herself in, went to the fridge and poured some juice. Her head was still pounding. She gulped some of the drink and tried to calm down.

  The back door slammed. “Laney?” her dad called.

  “I’m in the kitchen,” said Laney. He must have been out in the back garden.

  “Where have you been? I was looking for you.” He stopped in the doorway. “I need to talk to you.”

  Oh great. He was still cross about the candles yesterday, which meant he’d want a long serious talk. She felt as if it was written on her forehead: I have a huge secret. I’m a Mist faerie. But of course he couldn’t know.

  “I went out for a walk,” Laney said, and her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn’t even had any breakfast yet.

  “You shouldn’t have asked Kim to borrow those candles yesterday. You know I don’t like them.” Her dad leaned against the door frame, his face hidden in shadow.

  Laney’s shoulders tensed. “I would have been careful with them.” She knew she shouldn’t bother arguing. He wouldn’t understand.

  She glanced at him and then lowered her glass. She still couldn’t see him properly because the sun was shining into her eyes. But there was something about the way he was standing. He was so still he hardly even seemed to be breathing.

  “What’s the matter?” Laney’s heart thumped. Claudia had told her humans couldn’t see the change in her eyes.

  “When did this happen?” Her dad’s voice was hoarse.

  “What do you mean?” She was playing for time now. The glass slipped a little between her fingers, so she gripped it tighter.

  Her dad stepped forwards out of the shadows and looked at her with bright, gold-ringed eyes. “When did you become a faerie?”

  Laney’s mind whirled. “You’re one of them! You knew about all of it!”

  “Laney,” said her dad. “Answer my question. When did this happen?”

  “Last night.” Her face grew red. “And you’ve been keeping it all a secret – pretending that everything’s normal. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  And now the pieces began to slot together like a jigsaw puzzle. The power of the tribes ran in families. Claudia and her brother were both Greytails, probably their parents were too. Fletcher and his family were Thorns. And her home already looked like a house that belonged to a Mist faerie.

  Of course he was one of them. After all, he fixed water pipes and stuff for his job. He was probably using his power over water all the time.

  “Why didn’t you tell me this was going to happen to me – tell me I was going to get these powers one day? I broke the water fountain in school yesterday. I touched the tap and it just exploded everywhere.” She couldn’t help staring at him and hating the look of his golden eyes. She’d always thought he had blue eyes, just like hers. Now that was just a lie too.

  “I’m sorry. I began to think your powers might be emerging, but I hoped that it was nothing.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you OK?”

  Laney nodded, her throat too tight to speak.

  He hesitated. “Has everything that’s happened been to do with water?”

  “Yes, everything. Isn’t that… I mean, aren’t you the same?”

  “Yes, I am.” An odd look passed across his face, half sad and half happy. “I meant to tell you about all of this, one day. But then you didn’t Awaken and I thought perhaps you never would. Twelve years old is quite late to change. The powers of each tribe run in families but some people don’t have faerie magic even if they come from faerie parents. It’s rare, but it happens.”

  They come from faerie parents…

  Laney’s heart jolted painfully. “So Mum was a faerie too?”

  Her dad rubbed his forehead. “Laney…”

  A car door slammed outside and keys jangled.

  “Hello! We’re back!” called Kim, carrying a bunch of shopping bags through the front door. “Are you all right?” She looked from Laney’s face to her dad’s. “You look really serious.”

  Laney was half afraid to look at her stepmum. But when she did she found that Kim’s eyes were the same greeny-grey they’d always been. Kim was a human.

  “We’re fine.” Mr Rivers smiled. “Just…talking.”

  “There are some more shopping bags in the car,” said Kim. “Could one of you get them for me?” She went back outside to fetch Toby.

  “I know this must be a shock,” said Mr Rivers quietly after she’d gone. “But Kim doesn’t know and she mustn’t know. It’s safer that way.”

  Laney nodded, but she wondered who it was really safer for.

  Her dad went to help with the shopping bags and she escaped upstairs. Everything in her room felt like it was from another time. She looked around at all her stuff, things she’d bought, old toys and magazines. None of it mattered now. All this time, there had been this huge thing waiting to happen.

  She slumped down on her bed. What if her mum had been a faerie too? She was sure her dad had been just about to say so. Her mum had been a faerie but Kim wasn’t. What did that mean?

  She took a photo album out of a drawer in her bedside table and flicked to the front. Her mum had died when she was two. She’d developed an illness. That was all Laney really knew and she didn’t remember much more. Sometimes she had flashes of memory – a little garden at the bottom of a huge hill, or crowding round a fireplace in the winter with tall flames leaping up the chimney.

  In the photos her mum’s eyes were brown. But maybe faerie eyes didn’t show up in photographs.

  So why had her dad kept it such a secret? Didn’t she have a right to know?

  She lingered over her favourite picture. It showed Laney as a baby being held by her mum. They were both laughing. Her mum had short brown hair. Her dad must have been taking the photo.

  She closed the album and shoved it back in the drawer. Her dad had thought she had no powers. He’d thought she would never become a faerie. Maybe that was why he didn’t bother to tell her anything. But now that she’d changed, he didn’t seem proud of her at all.

  There was a knock and her dad came in. “I just wanted to check that you’re OK.” He closed the door behind him. “I didn’t tell you about the faerie world because I left it behind long ago. I don’t go to their meetings or anything. I just didn’t want to any more.”

  Laney’s forehead creased. “But why? Was it after Mum died?”

  Her dad struggled with the words. “Yes, that had…a lot to do with it. I had you to think about and I believed it was better to keep you away from it all. You see, there are these different tribes—”

  “I know about the tribes already,” Laney cut in.

  Mr Rivers frowned. “Well, that’s…good, I guess. But you must be careful not to get involved with them. It would be best if you kept away from them completely.”

  “Dad! These are people I know. Claudia’s a Greytail and she’s OK.”

  “You’ve got to try and understand. They’re not to be trusted.” Her dad’s voice rose, then he stopped and carried on in a whisper. “We had a life and a home before they interfered.”

  “Do you mean…when we lived in a house at the bottom of a hill? I think I remember a little bit.”

  Her dad’s face closed up. “It was a long time ago. What you need to know is that we had to leave because of the tribes, because of their fighting.” He took a deep breath. “And you need to know about the faerie rings. Don’t go too near them; they’re dangerous.”

  “Why? What do they do
?”

  “They’re gateways to the Otherworld and they will suck you in if you go too close.” Her dad looked as if he was about to say more, but he broke off. Beneath the sound of Toby playing downstairs there was something else…a rhythmic tapping that was coming closer.

  Mr Rivers stared out of Laney’s window. “Not now! He can’t have found out that fast!”

  Laney got up to look.

  A man with enormous shoulders and grey hair came slowly down Oldwing Rise with his walking stick tapping on the ground. He looked up at the window, as if he had heard Mr Rivers’ words, and smiled.

  “Who’s that?” Laney didn’t like the man’s smile. It hadn’t reached his eyes.

  “That’s Peter Stingwood. He’s a Thorn and he lives over in Gillforth.”

  At once, Laney wondered if this was all about the river turning red. “Dad? I made a mistake when I went out last night. I stepped into the river and part of it turned this horrible red colour.” Laney had a sudden vivid recollection of the shadowy figure that had terrified her so much. She tried to shake off the twist of fear that returned with the memory. “I just got spooked in the dark – I think it was the red moon, making everything look all strange…”

  “What’s that?” Her dad turned white. “Did you say there was a red moon last night?”

  “Yes, it was a full moon and it was quite a deep red,” Laney’s voice faltered.

  “Why didn’t I see it? I didn’t know…”

  Laney blinked. That was almost the same as what Gwen had said. Her stomach turned over. She’d never seen her dad look so worried before.

  The tapping sound of the walking stick came from the front path. Then came the knock at the door.

  “Hello, Peter.” Kim’s voice came from the hallway. “How are you? Did you come to see Robert? It’s not a plumbing disaster, I hope?”

  Laney and her dad listened for the muttered reply from downstairs.

  “Dad? Is everything all right?” said Laney.

  “You’ll have to come downstairs and meet Peter Stingwood.” Her dad’s voice was grim. “But leave the talking to me. You don’t know what you’re dealing with.”

  Laney followed her dad downstairs.

  Mr Stingwood turned to look at her appraisingly with deep gold-ringed eyes. Laney couldn’t believe how broad he was. He seemed to fill the room.

  “Hello, Robert,” he said. “And this must be your daughter. How fast they grow up these days!” His bushy eyebrows drew downwards.

  “What do you need, Peter?” said Mr Rivers.

  “Ah, it’s just a simple pipe repair, I’m sure.” Mr Stingwood glanced at Kim.

  “Come out to the garage and I’ll look out some tools.” Mr Rivers held open the door, his face drawn tight.

  “Very kind of you.” Mr Stingwood manoeuvred his huge bulk through the doorway using his dark-mahogany stick.

  As he turned, Laney noticed the same silvery marks on the backs of his hands that she’d seen on Gwen’s. She went to follow them, and as she passed the sink, the bowl full of washing-up water started to bubble. Luckily no one saw except Toby, sitting in his high chair.

  “Bubbly water, Laney,” he said.

  Laney put a finger to her lips.

  When they reached the garage, the manner of both men changed completely. Mr Stingwood leaned his walking stick against the wall and towered over Laney’s dad.

  “What is it, Peter?” said Mr Rivers. “You know I want nothing to do with tribe business.”

  “You don’t, but what about her?” said Mr Stingwood coldly. “She’s Awake now, so she needs to be taken to see a Mist Elder.”

  “Who’s that?” asked Laney.

  “Leave this to me, Laney,” said her dad. “We’re not having anything to do with the rest of you. So you can go back and tell that to the Elders.”

  Stingwood’s eyes hardened. “You may not want anything to do with faerie business, but she became our business when she Awoke on the night of the Wolf Moon. You know what that means.”

  Mr Rivers paled. “That’s not what the prophecy says. It doesn’t say Awaken at the red moon.”

  “It’s close enough,” replied Stingwood.

  “You’re making up reasons to interfere—” began Mr Rivers.

  “She turned the river red. Did she tell you that?” Stingwood glared at Mr Rivers. “Is that a normal thing for a Mist faerie to do?”

  Mr Rivers was silent.

  “What do you want me to do?” said Laney.

  “You must meet with the Elders and we will need to see a demonstration of your Mist power.” Stingwood watched her with narrow eyes. “And after the test we will decide if it’s safe that you remain here in Skellmore.”

  “No!” said her dad. “You want to perform the Seeing Thread on her. That’s a dangerous and painful thing to do. I’ll never let her go to be tested by all of you. Just because you and that Mist Elder, Arthur Puddlewick—”

  “Arthur Puddlewick is dead. He died yesterday,” said Stingwood sharply.

  “But that doesn’t mean… You can’t assume that has anything to do with Laney; she didn’t even know him. Anyway, he was quite an old man,” said Laney’s dad.

  Stingwood waved away the objection with a dismissive hand. “In the circumstances, everything is suspicious – Awakenings, deaths, everything. And she must come to be tested.”

  “Never!” Mr Rivers squared his shoulders, even though Laney had never seen him so pale. “I shall never let a child of mine go through the Seeing Thread. And if you come here again I shall throw you out.”

  “You would be wise not to get in our way,” said Stingwood. “We will return.” He picked up his stick and left.

  “What’s the Seeing Thread?” whispered Laney.

  Her dad shook his head. “It’s horrible. It’s a way to judge someone, to find out how strong their power is or whether they’ve committed a spell crime. It was done a lot in the old days. Some faeries never fully recovered.” He hurried out of the garage and back towards the house, nearly tripping over Toby who was coming out to play.

  Laney followed more slowly.

  “Girl,” called Stingwood quietly. He had stopped just beyond the wall of the next-door garden, where he couldn’t be seen from their house.

  Laney walked down the front path towards him.

  “Your father is foolish,” said Stingwood. “It is true that the Seeing Thread is dangerous, but it needs to be done. He cannot stand in our way and if he does, we will test all his children instead of just you. Is that what you want?”

  Laney’s eyes flew to where Toby was playing, wheeling his ride-on car up and down the front path. This was her fault, not Toby’s. She couldn’t let him suffer this horrible Thread thing. “Where do you want me to go?”

  He pointed his walking stick and the tree next to them leaned away, as if it was afraid. “Come to Hobbin Forest at eleven thirty tonight. The Elders will meet you there.”

  “Will Gwen be there – I mean, Mrs Whitefern?”

  “All the Elders will be there. Tell no one about this.” Stingwood turned, and as he tapped his way back down the lane he added one more thing over his shoulder. “Be on time, otherwise we’ll come back here for your brother too.”

  Laney felt as if she’d swallowed a lump of ice. But she couldn’t let them have Toby; this was nothing to do with him.

  “Oh! Has Peter gone?” Kim came out of the house. “I was just going to ask him if he wanted a cup of tea.”

  Laney turned away so that Kim couldn’t see her fear. “Yes, he’s gone,” she managed to say.

  Tonight she was going to be tested. The thought of it weighed on her chest so much that she could hardly breathe.

  Laney spent the rest of the day desperately trying to make her Mist powers work. If the faerie Elders were going to do some sort of test on her, she thought she should practise as much as she could. So she took a bowl of water to her bedroom and stared at it for a long, long time. She managed to get a few drops to r
ise up from the bowl and float in the air.

  At last, exhausted, she collapsed on her bed. Considering the amount of damage she’d caused to the school water fountain, and the rain shower she’d made that morning, it was surprisingly hard to get the water to do anything. It was much easier to do it all by accident. She glanced at her gold-ringed eyes in the mirror. She just hoped she could make her powers work tonight.

  * * *

  It felt like a long wait until the sun went down.

  Her dad turned to her at teatime while Kim was taking some dishes out to the kitchen. “Don’t worry about Stingwood. Just leave those people to me.”

  “What’s the prophecy he was talking about?” said Laney. “Is it something to do with the red moon?”

  Her dad hesitated. “Yes, it’s all to do with that, but it’s just nonsense and you don’t have to worry about it. I don’t want them dragging you into it.”

  Laney knew he wanted to protect her but she had to meet the Elders. It was her they wanted and if she could prove to them that there was nothing wrong with her, then maybe they would leave her family alone after that.

  At eleven o’clock she opened her window wide. She knew she wouldn’t get out of the front door without her dad noticing, but if she could use her wings then she might be able to get out by flying.

  She climbed on to the window ledge, closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind. It took several minutes until she felt what she was hoping for. There was a swish of air behind her and smooth pale wings curved open from her back. She touched them, amazed all over again. Then she looked down at the lane below.

  There was one slight problem with her plan…she didn’t really know how to fly.

  Maybe if she made sure her wings were spread wide she could at least glide down to the ground without hurting herself.

  She pressed her lips together tightly. This was it.

  Launching herself upwards, she spread out her arms and her wings opened too. She sailed over the plum tree by the front gate, lifted for a moment by the wind. But the ground zoomed upwards and she put her hands out to protect herself before hurtling straight into the churchyard wall on the other side of the lane.