Stardust

by Linda Chapman

  Robyn was the nearest to Lucy and heard her shout. She flung out her arm towards the disintegrating bank. ‘Shield be with me!’ A shield formed, filling the gap where the bank had been, stopping the water from flowing.

  ‘The clouds are moving!’ Emma shouted suddenly from the line of autumn spirits.

  Little by little, even without Lucy’s help, the autumn spirits managed to increase the wind until the clouds had blown apart.

  The thunder faded. The rain stopped. The stardust spirits lowered their arms. They were soaked through and their faces were pale and exhausted. It was clear the magic had taken a huge amount of effort. They sat down, drawing in deep breaths.

  ‘What happened?’ Xanthe said, looking at Lucy. ‘Why couldn’t you help?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Lucy stammered. ‘I tried to call down power, but it was like there was something blocking it.’

  Xanthe looked round at the summer spirits. ‘Did any of you notice the same effect? Maybe it was something to do with summer magic.’

  The other summer spirits shook their heads. ‘We were fine,’ a spirit called Rebecca said. ‘And Robyn did a fantastic job. She stopped the river from breaching its banks.’

  Lucy looked round to where Robyn had been keeping the protective shield blocking the river. Two spring spirits, Laura and Sasha, were growing bushes and thick plants to hold the mud together and strengthen the bank.

  ‘Robyn’s very powerful for her age,’ Joanna said proudly. ‘And she’s always practising so she has great control of her magic.’

  ‘Well done!’ Tom said to Robyn. Several of the other adults called out similar words of praise. Robyn blushed but looked very pleased.

  Lucy’s head felt as if it was in a whirl. She still couldn’t get over the fact that her magic hadn’t worked. Why?

  As the other stardust spirits began to inspect the damage, Xanthe came over to Lucy and put an arm around her. ‘Tell me exactly what happened,’ she said in a low voice.

  ‘It was like there was something blocking the power so it couldn’t get into me,’ Lucy told her anxiously. ‘What could it have been, Xanthe?’

  Xanthe looked worried. ‘Powerful spirits can block the magic of other spirits, but only dark spirits would usually try it.’

  Lucy remembered the feeling of being watched. ‘Could there have been a dark spirit in the trees?’

  ‘Maybe.’ Xanthe glanced across the clearing. ‘But it doesn’t really make sense. Why would they want to block your magic like that? It wasn’t as if you were fighting them. What would be the point of them coming here to block your magic and make themselves known to us?’

  Lucy didn’t know.

  ‘I’d better warn the others anyway.’ Xanthe squeezed Lucy’s hand. ‘Try not to worry too much, but be very careful for the rest of the night.’

  Nothing else odd happened for the rest of the night, but Lucy couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened by the riverbank. Why had her magic stopped working like that?

  She didn’t sleep very well that night. Her dreams were full of dark figures. Their faces were pursuing her through the trees, closing in on all sides. She stumbled and they surrounded her, raising their hands to do magic.

  She woke with a start. The sun was streaming in through her open curtains. Pushing the covers back, Lucy got up. She could still feel the dream pulling at the edges of her mind. Feeling slightly shaky, she went downstairs.

  Her mum and dad were in the kitchen. Everything looked reassuringly familiar. The kettle was boiling, the radio was on, the table was set out with cereal boxes, bowls and plates.

  Her dad frowned as she appeared in the doorway. ‘Are you OK, sweetheart? You look very pale.’

  ‘I had a nightmare,’ Lucy said, going over to him.

  Her dad hugged her. ‘A bad one?’ Lucy nodded.

  ‘What was it about?’ her mum asked.

  ‘It was about being chased and things,’ Lucy said vaguely.

  ‘Don’t worry about it,’ her dad said. ‘It was just a dream.’ He pulled her close.

  Lucy leaned her head against her dad’s shoulder. He felt warm and strong. She wished she could tell him about the dark spirits – about how scared she was, and how worried. She shut her eyes, but the strange figures still lurked in the back of her mind.

  CHAPTER

  Six

  It was half term that week so although it was a Sunday night, Lucy was allowed to stay at Allegra’s again. As they ate supper – French bread with cheese and salad – Xanthe told them her news. ‘I was speaking to some of the other adults today and we’ve decided that with all these storms and strange stuff going on, we could do with having some fun so we’re going to celebrate the rising of Leo in the skies,’ she explained to Lucy.

  ‘We will have a feast in six days’ time.’

  Lucy and Allegra exchanged excited looks. A feast!

  ‘How does that sound?’ Xanthe said.

  ‘Brilliant!’ they chorused.

  ‘Can we tell the others?’ Allegra asked.

  Xanthe nodded. ‘Of course.’

  When they got to the clearing that night, Emma asked Lucy and Allegra if they would go and check on a pair of kingfishers who were nesting in the riverbank downstream from the otters. They headed off together.

  The kingfishers were nesting in a sandy burrow in the riverbank. They both seemed healthy and the rain had not damaged their burrow. On the way back to the main clearing, Lucy and Allegra stopped to check on the otters and the badgers too. The badger cubs were gambolling in the moonlight and the mother badger was watching them. The otters were diving in and out of the river.

  ‘Everything looks just fine,’ Allegra said happily. ‘And there’s no clouds around so hopefully it’s not going to rain any more.’

  They flew back. When they reached the clearing, they saw Robyn had arrived. She was laughing with Martha and Katie, two teenage stardust spirits.

  ‘Where have you been?’ Robyn called.

  ‘The river.’ Allegra explained what they’d been doing.

  ‘I love kingfishers. I wish I could’ve come, but Mum wanted me to have a lesson so we were a bit late,’ Robyn said.

  ‘Your magic’s amazing, Robyn,’ Martha said. She glanced at Allegra and Lucy. ‘Robyn made a fire in the shape of a ball just now.’

  ‘It was cool,’ Katie said.

  Just then some of Martha and Katie’s friends arrived in the clearing. ‘See you later, Robyn,’ Martha said.

  ‘Later!’ Robyn smiled.

  As the older girls flew off, Ella chased Faye into the clearing. ‘Tick!’ she gasped as she ticked Faye’s leg.

  Faye giggled. ‘OK. You got me.’

  ‘Let’s play magic tick,’ Lucy suggested. She turned to Robyn. ‘Magic tick is where you can use your magic to get away from the people who are it. When you get caught, you have to help the person who’s it until everyone’s been caught.’

  Joanna came flying over and caught the last of Lucy’s words. ‘Sounds like a fun game.’

  ‘It is,’ Lucy told her. ‘You can play too if you want, Joanna.’

  Joanna smiled. ‘Thanks for the offer, but I think I’ll sit this one out!’

  ‘I’ll be it,’ Allegra announced. She started to count. ‘One, two, three…’ The others scattered. Allegra finished counting very quickly and raced after them. Ella was the closest to her. She tried to dive upwards, but Allegra shot out her hand. ‘Wind be with me!’

  A breeze blew straight at Ella. She gasped as it threw her towards Allegra who instantly ticked her. ‘Got you!’ Allegra grinned.

  Ella and Allegra raced towards Lucy, Faye and Robyn. Faye darted through the trees. Ella pointed her hand. ‘Ivy grow!’ Immediately a thick curtain of ivy curled from the branches.

  Faye flew straight into it. She turned and tried to escape, but she was too late. Ella and Allegra dived at her. ‘Tick!’ they shouted.

  Faye giggled and joined them in the hunt for Lucy and Robyn. They dived
at Robyn, but she swung round in a circle, lighting a fire as she went so it blazed up around her. The three girls gasped and stopped, then dived at Lucy instead.

  ‘Shield be with me!’ Lucy cried, throwing out her hand, but to her surprise nothing happened. For a second the air did shimmer, but then the magic seemed to block inside her and the shield didn’t form.

  Allegra, Ella and Faye all pulled up in surprise.

  ‘My magic’s not working,’ Lucy said. She swung round. There were a few older stardust spirits watching them play their game, but no dark spirits or anything suspicious.

  ‘What’s happening?’ Robyn let her fires die down and flew over.

  ‘My magic didn’t work,’ Lucy said. She saw Robyn glance quickly at Joanna. Joanna smiled brightly. ‘Everything OK, girls?’

  ‘No,’ Allegra said anxiously. ‘Lucy’s magic isn’t working.’

  Joanna frowned. ‘Try something else.’

  Lucy pointed at the ground. ‘Fire be with me!’ A fireball hit the ground and exploded in a shower of sparks.

  ‘Seems all right now,’ Joanna commented.

  Lucy stared at the ground in astonishment. Her magic was fine again. But why hadn’t it worked before?

  ‘That’s weird,’ Allegra said.

  ‘Yeah,’ Ella said. ‘Maybe you just didn’t do something right before, Lucy.’ She turned to Robyn. ‘Your circle of fire was cool though.’

  ‘Really good,’ Faye agreed.

  ‘Thanks,’ Robyn said, but she didn’t look very happy. She glanced at her mum.

  Joanna smiled brightly. ‘I have some time free now, Lucy. Would you like to try travelling with an animal again?’

  ‘Yes, please,’ Lucy said although she still felt disturbed by what had just happened. She never got things wrong. It had been the same feeling as the other night, as if something was blocking her. Or someone, she thought, glancing uneasily into the shadows of the trees.

  ‘Let’s try an otter this time,’ Joanna suggested. ‘They are wonderful to travel with.’

  They flew to the riverbank. Watched over by Joanna, Lucy let her mind become one with the otter’s. She travelled with the otter across the bank and into the fast-flowing water. She felt its joy as it raced down the stream, felt the jolt as its strong jaws snapped shut around a fish. Her thoughts merged with the otter’s – she could see the cosy dark of the holt, watch the two contented otter cubs curled in a nest, smell the comforting warm scent of the damp earth.

  ‘That was amazing!’ she said when she left the otter’s mind.

  Joanna smiled at her. ‘You’re a very quick learner, Lucy. It takes most people a long time to learn how to use their powers to travel with an animal. Well done.’

  The pride Lucy felt at Joanna’s words didn’t completely cancel out the anxiety she was feeling about what had happened before. OK, not being able to put up a shield while playing tick was nowhere near as big a thing as not being able to channel power when the others stardust spirits needed it, but it had still freaked her out.

  When they got back to the clearing, she went to talk to Xanthe about it. ‘It can’t have been a dark spirit,’ Xanthe said. ‘Not while you were in the middle of our stardust clearing. Someone else would have noticed something.’

  ‘But if it’s not a dark spirit doing it, why is it happening?’ asked Lucy.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Xanthe replied. ‘The only thing that I can think of is that sometimes magic can be unpredictable. It doesn’t always work as it should. Maybe that’s all that’s happening. Let’s not get too worried about it. Hopefully it won’t happen again.’

  But it did. Twice over the next three nights Lucy’s magic stopped working. Lucy tried not to get too worried about it, but it was hard. On the fourth day, she was trying to burn a pile of old branches to tidy up the stardust clearing. There was no one suspicious anywhere nearby, just a couple of teenage spirits who nudged each other when they saw that her magic wasn’t working, and Joanna, Robyn and Allegra.

  As Lucy felt the familiar blocking sensation in her mind, she threw up her hands in despair. ‘It’s happening again!’

  ‘Oh dear, Lucy,’ said Joanna sympathetically. ‘You poor thing.’ She turned to Robyn. ‘Why don’t you burn the branches instead, darling?’

  Tears of frustration sprang into Lucy’s eyes.

  Robyn lit the fire and then glanced at her mum. ‘Can we go?’ she said, her voice unusually serious. ‘I want to talk to you about something.’

  Joanna smiled. ‘We can talk later, Robyn.’

  ‘No, Mum,’ Robyn insisted. ‘I want to talk now.’

  Joanna paused and then gave in. ‘All right. See you later, girls.’ She and Robyn flew off.

  Lucy rubbed her forehead. ‘I think I’ll go home, Allegra.’

  ‘Now?’ Allegra said. ‘But it’s still quite early.’

  ‘I know,’ Lucy said unhappily. ‘But I don’t feel like doing any more magic tonight.’

  ‘OK, I’ll come back with you,’ Allegra said.

  ‘No, you stay.’

  ‘But you shouldn’t go on your own,’ protested Allegra.

  ‘I’ll camouflage myself,’ said Lucy. ‘I’ll be all right. I’ll fly back as fast as I can.’

  To her relief, Allegra seemed to understand she wanted to be on her own. ‘OK.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Lucy forced a smile. ‘Camouflagus,’ she whispered.

  Her body instantly disappeared against the starry sky. All stardust spirits could camouflage themselves, vanishing into the background, becoming almost invisible.

  She began to fly home, her thoughts racing in worried circles. Why wasn’t her magic working? Was Xanthe right? Was it nothing to worry about or was there something more sinister happening? Her magic had never stopped working before now. If it was a dark spirit, what were they trying to do?

  If it’s to freak me out, it’s working, Lucy thought unhappily. She was beginning to dread doing magic in case nothing happened.

  Her eyes caught a flash of gold in the trees beneath her. She flew lower. Joanna and Robyn were facing each other in the alder grove. Lucy was about to fly on, but then she caught sight of Robyn’s face. Robyn was looking intently at Joanna. Lucy felt curious. What were they talking about? Their voices floated up to her.

  ‘Please, Mum,’ she heard Robyn saying. ‘You’ve got to stop it!’

  ‘No,’ Joanna said.

  ‘But, Mum…’

  ‘Don’t interfere, Robyn,’ Joanna said firmly. ‘I know what’s best.’

  ‘But Lucy’s…’

  Lucy started as she heard her own name, but before Robyn could finish what she was going to say, Joanna cut across her. ‘Robyn! That’s enough! You know I’m only doing this for you.’

  ‘But I don’t want you to,’ Robyn said miserably. ‘I like Lucy.’

  ‘I know, but don’t you see…’ Joanna suddenly broke off and looked up as if she had heard something.

  Lucy’s stomach somersaulted as Joanna seemed to look straight in her direction. She was very glad she had camouflaged herself and couldn’t be seen.

  She darted through the sky. Camouflage was at its most effective if you kept moving. Lucy twisted and turned. Beneath her she saw Joanna give a puzzled frown and then turn back to Robyn. She said something and then Robyn nodded and the two of them flew away.

  Lucy watched them fly into the distance. Her breath was short in her throat. They’d been talking about her! She tried to remember everything she’d heard. Robyn telling Joanna she had to stop it. Stop what? And Joanna saying she was only doing it for Robyn. But what was she doing?

  Lucy’s thoughts whirled round and round. She didn’t have a clue what Robyn and Joanna had been talking about. But she didn’t like it. Feeling very uneasy, she turned and flew home as fast as she could.

  CHAPTER

  Seven

  Please, Mum, you’ve got to stop it!

  As Lucy lay in bed that night, Robyn’s words seemed to echo around in her mind. What
did Joanna have to stop? What was she doing? Her brain buzzed with a horrible thought. What if Joanna had something to do with her magic not working?

  But why would she do that? Lucy thought.

  She’s a dark spirit.

  No! Lucy sat up in bed and pushed her hair back. Joanna can’t be a dark spirit. She’s too nice…

  But even as she thought it, she realized that both Dan and Maggie, the two dark spirits she had met before, had seemed nice too. She’d been fooled before.

  ‘Joanna can’t be a dark spirit,’ she whispered to herself. ‘She’s Xanthe’s friend.’

  But they haven’t seen each other for years, a voice answered in her head. Maybe Joanna’s become one. Maybe she’s turned dark. And she’s been there every time your magic hasn’t worked.

  Lucy lay in bed for a few moments and then got up. She couldn’t bear it any longer. She had to talk to someone. She got out of bed and saw a light on in the next-door kitchen. Xanthe and Allegra must be back.

  Not bothering to turn herself into a stardust spirit again, Lucy put on her slippers, hurried out of the bedroom and ran down the stairs. She turned the key quietly in the lock of the back door and slipped outside.

  She ran across the driveway to Xanthe and Allegra’s house and knocked on the door. Xanthe opened it. ‘Lucy!’ she said in surprise. ‘What is it?’

  ‘Can I talk to you?’ Lucy said.

  Xanthe held the door open and Lucy hurried through to the kitchen. Allegra was drinking a cup of hot chocolate. She looked very surprised to see Lucy. ‘Hi. What’s up?’

  Lucy looked anxiously at Xanthe. ‘It’s Joanna. I…I think she’s a dark spirit!’

  There was a stunned silence. ‘A dark spirit,’ Xanthe echoed eventually.

  Lucy nodded. ‘My magic’s only not been working when she’s been there…’ The whole story spilled out: how she’d heard Joanna and Robyn talking and what they’d said.

  ‘That does sound a bit strange,’ Xanthe admitted. ‘But I’m sure you’ve got it wrong. I know Joanna’s not a dark spirit. We’ve been friends since we were nine.’