Raek pulled them apart roughly.
‘Stop that!’ he squawked. ‘That’s enough!’
Crystal struggled to keep her arms round her mother. She had to hold her as long as she could in case Questrid was wrong and this was the last time. She tightened her grip.
Raek tried to prise them apart but the guards didn’t help.
‘Don’t just stand there!’ Raek shouted as he pulled and pushed at the mother and daughter. ‘Help me! She’s not going to harm you! She can’t put a spell on you, if that’s what you’re worried about.’
Inside Raek’s pocket, the sly-ugg was wriggling around in the velvet bag. It had worked itself free and now quickly it inched amongst the folds of Effie’s dress. Once hidden, it clung on and didn’t move.
Raek and the guards finally separated Crystal from her mother. They took Effie to the chair and strapped her in.
Crystal found Questrid at her side.
‘Don’t worry,’ he whispered. ‘Don’t cry. You’ll see the chair go under but she’ll be fine. If only she weren’t tied in, she might even get through the Gateway, like I did, because the ducking chair reaches right into the middle … But if she doesn’t, then she’ll come up a bit wet and then they’ll untie her and we can grab her—’
‘How? You’re just making this up! You don’t know anything, do you? You only hope!’
‘True … I’m hoping the Gateway isn’t icing up, too.’
Effie ignored the crowd who were calling out to her and jeering. Even Stella was there, shaking her fist. Effie was calm. She didn’t flinch as the men strapped a leather belt round her waist; she showed no fear at all. She might have been going to plunge into a pool of crystal clear liquid – not the dirty grey muck of Lop Lake.
When they’d secured her and she was sitting alone in the chair, the crowd fell quiet as if they suddenly realized what a terrible thing they were doing.
‘Oh dear, poor Effie.’
‘What a to-do.’
Four men hoisted the chair into the air where it jigged about awkwardly. Crystal groaned and cried out. All eyes swivelled round and looked at her, then swivelled back to the seat swaying above the ground.
‘Eh, I’m not sure it’s the right thing,’ Mrs Jones said quietly.
‘I never thought she was a witch,’ Mrs Brown said. ‘She was too kind and clever. Too dreamy. Nothing good will come of this! What about poor Crystal? What’ll become of her?’
The four men pulled on the rope and the long arm suspending the chair went out over the water. They stopped when it reached the very centre of the lake.
‘You have one last chance to change your minds, people of the Town!’ Grint cried suddenly. Everyone turned and looked at him again. ‘Effie Waters is innocent. She is not a witch. You know she is not! Save her from this terrible ordeal! Let’s think of another punishment we can give her. Not this here, not at this muddy hole of Lop Lake!’
John Carter elbowed up to the front and faced Grint. ‘Why are you so keen to save her, Grint, Bless and Praise your Name?’ he asked. ‘You’ve always agreed before about banning witchcraft. What’s changed?’
‘Yeah, why’s she so special?’
‘Duck her!’
‘Duck her!’
‘Drown her!’
Effie didn’t hear the crowd roaring. She didn’t see anything. The name Greenwood was ringing and singing in her head and a vague, blurred picture of him was growing stronger all the time. She was glad and hopeful without knowing why.
Effie snapped out of her dream suddenly when the sly-ugg moved. It was slithering out from under her shawl and onto her lap. It slimed beneath the free end of the strap round her waist. Effie bit back a cry. What was it doing? She did not think it would harm her … was it trying to help her? She didn’t dare look at the sly-ugg, knowing the crowd was watching everything closely. She tried to look at the water, the sky, anything; meanwhile she felt the sly-ugg arching its rubbery body, pushing and straining against the leather.
‘On the count of three,’ Raek yelled. ‘One! Two!’
Effie was right. The sly-ugg was trying to help her. It worked faster and faster, forcing the buckle to undo and release the strap. It grew pink with effort, wheezing and whimpering with worry as it pushed and pushed …
‘THREE!’
The chair dropped into the water with a mighty splash.
The lake seemed to rip open and waves rippled up and sucked at the bank. Dark evil bubbles of stinking gas exploded. Twiggy branches, empty bottles and plastic bags swirled around and spun in crazy circles. Dirty water and sodden leaves sprayed out over the watching people who screamed and stumbled backwards, giggling nervously and shouting out.
Crystal buried her face in her hands. ‘Mum, Mum!’
‘I’m sorry,’ Questrid whispered. ‘Seeing that must be so awful for you. Horrid. But I really think she’s all right, I really do and – Oh, Crystal please, could we go?’
‘What? Are you mad?’
‘It would be the perfect moment. While everyone’s here.’
‘I don’t care! I don’t care about the stupid eye-cycle! I want my mum. We can’t go and just leave her. Is she alive? Where is she?’
Time passed very slowly. The crowd began to mutter and whisper.
‘How long is the chair to stay down?’ John Carter asked.
‘That’s enough,’ Grint called. His voice sounded broken. ‘No one could survive that!’
‘Bring her up!’ Mrs Brown cried. ‘Bring her up!’
Raek checked his watch and raised his arm. He held it poised as he stared at his watch. At last he waved to the men to lift up the chair. They pulled on the rope. Everyone surged forward again to look.
Slowly the rope emerged, dripping and slimy, then the top of the chair covered with weed. There was a murmur around the lake. Then a spit-spat of angry voices, sharp words and cries …
The chair was empty.
22
‘Are you perhaps Fountain?’
‘Something’s coming!’ Grampy cried, staring hard at the meltwater. ‘I’m feeling it in my skeleton-bones and it’s jolly thrilling-exciting!’
Whatever it was, it was approaching them fast, with a sound like a ski rasping on ice, or the whirr of a fish hauled in on a line. A brilliant flash of light and a POP! sent them both toppling over.
A figure flew out of the water. It came tumbling down on the ice beside them in a flurry of long cloak and blonde hair. The pixicles scrambled to their feet and hurried over.
‘It’s a woman!’ Grampy said, kneeling beside her.
‘And not a drop of water on her white-lovely skin, or her cloaky-clothes or her silvery-blonde hair!’ Squitcher said.
The woman lay staring up at the sky blankly. She had intensely blue eyes. The pixicles looked at each other in alarm. Was she dead?
She smiled. She wasn’t dead.
‘Greetings, pale-person from below the ice,’ Grampy said, bowing. He offered his small hand to her and she took it and sat up. ‘Welcome. Are you perhaps Fountain?’
Effie nodded. She breathed in deeply. ‘I am.’ She turned her head very slowly, taking in everything she saw: the sheer glassy walls, the sun glittering on the ice, the blue-white snow. She seemed to blossom before their eyes: her cheeks filled out, her skin glowed and her eyes grew rounder, clearer, and as brilliant as sapphires. ‘I remember,’ she said. ‘I’ve come home. I am Fountain and I’m home at last!’
‘Yes and we’re jolly, jolly glad to have you back,’ Squitcher said. ‘I will take you down to Spindle House—’
‘Yes, yes – but look, look at the ice!’ Grampy cried. ‘Listen to it growing!’
The ice was inching over the water like a creamy white brittle skin.
The Gateway was almost closed.
23
Raek’s Big Mistake
‘The ducking chair’s empty!’ Crystal cried, turning to Questrid. ‘But—’
‘Brilliant! I told you she’d make it!’ Questrid
hugged Crystal then quickly let her go. ‘They’ll drag the lake. They’ll try and find her, but she’s not here, Crystal! She’s gone!’
‘Where?’
‘To the other side.’ Questrid began pulling her away from the water. ‘Where I was! Like we both will be just as soon as we have the eye-cycle. You saw the empty chair? She’s gone to the Marble Mountains.’
Her mother was free! She must be, there was no other answer.
At last Crystal found she could move. She chased after Questrid through the bent trees, over the uneven ground and down to the Town. The streets were quiet; it was early and many people had gone to the lake but things would soon be back to normal; they had to move fast.
‘It’s all so ugly,’ Questrid said, looking around. ‘And everything’s broken. Why doesn’t anyone move those sheets of corrugated steel? Or mend the broken windows? Or pick up the rubbish?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘I would if I was living here. Though nothing would induce me to stay!’ Questrid said.
He came to an abrupt standstill outside Grint’s house and put his hand on the stone columns. ‘Look at those!’ he cried. ‘Only a Rocker or a Stone person could make those.’ He smoothed his hand over the carved stone. ‘Look, there are mountains and furzz trees, snowflakes and icicles.’
‘Grint made them.’
‘Then he is a Rocker and he’s homesick too!’
‘Is he really from the Marble Mountains? I wonder why he came here?’ She stared up at the empty-looking house. ‘I hate this place …’ She shook her head as if trying to clear her bleak thoughts. ‘Now, your eye-cycle. I don’t know where it’s kept. Is it really so important, Questrid?’
‘Yes. I don’t want to let the pixicles down. And your mum is safe, I’m sure, I just need to—’
‘OK. OK,’ Crystal said. ‘I remember hearing Grint tell Raek to put it back, but—Oh, what are you doing?’
Questrid had walked up to the front door and was turning the door handle.
‘Well, I just thought it was worth a go, but it’s locked.’
‘Of course it is. We could try round the back.’
They crept down a narrow lane between the high garden wall and a crumbling warehouse. There were no other doors.
‘We’ll have to climb it,’ Questrid said. ‘The wall isn’t very smooth, look there are footholds everywhere. It won’t be hard, Crystal.’
Questrid was right and soon they had scaled the wall and were dropping down amongst the trees into Grint’s garden. The ground-floor windows were shuttered. There was no sign of anyone.
‘Which way?’ Questrid asked.
Crystal shrugged. ‘That little door was open before.’ She pointed to the green door that led to the waiting room. To reach it they had to pass close to the shed where the strange animal was kept. Questrid went first and Crystal followed. She chucked down the bread and apple she’d put in her pocket as she passed it. You can thank Questrid for that! she thought.
The green door was not locked. They tiptoed along the corridor, pausing to listen for any sounds as they came out into the waiting room. All was silent.
‘Which way?’ Questrid asked as they moved into the hall where six doors confronted them and a wide staircase led upstairs.
‘My first guess would be this floor,’ Crystal said. ‘For convenience.’
They opened each big door as quietly as they could and investigated the rooms beyond. They found Raek’s laboratory, the reception room and the icy room where Grint made Crystal’s mother use the eye-cycle.
‘Feel it,’ Crystal whispered, with a shiver. ‘It’s still cold.’
‘I bet the eye-cycle is close by, then,’ Questrid said, looking around. ‘A freezer of some sort; an ice room. Something not very large but with a big, thick door to keep the cold in.’
But despite opening every door, they could not find it. Defeated, they went back to the hall.
‘Where is it? I can’t give up!’ Questrid cried. ‘I promised the pixicles. No one but a pixicle must ever use an eye-cycle. We’d better try upstairs. But I don’t think—’
‘I heard something!’ Crystal put her finger to her lips.
They both stood still, listening. Footsteps pattered behind the closed doors. They heard the click of a key turning. Then another.
‘Quick! We must go back! Hide.’
‘Stop right there!’ It was Raek.
They turned and ran to the nearest door. It was locked. They ran to the next, and the next. They were all locked. They’d been trapped.
Raek came in slowly through the last door. He was swinging a big bunch of keys round and round. ‘You’re wasting your time. You’re stuck. Trapped like flies in a jar … Who is that?’ he added pointing at Questrid. ‘I’ve never seen him before.’
‘That’s just Questrid. A neighbour,’ said Crystal. ‘Where’s my mum? We were looking for Mum. She didn’t drown, did she? It was a trick. I know it was a trick and you’re hiding her here, aren’t you?’
Questrid was impressed that Crystal had thought up the lie so quickly and distracted Raek. No one must suspect he wasn’t a Towner.
‘Be quiet,’ Raek said. ‘You’re in trouble again, Crystal. It’s a serious offence to break into Grint’s house, Bless and Praise his Name! However much I try to help you, you won’t help yourself.’
‘You’ve never tried to help me! You tried to kill me!’
Raek smiled. ‘No, no,’ he said. ‘That was an accident.’
There was a sudden bang as the front door burst open and crashed loudly against the wall.
It was Grint.
‘What’s going on?’ he cried. ‘Why is that girl here? Lock her up, Raek, her and her friend.’
‘You are so bossy,’ Raek said. ‘Too bossy.’ He smiled smugly, rubbing his gloved hands together. ‘I know what you’re up to, Grint,’ he went on. ‘I know everything – the sly-ugg told me.’ He turned back to Crystal. ‘Grint was planning to throw me over,’ he told her, ‘scheming so that he and Effie could rule without me. He was going to kill me.’
‘Rubbish!’ Grint said coldly. ‘If the sly-ugg said that, it was lying.’
‘A sly-ugg cannot lie. It can only record and playback.’
‘I’m telling you it was lying!’
‘I don’t believe you, Grint. You didn’t know the sly-ugg was listening. It was hiding on Effie’s shawl, remember?’ Raek said. ‘But it’s irrelevant now.’ He picked up a damp, cloth-covered bundle from the table. It made a soft chinking-clinking sound as it moved. ‘I’m one step ahead of you, Grint. Guess what I’ve got!’
‘The eye-cycle!’ Questrid and Grint both spoke together. Questrid quickly forced a fit of coughing and hoped no one had heard him. He stared at the damp shape. The eye-cycle was melting! How would he ever get it back to the pixicles now? What idiots these people were!
Grint laughed. ‘Raek, are you mad? It has to be kept in the freezer. Look at it! It’s melting. It won’t work now. Don’t you know what ice is?’
‘I was just going to show you that I—’
‘Anyway, now Effie isn’t available,’ Grint said, ‘we’re doomed. Every Sam Smith and John Carter will be after us now. We needed her! Why did you let them do that ridiculous test on her?’
‘I thought it would keep them quiet. I wanted to do what they wanted.’ Raek stared at his dripping bundle. ‘It’s only been out for a second. It can’t be melting! Perhaps I’d better—’
‘Too late. You’re too late!’ Grint cried. ‘I thought you were clever, Raek! I thought you had brains!’
‘I have. I do. Don’t talk to me like that! Anyway, I don’t care,’ Raek said, changing tack. ‘I hope it doesn’t work any more. You’ll be finished, Grint. Yes, you are the one who’s doomed!’
Grint sat down heavily. He looked at first as if he were collapsing in defeat, but he was shaking quietly with laughter.
‘The eye-cycle told me everything, Raek,’ he chuckled. ‘I knew this would happen. E
ffie saw it in a fortune. I am warned of everything and I have laid my plans accordingly …’
Raek stared at him, his mouth half open. ‘What?’
‘The skin on your face looks a bit sore, Raek, spotty and red. How are your hands? I see you’re hiding them with gloves. Is that because they’re disintegrating, Raek? Are bits of the skin peeling off?’
Raek put down the eye-cycle and ripped off his gloves. His hands were red and swollen and horribly blistered.
‘How did you know?’ Raek said.
‘I know about sly-uggs. It’s their doing,’ Grint told him. ‘When you are mean and horrid to them, and squeeze them in your vice, they release a poison … A skin-eating poison. Have you been treating the sly-uggs very badly, Raek? Specially Crystal’s sly-ugg? Squeezing it so tightly that it screams? Oh dear, you have, haven’t you? I can tell you have. The poison gets stronger and stronger. You didn’t put your face up close, did you? Oh, Raek, I think you did!’ he chuckled.
Raek’s hands flew to his cheeks. He cradled his face in his palms. ‘Why didn’t you warn me?’ he cried. ‘You must help me!’
‘You were unkind to that sly-ugg, weren’t you? You are the one that’s doomed, Raek!’
Raek let out a moan like something dying and sank to his knees. ‘My face!’ he cried. ‘My hands! Help me!’
‘It’s a pity Effie’s gone – she could have made you a soothing poultice for your skin – while you still have some,’ Grint said. ‘It gets worse and worse, Raek, until you’re eaten away to bare white bone.’
‘No, no!’ Raek cried. ‘It’s not true. Say it’s not true. I will get better. I will!’
‘Get out of my sight!’
‘Please …’
‘Go!’
Raek dragged himself to his feet and staggered to the door. ‘I’ll be back!’ he gasped. ‘I’ll be back!’
When the door shut on Raek, Grint turned his dark eyes on Crystal and Questrid.
‘So, Crystal, your mother’s abandoned you. How selfish. She took her chance and has gone … Quickly, let’s get to business. You, boy, pick up the eye-cycle and follow us!’
Crystal Page 11