The Silver Secret

by Astrid Foss

  Oskar started to grow in size, but after a moment he stopped and shrank again. He turned his large worried eyes to the girls.

  “Poor Oskar,” whispered Magda. “You’re still really young, and you’ve already done so much for us! Your magic must need time to replenish.” The bear whimpered but bravely stood his ground between the wolf and the sisters.

  The freezing wind whipped up the snow and hissed, “The Everchanging Lights and Nordovia will soon be under my power. No one can stop me! Your mother and father grow weak, and you girls are powerless!”

  As the wind rose to a harsh cry, a rumble worked its way through Oskar’s throat, and he lunged at the wolf. But he was no match for the beast and with a gigantic paw it knocked him flying. Oskar yelped and slumped into a snowdrift, dazed.

  The wolf turned its huge head back to face the sisters and Magda screamed, but from behind them footsteps came crunching through the snow. It was Gregor, running back through the woods. He skidded to a halt as he saw the huge wolf and his face went pale. The wolf growled and tensed its body.

  “Watch out!” shrieked Ida.

  The wolf sprang towards the girls.

  In a flash Hanna grabbed her sisters and yanked them out of the way. They huddled together behind a tree.

  At the same time Gregor leapt forward and grabbed the wolf’s tail. With a huge effort he began to pull the wolf back by its fur – but with one mighty swing of its body the wolf flung Gregor into a tree.

  Gregor collapsed against the trunk, trying to catch the breath that had been knocked out of him. The girls hunched lower behind their tree as the wolf stalked towards them again.

  “We have to do something!” cried Magda.

  Hanna narrowed her eyes and concentrated hard on the wolf, feeling the tingling sensation from before. She gritted her teeth, and managed to push the wolf, sending it stumbling back. But in a second the wolf righted itself and turned back to the sisters, ready to pounce.

  “Run!” cried Magda and the girls scattered.

  The wolf darted between Magda and Ida, teeth flashing, hot breath churning. It snapped at Ida, who whisked the back of her riding jacket out of the way just in time. Whirling round, its fiery eyes turned to Magda and it leapt at her instead. Magda threw herself behind a tree as it sprang, and the wolf skidded to a stop in the snow before recovering itself and running at Hanna. In a flash Magda reached out and grabbed Hanna’s arm, pulling her away from its jaws.

  Ida, breathing hard, pointed. “Quick, we need to get up that tree! The wolf won’t be able to reach us up there!”

  The three sisters, their hearts pounding, the muscles in their legs shaking, pulled themselves up into lowest branches of the tree. Their hands were numb with cold and sticky with pine sap.

  Hanna climbed higher, quickly and easily. “Come on!” she called down. “It can still reach you!”

  They could hear the wolf snarling beneath them – but above them something white streaked through the sky and drew closer. It was the silver snow hawk! Just as the girls were looking at the bird they heard a snapping sound from below. Teeth bared, the wolf had made a giant leap towards Magda, whose leg was still dangling dangerously from the branch.

  “Watch out!” called Ida, but the wolf’s sharp teeth caught her sister’s boot and began to drag her down. The snow hawk swooped low again. Magda felt the strange tingling down her spine, just as she had when she’d encountered Gregor’s golden eagle earlier. She locked eyes with the snow hawk as it flew towards her, and the tingling got stronger. Suddenly she felt herself floating up into the sky.

  Down below, she heard her sisters cry out in surprise.

  Hanna’s voice carried towards her. “Magda?”

  Magda felt a strange buoyancy as she moved her arms … not her arms … wings! Somehow she was soaring into the sky beside the snow hawk. She looked left and right, and realised she was flapping magnificent white wings. The trees below got smaller, and she laughed in surprise, but instead of her laughter she heard the wild cry of a bird.

  “Magda!” Hanna shouted again. “You … you’ve turned into a bird! You’ve turned into another snow hawk!”

  Ida gave a laugh, half shocked, half excited, and shouted up to the sky too. “You’ve got your power!”

  Magda flew through the sky after the silver snow hawk, who seemed to be circling back towards the top of the tree where her sisters were still clinging while the wolf snarled and paced below. The bird was coming to land on a cluster of branches near the top of the tree. Magda landed on a branch nearby just in time to see the hawk settle on to a nest. That was it! That must be where their mother’s orb was hidden!

  She fluttered closer, and, sure enough, she could see the glowing pink orb inside the hawk’s nest. She let out another squawk, trying to alert her sisters, but she knew they wouldn’t understand. How could she get the orb out of the nest when all she had were claws? How long would she stay a bird? But, as if in answer, she began to feel another tingling sensation down her spine. She flapped her wings a little, experimentally, but found them becoming less light and more like … arms! She’d turned back into a girl – and as she clung to the branch she realised just how high up she was! Perhaps being able to turn into an animal wasn’t as much fun as she thought. But it did mean that she was able to get to the orb.

  Carefully, holding tightly to the branch, Magda whispered soothingly to the snow hawk, hoping it wouldn’t attack her as she gently eased the pink orb out of the nest. She’d done it!

  “Ida! Hanna! I’ve got it!” she called down to her sisters, who were balanced in the branches below her.

  “Amazing!” she heard Hanna call back. “Can you climb down to us?”

  Magda wasn’t sure – she wasn’t as good at climbing as Hanna. But she took a deep breath, tucked the beautiful, gleaming orb inside her riding jacket, and began to tentatively climb through the branches towards her sisters.

  “Careful!” called Ida, and Magda couldn’t help tutting in spite of her nerves.

  “Of course I’m being careful!” she shouted.

  After a few nail-biting moments, she managed to reach her sisters. Cautiously she pulled the orb out of her jacket to show them. The sisters stared at the beautiful iridescent pink light flickering and flowing inside it, just like the Everchanging Lights did in the sky. They smiled at one another.

  “No!” A fierce, ice-laden wind hurled itself around the tree. “That’s mine!” it screamed.

  “What are we going to do?” cried Hanna, trying to shelter from the freezing wind as she watched the huge wolf circling the base of the tree, its eyes fixed on the girls. Gregor and Oskar were still lying dazed where they’d fallen.

  Ida, Magda and Hanna peered anxiously at the scene below them. Then Ida realised something. “Wait a minute,” she whispered. “That wolf is definitely in the power of the Shadow Witch. Maybe if we can break her hold over him, we would have a chance to escape!”

  Her sisters nodded.

  “Good idea! But how?” asked Magda.

  “We use our powers, silly,” said Hanna, sounding more confident than she felt. She looked around for inspiration. Suddenly her eyes lit up, and she whispered a plan to her sisters.

  “OK?” she asked. She looked at Magda, who nodded once, and then turned to Ida, who looked a little more unsure, but she nodded too.

  “One … two … three… Go!” cried Hanna.

  Ida pulled out her sketchbook and pencil from where she’d tucked them inside her riding jacket and hastily drew two slingshots. She felt the tingling in her hands as the images came to life, and she passed one of the slingshots to Hanna so that they could load them with hard pine cones from the tree. Then they began to fire them rapidly down at the wolf. The wolf snarled and shook its head, trying to shelter beneath the branches.

  While it was distracted, Magda tucked the pink orb safely in a crook of the tree and took a deep breath as she tried to attract a red squirrel that Hanna had spotted sheltering nearby out of its hi
ding place.

  “Here, little one,” she said, struggling to see the little creature through the pine needles, not even sure if this would work – but once she caught its eye she felt the tingling down her spine again.

  “I … I think it’s working! But I don’t know how long it will last,” she cried to her sisters, just as she felt her body becoming lighter and lighter. She glanced down and saw paws.

  Little red paws! She leapt down from the tree, dancing between the branches and – gathering all her courage – sprang on to the wolf’s back and bit down hard on its ear! She was so tiny and agile that before the wolf could turn on her she’d jumped away, and as it chased her she raced towards a huge old tree, its many branches heavy with snow.

  Hanna concentrated on the branches of the tree. As the wolf ran beneath them she used her magic to shake them hard and sent a huge heavy sheet of freezing snow down on to the beast. Magda leapt to the safety of the next tree just in time.

  The avalanche fell on the wolf with a loud flumph! As the beast disappeared beneath the snow, the cold wind howled like an angry scream then suddenly died, and the woods became silent. The wolf was buried for a moment, but then its nose slowly reappeared, snuffling through the snow. It clambered out of the snowfall, blinking in confusion and shrinking before the girls’ eyes. Now a normal wolf, it took a dazed look around then ran off. And not a moment too soon, as Magda found herself turning back into a girl. She jumped down from the tree, panting hard.

  “We did it!” cried Hanna, placing the orb safely in her jacket as she and Ida climbed down and ran over to Magda. “Well done, us!”

  “Is the Shadow Witch gone? Are we safe?” asked Ida.

  “When we knocked out her power over the wolf, she lost this fight,” said Hanna. “I think we’re safe for now.”

  “Look at Oskar!” cried Magda.

  The little polar bear cub was slowly scrambling to his feet. He shook himself all over. Once he was sure of himself, he leaned, growling, in the direction the wolf had gone. “It’s OK, boy,” Hanna told him with a grin.

  “We took care of ourselves,” explained Magda, stroking his fur.

  “With the help of a little magic,” finished Ida.

  The three of them turned to Gregor, who was also stumbling towards them, clutching his shoulder. “I can’t believe it,” he murmured, “I think I’ve been seeing things!”

  Magda chuckled, looking at her sisters. “We could never have found the snow hawk’s nest without you!” she said to him.

  Hanna cleared her throat dramatically. “On behalf of our parents, and all of Nordovia, we thank you,” she concluded formally. The other girls nodded, smiling, and they took his hands.

  Gregor looked down at the snowy forest floor, embarrassed. “It was nothing,” he grunted.

  Hanna clutched the precious pink orb inside her jacket. “We need to get back to the castle,” she said. “Can you take us to our sledge, Gregor? Even if Oskar stays quite little and goes slowly, if we leave now and help to push the sledge, we might be able to get home before dawn!”

  Gregor led the way back, and the girls harnessed Oskar to the sledge. They all helped push-start it and once the bear had picked up speed they jumped inside and waved goodbye to Gregor. They could hardly believe the adventure they’d been on.

  At last, just as an early dawn light began to creep into the sky, they emerged from the woods and Oskar raced down to the castle gates.

  “Quick, now, while the guard patrol is on the other side,” said Ida softly. They jumped down from the sledge, quietly slid back through the gates and returned the sledge to the wagoner’s shed. They crept back into their bedchamber just as sunlight began to break through their window.

  Hanna carefully pulled the pink orb from her jacket, and together the girls walked over to the snow globe, which was beginning to glow again.

  “Mother?” said Magda softly. “We did it! We found the first orb!”

  The globe shimmered more brightly, and they heard their mother’s voice faintly from within it. “Well done, my darling daughters! Now place the orb next to the snow globe, and watch…”

  Hanna, Magda and Ida each clasped their hands round the pink orb and moved it towards the snow globe, holding their breath. They gasped as the glittering orb was magically absorbed into the swirling snow of the globe.

  “The magic of the pink light will be held here for safekeeping,” their mother told them. The light in the globe began to dim again. “But don’t forget,” warned Freya, her voice getting more and more faint, “you must find the other two orbs before the Day of the Midnight Sun!”

  “Mother?” said Ida anxiously. But it was too late. She was gone. For now…

  The girls looked at one another, eyes wide. “Well, at least we’ve found one of the orbs,” said Magda, and her sisters nodded.

  “And we’ll find the others as soon as we can!” Hanna finished.

  Oskar settled down by the fireplace, huffing gently into a well-earned sleep. The girls changed out of their cold, stiff riding outfits and gratefully put on their soft, warm nightgowns. But despite getting into their beds they remained wide awake.

  “That was the most exciting thing we’ve ever done!” whispered Hanna.

  “It was a bit scary sometimes,” Ida whispered back.

  “I know. But we did it – together,” Magda replied.

  “Soon we’ll have all the magical orbs,” said Hanna, her voice starting to sound sleepy.

  “Then we can stop that nasty Shadow Witch once and for all…” said Magda, sounding tired too.

  “And free Mother and Father!” Ida finished with a yawn.

  The girls smiled, each bathed in the faint glow of the early morning. They knew it wasn’t going to be easy finding the other two orbs – not with the Shadow Witch determined to stop them. But they had discovered their magic, and they were ready for their next adventure, whatever it might be!

  Copyright

  First published in the UK in 2018 by Nosy Crow Ltd

  The Crow’s Nest, 14 Baden Place

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  Nosy Crow and associated logos are trademarks and/or

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  Text copyright © Hothouse Fiction, 2018

  Cover illustration © Sharon Tancredi, 2018

  Interior illustrations © Monique Dong, 2018

  The right of Hothouse Fiction, Sharon Tancredi and Monique Dong to be identified as the author and illustrators respectively of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book will be available from the British Library

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  ISBN: 978 085763 965 3

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