Shapeshifter's Guide to Running Away (Spellchasers)

by Lari Don

  “I asked him to stop. I asked him to promise that he wouldn’t eat any more of our neighbours. But he said that kelpies are hunters and predators, and that dragons and tigers don’t follow rules, so why should we?

  “I know I’m a hunter. And I’m sure that when I’m older I’ll go on a hunting trip to find challenging prey by other shores. But I won’t hunt here, I won’t hunt my friends and neighbours. It’s not right and it’s not sensible either, because it leaves the kelpie’s family and the kelpie’s river system open to revenge attacks. Like the fairy’s curse that killed my big brother.

  “Then Dad said he’d take me hunting by the Spey, one dark night soon. He wants me to be like him. Greedy, a rule-breaker, a danger to everyone around me… And I don’t want that.

  “I asked him again to promise never to hunt near our rivers. But he refused to promise, and he laughed at me for following the rules. So I cursed him.

  “I didn’t plan to, but because we’d been studying curses, that popped into my head as the most obvious way to stop my dad.

  “I cursed him to turn to stone.

  “He realised what I was doing and shifted to his stallion form to attack me. But I spoke so fast that he turned to stone as he reared up. The stallion statue toppled off the rock, into the deep pool.

  “And that is why I cursed my father.”

  He glanced over at Beth. She looked away.

  Molly watched Innes as he stared at the floor again. His fists, his jaw, his shoulders were clenched and tense. He looked ready to defend himself, to leap up and lash out, as soon as anyone criticised him.

  What could she say? She couldn’t say he’d done the right thing, but she couldn’t say he’d done the wrong thing either. Perhaps she should just keep him talking until someone else thought of something useful to say. Molly remembered the questions they’d answered on Mrs Sharpe’s workshop.

  “Does the curse have limits? Can your dad lift it?”

  Innes’s face relaxed. “Yes, of course! I want him to lift it! The curse states that he will return to his human form every five days, for five minutes, and if he promises during that time to stop hunting in the Spey valley, the curse will be lifted. But if he ever again eats anything that can speak words or do magic, within twenty miles of the Spey or its tributaries, he will turn to stone forever.” Innes almost smiled. “It was quite an effective curse, for one I made up on the spot…”

  “Does someone have to be there to hear him promise?” Molly asked.

  “I don’t think so. That’s what the Promise Keeper does, isn’t it? Lift curses when the victim fulfils the conditions?”

  Innes glanced at Theo, who nodded.

  “But I’ll go up there tomorrow anyway,” said Innes, “and try to persuade him to promise.”

  “Does your mum know what you did?” asked Molly.

  “No! Of course not! She thinks he’s gone off on one of his long hunting trips. That’s what I sort of suggested when I came back without him. She won’t worry for a while. I suppose I’ll have to tell her, eventually. But how do I tell her?” He flicked the crumbs around the floor, making more mess than he’d tidied up.

  “So…” He looked round at everyone’s shocked faces. “So I’m going to be in massive trouble with my mum. I can’t even think about what my dad will do to me when he’s free of the curse. And the curse-hatched might imprison me at that endless snooze-feast. There are consequences to what I’ve done. I’m not getting off with this scot-free. So perhaps you lot could just be my friends and help me through this, rather than staring at me like I’m a monster.”

  He paused. “Though my dad is a monster. And I turned him to stone. So maybe I’m a monster too. I just hope I can control it better than he can.”

  Innes looked round them all again, clearly more nervous than he’d been facing a row of nuckelavee.

  Molly couldn’t think of any more questions, and she didn’t know how to answer his plea for support.

  But Beth had an answer. “You used dark magic. That is unforgivable.”

  “I prefer to think of it as grey magic, Beth. I used a curse to stop my dad eating other magic users and to prevent our family being cursed in revenge. I was defending myself, my family, my rivers, you and your family, and all our neighbours. How can that be a bad thing?”

  “Surely you could have done something else to stop him? Surely a curse wasn’t your only choice?”

  “Yes. True. I could have killed him. Do you think that would have been a better solution? I don’t. This way, he has a choice: he can change his ways, he can become a good neighbour and father again.”

  “Whatever he becomes,” said Beth, “you will always be a curse-caster, and I can’t forgive you for that.”

  Innes’s shoulders slumped.

  Beth frowned. “There’s only one way I might be able to forgive you. Lift the curse now. No conditions, no limits, just lift the curse.”

  “You want me to set him free?” asked Innes. “Without a promise? Without a guarantee that he won’t murder more magic users and human beings on our riverbanks?”

  “There must be other ways to stop him. You have uncles, aunts, other senior kelpies in other rivers. Ask them to help. Ask them to enforce your rules. You don’t have to make yourself a monster too.”

  “You really think I’m a monster? Because of one curse?”

  Beth bit her lip and nodded.

  “Is he a monster?” Innes pointed at Theo. “He cursed Atacama. And I bet that wasn’t his first time. I bet he uses curses whenever they suit his big fancy magical questing purposes. I bet he always has a good reason and always makes the curses as small and gentle as possible, so no one calls him a monster, but I bet he’s cast curses before.”

  Theo smiled. “You know me better than I thought, Innes.”

  Beth looked at Theo. “You cast curses regularly?”

  Theo shrugged. “Curses are just magical tools. But I give you my word that no one is currently suffering under a curse cast by me. Innes is right. I use light curses and I design them to be lifted fast. And my victims usually forgive me, like Atacama has forgiven me. Haven’t you?”

  “Not quite,” growled the sphinx. “Not forgiven exactly.”

  Innes grinned. “See. It’s almost an epidemic. Everyone’s doing it.”

  “Not me,” said Beth. “Not ever. And I’m not trusting this quest to dark-magic users. I never really trusted you, Theo, we were always on different quests in the same direction. But Innes, you’re my friend. I did trust you. You must lift that curse before we take the rainbow-maker to the Hall.”

  “No. I can’t release him without the promise. He’s dangerous – to me now as well.”

  Beth stood up. “You must do it now. You’ve no idea what that curse is doing to you.”

  “It’s making my friends treat me like a toad – sorry Theo – and it’s making me nervous about crows, but on the whole that curse is doing more good than harm.”

  “It’s not that simple,” said Beth. “When I enter the trees’ world, I see what they see. And they see dark-magic users growing rotten inside. It’s like… it’s like a pear, which looks lovely and sweet and fresh on the outside, but when you slice it open, it’s brown at the core.”

  “Fruit metaphors,” groaned Innes. “Dryads always use fruit metaphors.”

  “That’s a fruit simile, actually,” said Beth. “But the only way to stop the rot eating away at your core is to remove the curse completely. It’s the same with Molly. Perhaps shapeshifting isn’t doing her physical damage, but manipulating and enjoying the dark magic of a curse can’t be doing her any good, inside.”

  Molly frowned and put her hands over her stomach. When she controlled her curse, deliberately shifting to a hare to race Innes or escape the curse-hatched or protect her friends, was that damaging her? Was it turning her into a dark-magic user, as well as a hare?

  Beth continued, “That’s why Molly has to get Mr Crottel to lift her curse. And you have to lift that cu
rse on your dad. Promise me you will.”

  Innes stood up too. “No. I can’t. I don’t think the curse is eating me up inside. There’s more than one kind of magic in this world, Beth, and your gentle flowery nature magic is not the only good or useful kind.”

  Beth shook her head. “If you won’t lift the curse, you can’t come back to the Hall with us. How can we know you won’t curse us all? If you think a curse is an appropriate solution to a problem, none of us are safe.”

  “You don’t really think I’d curse a friend—”

  “You cursed your own father!” she yelled.

  “Yeah, my father the murderer.”

  “But Innes, just because he did something wrong, doesn’t mean you did something right when you stopped him. Embracing dark magic leaves its mark.”

  “I’ve not embraced it. I just used it once.”

  “Now you’ve done it once, it will be easier to do again. You might curse me or Molly or Atacama or Theo, or your mum, or your teachers, or anyone else who annoys you. Can you guarantee you won’t curse anyone else?”

  “I don’t know!” he yelled. “It depends how much you nag me!”

  Beth backed away from him, holding her burning torch between them. “That is exactly why I can’t work with you, and exactly why I can’t be your friend any more.”

  Molly stood up. “Calm down, both of you. Once we’ve taken this ancient toy to the Keeper’s Hall, Beth, you can take Innes off your Christmas list. But let’s stop arguing now and finish the quest.”

  Beth said, “I can’t work with him while he has the taint of a curse round his core. He can’t be part of our team.”

  “I can’t, but Theo can?”

  They all looked over at the slim scarred boy sitting quietly in the corner.

  “Theo is not actually part of our team,” said Beth. “Theo is on another quest entirely. But you can’t come with us, Innes. If you won’t release your father from the curse, then Molly must release you from your vow.”

  “What?” said Molly.

  “He’s only part of our team because he promised to lift your curse. If you release him, he won’t have to come with us.” She looked at Molly. “Release him from his vow.”

  “Can I do that?”

  “You have to. If you release him, he can act like the selfish self-centred predator he really is and go off on his own again.”

  Innes laughed. “The selfish predator who just hunted a herd of cheese rolls for your tea?”

  Beth didn’t look at him. “Molly? Release him. Send him away.”

  “Is that the only reason you’re all here? Because you made a promise? I thought you were helping because we were friends.” Molly sighed. “I don’t want help from anyone who doesn’t genuinely want to help me.

  “So, I release Innes from his promise, but I also release Atacama and Beth. I can take the rainbow-maker to the Keeper’s Hall on my own. I can free Mr Crottel, Mrs Sharpe and everyone else, on my own. If Mr Crottel won’t lift my curse out of gratitude, then I’ll challenge him in the archaic way. On my own. No one has to help me if they don’t want to. So you’re all released from your promise.”

  Innes stared at her for a moment, then walked to the doorway.

  Beth took Molly’s hand. “I’ll help you lift your curse, not for the promise, but for our friendship.”

  Atacama said sadly, “I can’t justify bending my own sphinx’s vow any further, without the vow we made together to balance against it. So I’d better return home. I’m sorry.”

  Theo spoke for the first time since Innes and Beth started arguing. “I didn’t make a vow. But I’m going to the Keeper’s Hall anyway, so I’m happy to help you lift your curse, Molly.”

  Innes was still standing in the doorway. “I suppose I should stay away from the Hall, in case the crows try to keep me there. So I should leave you to your quest.”

  Innes walked into the darkness. Atacama followed him.

  Beth said, “Thank you, Molly. We can still do this, the two of us.” She glanced at Theo. “The three of us, following the same path to different ends.”

  Molly listened for hoofbeats leaving. She only heard the rain.

  Theo stood up. “What should we—?”

  A figure walked out of the darkness into the firelight.

  “I hear there are two girls trying to lift a worsening curse, and a magician with the balance of the world on his shoulders. If anyone wants a helping hand, or a helping hoof, I’m happy to re-join the team.”

  Molly held out her hand. “Welcome back, Innes!”

  Theo nodded at him and smiled.

  Beth said, “You’re here to help Molly and Theo? But you won’t promise me that you’ll lift your dad’s curse?”

  “I won’t promise what I can’t do. But I will promise that I won’t leave him cursed for longer than necessary. I just hope that won’t be forever.”

  Beth sighed. “Ok. I can’t stop you helping. But this doesn’t mean that I trust you or that I like who you’re becoming.”

  “I only stepped round the corner before I turned and came back.” Innes grinned. “Just for dramatic effect. Maybe Atacama’s trying to upstage me. I wonder how long he’ll take to come back…”

  They looked at the doorway. They waited. But the sphinx didn’t return.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Atacama is bound by a different vow,” said Molly. “That’s fine. We can do this ourselves.”

  She sat by the fire and the other three joined her.

  Molly said, “So we have to get into the Hall, through a door guarded by a sphinx. We have to give the rainbow-maker,” she patted her pocket, “to the baby. Then Nan will help us find the door so we can get the curse-casters out.”

  “We have to get the curse-hatched out too,” said Theo. “I have to remove their unbalancing influence on the infant Promise Keeper, then block the crowgate and negotiate with the sphinxes not to let the crows back through the door.”

  Molly checked her watch. It was almost eleven o’clock at night. “It’s very late. Should we go now, or sleep and go in the morning?”

  Innes said, “I don’t think I could sleep.”

  “Me neither,” said Theo.

  Beth said, “I just want to finish this quest.”

  “Me too,” said Molly.

  They went out into the drizzle and Innes said, “We have two rickety bikes and one fit horse. Who wants to pedal and who wants to ride like royalty?”

  “Beth and I will cycle, so you can take Theo,” said Molly. “He’s still tired after using all that raw power, and we might need him at full strength in the Keeper’s Hall.”

  Theo and Innes looked at each other.

  “Are you sure?” said Theo.

  “Of course,” said Innes. “I can’t criticise you, now everyone knows my dirty secret. Come on, we’ll meet the girls at the pyramids.”

  As Molly and Beth wheeled the bikes towards the road, Innes shifted. Theo climbed onto his back and they galloped off, Theo’s pale cloak flapping over the horse’s white flanks.

  ***

  “You won’t solve it,” sneered Caracorum.

  “Just ask your riddle,” said Innes.

  The golden sphinx faced Molly, Innes, Beth and Theo, between the high stone wall and the sweet-smelling pyramids, and asked:

  I am the seedling to your tree, the ugly duckling to your swan.

  I am the rock to your statue, the first chapter to your book.

  I am the morning of the ancestor’s riddle.

  I am crying out for an answer.

  What am I?

  Innes frowned.

  Beth shook her head.

  Theo shrugged. “My brain doesn’t do that. It sounds like gobbledegook.”

  Molly said, “Could we hear it again, please?”

  Caracorum repeated the riddle. But it didn’t make any more sense.

  Molly sighed. “Can we have a chat before we answer?”

  “Of course. You won’t work it out.�
��

  They moved away and Molly said, “Anyone got any clever ideas?”

  “An ugly duckling is a cygnet,” said Innes. “Is that the answer?”

  “Don’t be daft!” snapped Beth. “A cygnet isn’t a tree or a rock, it’s a bird. We need an answer to the whole riddle, not a little bit of it.”

  “I’m just trying to help.”

  “It could be a leaf,” said Beth. “Seedlings have leaves and there are leaves in books—”

  “There aren’t leaves in books!” Innes laughed. “Not unless you’re pressing flowers.”

  “It’s an old name for pages. That’s why you leaf through a book.”

  “But you don’t leaf through a duck or a statue. So ‘leaf’ doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Is it the beginning of something?” said Molly. “The first chapter is the beginning of the story.”

  “What’s the ancestor’s riddle?” asked Beth. “Whose ancestor?”

  “Caracorum was looking at Molly when she recited the riddle,” said Innes.

  “It’s not about your nasty witchy ancestor, is it?” said Beth. “Did she have a riddle?”

  Molly shrugged.

  “Two riddles…” Theo sighed. “Caracorum’s riddle and an ancestor’s riddle. That’s not fair. One riddle is hard enough!”

  “But that’s the riddle Caracorum asks everyone,” said Innes. “So it can’t be about Molly’s ancestor. Maybe it’s about her own ancestor?”

  “About Caracorum’s ancestor? About an older sphinx? Maybe the original sphinx?” Molly smiled. “So ‘The morning of the—’”

  “Of course!” said Innes. “Morning, duckling, seedling, crying! Is the answer ‘ing’?”

  “Don’t be an idiot,” said Beth, “‘ing’ is a sound, not a thing.”

  “Stop squashing each other’s ideas,” said Molly. “I might have the answer. A baby. The first chapter of a book and the rock before a statue are beginnings, and she was looking at me, because a baby is the beginning of a human. A cygnet is a baby swan, a seedling is a baby tree. And there’s the baby from the riddle asked by the original sphinx. So could it be a baby?”