I’d been so lucky to get out alive from the graveyard earlier, it seemed foolish even to consider going back. Yet I couldn’t stop thinking about what Lyart had said about Muckle Red and the harm he’d do if he was set free. The thought of him prowling the streets of Saltbay made me shudder. And then there was the matter of Gran. If I didn’t show up tonight, I’d miss any chance I had of seeing her again.
I pulled on my leggings and hopped on the floor, as I tried to stick my feet into my high-tops. Lastly, I grabbed my coat, slung on my rucksack and tugged down my hat.
Sliding open the window, I eased myself on to the ledge, ignoring my grumbling heart. I was about to sneak out in the middle of the night to a graveyard, which was home to an evil entity, and on top of all of this, I’d not long been grounded by Mum and Dad. If I got caught, they would never trust me again. And if I was captured by Muckle Red, I doubted I’d live to tell the tale.
Before I could change my mind, I launched myself on to a branch and wobbled as I grasped handfuls of leaves above my head to steady myself. The branch dipped and swayed, but held strong as I walked towards the trunk. I took my time clambering down and lowered myself on to the last branch, dangling in the air until my hands started to slip. I let go, landing in a heap with a groan. I peered up at Mum and Dad’s window to see if their light had clicked on – thankfully, their room stayed Burnt Peppercorn.
The night was cool enough to make the stars shiver. The moon was so huge I was amazed it had even risen. I strained my eyes trying to catch witches flying across its craters, but there were none, which was just as well, otherwise I would have turned tail and gone straight back to bed.
A rustling noise made me jump. A hedgehog scooted out from the shrubs and snuffled its way across the grass, following a winding path of Looking Glass slug trails in the moonlight.
I let my breath out and peered over at the hole in Miss Mirk’s blinds. Anger fizzed around my heart at the thought God was trapped inside. I slunk across the grass to the gate, which gave a rusty scream as I opened it. I checked the alleyway was empty and squeezed myself through the narrow gap.
That’s when I spied a figure heading right towards me.
I shrank behind the recycling bin, wishing I was inside it.
The footsteps ground to a halt at Miss Mirk’s gate. I peeked out and saw the silhouette of a small, round figure. Miss Mirk stepped into the middle of the alleyway. I flattened myself against the bin and held my breath. After what seemed like for ever, grit crunched under her heel as she returned to her gate. It opened and clicked shut. I didn’t move a muscle. Gran and I had watched too many films where the baddie sounded as though he had gone, but was only pretending, so he could catch the good guy unawares. When her door rattled, I decided it was safe to stand. If Miss Mirk had caught me outside at this time of night, she would have been straight round to tell Mum and Dad. I was going to have to make sure that never happened again.
As I tiptoed past her garden, something caught my eye. What appeared to be pieces of paper were lying scattered on the ground. I stooped to pick them up and scratched my cheek. They were all posters of missing pets. Miss Mirk must have dropped them! The tops of the corners were torn, as if they’d been ripped down from where they’d been hanging.
Why would Miss Mirk be sneaking about at night, pinching lost pet posters? Did she not want people to know these poor creatures were missing? None of this made sense … unless Miss Mirk was the one who had stolen them in the first place! That would explain why she was so eager to keep me away from her home and the reason she had tins of cat food in her trolley. And if she was kidnapping pets, God would be inside her house, being held captive against his will.
I folded the posters and shoved them into my rucksack. I didn’t have time to figure all this out now, but one thing was for certain: I was going to have to keep a much closer eye on Miss Mirk from now on and work out a way to get God back.
I swept along the street faster than a stick in a river. I’d never seen the town this empty before. I kept checking behind me but the only things moving at this hour were the changing traffic lights. I veered into what Dad and I renamed Satellite Dish Street and took the next left into Perfect Lawn Avenue. One of the windows had a gap-toothed pumpkin in it. I’d always loved Halloween, but had been scared senseless at the thought of ghosts roaming free for a day until midnight. Now I knew they roamed around all the time. I shivered and sped up.
When I reached the graveyard, I peeped over the wall. The headstones were standing in line: a silent army guarding their dead.
The terrified angel glowed Swan Queen under the massive moon. I checked its outstretched wings for the hint of a flap or a quiver. It was one thing walking along deserted streets by myself, but quite another going into a graveyard, alone, at this hour. If something happened, no one would hear me scream. Just as I was thinking it would be better to return in the morning, someone laughed.
I pushed the gate open, taking a few steps in. My heart thumped in my ears and I had the strangest feeling I was being watched.
Suddenly a beech nut smacked off my shoulder and I yelped. I stared in the direction it had been thrown from, but I couldn’t see a soul.
“Who’s there?” I whispered.
A movement caught my eye. Peering out from behind the ivy was a young girl, who ducked when she saw me.
My blood ran as cold as melting glacier water. If Muckle Red knew she was here, her life could be in great danger.
I hurried towards her but she was nowhere to be seen.
“Hey! Where have you gone?” I said, catching a glimpse of a Whisper White dress disappearing behind a tall stone cross. I bolted after her, aware I was getting further away from the gate. However, after everything Lyart had told me about the Heart Collector, she wouldn’t be safe.
I passed a row of graves, which were small and leaned backwards as though they’d suffered a terrible fright.
Surrounded by trees and beech hedges, I found myself in a clearing at the end of the churchyard I hadn’t been in before.
The little girl came out from behind a weeping willow.
“Do your mum and dad know you are here?” I asked softly, careful to not scare her away.
She shook her head.
I crouched. “Do you want to go home?”
The girl moved into the moonlight; her hair shone Raven Wing.
“My name’s Coral Glen. What’s yours?”
Her smile faded.
“Muckle Red!” she growled in a deep voice. Lunar Eclipse Blue veins spread across her cheeks and her hair faded to Pearl Kingdom. Right in front of my eyes, she disappeared, leaving behind a pile of bones in her place.
The moon tried its best to squeeze behind a cloud.
I leapt to my feet and started to run. A strong wind whipped up from nowhere. The trees thrashed and leaves flew into my eyes. I gasped as the air swirled around me, pushing me back, as though I was surrounded by an invisible wall of ice.
Without warning, bones shot up through the earth. One by one, they stacked themselves on top of each other, cracking as they clicked into place. A skull hurtled out of the ground and landed on top of the skeleton. There was a loud crunch as it swivelled in my direction.
My heart stopped when its jaw pinged open.
Flesh and cloth slithered over the skeleton. A shock of Red Slash hair sprouted from the skull, a patch covered its left eye and a chain with hearts strung on it dangled from the neck. With a final snap, Muckle Red sprang to life.
Fear rooted me to the spot. The graveyard became mountain-peak cold.
“W-what happened to the girl?” I blurted out.
“Once, many moons ago, she would have been warm, scabby-kneed and hair tangles, but now she’s only good for foxes to chew on.” He kicked at her pile of bones, sending them scattering. “I play all sorts of games with skeletons. Can be any person I wish in this dump.”
My breath turned into ghosts in the air. I glanced wildly around for Lyart and
Moonzy; they were the reason I’d come here and now they were nowhere to be seen. I was on my own with a wicked spirit who collected hearts as a hobby.
Icicles appeared on the weeping willow, hanging from the branches like frozen tears. The grass sparkled with frost and crackled as Muckle Red stepped towards me.
“All alone?” He twisted his head to ogle at what beat faster than wings behind my ribcage.
My teeth started to chatter.
Muckle Red smacked his North Sea lips together. “You should be fast asleep: instead you’re in a yard of stones, worms and bone dust. Why?”
I wished I could stop swaying. “I-I don’t make a habit of hanging around places like this.”
Muckle Red straightened himself up.
“No? A little birdie told me a girl was in here earlier swapping words with the Keeper of Halloway. She was made from messy curls, a red coat, black-and-white legs and scuffed feet, much the same as yourself.”
“Wasn’t me.” My insides were screaming at me to run, except if I bolted, he’d know for certain I was lying. I cursed myself for coming here.
Muckle Red grunted.
My head started to nip, the same as when you eat ice cream too fast and it gives you brain freeze. This wasn’t sounding good, but how could Muckle Red prove I had been here earlier? And besides, if I did tell him I had spoken to Lyart, I could be in worse trouble.
“Oi! Skaw!” boomed Muckle Red.
I scanned the gravestones, wondering who or what was going to show up.
A large Ashes of Roses–coloured worm wriggled on to Muckle Red’s shoulder.
“Is this the girl you saw that was all whispers and plotting with Lyart today?”
The worm squinted at me. I never knew they had teeth.
My eyes flicked to the gravestones. If I was to make a run for it, I’d need to know exactly where I was going.
“Why are you more snail than worm, Skaw?” Muckle Red’s question was brittle with impatience. “Is it or is it not her?”
“Aye, it’s her without a doubt,” confirmed the worm.
I launched myself forward like a greyhound out of a trap and kicked Muckle Red’s leg so hard, bone splintered. Muckle Red tried to grab me. I knocked his arm away and shoved him with all my might. Skaw cursed as they crashed down on the grass.
Sprinting towards the graves, I sneaked a look behind me. A pile of bones lay where Muckle Red had been standing only seconds ago. They started to burrow their way back into the earth.
Flashing past the headstones, I spotted the fearful angel and skidded on to the path, relieved to see the gate. As I charged towards it, something whistled past me faster than rockets.
An arctic-cold wind knocked me off my feet and rolled me along the ground. When I finally came to a halt, bruises blossomed on my skin.
Bones burst through the earth, knitting together, until Muckle Red appeared. He twisted his skull on, and flesh once again crept over his skeleton. The hearts swinging from his chain dripped Ox Blood red. It was hard to imagine they’d once belonged to children. A wave of sickness hit me. No wonder Lyart and Moonzy were so desperate to prevent him from escaping; he had to be destroyed, at all cost.
Muckle Red slapped his neck bones into place. “I never knew girls could be so lightning-filled and cornered-cat feisty.”
I pushed down the terror and allowed rage to bubble up inside me. I sprang to my feet. “I’m going to do everything I can to make sure you never leave here, Muckle Red!” I bent to grab a conker and hurled it at him. It struck his skull, knocking a chunk off it.
“Oi!” screeched the worm.
“Any more of that and you’ll never see Lyart again.” There was something in the way Muckle Red spoke that reminded me he was a killer.
Lyart and Moonzy had left me all alone with him, too scared to show their faces. “Why should I care what happens to him?” I yelled.
Muckle Red’s eye glinted and the corners of his mouth twitched. “Because you need Lyart if you’re to see Granny one last time.”
The graveyard wobbled.
Muckle Red knows Lyart is planning on taking you to your gran on the night of the Hallow moon. You’re done for now.
The cold sucked all the oxygen from the night air, making it hard to breathe. My body throbbed and my limbs felt tombstone-heavy. I wished to walk away; to go home and forget a world with Muckle Red in it even existed. However, if I left now, I would never get the chance to talk to Gran again: the only thing that mattered to me.
I gritted my teeth so hard my temples hurt. “What have you done with Lyart?”
“He’s somewhere in the graveyard, safe, provided you do as I command.”
I squared up to Muckle Red. “What do you want?”
“Witch’s tears, cannibal bones and a wrecker bird; all before the strike of twelve on Halloween,” he said.
I gasped. They were exactly the same objects Lyart wanted to make sure Muckle Red didn’t get his hands on! If I collected them, Muckle Red would be able to escape the graveyard and kill again! But if I didn’t, I’d never be able to find Lyart and see Gran.
I stamped the ground with my foot. This was an utterly impossible position to be put in!
I didn’t want to give up my chance to be with Gran, except there was no way I could free Muckle Red either … unless I gathered the objects and then hid them somewhere, so I could use them to guarantee Lyart’s safe release. Then all I would have to do is make sure Muckle Red never found them and he’d be destroyed for once and for all when the Hallow moon left at midnight!
I kept my face still, careful not to give away that I’d hatched a plan. “I don’t even know what a wrecker bird is.”
“The clock is ticking, Coral Glen.” Muckle Red tossed Skaw over to me.
“What are you playing at, Muckle Red?” spat the worm.
I gripped Skaw carefully by the scruff of his neck so he couldn’t bite me.
“Help her bring the things I need, and you can escape this earth prison with me to experience the wonders of the world.”
“Really? You’d take me with you? As your travel companion?”
“Don’t let me down, worm, and keep a watchful eye on her,” barked Muckle Red.
Although I wasn’t happy being stuck with Skaw, he might be of some use. Perhaps, being a worm, he’d know what a wrecker bird was. I shoved him into my pocket and closed the flap to silence his cursing.
“One last thing, Coral Glen: trick me and it’ll be the last thing you ever do.” Muckle Red vanished, leaving a trail of bones scattered across the grass.
The trees trembled, sending a flurry of leaves to the ground.
My heart plummeted into the depths of my stomach. I only had four nights to gather witch’s tears, cannibal bones and a wrecker bird for Lyart, and if they fell into Muckle Red’s hands, I’d release an evil spirit back into the town and I’d never see Gran again. How was I supposed to do all this when I’d been grounded by my parents and I was stuck with a useless worm for company?
One thing was for certain: I was going to need all the help I could get. Muckle Red had mentioned Lyart but not Moonzy. Had she managed to escape from him? I wasn’t sure I could trust Skaw, but the gargoyle would be as eager to find Lyart as I was.
I took a deep breath and walked towards the crooked headstone.
I crept along the passageway, halting every time I heard a noise. The glamps shone Deep Sea Dive blue, all except for one, which glowed brighter than the sun and then flashed Breath of Spring, something I’d not seen a glamp do before. I stopped, watching as it whirled faster. The strongest urge to smash it came over me. I’d give anything not to have a care in the world again – except I’d urgent matters to deal with.
What had Muckle Red done with Lyart? I hoped he was OK and that he hadn’t been harmed. I bolted along the corridor to his room, checking above the doorway, but Moonzy wasn’t there.
The door to the chamber was hanging off its hinges. All the coffins had been smashed, bon
es were scattered everywhere and there was a giant pile of splintered wood where his desk had been.
I pulled Skaw out from my pocket.
“Muckle Red did this, didn’t he? What has he done with the gargoyle?”
Skaw avoided my eyes. Being saddled with a nasty worm was perhaps going to be more trouble than it was worth. I rifled through my rucksack for the tear catcher and shoved him inside it.
I knelt and searched for Moonzy under the rubble. I found a rusty key and a horseshoe but not the gargoyle. As I neared the bottom of a pile, my fingernails scraped against something rougher than a nail file. It was half of a large Fire Brick wing! I dug deeper, looking for other fragments of stone until, finally, I found a part of her face.
“Moonzy! Are you OK?”
Her eyes fluttered. “Lyart?” she croaked.
“Muckle Red’s hidden him and won’t tell me where he is until I find the objects he needs to break the spell. You said you can leave the graveyard; will you help me? It’s the only way we can get Lyart back.”
“I’ll do anything. Anything,” Moonzy said without hesitation, before spluttering grit from her lips.
“Are you in pain?” I asked, pressing my hand to her forehead.
“I can fix myself, when I’m little less tired.”
I glanced at all the pieces of broken stone. They’d be too heavy for me to carry at the one time.
“Coral,” Moonzy croaked. “I don’t need them any more.”
“I could return for the rest of you?”
“It’s time for a change,” said Moonzy, managing a weak smile.
I could tell she was exhausted and I didn’t want to bother her with any more questions. I wrapped her face up gently in my scarf and placed her inside my rucksack. Skaw bashed himself against the glass of the tear catcher as he writhed around. I tucked him into my pocket.
I left the chamber, hurrying along the corridor. Every now and again I paused, certain I could hear something in the tunnels behind me.
The True Colours of Coral Glen Page 6