CHAPTER
15
I saw two pairs of slippers. I blinked and they merged into one pair. They were Peony Tango with furry pom-poms on them. One of them started tapping the ground – that’s when I realized the pompoms were rabbits’ tails.
Miss Mirk elongated and then shrank. I rubbed my eyes.
“Word of advice: if you are going to break into someone’s house, close the window after you sneak through it, otherwise it is a dead giveaway.” Miss Mirk sat on a chair opposite me.
The stone floor was as cold as marble slabs. Junk and bric-a-brac were piled up everywhere. I tried to swallow, but my tongue felt as though it filled my entire mouth.
“You will be a little dopey – it is the chloroform. Makes the animals easier to handle, although I have to say, God put up an admirable fight. He gave me more scratches than a butcher’s block when I caught him.”
“You need help.” It sounded as though my mouth was full of cotton wool. “I saw what was in your cabinet.”
“Works of art, are they not? I have only just begun, but the plans I have in mind for the animals of Saltbay are quite spectacular!”
“What about all the kids who have lost their pets? They’ll be heartbroken.” A vein in my temple pulsed.
“If you love your animals, do not let them out of your sight, otherwise they can be here one minute and gone the next.”
I sat up straight. “The wrecker bird wasn’t a stray!”
“The wrecker whattie?” Miss Mirk pursed her lips.
“Beautiful bird: Vintage Aubergine chest, Ebony King eye mask, the most stunning Electric Rainforest tail feathers – you know, the ones in the hat you wore to my gran’s funeral?”
“Is that what it is called? A wrecker bird? Well, I never,” said Miss Mirk with a sniff. “It was on your cherry tree, singing its heart out, and I knew, that very second, I had to have it. Thought it must have escaped from a zoo or a private collection; its feathers are so exotic.”
My heart used my ribcage as a trampoline. “Has it ended up in a cabinet too?”
“On the contrary, I have been busy designing a cropped feathered cape with matching trim for my gloves. I shall be the envy of everyone at the bingo.”
I rested my head against the wall, relieved the wrecker bird was still very much alive. I concentrated hard on making my eyes focus. “Miss Mirk, I’m going to see you’re put away for a very long time.”
“Not necessarily.” She pulled at her earlobe as she spoke. “Who knows you are here?”
My brain was so foggy, it was hard to think straight. “Nobody.”
“Well, that is settled, then. You are going to have to stay in the cellar.”
My mind clunked up a gear. “But that’s kidnap!”
Miss Mirk’s Shark Skin eyes hardened. “You broke into my house when I expressly warned you to stay away. You have left me with no other choice. You can stay hidden, until I have made my mind up what to do with you.”
“Mum and Dad will be round searching for me!”
“They might, but it will be easy fobbing them off.”
Miss Mirk was right. Mum and Dad had warned me to keep well away from her. They’d never in a million years guess I was here.
I gripped on to a metal filing cabinet to pull myself up. My legs buckled at the knees and I fell, sprawling out on the floor.
“Oh, Coral, you need to be much more careful. Can’t have you coming to any harm now, can we?” Miss Mirk chuckled as she stood and grabbed me by the ankles. I attempted to shake her off, but I was too weak. As she hauled me over the ground, I grasped on to a chair, holding on for dear life. Miss Mirk let go of my feet and my limbs thudded to the floor. She prised my fingers off the wood, one by one. “Behave yourself and I’ll feed you soup, once a day.” She leaned in closer. “Disobey me, Coral, and who knows? You might end up in a cabinet yourself.” Her eyes glittered behind her glasses.
Fear tensed every muscle in my body; I stopped struggling.
Miss Mirk hefted me over to a trapdoor in the floor, which she flung open, before finding some old bedding and pillows to chuck down into it. She then laid me out, at the edge of the hole. I peered into a chasm as dark as nightmares. I thought about Lyart being held hostage by Muckle Red. I hoped, with all my heart, he was safe.
As Miss Mirk prepared to roll me in, there was a scratching noise at the door.
Her minuscule eyes found mine.
There it was again.
Miss Mirk tutted. “It will be that jackdaw – he is forever unpicking the lock on his cage. Far too clever for his own good if you ask me. I should wring his neck.” She adjusted her glasses and walked over to the door, flinging it open.
The scream was the loudest noise I’d ever heard Miss Mirk make.
Standing in the doorway was a Paprika Sprinkle cat with Jungle Tigress stripes. As it shuffled forward, sawdust spilled out from its sides. It raised its tail and gazed at Miss Mirk, its eyes Sulphur Yellow.
“George? Is that really you?” Miss Mirk’s hand fluttered up to her chest. “But I thought you had left me for pet heaven? How can this be?” She removed her spectacles and pinched the bridge of her nose, as though trying to make sense of it all.
This must have been the George Miss Mirk had mentioned at Gran’s funeral – the same George the vet had put down. It was plain to see she had attempted to preserve the cat, but how on earth had it come back to life?
George meowed and Miss Mirk stepped back from him, warily. “I have angered you. That is why you have returned.”
The cat gave a yowl.
“I knew it! It is because of the other pets in the house? Please do not be jealous – they mean nothing to me. They are never allowed up on the settee or my bed, like you were.”
The cat’s tail puffed up and its ears twitched.
Miss Mirk stumbled away from it. “I only ever hand-fed you sardines from the tin or poured organic cream into your saucer.”
George advanced towards her, as if he was stalking a mouse.
Glancing at the door, I saw my chance to escape. I wobbled to my feet just as an Ashes of Roses worm wriggled into the room.
My eyes flicked over to Miss Mirk, who slowly raised her hands up as if to calm the cat. “A-and I would never ever let any of them wear your jumper. Remember the one I knitted for you with the robin on it? How you used to love hunting them in the garden.”
The cat twitched its tail in annoyance, completely ignoring me and Skaw.
That’s when it dawned on me: the cat hadn’t come back to life – Moonzy had left the skull and changed into it to distract Miss Mirk!
George hissed at Miss Mirk, who, desperate to escape from him, turned and fled, forgetting the trapdoor was still open.
Miss Mirk fell into the cellar, yelling all the way down, until she hit the bedding, where she muttered some words I never thought I’d hear an elderly lady say.
I staggered over to the trapdoor. Miss Mirk was lucky the only thing she had broken was her glasses.
“I ought to have buried George in the herbaceous border while I had the chance. I do not know what trickery you have just played on me, but get me out this instant!” she spluttered.
“Miss Mirk, here’s a little taster of what life will be like for you, because you’re going to be put away for a very long time,” I replied.
She narrowed her eyes at me. “If you leave me, I’ll come for that ugly cat of yours when you least expect it and…” I slammed the trapdoor shut, not wanting to listen to another word. “I can’t thank the pair of you enough for what you’ve done. Moonzy, how did you know George was her cat?”
“She’d put a name plaque on a small display cabinet upstairs and none of the others had one, so we figured he had been special to her – and would give her a bit of a scare if he came back to life.” Moonzy stretched and then licked her paw.
“We’ve still no’ found the wrecker bird, Coral.” Skaw shook his head.
“The bird is alive, Skaw.
It’s got to be in this house, somewhere!”
The worm’s eyes lit up and he stood straight. Moonzy raised her ears and some whiskers fell off.
“You need to change back into the skull, otherwise you’ll never make it to the graveyard in one piece,” said Skaw.
“Good point. I’ll be two minutes.” Moonzy tottered over to the door.
Skaw paused. “We let God out, Coral. We thought he’d have no problem finding his way home.”
“Thank you, Skaw. We can deal with the others tomorrow – at least they’ll be safe from Miss Mirk tonight.” I picked Skaw up, placing him on my shoulder. I looked at my watch and sighed: I’d missed my curfew. Mum and Dad would be furious and if they got in touch with Isla, they’d know I’d been lying to them about where I was.
“Come on, Coral – there’s only one room left on the second floor to search.”
I pushed my worries about Mum and Dad to the back of my mind and hurried out to the stairs, climbing them two at a time.
As the top landing came into view, Skaw’s voice filled with excitement. “It’s the one at the end!”
I hared along the corridor, shoved the door open and raced inside. The walls of the bedroom were adorned in Hot Peach Flesh flowery wallpaper. There were piles of clothes, newspapers, boxes and toy animals everywhere. I put Skaw down on the bed as Moonzy rolled through the doorway behind us. The skull sprang on to the mattress and bounced around to get a better view of the room.
“On top of the wardrobe?” Skaw suggested.
I knocked down some hat boxes. Money-off coupons spilled out from them, falling to the floor the same way as ticker tape in a parade.
“Coral!” Moonzy hollered. “By the window!”
Poking out from the bottom of the full-length curtains were the feet of a metal stand. I clambered over boxes to pull back the curtain. Behind them was an object covered in a shawl. In one sweeping move, I whipped it off. There, inside a Distant Star Silver cage, was a bird with a plump Vintage Aubergine chest and a clump of long every-colour-of-green tail feathers, that shone Evergreen Neon in the rays of the Hallow moon.
The wrecker bird’s head tilted towards me; its eyes flashed as it blinked. It started to sing and a rainbow of light beams burst out from its beak, lighting up the room with glorious waves of colour. The bird’s tune was so beautiful, my heart soared with joy. The same way it had when I’d been in the church with Gran, listening to the choir and marvelling at the stained-glass windows.
A creature as precious as the wrecker bird didn’t belong in a cage.
I clicked open the latch and there was a whisper of air against my skin as it brushed past me and sailed out the door.
“No, Coral!” cried Moonzy.
The light trails behind it fell to the floor in a shower of sparkles and my heart ached as it left. All my sad thoughts came flooding back to me and I sagged under the weight of them.
Moonzy picked Skaw up between her teeth and thudded to the floor in hot pursuit of the bird.
What had I been thinking?
Useless, stupid girl. You can’t even capture a bird in a cage.
My thoughts hurt more than cuts. I had to put this right.
Shooting out of the bedroom, I tore down the stairs, following the sound of Skaw’s yells.
“Moonzy!” shouted the worm. “What are you doing?”
Moonzy was on the dining room table, dangling Skaw between her jaws as if he was bait on a hook. “Here, birdie, birdie, birdie,” she said through clenched teeth.
The creatures in the cabinet watched on, silently.
A movement by the window caught my eye.
The net curtains billowed in the breeze, framing a small silhouette with a crown of feathers on its head. The wrecker bird hopped forward, sticking its beak through the window. If it escaped into the night, it would be lost to us, for ever.
Skaw’s eyes were filled with terror. “Moonzy, I’m begging you.”
“I’ll do anything to find Lyart. I can’t lose this bird, Skaw, and I don’t care what I’ve got to do to get it.” Moonzy waggled the worm. “Here, birdie, birdie. Come and get the juicy worm.”
The wrecker bird bobbed up and down, and then swooped towards them, skidding over the surface of the table, the same way ducks land on ice. It snatched Skaw out from between Moonzy’s teeth and swallowed him whole.
“Rucksack. Now, Coral!” Moonzy roared at me.
I snatched the bag up from the floor and ripped it open. Before the wrecker bird could move a feather, I seized it and shoved it under my arm, pinning its wings to its sides.
“Sorry about this.” I forced my fingers into its beak and tickled its throat. The bird coughed, its chest heaving as it regurgitated Skaw out on to the table. I whisked the wrecker bird into the bag, rainbows strobing out from the top of the rucksack until I zipped it firmly shut.
Skaw lay still, covered in clear slime. I cleaned his face and rubbed his back. The worm hiccupped, his Ashes of Roses colour slowly returning.
“What did you go and do that for?” The skull stuck her jaw out.
“He’s saved my life twice now, Moonzy.”
The skull threw me a look darker than cellars.
“Skaw, do you know where Lyart is?” He went to open his mouth but thought better of it. He shook his head.
“Moonzy, if we don’t leave this minute, we’ll miss the Hallow moon and if that happens, we’ll never discover where Lyart is hidden because Muckle Red will take the secret to his grave with him when he perishes.”
The skull clacked her teeth but didn’t say another word.
I slipped Skaw into my hat and lifted Moonzy up. As I crawled back out through the window, the whole of Saltbay blanched Swan Wing in the last of the light from the Hallow moon.
CHAPTER
16
Tendrils of mist wrapped themselves around the gravestones and the Hallow moonlight pushed past the branches to illuminate all the statues and cherubs Lightning Flash.
“The one time you actually want Muckle Red to show up and he’s nowhere to be seen.” I booted a conker away in frustration.
“I’ll go and find the heart-stealing, no-good, rotten, lopsided maniac.” Moonzy jumped down from the rucksack.
“You won’t find anyone matching that description here,” the worm called after her.
I plucked Skaw from my hat. “You OK?”
“Never better.” His face was scrunched up in pain. “Coral? Muckle Red will be in the tunnels. As soon as you enter them, he’ll know you’re here.”
“Thanks, Skaw.” I peered at my watch: we’d not long to go until the Hallow moon left for good. My pulse beat to the same time as an out-of-control metronome.
I jogged over to the headstone with the engravings on it, and pressed them in the same order Lyart had done. The stairs opened up in the ground.
“Moonzy!” I yelled. “Over here!”
Skaw writhed in my hand. “One more thing, Coral: I don’t know what Muckle Red has done with Lyart as they were outside his chamber in the corridor, but I do remember seeing a bright flash of green-and-yellow light.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“If it hadn’t been for you, I’d still be inside the wrecker bird.” Skaw sighed. “And I know how much you want to be with your gran again.”
I placed Skaw on my shoulder. “I learned in biology that worms have five hearts. You’ve got it in you to be five times braver, kinder and more loving than any of us – if you wish.”
His Slate in the Rain eyes lit up and then darkened as Moonzy approached.
“Wait for me!” The skull crashed through the grass towards us.
I hated that we had to go back underground. As we descended deeper into the tunnels, it was hard not to shiver. There was something about the place which got under my skin and set my nerves on edge. I pushed the fear to the back of my mind and mulled over the green-and-yellow flash Skaw had mentioned, but it made no sense. Nothing in here was that colour.
Arriving at the burial chamber of Lyart’s family, I placed Skaw in an alcove as far away from Moonzy as possible. I peeked into the rucksack, checking the bird was OK and the witch’s tears were safe. “Moonzy – we need to think fast; where can we hide the witch’s tears and wrecker bird so Muckle Red won’t find them?”
The skull’s jaw fell open. “You’re not seriously wanting to discuss something as important as this with that worm listening in?”
I eyed Skaw. “He won’t say a word.”
Moonzy flared her nasal cavities. “Are you really going to trust him when there’s so much at stake? Have you forgotten he’s best pals with a psychopath?”
Skaw poked his head over the side of the alcove. “You’ve attempted to bump me off twice now. You’re the one with the problem!”
“Come over here and say that to my face!” Moonzy flushed Scottish Heather.
The noise of rushing air silenced us all. Without warning, bones burst through the earth and a skull somersaulted out of the wall, landing on top of a rickety pile of vertebrae. Oxblood hair exploded from his scalp and a patch snapped over his left eye. With a final clack of leg bones, Muckle Red shuddered to life. “Your expression, Coral Glen! A picture of all things unsightly.”
I flicked my eyes over to Moonzy and the rucksack. Everything needed to break the spell was within his reach.
Moonzy sneaked behind a fallen picture frame. If she stayed still, Muckle Red might not notice she was there.
Skaw drew himself to his full height in the alcove.
The Heart Collector squinted at him. “Skaw! You’re cutting it narrow? Leaving it till the last gasp. I must be free before the Hallow moon wanes.”
The worm cleared his throat. “Do you no’ mean we must be free?”
Muckle Red dismissed Skaw with an overdramatic eye roll.
Skaw set his mouth in a line. “If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have everything you need to break the spell.”
Muckle Red stormed over to the worm in a flurry of cracks. “You got all the objects, including a real, live wrecker bird?”
Skaw’s eyes glinted as the moonlight does on barbed wire. “The wrecker bird and witch’s tears are in the rucksack.”
The True Colours of Coral Glen Page 14