“Yeah maybe we could lure them out with some bate.”
“And how do we do that?”
“You.”
“Excuse me?”
“You are what they want.” Chris talks us though his plan and we decide to do it as soon as possible.
The trees look like dead hands reaching into the sky. The air is cold and the sun is going down. I stand in the middle of the woods. I have a sword from Gram’s cellar in my right hand. Then suddenly out of nowhere pixies appear. “Oh god, ok calm down this is the plan.” I tell myself. I can see Chris and Noah in the tree line. The pixies move in. I manage to fight off most. A tall pixie with short black hair steps toward me I hold the sword up. The pixies grabs the wooden handle of the sword above my hand and forces it towards my throat. I let go and he steps closer. The icy blade touches the skin on my neck. In the corner of my eye I can see Chris, his muscles are beginning to ripple and I know what is happening. The pixie doesn’t see it coming. Chris launches himself, in wolf form at the pixie. The sharp steel skims my throat and I drop to the floor in shock. Iclose my eyes.
Chapter 6.
I open my eyes and see Chris, back in human form, above me. I can feel his warm hand against my cold skin. My throat closes up and I open my mouth to speak. He puts his finger to my lips. “Shh babe, it’ll be ok Sandra’s on her way.” His dark eyes are full of sympathy. I close my eyes. Chris’ voice echoes in my head. “No, come on babe don’t do this open your eyes please...” I black out.
I wake up in my room. Gram looks at me and smiles. “You were very brave.” I shake my head and wince. She strokes my face and smiles. Chris opens the door. “The front door was open.” Gram looks at him shocked.
“What?”
“I checked downstairs, no pixies.”
“Strange.” We all go downstairs. Well I make it half way down before Chris marches me back to my room and jams the door shut. “Hey!” I push my shoulder against the door. “Chris open this door!” I walk over to the bed and sit down. I lay back and stare at my new poster pinned up above my bed. It’s a big one of all the star wars characters. The door opens and Chris walks in. “You can come down now if you want. How’s your neck?”
“Sore but ok.”
“Good.” We go down stairs and talk about school while Gram is there but soon she gets the hint that we want to be alone and goes into the kitchen to burn me some soup. I look at him and he runs his finger across the line on my neck. “Did you kill that pixie?”
“He hurt you.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“Yeah I did.”
“Ok.” I snuggle into his chest and he puts his arm around my shoulders. He kisses the top of my head.
The next morning Gram says I’m fit for school. Chris stayed the night again. He started off downstairs on the settee and somehow ended up on my bedroom floor curled up like a dog. We sit at the breakfast bar and eat our cereal. Gram leaves before us. I look at Chris. “What if people laugh or stare?”
“They won’t.”
“How do you know?” I point my spoon at him.
“Because Mr Morgan held a school assembly and told everyone that you were attacked on the way home by some thugs who wanted your money and phone.”
“Ok, but Sophie will take advantage of it.”
“You’ve kicked her but before and I’m sure you’ll do it again.” I look at the clock. “Come on its twenty to.” I put my bowl in the sink and grab my bag. Outside is still covered with snow although technically it’s spring. We get into Chris’ old beat up beetle and go to school.
At lunch we go into the library to do some research. “Alice, I need the toilet are you coming?”
“Yeah sure.” We leave our bags with Chris and Noah. I open the door and we walk in. I go to the toilet and when I come out Sophie has Alice pinned to the wall. “She’s in here I know she is, tell me!”
“Hey, looking for me?” She spins round and starts towards me. I put my hands up. Alice runs out of the toilets. “So Princess.”
“I know what you are.”
“Look at the state of you if it had been me out there you would be dead.”
“Stay away from my friends, you hurt them and you’ll have me to deal with!”
“I’ll bleed them before you have a chance.” She leaves the toilets and I crumple into a ball in the corner. Alice comes back in with Miss Vincent. “Amy!” I look up at her. Miss Vincent looks at me. “Where are the boys?”
“In the library.” Alice answers. She helps me up.
“Take her to my office.” Miss Vincent heads towards the library. Alice takes me to Miss Vincent’s office and sits me down. “What happened in there?”
“I don’t wanna talk about it.” Chris runs into the office. He wraps his arms around me. “Miss Vincent said something happened in the toilets.”
“It was nothing.” I try to reassure him but he doesn’t buy it.
“Ok, I’m sending you and Mr Andrews home Amy.”
“Why?”
“Because you are obviously in a state of shock I don’t know what happened in there but it affected you.”
“I’m fine.” I stand up but she pushes me back down and writes a note for Sandra. Chris and I leave.In the car on the way home Chris looks at me and smiles. “Stop sulking it doesn’t suit you.”
“What? I’m not sulking. I’m thinking there’s a difference.”
“So, what are you thinking about?”
“What Sophie said in the toilets, I don’t get it.”
“Get what?”
“She said she was... never mind.”
“No tell me what did she say?”
“She said she was going to bleed all of you guys before I had the chance to get her.”
“Oh.” He falls silent and we pull up outside my house. We get out of the car and go inside.
Noah knocks on the door and I answer it. “Hey Noah.”
“Hey Amy, this is Devyn my cousin.”
“Hi, I’m Amy I’m sure Noah’s told you our situation.”
“Yep, you can call me Dev.” He points to my neck. “Pixie?”
“Yeah, we tried capturing my father but it went wrong.” Chris comes into the living room. “Hey, Dev.”
“Chris.” We all sit down on the settee. “Now tell me about today, Noah mentioned something happened.”
“Well, Alice and I were in the toilets and Sophie, she’s a pixie, had Alice pinned to the wall. She was asking her where I was. So I spoke up. She turned on me and Alice ran. She told me she would bleed all my friends before I had the chance to stop her.” I chew on a slice of bread. Devyn nods his head and smiles at me.
“Well you have definitely got a problem here.” His phone rings and he answers it. He puts it on the coffee table, on speaker. “Devyn where the hell are you?!”
“Zara, calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down!”
“Zara you’re being a pixie calm it!”
“Devyn I am a pixie! Where are you?”
“I’m with my cousin helping out.”
“With what?”
“A problem ok?”
“No, not ok. Why didn’t you tell me? Astley and I could have come up to help you! Don’t you dare come home half dead because I will not be happy!” The phone cuts off and he looks at Noah. “You didn’t tell her.”
“Of course not she would have stopped me from coming.”
“Ok, fair point.” We sit and talk about what to do about the pixies and my father.
Chapter 7
Noah and Devyn figure out how to capture my father. We decide to carry out the plan on Saturday night.
My hands shake not with fear but the cold. Devyn and Noah hover above us. Chris walks by my side, he’s in wolf form. I look down at him. “Will it work?” He nods. “But what if something goes wrong?” He rolls his eyes. We come to a small clearing. “Chris where is Dev and Noah?” He looks a
round sniffing the air. Then the hairs on his back stick up. Figures appear from behind the tree line. I gulp and move closer to Chris. I know he will protect me no matter what. We stand in the clearing. I dig my hand into Chris’ fur. He growls at the pixies surrounding us. “Chris?” My voice is quiet and high pitched. The pixies move in closer. I hold the steel rod in my right hand. “Don’t, don’t come any closer. I’ll kill everyone of you and don’t think I won’t.” I spin the rod and Chris arches his back ready to pounce. One of the pixies behind me readies a bow and arrow. Chris jumps up and the arrow hits him. I scream and he lands in a heap of muscle and fur. “No!” I run over to him. I hug his body, his chest jerks struggling to breathe. A pixie grabs me and pulls me away. “No, let me go please he needs help! Hey stop!” a bird screeches over head, Noah, he lands in a tree and my head spins. I drop to the floor.
When I open my eyes Noah is lent in my face. “Amy, are you ok?”
“Chris...” I sit up. “He’s hurt, he ne...”
“He’s dead Amy.” His voice is blunt. My face must change, shocked or upset because he changes his tone. “I’m sorry I snapped.” I force a smile.
“Where’s Dev?”
“He went back to mine to call Zara, he thinks we need back up.” He pats my leg and helps me up. It’s hard to believe he used to be in a wheelchair. We limp over to Chris. His body is no longer strong. It seems frail and small. I sniff, forcing back the tears. I bite my lip and Noah helps me back up the hill to my house. Gram must see us coming because she throws the kitchen door open and runs over to us. “Oh, thank god you’re alright Amy. I was worried about you. Come on let’s get you inside. Where’s Chris, is he behind you?” I burst into tears and drop to my knees. She wraps her arms around me. “Oh, sweetie I’m sorry.” We go inside.
A couple of days later Dev’s friend Zara arrives. They come round to mine. Dev introduces her. “You don’t act like any of the other pixies.”
“That’s because I’m not like the other pixies.”
“Yeah most of the time.” She elbows Devyn. “Hey!”
“I’m a lot like you. So we are here to help you. I heard you lost your boyfriend.”
“Yeah I did, Chris he was a were.”
“He still is, if he is a good enough warrior he is probably in Valhalla.”
“Trust me I’ve been there.”
“Any way you need to find your own way there.” She turns to Devyn. “Sorry.” Zara stands up and points at him. “You better ring Is she is stuck to her phone waiting for you to ring her.”
“Ok, I’ll leave you two to bond.” She glares at him. “Ok, ok I’m going.” He walks out of the room. I look at her and she smiles. “Gets him every time.” She sits down next to me. “I will do everything I can to help you. I promise. We’ll get Chris back.” She hugs me which is rather strange seen as how we just met.
“Thank you. Zara, you are just like Devyn said you would be, no you’re better.” Gram opens the door. “Why is there a pixie in my house?”
“Gram this is Zara, she’s here to help.”
“Betty’s Zara?”
“Yes, that’s me.” She stands up. “I can leave if you want me to.”
“No, don’t be silly. I haven’t seen your grandmother in years how is she?”
“She’s ok thanks.”
“Good.” Gram goes into the kitchen.
“How do you know her grandmother Gram?” I go into the kitchen after her.
“Well, I did most of my training in Maine.”
“Oh, right.” Zara stands up in the living room.
“Amy come and look at this.”
“What?” I go back into the living room. “That’s the guy who was stood outside, that’s my father!”
“Right, well at least I know what he looks like.” He disappears into thin air. Zara leaves and I go up stairs. I fall asleep at my desk.
I wake up and the snow has gone spring is finally here. I grab my phone and start to ring Chris, then I remember. Noah knocks on the door. “Amy, are you ready for school.” He opens the door. “Come on it’ll take your mind off things.” I look at him. I can see the worry in his eyes. “Yeah ok, give me a minute.” I go to the bath room and get ready. I go downstairs Noah smiles at me. “You ready?”
“No.” I laugh to make him feel better.
When we get to school everyone stares at me. It puts me on edge and Noah must see that because he puts his arm around my shoulders. “Why are they staring?”
“Because they don’t know where Chris is.” He pats my back. “Don’t worry Miss Vincent has got it all covered.”
“How?”
“She is going to e-mail every teacher we have and tell them that Chris’ mom wanted him to join her in Africa for a couple of weeks.”
“Ok, you think they’ll buy it?”
“Yeah I think they will.” We go to class and Alice smiles at us. Devyn, Zara and Astley are waiting outside. Mr Jones blabbers on about the chemical composition of metals. I look out of the window and sigh. “Miss Benson, is there something out there that is more interesting than my lesson if so please share it with the class.”
“No, sir sorry sir.” I look back at the board. The letters seem to jumble up and I get the ant feeling I haven’t had it in ages. I look out the window and the man with brown hair stands in the playing field. He disappears into thin air and the room goes black.
I wake up in Miss Vincent’s office. “What happened?”
“You blacked out Amy.” Noah and Alice are sat next to each other. “It was the king, your father.”
“Oh, I got that ant feeling you know the one I got in the library that time.”
“Yeah that was nearly a month ago though.”
“I know.”
“Well Amy, I called Sandra she’s coming to pick you up.”
“Ok.” We all sit and wait for Gram coming. She runs into the school and bangs on the bell. I stand up and walk over to her. She hugs me tight, so tight I can’t breathe. She lets me go and smiles. “I thought something really bad had happened.” She hugs me again and then takes me home.
Chapter 8
When I get home I go upstairs to tidy my room. I open the door and look at the desk, it is covered in paper work and pop cans. I start to put them in the bin. Then I spot a small piece of paper that isn’t my handwriting. I pick it up and realise what it is. I giggle remembering the story behind it. I had fallen asleep and Chris had written ‘I love you’ on a piece of paper and stuck it to my forehead. I blue tack it to my lamp. I drag everything out from under my bed and find one of Chris’ band t-shirts. I lie on my bed and hug it, it still smells like him. I feel a tear roll down my cheek. I put the t-shirt under my pillow and finish my room. I go down stairs and into the kitchen. I read the note from Gram that she has stuck to the fridge. She had to go back to her office because she had left something. Someone knocks on the door. I go to the front door. Zara stands next to Noah. I open the door and smile. “What are you guys doing here?”
“We came to keep an eye on you.”
“Ok, you wanna drink?”
“Yeah, sure.” They come in and sit in the living room. I get three glasses of orange juice and go back into the living room. I sit down and sip at my juice. Zara stares at me. I glance at Noah. He bites his lip, this is awkward. I turn the T.V. on and flick through the channels. Zara leans over and turns it off. “Ok, so I might have found a way for you to get to Valhalla.”
“Great, how?”
“Well it won’t be easy.”
“I’ll do anything.” I lean forward and look at her. Then I notice Sophie outside she turns round and she has Alice buy the throat. “Oh, no!” I jump up and run outside. “Sophie let her go!”
“Amy I’m scared.”
“It’s ok Alice.” I turn my attention back to Sophie. “Let her go!” Zara comes out and stands next to me. “Do as she says.”
“I don’t listen to you weak queen!” She spits the words l
ike they’re poison. Zara stands her ground. Sophie loses her glamour and bites Alice’s arm. Alice screams with pain and Sophie runs off. Zara runs after her and I kneel next to Alice, who is now sprawled out on the floor. “Hey.” I smile at her. “How bad does it hurt?”
“A lot, I mean this is worse than when I broke my arm in year five.” Noah runs out to us. “I rang Sandra.”
“Good.” I push onto Alice’s wrist. “You’ll be ok, just hold on for me. Ok?” she nods and we carry her inside and lay her down on the settee.
Sandra bursts through the door and stomps into the living room. “Gram!” My t-shirt and hands are covered in Alice’s blood and she is semi-conscious on the settee. “It’s ok Amy, you’ve done a great job. Where’s Noah?”
“He went after Zara.”
“OK, Amy well done.”
“Is she going to die?”
“No, don’t be silly.” She goes into the kitchen and gets the first aid kit. I leave Alice in the capable hands of my grandmother and go upstairs to wash and change. When I get back downstairs Noah and Zara are back. “Well?” Zara smiles at me. “Let’s just say that she won’t be calling me a weak queen anymore.”
“Yeah, she was awesome.” Noah sits on the floor in front of Alice. He looks so small and sweet. Alice has passed out and her arm is fully bandaged. I look at her and run back upstairs. Gram and Noah follow me. “Amy, what’s the matter?”
“It’s all my fault Gram, if I wasn’t here Chris would still be alive and Alice wouldn’t have got hurt!”
“Amy listen to me you came here to be safe and you are we are here for you no matter what!” Noah pats my shoulder.
“Thanks Noah but I want Zara, Astley and Devyn to leave before anyone else dies or gets hurt.”
“You’re not a hero Amy.”
“I don’t want to be but right now I’m thinking of everyone’s safety.”
“What do you mean Amelia?” Gram stands in front of me with her arms folded over her chest. “All I’m saying is if I give the pixies what they want maybe they will leave the town and you guys alone.”
“They won’t Amy trust me, sweetheart I can see why you would think that but they won’t.”
“I’m sorry Gram but I have to try.” I stand up and go downstairs. I open the front door and slam it behind me. Zara runs out of the house after me. “Amy, wait!”