“You won’t,” he encouraged.
The book passed Virgil’s face, and Alex briefly feared that the skeletal man might reach up and knock it out of Natalie’s hands on purpose, so nobody ever had to do the damned spell again. But Virgil didn’t move a muscle, his eyes staring blankly into the distance.
Resting the book against Storm’s neck, Alex conjured a thin sheet of anti-magic, and saw that the words had faded again, the lettering barely legible. Well, thought Alex, at least it hasn’t completely disappeared. As long as the book remained in his grasp, he had one last chance remaining. There were now only two havens in which they could perform the spell—their options were narrowing by the day.
With a powerful flap of her broad wings, Storm sped up, causing Alex to snatch the book back up and hold it against him. Faster and faster she flew, until the world distorted and trembled around them. It was like being on a rough sea, jolted this way and that. Alex thought his head might wobble off. No matter how hard she pushed through the barriers, it was clear the Thunderbird was struggling.
Alex stroked her feathers, feeling utterly helpless. Trapped between realms, what was he supposed to do?
Just as Alex began to fear the worst, a loud thundercrack tore through the air, and Storm emerged into a realm. However, as Alex glanced around, he realized it wasn’t Starcross. Autumnal leaves fell from the trees below, and the glint of something golden in the distance caught his eye, making his heart miss a panicked beat.
They were back at Falleaf.
“No, Storm, we can’t stop here,” Alex pleaded, but the Thunderbird was already descending into a glade, her wings weary.
She chirped an apology, carrying them through the trees until they reached a spot near the cave. They clambered down, and Storm disappeared into the foliage, the need to rest and recuperate evidently overwhelming all else.
“Come on then, we should go back,” Natalie suggested, making a move toward the cave entrance. Alex reached out and grasped her hand, pulling her backward.
He shook his head. “We can’t go through the cave. If there are spies in these woods, they might see us, and that would bring Julius straight to Starcross,” he warned, his voice a harsh whisper.
“Then what do you propose we do?” she asked. “If we stay out here, he will find us.”
“We have to hide until Storm is ready to fly again,” said Alex firmly, glancing around with furtive eyes.
“Psst!” A voice startled the trio. It was coming from the direction of some rustling bushes close to the cave entrance. From between the leaves, a head poked out. Agatha grinned at them, reaching a hand out and gesturing for them to come closer. “In a spot of trouble, are you?” she asked knowingly.
Alex nodded. “Something like that.”
“How do you know that?” Virgil countered, suspiciously.
“Look at your faces! They have panic written all over them!” she explained. “Now, can I assist in any way?”
“Can you take us to that place you were telling us about? The one where Ellabell found you?” Alex asked hopefully.
Agatha beamed. “Why, certainly! I have some soup on the stove, if you’re interested?”
“Soup would be lovely,” said Natalie, relief washing over her face.
Leaving the cave behind, they followed the old hippie through the woods, until they came to a vast oak tree at the edge of a glade. It looked like a trap to Alex, but, as they approached, he could see that it was, in fact, a false trunk, opening onto a set of stairs that led below ground. Agatha went first, beckoning the rest of them down.
Once they were below the earth, Alex saw they were in a cottage of sorts, only it had no windows, and the entire structure was forged from hard-packed soil. There were knick-knacks and chintzy ornaments everywhere, which Agatha delighted in showing the group, though all they really wanted to do was sit down and forget about the smell of the bodies and the collapsing pit at Kingstone.
That brief reprieve was given, to their absolute relief, when Agatha went to fetch the soup.
“So, what was missing?” Alex snapped in Virgil’s direction, taking a seat in an oversized armchair beside the roaring fire.
The Head seemed taken aback. “I’m still figuring it out,” he said defensively. “All I know is, as I was doing it, it all felt wrong. There’s something we’re overlooking, I’m almost certain of it. We’ll have to look over the book again when we get back to Starcross… I’ll need some time to process things.”
“You will do the spell again?” Natalie asked, her expression one of disbelief.
Virgil shrugged. “What other choice do I have? Your friend here would force me to do so, regardless.” He cast Alex a dark look.
“I wouldn’t have used mind control if you hadn’t lost your nerve in the middle of the spell,” Alex replied tersely, although he did feel a stab of guilt for how rash his reaction had been.
“My change of heart had nothing to do with lost nerve,” Virgil spat. “As soon as I began, I knew the spell would fail. It was a gut feeling I could not ignore.”
“Well, we’ve only got one shot left now,” Alex said.
The three of them sat in silence, no one daring to voice how utterly hopeless it all seemed.
Chapter 18
Agatha fed them bowl after bowl of hearty vegetable soup, handing them thick slices of crusty bread to dip into the warm broth, until they were so full they felt as if they might burst. Looking at the carriage clock the old hippie had perched on her mantelpiece, sandwiched between two rather frightening-looking porcelain poodles, Alex saw that more than two hours had passed in the underground cottage. How that had happened, he didn’t know, but they had stayed longer than Alex had meant them to.
“We have to go,” he whispered, as Virgil was finishing off his third helping. It was peculiar to see the sunken-cheeked man eating so heartily, given his appearance. For some reason, Alex had simply presumed the strange hybrid didn’t eat at all, but here he was, guzzling down the soup Agatha had made.
Natalie nodded. “If we stay a moment longer, you will have to roll me out of here,” she said, patting her stomach.
Just then, Agatha walked in with a tray of gigantic muffins, an equally giant grin on her face. It disappeared as she saw the trio standing up and preparing to leave.
“No, you can’t leave just yet, my cherubs!” she cried. “You haven’t had your dessert, and Vincent will be back from his little chitchat with Hadrian soon! He’ll be so disappointed if he misses you!”
“Sorry, Agatha, we’ve stayed too long,” Alex replied. “Thank you for your hospitality, and for the delicious food, but we really have to get going. It’ll be dark in a few hours, and we want to get back before then. You’ll have to say hello to Vincent for us.”
Agatha frowned. “Back to your mystery world at the end of that cave?” she asked pointedly.
Alex nodded. “Yeah, back there.”
“Well, if you’re heading back that way, I’d watch out for soldiers if I were you—they’ve been all over the woods near that cave today. Like rats, ferreting about, causing a right old mess! Broke down the door and everything,” she remarked. “They’d just disappeared when you arrived. It’s why I called to you—didn’t want you getting caught up in all that, when they got back!” She smiled proudly, handing them each a muffin. Alex couldn’t focus on it, her words sinking in.
“Wait, where did they disappear to?” Alex asked, suddenly panicked.
Agatha paused in thought. “Well, I suppose they must have gone into the cave… Yes, I think maybe they did. One moment they were there, the next they were gone. Unless they’re very good at magic, I think they might well have gone into that cave,” she replied, rattling out the words stream-of-consciousness style.
The trio glanced at each other, knowing what Agatha said couldn’t be a good thing. Perhaps, Alex hoped, the soldiers had reached the end of the cave and found only the false wall. That’s what it was there for, after all, to keep the entr
ance to Starcross hidden. Even if they had made it through, surely Ceres’s cavalry would have dealt with them swiftly?
Either way, Alex knew they had to leave now.
With a farewell to Agatha, the three individuals hurried up the staircase, back out into the forest. Running fast, though their stomachs were heavy with food, they headed for the cave entrance as quickly as their legs could carry them. Natalie was starting to limp again, her mouth set in a grim line, refusing to show any pain on her face as she raced along beside the other two.
Reaching the mouth of the cave, Alex peered closely at the ground in front of the entrance. The dirt and grass were churned up where boots had stomped the earth. It looked like soldiers had indeed gone into the cave, but whether or not they’d come back out again, Alex couldn’t tell. It was hard to make out which direction the boot-prints were going in, with so many overlapping.
Alex put his thumb and index finger to his lips and whistled loudly. A second later, Storm poked her head around the side of the cave, giving Alex a look of displeasure.
“Sorry, Storm, we have to go,” he explained. Her expression softened.
The trio mounted Storm’s back, the Thunderbird taking a runup before soaring into the sky. She seemed to have regained some of her vitality, her neck lifted high, her wings beating powerfully once more as she swooped low over the canopy of Falleaf’s forest. Curving upward, she climbed higher and higher, until the trees below were just one large patch of green. In the center, Alex could see the miniature shape of the pagoda, and wondered if Julius was still inside, plotting his revenge.
With the rocky turbulence Alex had come to expect from this particular trip, Storm powered through the barrier between Falleaf and Starcross, emerging a few moments later, the distorted world snapping back to normal, revealing the idyllic realm below. They flew along, passing over the field in front of the cave entrance. Looking down, Alex saw the unmistakable tracks of marching soldiers, the grass eroded away by their soles. As a rising feeling of concern coursed through him, Alex lifted his gaze and set it to the horizon, hoping Ceres had managed to cut the soldiers off before they could do any harm.
Reaching the encampment, Alex’s eyes flew wide with horror, his heart gripping in his chest. Something was going on in the camp below, something strange and wrong. A flash of magic tore through the air like a fireworks display, energies crashing together with crackling explosions, the cries of the wounded rising beneath the din. Alex’s face morphed into a mask of fury. Ceres hadn’t managed to cut the soldiers off. The camp had been ambushed by a magical army, and the Starcross survivors were fighting back with all their might.
And Alex could see that their side was losing.
Glancing around, Alex tried to find Julius among the legion of soldiers, but the king was nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t even sitting at the sidelines, enjoying the spectacle. Such a notable absence worried Alex—there was no way Julius would miss out on this, especially if his army was winning. No, there was something brewing beneath the surface, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Everything felt wrong, the very air tense around him; a tiny voice in the back of his head pleaded with him to run, but he ignored it.
“Land there,” Alex instructed, gesturing toward an open patch of ground at the edge of the camp, seemingly devoid of fighters. It was far enough away from the fighting that Storm wouldn’t have to enter the fray, but it meant the three riders would have to sprint toward the battle.
With a delicate flap of her wings, she landed in the open space, hunkering down to let the trio off before taking to the skies again, circling and swooping where she could, picking off any of the soldiers she didn’t like the look of. Alex smiled, knowing Storm wouldn’t run from a fight either.
Keeping his eye on her and the battle ahead, Alex sprinted toward the battlefield, which lay just beyond the encampment, where the two sides were clashing in a head-on attack. As he tore through the throng, wanting to reach the front lines, something strange happened.
Out of nowhere, a thick yellow fog rolled across the field, stinging the eyes and nose like mustard gas, the fog so opaque that Alex could barely the see the person next to him. It was then he realized that the enemy fighters were wearing masks that covered half their faces, keeping their noses and mouths protected. At first, he’d thought they were just part of the uniform, but now he understood they were there for a purpose. It was to keep the fog out. Whatever it was, it wasn’t to be inhaled or ingested, if the soldiers’ attire was anything to go by.
“Cover your faces!” Alex yelled, but his voice got lost, the fog deadening his words.
“What?” cried Natalie, but it was too late. The fog hit her.
Immediately, her body spasmed, a yellow foam frothing from her mouth, her eyes growing wild, showing the whites. Seconds later, she turned toward Alex, lunging at him with her teeth bared like a savage animal, clearly no longer recognizing him as her friend. She tore at him with her hands, knocking him to the ground, though Virgil managed to pull her away long enough for Alex to regain his footing. Scrambling to his feet, Alex conjured a shield of anti-magic around himself, protecting against her brutal advances. Letting out a scream of indignation, she conjured her own magic between the palms of her hands, infusing it with thin streaks of pale pink—dark magic.
Virgil stepped forward to try to help, but as he raised his hands to create an orb of hybrid energy, a figure exploded from the camouflage of the fog, tackling him to the earth. Alex couldn’t make out who it was, but it looked remarkably like Billy Foer.
Natalie charged at Alex’s shield, only to be sent flying backward. She got up again, undeterred, hurling spears of pure golden energy infused with slivers of red toward his protective bubble. One pierced through—Alex managed to duck out of the way just in time, though the movement meant the collapse of his shield, his focus knocked off guard for a moment. It was the window Natalie needed. As he struggled to regain himself, trying to put up another shield, the air was suddenly punched out of him, and he felt the bruising impact of something hard barging into him.
He fell backward, looking up to see Natalie standing over him, conjuring an enormous ball of volatile dark magic in the palms of her hands. The red center glowed. Realizing he was about to get raw dark magic hurled into his face, Alex responded in kind, letting the pressure of his anti-magic build in his hands, feeling the flow of the black-and-silver strands. He smacked his palms together with a hard slam. The resulting explosion was vast, and Natalie bore the full brunt of it. She flew through the air, landing with a sickening thud on the grass, ten or so yards from where Alex lay. Alex sat up, looking over at where his friend had landed, but she wasn’t moving. He waited a second longer, but Natalie was completely still, her limbs splayed out at awkward angles.
He ran to her. “Please, no. Natalie, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Kneeling beside her, he saw the soft rise and fall of her chest, and felt the steady kick of a pulse, still beating, when he pressed his fingers to her wrist. She was okay, just unconscious.
Relieved, Alex scooped her up in his arms and ran with her to one of the nearest tents, at the far edge of the camp. There were some Starcross residents already inside, cowering in the corner, but their expressions of fear eased as Alex explained what had happened.
“Can you take care of her until I come back?” Alex asked. The four cowering individuals, two men, two women, nodded. A gray-haired woman, the oldest of the group, moved forward to examine Natalie.
“I will help heal her until you return,” she said, looking at Alex with milky blue eyes.
“Thank you,” Alex said. “Wrap cloth around her face and yours so the yellow fog can’t affect you,” he added, before disappearing back out the tent flap, heading for the battlefield once more.
As he ran, Alex began to understand what was happening. Julius had, at last, discovered Starcross, and had released the fog to alter the minds of the opposing side—why lift a finger to fight when he could just get his enemi
es to fight each other, doing the hard work for him? Yes, he had soldiers present, but they seemed to be an additional force, not the main event. Julius’s intention, as far as Alex could see, was to get the Starcross inhabitants to kill and maim one another, leaving him free to sweep in at the last moment and claim victory. It was all so clear now. That was why he was nowhere to be seen; he was keeping away from the scene of battle until it was safe for him to arrive.
Never had Alex been more enraged by a single human being. If they ever came face-to-face again, Alex knew he’d defy everything to knock the smirk off that evil man’s lips.
A short distance away, Alex made out the two figures of Aamir and Jari, fighting one another. Beside them, Ellabell and Helena were doing the same. Friends were fighting friends, but it was worse for the half-essence survivors, whose bodies and energies were already weaker than most.
Aamir appeared to be losing badly, unable to use his magic to defend himself against his friend. Bobbing and weaving wearily like a boxer in the twelfth round, the older boy avoided the golden blasts of magic surging from Jari’s hands, landing punches and kicks where he could, to try to get the blond-haired boy to back off. From the sluggish way he was darting this way and that, it was clear Aamir was getting tired, though Jari was showing no signs of letting up.
Ellabell and Helena were more evenly matched, though the fight was a ferocious one. Helena was obviously more skilled in offensive magic, shooting blasts of golden artillery with incredible speed, but Ellabell matched her blow for blow, using her powerful shields to deflect Helena’s attacks and send them back to their creator.
Just as Alex was about to push Aamir and Jari apart, Demeter and Ceres flew by, emerging from the fog on horseback. They had fabric tied across the lower halves of their faces, and though their eyes were streaming with tears, it didn’t deter them from trying to help as many students as they could, pulling the vulnerable up onto the Kelpies and sprinting with them to the back of the camp, where the fog had yet to reach. Still, it was clearly proving to be a Sisyphean task—as soon as Demeter mind-controlled one student out of their stupor, tying material around their face, they had to come back for more. The cycle was endless; everywhere Alex turned, he could hear the sound of hooves echoing.