Behind the Sorcerer's Cloak (24 page)

Adam nodded stiffly.

“Where's Chantel?” interrupted Mr. Smythe anxiously, suddenly realizing that another child was missing.

Myrddin held up his hand. “Chantel is safe, and Equus knows how to reach her.” He turned to Equus. “She is alerting the Cabbyl Ushtey.”

“She will be safe,” confirmed Equus.

Mr. Smythe sighed and looked unhappy.

Holly sat quietly at the table, a puzzled frown still on her face. She stared at Adam, watching his every move as he and Owen found ice and a cloth and staunched the blood. Her frown cleared.

“She did some sewing for him,” Holly said.

Adam's head shot up. His eyes looked hopeful.

“What?” said Owen.

A conversation between Mr. Smythe and Myrddin halted.

“Wendy…she did some sewing for Peter Pan. Right, Adam? So the Dark Being was like her, really helpful?”

Adam nodded, still holding the ice to his face. “She was kind. Just like Wendy,” he mumbled.

Holly chose her words carefully. “So, you're like Peter Pan?” Holly hummed the tune that Adam had whistled.

Owen groaned and plugged his fingers in his ears. “Not that again, Holly.”

Adam sighed with relief and grinned at Holly. “You've always been a smarty pants,” he mumbled affably through the ice pack.

Holly pointed to her head and closed her eyes.
Can
it read mindspeak?

Adam shook his head and shrugged.

“Do you mind telling us what's going on?” said Owen.

“You're so dense sometimes,” muttered Holly. She grabbed Mr. Smythe's notebook and pencil from the table, scribbled something and tore it out. She passed the note to Owen.

Wendy sewed a shadow onto Peter Pan's feet.
Adam's had a ‘shadow' attached to him by the DB.
Watch what you say.

Owen's eyes widened. “It was a chick flick,” he said. “Why would I know that?” He passed the note back to Holly and grinned at Adam. “How come you saw it?”

“I had to take Chantel for her birthday.”

Both boys hooted with laughter.

“It's a book too, morons,” said Holly. She retrieved the note, added a line,
Can it read our minds?
and passed the page over to Myrddin.

Myrddin read the note and gave a snort.

He gestured everyone to join him at the table and pushed the note across to Mr. Smythe.

Mr. Smythe read it and sighed. “I'm obviously missing something, but I understand.”

Myrddin stuck the note in a pocket. “We need to plan,” he said abruptly. “Gaia will be under attack tonight.”

He sent a blast of mindspeak to everyone.
A Shade
is shadowing Adam. It will report everything back to the
Dark Being in her mindspeak.

Humans mindspeak a different way. The Shade doesn't
know they have that ability and cannot hear it. We will
make a false set of plans using speech and another set using
human mindspeak like I am doing now.

The kettle whistled. Everyone jumped.

“I think we need a cup of tea,” said Mr. Smythe.

The Shade wriggled with delight. At lasst, planss! it thought. Human'ss converssationss with sstrange whisstling make no sensse. Planss do. The Dark Being wantss planss.

The Shade pooled contentedly beneath Adam's feet as he sat at the table.

“Manannan's fortress on Barrule is the obvious place from which to defend ourselves,” said Myrddin. He switched to mindspeak.
We will make our stand on Pheric's Isle.

“Then I will strengthen its defenses,” said Manannan
.
I will inform the Moddy Dhoo, but he is his own entity.

“Oh, stop this,” said Adam, playing his part to the hilt. “Doona won't hurt anyone if you reinstate her
.
Why fight her?”
She has an army of Shades. Masses of them.

“Oh, shut up, Adam. No one believes the Dark Being except you.” Owen turned to Myrddin. “But what's the point of us kids fighting? We can't do any real Magic.”
I
know how to get into Pheric's Isle without anyone seeing. That's where the secret passage goes. It comes out at the
Round Tower.

“You must not trust Doona, Adam. She is a problem you don't understand. Everyone needs to fight the darkness, even children,” Myrddin rumbled.
Excellent, Owen.

“I'm not fighting. Doona's my friend,” said Adam
. Can
you get rid of the Shade?

“Doona is no one's friend,” said Myrddin heavily.
Has
it melded with you?

“She's my friend. I'm not fighting her,” replied Adam stubbornly.
No, it's attached as a shadow.

“Then we will fight without you,” said Myrddin.
Yes, I can detach it. But let the Shade deliver our false
information first.

“Did Doona send those psycho gulls that nearly killed us?” said Owen.
I thought the gulls were Manannan's?

“Yes, Doona influenced my gulls. Her magic is stronger than mine,” said Manannan.
Shades slipped in when Equus
arrived. They discovered a way to meld with the gulls and
enter Pheric's Isle. Be on your guard. Shades can meld with
humans.

“The Lady's death and loss of the beads is a terrible blow,” said Ava. “It weakens us all, even Doona.”
Holly must
restring the beads and waken the Lady.

“
Without the Lady, we don't stand a chance against the Dark Being,” said Holly.
I know where the beads are
.
I'll try
to restring them tonight, but I need some thread. The Lady
is a skeleton. Can she wake?

“We must still fight the darkness; there is no one else,” said Equus, tossing his mane and flicking his tail. A long white hair floated free and landed on the table near Holly.
The Lady will wake with the right Earth Magic when the
necklace is complete. Use the hair from my tail as thread,
Holly.

Holly picked up the long hair. She curled and uncurled it around her finger.

“What will happen if she wins?” said Owen.
Don't forget
to call the Lady using the secret rune name.

“I can't believe we are having this conversation,” interrupted Mr. Smythe. “This talk of a magic war is all nonsense. I'm having nothing to do with it.” He leaned back, looking stubborn, folded his arms and closed his eyes
. Err
…
I hope
this works. Never tried it before. I have some interesting
information. I discovered the meaning of the runic name Cullyn in the museum. It's a very old form of Manx. It
means
Holly
.

There was a long silence. Everyone looked at each other.

The Lady's secret name is Holly
? said Owen.

So it seems
, replied Mr. Smythe.

Wow.

Holly turned white. She stood up, swaying slightly. “I'm going for a nap. I can't take in anymore. No one's working with anyone else so we're going to lose the battle anyway. Adam's right. Negotiate with this Doona person so we don't have to fight. I'm exhausted. We hardly slept last night and today has been terrifying.” She left the room.
Sorry, but
I'm not kidding, I really am beat. I need some space to
think about this. I don't know why, but it's a shock. I'm
scared of what it means.

Owen gave a big yawn and pushed his chair back. “Me too, Sis. I vote for not fighting. If you can't win, why fight? I didn't mind helping you Wise Ones get Tools, but this is daft. This fight is nothing to do with us.”
I gotta rest too. I'll
help when I'm not so beat, okay? Wake us before dark.

“Humans are ungrateful,” cried Ava, spreading her wings. “Maybe Gaia doesn't deserve to be saved.”
Sleep
and dream of Light, Magic Children. May Light always
be in your hearts.

Adam's Shade sent its first message to the Dark Being while watching the meeting break up in disarray. Adam heard it, but schooled himself not to react.

They fight amongst themsselvess. Jusst like you planned. Adam ssupportss you. The children are sscared. They don't
wissh to fight. The Lady iss dead and the necklace broken.

The Wisse Oness will fight from a place called
Barrule.

The Dark Being lost her temper.
The Lady dead? That
cannot be!

The ring on Adam's finger tightened painfully. He tried to ease it. As soon as he touched it Doona's words seared into his brain:
Find the broken necklace. Bring me
the beads.

Adam felt sick. The ring wasn't a gift. It conducted her messages. It hurt. It would make him do her bidding.

He twisted the ring and tried to remove it. The harder he pulled, the more painfully it gripped his flesh. He bent under the table and hissed to the shadow. “Tell her I don't know where the beads are. Ask her to stop hurting me, because it's true.”

The Shade complied.

The ring slackened, then tightened again.

Find the beads before nightfall,
roared Doona as Adam desperately pulled at the ring.
Someone knows where they
are. If you don't find them, you'll die like the others.

Adam felt sick. Doona had tricked him instead of him outwitting her.

Now he was caught. He daren't let Myrddin dispatch his shadow. Doona would know and punish him through the ring.

He was cornered.

Owen rapped lightly on the bedroom door and opened it a crack. “What's up, Sis?” he hissed.

“Don't call me Sis,” replied Holly automatically. She blew her nose hard. “Come in.”

Owen slid inside, quietly closing the door. He looked quizzically at Holly, who sat cross-legged at the head of her bed. “So, why are you so upset?”

Holly shook her head, but tears welled in her eyes. “The name. It was the last straw.” She looked up at him. “You don't get it, do you?”