Hollow Earth (35 page)

Em wiped the residue of the animation from her face with the back of one shaking hand. ‘What happened?’

‘Someone must have destroyed Tanan’s drawing,’ said Matt. He was starting to feel faint; his arm was agony.

Em walked the perimeter of the cave, taking advantage of the still glowing particles of the exploded demon to inspect the walls for any tunnels or crevices that might suggest a way out. She paused in front of the relief, her fingers touching the deeply etched lines of the massive hound’s two heads.

The instant she connected with the carving, the snarling heads shot out of the wall, snapping viciously. A surge of electricity soared through her arm, throwing her backwards on to the floor.

Stunned, Em got to her feet. The hound was still again.

‘Did you see that, Matt?’

She turned to her brother – and let out a cry. He had passed out. The jolt had not only travelled through her body, but Matt’s too. And in his weakened state, it had completely knocked him out.

Kneeling down next to him, Em took out what was left of her charcoal and sketched quickly on the cave wall. A set of stairs popped out of the rock face, leading up the precipice and back to the tunnel. If they could return the way they’d come, they’d be able to get out of the mountain via their own cave hideout.

Now all she had to do was figure out how to get her brother up the stairs, too.

SEVENTY-TWO

Z
ach hadn’t been able to telepath anything to Em for some time. But not long after the twins had disappeared up into the darkness, he had felt strong vibrations of sound shooting down the cave wall. Then, as if a thin cord connected them, he could sense Em moving deeper into the mountain.

Zach shifted Vaughn closer to him for warmth, tightening the blanket around them both. He was shivering from cold, and maybe shock, too. His ankle didn’t hurt him much any more, but it was swollen to three times its normal size.

Vaughn had been wheezing badly for the past ten minutes, but was finally regaining consciousness. Pulling himself upright, he grimaced with every breath he took. ‘Must have broken a rib when I fell.’

‘Were you hurt by the same creature that attacked me?’

Vaughn read Zach’s hands, then looked closely at the bite marks on his own. ‘No. But it looks like it took a few bites while it was waiting here for you.’

Zach explained what had happened as best he could; how he could now sense the twins moving deeper into the mountain.

‘If we’re going to help them,’ Vaughn said finally, ‘we need to stop Tanan. His only chance of freeing Malcolm is to hold the twins captive until he finds Sandie and the real painting. When he reaches the cave, we need to stop him.’

‘But how?’ Zach wanted to scream with frustration. ‘I’m not an Animare.’

Vaughn’s face contorted with pain as he reached under his jacket, pulling out a sketchpad. ‘Maybe not. But I am. Now, my young friend, let’s put an end to this right here.’

Tanan had animated a boat and crossed to Era Mina. Using a brush and ink he’d taken from Sandie’s studio, he’d then animated Fox’s demon directly inside the children’s cave, using the computer as his portal. Mara had proved useful after all with her regular stream of information about the twins. Then it had simply been a matter of chasing the twins from one cave to another. Although the demon had Tanan’s vision, he had left himself enough to be able to hazily distinguish his surroundings.

He had to admit he was enjoying his little game of cat and mouse.

When he had finally trapped the twins in the second cave, he heard an engine roaring to life at the Abbey’s dock. It sounded like someone was mounting a rescue – too late.

With the twins trapped helplessly in the cave, and the demon pawing the cave floor ready to attack, Tanan had made it round to Monk’s Cove. He would go up to the children’s hideout and let the demon bring the twins to him there.

Tanan sensed something shift in the air. He looked up from his drawing. Zach was poised on the rocks in front of him, his elbow cocked, bow at the ready. There was no time to react. Zach’s arrow tore through the canvas, destroying the demon in Solon’s Cave, and then piercing the flesh above Tanan’s black heart.

Em tried dragging the groggy Matt to the bottom of the steps she’d animated in Solon’s Cave, but his arm hurt so much that she had to stop. She couldn’t bear to feel his anguish inside her head any more.

‘Leave me here and get help,’ Matt slurred. ‘You’ll be able to move through the tunnel much more quickly on your own.’

For once, Em didn’t argue. She was just helping him settle into a more comfortable position, when she heard scratching from the other side of the cave wall.

Pressing her ear against the hard earth, Em closed her eyes and listened. There was something or someone above her, on the other side.

She began to yell and holler, screaming at the top of her lungs, ‘We’re in here! In here!’

Slowly, a laser of light pierced a tiny crevice in the cave’s dirt ceiling. Then it widened, and soon the entire beam from a torch filled the cave.

Vaughn leaned over the hole he’d torn in the hillside, his breathing even more laboured than before. ‘Are you both okay?’

Em beamed up at him. ‘I’m pretty sure Matt’s arm’s broken, but other than that we’re fine. Just really glad to see you. How did you find us?’

‘That’s another story altogether,’ Vaughn said breathlessly. ‘Let’s get you both out, and you can see for yourself.’

SEVENTY-THREE

S
imon crashed the jet-ski Mara had drawn for him up on to the hard sand at the base of the tower on Era Mina. Shoving her drawing into his pocket, he clambered over the rocky beach towards the caves, and then paused to take stock of the situation. Up ahead, he could see the Abbey’s speedboat. He crept forward slowly under the cover of the cliff and peered around the rocks into Monk’s Cove.

The beacon light from the tower was illuminating a scene at the mouth of the cave that made his heart sing. With a blanket wrapped over his shoulders like a cape, Zach was laughing and high-fiving a man that Simon recognized as Vaughn. An archer’s bow was slung over Zach’s shoulder. And if that image was not amazing enough, Simon laughed out loud at the rest of the picture.

The twins were hovering above the tidal pools of jellyfish on the back of a magnificent peryton.

As soon as Simon reached the group, the extent of their injuries was obvious. Hugging Zach hard, he took out his mobile and called the Chief Constable, asking her to meet him on Era Mina.

The twins, Zach and Vaughn were clustering around him. Simon put away his phone and held his hands up. ‘So where’s this Tanan?’

Zach looked at the sand. ‘He’s gone.’

Vaughn was not going to let Zach’s heroism go unacknowledged. He handed Zach the paper on which he’d animated the bow and arrow. ‘Zach is quite the archer. I couldn’t manipulate the bow with my injuries. He had to. And he was brilliant!’

‘I already knew that,’ said Em, making Zach blush.

Simon beamed at his son.

‘By the time I got down the hillside with the twins, Tanan was gone,’ Vaughn apologized. ‘Zach’s shot clearly wasn’t fatal.’

Simon turned his attention to the extraordinary peryton. The beast folded its wings tightly against its sides, bending its forelegs, making it easier for Matt to slip off. The boys grinned at each other through their pain.

‘I think because we animated the peryton in such an unusual way, it stayed animated. Somehow it sensed where we were,’ explained Em, climbing down behind Matt. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered to the beast, resting her cheek on the peryton’s massive chest. Then she rushed over to hug Zach.

Despite his worsening breathing, Vaughn picked up the rest of the explanation. ‘After he vanquished Tanan, Zach saw the peryton up on the hillside, digging its antlers into the rock up there. It knew there was a way inside the island at that very spot. I managed to make it up the hill, and found the opening, but I couldn’t do anything else.’

Em finished the story. ‘The peryton seemed to know there was a wider opening in the rock. It charged its way in, and I was able to get Matt on to its back.’ She grinned at Zach. ‘And here we are!’

Simon stroked the peryton’s massive white head, running his fingers over its impressive, mottled ivory antlers. Standing at full height, the beast had to be as big as two stags, and its thick hide shimmered like silver in the moonlight. Awed by its presence, Simon bowed.

‘Thank you, indeed,’ he said.

The peryton shook its antlers, snorting as if in reply. And Simon realized that he could no longer sense Mara’s pain.

The peryton scuffed its hooves on the rocks, forcing Em and Simon to step away. When they did, it leaped from the rocks and galloped across the sand, its wings spreading out from its sides. After a few more bounding strides, it rose up into the starry night sky. It hovered for a moment; then, in a sudden flare of pure white light, it was gone.

Chief Constable Clarissa Bond landed in an RAF helicopter just minutes later, a coastguard rescue boat following quickly behind. In no time at all, Matt, Zach and Vaughn were en route to hospital in the helicopter, while Simon and Em returned the Abbey’s speedboat to the boathouse. The Chief Constable followed them across to the Abbey in the rescue boat.

‘Can’t we go straight to the hospital in this?’ Em pleaded, as Simon steered the boat into the dock. ‘I don’t want to go home.’

Simon docked the boat. ‘The Chief will take us to the hospital in a few minutes,’ he said, ‘but Mara needs us first.’

Not keen to see Mara again any time soon, Em reluctantly followed Simon across the lawn.

The studio was in the same state of chaos as when Matt and Em had left it earlier that night. Em hovered at the door. She wasn’t sure she wanted to help Mara at all.

‘Em, you must.’ Simon seemed able to read her mind. He took her hand. ‘Your grandfather would expect nothing less.’

Behind the kiln,
Witch with Changeling Child
had returned to its original form, the horrible hag clutching the demon on her lap. Mara was nowhere to be seen.

Em shivered. ‘That picture is full of evil,’ she said.

‘Yes,’ said Simon. ‘Yes, it is.’

Fishing his Swiss Army knife from his pocket, he flicked open the blade. In four swift strokes, he had sliced the canvas from its frame. Em pressed the button to open the heavy doors of the kiln, and Simon fed the painting into the flames.

SEVENTY-FOUR

J
eannie was more than ready for them when they returned from the hospital in the small hours of the morning. She hadn’t made it home until past ten, after the ferry’s jellyfish-clogged engines had been cleared. Walking into the compound, she’d found the Abbey and the grounds deserted, the kitchen doors flung open, and Mara’s studio looking as if a gale-force wind had swept through it. She didn’t know what had happened, and had been sick with worry. After a frantic couple of hours, she’d reached Simon on his mobile at the hospital. He’d apologized for not letting her know sooner, doing his best to fill her in on the night’s incredible events.

‘And she’s not happy we all left her in the dark,’ Simon said, as they docked at the Abbey in the boat the Chief Constable had left at their disposal. ‘So be warned!’