Indigo Magic (14 page)

Meteor shook his head. ‘I don’t like it. How did he know about the ingredients for aevia ray? He doesn’t look like any scholar.’

I eyed the portal. ‘I told you, he knows things.’

‘He could be working for Lily,’ Meteor insisted. ‘If we go through that portal after him, we should be invisible. Lily could repair a scope and use me as a way to track
you
on Earth, Zaria. And what if she’s on the other side waiting for us?’

Andalonus might joke about danger, but Meteor wouldn’t. What if he was right? It wasn’t as if Laz could be trusted.

‘Mind if I protect you with a spell?’ I asked.

‘Not at all.’

I waved my wand at Meteor. ‘For the next month, you
cannot
be found by any magical means, whether you’re on Earth or on Tirfeyne.’

He bowed. ‘Thank you.’ His eyes moved to the portal. ‘I’ll go first,’ he offered.

G
NOMES ARE EXCELLENT WORKERS
. T
HEY CLEAN, MAKE REPAIRS, SEW CLOTHING, DIG THE MINES, AND HELP TO KEEP ORDER
. I
N OTHER PARTS OF
T
IRFEYNE SUCH AS
T
ROLL
C
OUNTRY, GNOMES PERFORM OTHER JOBS – FOR EXAMPLE THEY MAY HELP HARVEST PUTCH, A SOMEWHAT SLIMY PLANT THAT FORMS THE MAINSTAY OF THE TROLL DIET
. F
OR THIS, THEY ARE PAID QUANTITIES OF FINELY GROUND GRANITE AND LIMESTONE
.

Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

WHEN WE PASSED
into the warehouse, no one greeted us with iron clubs. The place was dark and still, just as Laz had promised.

He guided us to a different building, an enormous structure filled with human wares but empty of humans. There, he pilfered three backpacks for us so we could carry biscuits more easily.

Next, we followed as he flew to a bakery, where the air was savoury and warm. Two walls of a large room were filled with shiny ovens stacked on top of each other. Along another wall stood big white tubs. And on the last wall,
metal
racks held dozens of biscuits. No humans were watching over them, though Laz assured us they’d return any minute.

‘How many do we need?’ Meteor asked.

‘All of them,’ Laz answered. ‘The humans will blame each other and then bake more. So we’ll take as many biscuits as we can carry.’ He rubbed his chin. ‘We want to beat the amount the Council gives the gremlins. Usually, the price for keeping them out of Feyland is two packets of stale biscuits a month – for a whole village.’ He slapped a countertop. ‘When we bring them
these
biscuits, we’ll be instant legends.’

Meteor frowned. ‘That won’t make them
give
us a biscuit.’

‘Yes, it will,’ Laz answered. ‘Good biscuits are to gremlins as gold is to humans. Humans seek favours by giving gold; why wouldn’t gremlins give biscuits?’

Along with every other fairy, I had been taught that humans valued gold beyond anything, but I didn’t believe it. In the time I’d spent on Earth, I hadn’t seen any gold. I’d never even heard it mentioned.

‘Let’s get to it.’ Laz hurried to scoop up biscuits and place them in paper bags we found stacked on a shelf. I helped him, quickly learning the different types. Ginger snaps were small and they stuck together, shortbreads were golden rectangles, snickerdoodles big and soft and fragrant, peanut butter very crumbly. As for the chocolate chip cookies, they
were
speckled with dark bumps and smelled a lot like the Ugly Mug.

Laz focused on loading our packs, stuffing them till all the pouches bulged.

Meteor yawned. ‘We should sleep.’

‘Don’t be ignorant,’ Laz told him. ‘Gremlins sleep during the day. They’re awake now.’

We hurried back to the coffee warehouse, lugging our packs.

At Laz’s insistence, we wore the packs backwards, so the pouches were in front. He said it would make it easier to guard them. ‘We’ll see the little thieves coming, and we can fly away from them.’

But disaster awaited us. When we reached the portal back to Laz’s café, we found it closed.

Laz flung himself at the warehouse wall several times, as if a new angle of approach would make a difference.

‘Laz,’ I said. ‘Laz! The portal’s gone.’

He stopped bashing himself against the concrete. ‘Hobs and hooligans!’ he swore. ‘How can it be gone? I’ve kept it refreshed!’

‘Someone sealed it,’ Meteor answered.

‘The location of this portal was known to exactly three.’ Laz pointed to himself first, then moved his finger towards Meteor, then to me, where he stopped.

‘You suspect
me
?’ I asked.

‘If not you, then who was it?’ Were those
tears
slithering down his face?

‘I want to get back to Feyland as much as you do.’ How could I prove I’d had nothing to do with this? ‘I’ll open the portal again,’ I offered, ‘but only if you—’

‘No!’ he shouted. ‘I don’t want it back. I could never pass through that portal again without wondering who was lurking on the other side.’

‘Maybe,’ Meteor said, ‘when you thought there was a spy, you were right.’

‘Lily,’ I said softly.

But Laz disagreed. ‘Not her. If
she
found my portal, she’d bide her time.’ He slammed his hand against the unyielding wall. ‘Well, my fine young ones, we need to get out of here. And since the portals in the Golden Station are closed …’

He let the sentence hang. I knew what he meant: it was now up to me to get us home.

‘Didn’t you open another portal, the one close to Pix—’ Meteor stopped as I shoved him.

Laz gathered his frayed robe closer. ‘Shh. There could be spies listening.’

‘You think we’re being watched
now
?’ I checked my pocket for the hundredth time. The vial of comet dust was still there, and so was the small bottle of aevum derk.

‘Very possibly. And whoever it is can hide from a reveal spell,’ Laz answered. ‘Take us to your portal, Zaria.’

But I couldn’t do that.

I didn’t want Laz knowing any more of my secrets, especially the secret of my fondness for Sam. As Sam’s genie godfather, Laz knew where he lived – but he would never guess on his own that Sam’s basement housed a portal. I suspected the only thing Laz had ever done for Sam was to leave him alone. Certainly, I wouldn’t be the one to urge him to pay more attention to his godchild. Sam was better off without him.

And as for Meteor, well …

Meteor had been with me when Sam blundered into Feyland. It was Meteor who urged me to cast the forgetting spell on my human friend. And if Meteor knew I’d visited Sam again afterwards, what would he think?

No, I couldn’t do it; couldn’t reveal my new portal to these genies.

Blast!
Once again, I had no real choice. We had to get back to Feyland, and the only way to do it was through a portal. Since I didn’t want to risk Sam and his family, I’d have to create a new portal. Again. Another thousand radia.

I was about to do exactly what Lily wanted me to do: use up more magic.
At her present rate, in a few months Zaria will be powerless
.

‘I’ll transport us,’ I said, ‘but to a place without a portal. Once we’re there, I’ll open one to … where we’re going.’ Thinking of all the places I’d been on Earth, I wondered which would be safe. Where in this world had I been that Lily knew nothing about?

Fuming, I turned to Laz, hating to trust him with anything so important. ‘You know Earth better than we do; you’ve made thousands of journeys. Think of a place that’s remote, and take us there.’

Laz smirked. ‘You would put yourself in my power?’

I smiled as if I felt no fear. ‘A gamble.’

Meteor wasn’t smiling as he took my hand. We stood together on the warehouse floor, facing Laz. ‘Transport us,’ I said.

G
REMLINS, LIKE GNOMES, ARE IMPERVIOUS TO SPELLS
. T
HEY HAVE A LITTLE MAGIC OF THEIR OWN – JUST ENOUGH TO PASS THROUGH PORTALS TO
E
ARTH
. H
OWEVER, GREMLINS MUST HITCH THEMSELVES TO ANOTHER TRAVELLER TO GET THROUGH A PORTAL
. T
HE MAJORITY OF GREMLINS NEVER FIND THEIR WAY TO
E
ARTH, FOR FEY FOLK ARE GENERALLY UNWILLING TO PROVIDE THESE SCREECHING MISCHIEF-MAKERS WITH PASSPORTS TO THE HUMAN WORLD
. T
HOSE GREMLINS WHO MANAGE TO GET THERE ARE NOT INCLINED TO RETURN
. A
MONG HUMANS, THERE ARE ENDLESS CHANCES TO CREATE MISCHIEF, FOR HUMAN-BUILT MACHINES ARE FILLED WITH CRUCIAL SMALL PARTS THAT GREMLINS TAKE DELIGHT IN BREAKING
. I
N ADDITION, THERE ARE PLENTY OF BISCUITS TO BE FOUND
.

Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland

LOOKING AROUND, I
wondered if Laz had done something heinously dangerous – such as sending us to another world.

The shadowy landscape was nothing but rock. A bright
full
moon shone down on heaps of boulders, making them look like the bones of unknown beasts. Under the boulders lay nothing but great slabs of stone. A few scrubby plants grew out of crannies here and there.

‘Where are we?’ I asked.

Laz was beside us, his leprechaun cap slightly askew, looking just as he always did – tall, lanky, a little greasy. ‘You two sweethearts plan to hold hands for the rest of this trip?’

Meteor and I let go of each other.

‘Are you going to tell us where on Earth we are?’ Meteor asked.

‘The wilds of Utah,’ Laz answered. ‘Very remote region. No one comes here. Ever. It’s the perfect place for a portal: you won’t have to add a barrier for stray humans with Level Five magic of their own.’

He was right about the place being remote: it was completely deserted except for the three of us. Laz had done what I asked, and now it was time for my part. But first I would put more protection on the comet dust. We were heading into a land of nimble thieves; it would be worth the loss of a little more radia to prevent the comet dust from being stolen. My spells weren’t supposed to work on gnomes, but they had worked anyway. I could only hope they’d work on gremlins too.

I hesitated at the thought of Laz watching me cast a spell. But he already knew I was a Feynere. The comet dust was more important than keeping my methods secret.

I infused my wand. ‘No one and nothing can steal the comet dust from me. Ever.’

Laz’s wide grin made me uneasy. ‘What an honour to see a Feynere in action. Even more of an honour to be told you carry comet dust!’

‘You’d better keep that a secret,’ Meteor said angrily.

‘Of course.’ Laz spread his hands, his grey-blue skin glowing oddly in the moonlight. ‘And speaking of secrets, I’ve got some advice: aside from me, tell no one what you’re doing, where you’re going, or why. Especially gremlins. They keep no secrets: what one knows, they all soon know.’ He wagged a finger at me. ‘Guard yourself. Gremlins have no code of honour.’

‘Unlike smugglers,’ Meteor sniped.

Laz ignored him. ‘They’re pesky thieves, Zaria, and quite impervious to magic. Your precious spell won’t hold them off.’

Meteor met my eyes. He must have heard my thought, because he said nothing about the way my magic had turned back gnomes.

‘Enough talk,’ I said, and thought of Leona. How were she and Andalonus faring among the pixies?

I flitted over to an extra-large boulder. It would make a good spot to open a portal. ‘Take your bearings,’ I told Laz. ‘This will be the new portal. It will lead into gremlin territory.’

I spat on the boulder.

* * *

Part of the scene from Earth seemed to have followed us into the land of the gremlins. When we stepped through the Utah Portal, the first thing I saw was a pile of moonlit boulders. But these were in the middle of a field full of prickly, stinging plants that poked my ankles.

I floated up onto one of the biggest boulders and peeked over its top. Below me, hundreds of lanterns added their light to that of the moon and stars, showing a horde of gremlins.

Meteor joined me, squinting at the scene.

‘They’re not gruesome,’ I whispered.

We’d been told that gremlins were covered with warts; that they were stunted creatures with sunken chests and arms so long their hands dragged along the ground. Their ears were supposed to be mere nubs on their misshapen skulls. But the gremlins hurrying along pebbled walkways under lanterns were only slightly shorter than fairies and genies. Between the bright moon and strong lantern light, I could see them well. Their arms were rather long; so were their fingers, but their hands did not drag on the ground. I saw no warts. Their neat ears, of normal size, were on rounded heads. They had oval eyes.

Unlike fairies and genies, these gremlins were all one colour – both their hair and skin was greenish-yellow. The males wore their hair in a short thick fuzz, the females in braids winding around their heads and tied up with flouncy
ribbons
. Simple clothes, no shoes. They had quick movements. When they ran, they dashed so fast they became a blur, yet never bumped into each other.

Gremlins, I’d been taught, were prone to shrieking, their shrieks so piercing they’d hurt the ears of anyone except other gremlins. Beryl had spoken of this as an established fact. But I heard no shrieks, none at all.

‘Why aren’t they shrieking?’ I whispered to Laz, who hovered nearby.

‘They don’t shriek unless they’re agitated.’

‘There’s nothing broken,’ I said, surprised to find a gremlin village in working order. I couldn’t see into any of the dwellings, but outside, the lanterns were well-trimmed, the pebbles on the walkways evenly spread, and everything clean. Hadn’t I been told that gremlins broke anything they touched?

Laz grunted. ‘Must be in the midst of a truce with the next village.’

‘Truce?’ Meteor hissed. ‘You said they had no honour.’

‘They don’t.’

‘They seem to be clever builders,’ Meteor said.

‘Of course they’re clever – how else would they know how to break things?’

‘But what are they doing now?’ I asked, amazed by the numbers headed in the same direction. ‘Where are they going?’