Emily Feather and the Chest of Charms (4 page)

“I was hoping it didn't,” Robin muttered. “They must be in her room with the door shut. I can't hear them, can you?”

Emily shook her head. “No. So one of us is going to have to knock and ask something.”

“Not me!” Robin grabbed hold of the banister and Emily stared at him.

“What are you doing that for?”

“I'm touching wood.”

“So?” Emily folded her arms.

“So you have to do the knocking?” Robin said, hopefully.

“Since when does touching wood mean that!”

Robin frowned. “It does mean something, though, doesn't it? Anyway, I called it. Bagsy not me, touching wood, pinch, punch, first of the month. Whatever. You're doing it.”

“Fine!” Emily whispered back, rolling her eyes, and she marched across the landing. “Sasha, if you stand over there, just by Robin's manky tip of a bedroom, you should be able to see into Lory's room when she opens the door.”

Sasha seemed to flow over the wooden boards of the landing, and when she pressed herself against the wall, Emily had to blink to be able to see her again. She was practically invisible – just a thin, watery shape against the grubby paintwork.

Emily nodded at her, and then banged loudly on Lory's door. She was expecting Lory to yell at her to go away, but there was only silence. And not the kind of silence when the people inside the room are just hoping that whoever's knocking will just go away.

“Where are they?” Robin hissed. “Where's she taken him?”

“Well, they aren't going to be in Lark's room,” Emily muttered. “They weren't anywhere downstairs… Check Mum and Dad's bedroom.”

Robin hurried off down the short passage from the landing to their parents' room, and Emily ran quickly up the little staircase to her own room in the attic, her heart going in sickening thumps. The thought of that strange boy being up there in her lovely bedroom made the hairs stand up all over her arms. Lory wouldn't have done that, would she? Not without asking? But then … she seemed different now. Not as nice.

Robin came back shaking his head. “Nope. No one there.”

“What's through there?” Sasha asked. She was still semi-transparent and her voice seemed to come out of nowhere.

Emily jumped. She had walked right past the water fairy. Her disguise was so good that Emily had almost forgotten she was there. “Where?”

“That door. I think I can hear voices coming from behind it too.”

“There isn't a door,” Emily started to say, looking where Sasha was looking. But there was.

She should have been used to it by now. The house was full of doors that moved and changed colour, and occasionally disappeared entirely. For years, Emily had told herself that it was her imagination, or just a trick of the light, because after all, it couldn't be anything else, could it? And none of them had ever opened, not for her.

She stared grimly at this door now. It was small and dark, and actually very hard to see. It gave off a strong sense of not being there at all – as if it was shy. The handle was tiny – and as Emily looked at it, a shadow seemed to fall across the door, so that she couldn't see the handle at all. “I know it's there,” she hissed, and grabbed it.

“What are you two doing?” someone asked, behind them. “And who's
she
?”

Emily let go of the door and whirled round, staring at Lark in horror. “No one…” she said, crossing her fingers behind her back and hoping that Lark would somehow believe her. After all,
she
could hardly see Sasha.

“Don't be stupid,” her older sister snapped. “Are you a water fairy? Where on earth did you come from?”

Sasha had practically disappeared under Robin's bedroom door. She had told Emily she could turn to water, but Emily hadn't really believed her, until she saw it happening. The silvery droplets trickled along the floorboards and shimmered softly as they grew upwards, transforming back into a tall, slim girl with weed-green hair. She leaned against the door frame and stared at Lark.

“You!” Lark came closer, peering at Sasha's face. “I
know
you! You were the one who showed us the door to get home, when we rescued Emily.”

“And then they sent the hunters after her,” Emily said, grabbing Lark's arm. Her sister's skin glittered and prickled under her fingers. “I know I shouldn't have done it, but I couldn't leave her there, Lark! They had dogs!”

“
You
brought her back?” Lark stared at her in disbelief.

“She can do all sorts of stuff, Lark,” Robin put in.

“But she isn't…” Lark shrugged, and looked apologetically at Emily. “I don't mean this the way it sounds – but you aren't one of us, Emily. You shouldn't be able to do magic.”

Lark didn't believe them, Emily could tell. “Show her the mouse,” Emily said, and her voice was sharp. She was sick of everyone treating her like she was the useless one. She hadn't asked for any of this, and she wasn't making it up, either!

Robin reached into his shirt pocket and lifted out Brownie, waving him at Lark. The tiny mouse shook his whiskers grumpily and glared at her. He'd obviously been asleep and he wasn't that happy about being woken up. His tail twitched and Lark took a step back. She didn't like mice, Emily realized, smiling to herself.

“What has … that … got to do with anything?” Lark muttered, putting her hands behind her back.

“Emily made him,” Robin said triumphantly. “Out of a chocolate brownie. So there – so much for her not having any magic!”

“You turned a chocolate brownie into a mouse?” Lark shook her head at Emily. “Well, that was a waste, for a start…
How
?”

“I was actually trying to turn it into a cake. It went a bit wrong,” Emily admitted. “But Robin and Sasha said that the way you all do magic isn't, um, exact. I mean, there aren't magic words and spells you really have to learn, are there? You just make the magic happen. That's what I did, I think. Almost. And it was the same with bringing Sasha here. I wanted to, so I just did it.”

“You just did it…” Lark echoed faintly.

“It isn't all that strange,” Robin said. “She's been living in this house for ten years, after all. Every time one of the doors opens, magic seeps out, doesn't it? Emily's been through the doors, too, now. The magic's leaked into her.”

“That makes me sound like some sort of experiment gone wrong,” Emily said crossly.

“You are,” Lark murmured. “That's the thing. There's never been a human child like you before, brought up in a house full of fairies, exposed to who knows how much magic. No one knows how you'll turn out.” She sighed and sat down on the bottom step of the stairs up to Emily's room. “This is turning into a really horrible day,” she muttered.

“Thanks!” Emily blinked hard, feeling tears burning her eyes.

Lark reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her down to sit. Then she wrapped an arm round Emily's shoulders.

“Are you putting some sort of spell on me?” Emily asked suspiciously. She could feel Lark's magic fluttering around her, feathery-light and loving.

“Not on purpose,” Lark assured her. “It just happens, because I want to make you feel better. I didn't mean to sound nasty. It's just – so much weird stuff is happening.”

“Mmmm, like how Lory's up in the hidden attic with that boy right now,” Robin said mock-casually.

“What?” Lark's head snapped round. “She took him up there?”

“Mm-hm.”

“But it's full of secrets! It's got a disappearing door. How did she explain that?”

“We don't know! We were about to go and see when you started making a stupid fuss,” Robin cried.

“What secrets?” Emily asked curiously. “What attic? I thought my bedroom was the attic.” Then she stared down at her feet. “Am I allowed to see?” she added, her tongue suddenly feeling swollen with shyness.

“If Lory's showing Dan Hargreaves, I don't see why we can't take you up there.” Lark smiled. “It's just an attic, Ems, to be honest. Your room's on one side, and the attic runs along the back of the house. You must have realized your room wasn't the whole roof space.”

Emily shook her head. “I never thought about it.”

Lark shrugged. “Mmmm. Well. It's hidden. People who don't already know probably aren't supposed to think about it. It's an attic, that's all. You know, full of stuff we don't use much – old clothes, books, that sort of thing. But if you think about it, our old junk is a bit different to everyone else's.”

Emily nodded slowly, imagining piles of ancient, crumbling books on spells and herbs and elvenlore, and trunks full of glittering clothes, and shoes that could dance by themselves. “Can we go and see?” she asked hopefully. “Can I have a look around up there?”

“Maybe when we've got rid of that boy…” Lark muttered. “I can't believe she let him see it. I suppose he won't really understand what it all is. He might not be able to see some of the stuff. But still, she must be mad.”

“Or bewitched,” Robin said, in a doom-laden voice.

“Oh, don't be silly…” But Lark sounded almost as worried as he did. Then she sprang up, staring at the little dark door. It seemed to change as she held out one hand and looked at it. Emily saw it clearly for the first time. It was small and made of dark wood, carved in one long, strange, curling pattern, full of flowers and leaves and tiny birds.

“They're coming down,” Lark murmured, raising her hand up now, pressing her palm towards the door, as if she wanted to ward something off. “You…” she looked round at Sasha. “I'm sorry, I don't know your name, and it isn't the time. Hide, please. We don't know what Dan is but he mustn't see you. You can't pass as human. We'd never be able to explain you away.”

Sasha nodded, and swirled across the floor to the stairs up to Emily's room. Her dress swept Emily's face as she hurried past, leaving a suggestion of dampness, and fresh water. Emily touched her fingers to her cheek and seemed to feel a stream running past, carrying things on.

Sasha hovered on the stairs behind them as a slight glimmer, just out of sight from the landing, and Emily turned back towards the door. Now she could hear them coming too – Lory's high, happy voice, and the lower tones of the boy. His voice seemed to wrap round Lory's, and even hearing him made Emily's hair tingle with dislike.

The door suddenly shone all over and Emily realized that Lory must have put her hand on it from the other side. Emily ducked back against Lark, peeping at the blazing doorway from behind her sister's shoulder.

The figures that came through it were fiery too. Lory in front, wrapped in a glorious light that seemed to echo the shape of her wings, even though she was still in her human form. Her eyes were glowing. The boy behind her was just as bright, the air around him swirling with a cold greenish mist that melted into the soft pink and crimson lights of Lory. The colours fought against each other, melding to a muddy, sickening brownish-purple at the edges – like a bruise, Emily thought. They were dangerous together. Lory must not have realized. Surely, if she could see the lights as Emily could, she'd send Dan away?

“He is one of you, I'm sure he must be,” she whispered to Lark, who nodded, and hugged her tighter.

“Oh! Hello.” Lory saw them – Emily and Lark on the step and Robin lurking by his bedroom door – and stopped, half out of the attic door, looking uncomfortable. The colours faded from both of them immediately and Dan shut the door behind him with a delicate click. He was smirking and Emily hated him.

“Hello,” Lark said flatly. “We wondered where you were.”

“Well, now you know.” Lory's voice was brittle. Much harsher than usual. She darted one sharp, angry glare at her sister, and then she marched across the landing to the stairs, resolutely staring straight ahead.

Lark and Emily and Robin watched silently as they disappeared down the stairs. Emily felt she couldn't even breathe until she heard the front door bang. Then she let out a long, shaky sigh.

“She went with him,” Robin reported, leaning over the banisters. “They've both gone.” He came back and crouched in front of the girls. “So, did you recognize him?” he asked, looking at Sasha.

“Yes.” She was sitting behind Emily and Lark now, hunched up, with her arms wrapped round her middle as though she was hurting.

“What's the matter?” Emily asked, reaching out to stroke her arm. “You look awful! Who is he? Is he horrible?”

“I don't know exactly who he is,” Sasha whispered. “But he is from our world. Most definitely. Looking at him burned. There was something so icy, and … and stone-like about him. He's hard.”

Emily nodded. “I saw it too. A sort of cold green light.”

“It made him look different,” Lark murmured. “Older, didn't you think? And familiar, somehow. Ohhh!” She curled her fingers into fists, frowning. “Why didn't we see it before? I can't believe we thought he was just some boy. I'm sure I do know him. I don't understand how he's managed to disguise himself from us all this time. And even from Lory. He has to be strong.”

“I felt like I knew him too. Or maybe he only looks like someone we know,” Robin suggested. “Like he's someone's brother.”

“That's it!” Emily yelped, jumping so suddenly she almost knocked Lark over. “He looks like Lady Anstis! That's why I didn't like him. He's a fair-haired version of her. He has to be related to her.” She shivered. “What's he doing here, in disguise?”

“Are you sure? I didn't even know she had a brother,” Lark said. “They're a very powerful family but I thought it was just her and her sisters.”

“I'm almost sure,” Emily murmured. “It's something about his eyes, and the way his eyebrows go up at the ends. I wish I'd noticed it before. He shouldn't be here, though, should he? Whoever he is? Not in disguise?”

“Nope.” Robin shook his head so hard that his hair flapped and then settled round his head again like dark-red feathers. “He's either sneaked through a secret door somewhere, not one of the proper ones, or he was exiled. But I thought if you were exiled they took away all of your powers first?” he added to Sasha and Lark, frowning.

“Maybe they did…” Sasha said. “Lady Anstis is very old, isn't she? Old enough that if he is her brother, he might well have been out here a very long time. Perhaps he's been building his powers back up. Lurking around the places where the magic leaks through. Like here. Maybe the old doors under the hills. Fairy rings.”

“So…” Emily's voice was croaky with fear and she coughed a little. “So, he's an exiled fairy lord in disguise. What does he want with Lory?”