Spellfall (11 page)

He thrust the girl to the back of his mind and waited in his room, listening to doors slam and feet crunch down the path until everything was quiet. Then he crept to the window and peered through a crack in the shutters.

His room looked out on the shed where the goshawk lived, the idea being that Hunter should keep an eye on Merlin. But it worked both ways. He watched his father shut the bird in then take a short cut across the garden, swinging his stick at the undergrowth. He’d put a braid in his hair and fastened it with a black-barred feather. As he passed beneath Merlin’s window, he looked up and smiled. Merlin ducked, heart banging. But footsteps crunched away along the gravel path and when he dared look again his father had gone.

He let out the breath he’d been holding and hurried down to the hall. Faint bronze glimmers behind the coat hooks betrayed the locations of dying spells, but Merlin ignored these and went for the big one. As he’d hoped, Hawk had replaced the dead spell in the keyhole with a fresh live one. Shining in the gloom like an emerald star, its illusion reached all the way to the gates, making the Lodge appear uninhabited to human eyes. A little shiver ran down Merlin’s back. Very carefully, he began to ease the spell free.

“What are you doing?” demanded a voice behind him.

The spell dropped to the mat. Merlin whirled, desperately trying to think of an excuse. As always on these occasions, his mind was a complete blank. “I—” He broke off, staring. He couldn’t help it.

In her white dress, her silver hair shining in the shadows, Spider stood on the landing at the top of the first flight of stairs. She was wearing her glasses and looking at him in a very peculiar manner. Merlin’s heart gave a little jump.

“I thought you were supposed to be getting my clothes?” she said, frowning at the mat.

Merlin came to with a start, retrieved the spell and hurriedly stuffed it under his jumper. His cheeks burned. “I… er… was just getting them,” he said. “I thought you were still asleep.” She
should
have been asleep. Even Claudia had slept for nearly two days after Hunter ate her familiar.

“I’ve had quite enough sleep, thank you very much! I’m cold and I want my clothes back. Your father said I could have them.”

He noticed she was shivering. As she spoke, some of the haughtiness seemed to run out of her. She came down the rest of the stairs, still frowning. “What were you doing with that spell?”

Merlin almost told her. But she was part of the spellclave now. One of the enemy. “Nothing,” he mumbled, sidling past her. “Father put your clothes in the spare room. I’ll get them. You should be resting, Spider.”

To his surprise, she giggled, though it sounded a bit strained. “My name’s not Spider, stupid. It’s Natalie, Nat for short. And I’m getting out of here before those crazy parents of yours come back. If you had any sense in your skull, you’d come with me.”

“Getting out?” Merlin repeated. “But, you can’t! You’re bonded to the spellclave for life. Anyway, Claudia’s not my mother,” he added, realizing what she must have thought. Prickles of memory threatened. He thrust them away before they brought tears.

Natalie sighed. “I’m not bonded to anything, silly. That spider wasn’t my familiar.”

“Wasn’t your familiar? But Father said—”

“Your father
told you it was, so you believed him? Grow up, Merlin! There’s no such thing as real magic, everyone knows that. Nothing happened to me in the cellar, doesn’t that prove it? I think your father’s horrible, letting his goshawk eat people’s pets. But that’s what hawks do, they’re meat eaters so it’s natural for them. The hawk doesn’t know any better.”

Merlin stared at her in disbelief. He’d never forgive Hunter if he ate Redeye. Did that prove her spider hadn’t been a familiar? Or that the bonding had worked so well she wasn’t even aware of it?

“You fell off the stool,” he pointed out. “Are you sure nothing happened? Don’t you feel sick or dizzy or anything?”

“I was only pretending,” she said, but she sounded less sure than before. Then she shook herself and her voice became firmer. “Where are my clothes? I’ll get them myself if you’re afraid of getting into trouble.”

Merlin led the way, occasionally glancing back at the girl. She might sound scornful but she didn’t look at all well. She was very pale and her hands trembled. She had to use the banister to pull herself up the stairs.

“Are you
sure
you’re not bonded?” he asked suspiciously, opening the door of one of the second floor bedrooms.

She sighed. “Of course I’m sure. Even if there was such a thing as real magic, I’d know something like that, wouldn’t I? Turn around and don’t peek.”

Merlin turned his back and chewed his lip. “Not necessarily. Not until you defied Father and he wanted to punish you, you wouldn’t.”

Natalie dressed so quickly, before he knew it, she’d pushed past him, stumbled downstairs and was wrestling with the front door. Since the spellclave were all outside it was unbolted but still it didn’t budge. “Father locked it before he replaced the illusion spell,” he explained. He often wondered why Hawk bothered with keys, since the spells were designed to keep curious strangers from seeing the truth, but now he was glad of the delay. “You’re serious about running away, aren’t you?”

She turned, closed her eyes for a few seconds then opened them again. “Where’s the key?”

Merlin hesitated. She certainly wasn’t acting as if she were bonded but she could be testing him. “Father’s got it.” He considered her carefully. “I know where there’s a spare, though. I’ll unlock the door and show you the quickest way out of the wood, if you’ll help me get Redeye out of the cellar.” He held his breath.

Natalie stared at him. He couldn’t read her expression but several different emotions crossed her face. Finally, she said, “All right,” and looked at him expectantly.

He fingered the spell and licked his lips. “The cellar’s locked too,” he admitted. “But if there’s another key anywhere, Father keeps it well hidden. He probably used an illusion spell on it.”

“I haven’t time to help you look for it, if that’s what you mean. We’ll just have to leave your mouse and come back for him later when we bring the police up here. He’ll be safe enough. I doubt your father will do anything to him if you’re not around to see.”

Merlin turned queasy at the very thought. “No! You don’t understand! I can’t go without Redeye.”

“Merlin!” She grabbed his jumper and shook hard, showing the same fierce strength as when she’d snatched the tray. He cringed, but she took a deep breath and continued more reasonably. “Look, I know you’re fond of your mouse. I was fond enough of Itsy and he was just some spider I found in the bath. But you have to get things into perspective. If we don’t get out of here soon, your father’s going to come back and catch us both. Then we
will
be in trouble. Accept it, there’s no way you’re going to get a mouse out through a locked door.”

Merlin shrivelled inside. “Don’t. That’s not fair. I know I’m hopeless at spell casting, but I thought you might help.”

She let him go, scowling. “Not that again! I
told
you, I’m not a witch.”

“And I told
you
we’re not witches, we’re—”

“Spellmages! So you keep saying.”

They stared at each other, both of them trembling.

“Call us Casters,” Merlin said with a sigh. “Everyone else does.”

She didn’t laugh but she looked less angry. Hesitantly, he brought out the spell he’d taken from the keyhole. Her gaze flickered to his hand. She said nothing.

“At least let me try?” he said. “I think I managed to transport your spider when you were touching the spell in the supermarket. While you were being… er… bonded, I managed to smuggle a spell into Redeye’s bedding. That’s how you do a transport, see? You put a spell at each end. I thought if there was one inside Redeye’s cage and I got a powerful one this side of the door, then it might work – especially if you help me, like you did before. Father says it’s not possible to transfer power like that unless you’re a Spell Lord but I’ve been thinking about it and I’m sure something happened when we fell down together in the supermarket—”

“Just get on with it. What do I have to do?”

“Nothing. Er… that is… touch the spell, that’s all.”

Natalie grasped the spell firmly and raised her chin. Her eye held a challenge. “Go on then. But this time I’m watching you, great wizard Merlin. Don’t try that firework trick again, all right?”

Merlin closed his eyes.

Draw the power up your arm
.
Feel it flow through your veins, feel its heat fill you...

In the early days, one of his father’s favourite lessons had been to lock him in his room and make him practise transporting food. He used to say when Merlin was hungry enough he’d stop being so useless. Merlin had stayed hungry but he knew the theory off by heart.

Hearing Natalie’s sharp intake of breath he opened his eyes and looked round eagerly. If wanting was enough he’d have transported the entire contents of the cellar into the passage: generator, bench, stools, empty tanks, the lot. Not only did he want Redeye safe but almost as badly he wanted to show Natalie he
could
do it.

But there was no spellflash. The spell cooled and dimmed, and Natalie let go. She frowned at her fingers a moment, then shook her head.

“Satisfied now?” she said.

Merlin clutched the spell tighter, a chill breathing down his neck as he realized what must have happened. That dark smile. “He knew,” he whispered. “Father must’ve seen the spell in Redeye’s cage and taken it out. Oh, he’s going to murder
me!”

“All the more reason to get out of here then, isn’t there? If you won’t tell me where the key is, I’ll climb out a window.” With a determined look on her pale face, Natalie opened the door to one of the downstairs rooms.

Merlin ran after her and caught hold of the back of her sweatshirt. She scowled at his hand. “The key’s under the mat,” he said, hopelessness closing about him like a cloud. “Take it and go. Turn right when you get over the gate, otherwise you’ll end up at the archery range and someone will see you. I’ll put Father off the scent for as long as I can. But I’m warning you now, if he tries to pull off one of Redeye’s legs like he did to your spider, I’ll tell him everything right away.”

Natalie was already scrabbling under the mat. She found the key and flung the door wide. Sunlight lanced into the hall, bringing cold air and damp woodland smells. She raised her face to the sky and inhaled as if she were taking her first-ever breath. Then she turned and gave him a hesitant look. “Are you going to be all right?”

Tears filled Merlin’s eyes. “Not really. Hunter will eat Redeye now.”

He didn’t think she’d heard. She was already running down the path. But after three strides she stopped, kicked at the gravel and came back. “What would make your father open the cellar door?”

Merlin tried to think. “I dunno. There’s the generators. If they went wrong, he’d have to go down and fix ’em, I suppose. And there’s the spells, of course. I think Father and Claudia are doing experiments on them, they’ve got ’em down that tunnel you saw.”

“How about a fire?”

He blinked again. “Set fire to the Lodge, you mean?” It was a dreadful, wild idea. “But what if the spells catch? Spellfire’s dangerous, you can’t put it out till the spells die, and there’s whole sacks of ’em down there. They’d burn the whole wood down!”

“We only need a small fire, just to make some smoke. Then when your father opens the cellar to rescue his spells, we sneak in, grab your mouse and run.”

Merlin’s heart did peculiar things. “Redeye might burn too.”

“We’ll get him out before then.”

He cast a doubtful look upstairs. What if the fire spread to his room? Then he shook himself. He’d have to leave his computer behind anyway, and computers could be replaced. Unlike familiars. He shivered – half excitement, half terror. “I s’pose we could soak some of my old clothes in diesel oil,” he said slowly. “There’s a tank of it outside for the generators.”

A strange gleam came to Natalie’s eye. For a full minute she stood and stared at the cellar door, ripples shivering down her silver hair. When she finally spoke, her voice had a hard edge to it that hadn’t been there before.

“Let’s do it.”

*

The fire took hold a lot faster than Natalie had anticipated. As the diesel-soaked rags smouldered, choking black smoke filled the passage. One hand over her nose, she retreated to the back of the understairs cupboard where she and Merlin had taken refuge. Smoke forced its way through the cracks around the door, making her eyes sting. She couldn’t take a breath without coughing. The longer they waited, the more stupid the whole idea seemed.

She still didn’t know what had made her turn back. She could be in the wood by now, running in the sunlight. Free. Instead, she was crouched in a tiny cupboard with a boy who thought he was a wizard, both of them in danger of being roasted alive. And all to rescue one small mouse.

Or maybe more than a mouse.

Either way, she hated to think what might happen if Merlin’s father didn’t see the smoke in time.

Merlin must have been thinking along the same lines, for he suddenly flung himself at the door and rattled the latch. “Redeye!” he spluttered. “He’s burning!”

Natalie caught his jumper. “Wait,” she whispered, though she wanted nothing more than to rush out herself. What was taking them so long?

Then the front door crashed open. The passage filled with yelling Casters falling over one another in their haste to reach the cellar. Still holding tightly to Merlin’s jumper, Natalie put her eye to a crack in the door and peered through the smoke. Some of the spellclave had brought their bows, impressive modern ones, which they used to fling the burning rags out of the way. Ferret rushed in with a bucket of water and threw it at the cellar door. There was a loud hiss as it created yet more smoke.

Then Hawk –
Lord
Hawk – pushed his way through, his scarf wrapped around his mouth and nose, swinging his bird-headed stick. “Back, you fools!” he thundered. “Get back!”