Stardust (3 page)

‘Nice, I think,' Allegra replied. ‘But I haven't seen her since we were about six. Joanna's always moving round the country with her job. She works for a company that makes medicines. Xanthe said she and Robyn are probably only staying here for a few months.'

A smart grey sports car was in the driveway.

‘They're here!' Allegra said. She and Lucy hurried inside. Two people were sitting at the kitchen table with Xanthe –
a woman with dark-red, shoulder-length hair and a girl with long chestnut-brown hair that was similar in colour to Lucy's. They both looked very smart. The woman was wearing a pair of cream trousers and matching jacket with a brown camisole top underneath. The girl had on a pair of designer jeans, strappy sandals and a skinny white top with a star picked out in jewels on the front. Her hair was straightened and shiny and she was wearing lipgloss and mascara. Lucy looked down at her own jeans, old trainers and faded green T-shirt and felt very scruffy in comparison.

‘Hi, girls,' Xanthe said with her usual warm smile. ‘This is Joanna and Robyn.'

Joanna kissed Allegra and then while Allegra and Robyn said hello, Joanna took Lucy's hand. ‘It's so lovely to meet
you, Lucy,' she said warmly. ‘Xanthe's been telling me all about you. So you are the Last of the Summer Spirits,' she said, looking her up and down as if she couldn't quite believe it.

Lucy blushed and nodded.

‘Sorry,' Joanna said quickly. ‘I didn't mean to embarrass you. It's just so amazing to think you have so much power and you're only just Robyn's age. Say hi to Lucy, Robyn.'

Robyn stepped forward. ‘Hi, Lucy.' Her green eyes held a sparkle of fun. ‘It's good to meet you. Xanthe's been telling us about the woods you go to. They sound great. She said there are otters and dormice there.'

‘Yeah,' said Lucy eagerly. ‘And buzzards and badgers.'

‘Cool. I can't wait to visit,' Robyn said.

‘What type of stardust spirit are you?' asked Lucy.

‘Summer, like you,' Robyn replied. ‘So's Mum.'

‘I'm sure you three don't want to sit here listening to Jo and I catch up,' Xanthe said. ‘Why don't you take some biscuits upstairs?'

Allegra nodded. ‘Come on, I'll show
you my room!' she said to Robyn.

They went upstairs with a packet of chocolate biscuits. Robyn was really good fun and had lots of stories to tell of the countries and places she had stayed in and of the stardust groups she had been part of. By the time she and her mum left at lunchtime to go back to the apartment they were renting in the nearby town, Lucy already felt that they were firm friends.

‘See you both tonight,' Robyn said as she got into the car.

‘Yeah,' Allegra replied. ‘Then you can meet Ella and Faye.'

‘And the otters and badgers,' Lucy said. She'd discovered that they were two of Robyn's favourite animals.

Joanna smiled at Lucy. ‘And Xanthe's asked me if I'll show you how to travel in
animals' minds. We can start that tonight if you'd like.'

‘Oh yes, please!' Lucy breathed. In the daytime, with Xanthe at her side, the thought of dark spirits being after her seemed much less frightening. She felt her worries fade as she thought about learning to travel in an animal's mind. She couldn't wait!

As soon as Lucy's parents had gone to bed that night, Lucy and Allegra flew to the secret glade in the woods where the stardust spirits always gathered.

Xanthe was already there. She was standing near the huge oak tree in the centre of the clearing with Joanna and Robyn. Being summer spirits they were both wearing golden dresses like Lucy's. Robyn's hair was tied back with a gold hair bobble. Stardust spirits wore different
coloured clothes according to which type of spirit they were – autumn spirits wore silver, winter spirits wore blue and spring spirits wore green.

‘Hello, you two,' Xanthe said as Lucy and Allegra swooped down. ‘Will you show Robyn around and introduce her to people?' She gave Robyn a sympathetic look. ‘It must be hard always moving to new places and having to make new friends the whole time.'

‘Oh, Robyn doesn't find that hard at all,' Joanna said breezily. ‘She makes friends very easily. Wherever we go she's always popular.'

Lucy noticed Xanthe look at her. Xanthe frowned and opened her mouth as if about to say something, but then seemed to change her mind.

‘Why don't you introduce me to the others,' Joanna said. Xanthe nodded and the two older spirits flew off.

‘Faye and Ella will be here soon,' Allegra told Robyn. ‘I bet you'll really like them.'

‘I hope so. Why don't we do some magic while we wait?' Robyn looked at Lucy. ‘Mum says you're really powerful.'

‘She is,' Allegra said. ‘Go on, Lucy, do some magic.'

Lucy felt a bit embarrassed. ‘What shall I do?'

‘Um…' Allegra thought for a moment. ‘I know. Why don't you stop a leaf falling? That's cool!'

‘But there aren't any leaves in the air,' Lucy pointed out.

‘Says who?' Allegra pointed her hand
at a nearby horse chestnut tree. ‘Wind be with me!' A breeze swept through the branches. Three leaves broke free and twirled downwards.

Lucy quickly focused on one. She let the rest of the world fade away as she stared at the spinning green spring leaf. Magic began to tingle across her skin.

Stop!
Lucy thought to the leaf. It hovered in mid-air.

‘Hey!' Lucy heard Robyn breathe beside her. ‘I've never seen anyone do that.'

Lucy let the leaf go and it twirled to the ground. However, just before it reached the grass, Robyn raised her hand. ‘Shield be with me.' The leaf was instantly surrounded by a protective shield. It shimmered around the leaf like a perfectly round, almost see-through

ball. The leaf reached the ground and bounced gently.

‘Be gone!' Robyn commanded. The shield vanished. At the same instant, Robyn snapped out, ‘Fire be with me!' The leaf burst into flames.

Lucy blinked. She was impressed. Although she could start fires easily herself she knew that most summer spirits their age found it very hard, if not impossible.

Robyn clicked her fingers and to Lucy's amazement the fire formed into a perfect column about half a metre high. She clicked her fingers again and the fire became a burning pyramid. Lucy was astonished. She'd never seen anyone make fire into shapes before. Robyn waved her hand. ‘Fire be gone!'

The fire flickered and went out. All that was left was a faint swirl of smoke that faded away into the night sky.

‘That was amazing!' Lucy said.

Allegra nodded. ‘How did you make the fire go into shapes like that?'

‘It's just practice,' Robyn replied. ‘You don't need lots of power or anything. Mum taught me and then made me practise it every night in our lessons until I could do it.' She grinned. ‘I was
very glad when I learned how to do it properly. It took six months!'

Lucy stared. ‘Your mum gives you lessons?'

Robyn nodded. ‘Every night. She makes me do stuff over and over again until I get it right.'

Allegra and Lucy exchanged looks. They'd had a few lessons from older spirits when they'd been first been learning about using their magic, but most of the time they were just left to practise on their own as they looked after the woods. ‘I'd hate that!' Allegra said.

Robyn shrugged. ‘It's OK. Mum just wants me to be as good at magic as I can be, I guess.' Just then, Xanthe and Joanna flew back over.

‘That was very impressive, Robyn,' Xanthe said.

‘Robyn's very good at magic,' Joanna said proudly.

‘Not as good as Lucy though,' Robyn said. ‘She stopped a leaf from falling, Mum. Did you see her? She just stopped it in mid-air!'

‘It's hard for any other summer spirit to compete with Lucy,' Xanthe smiled. ‘She constantly amazes the rest of us with what she can do.'

Lucy noticed Joanna's mouth tighten as if she was displeased, but in the next instant her expression had cleared. ‘Well, I'm looking forward to showing you how to travel in animals' minds, Lucy. Should we start?'

‘Yes, please,' Lucy said eagerly.

‘You'll need somewhere quieter than this,' Xanthe said, looking round the clearing. There were stardust spirits flitting through the air, sitting in the trees, walking across the grass. ‘Why don't you go to the aspen grove?'

Just then, Ella and Faye came swooping into the clearing. Allegra waved to them.

Joanna turned to Robyn. ‘You stay and make friends, Robyn. I'll come and find you when Lucy and I have finished.'

‘OK,' said Robyn happily.

Lucy showed Joanna the way to the nearby grove of trees. ‘I think you will find this fairly easy,' Joanna told her. ‘If you can stop a leaf falling, you already know the state of mind you need to get into. You must lose yourself in what
you're trying to do, stay focused but utterly relaxed.'

There was a soft swish of wings and a tawny owl landed in the branches of a nearby tree. It looked curiously at the two stardust spirits with its huge dark eyes. ‘Perfect!' Joanna said. ‘Let's see if you can fly in the owl's mind.'

She sat down beside Lucy and took her hands. ‘Think of nothing but the owl. If you do it right your body will stay here, but your mind will enter the owl's. You will see through its eyes, experience its thoughts. But remember, if you do get into its mind, it's very important that you never force an animal to do something. Controlling any other living creature is completely wrong. You can travel with it, but you must go where it wishes.

Do you understand?' Lucy nodded.

‘OK. Have a try,' Joanna said softly.

Lucy sat on the ground and gazed at the owl. Its feathers were all different shades of brown and grey and there were pale beige circles around its wide eyes. Lucy took in the line of its curved beak, its round body, its strong talons, its powerful wings. She tried to imagine what it must be like to be an owl, to swoop through the sky, eyes scanning the darkness, to hear the squeak of a mouse, to plunge downwards…

The world seemed to blur. Suddenly she was looking down from a height. She could see the clearing below her. There was Joanna, and another figure sitting cross-legged beside her, eyes shut.

It's me!
Lucy thought with a start. Her vision swam, the picture getting smaller. She hastily pushed the thought away and tried to relax. There was the clearing, the two figures, the undergrowth, and in the undergrowth a rustle, a squeak. Everything seemed louder. The owl gave a soft hoot and suddenly soared upwards.

Lucy let herself go with it. With every beat of the owl's wings they rose higher. Lucy looked down, watching the ground get further and further away. She caught flashes of the pictures in the owl's mind. A nest in a chestnut tree, a mate waiting,
two babies to feed, their open mouths, their dark eyes…

As the owl soared upwards above the trees she saw the skies overhead. Heavy rain clouds were gathering on the horizon, a black curtain that was rolling towards the woods, shutting out the stars.