The Crystal Mirror (5 page)

“A red moon?” Gwen said quickly. “Claudia? Are you sure that’s what they were saying?”

“Yes, they said the moon was red last night. They were really stressed about it.”

“They don’t know the red river was caused by me, though?” Laney bit her lip.

“It won’t take them long to figure it out. One of the Thorns saw you looking at the cat eyes on our pet shop wall, so they must’ve known you could see them. It’s a good thing you had your sunglasses on. You’ll have to tell everyone you’ve Awakened soon, though.”

Claudia stopped, turning to look at Gwen, who had risen from the bench, her face creased in thought. “A red moon – this is unexpected.” The old lady walked slowly back and forth. “I was working on potions last night so I did not go out, but I knew there was something… The trees felt a change deep down in their roots.”

“When my mum was talking about a red moon, she said something about a child of a
weaver
,” said Claudia.

Gwen continued tottering up and down the plant house, ignoring the two girls for a moment. The curling silvery marks on her hands stood out clearly. “Is this really the moment that the prophecy speaks of?” she muttered to herself. “Is it really so soon?”

“What’s wrong?” said Claudia. “I don’t understand what’s so bad about the moon looking like that. Is it a Thorn tribe thing?”

Gwen stopped in front of Laney and now her kindliness had vanished. “I must go and find the other Elders. Where are they, Claudia?”

There was a bang at the front door.

Claudia ran halfway down the passageway. She looked back, her face serious. “Um, you’ll never believe it, but they’re outside right now.”

“Take Laney and go!” Gwen commanded. “Get out the back way. If you’re careful maybe even the Greytails won’t hear you.”

“Sure – easy!” said Claudia.

Laney jumped as she heard more hammering on the front door. “Will they be angry with me?”

“I’ll tell them that you’ve Awakened, but I need to talk to them alone.” Gwen straightened her velvet hat and headed for the passageway with surprising speed. “You can meet them properly later on. Quickly now, my dear. Follow Claudia.”

Laney followed Claudia out of the side door as Gwen went to let her visitors in at the front. Claudia skulked through the jungle-like garden and climbed a tree in the corner, which had a cluster of low branches.

“You can climb, can’t you?” said Claudia, springing off the branch and over the fence in a graceful bound.

Laney heard voices coming from the house and shrank back behind a screen of leaves. The fence didn’t look easy to get over but if Claudia had done it then surely she could too. “Of course I can climb.” She heaved herself on to the lowest branch and tried to swing one leg over the fence.

The way that Gwen had hurried her out of the door made her nervous. What were the other Elders like and who were they?

There was a creak that sounded like the door of the plant house opening. Laney pushed herself on to the fence and tried to swing her other leg across. She hung for a moment, gripping on to the top of the wood with both hands. Now she was stuck. Great.

“Just swing yourself over,” hissed Claudia.

Laney flung herself over, slid down the other side of the fence and landed in a crumpled heap. Claudia shook with silent laughter as she dragged Laney up and pulled her into the undergrowth.

“Stop laughing!” said Laney.

“Shh! Just stay still for a minute,” Claudia whispered back.

Laney froze. She couldn’t hear anything or see anyone following.

“It’s all right. They didn’t come outside,” said Claudia at last, straightening up.

“How do you know they’ve gone?” said Laney.

“I’m a Greytail. Our senses are sharper than any other tribe’s. I can hear and smell things you can’t.”

“Lucky you.” Laney brushed dead leaves off her T-shirt.

“You wouldn’t say that if you had to walk past the boys’ changing room after they’ve had PE.” Claudia wrinkled her nose. “It’s so gross!”

“I don’t need super senses to know that.” Laney’s head suddenly ached and she leaned against a tree.
She was worried about the way that Gwen had got rid of her. “Will people be happy that I’ve, you know, changed into a faerie?” she asked.

“Course they will. It’s just…” Claudia screwed her face up. “You’re twelve. Everyone was sure by now that you didn’t have proper faerie magic. And now, suddenly, here you are.”

“How old were you when you changed then? Did yours happen on your birthday?”

“No, it wasn’t my birthday. I found out when I was about five, but I think I always knew in a way. Tom was always talking to the cats in front of me so it was pretty obvious.”

“Tom can talk to cats?” asked Laney.

“Yeah, we all can – all of us in the Greytail tribe,” said Claudia.

Laney thought of Claudia’s brother –
seventeen-year
-old football-loving Tom. It seemed so weird that he had this whole side she didn’t know about. “So it usually happens when you’re younger than twelve?”

“Much younger.”

Laney’s heart sank. She couldn’t even do something weird like becoming a faerie in a normal kind of way.

A light rain began to fall gently on their heads, soaking into their clothes.

“Ugh! Laney, stop it,” said Claudia. “I hate getting
wet. I told you that.”

“What?” Laney stared round. The rain was only falling in a small circle, which happened to be exactly where they were standing. It was her. She was making it rain.

“You’re seriously going to have to stop it,” Claudia told her. “You can’t go round making it rain everywhere.”

“I wasn’t trying to make it happen,” snapped Laney. “It just did!” The rain got heavier, pelting them with large drops.

“Laney!” screeched Claudia.

Laney raced away up the road, leaving the rain shower and Claudia behind.

She slowed down after she turned into Beacon Way, passing the entrance to The Cattery, the crescent-shaped road where Claudia and her family lived. This time she wasn’t surprised to see a few odd-looking houses among the row of normal ones. From a distance it looked as if Claudia’s house had leopard-print walls. Laney blinked and walked on.

She couldn’t help thinking that she was even more of a screw-up as a faerie than before she’d changed. First she’d got herself into trouble at school and then she’d turned the river red.

She climbed the hill and saw Mrs Mottle and Mrs Hughes standing and chatting in the street. There
were no gold rings in their eyes, which meant that they couldn’t see any change in hers either. They were human. As she got closer, she heard bits of their conversation.

“And now there’s a big patch of red in the river,” Mrs Mottle told her neighbour. “I talked to Mr Lionhart down at the pet shop about it and he went very quiet.”

“I bet it’s a chemical spill. Someone should tell the council about it,” said Mrs Hughes. “Did you see that big red moon last night? It gave me quite a shiver.”

A crowd of white petals flew down from the sky and dive-bombed Mrs Mottle. Laney held her breath but Mrs Mottle didn’t even blink. The sprites swept on past her ear and flew off with a tinkle of laughter. Then they came round for a second time, flying right between the two women.

“Oh dear, it’s getting a bit windy, isn’t it?” said Mrs Mottle, oblivious to the tiny pale things dancing past her nose. “I hope there isn’t going to be another storm.”

As Laney went past, Mrs Hughes whispered something and Mrs Mottle nodded. She replied in a low murmur that Laney could still hear. “My Craig told me that she broke a water fountain at school yesterday. She’s turning into quite a little troublemaker.”

Laney sped up, scared that any second she might make it rain on them – or something worse. She hurried down Oldwing Rise and her stomach turned over when she reached her house. The effect was quite faint, but it was definitely there – a dappled blue light played across the walls as if the whole house was underwater. Maybe becoming a Mist faerie had changed her house too.

Kim’s car was gone, which probably meant that she and Toby had gone shopping. Her dad would be out with his work mate, Simon, fixing somebody’s water pipes. She let herself in, went to the fridge and poured some juice. Her head was still pounding. She gulped some of the drink and tried to calm down.

The back door slammed. “Laney?” her dad called.

“I’m in the kitchen,” said Laney. He must have been out in the back garden.

“Where have you been? I was looking for you.” He stopped in the doorway. “I need to talk to you.”

Oh great. He was still cross about the candles yesterday, which meant he’d want a long serious talk. She felt as if it was written on her forehead:
I have a huge
secret. I’m a Mist faerie.
But of course he couldn’t know.

“I went out for a walk,” Laney said, and her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn’t even had any breakfast yet.

“You shouldn’t have asked Kim to borrow those candles yesterday. You know I don’t like them.” Her dad leaned against the door frame, his face hidden in shadow.

Laney’s shoulders tensed. “I would have been careful with them.” She knew she shouldn’t bother arguing. He wouldn’t understand.

She glanced at him and then lowered her glass. She still couldn’t see him properly because the sun was shining into her eyes. But there was something about the way he was standing. He was so still he hardly even seemed to be breathing.

“What’s the matter?” Laney’s heart thumped. Claudia had told her humans couldn’t see the change in her eyes.

“When did this happen?” Her dad’s voice was hoarse.

“What do you mean?” She was playing for time now. The glass slipped a little between her fingers, so she gripped it tighter.

Her dad stepped forwards out of the shadows and looked at her with bright, gold-ringed eyes. “When did you become a faerie?”

Laney’s mind whirled. “You’re one of them! You knew about all of it!”

“Laney,” said her dad. “Answer my question. When did this happen?”

“Last night.” Her face grew red. “And you’ve been keeping it all a secret – pretending that everything’s normal. Why didn’t you tell me?”

And now the pieces began to slot together like a jigsaw puzzle. The power of the tribes ran in families. Claudia and her brother were both Greytails, probably their parents were too. Fletcher and his family were Thorns. And her home already looked like a house that belonged to a Mist faerie.

Of course he was one of them. After all, he fixed water pipes and stuff for his job. He was probably using his power over water all the time.

“Why didn’t you tell me this was going to happen to me – tell me I was going to get these powers one day? I broke the water fountain in school yesterday. I touched the tap and it just exploded everywhere.” She couldn’t help staring at him and hating the look of his golden eyes. She’d always thought he had blue eyes, just like hers. Now that was just a lie too.

“I’m sorry. I began to think your powers might be emerging, but I hoped that it was nothing.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you OK?”

Laney nodded, her throat too tight to speak.

He hesitated. “Has everything that’s happened
been to do with water?”

“Yes, everything. Isn’t that… I mean, aren’t you the same?”

“Yes, I am.” An odd look passed across his face, half sad and half happy. “I meant to tell you about all of this, one day. But then you didn’t Awaken and I thought perhaps you never would. Twelve years old is quite late to change. The powers of each tribe run in families but some people don’t have faerie magic even if they come from faerie parents. It’s rare, but it happens.”

They come from faerie parents…

Laney’s heart jolted painfully. “So Mum was a faerie too?”

Her dad rubbed his forehead. “Laney…”

A car door slammed outside and keys jangled.

“Hello! We’re back!” called Kim, carrying a bunch of shopping bags through the front door. “Are you all right?” She looked from Laney’s face to her dad’s. “You look really serious.”

Laney was half afraid to look at her stepmum. But when she did she found that Kim’s eyes were the same greeny-grey they’d always been. Kim was a human.

“We’re fine.” Mr Rivers smiled. “Just…talking.”

“There are some more shopping bags in the car,” said Kim. “Could one of you get them for me?” She went back outside to fetch Toby.

“I know this must be a shock,” said Mr Rivers quietly after she’d gone. “But Kim doesn’t know and she mustn’t know. It’s safer that way.”

Laney nodded, but she wondered who it was really safer for.

Her dad went to help with the shopping bags and she escaped upstairs. Everything in her room felt like it was from another time. She looked around at all her stuff, things she’d bought, old toys and magazines. None of it mattered now. All this time, there had been this huge thing waiting to happen.

She slumped down on her bed. What if her mum had been a faerie too? She was sure her dad had been just about to say so. Her mum had been a faerie but Kim wasn’t. What did that mean?

She took a photo album out of a drawer in her bedside table and flicked to the front. Her mum had died when she was two. She’d developed an illness. That was all Laney really knew and she didn’t remember much more. Sometimes she had flashes of memory – a little garden at the bottom of a huge hill, or crowding round a fireplace in the winter with tall flames leaping up the chimney.

In the photos her mum’s eyes were brown. But maybe faerie eyes didn’t show up in photographs.

So why had her dad kept it such a secret? Didn’t she have a right to know?

She lingered over her favourite picture. It showed
Laney as a baby being held by her mum. They were both laughing. Her mum had short brown hair. Her dad must have been taking the photo.

She closed the album and shoved it back in the drawer. Her dad had thought she had no powers. He’d thought she would never become a faerie. Maybe that was why he didn’t bother to tell her anything. But now that she’d changed, he didn’t seem proud of her at all.

There was a knock and her dad came in. “I just wanted to check that you’re OK.” He closed the door behind him. “I didn’t tell you about the faerie world because I left it behind long ago. I don’t go to their meetings or anything. I just didn’t want to any more.”

Laney’s forehead creased. “But why? Was it after Mum died?”

Her dad struggled with the words. “Yes, that had…a lot to do with it. I had you to think about and I believed it was better to keep you away from it all. You see, there are these different tribes—”

“I know about the tribes already,” Laney cut in.

Mr Rivers frowned. “Well, that’s…good, I guess. But you must be careful not to get involved with them. It would be best if you kept away from them completely.”

“Dad! These are people I know. Claudia’s a Greytail and she’s OK.”

“You’ve got to try and understand. They’re not to be trusted.” Her dad’s voice rose, then he stopped and carried on in a whisper. “We had a life and a home before they interfered.”

“Do you mean…when we lived in a house at the bottom of a hill? I think I remember a little bit.”

Her dad’s face closed up. “It was a long time ago. What you need to know is that we had to leave because of the tribes, because of their fighting.” He took a deep breath. “And you need to know about the faerie rings. Don’t go too near them; they’re dangerous.”

“Why? What do they do?”

“They’re gateways to the Otherworld and they will suck you in if you go too close.” Her dad looked as if he was about to say more, but he broke off. Beneath the sound of Toby playing downstairs there was something else…a rhythmic tapping that was coming closer.

Mr Rivers stared out of Laney’s window. “Not now! He can’t have found out that fast!”

Laney got up to look.

A man with enormous shoulders and grey hair came slowly down Oldwing Rise with his walking stick tapping on the ground. He looked up at the window, as if he had heard Mr Rivers’ words, and smiled.

“Who’s that?” Laney didn’t like the man’s smile. It
hadn’t reached his eyes.

“That’s Peter Stingwood. He’s a Thorn and he lives over in Gillforth.”

At once, Laney wondered if this was all about the river turning red. “Dad? I made a mistake when I went out last night. I stepped into the river and part of it turned this horrible red colour.” Laney had a sudden vivid recollection of the shadowy figure that had terrified her so much. She tried to shake off the twist of fear that returned with the memory. “I just got spooked in the dark – I think it was the red moon, making everything look all strange…”

“What’s that?” Her dad turned white. “Did you say there was a red moon
last night
?”

“Yes, it was a full moon and it was quite a deep red,” Laney’s voice faltered.

“Why didn’t I see it? I didn’t know…”

Laney blinked. That was almost the same as what Gwen had said. Her stomach turned over. She’d never seen her dad look so worried before.

The tapping sound of the walking stick came from the front path. Then came the knock at the door.

“Hello, Peter.” Kim’s voice came from the hallway. “How are you? Did you come to see Robert? It’s not a plumbing disaster, I hope?”

Laney and her dad listened for the muttered reply from downstairs.

“Dad? Is everything all right?” said Laney.

“You’ll have to come downstairs and meet Peter Stingwood.” Her dad’s voice was grim. “But leave the talking to me. You don’t know what you’re dealing with.”