The Gorgons Gaze # 2 (Companions Quartet) (33 page)

Her parents exchanged looks. “I suppose if you go back to Hescombe we can’t stop you from seeing people in that Society of yours, can we?” her father said severely.

“It would be difficult not to see them,” agreed Connie humbly.

He sighed. “All right then. But I need hardly remind you that your great-uncle will be keeping a close eye on what you get up to from now on.”

With a gleeful nod, Connie dashed out to the shed and
pulled out the bike. Riding past the wood, she saw that the fields were still teeming with festival-goers, and the bulldozers had retreated back down the hill. Not a tree had yet been felled.

Free-wheeling down the hill into Hescombe, she sang at the top of her voice, rattled into Col’s road, and dumped her bike at the gate. As she paused to knock at the kitchen door, she heard a babble of voices inside and realized that they must have a houseful at the moment. No one heard her tap, so she pushed the door and entered. The room fell silent when the people inside saw her standing in the doorway. Dr. Brock, Evelyn, Mack, Mrs. Clamworthy, and the Trustees—Kira Okona, Kinga Potowska, and Eagle-Child—were all clustered around Col, who sat enthroned in an armchair by the stove, plastered leg up on a footstool. Mack, as usual, was the first to recover from her abrupt appearance.

“Hey now, if it isn’t our universal! Come on in, darling.”

“Connie, we’re delighted to see you!” Mrs. Clamworthy exclaimed.

“But a bit surprised,” added Dr. Brock. “We thought you’d been taken away for good by your parents.”

She shook her head shyly in front of all these watching eyes. “No, and it’s better than that.” She knelt beside Col. “I’m back.”

“You’re what?” he burst out.

Evelyn swooped down and gave her a hug. “That’s great, Connie!”

“I’m back—back in Hescombe, going to Chartmouth School—I’m back.”

“And the Society?” Dr. Brock asked quickly. A golden snout peeped out of his jacket pocket and sniffed the air.

“We haven’t worked out the finer details yet,” Connie admitted, reaching to take Argand from him.

“But that’s good enough for now!” Col said happily as Connie cradled Argand and scratched the dragonet’s neck, causing her to shiver with pleasure. “So, I’ll see you at school next week then?”

“Absolutely.” Connie beamed.

The following Wednesday, with the seagulls calling raucously outside, welcoming her back to Hescombe, Connie put on her new uniform in her bedroom in the attic. Tying her school tie in the mirror, Connie smiled at herself. Yes, it was going to be okay.

Her parents escorted her to the bus stop leaving her in the capable hands of Anneena and Jane.

“It’s so good to have you back where you belong,” said Anneena, giving her a hug. “Has your great-aunt really gone off to Brazil?”

“Yeah.” Connie’s smile stretched from ear to ear at the thought. Godiva had been so happy as she set off on her voyage.

“Did you hear about the wood, Connie?” Jane asked. “Zed Bailey was on TV this morning.”

Connie shook her head. “No, what’s happened now?”

“Well, the road scheme has been stopped in its tracks, and there’s going to be a further public inquiry,” Jane said with a triumphant smile. “Thanks to the outcry over Merlin’s Oak.”

“They’re now calling it a site of unique cultural importance!” Anneena butted in proudly. “And the appeal’s going through the roof. It seems that your story got on the American news last Saturday and we’ve been inundated with pledges from Merlin enthusiasts from all over.”

“So what’ll they do about the road, do you think?” Connie asked, trying to ignore the reference to her fame.

“Oh, it’ll be built, of course. Axoil is too powerful to be stopped,” Anneena said grimacing. “They still want a road for their tankers. But they’ll have to bypass the wood and take a less direct route.”

“It’s not all good news. It’ll mean that a lot of farmland will have to be sacrificed,” Jane added.

“Oh, no.” Connie began to imagine the new casualties this would cause—the meadow dwellers and other animals. She wished there didn’t have to be any road at all, but she knew that wish was out of step with the fast pace of the modern world.

“Don’t worry too much, Connie. It’s probably the best we could hope for,” Anneena concluded. “We may not
have gotten everything we wanted—but we got enough to save the wood.”

The bus was already drawing up when they spotted Col swinging along on his crutches as quickly as he could toward the stop, a heavy bag over his shoulder. Jane ran to relieve him of his burden while Anneena held the bus for him. He hobbled on board and sat down next to Connie.

“So, finally all the team’s here then?” he said with a grin at the three girls. “Are you okay with being a late arrival with me at Chartmouth, Connie?” he asked her.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said firmly. “As you once told me, we share many things.”

“Yeah, like life and death situations,” he said softly so Anneena and Jane could not hear. “I haven’t thanked you for coming for me.”

“And I haven’t thanked you for coming for
me
.”

“I suppose that makes us even.” His words recalled Connie’s last words to Kullervo. “He’ll be back, won’t he?”

“I’m afraid so. We’ve only bought ourselves a little breathing space. But next time, I’m going to be better prepared.”

“So will I.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Watching the streets of Hescombe pass, Connie pondered the change that had come over her in the last week, how Kullervo had forced a door open in her mind and claimed her as his companion. Would she ever be able to sever that link? She felt guilty about the decision she had made in the wood.
She was no use to anyone if she couldn’t bring herself to destroy Kullervo when she had him in her power. He was still out to eradicate humanity from the earth. If she couldn’t stop him, who would be able to do it? Turning from these gloomy thoughts, she thought of another question that wanted answering.

“And your mother?” Connie asked Col hesitantly, sensing she was trespassing on some very private territory for him.

“I don’t know.” He looked out of the window. Rat was waiting by the roadside at the picnic spot. The bus pulled over to pick him up. “She’s disappeared again. I don’t know what she’ll do now, thrown out of the Society and not best friends with Kullervo anymore. But I expect she’ll turn up again some day.”

Connie said nothing as she waited for Rat to board the bus. She was not sure she could forgive Col’s mother yet for keeping her captive all those days. She hoped she would not have to see Cassandra again and, she added to herself, she would not be too upset if she never saw the gorgon again, either.

“Present for you,” Rat said, squeezing onto the seat next to Col. He threw a handful of gleaming chestnuts in Connie’s lap. “Hand them ‘round—there’ll be plenty more where they came from, thanks to you guys.”

The bus climbed out of Hescombe, taking the winding road that led around the edge of the wood, leaving the secrets of the trees untouched.

JULIA GOLDING
grew up on the edge of Epping Forest near London. After studying English at Cambridge University, she joined the Foreign Office and served in Poland. Her work as a diplomat took her from the Tatra Mountains to the bottom of a Silesian coal mine. She later joined Oxfam as a lobbyist on conflict issues, campaigning at the United Nations and with governments to lessen the impact of war on civilians living in war zones.

Married with three children, Julia Golding now lives in Oxford, England, and works as a freelance writer.
The Gorgon’s Gaze
is the second book in her eco-fantasy series, The Companions Quartet. The first book is
Secret of the Sirens
. Her first novel,
The Diamond of Drury Lane
, received the Nestlé Children’s Book Prize and the Ottakar’s Children’s Book Prize in England.