Jinxed!: The Curious Curse of Cora Bell Read online

  The Jinx pulled its arm back. It looked from its hand back down to where Cora sat in the boat and back to its hand again.

  Cora sprang up. She felt . . . strange. Like she could lift a house. She tried to ignore the feeling that bubbled inside her as she watched the Jinx stare down at her.

  Then with its hand, the shadowy creature reached down towards her again.

  Cora didn’t know what to do. She was in a boat in the middle of a lake. She couldn’t run. She couldn’t hide. Then at her feet, she spotted the paddle. She picked it up and just as the Jinx’s hand was about to grab her again, she batted it away as hard as she could with the wooden paddle.

  It struck the Jinx with a CRACK! and the creature went flying backwards through the water. It was like it had been hit by something that definitely wasn’t an eleven-year-old girl. The creature came to a skidding stop in the middle of the lake, a large wave crashing onto the shore behind it.

  WHOA!

  Cora looked down at her hands, shocked at her sudden strength.

  Then the Jinx sat up in the middle of the lake. If it wasn’t happy before, it definitely didn’t look happy now. Then, standing, the creature lumbered straight towards her once more.

  Uh-oh.

  Cora thought quickly. Focus, she told herself. Maybe she could use her strange strength again. She gripped onto the paddle in her hands. She couldn’t wait for the Jinx to reach her. What if she swung and missed it? Then carefully, she took aim at the creature ahead as it sped towards her. She hefted the paddle back, closed her eye and then with a cry, she hurled it as hard as she could at the Jinx.

  The paddle soared through the night like a spear. It went straight into the creature and out the other side, dispersing its shadow into many. The shadows floated up into the night air and then with a shudder, the Jinx disappeared.

  Cora looked out onto the empty lake in amazement. Breathing heavily, she looked down at her hands again unable to comprehend how she had defeated the beast. The strange feeling inside her was still there.

  Then Cora felt a wave of dizziness hit her. She put a hand to her head. The lake around her began to spin. The boat beneath her feet rolled from side to side. She fell backwards. Just as she was about to hit the deck, she heard two POP!s nearby. Then there was nothing but darkness.

  Chapter Twenty

  Cora heard two voices. They floated in the air around her like a dream.

  ‘Maybe she is an ogre?’ suggested one of the voices.

  ‘She doesn’t look like any of the ogres we’ve seen,’ said the other voice.

  ‘Maybe she’s a shape-shifter?’ replied the first voice. ‘An ogre shape-shifter.’

  ‘Or maybe it was just . . . luck,’ said the second voice.

  She was lying on something soft. Was it a bed? Or cushions? It felt comfortable. She kept her eye closed as she listened.

  ‘Luck?’ echoed the first voice. ‘She hit a Jinx halfway across a lake. You saw it with your own eyes. We both did.’

  As she lay there, Cora suddenly realised that she wasn’t dreaming at all. Flashes of memory flooded her mind. She remembered the fairy kingdom completely destroyed. She remembered running to the lake and paddling out. She remembered the Jinx grabbing her. She remembered not being able to breathe. Then she remembered feeling strange and the Jinx disappearing.

  Somehow, she had faced the Jinx and survived. Then she recognised the two voices floating around her. They belonged to Tick and Tock. She’d thought she would never see the fairies again.

  ‘Maybe she is a witch,’ said Tick.

  Cora couldn’t help herself. ‘I’m not a witch,’ she said as she opened her eye. She stared up at Tick and Tock with a smile.

  The fairies flew down to her, surprised.

  ‘You’re alive!’ said Tick, clasping his hands together. ‘How are you alive?’

  Tock elbowed the fairy. ‘What he means to say is that we are so happy you are alive.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Tick, rubbing his side, ‘we knew you could do it.’

  The fairies helped Cora as she sat up slowly. She looked around her. They were in an empty room. Beneath her sat a bed of cushions on a wooden floor. Daylight shone through a small window opposite.

  ‘We have a few questions,’ said Tock.

  ‘So do I,’ mumbled Cora.

  ‘One: how are you alive?’ asked Tick.

  Cora smiled.

  ‘How do you feel?’ asked Tock, shooting a look at Tick.

  ‘Sore,’ she said, rubbing her back. ‘Tired.’ And she still felt that strange feeling inside. It bubbled beneath the surface. Cora pushed it aside.

  ‘Where are we?’ she asked.

  ‘We’re in a house,’ said Tock. ‘And we are somewhat sure nobody lives here.’

  ‘Somewhat sure?’ Cora questioned.

  Tick and Tock nodded.

  ‘Where is this house?’ Cora asked. Were they still in The Hollow? It didn’t look like it.

  ‘Gwell,’ said Tock.

  Cora had never heard of a place called Gwell. But Cora hadn’t heard of many places.

  ‘It’s a small town way away from The Hollow,’ explained Tock.

  ‘And far away from Urt,’ added Tick.

  ‘When did we get here?’ she asked.

  ‘Day before yesterday,’ said Tick.

  ‘And before here we were in Tranthia and before Tranthia we were in Orris —’

  ‘Wait,’ interrupted Cora, trying to understand. ‘When were we at these places?’ She tried to think back to them. Her head pounded softly in her ears. ‘I-I don’t remember.’

  ‘Oh, you won’t remember them,’ said Tock.

  ‘You have been asleep for two days,’ said Tick.

  ‘What?’ replied Cora, shocked. Two days!

  Tick and Tock nodded at her.

  ‘It gave us time,’ said Tock. ‘And we have a plan.’ He puffed out his chest confidently.

  ‘With the Jinx no longer on our tails . . .’ said Tick.

  ‘. . . we were able to magic you to different places,’ said Tock.

  ‘He won’t know where to start looking for you,’ said Tick, proudly. ‘But after what you did, he may not be back for a little while.’

  Then Cora realised something. What had happened to the Jinx? Was it over? ‘Is it . . . did I . . .?’ she stammered.

  ‘Oh, the Jinx isn’t dead,’ said Tock. ‘Just injured and angry.’

  Cora groaned. For the briefest of moments she thought she would be able to go back to Urt and look for Dot. That she was no longer cursed. That she had defeated the Jinx.

  ‘Just like King Clang is injured and angry with us,’ said Tick.

  Cora looked up at the fairies apologetically. Part of her was glad they were way away from The Hollow. She couldn’t think of facing the rest of the fairies after what she had done to their kingdom.

  ‘I-I’m sorry,’ she said to Tick and Tock. ‘About The Hollow.’

  Tick and Tock shook their heads.

  ‘We thought we had more time,’ said Tock.

  ‘Are the fairies . . . is everyone okay?’ she asked, afraid to hear the answer. Slowly, she stood up from where she sat. Her bones ached as she moved them. Tick and Tock watched her carefully.

  ‘They will be fine,’ said Tock, with a wave of his hand.

  ‘The Hollow will be rebuilt in no time,’ said Tick, a small smile on his lips.

  With a shuffle, Cora walked over to the window in the room. Looking out it, she could see a busy village outside. She was surprised the fairies were still helping her after what had happened. Why were they still helping her?

  ‘Why are you here?’ she asked, turning around. ‘With me? Why aren’t you back there helping your people?’

  ‘We got you into this mess,’ said Tick, looking down.

  ‘We are going to get you out,’ said Tock.

  Tick nodded. ‘And this is the most excitement we’ve had in years.’

  Cora stared at the fairies. There was something the
y weren’t saying. Then, under her gaze, the fairies looked to their feet.

  ‘Besides . . . King Clang . . .’ said Tick, trailing off.

  ‘He kind of . . . sort of . . .’ continued Tock.

  ‘Won’t . . . let us back,’ finished Tick.

  ‘What?’ gasped Cora.

  ‘We’ve been banished,’ said Tock.

  The guilt hit Cora like a thunderbolt. ‘You can’t go back . . . because of me?’ Not only had she destroyed The Hollow, but she had also destroyed any chance that the fairies could go back. ‘For forever?’

  ‘Well, we can’t go back because of us,’ said Tock.

  ‘King Clang will calm down in a few years,’ said Tick.

  ‘A few years?!’ exclaimed Cora.

  Tick and Tock nodded.

  Cora closed her eye. ‘You should have just left me in Urt,’ she mumbled.

  ‘Left you?’ asked Tock.

  ‘You faced a Jinx and are still alive!’ said Tick.

  ‘It’s unheard of!’

  ‘It’s unbelievable!’

  ‘I-I don’t know what that was,’ Cora said, looking away. ‘One minute I-I couldn’t breathe and then the next minute I could. I could breathe and feel everything. I felt . . . strong.’

  Tick and Tock shared a look.

  ‘What?’ asked Cora.

  ‘It’s time for the next part of our plan,’ said Tock with a smile.

  ‘The next part?’ she asked.

  ‘To hide your scent,’ said Tick.

  ‘We can do that?’

  ‘Maybe,’ said Tock.

  Cora wasn’t filled with much confidence.

  Then the fairies flew towards her, touched her on the shoulder and with a POP!, the three of them were gone.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Cora opened her eye to find herself on a dry, empty road. The wind whipped up around her. Tick and Tock fluttered nearby. Opposite them, on the other side of the road sat a small store with a red door. Above the red door swung a sign with the words Bits and Bobs. Cora thought the store looked like it could have belonged in Urt. It was completely rundown and forgotten.

  ‘Where are we?’ she asked. Cora squinted into the sun. She could see a village not far away. The dry, empty road she stood on wound all the way from the village and continued onwards, past them and up along the dry earth ahead into the distance.

  ‘The Black Market of Gwell,’ said Tock.

  Cora didn’t see any market at all. ‘Are you sure this is the right place?’

  ‘I think so,’ said Tick, scratching his head.

  Then the red door of the store in front of them opened and a man stepped out. Cora panicked. She was standing with two flying fairies in broad daylight. What if he saw them?

  But the man, who wore a hat and a cloak, didn’t even look up. He kept his head down, walked down the road and then suddenly, he shimmered . . . and disappeared. Cora stared at where the man had been just a moment earlier.

  ‘Did he just . . .?’

  ‘Yep,’ said Tock. ‘This is the right place.’

  They crossed the road to the Bits and Bobs store. The store looked even more rundown up close. The wood was rotten and the red paint on the door was peeling off around the edges. A sign sat behind a broken window.

  Gwellcome, it read.

  Tock pushed open the red door with a creak. A small bell attached to it chimed as they entered. Inside, it was dark. Cora noticed that they were the only ones in the store besides a small man who sat on a high stool behind the counter. He didn’t look up from the newspaper he was reading.

  Placed carefully on the shelves along the walls sat all sorts of . . . bits and bobs. Toys, books, clothes, furniture, rugs. Cora had never seen such a collection all in one place. If she had stumbled on a store like this back in Urt, she would have needed to make ten trips to carry it all home.

  I wish you could see this, Dot.

  Cora walked up to the nearest shelf. She ran her hand along it and a layer of thick, grey dust stuck to her fingers. She picked up a hairbrush with a silver handle and coughed as some of the dust flew up her nose. It was like none of the bits and bobs had been touched in . . . years.

  Tick and Tock flew over to the shelf beside her.

  ‘This must be the market,’ said Tock, picking up a small, pink doll’s house.

  Cora looked at the fairy. Had he not seen a doll’s house before?

  Tock opened the doors on the doll’s house and stared inside it. Cora could see small chairs and a bed inside. She waited. And as she suspected, nothing happened.

  ‘Nope,’ said Tock putting the doll’s house back on the shelf.

  ‘This must be it,’ said Tick, holding up a dusty shoe. He held it up high and stared into it. Cora waited. And again nothing happened.

  ‘What are you two doing?’ she asked, confused and slightly concerned.

  ‘We’re looking for the door to the Black Market,’ said Tock, as he held up a hat and looked inside it.

  ‘It’s hidden,’ said Tick, looking inside a vase.

  ‘The market is hidden inside a vase?’ Cora replied disbelievingly.

  ‘It could be anywhere,’ said Tick, opening a glass jar. ‘Even in here.’

  ‘The Black Market is charmed,’ said Tock, grabbing and unfurling a dress from the shelf.

  Cora sneezed as more dust flew up into the air in a plume.

  ‘So that it can’t be found by just anyone,’ said Tock, peering into a mirror that sat on the wall. Then he paused and made a face. Nothing.

  ‘The fairy godmothers said it could be anything. Even something small,’ said Tick, shoving the dress back onto the shelf.

  ‘This must be it,’ said Tock, picking up a thimble. He peered inside it. They waited. Nothing.

  Cora stepped away from the fairies. She looked around her for something that could be hiding the market. But there were so many things. She picked up a wooden doll that sat on the shelf. Dust whirled up into her mouth and eye. She coughed and spluttered. ‘Everything is so dusty,’ she said, fanning it away with a hand. Then Cora had an idea. The items in the shop were all dusty because they weren’t ever used. Which meant . . .

  ‘We need to find something that isn’t dusty,’ she whispered. She walked over to one of the shelves opposite them. She scanned the items. Dusty. She moved to the next shelf. Everything had a thick layer of dust. They hadn’t been touched.

  Then on the back wall of the store Cora’s eye spotted a small jewellery box sitting on a shelf by itself. She walked over to it and saw straight away that it wasn’t like the rest of the things in the store. It wasn’t dusty. Her heart leapt.

  Carefully, Cora picked up the jewellery box. She ran her hand along the top of the round lid. It was old. Its pink and gold colours were long faded. On its side, she saw that its winder was bent. Cora tried to picture the jewellery box when it was once a bright pink and a shining gold. Even old and broken as it was, Dot would have loved it.

  Cora lifted the lid. A soft tune floated out of the round box. On the other side of the lid was a painting of a castle, and in the centre of the box, a princess in a long, gold dress twirled on the spot. Then suddenly Cora felt herself being tugged forward.

  She gasped. The jewellery box shook in her hands. Alarmed, Cora tried to put the box back but it was stuck to her hand. Cora couldn’t pull away from it. Something was pulling her inside the box, towards the painting of the castle. It got stronger and stronger. Then her feet lifted off the ground.

  ‘Ahh!’ she cried out. She tried to call out to Tick and Tock but it was too late. With a SLURP! her whole body was sucked into the jewellery box.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Cora felt herself stretching, like she was made of elastic. First her head, then her shoulders, her torso and her legs. They all twisted and stretched as she spun around. She didn’t know which way was up. And then as quickly as it happened, it was over. With a soft clunk, Cora’s boots hit the ground. She opened her eye and saw that she wa
s on pavement instead of a store floor. And instead of being surrounded by shelves of bits and bobs, she was surrounded by a big, dimly lit marketplace.

  In front of her were shops. Dark, stone shop fronts lined up in a row. Like the traders in Urt, the shops sat on both sides of the paved road and lamps shone a murky light on the street outside the front of them. People skulked down the road and ducked in and out of the shops, their heads down.

  ‘I guess this is the market,’ Cora said to herself.

  She turned around. Behind her was a brick wall and painted on it was the same picture of the castle that was on the jewellery box.

  Then with a SLURP! the painting shimmered. Tick and Tock flew through the painting and straight into her. The three of them crashed to the ground in a heap of legs and arms and wings.

  ‘You did it!’ said Tick.

  ‘I really thought it would be the doily,’ said Tock, disappointed.

  The fairies flew upwards and lifted Cora with them. Carefully, they placed her back on her feet and then landed on the ground themselves.

  ‘Right,’ said Tick, rubbing his hands together. ‘Where shall we start?’

  The fairies looked ahead of them. A man five times their size approached them. Cora took a step backwards. The man peered down at them. He had a small beard that ran across his square chin. Tick and Tock looked up at him.

  ‘You’re blocking the door,’ he said in a deep voice.

  Quickly, Cora and the fairies stepped away from the painting on the wall.

  ‘Apologies,’ said Tick.

  The man grunted and walked towards the wall. Then the painting shimmered and he was gone.

  ‘Let’s not dilly or dally,’ said Tock, with a shudder. ‘People here might not be as friendly.’

  Cora wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that.

  The three of them walked along the paved road. Cora looked inside the first shop window they came to. Inside it were candles of all kinds of shapes, sizes and colours. They were alight with blue flames and spun in the air on their own. Then one by one they were snuffed out only to alight once more seconds later. She didn’t think they needed candles. But then again she wasn’t exactly sure what they needed.