Witched! Page 8

  ‘And who is that?’ Dot asked, eyeing the rolled-up golem nestled in the crook of Cora’s arm.

  ‘Oh. It’s a creature called a golem,’ she said. ‘We rescued it.’

  ‘From a fire,’ said Tock.

  ‘And a warlock,’ said Tick.

  Scratch sat up on the bed and warily approached the golem. The cat sniffed the creature curiously and when the golem didn’t move, Scratch returned to his place beside Dot.

  Cora placed the golem on the floor, where it stayed, still in a ball. If the screeching of the beetle worms didn’t stir the creature, she wasn’t sure what could.

  ‘Okay fairies, come with me,’ Belle said, moving to the door with the metal beetle-worm box in her hands.

  ‘Is it lunchtime?’ Tick asked, hopeful.

  ‘No,’ said the hobgoblin.

  ‘It’s mucus time.’

  ‘Mucus time?’ groaned Tock.

  Reluctantly, the fairies followed Belle out of the room.

  Cora sat down on the edge of Dot’s bed. She looked at the old woman and Scratch. It was the first time that just the three of them had been alone together since Urt.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Cora asked.

  Dot nodded. ‘I will be.’

  ‘When Kaede . . . when you were, I thought . . .’

  Dot placed a hand on Cora’s.

  ‘Oh, it was just a small bolt of lightning,’ said Dot. ‘No worse than a graze.’ She smiled at Cora to show that she was back to her normal self.

  But Cora knew what Dot was doing. She was trying to make her feel better. Even as she smiled, Cora could see that there was a heaviness behind Dot’s eyes, a dullness that wasn’t there before. Dot knew that what had happened to her was far more serious than a graze.

  ‘Cora, I . . .’ Dot paused. ‘There are some things I need to tell you,’ she said. ‘Important things.’

  Since Tynth, Cora had hoped she would get the chance to talk to Dot.

  She remembered the moment Dot had said she was protecting her from Kaede. That she had been all along. That Cora’s parents had asked her to.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Dot continued. ‘I was going to tell you that day when you found the shoe polish . . . but then that creature appeared in Urt, and you were gone and . . .

  Cora watched as the old woman shook her head and looked down, regretful. Although Cora wanted to know anything and everything about her parents, she didn’t want Dot to feel bad.

  ‘It’s okay, Dot,’ she said, placing a hand on hers. ‘You’re not going anywhere.’

  Dot smiled half-heartedly before her face turned into one of seriousness that Cora had seen many times before. Cora’s stomach bubbled with anticipation. It was the first time Dot had spoken to her about her parents. The first time anyone had. Cora braced herself for what she was about to hear.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Dot placed her hands on her lap.

  Cora recognised this as something she often did when she was about to tell her a story. But this time, instead of looking at Cora, Dot stared down at her hands.

  ‘I met them because of Geraldine. And Geraldine was . . . well, Geraldine was a witch,’ Dot added.

  ‘Who’s Geraldine?’ Cora asked.

  ‘A sea witch. But I didn’t know Geraldine was a sea witch at the time,’ Dot said. ‘And I didn’t know much at all about the magical world back then, even less than I do now. Geraldine came to Urt often, looking for trinkets and items to trade. She had striking blue hair. You couldn’t miss her.’

  Cora tried to imagine such a woman walking through Urt’s dusty and grey streets.

  ‘Well, one night, five years ago, when it had rained more than I had ever seen it rain in Urt, Geraldine found me again. I didn’t know then how she always managed to find me no matter where I was in Urt. That night, she wanted help in finding a very rare jewel called the Eye of the Sea. It was said to be lost decades ago. I asked her what she needed it for, but she wouldn’t say. She just said that she needed it soon.

  ‘Of course, it took me days to find the Eye. After searching Urt and the cities around it, I eventually stumbled upon the jewel. It was no bigger than a gold coin and was hidden in a removable compartment in the old ship wreckage on the bay.

  ‘I went to Geraldine with the jewel. She was staying at an inn. It was an awful one that isn’t there anymore. It was called the Surly Sailor and was down by the docks. When I reached the door to her room, I knocked and waited. There was no answer but I heard voices on the other side of the door. A few voices, not just Geraldine’s. So I knocked again, harder this time. I thought I heard the sound of a baby crying and then suddenly the door flew open in front of me. Geraldine was standing in the middle of the room, nowhere near the door, her hand outstretched towards me, and I realised that she had opened the door with magic. And then I saw Geraldine’s face. It wasn’t her usual one. She was always unruffled and calm. But her face was white as snow. I’ll never forget it. There was fear in her eyes—’

  Dot stopped. Cora saw her hesitate.

  ‘Go on,’ Cora said. ‘Please.’

  ‘There was . . . blood . . . on her hands and clothes,’ Dot continued.

  ‘Strewn around the room were candles, towels, papers, bowls and jars of poultices and bubbling liquids. There was a crib by the bed and on the bed were . . . your parents.’

  Cora swallowed. A small feeling in her stomach began to grow. She couldn’t place it. But every time Dot mentioned her parents, she looked over at her with sadness. Cora did her best to ignore the growing feeling of foreboding as she listened.

  ‘They were injured . . . badly injured,’ Dot said, her voice softening.

  ‘I demanded to know what was going on. That I wouldn’t give Geraldine the jewel until she explained. Geraldine quickly told me that she was a witch and that your parents needed her help. Your father tried to stand up. He said it was true. That he and his family were being hunted by an evil man with powerful magic. And that Geraldine was their last hope.’

  Dot looked at Cora. ‘I didn’t know what to think. And then I saw you. A little girl just barely five, fast asleep on the floor with a blanket like you had been taken from your bed in the middle of the night.’

  ‘Please, your mother said. Please help us. Your father asked Geraldine if I could be trusted. Geraldine said yes, and that a human living out of the magical world would be the best chance they had.’

  Dot stopped. ‘I didn’t know what they meant at the time. But now I do. Your mother said that you were in danger. A man would come looking for you. She begged for Geraldine and me to protect you. To hide you from him . . .

  ‘She held my hand like I’m holding yours now.’

  Dot looked at her again with sadness.

  ‘While I was there, their injuries worsened, quickly. Geraldine had tried everything she knew to save them . . . spells, elixirs, she even tried to give them her strength . . . but it was no use . . . even with the Eye of the Sea . . .’

  Dot’s bottom lip shook as she said the next words.

  ‘I’m sorry, Cora. That night, I’m afraid your parents couldn’t be saved.’

  Chapter Sixteen

  Dot’s words hit Cora like a tall wall of stone. She felt like her world was spinning. Cora was glad that she was sitting down. Her parents were . . . gone? But they had escaped Kaede. They had . . .

  ‘I’m so very sorry, Cora,’ Dot said. ‘I should have told you.’

  Dot’s words sounded far away, like she was in another room. Cora felt her eye brim with tears. Her parents weren’t out there. They weren’t hiding somewhere from Kaede. They were . . . gone. Not only that. They were gone years ago. The thoughts that she’d had of finally meeting her family, of running into her parents’ arms, crumbled and floated away like ash in a breeze. Everything that she had gone through to get to them, to see them . . . it had all been for nothing. Kaede had succeeded. He had taken away everything. Cora couldn’t stop the rise of a bubble of anger. It floated inside her, just beneath
the surface.

  ‘When your parents were . . . gone,’ Dot said, her face lined with sorrow. ‘In a chaotic whirl, Geraldine hurriedly picked you up from the floor and gave you to me. Then she told me you would wake soon without a memory but that that was normal. She said that we only had a matter of seconds before we were found, that someone was coming, a man with great power, and that I had to leave immediately and never speak of this to anybody. Before I could say or do anything, she clicked her fingers and then I was standing outside in the rain, somewhere in Urt far away from the Surly Sailor . . . with you.’

  Dot smiled at her. ‘I put you down and I paced the lane I was in, thinking. Everything had happened so fast. I thought about what Geraldine and your parents had said. I thought about taking you back to the Surly Sailor . . . but then you stirred and woke up. You stared up at me and I knew I had to keep you safe.’

  All Cora remembered from that night was not knowing where she was. Her memories were gone, and in place of one of her eyes was a bumpy red scar. Rain poured down around her. She felt cold and alone. And then she saw Dot’s warm face staring down at her for the first time.

  Cora was quiet as she soaked in Dot’s words. She wasn’t sure what to say. Her parents had pleaded for Dot to take her. To keep her hidden from Kaede. And she had.

  ‘I went back to the Surly Sailor the next morning,’ Dot said. ‘But . . . Geraldine was gone.’

  ‘Where is she now?’ Cora asked. ‘Geraldine?’

  Dot shook her head. ‘That was the last I ever saw of her.’

  ‘Do you know what happened to me?’ Cora asked. ‘Kaede said that my parents were responsible for . . .’ She lifted a hand to where her other eye used to be.

  Gently, Dot pulled Cora’s hand down from her face. She stared back at her, squeezing her hand tightly. ‘You were already missing your eye when I met you,’ Dot said.

  ‘What were they like?’ Cora asked, brushing away a tear.

  The old woman’s eyes glistened as she smiled. ‘Strong and brave . . . like you. You have your mother’s hair.’

  Cora reached up and touched her hair. She tried to picture what her mother had looked like. And her father. Although Dot’s words were hard to hear, she now had something. A part of their story. Something to hold onto.

  ‘When you asked me if I knew what you are . . . I didn’t know. All I knew was that you were a child,’ Dot said, her voice turning into a whisper. ‘You were special and needed to be protected. I was going to tell you about your parents, about all of it. Years passed and I thought we were safe and that it was time to tell you everything. But then . . .’

  ‘The Jinx,’ Cora said.

  Dot nodded.

  Cora could see that the energy and strength that Dot had had minutes ago, was now fading fast. She needed to rest.

  ‘We didn’t live behind a wall for the view,’ Dot added, smiling at her. The old woman closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. ‘I’m feeling . . . a bit . . . tired, now, dear,’ she said softly. ‘But . . . you must find Geraldine. Promise me.’

  ‘I promise,’ Cora said, taking in Dot’s words. Her parents were gone. All the other syphons were gone. It was just her. And Kaede. They were the last ones left. Then Cora realised Dot had never mentioned anything about a brother on the night that she had met her parents.

  ‘Dot, was there anybody else in the room that night?’ she asked.

  Dot kept her eyes closed.

  ‘Dot?’ Cora prompted. She shook the woman’s hand gently. Dot’s eyes stayed closed. ‘Dot?’

  Cora’s heart quickened with fear. Uh-oh. She reached a hand to Dot’s forehead. Dot still needed the obsidian stone. She was about to call out to Belle when she saw the old woman’s chest move as she breathed in and out, a small snore filling the room. Cora relaxed. Dot had fallen asleep. Gently, Cora placed a pillow behind the old woman’s head.

  As she sat there, Cora’s mind was a whirl. She still had so many questions. Though somehow she felt like Dot had told her all she knew. But why hadn’t Dot mentioned anything about a brother? Was he there? Was Kaede even telling the truth? Or was it all a lie?

  Cora remembered that she still had to go to Troll Town and find obsidian stone for Dot. But after everything Dot had told her, her mind had turned firmly back to Kaede. An anger simmered below the surface. Kaede had destroyed her family. And if it wasn’t for her parents, there wouldn’t be any syphons left. Unless . . .

  Cora looked down at the floor in thought. She mulled over everything Dot had said. The Eye of the Sea. Urt. The room at the Surly Sailor. Geraldine. Voices. And then she remembered that Dot had said there was a crib by the bed. Could that have been her brother? Fear and excitement bubbled inside of her. She and Kaede weren’t the last syphons left after all.

  Suddenly, the golem on the floor began to sway from left to right. It rocked round and round in a circle and Cora watched as the creature then unrolled itself from its ball. Looking around, it spotted Cora and stared up at her with its big round eyes. Then, slowly, it opened up one of its clenched fists.

  And Cora gasped.

  Sitting in the middle of the palm of his rocky hand was . . .

  Archibald’s obsidian-stone ring.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Cora couldn’t believe it.

  She stared at the warlock’s ring. How had the golem . . . ? Then she thought back to the study. The creature must have grabbed it from beneath the lounge, after she had removed it from Archibald’s finger. It wasn’t lost after all. The golem had swiped it while they were in the hidden room behind the bookcase. And now it was here. She could have kissed the golem!

  The golem sat staring down at the obsidian-stone ring glinting on its rocky palm, unsure of what to do with it.

  Slowly, Cora knelt down on the floor opposite the creature. Belle had said that Dot still needed the stone so she needed to be careful not to frighten the golem. The last thing she wanted was for the creature to run away with the ring. Or worse. Swallow it.

  Scratch padded over to the edge of the bed and peered down at the creature curiously.

  Cora wasn’t sure what to do. Should she ask politely for the ring? Could the golem even understand her? Should she try to take it while the golem wasn’t looking? Uncertain, Cora reached an arm out to the golem, palm up, like she had done in Archibald’s study.

  The golem looked at her hand before tilting its head, its eyes blinking.

  Cora stopped. She thought back to the study and remembered that it understood Archibald when he spoke to it.

  ‘Can I . . . look at that?’ Cora asked politely.

  In the quiet room, Cora heard loud shouts and zaps of magic from outside Belle’s home. She stopped. The golem turned towards the noise, too.

  Cora was about to get up and investigate when she heard the distinct sound of Tick squealing and Tock calling his brother a baby.

  ‘Please?’ Cora added to the golem.

  The golem turned back and looked at Cora’s hand. Then it looked at the ring. Hesitantly, the creature reached out and turned his palm to the side so that the ring fell into Cora’s open hand.

  Cora stared down at it. The black stone was warm on her skin.

  ‘Thank you,’ Cora said to the creature.

  ‘Food?’ the golem croaked in a gravelly voice. With a finger, it pointed to its open mouth.

  Of course. It is hungry. Cora searched around the room for something she could give the creature in return. She spotted a small clump of half-eaten bread on a plate on the floor by Dot’s bed. She glanced at Dot. The old woman continued to sleep.

  Cora grabbed the half-eaten bread and handed it to the golem. The creature’s eyes widened with delight. It held the clump of bread closely to its eyes, rolling it around in its hands, assessing it. Then it took a bite. As it ate happily, Cora noticed that the golem only had three teeth.

  There was a flutter from the doorway and Cora turned to find Tick and Tock flying into the room, looks of revulsion across their fairy f
aces.

  Cora was about to show them what she held in her hand but she stopped when she saw what the fairies were covered in. Thick yellow goo dripped from every part of them. It was all over their clothes, hands, feet and heads. It was like they had taken a bath in a river of jelly.

  ‘What happened to you two?’ Cora asked, pointing to the yellow goo on their clothes that was steadily becoming yellow goo on the floor.

  ‘It’s beetle-worm mucus,’ said Tick holding his hands out with disgust. Cora could see that his hair and clothes were singed in many places. ‘Never again.’

  Behind them, Belle walked into the room carrying a bucket full of goo. She was also covered in goo but was clearly much less disgusted by it.

  Belle swiped some of the mucus off her shoulder and flung it straight into the bucket in her hand. Then she went over to the fairies and swiped off the goo dangling from them too.

  ‘Beetle-worm mucus is very expensive,’ she said.

  ‘And the beetle worms . . .’ Cora said.

  The hobgoblin looked at her, reading her mind. ‘Oh, don’t worry. The beetle worms are fine,’ Belle said. ‘We just had to make them a little bit angry.’

  ‘Tick tickled them,’ said Tock.

  Tick stuck his tongue out in revulsion and Cora couldn’t help the smirk that grew on her lips. Looking at the sticky yellow goo all over the fairies, she was glad that she had been inside and not outside with the beetle worms and their spraying yellow mucus.

  Then the fairies suddenly noticed the golem in the middle of the floor in front of them, and the obsidian-stone ring glinting in Cora’s hand.

  ‘Where did you—’ began Tock, his fairy eyes wide.

  ‘—find bread?’ finished Tick.

  Tock elbowed him in the ribs and then flew over to Cora, eyes on Archibald’s obsidian-stone ring.

  ‘The golem took it from the study,’ said Cora. ‘That’s why we couldn’t find it.’