Red Moon Rising Page 3

  A figure crouched on the riverbank nearby. Laney stopped, panic tightening her chest.

  The figure stood up and flicked long dark hair over her shoulders. She was staring intently into the river.

  Laney’s heart rate slowed again. What was Claudia doing here? She couldn’t have been the person who was standing in the fog last night. She wasn’t tall enough.

  Claudia swung round as if she could hear Laney’s thoughts. Wanting to hide her eyes, Laney pulled her sunglasses out of her jeans pocket and put them on before she walked down the slope towards the river.

  “Laney. What are you doing here?” said Claudia.

  Laney was surprised at the grim note in her voice. Claudia usually sounded so cool. “I just came for a walk.”

  “Really? Is that the only reason you’re here?” Claudia turned back to the water.

  Laney ducked past a hawthorn bush and hurried down the slope. Once she got closer she could see what Claudia was staring at. A large patch of river water was bright red. The colour stretched across to the opposite bank and several metres downstream.

  Laney swallowed. With all the other things that had happened last night, she’d forgotten that she’d stumbled into the river and seen a weird colour spread into the water. But why wasn’t it washing away?

  She pushed back her hair. “I wonder what happened to the river – it looks weird.” She tried to sound like she didn’t care.

  Claudia swung round and frowned. Her eyes had bright golden rings circling the black pupils.

  “Your eyes are the same!” gasped Laney. “They’re gold like mine.”

  “What? Show me your eyes!” said Claudia.

  Laney slowly took off her sunglasses.

  “You’ve changed,” said Claudia. “Wow! I didn’t think that was possible. I thought you were stuck halfway somehow. These last few weeks I couldn’t work out if you even knew that you were making things happen. Then you busted the water fountain yesterday and I bet you did this too.” She jerked her head at the stained river.

  Laney opened her mouth to speak but didn’t know what to say, so she just nodded.

  “Did you change last night?” Claudia carried on. “You must have done. You weren’t Awake when I saw you on the bus yesterday.”

  “What do you mean, awake?” Laney struggled for words. “I don’t get it. I know I must have powers – all the things that happened yesterday…”

  “You’ve put us in serious danger of being discovered. Talk about drawing attention to yourself! Why can’t you be more careful? Just look at this water.”

  “I’m not trying to do anything!” Laney was stung by her words. “Tell me what’s going on.”

  “Haven’t you guessed it yet?” Claudia’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”

  Laney swallowed again. “If you know what’s happening to me – just tell me, please!”

  “I’m surprised you haven’t worked it out.” Claudia looked at her pityingly. “You’re a faerie.”

  “What? A faerie!” The world seemed to tilt sideways for a moment. “Are you joking?”

  Claudia gave a half-smile. “I’m totally serious. You’ve just Awoken into your full powers. That’s why your eyes have turned gold. You’re a faerie. Just like me.”

  The air around her trembled for a moment and then a dark girl with an amber dress stood in her place. It was Claudia. Except it wasn’t quite Claudia. Her skirt shimmered at the edges and behind her curved a pair of long, pale wings. Her skin looked luminous, as if it was lit from inside.

  “Wow!” said Laney. “That’s so… Can you make yourself change like that just by deciding to?”

  “Yes. We have a human form and a faerie form. See?” The air shimmered around her and suddenly there was the everyday Claudia.

  “I had wings last night, but then they vanished,” said Laney.

  “You’ll get used to changing into faerie form when you want to. It just takes a little practice.”

  “But aren’t faeries…smaller?”

  “No, we’re not,” snapped Claudia. “And even if no one else told you, you must have realised that something was going on around here. Some days I’m surprised all the humans don’t notice. Of course, if you turn the river red, that doesn’t exactly help.” She turned back to look at the weird stretch of crimson water. “The cats told me about it and I thought straight away it might be you.”

  “The cats told you?”

  Claudia nodded. “Dizzy tells me everything.”

  This was another confusing thought to add to the swarm in Laney’s head. Claudia talked to cats and they were both faeries…

  The relief was huge – she wasn’t the only one who was different. But at the same time, she’d imagined having powers that no one else had and that had been pretty exciting.

  And who else was in on this secret? A picture of Jessie Weir’s face popped into her head. No. She couldn’t be. Surely a faerie would be nicer.

  “Are there other people who are faeries in Skellmore?” she asked Claudia. “And how did I change into one anyway? And—”

  “You really didn’t notice anything all these years, did you?” said Claudia, half amused and half exasperated. “We’d better—” She broke off as a loud mew interrupted her. A black cat wound itself round her ankles. “All right! Calm down, Dizzy!”

  The cat carried on mewing then it ran off into the undergrowth.

  “Dizzy says there’s trouble on the way,” said Claudia. “The tribes are anxious. Cats know these things because they’re very sensitive. Also they love listening in on everyone else’s conversations.”

  Laney opened her mouth and closed it again. Tribes? What tribes?

  “You need to talk to an Elder. I’d better take you to see Gwen,” said Claudia. “She’s probably the best person to tell you everything.”

  “Who’s Gwen?”

  “You know, Mrs Whitefern.”

  “Oh.” Laney knew Mrs Whitefern well. Or she thought she did. She’d been living in Skellmore for years and always let children come and have milk and cookies in her sitting room. Mrs Whitefern was just about the most ordinary little old lady Laney could think of, apart from all the funny hats she had. It was a Skellmore joke that Mrs Whitefern owned more hats than the rest of the village put together.

  “What did you do to your hand?” said Claudia.

  Laney looked at her finger. The red mark had faded but was still clearly visible. “I burned it yesterday on a candle.”

  “You’re a right disaster area,” said Claudia. “Let’s go before you do any more damage. Gwen will know what should be done about the river.”

  Laney took another look at the water and then followed Claudia up the slope. They drew nearer to the clump of trees where she’d seen the crouching shadow the night before. She pictured the shape of the figure as it had turned its face towards her, and shivered. At once she began to hear the faint sound of singing, but this time it wasn’t a comforting sound. It sounded bleak and cold, and made her think of stars and comets and endless black Space.

  “Can you hear that singing?” Laney walked towards the sound, not really knowing what her feet were doing.

  Claudia grabbed her arm and pulled her backwards. “Don’t go over there!” she said crossly. “You’re getting too close to the faerie ring. Don’t go near them, OK? They’re dangerous.” She let go of Laney and turned away.

  Laney stared at the faerie ring. The dark circle of grass looked normal enough and she couldn’t hear the singing any more. Curious, she took a step towards the ring. Instantly the voices resumed their high, piercing song that made goose bumps rise on her arms.

  To one side of the ring, on a section of flattened grass, lay a tiny mound of greyish dust. As the voices sang, a pinch of the dust floated into the air and swirled round until it was sucked down into the centre of the faerie ring and vanished completely.

  Laney backed away. She must have walked over that circle of grass millions of times before and hardly even noticed it was
there. Claudia said that the ring was dangerous; weird then that it should seem so enchanting at the same time.

  Laney followed Claudia, but hung back when they reached the first houses in the village. “I don’t want everyone to see my eyes,” she said, putting her sunglasses back on.

  “Humans can’t see the change. Only other faeries can see it. Remember, you never saw the gold in my eyes before you Awoke,” said Claudia.

  “I guess so.” Laney glanced around. She was still expecting someone to jump out and yell, “Fooled you!” But nobody did.

  “Are you ready?” A mischievous smile curved on Claudia’s face.

  “Sure.” Laney felt pretty nervous, but there was no way she was going to admit it.

  They passed a row of houses, followed a bend in the road and Skellmore High Street came into view. The pavement seemed washed clean by yesterday’s storm, and the dust and dirt had gone.

  Laney had always thought it was silly calling the place a High Street when it was only two shops and a hairdresser’s opposite a park. Hardly anyone shopped there because there was so little to buy. But today the place looked quite busy. There were two cars parked by the minimart and a group of people standing outside the Lionhart Pet Shop.

  Laney lifted up her sunglasses to look more carefully. Something else was different too. What was it?

  A swarm of white petals came swooping down the road. She ducked instinctively and then watched them fly away behind her. She thought she heard a tiny laugh.

  “Did you see that? What was—” Laney turned and saw another cloud of white things zooming round the big oak tree in the park. “Look! There’s more!” She pointed at the oak tree and froze.

  A wave of light rolled up the tree trunk from the ground. It turned branch after branch and leaf after leaf to gold, until the whole tree gleamed for an instant. The branches reached higher into the sky, as if the tree was stretching. The next moment the flush of gold vanished and the branches and leaves returned to normal.

  Claudia grinned. “Now that you have faerie eyes, things might look a tiny bit different.”

  Laney took a few steps forwards. The branches of the oak tree waved like there was an invisible breeze and the ground in the park seemed to ripple. On the corner by the churchyard gate, a bunch of cats clustered together as if they were having a conversation. They stopped all at once to look at Laney. There was a buzzing in the air and it made Laney’s skin tingle.

  “What’s happening?” she breathed.

  “Nothing new. It’s like this every day. You’ve just never been able to see it before,” said Claudia. “It’s because there’s a faerie ring here in the village in the middle of the park and power seeps out of it. Not many places are as faerie-like as Skellmore.”

  “Why did the oak tree turn gold?”

  “It’s so close to the faerie ring that it sucks up a lot of power.”

  “It’s so weird that most people can’t see it happening.”

  Claudia shrugged. “That’s just the way it works, I guess.”

  “What are those white things in the air?”

  “They’re sprites – they’re OK.”

  Laney’s eyes grew rounder as she followed Claudia down the High Street. The puddles on the pavement seemed to shimmer as she passed. She stopped to gaze into one and in the watery reflection she saw the air glittering around her.

  “Keep going.” Claudia tugged her arm. “You’re making it too obvious.”

  But Laney hardly noticed what Claudia was saying. She goggled at the house on the corner of Gnarlwood Lane where Mr and Mrs Willowby lived. She passed the house every day on the bus to school. She’d never really looked closely at it before, but she was sure it had been made of bricks just the same as any other building. Not any more.

  The outside of the house looked like a rough tree trunk and several leafy struts joined together to form a tree-like roof.

  “Laney!” hissed Claudia.

  Laney jumped, realising she’d stepped into the road in her eagerness to look closer.

  “I’ll show you round the place afterwards, OK?” muttered Claudia. “Let’s just get to Gwen’s house first.”

  They passed several people with normal faces. Then Claudia’s brother, Tom, sauntered past and Laney drew in her breath sharply as she saw the gold rings in his eyes. She was glad she was wearing her sunglasses so that he couldn’t see hers.

  “Mum wants you in the shop, little sis,” he told Claudia.

  “OK, I’m going.” Claudia let him pass and then whispered to Laney. “Go to Gwen’s. You know where she lives, don’t you? I’ll catch you up in a bit.”

  Laney nodded and the two girls separated.

  Laney sped up. There was something strange about the group of adults standing outside the pet shop. Fletcher’s parents, the Thornbeams, were among them. The group fell silent as she passed. Someone opened the shop door. Underneath the sound of kittens mewing and guinea pigs squeaking, the buzzing in the air became stronger.

  She darted a look at the pet shop and nearly fell over. She was expecting a red-brick building with rainbow letters over the door that spelled “Lionhart Pet Shop”. But instead there was a furry-looking dark-brown wall. The shop name was the same, but set into the wall just above it was a gigantic pair of cat’s eyes staring out at everyone. As Laney looked, the vivid-green eyes turned in her direction. A huge mouth filled with sharp teeth opened in the wall and hissed.

  Stumbling over her feet, Laney fixed her eyes on the pavement and hurried on. The adults resumed their conversation and she caught a sentence as she went by.

  “The red moon – this is the first one for years – it could be a catastrophe…”

  Laney’s heart pounded. They were talking about the red moon from last night. The mention of it reminded her how scared she’d been and she was relieved when she reached the end of the High Street.

  She crossed the road and turned into Gnarlwood Lane. Now that she was closer, she couldn’t help staring at the tree-like house all over again. The walls seemed exactly like a rough tree trunk, and she longed to go right up and touch them. Mr Willowby was out in his front garden, sweeping the path.

  Laney carried on to the house next door, which looked even stranger. This was Mrs Whitefern’s house and she knew it very well, having been inside so many times when she was younger. But she had never seen it like this. The walls were completely covered by ivy, and the roof was made from five gigantic trumpet-shaped white flowers all clustered together. As she gazed, one of the trumpet flowers swayed and a cloud of green smoke drifted out and got carried away by the breeze.

  Laney took off her sunglasses to get a better look before walking over to the gate at the bottom of the front path. There was a noise behind her and Sara Thornbeam, Fletcher’s little sister, stood there with a group of her friends. Laney wondered how they’d sneaked up on her so easily.

  “You’ve changed,” said Sara. “I thought you were human.”

  Laney’s cheeks flushed. “Um, yeah. So did I.” Sara looked so strange with gold-ringed eyes. Laney couldn’t believe that she was a part of all this too.

  Sara ran off calling, “Fletcher, guess what?”

  The other children carried on staring at Laney.

  Laney’s insides felt shaky. She didn’t think she could stand being stared at by anyone else right now. She hurried up the path, but before she reached the ivy-covered front door, it opened and Mrs Whitefern stood in the doorway. She wore a green dress, which wrinkled over her short, round figure. On her head was a velvety purple hat with a sprig of lavender on the brim.

  “Off you go, children. Go and play,” she called in her high voice.

  The children scattered.

  Mrs Whitefern smiled warmly. “I’ve been expecting you, Laney.”

  Laney had expected Gwen’s eyes to be golden, but they were tawny just as they’d always been. She wasn’t sure they looked very different. She couldn’t help gazing at them, trying to work out if there was any
change.

  “Hello, Mrs Whitefern,” she said awkwardly. “Claudia said I should come and see you.” Suddenly she wondered if this was a good idea. Mrs Whitefern couldn’t be the same as her. She just couldn’t be.

  “Yes, come in. It’s nice to have you to visit. Of course, you used to come here when you were little, but I think you really came for my cookies back then. It’s lucky that I baked a fresh batch of them this morning.” Gwen tottered into the front room, which was filled with the scent of cookies. The smell brought back the memory of all the times Laney had been there when she was younger.

  “I think I should go,” said Laney. “This must be a mistake.”

  “No, there’s no mistake, my dear.” Gwen hobbled to the sofa and plumped the cushions. “Sit down and have something to eat.” She offered Laney a plate stacked high with duck-shaped cookies.

  Laney edged towards the door. “I’m sorry, Mrs Whitefern. I didn’t mean to… I should go.”

  “But you’ve only just got here.” Gwen looked at her beadily. “Someone as old and little as me can hardly understand what you’re going through, is that what you’re thinking?”

  “Um, it’s just that I have to get back.” Laney tried to smile politely. She was pretty sure that Mrs Whitefern couldn’t help her, but she didn’t want to be rude.

  Gwen tottered over to a fruit bowl that stood on a side table. She peeled an orange and took a pip from one of the segments. Holding it in the palm of her crinkly hand, she whispered to it and then blew softly. It sprouted instantly, growing a sturdy stem, then several side branches, all with leaves. Within half a minute there were ripe oranges hanging from each branch of the tree. It carried on growing and sprouting until it reached the ceiling.

  Laney stared wide-eyed at Gwen through the tangle of branches. This was the same Gwen. She just hadn’t really known her before. “That was amazing! I didn’t think you were…like that…” She tailed off.

  “I know.” Gwen picked an orange and offered it to Laney with a wrinkled smile. “Sometimes you have to see with the heart not with the eyes. Not all power lies in young skin and supple limbs.”