‘Follow me!’ he called to Willow as he transformed into a boy and led them into the shadowy woods. ‘This way!’
Oswin dashed into the green carpetbag at Willow’s feet, and she picked it up as they turned and fled after Sprig.
Nolin Sometimes’s eyes went pale as he ran, and he dropped into a dead faint.
Willow skidded to a stop and gasped, ‘Oh no!’
But thankfully he wasn’t out for long. From his prone state Sometimes’s eyes turned from white to blue. He sat up and stared at Willow urgently, gasping, ‘They gave you a ferili seed?’
Willow stared at him. ‘A what?’ She felt that now was not the time for them to be discussing things that didn’t immediately involve screaming and running away from ghostly, red-eyed beasts. In the distance, she could see Feathering attacking one, fire streaming out of his mouth.
‘A seed from the Wisperia tree! It’s genius of them really.’ Then suddenly he sank back down into another faint, his eyes white again.
‘Oh, Sometimes!’ Willow cried, shaking him. The trouble with Sometimes’s ability was that he often didn’t realise that he fainted when he was seeing a memory.
Oswin jumped out of the bag and hissed at a wolf that was getting dangerously near.
Thankfully, Sometimes’s eyes turned blue again and he frowned as he muttered, ‘Merali, well, yes … I also wish I hadn’t risked you like this – I had no idea at the time that your magic had gone rogue. I thought you might be able to find me from the safety of Starfell.’
One of the beasts Essential had been trying to fend off unfroze. Snarling and snapping, it made its way quickly after them.
‘Sometimes! This is not the time! We have to get out of here!’ cried Willow, grabbing him by the arm. ‘Maybe put your hands over your ears so you don’t faint?’
As he raced beside her, he looked affronted. ‘I don’t faint!’
Behind them,Willow could hear Feathering attacking one of the beasts, and as she ran she glanced over her shoulder. Moreg was fighting with the queen while Pimpernell protected her flank against a group of advancing wraiths by swinging her opal-topped cane. But there were too many of them for the hedge witch to hold back. Willow gasped as Moreg released a bolt of lightning from her fingers towards the wraiths, illuminating the forest.
Willow could well see why Moreg was called the most powerful witch in all of Starfell … but she was well matched, as the queen retaliated by stirring forth a massive shadow dragon.
‘Oh no, oh, me ’orrid aunt,’ cried Oswin, who was carrying the carpetbag in his front paws as he raced away from a smaller beast, his ears starting to smoke.
‘NOW is the perfect time!’ cried Sometimes. ‘The seed is from above, from Wisperia. It doesn’t work with Umbellifer’s magic – it’ll work with ours. Plant it, quick!’
‘Wot?’ cried Oswin, overhearing Sometimes. ‘The forgotten teller is mental – now is not the time for gardenenening.’
‘Trust me!’ shouted Sometimes.
‘It’s in the bag!’ cried Willow.
Oswin groaned. ‘Oh, me greedy aunt, a curse upon yeh,’ he hissed as a beast came forward, and he delved a paw into the bag to grab the bright blue seed.
Sprig, who was flying above, gave a blood-curdling cry and dived at the shadow wolf, diverting it away from Oswin.
Sensing Sprig’s plan to distract the shadow beasts, Essential cried, ‘I’ll help!’ She lifted her hands to freeze another of the advancing beasts while Oswin, Willow and Sometimes ran towards a clump of shadowy trees and hid out of sight.
‘Plant it!’ cried Sometimes.
The kobold shot the forgotten teller a hard look, but did as instructed, his ears smoking as he dug up a little of the shadowy earth and patted the seed into place. He looked up at Sometimes and shook his head. ‘Nutters, the lot of yeh. After this, if I gets out alive, I fink I’m going on an ’oliday. There’s a nice dark drain near the cottage …’
As soon as the seed was planted, a small, pale yellow shoot began to grow very quickly. It sparkled like sunshine in the gloom.
‘What is it?’ whispered Willow.
‘Magic,’ said Sometimes.
And it grew into a mighty plant, like a beanstalk with thousands of shoots that began at once to fight against the shadows, snuffing them out as the plant grew and spread through the forest. Its bright blue shoots reached towards the shadowy beasts and held them back, while a massive root wrapped itself round the shadow dragon fighting with Moreg. In the ruckus, Moreg and Pimpernell were able to get away, and raced towards the others.
‘Come on, let’s get out of here!’ cried Sometimes, and together they began to run away from the forest and towards the shadow river.
As they neared, Willow felt an enormous pang of guilt. The last time she’d seen Holloway he’d been dragged off by a monstrous beast, but, with her own capture and everything else that had happened, she hadn’t yet stopped to really consider if he was all right. Her heart sank in her chest, and she silently pleaded that he was okay. She couldn’t find one friend only to lose another!
She fished out the brass harmonica and quickly brought it to her lips. Behind her the shadow beasts were advancing. She blew on it, and suddenly a large copper bathtub with stumpy legs came hurtling up the river at breakneck speed. Then, through the swirling mists, she saw a familiar figure on board.
Willow’s knees almost gave out in her relief. ‘Holloway! You’re all right!’ she cried, a grin splitting her face.
‘Willow, ahoy there, lass! Sorry I couldn’t find ya sooner – it took me forever to fight off that tentacled monster! Had to set a banshee wail on it—’ He stopped suddenly when he saw what was behind them, and he dropped the steps over the side of the boat at once. ‘Board now, quick! Quick as you can,’ he said, and they all sped on to the boat.
Moreg turned and, with a twist of her fingers, she released a lightning bolt towards a shadowy beast that Feathering had been fighting off.
The dragon rose up fast and dived on board. ‘Thank you,’ he breathed, sounding exhausted. ‘It kept getting stronger as I breathed fire …’
‘Don’t mention it,’ said the witch.
Holloway’s sea-green eye widened as it took in Moreg, and he seemed to mouth her name silently, then swallow. His face blanched further when Pimpernell climbed quickly aboard, knocking back a shadow beast with her opal-topped cane, her wood-fire eyes glowing with warmth.
‘Well, hello there, wizard! This be a mighty interestin’ turn of events, you comin’ ter rescue us,’ she said. ‘Mayhap I should have believed yeh when yeh said yeh wasn’t gonna use yer new powers fer bad …’ She looked almost contrite. ‘A witch should admit when she’s done wrong … so I’m doin’ that now …’
Holloway blinked. ‘Um, thanks.’ His cheeks turned pink, and then he jumped into action, taking two banshee-wail canisters and loading them into the chute beneath the sail.
‘Cover yer ears!’ he commanded, and they did, as bloodcurdling cries split the air. The noise kept even the beasts back and the boat sped fast on its stumpy legs towards the black waterfall.