Chapter 8

Chapter

Eight

‘ T his isn’t funny,’ I said. Nobody answered. ‘Come on, you lot. You can come out now.’ Still nothing. My voice sharpened. ‘I appreciate a prank as much as the next person, but this isn’t the time.’

Nothing rustled, nobody giggled, and nobody jumped out from behind a bush to say boo. Cumbubbling bollocks, what the hell had happened?

I slowly turned and double-checked the area. I rubbed my eyes, then I gazed hard at the Fonaby Stone. I hadn’t touched it, not once. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘But I didn’t do anything so the curse shouldn’t have been invoked. And nothing in those old stories mentioned sudden disappearances!’

Unsurprisingly, the stone didn’t reply.

‘I didn’t touch you! I didn’t even breathe on you!’ I ground my teeth. My fingers tightened around the little skull as I turned, searching through the encroaching darkness for signs of life.

It was on my fourth spin that I thought I saw something. My eyes narrowed. It was difficult to tell what it was and going towards it would take me away from the path and the layby where the Jeeps were parked. From this distance it was a mere faint glimmer, but I had no other clues.

I pushed away my rising panic, shoved the skull into my inside pocket and set off determinedly in its direction.

The closer I got, the more certain I was that the dim light had nothing to do with my missing companions. It was too small, it wasn’t moving, and it definitely wasn’t making any sort of noise. Nevertheless, I plunged ahead.

I was only ten metres away when I realised that the glow was attached to a spindly pine tree. I marched towards it and hunkered down. A strange blue splodge of goo covered several inches of the bark. I’d never seen anything like it before.

I reached out as if to touch it, then thought better of it and pulled back. The hairs on the back of my neck were raised and my stomach was churning. Every thought in my head was scattered and fearful.

‘Think, Daisy. Just think.’ I reached into my jacket pocket and took out another two spider’s silk pills. Seven pills in one day; that would be a record, and not a good one.

I stared at them as they lay in the palm of my hand, then I grimaced and tossed them into my mouth, allowing their familiar, bitter fizz to calm my panicked thoughts. As I expected, my tinnitus flared up and the heart palpitations made me inhale sharply, but it was okay. My head was clearing.

I realised that I wasn’t alone, not entirely.

Pulling out my phone, I sagged with relief when I saw there was a weak signal. I could call for help; I didn’t have to deal with this on my own. In fact, there was a whole team of competent people at Pemberville Castle who could provide answers. Or so I hoped.

Rizwan picked up on the second ring. ‘Hi,’ I said quickly. ‘It’s Daisy. I’ve got a problem.’

To his credit he didn’t panic, but neither did he sound particularly surprised. Perhaps sudden emergency situations were par for the course when you were part of Hugo’s Primes. ‘Tell me.’

‘Everyone’s disappeared.’

There was a beat of silence. ‘Pardon?’

I licked my lips and started from the beginning. ‘I located the golden skull buried beneath an old stone near Caistor. Everyone was behind me while I dug it up. Once I’d retrieved it, I turned around and nobody was there. Hugo, Miriam, Becky, Slim and the brownies have vanished. The stone is cursed – I’m certain I didn’t touch it but maybe it shifted slightly without me noticing when I pulled out the skull. Maybe somehow that invoked the curse.’

‘Shit,’ Rizwan muttered. ‘Okay.’

‘There’s more.’ I stared at the glowing blue splodge. ‘There’s some … goop nearby.’

‘Goop?’

‘Maybe thirty metres away from the stone, just off the path, I found some blue goop. It’s stuck to a tree and it’s – er – glowing slightly.’

‘Glowing blue goop?’ Rizwan delivered each word very slowly as if he didn’t believe me.

‘Yep.’

‘Okay, hang on. Let me get Mark.’

As I waited impatiently, I scanned the darkness. When I spotted another blue blob, I exhaled sharply, then crouched down, phone in hand, and checked the ground.

‘Daisy?’ Mark’s voice sounded tinny.

I straightened up. Words tumbled out of my mouth at top speed. ‘There’s more – there’s more goop. I think it’s some kind of trail. And I can see footprints heading in the same direction. The others must have followed it.’

‘Okay, okay. That’s good.’ He was trying to reassure me but I could hear the tension in his voice. ‘Whatever you do, Daisy, don’t follow the trail until we know exactly what we’re dealing with.’

I was already moving. ‘Sure, yep. No following.’

Several dry twigs snapped under my feet. If somebody or something had taken hold of my team and done anything to hurt them, they’d live to regret the day they were born. I had no idea what creatures might live out here in rural Lincolnshire among the cows and cursed stones, but I would find them.

I stopped abruptly. ‘Ask Duchess. Ask if she knows what it might be.’

Mark sounded confused. ‘Duchess?’

‘She’s a troll. She’s used to rural areas. If anyone knows what the blue goop is or what’s happened to the others, she will.’

‘Okay, okay. But make sure Gladys is unsheathed and you’re prepared while I find her.’

‘I—’ My voice faltered. Double cumbubbling bollocks: I’d handed Gladys to Hugo because of my untrustworthy magic. But Mark was already worried; I didn’t need to make things worse by telling him. I swallowed. ‘Alright,’ I said.

Picking my way through the trees, I followed both the illuminated glow in front of me and the footsteps on the ground beside me. A large field with some unidentifiable crops lay to my left, and a mess of ancient bracken, old trees and deep mud was to my right.

A pleasant buzz from the spider’s silk was coursing through my system and my heart was thumping anxiously against my ribcage: my adrenaline levels were high. That was good, I told myself. They would keep me alert and ready for anything.

With that thought in mind, I slapped both my ears hard, as if the action could somehow knock away my tinnitus. It didn’t stop the whiney ringing, but the self-inflicted pain made me feel slightly better. I focused on moving as quickly and quietly as I could and tried not to think about what danger my friends might be in.

I’d passed the second splodge of blue goop and seen the third one by the time Duchess’s voice crackled down the phone. ‘Glowing blue goop?’ she cackled. ‘How many drugs have you taken today, Fated Flea?’

I held my temper. Just. ‘Duchess, if you don’t know what it is, pass the phone to Mark.’

She snorted. ‘I know what it is. Of course I know! You’re in trouble, girlie.’

I clambered over a fallen tree trunk and snagged my jeans on something sharp. I scowled as I extricated myself. ‘Clearly you don’t know anything. Go back to your bridge.’

Offended, Duchess gave her answer without thinking. ‘I do! I do know! I ain’t stupid. You’re in wisp territory!’

Wisp? I blinked rapidly. Will-o’-the-wisp? Suddenly everything made perfect – albeit terrifying – sense.

‘Thanks, Duchess,’ I heard Mark mutter, and there was a brief scuffling sound as he wrestled the phone from her. ‘A will-o’-the-wisp,’ he breathed. ‘I should have thought of them sooner, but there are so few of them left these days.’

He was right. From what little I’d read when I’d been trying to teach myself about the world of magic, there was more chance you’d be struck by lightning than that you’d fall into a will-o’-the-wisp’s trap. The lightning would be preferable, though.

‘Rizwan is looking them up. Hang on, Daisy.’ Mark clicked his tongue. ‘Hugo should have known better than to allow this to happen. He’s been far too distracted lately.’

I stiffened. I was the one who’d been distracting him, and I felt the sting of guilt.

Within moments, Rizwan was speaking. ‘Duchess is right. The blue goop is excreted by the wisp in the same way that you or I might sweat.’

Ick.

‘If you follow the trail, it should lead you directly to the wisp’s lair. Be extra careful because a wisp can hypnotise unwary people into a trance – that’s probably what happened to Hugo and the others. You weren’t affected because you weren’t looking at it.’

‘Saved by the golden skull,’ I muttered. ‘What does the wisp want with them? What is it after?’ In other words, would it try and kill anyone? And worse, was there a chance they were already dead?

‘That depends,’ Rizwan replied. ‘Some will-o’-the-wisps are nothing more than mischief makers. They lead travellers astray for their own amusement.’

‘And others?’ I asked, suspecting something far more sinister.

‘Others are evil bastards that will viciously attack their prey without a second thought.’

Of course they were. I sighed. ‘Gotcha.’

‘The thing is, Daisy,’ Mark cautioned, ‘you stumbled into its territory. You know what the law says. You can’t harm it.’

I nodded and swore at the same time. Magical creatures living in the wild had legal protection, whether they were giant snakes, talking dragons or nasty will-o’-the-wisps. In some cases, you could fight back if the situation called for it – but not if you had wandered into their habitat and disturbed them.

If I hurt the will-o’-the-wisp, I’d be facing a jail sentence regardless of what it had done to me or the others because it had the right to defend itself in its own home. Until we’d shown up the wisp hadn’t been bothering anyone, so it was a law that I agreed with. That didn’t help me right now, of course.

‘There should have been some warning signs,’ I protested .

‘You can put in a written complaint to the authorities later,’ Mark said.

Yeah, yeah. I pushed back my hair and quashed the desperate urge to swallow yet more spider’s silk. ‘Any tips for dealing with it without harming it?’

‘Don’t look directly into its eyes. If you do, you’ll fall into the same trance as the others.’

‘Anything else?’ I crossed my fingers hopefully; even a scrap of an idea about what to do would be helpful.

There were several seconds of silence. ‘We’ll keep searching for anything in the books and let you know.’ Translation: he had nothing more to tell me and I was on my own.

I sniffed. No problem.

I had to walk further than I’d expected, at least a mile, and the longer I kept going the boggier the ground became. At least that meant the footprints were easily visible so I didn’t have to worry that I was heading in the wrong direction. Given that the splodges of blue goop were few and far between, I could easily have gotten lost.

A little of my tension eased when I started to hear the usual rustling of nocturnal wildlife and the occasional hoot from an owl on the hunt; the curse leaking from the Fonaby stone obviously had a limited range and probably had little to do with the will-o’-the-wisp. That didn’t make the situation any less dire, but it did mean there was less to worry about. I was only equipped to deal with one disaster at a time.

The first indication that I was drawing close to the will-o’-the-wisp’s lair was the singing. The notes drifted across the landscape, curling around the leaves and trees and saturating the air like a mist. The wisp was female – and a damned good soprano, to boot.

I slowed my steps, placing each foot carefully on the ground so I didn’t alert her. As I inched closer, the will-o’-the-wisp’s song faded and I felt oddly bereft at the loss of the enchanting music.

I didn’t have long to mourn its disappearance because seconds later she spoke. ‘Which one will we eat first?’ I stiffened. She continued. ‘The small ones will be bony and unsatisfying, but they might be tasty.’ There was a smacking sound. ‘Yes, they will make an excellent snack. Chuchi will enjoy eating them.’

A carnivorous will-o’-the-wisp? Why couldn’t I stumble across one that was vegan? And who was Chuchi? Would I have to deal with two of these fuckers?

The wisp continued chattering to herself. ‘This woman is old and her flesh will be tough, but it will make fine jerky to keep for winter.’ I doubted Miriam would be thrilled at that thought.

‘This younger woman has more meat on her bones. Perhaps I will leave her for last, and we can eat her with the brown-haired man. He looks stringy. But this other man – wow! He will be a delectable feast. Elves are good. Chuchi says their meat has a spicy bite. Yum-yum.’

There was a pause. ‘There are so many of them. Perhaps I can keep one, just for a while. Chuchi won’t mind if I only keep one.’ She hesitated again. ‘Will he?’

I reached an oak tree that was broader and taller than the pine trees and provided more cover. I pressed my spine against it then risked a peek around its trunk. The will-o’-the-wisp’s lair was in a small clearing. Judging from the moisture in the air, the rotting smell and the way the ground was glinting in the soft moonlight, it was some sort of marsh. I couldn’t sprint across it to perform a surprise rescue – I’d be more likely to take three steps and sink to my knees. From the way Hugo, Becky, Miriam and Slim were standing, that was exactly what had happened to them.

They were shoulder to shoulder in a row, arms hanging loosely by their sides. Becky and Hugo were calf deep in mud; Slim, who was taller, was only submerged to his ankles, but Miriam was encased up to her knees. Their jaws were slack and their eyes were vacant: they looked like zombies.

Slumped on Hugo’s shoulders, neither Otis nor Hester was in any better shape. I couldn’t make out their expressions but there was little doubt that they were in the same condition. I couldn’t see Gladys.

‘Yes. I can keep one. One won’t matter. And Chuchi will want to visit now,’ the will-o’-the-wisp said. ‘Now I have meat to give him, he’ll definitely come. He’ll stay for many days.’ She trilled happily and bustled around, picking up bits of litter that had blown in with the wind.

I watched her flit to and fro. I’d seen photographs of will-o’-the-wisps before, and I had a dim recollection of an old Attenborough documentary that had featured one of them, but it was weird to be this close to one.

She was round and squat like a little beach ball and she was hovering several inches above the ground, with only the tip of what I supposed was her tail trailing in the mud. Will-o’-the-wisps didn’t have legs – they didn’t need them. Although they weren’t birds and they couldn’t fly, they possessed a natural buoyancy that pushed against the effects of gravity. As far as I knew, they never touched the ground, not even when they slept.

This will-o’-the-wisp was glowing a brighter blue than the secretions I’d followed and doing a better job of lighting the dark marsh than the moon. She was pretty, with wide green eyes that gave her a cartoon-princess air and an upturned nose speckled with what I assumed counted as freckles in wisp physiology.

She turned her back and busied herself with something on the far side of the marsh. My phone, which was on silent in my pocket, vibrated. I slid it out, hoping that Rizwan and Mark had finally found something useful that would help me rescue everyone.

It was a text message. I scanned the contents, carefully shielding the screen so its glow didn’t alert the will-o’-the-wisp.

Her name is Baudi. Proceed with extreme caution. She’s dangerous. The last known report of her is from 2003 when she attacked two lost hikers. They said she almost killed them. This WOTW is one of the nasty ones.

I grimaced; yeah, I’d already worked that last part out. It was interesting that she hadn’t been heard of for more than twenty years. Given the lack of warning signs in the area, I suspected the curse that was bound into the Fonaby Stone kept most people away. Even if some intrepid wanderers reached it, the grim atmosphere would likely make them turn back.

I hastily typed a reply. Another wisp called Chuchi?

Three little dots appeared: either Mark or Rizwan was typing. I waited – and waited. A moment later, the dots vanished. I scowled and checked the phone signal, and my heart sank when I saw it had disappeared. So much for help from the outside.

I tucked away the phone and considered my options. I could wait until daylight or go back to the Jeep and call for help, but there was no guarantee that Baudi would wait before starting dinner. I might not have that much time.

I risked another peek. Her back was still turned as she focused on her task and I squinted to see what was holding her attention. Unfortunately, in my bid to get a better look I shifted my feet. My stomach lurched with nausea strong enough to make me gasp aloud – and I slipped. My heel landed on a twig, snapping it in two.

Baudi swung around then zipped several metres through the air in my direction. Her bright-green eyes narrowed as she scanned the area. Heart pounding, I pressed against the tree trunk and prayed she’d dismiss the noise as nothing more than a badger snuffling nearby.

Long seconds ticked by as I strained my ears for any sign that she was approaching. There was nothing. After a couple of minutes had passed, I started to relax. She wasn’t coming for me; I’d fucked up, but my luck was holding. I exhaled softly.

And that was when there was a rush of air and Baudi’s glowing blue body whisked around the tree to face me. ‘Excellent,’ she said, smacking her lips. ‘Another elf for my cooking pot.’