Chapter 12

Chapter

Twelve

I caught up with them in the nearest park. Amy and Hugo were sitting on a bench with Hester and Otis hovering nearby. From the brownies’ expressions, their curiosity about Amy had supplanted their mutual antagonism – at least for the time being. I couldn’t blame them; she was fascinating.

She tilted her head. ‘So here’s the thing,’ she said. ‘I have a problem and I think you can help me. I’m flat broke and I can’t pay you for your services, but I don’t think you need the money.’ She looked up at me and nodded knowingly. ‘Neither do you. But you’re here for a reason and I know this village like the back of my hand. If you help me with my problem, I reckon I can help you with yours. Sound fair?’

‘What makes you think we’ve got a problem?’ Hugo asked.

‘Duh.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘You’re not here for the Staffordshire Hoard because it’s not here, so you’re here for something else.’ She pointed at me. ‘You look like you’ve not slept for a month.’

One night. I hadn’t slept for one night.

She pointed at Hugo. ‘And you look scared.’

Did he?

‘I have an affinity for such things,’ Amy said airily. ‘I can sense feelings in the same way other people can smell farts.’

Otis coughed at her words and Hester nodded knowingly. ‘Sure,’ she said. ‘That might be true. But this affinity of yours has probably got more to do with you overhearing our conversation.’

Otis agreed. ‘I told Hester that we had to stop arguing because it wasn’t fair on you, Daisy, especially when you were so tired after getting no sleep last night.’

Hester chipped in. ‘And I said we should stop arguing because Hugo was already scared enough by everything that was going on and Otis was frightening him even more.’

Hugo blinked. I looked at Amy. ‘Yeah.’ She shrugged. ‘Alright, I did overhear them.’ She grinned. ‘But that doesn’t mean I’m wrong.’ The bolshy teenager had a point.

‘For the record,’ Hugo said, ‘I am not scared of Otis.’

‘Nobody’s scared of Otis ,’ Hester retorted. ‘But you’re scared when he shouts and argues because of what it might mean for his state of mind and the effect that Athair is having on him.’

More likely Hugo was scared of the effect that Athair was having on us all. Not that I said that; instead I frowned at Hester, silently telling her to stop blabbing everything about us in front of a complete stranger.

Hugo also gave her an exasperated look though he didn’t actually disagree with what she’d said. ‘Go on, then,’ he said to Amy. ‘What’s your problem? And how can we help?’

‘Simple,’ she said. ‘I lost my favourite necklace in some woods near here a couple of weeks ago. I need someone to find it for me. That’s what I wanted to advertise in Alan’s shop.’

‘Why don’t you go and find your necklace yourself?’ I asked, puzzled.

‘There’s a spider or two in the woods and I’ve got a touch of arachnophobia. They freak me out and every time I try to enter the woods, I get a bad case of the willies. I start to sweat, my hands shake.’ She shuddered. ‘Even the thought of spiders is too much for me. The day I lost my necklace, I saw one of them – in fact, that’s how I lost my necklace. I was going for a wander, saw a huge spider, freaked out and ran out at high speed. My necklace must have fallen off when I was running away.’

I felt a wave of empathy for her; small, dark spaces made me feel the same way.

Amy regarded Hugo implacably. ‘Anyhow,’ she said, ‘it’s obviously fate that I bumped into you because you’re a treasure hunter. In fact, you’re the best treasure hunter in the country. You’ll be able to find my necklace for me.’

‘Perhaps,’ he said, but his eyes gleamed with typical confidence.

I scowled. ‘He’s not the best treasure hunter.’

‘I am ,’ Hugo said without missing a beat.

‘I will find your necklace, Amy,’ I declared. ‘Spiders don’t bother me.’

She smiled innocently and I suddenly realised she’d manipulated me; I’d all but promised I’d do what she wanted. She really was smart – or I was very stupid. ‘As long as one of you finds it, I’ll be happy.’ Amy clasped her hands together. ‘So tell me, what do you need from me in return?’

I grimaced. Unfortunately we didn’t have a great deal of information to pass on. ‘There is a rumour that some of the treasure from the Staffordshire Hoard is yet to be discovered,’ I said, hedging my words.

Amy stared at me. ‘I thought we’d already been through this. It’s gone. It’s in a museum. There’s nothing left here.’

‘But maybe 2009 wasn’t the first time it was discovered,’ Hugo said. ‘Maybe somebody else found it first and dug part of it up.’

‘That’s stupid. Why wouldn’t they dig it all up?’ she asked.

Good question. ‘We don’t know,’ I answered. ‘It might not have happened recently. In fact, the part of the hoard which is missing might have been removed up to eight hundred years ago. Maybe there are some old local tales that might be relevant.’

‘Or someone who’s eight hundred years old and remembers it being dug up the first time,’ Amy said sarcastically.

I managed to avoid looking at Hugo. ‘Yeah,’ I replied. ‘Or that.’

She folded her arms. ‘On reflection, I think that you’ve got the easier gig,’ she muttered. ‘I’ll do my best. But I’m not promising anything.’

‘That’s all we can ask,’ Hugo told her.

I nodded fervently. There was next to no chance that she’d find out anything, but a deal was a deal; we’d look for her necklace.

‘It’ll be dark soon,’ she said. ‘You should wait until tomorrow to look for the necklace. It’ll be too hard to find it in the woods once the sun goes down.’

That was fair. ‘Alright. We’ll hunt for it first thing in the morning,’ I told her. ‘Let’s meet back here at midday to exchange what we’ve found.’ Or not found, I added silently, thinking of Athair’s supposed secret gold.

Amy pursed her lips and nodded, then she grinned, stood up and started to jog away. ‘Watch your backs!’ she called out.

We watched her go. ‘Interesting girl,’ Hugo said. ‘Strange but nice.’

‘Yep,’ Hester said. ‘She’s not as strange as Otis though.’

‘But she’s a lot nicer than Hester,’ Otis snapped.

I groaned. ‘I thought you were past this.’

‘We are! We’re all friends now.’ Hester gave her brother a tight hug and he winced in response. ‘See?’

I sighed. ‘Come on,’ I said. ‘Let’s find somewhere to camp.’

Hugo quickly agreed. ‘And before anarchy descends again.’

I tried my best not to think of the spiders we’d meet the next day. I wasn’t particularly bothered about the eight-legged variety that so terrified Amy, it was the ones that came in pill form that caused my heart to thud with fear. If I was going to struggle every time I saw a real spider because it reminded me of my fizzy pills, I would be in serious trouble. Maybe this would be a good test of my will power and I’d come out stronger in the end.

Then Hugo gave me a soft smile and I realised that his little dimple would be distraction enough. Screw spiders. Real or otherwise.

There was a lot to be said for having purpose, even if that purpose was only searching around a few old trees for a lost necklace. Purpose provided motivation, it gave meaning – and it improved my mood no end.

The next morning, as we walked through the quiet streets of Hammerwich towards the woods where Amy’s prized possession was located, I found myself breaking into a happy hum. Within a few beats Hugo had joined in, drumming a beat on his thighs that matched my tune. If we hadn’t been dedicated to the art of treasure hunting, we could have formed a duo.

Otis performed several spirals in the air, dancing in time to our acapella music, and even Hester yielded and started to tap her foot on my shoulder. This was all I needed out of life: good company, good fun and a reason to get up in the morning. Athair would never understand that.

There had been no update from the research team back at Pemberville Castle but I reasoned that no news was good news. The lack of information meant that they were safe and hadn’t been troubled by the vamps; they were simply too busy tracking down leads related to Lincolnshire to get in touch. Yep, something to do with the fresh air and the morning sunshine was definitely making my mood buoyantly optimistic.

That sensation continued all the way to the woods, but as soon as we crossed the tree line my positive feelings vanished.

From a distance the woods looked pleasant; the variety of trees suggested this was ancient woodland that had been here for centuries. As we entered it, I expected pretty plants, tangled undergrowth and an atmosphere imbued with the best that nature had to offer; what I got were dark shadows, a smell of rotting meat and a sense of foreboding so strong that my footsteps faltered barely a few steps in.

Hugo’s expression was tense, and Hester and Otis looked wide-eyed and fearful. ‘I’m not the only one who feels that, am I?’ I said darkly.

Hester swallowed hard. ‘There’s something wrong here. We should leave. We’re not supposed to be here.’

She was right. It was as if something was clinging to the air, warning us off: the woods wanted us to leave. It put me in mind of a mosquito alarm that emitted a high-frequency tone that could be heard only by people under the age of twenty-five and was designed to discourage teenagers from loitering in certain areas, or an ultrasonic cat deterrent.

Beads of sweat broke out across my forehead. It was difficult to resist the urge to turn tail and run out of the woods but I held my ground and Hugo reached for my hand. ‘Amy wandered into these woods of her own free will,’ I muttered,

‘I can’t imagine why,’ Hugo said. ‘Do you want to give up? We can leave now and tell her we can’t find her necklace.’

I glanced at him. I knew he’d abandon the woodland in an instant if I asked him to, but I also knew he wanted to go further inside for the same reason that I was determined to stay: something desperately wanted us to leave this area and that made me desperately want to know why. ‘Not a chance,’ I murmured. He grinned.

‘You two are crazy,’ Hester said, burrowing under the collar of my jacket. ‘I’m staying out of the way. Tell me when it’s safe to came out again – preferably when we’re back out in the open.’

Otis watched his sister disappear into the folds of fabric; usually he’d follow her, but this time his jaw set hard. Their recent argument was obviously still lingering in his mind and he wanted to prove he was different to her; he wanted to act independently, even when his instincts told him otherwise.

He dragged his eyes away from Hes and looked at me. ‘I’m perfectly fine,’ he said. ‘Let’s start searching for the necklace.’ He pulled back his shoulders and flicked his wings defiantly. ‘I bet I find it first.’

‘Probably.’ I tried to sound cheerful. ‘But stay close so we’ve got a chance to spot it too.’ I didn’t add that I needed to keep sight of him at all times in case something untoward happened.

Otis tried to disguise his relief at the order. ‘Sure.’ He pointed to his left. ‘Let’s go that way first.’

We picked our way carefully through the trees. The pressure to leave the woods didn’t diminish but thankfully it didn’t get stronger. We kept moving, pushing against the invisible force that seemed determined to expel us as we scanned the ground for Amy’s necklace. I kept my eyes on the left-hand side while Hugo searched the right and Otis scanned the area in front of us.

‘There are some fresh molehills behind that bush over there,’ Hugo said. I paused to look. He was right.

Otis buzzed, ‘And I think that’s a badger’s den in front of us.’

Interesting: whatever was trying to push us out wasn’t malevolent enough to scare away the animals. That thought lightened my spirits somewhat. ‘Maybe it’s a strange sort of ward,’ I said. ‘Something environmentally friendly designed to preserve the woods but keep out the destructive force of humans and elves.’

‘Brownies aren’t destructive,’ Hugo said. Otis flashed him a grateful smile.

‘No, but their DNA is closer to ours than to a badger’s. It could be something a local witch has conjured up to keep the likes of us out.’

‘Possibly,’ Hugo said. ‘Although—’ He stopped in mid-sentence. A slow grin spread across his face, causing his dimple to appear and my heart to skip a beat. ‘There. I caught a glint of silver. That’s a chain. I think we’ve found it.’

His sharp eyes galvanised us into action. We spun round and dashed towards the spot. Otis zipped through the air, letting out a crow of delight as he got close, while Hugo and I followed on foot.

‘It’s definitely a necklace!’ Otis called.

Hester popped her head up to observe the proceedings. ‘Well, whaddya know?’ she said. ‘There really is a necklace and this isn’t just some sort of weird trap.’

I grinned and knelt down to scoop it up, but before I could Hugo put a hand on my arm. ‘Wait,’ he advised. ‘It might yet be a weird trap.’ He circled around the silver chain. ‘Let me check it first.’

The necklace was nestled on a bed of verdant green moss; I could see its broken clasp even without kneeling down. There was nothing that suggested a trap; there were a few twigs nearby and a brown leaf caught in one of the silver links, but the placement was messy rather than artful. There wasn’t a scrap of evidence to suggest that Amy had sent us here with a nefarious purpose.

‘I can’t sense any magic, Hugo. This isn’t the source of that repelling force. We’d know if it were.’

‘I’m only double checking. It pays to be prudent.’ He sent me an arch look. ‘As you should have already learned when you took a tumble down that gully before finding the dagger. One day, when you’re as experienced as I am, you’ll understand the value of being extra careful.’

Yeah, yeah. I rolled my eyes; this situation was not remotely similar to that one. ‘Look,’ I pointed down. ‘There’s a teeny spider. Who knows? That might be the one that freaked out Amy. There’s no danger here, no trap.’

Otis flitted closer to the tiny creature. ‘It’s very small,’ he said doubtfully. ‘I mean, I’m small and even I think that spider is small. Is that really what scared her so much?’

We watched the small black arachnid scuttle across the moss. It paused for a moment, as if thinking then jumped, twisted around and darted out of sight. It was definitely far more afraid of us than we were of it, and it was far too small and far too real to cause my cravings for spider’s silk to rear up.

I glanced again at Hugo then bent down and scooped up the necklace. Nothing changed and no traps were triggered.

‘It doesn’t mean I wasn’t still right, Daisy,’ Hugo admonished. ‘Look before you leap.’

‘He who hesitates is lost,’ I returned.

I caught his flash of amusement and smiled. I picked up the necklace to give it a cursory examination. It was a pretty thing and the silver was real, although it didn’t appear particularly valuable in monetary terms. Given Amy’s determination to get it back, I suspected its sentimental value was high.

I put it carefully in my pocket to make sure it wouldn’t go astray again. ‘Mission accomplished,’ I said. ‘But not every question has been answered.’

Hugo’s eyes gleamed. ‘Do we leave this godforsaken place as fast as we can?’ he asked. ‘Or do some more investigating to find out why it feels as if we shouldn’t be here?’

‘Do you even have to ask?’ I asked.

Hester, who was still buried amongst the folds of my coat, hissed in irritation. ‘Yes! Yes, we do have to ask. And you know what the answer is? It’s no. Hell, no. Let’s get the fuck out of here as quickly as possible.’ Nobody responded and she muttered under her breath, ‘Why do I even bother?’

Suddenly Gladys, who’d remained sheathed by my side during our search, hummed loudly. It wasn’t a light-hearted sound; I knew that tone, and it wasn’t an attempt at banter with Hester. That sound was a warning.

I stiffened, immediately withdrew her blade and tightened my hand around her grip. My gaze swung nervously from side to side as Hugo stepped forward, squinting at the undergrowth. ‘Something’s in there,’ he said.

No sooner had he finished speaking than there was a rustle. Hester squeaked and her head disappeared back under my collar. Otis bravely remained where he was but his wings were quivering as he scanned the area.

There was another rustle. I licked my lips. It was coming from somewhere low, close to the ground. ‘It’s probably just a small animal,’ I whispered. ‘One of those moles. Or the badger who lives nearby.’

Hugo grimaced. ‘They’re nocturnal animals, Daisy. It’s ten o’clock in the morning.’

‘There will be other creatures here. Plus it’s pretty dark and gloomy. Maybe they think it’s night time.’

As if in response, there was a scratching sound somewhere to my left. I turned just in time to see a large fern-like leaf tremble as something brushed it from underneath. Definitely an animal, then.

I held my breath – and that was when the first leg appeared. Cumbubbling bollocks.