That was when its eye sockets started to glow.
I dimly heard Athair say something before he stepped off the doorstep and vanished.
Gordon’s eyes widened. ‘No,’ he whispered, staring at theskull. ‘No, not yet. We’re not ready.’ He raised his hands and started to etch a rune in the air, his fingers dancing at high speed. The skull started to spin on the spot, moving faster and faster.
‘Daisy!’ Hester shrieked in panic. ‘Daisy!’
Gordon completed the rune and lurched forward in a bid to reach me, but he couldn’t get close. The sparks from my fingertips scorched the air and forced him back.
The house was still shaking and cracks were appearing in the plaster around us. The noise was tremendous, roaring through my ears.
I bent down to grab the skull, but before I could touch it Gordon gave a sharp cry. I looked up as a large chunk of plaster fell from the ceiling and landed on his head. He crumpled in an instant.
Then I saw a blinding flash of white light and heard a high-pitched ringing in my ears. Losing control not only of my magic but my body too, I tumbled forward. Cumbubbling bollocks.
Chapter
Eleven
The tinnitus was worse than ever, coupled this time with a prickling pain behind my eyelids. I groaned, aware of little except the shaking sensation in my limbs and the cold, clammy sweat that was drenching my body. I slowly gathered my thoughts – and that was when fear thudded through me again. Athair: he was here.
I opened my eyes and leapt up, ignoring the agonising pain that ripped through my body. But the front door was closed and there was no sign of Athair; neither was there any sign of Gordon or the collapsed ceiling. I rubbed my eyes and looked again. What on earth was going on?
There was a flutter of movement by my feet. Hester stirred then flew straight up, her tiny fists raised. ‘Where is he?’ she snarled. ‘Where’s that fiend? I’m going to—’ She faltered. ‘What?’ Her head whipped around. ‘What?’
I glanced down to check on Otis. He was also awake and sitting cross-legged on the patterned carpet, gazing around the narrow hallway. I stared at him, then I stared at the carpet. Wait: moments ago hadn’t that been wooden laminateflooring? I took in the floral wallpaper and the picture of a buxom country girl tending her sheep, neither of which had been present five minutes ago.
‘This isn’t Gordon’s house,’ Otis whispered. ‘It smells different.’
I wanted to tell him that didn’t make sense – we couldn’t be anywhere other than in Gordon’s house – but before I could speak there was a squawk behind me. I spun around and was confronted by a middle-aged woman brandishing a frying pan. She was gripping its handle so hard that her knuckles were white, and her eyes were wide with terror.
‘Get out!’ she screeched. ‘Get out of my house!’ She waved the pan in much the same way that I wielded Gladys. At that thought, my hand strayed to my side. To my relief, my trusty sword was still in her sheath.
Unfortunately, feeling for Gladys might have reassured me but it really worried the woman. She threw the frying pan at my head, where it bounced painfully off my skull, then she grabbed a large, old-fashioned telephone from a side table and jabbed in three numbers.
‘Wait,’ I said, ‘I’m not?—’
I heard a tinny voice on the other end of the line before the woman started babbling. ‘Police! I need the police! There’s an intruder in my house. She’s got a sword. And there are two fairies with her. She’s going to attack! I don’t know what she wants! Help me!’
‘I’m not a fucking fairy!’ Hester yelled, squaring up to the poor woman in a very unhelpful manner.
I grabbed Hester in one hand and Otis in the other, wrenched open the front door and ran outside. It was dark, but it looked like I was in Gordon’s street. I glanced back; it was the same front door, the same address. However, that woman wasdefinitely not Gordon – and there was no sign of Hugo or the others outside.
Something crashed onto the path beside me: the woman was throwing plates. She aimed one at my head with a look of fixed concentration. I gave up trying to work out what was going on and sprinted down the barely lit street. I didn’t know what had happened to the dawn I’d witnessed only minutes ago; I didn’t know what was happening at all.
All I could do was run and run and run.
I wasbreathless by the time I had to stop because my legs would no longer obey my orders and I was on the verge of collapse. As I dropped onto the edge of the pavement and gasped for air, Otis and Hester watched me with worried eyes. ‘Her face is very red,’ Hester commented. ‘Do you think she’s unwell?’
I glared at her and continued to suck gulps of air into my lungs.
Otis wrinkled his nose. ‘Shh!’
Hester nodded. ‘Yeah, Daisy, shh. You sound like a steam train with all that wheezing.’
‘I’m shushing you, Hes, not Daisy!’
‘Why would you shush me?’ she asked her brother. ‘I’m not the one who sounds like a dying walrus.’
