Soul Splinter Read online

  ‘A riddle you asked for, a riddle you’ll have.’ He smiled darkly, then every whisper joined as one, hissing round the boat: ‘One Killed None But Still Killed Twelve. Tell us how this can be.’

  Siddy bit his nails. ‘Moll, what’ve you done? There’s no sense in that riddle. We’ll never get the answer!’

  Moll’s mind whirred. Think, she told herself. Think. But her mind was empty and all she could feel was Grudge’s gun rammed into her neck.

  Siddy reached inside his pocket and drew out Hermit. ‘It’s over; after all we’ve gone through, we’re going to be drowned by the Grim Whispers.’

  Grudge clicked the safety catch on. ‘Think fast, girl,’ he growled. ‘Get us out of this mess and on to find the amulet.’

  Moll slid a glance at Siddy, her thoughts skittering inside her.

  The Grim Whisperer smiled with crusted lips, then he laced his fingers together. ‘It looks as if your wits have failed you. So you’re ours to keep.’ The creatures around him rose higher from the surface, strands of gutweed floating on the water. Then the Grim Whisperer lurched forward, wrapping a cold, clammy hand round Moll’s wrist.

  She recoiled in terror, but the creature held her fast.

  ‘Wait!’ Siddy cried.

  The Grim Whisperer clung to Moll, seaweed sliming over her wrist.

  ‘I – I think I have it,’ Siddy stammered, staring wide-eyed at Hermit. ‘One Killed None But Still Killed Twelve. A crab eats a poisoned shrimp that’s already dead. The crab dies too,’ Siddy said slowly. ‘Twelve men eat a stew made from the crab – and all of them die from the poison as well. The crab didn’t mean to kill anyone, but it killed twelve men!’

  The whispers around the boat crumbled away. Silence followed.

  Moll turned to Siddy in disbelief. ‘It – it works. Siddy! What you said works!’

  She felt the grip of the Grim Whisperer weaken, then its bony fingers slid from her wrist and it dropped into the sea behind the boat. Dozens of sunken eyes burned with hatred at Siddy, then the whispers started again, threading together and weaving their way round the boat: ‘For now you shall pass, but the Shadowmasks are coming and their darkness will crush you both.’ The whispers faded and the hideous creatures surrounding the boat slipped beneath the surface of the sea until just the shipwreck remained, strands of seaweed floating eerily round the mast.

  Moll breathed deeply, pushing back her fear, then she hugged Siddy tight. ‘How did you do it?’

  Siddy shook his head. ‘I have absolutely no idea; it was Hermit who got me thinking!’

  For the first time, Moll was thankful for Hermit. ‘I could kiss your stinky crab, Sid!’

  Grudge nudged his pistol against Moll’s arm. ‘Shut it, you two. We’ve got that to get past now.’

  The mist had faded and there, glinting in the beam of the lighthouse, was Devil’s Drop. Water drummed into the sea, deafening the night, and the smugglers rowed on, striking hard against the current.

  Moll felt the water in the air first, droplets of spray showering her face, then the roar grew mightier and a cloud of whiteness swallowed them up. There was no up or down, just walls of white shaking around them. The spray grew, drenching their faces, then great thrusts of water poured over the boat and slammed into their bodies. Moll gasped as the water punched the breath from her lungs.

  ‘Turn us back!’ Siddy yelled at Grudge.

  ‘He’s right!’ the smuggler boys screamed. ‘We’ll die going under this!’

  The water tossed the oars from the boat and dragged it into the heart of the falls – into the froth and the spray and the churn. Devil’s Drop thundered down and Moll and Siddy clutched each other tight. The water thrashed itself against the boat and the vessel spun wildly, hurling Smog into the sea. Another thrust of water hammered down.

  ‘Hang on to me, Sid!’ Moll screamed, yanking him over the side of the boat with her.

  They tumbled into the sea just before the boat shattered in two and was lost in the maelstrom. Water pounded down beneath the surface, flinging Moll and Siddy upside down, but they clung to one another, their hands locked together. Hundreds of words raced through Moll’s mind – conversations she wished she’d had with Siddy, things left unspoken. And though Moll couldn’t say a word she held Siddy’s hand tight – cradling everything that should have been said but hadn’t. They let the water take them, their breath pent up inside as it hurled them in every direction. Then suddenly they were kicking out, free from the heart of the waterfall, and they burst through the surface, a roar of water clattering down behind them. They were through and inside Devil’s Drop itself.

  Choking out ragged breaths, they kicked away from the curtain of water that closed them in, towards the smooth rocks in front of them. As Puddle had said, there was a cave – and it towered above them, a giant mouth leading into the cliff. Despite the rumble of the falls, there was a stillness inside, and from somewhere further in a light was shining.

  Moll put her hands on her knees as her breath sawed back through her. ‘Thank you, Sid. For not letting go – and I know I don’t say it enough, but for everything else too.’

  ‘It’s what the Tribe does,’ Siddy panted, clambering up on to the rocks. ‘Have we lost Grudge and the Dreads then?’

  ‘We don’t have time to worry about them.’ Moll wrung the water from her coat and dress. ‘The Shadowmasks will know we got past the Grim Whispers by now; we’ve got to get inside this cave.’

  They crept over the rocks, glad of the solid ground beneath their feet. The cave walls arched around them, but, instead of the dark, marbled rock that lined Little Hollows, this was limestone, white and chalky. Stalactites hung from the ceiling like long, pointing fingers, and the light from somewhere further inside the cave cast shadows all about them.

  Siddy wrapped his hand round his talisman and they walked on in silence, ignoring their echoing footsteps, until they came to a screen of ivy hanging down from the roof of the cave. Tentatively, Moll reached out a hand and pulled a creeper back. She gasped.

  Beyond was an atrium four times the size of Little Hollows, and it was lit turquoise by thousands of glow-worms that clung to the roof and sides of the cave, glittering like a secret constellation of stars. Stalactites hung from the roof, but they weren’t chalky-white like before: these were long shards of glinting crystals. And beneath them, filling the entire cave, was a lake – as still as a mirror.

  Moll and Siddy pushed past the creepers and stepped out on to a downward formation of rocks leading to the lake.

  ‘What is this place?’ Siddy mummered.

  The light from the glow-worms shivered, as if they weren’t used to having visitors.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Moll replied. ‘But,’ she fumbled for the right words, ‘I know the amulet is in here this time. I can feel it.’ A flutter of excitement prickled her skin. Any moment now, she might find her ma’s soul. All those years of growing up without her – and soon she might be able to speak to her like she had with her pa, even if just for a short while.

  They tiptoed towards the lake. The water in the middle shone turquoise beneath the glow-worms, but where it spread out to the edges it sank into a murky gloom and huge stalagmites rose up from the depths. Moll jumped as a droplet of water fell from the roof and pierced the skin of water, then her eyes were drawn to something else. On a boulder rising up in the middle of the lake was a large metal cage. Moll peered closer. From where she stood, it looked empty, but there was something about it that pulled at Moll, tugging her closer.

  ‘That cage,’ she whispered. ‘I think we need to go over to it.’

  ‘But how do we cross—’

  Siddy’s words were stopped short as two giant hands seized him and Moll by the scruff of the neck. They whirled round to a face of gold teeth and wild dreadlocks.

  ‘Miss me?’ Barbarous Grudge growled.

  Moll jabbed her elbows into Grudge’s stomach and Siddy struck out with his foot. But Grudge’s hold was firm. Moll’s eye
s dropped to his holster and she saw that it was empty; the pistol must have been lost in the falls, but the crowbar was still hooked over his belt.

  ‘The amulet’s in that cage, isn’t it?’ Grudge spat. He glanced up at the shards of crystal, then smiled, his gold teeth gleaming in the glow-worm light. ‘If that’s what’s growing out here, just think of the size of the amulet in the cage. It’ll make me a fortune.’

  Moll twisted beneath Grudge’s grasp. ‘It doesn’t work like that,’ she hissed. ‘I’m not even sure if the amulet is a jewel.’

  Grudge shook her. ‘Whatever it is, it’ll be valuable, I’ll bet. And you’re going to fetch it for me.’

  Siddy strained against Grudge’s fist, but the smuggler only smiled. Moll’s mind raced. Where was Alfie? Had he tried to come after them or had he finally given up hope? She thought of the sheer-drop cliffs and the raging falls. Even if he had followed them, would he get past all that? She jerked against Grudge and her coat ripped, but he grappled for a stronger hold. She bit down on his fist, her eyes fierce slits, and the smuggler’s hand shot back. Moll seized the opportunity and leapt backwards, but Grudge was over her in a flash, his crowbar raised.

  ‘Moll!’ Siddy screamed.

  The crowbar hung in the air and Moll cowered beneath it.

  ‘Wait!’ Siddy spluttered. ‘We’ll get the amulet for you.’

  Grudge lowered his weapon and Moll breathed again. ‘See those stepping stones leading out across the lake to the rock in the middle?’ he snarled.

  Moll and Siddy nodded.

  ‘Cross them – and bring me back the amulet.’

  Moll looked at the polished surface of the water; its stillness unnerved her. Although there didn’t seem anything to be afraid of, she couldn’t help feeling as if someone – something – was watching her.

  Grudge threw Siddy forward, then jabbed Moll in the back with his crowbar. ‘Off you go.’

  They stood by the water’s edge, the path of stepping stones laid out before them like half-made promises.

  Siddy gripped Moll’s hand. ‘We can do this. There’s nothing to be afraid of.’ He paused. ‘But, even so, I think you should go first. You’re the brave one.’

  Moll put a foot on the first stone. It held her weight and the lake remained still. She lifted the other foot out, wobbled slightly as she found her balance, then set both feet side by side. And, from the shore, Grudge watched every move. Moll raised her leg again and stepped on to the second stone and, although he groaned at every movement, Siddy followed. They stepped further into the lake, their breath bridled in tight.

  Halfway to the cage the ripples started. Small ruffles over the surface of the water, nudging at the stones.

  ‘What is it?’ Siddy asked from the stone behind Moll.

  Moll’s arms wavered either side of her as she fumbled for balance. ‘I’m – I’m not sure.’

  Above them the glow-worms twitched, then dimmed a fraction.

  Siddy gasped. ‘There!’

  Something large and dark was shifting in the gloom beneath the surface a few metres away. A ridge of fins arched, then slunk out of sight and the lake was once more still. Moll forced her breaths out, trying to keep calm, but she knew the darkness was out there, watching and waiting.

  ‘Faster!’ Grudge shouted from the shore.

  Moll blinked back her terror and took another step.

  Then, some distance away, the lake erupted. The long, shimmering body of an enormous eel coiled out of the water. Black-scaled gills flared, eyes glowered green and a blunt nose turned towards Moll and Siddy. They drank in its darkness, felt the Shadowmasks’ magic seeping inside them, then the eel’s head dipped low to the water and its great scaled length slithered towards them.

  ‘Moll, what do we do?’ Siddy whimpered as the eel sliced a path through the water straight at them.

  Moll glanced to the shore where Grudge was edging backwards, then to the cage still six or seven stepping stones ahead. The eel loomed closer.

  ‘I – I don’t know,’ she stammered.

  Then from somewhere inside her, beyond the Shadowmasks’ darkness, Moll thought of the Bone Murmur.

  ‘There is a magic, old and true.’ Her voice was little more than a whisper. ‘That shadowed minds seek to undo.’ The words seem to come from a power beyond Moll’s own will and the eel felt their strength. It slowed slightly in the water and Moll spoke the words louder. ‘They’ll splinter the souls of those who hold the Oracle Bones from Guardians of old. And storms will rise; trees will die, if they free their dark magic into the sky.’

  ‘It’s working!’ Siddy cried.

  ‘Say it with me, Sid!’ She clutched his hand. ‘We need to call on the old magic together!’

  The eel skulked close and thrashed its tail. Water sprayed up around them, but Moll and Siddy kept their balance. Moll closed her eyes and thought of the Bone Murmur again – of the old magic that seemed to be unfolding around her. She took a deep breath and Siddy joined in: ‘But a beast will come from lands full wild, to fight this darkness with a gypsy child.’

  The eel slunk beneath the water until just its blunt nose remained visible. Moll thought of Gryff and willed all of his strength to rise up inside her. Siddy’s hand was a fist round hers, but his face was hard.

  ‘And they must find the Amulets of Truth,’ they shouted. ‘To stop dark souls doing deeds uncouth.’

  The eel’s slitted eyes closed, its nose slipped from sight and, once again, the water stilled.

  Moll and Siddy looked at one another, too rattled to speak, but now the eel had disappeared Grudge was down by the shore again, shouting at them to hurry.

  ‘Come on,’ Moll whispered, and she leapt from stone to stone, further into the lake.

  Finally, they reached the last stepping stone and jumped up on to the boulder. The enormous cage was perched on top of it, dome-shaped and rusted, like an old birdcage. Moll’s heart thundered inside her. This was it. The second amulet waiting for them, just metres away.

  Hands reaching for crevices, Moll and Siddy scrambled up the boulder and hauled themselves on to its flattened surface. They stepped up to the bars of the cage. Moll blinked. Bird feathers, hundreds of them, lined its bottom. She stooped down, stretched a hand through the bars and picked one up. It was golden brown, like the others in the cage, and larger than any she’d ever seen before.

  ‘It looks like a golden eagle’s feather,’ Siddy said. ‘Only bigger. But why are they here?’

  ‘What is it?’ Grudge yelled from the shore. ‘What’ve you found?’

  Moll looked from the feather to Siddy. ‘I – I don’t understand. Was there something in the cage but it got out?’ She shook her head. ‘Where’s the amulet?’

  ‘Tell me what you’ve found!’ Grudge roared.

  Siddy walked to the edge of the boulder. ‘Feathers!’ he yelled. ‘We told you that it wouldn’t be what you expected.’

  Silence. Then Grudge strode out on to the stepping stones.

  ‘Siddy!’ Moll gasped. But she wasn’t looking at Grudge. ‘There, tucked right up against the bars – it’s an envelope!’

  Grudge was moving fast over the stones now, his strides so big he only needed to stand on every second one. ‘You’re lying to me! You’ll show me where this amulet is!’ he spat.

  Moll reached inside the cage and pulled the old brown envelope out. And there, in beautiful scripted writing were two words: My Moll.

  Grudge loomed closer, but Moll stood up, the envelope clasped tightly in her hand. ‘Stay away, Grudge!’ she shouted. ‘You’ve no right to anything!’

  Grudge snorted. ‘I’ll take what I please.’

  Suddenly the lake began to ripple, its stillness disturbed by a blunt black nose. It broke the surface and was followed by a scaled body that rose before Grudge, a terror of glittering scales. The smuggler cowered beneath it, his body stalled by fear. And then the eel slid forward, opened its cavernous mouth and snatched Grudge from the stepping stone. Grudg
e howled in fear, thrashing against the eel’s jagged teeth, but, a second later, his howls were silenced as the creature worked its jaws. It turned two green eyes towards Moll and Siddy, and Moll thrust her letter up in the air, hoping it might hold the same power that the Bone Murmur had. The eel blinked slowly and then sank back into the gloom until only a circle of ripples marked its presence.

  Siddy let his head fall back, then he breathed hard. ‘He’s gone – Grudge is gone.’

  Moll nodded. She expected to feel something, to relish in the sweet revenge of it, even if just for Scrap’s sake, but there was a letter with her name on it in her hands. And feelings far greater than anger and revenge were brewing inside her.

  ‘Open it,’ Siddy whispered.

  Moll peeled back the seal and drew out a piece of parchment covered in words. Could it be? she thought, hardly daring to hope. Could this be a letter from her ma?

  ‘What does it say?’ Siddy asked.

  Moll opened it up and drew breath to read, but another voice cut across hers. It didn’t belong to Siddy and there wasn’t anyone else around them. But Moll recognised that voice – because it was the one that had soothed her tears and sung her to sleep as a baby and, though many years had passed since then, Moll had kept the sound of that voice locked inside her. It was soft, but there was a quiet strength to it, as if it had been built from the embers of an unquenchable fire, and the sound seemed to cradle Moll in warmth. She followed the words in the letter as her ma’s voice spoke them aloud.

  ‘My Moll,

  Oh, how I’ve missed you – more than this letter will ever be able to say. I remember you as a baby, with a shock of black hair and eyes just like mine. And now look at you, so much bigger than you were – so grown up. I wish I could have given you the childhood you deserved: we’d have climbed trees together, swum in the river, ridden cobs bareback through the forest . . . But, my darling Moll, what you’ve done – you and Gryff and your friends – is more than I ever expected. To have got this far when almost everything was against you fills me with a pride I want to shout from the sky.’