4ccd8c655fe61694735ada9eb600d06c (14 page)

Then Granite's face reemerged and it seemed to Copper that the black letters on his cheek spelled out a new word now: GREED.

"You're lying," she said. "My father loves her. It's not true."

Granite grinned, then looked puzzled, his smile slipping off his face in bewilderment. He looked at the others, then back at Copper.

"Did you say father? What has
your father
got to do with it?"

"Yes. He's down there at Spindle House right now!" said Copper triumphantly.

Granite turned his hard gaze on the Rockers.

"Is this true? Is he there? Tell me!" he demanded.

"The other night, when they came looking for the girl. . . ," someone ventured to say.

"It was so dark," said another.

"Well, well," said Granite. "Alive . . . I'll make sure I
do
kill him this time. He won't get away again. Here, take this stick away! She seems to like it here, so lock her up and throw away the key. We'll keep her."

"You can't!" Copper cried as three men took hold of her roughly and quickly whisked her away. "Stop! You can't keep me! Let me go!"

The men were deaf to her pleas. They half carried her down the steps and into the depths of the house where the cold seeped right into her bones and her breath showed in a frosty cloud. They thrust her into a cell, shut the steel door with a clang and left her alone in the dark.

23. Locked In The Rock

Copper stood very,
very still, breathing heavily and listening to herself breathing. She blinked three times, hoping the blackness around her was some sort of illusion. It wasn't.

"Sorry, Ralick," she whispered at last.

"It's all right, clever clogs," whispered Ralick. "I was proud of you."

"I had the charm bracelet in my pocket all the time, but I don't suppose it's much use to Granite now that Amber's down at Spindle House."

She pulled out the bracelet and was amazed to see that it glowed like a lantern, casting a golden sheen around the cell.

"Ralick," she whispered, "it's working again."

"Huh, now I can see what another great place you've brought us to," he said. "I do like the iron wrist chains on the wall. Wonder if we have to pay extra for those."

"Horrid," agreed Copper with a shudder. "But don't worry. They can't keep us here forever. Granite just wants to try to scare me."

"And it's working," growled Ralick.

"No, no. I'm not scared."

"I am."

Copper held the bracelet up and looked around the room. It was a square prison cell, with four small metal doors and no windows.

"Let's investigate," said Copper, going toward a door. "There must be a way out."

"Must we?" whimpered Ralick. "It might be worse out there."

The first door that Copper tried was open. "That's odd." She went over and tried the next. That was open too. They all were, and each led to a narrow, winding corridor.

"No thanks," said Ralick. "I'm not going down there. We'll get lost."

"But we can't just stay here. We must try one. Come on, Ralick. Eeny, meeny, miny, mo, catch a teddy by his toe . . ."

She stopped suddenly: "Did you hear something, Ralick?"

"Yes, shut the doors!"

"Shh, listen. It's an animal, crying. Where's it coming from?" She moved round, listening at the four doorways. "Here, down here."

She paused beside the open door, goose pimples dancing up and down her spine. "What shall I do?" she wondered.

"Stop squeezing me, for a start," hissed Ralick. "I'm going to pop my new stitches."

"Sorry. What can it be? Shall we go and see?"

"No, no, choose one of the other doors," cried Ralick. "Ignore it. Can't you learn to ignore things, Copper Beech? Leave well enough alone and all that. It'll just be trouble, Copper. COPPER!"

But Copper was drawn toward the whimpering noise as though it were her name being called. She crept through the doorway and down the narrow tunnel toward it.

"We can't ignore it, it's an animal in pain," she said.

"Like me," groaned Ralick.

At the end of the long passageway was a small room. The noise was coming from this room, but it stopped as they went in.

Copper waited, took a deep breath, then, holding the gleaming bracelet in front of her, lit up the room.

Copper gasped. "It's Silver. They've locked her in a cage!"

Or it had been Silver. Now it was a dirty, black, smelly and crumpled creature. But the eyes pleading for freedom were definitely Silver's eyes.

"You poor, poor thing."

Copper reached out to her, then stopped. It was Silver that had led the men to Copper the first time—Silver the traitor.

It didn't matter. Silver would die if Copper left her. Quickly she slid back the bolt. Silver slunk out and wound herself round Copper's legs, thrusting her nose into her hand, licking her and whining.

"Poor thing. She's, so dirty and thin. What about your babies, Silver? Where are your pups?"

In reply, the big animal caught hold of Copper's coat in her mouth and pulled.

"Where? That way? I'm coming."

"Do we have to?" said Ralick. "It's even darker down there. What if it's another trap?"

"Trust me. Trust my instincts."

"You must be kidding!" yelped Ralick.

Copper let Silver lead her through an archway where there were six or seven other barred cages. Things shifted uneasily inside them, whining, snorting and growling.

"Don't let go of me in here!" said Ralick nervously.

"I won't. I'm trying not to look... there's sad things, horrid things."

Silver led Copper to the last cage, where some baby animals, balls of scraggy fur all rolled up together, lay in a hollow of straw.

"Her cubs, I think. So we were right: they stole her babies and then Silver had to do what Granite wanted . . . but they tricked her and locked them all away. Oh, dear, Silver . . . ," said Copper, peering in more closely. "I don't think . . . they're not moving."

Copper quickly undid the bolts on the cage and put her hands out to the cubs.

"They're dead," said Copper. "They're cold."

Silver threw back her head and howled. The terrible noise echoed round and round the cave. Creatures trapped in the other cages whined and whimpered. But Silver wouldn't
believe the cubs were dead, and thrusting her nose into the curled-up bundles of fur, she sniffed and snuffled. Suddenly Copper saw a tiny movement.

"Let me help," she whispered. She scooped out a furry ball that bleated weakly and struggled feebly in her hands. Silver licked it and it wriggled a bit more. "Alive. Thank goodness. How could Granite do this?" hissed Copper, stroking the cub. "We'll have to take it with us, Ralick, so it'll have to come down my coat with you."

"Oi, what's going on?" said Ralick. "It's scratchy. It's cold. It's trying to suck my nose."

"It's a baby, Ralick, be nice to it," said Copper.

"Grrr"
said Ralick.

"Well, at least I've accomplished something," said Copper, patting Silver's head. "Now I suppose we'd better try to go home. Home, Silver. Which way?"

Silver trotted off down a narrow corridor, turning back to make sure Copper was following.

Just for a second, doubt filled Copper's thoughts as she followed Silver—surely it wasn't a trap? But then she felt the little cub on her chest and knew it wasn't. Silver is good and kind, she told herself. I know.

The corridor was just a tunnel, its walls and floor made of marblelike glistening damp rock. The light from the charm bracelet lit up a small globe around them. Copper was glad not to be able to see too far ahead or too clearly, because every now and again, soft rubbery things squelched under
her boots, tiny scampering creatures ran over her feet and things squeaked in the dark corners. On and on they walked with never a change in their surroundings.

"It can't be much farther," whispered Copper.

"A shame—I'm so enjoying this," wheezed Ralick. "I love hiking underground in the freezing cold. I adore wolflet things nibbling me. I love the dark. I..."

"We've got to keep going. What else can we do?"

Then in the distance she suddenly noticed wisps of green light streaking the ceiling and beginning to lighten up the tunnel ahead.

"There's light," she cried. "It's going to be okay, Ralick."

The emerald vapor flowed thicker and stronger as they drew near. It streamed over Copper's head in swathes and trickled over Silver's silver fur, turning her into a ghostly green monster. Soon the green light filled the whole tunnel and was so bright that Copper had to shield her eyes. She held one hand out in front of her while she walked.

Suddenly her hand jarred against a metal grid. She felt it hurriedly, panic rising as she realized that it completely covered a large circular hole in the wall.

"It's a dead end," she said, trying to keep the fear and disappointment from her voice. "No way through."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. There's like a big grid across. The room on the other side is the room Questrid found where the green light comes from. But I'll never be able to get this metal thing off!"

"Try."

Squinting against the bright green light, Copper laced her fingers into the grid and pulled and tugged, but nothing happened. She shook it and rattled it, but the grid was firmly attached and wouldn't budge.

"I can't bear to go back," said Copper, sinking onto the floor. "It's too far, too dark. What shall I do? I bet Granite knew this would happen. He knew I'd go off down his horrible corridors and get lost. I bet every one of those doors in the cell leads to this place. Why did I come?"

"Because you're very brave and you want your mother," said Ralick. "Now, stop moaning and believe you can do it! Use the charm
bracelet."

"Bracelet? Why didn't I think of that?" She took the bracelet out of her pocket again. It was buzzing and crackling. Which charm might help her now?

"Little babies? A bird? A tree?"

"Try them all," said Ralick. "Dang! This wolf cub is driving me mad! Try them all, Copper."

Copper flattened the charm bracelet against her palm, laid it against the grid and waited. Nothing happened.

"Oh, Ralick! What should we do? I feel sure we should use the bracelet somehow."

"So do I. Wave it around! Dangle it about!"

Copper shifted her hand. The bracelet slipped, and as she caught it, in midfall, the bird charm shattered into a thousand brilliant splinters like a tiny fireworks display. A thousand miniature gold birds flitted through the tunnel, swooping and swerving like a shoal of fish in the green air.

"Birds," cried Copper. "Beautiful, tiny birds."

The minute birds settled on the grid like specks of shining dust, locking their minuscule claws around the wires until every inch was covered. Then in one orchestrated move, they spread their wings and pulled.

The grid lifted smoothly from the wall, and the birds carried it away and settled it onto the floor. Then, like a swarm of bees, they rose into the air again. But this time, they flew faster, haphazardly, as if they were mad; they flew straight at each other, and as they touched, they merged and made one, like mercury forming a pool. But each new bird was no bigger than the first and in the end just one tiny gold bird was left. It flew onto the tip of Copper's finger and nodded its head once, as if to say, There, that's done, then tumbled down into her palm, a solid, lifeless charm.

"That was the most wonderful thing ever," said Copper quietly. "Thank you." She put the bird charm back onto her bracelet and went through the opening in the wall.

The green vapor rose in a cloud and billowed round the room, oozing its way up into the pipes in the ceiling and through the vents in the walls.

Copper made straight for the door. "Now we can get back. That way leads to the lake or back up the stairs. We're safe!" But the door was locked . .. from the outside.

24. The Mystery Of The Green Vapor

Copper sank onto
the floor.

"Stuck. Oh, I'm tired, Ralick," she sobbed. "Silver, I'm tired. I can't go back and there's no way on. I wish Aunt Ruby was here. I wish I'd never come. I was so stupid. Stupid to think I could do anything. They'll all be worrying. Of course I can't make Granite do what I want. I'm so useless!"