Evernight by Ross MacKenzie

Author:Ross MacKenzie [MacKenzie, Ross]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Andersen Digital
Published: 2019-07-04T00:00:00+00:00

A BARGAIN

Lara stood by the door of the Whitecrows’ bookshop, her hand on her chest, making sure her terrified heart was still beating. The locket buzzed against her skin like the wings of a dragonfly, and the sound of the spells, the magic from the locket and the bird and the books, intensified and reached a shattering, painful level before it died away to nothing.

‘The sun. Where did the sun go?’

Through the window she could see part of the sky, clear and impossibly black and bursting with stars.

In the dark of the shop, Bernie and Magnus Whitecrow were rummaging in their coats. Lara heard the clink of glass, and two flares of dazzling light appeared at the tips of their wands.

Lara’s body was shaking, trembling, her legs weak. The screaming out on the streets, the shouting and confusion, was growing, and Lara wanted to scream too, to run to the sewers and hide in the deepest tunnel she could find.

Bernie touched her arm, and she jumped.

‘Lara. You must listen. I know you are frightened. We all are, love. But you must keep a clear head.’

‘But the sun has gone.’ She stared up into Bernie’s face and saw the colour had drained from her cheeks, that she was shaking too. The old Witch closed her eyes and took a few slow breaths.

‘Think, Bernie,’ she said to herself. Then, ‘The docks! Rob will be there!’

‘But he won’t be ready,’ said Magnus. ‘He isn’t due to sail for two days.’

‘Mother Earth’s knobbly knees, Magnus! I think in the circumstances Rob will be ready any damned time we say!’

Lara’s brain was slowly beginning to work again.

‘Is this Witch magic?’

Bernie shook her head.

‘No. This isn’t Witches.’ She was breathless, touching at her throat. ‘It’s the Evernight.’

Magnus shook his head and screwed up his face like he’d tasted something very bitter. ‘Now, Bernie, we don’t know that.’

‘Don’t be a fool! Of course it is! Somehow it’s got out. And the Painted won’t be far behind.’

Lara stared at the dark sky again, thinking back to those nights in the dormitory when she’d huddled under her blankets as the older kids told frightening stories of the Evernight, and of the Painted who’d come and slit your throat in the darkness.

‘It’s real? It’s really real?’

Bernie suddenly looked old and frightened. She reached out for the clockwork bird, but it flew from one of Lara’s shoulders to the other. ‘There’s a boat at the docks. We must travel to Westerly Witch, and hope that we can get there before the Evernight does; the High Witch must be told about this bird.’

‘I don’t want to leave!’

‘You must, child. It’s already been set in motion. The bird, I think, only responds to you. There is a connection. Will you really be so selfish as to deny us your help?’

Lara looked out of the shop window at the shadows of fleeing people and heard the coppers’ whistles all over the city. It was as if she were a twig caught in the rushing sewer stream, helpless to control where she was headed.

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