The Thief of Farrowfell by Ravena Guron

Author:Ravena Guron
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2023-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

The Basement

The moment Jude stepped foot on the stone ground, there was a low rumbling. Flames flickered to life on the walls, one by one, to reveal she was standing in an enormous hall with pillars holding up the ceiling high above.

Before her was an underground lake of glowing turquoise water. In its centre was a small island where a display cabinet stood. The cabinet was made up of hundreds of square slots of varying sizes. In some of the cubbyholes were small objects Jude knew at once were magic.

‘That was easy,’ Jude muttered to herself as she walked towards the lake. Moorley had mentioned the protections weren’t designed to keep Ripons out, but all the same she’d been expecting something to be lying in wait for her. Her footsteps echoed, and her yo-yo and wooden rat dug into her palms as she clutched them. As she got nearer to the lake, she saw most of the slots in the cabinet were empty.

She frowned. Her family’s whole business was supposed to be based on selling magic they stole, so why did they hardly have anything in stock? In past years, she’d seen enormous hauls of stolen magic arriving at Headquarters, and she knew it sometimes took a while to shift the goods. Was this why Grandleader had needed the help of the man called Harrimore Hardman? To help him figure out where to source more magic? Because from the look of it, the family business was not doing well …

Except, Uncle Runie had said they were making record profits. How?

Her eyes were drawn to one of the larger slots where a glowing green rock had been placed. That had to be the tracking magic – it was exactly as Farlow Higgins had described. Excitement flooded through her, chasing away all other doubts. She could break off a small piece and no one would be able to tell the difference. Then she could use it to find the Weston parents, apologise and lift the curse.

She reached the edge of the lake. The water was still and glassy but there was no boat, no way across. What was she supposed to do?

Something grabbed her wrist. She spun around and found herself facing a hooded creature in black robes. It towered above her – much too tall to be human.

Her first panicked thought was that a Lilthrum had managed to get past all the defences of Ripon Headquarters, aided by the curse. She yelped, snapping her hand away from the creature’s grasp as she stumbled backwards. But she’d never heard of a Lilthrum wearing robes before.

Was this a new kind of silent monster, guarding the Ripons’ treasure?

Why had she ever thought stealing from her family would be easy?

Her heart beat fast as she slid her finger into the slip knot of her yo-yo and swung. Though the discs flew wide, the yo-yo’s magic curved it back to the cloaked figure. The string uncurled from the axle, twisting around the creature’s body in a tight coil.

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