In Darkling Wood by Emma Carroll

Author:Emma Carroll [Emma Carroll]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9780571317608
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2015-09-15T04:00:00+00:00

SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER

20

Something’s seriously up with Nell this morning. She’s storming about the place before it’s even light. I pull the covers over my head but when I hear her talking on the phone I immediately think it’s to Mum. Quickly putting on jeans and a jumper, I go downstairs. Nell’s in the hallway, phone tucked under her chin.

‘Yes, every single blasted one,’ she’s saying. ‘Right back in their original places. Can you believe it, Mr Giles, they’ve even nailed the posts back together!’

Nell notices me hovering. She gestures towards the kitchen like there’s something she wants me to see. I don’t know what she’s on about: everything looks normal in here. The table’s covered in papers and coffee cups. And Borage, the great lazy lump, is still in his bed by the Aga.

‘What’s going on, boy?’ I say, crouching down to rub his ears.

He thumps his tail. Not much, by the looks of it. Taking the kettle to the sink to fill it, I gaze blearily out of the window. Today I need to find Flo. There must be something we can do to save the woods – something that doesn’t involve fairies.

‘Seen it, have you?’ says Nell, coming into the kitchen.

‘Huh?’

She joins me at the window. ‘That fence I took down yesterday – d’you see where it is now?’

Wiping off the condensation, I peer through the glass. I’m still not sure what she’s on about. The fence that separates the garden from the wood looks like it always does – wooden posts, wooden rails.

Except … hang on … yesterday Nell took the fence down. I watched from the window and saw the posts she’d dug up lying in a big heap. It took her ages. Now they’re all back in the ground.

‘Who did it?’ I ask.

‘I’ve no idea,’ says Nell. ‘Someone’s playing tricks on me.’

My heart starts to thump.

Flo said this would happen, didn’t she? She said there’d be more hold-ups, more delays. And someone or something has messed with Nell’s fence, all right. It’ll take her ages to dig those posts up again.

I feel a chill creeping over me. Flo called them tricks. She said they were a warning to Nell not to cut down Darkling Wood. If she ignores them and goes ahead, the fairies will take revenge, and I’ve a nasty suspicion who their target will be.

Us.

‘I’m not still grounded, am I?’ I say to Nell.

‘What?’ Nell looks surprised. Her mind’s clearly on other things. ‘No.’

Grabbing my coat, I race out of the door. I need to find Flo. Fast.

I head straight to the woods. The birds are quiet, as if they know something’s wrong. Even the trees look grim. It’s hard not to think of what they’ll look like next week, hacked to pieces on the ground. There’s no sign of Flo in the usual places, not even a footprint. I just hope she’s not still cross with me over last time, and that business with the note I found in the tree.

At the edge of the wood, I turn left towards Glossop’s Farm, where the Travellers are camped.

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