Avery stood in the large cave under Gull Island, currently illuminated by a dozen witch-lights, and wondered if they’d got it wrong.
She was there with El, Briar, Alex, Newton, Ash, and the three investigators, all armed to varying degrees. Newton and Ben held shotguns, El and Ash had the Empusa’s swords, and Dylan carried the bag of portable spells that she and the other witches had made. They had proceeded cautiously down the tunnel, Ash leading the way, all of them wary of meeting vengeful ghosts, but so far everything was quiet.
Too quiet.
“If we can’t find this mysterious passage that we think exists but have no proof of, then we’re stuck!” Newton said, annoyed.
They had already pulled a large portion of the old wooden boxes out of the way, and so far the ground underneath was solid earth.
Alex looked up from the area he’d been searching. “Can you save the frustration until we’ve finished, Newton?”
“We’re losing time! Ethan could be up to anything right now, and I’d never know because there’s no bloody coverage in this godforsaken pit!”
Newton’s team hadn’t seen any movement before they entered the tunnels, and everyone knew he was frustrated.
“Have you got any better leads?”
Newton scowled. “No.”
“So stop whining, and help us search!”
Avery suppressed a grin and also returned to moving the boxes out of the way, directing them over the heads of the searchers using a current of air and on to the area that they’d already searched. The magical energy was strong in here, building in pressure around them, so despite Newton’s complaints and Avery’s own doubts, they were in the right place…or thereabouts.
“Maybe we need to get on the beach,” El suggested, her hands on her back as she arched backwards to ease the kinks.
“Good idea,” Avery agreed. “We might be able to detect a kind of magical path to the centre of the energy.”
Alex straightened up, looking doubtful. “I’m not sure we should split up.”
“We’d save time,” Ben said.
Briar marched decisively to the middle of the cave, closed her eyes, and wiggled her bare feet into the ground. “I’m going to feel for changes in the earth, to see if I can detect another tunnel or something. Just ignore me while I work.”
“And I,” El said, ignoring Alex’s doubts, “am going to head to the beach.”
Avery nodded and headed to her side. “Great. I’ll come with you.”
“Wait,” Dylan called over. “I’ll come, too. We can use my thermal camera again. It’s picking up nothing significant here.”
Avery could hear Alex muttering under his breath about headstrong women as she left with El, and a few minutes later they were in the smaller cave where Reuben had been attacked. The sounds of the rain and the sea crashing on the beach were loud as they edged through the scrubby bushes that veiled the cave. As soon as they were in the open, the wind hit them, as did spray from the thundering surf and the heavy rain. They were drenched in seconds.
“Shit!” El exclaimed, raising her voice to be heard. She looked at Dylan. “It’s wild out here. Can you use that thing in the wet?”
“Not this bloody wet,” he said, rain dripping off the end of his nose. “I’ll head to the entrance, in the shelter.”
“Wait!” Avery pulled a current of air around them, using it like a shield, and combined it with a protection spell, remembering that Eve had used something similar when she was conjuring the storm. All of a sudden, they were in a protected bubble, while the elements raged around them.
Dylan looked around, startled. “Wow! That’s super cool!”
Avery smiled, feeling incredibly smug. “Yes, it is. I have actually never tried that before!”
“In that case, super brain,” El said, “Is there some kind of spell we can use that can show us magic in a thermal way like Dylan can do?”
“You’re the fire witch, you tell me!”
“Fair point,” she said, slicking her wet hair away from her face, and issuing a little warmth from her palm to take the worst of the water out of it. “Challenge accepted. Just let me think a moment.”
Giving El a few minutes of silence, Avery moved to Dylan’s side. He was panning the camera over the rocks and beach to either side, and then he swept it up to the cliffs behind them.
“Bloody hell, you can see it more clearly from here,” he said, pointing up and to the right. “The epicentre appears to be over there.”
Avery nodded. “Further inland. Have you checked the sea for the ship?”
“Ooh, no.” He turned around, panning across the ocean, and within seconds they could see it. Avery’s heart faltered.
The ship had two long masts and was fully rigged with sails, and its long, spar-like bow protruded from the front of the ship. It sat steadily in the sea, unmoved by the strong winds and the high waves.
“Shit! That’s big!” Avery squeaked out.
“Very. I believe that’s a sloop.” He squinted at the image. “I wonder if that’s Black Prince.”
“I don’t care what it is, as long as it stays there.”
“You know, I think I can see figures on it.”
“Please don’t say that.” Avery squinted into the spray. “What do you think it might do?”
“I don’t know. But it’s a ghost ship. Surely it can’t do much!”
“Did you see the hole in Reuben’s wall? Does it have cannons?”
“They modified them for all sorts of things,” Dylan told her. “They would originally have been merchant ships that were stolen and refitted for smuggling purposes.”
Avery huffed. “Okay, there’s nothing we can do about that right now, and it doesn’t look like there’s a way to the centre of the energy from here. The cliffs are too steep. I think we should head inside, see if they’ve found a tunnel.”
Dylan folded his camera away. “It was worth a shot. El? Any luck?”
El was staring at the cliffs in fierce concentration, saying what Avery presumed to be a spell. Before she could answer, a boom sounded above the noise of the storm and a cloud of dust and debris carried on a wave of magical energy blew through the opening of the rock and billowed around them, held at bay by the protection spell. The ground rocked beneath their feet and Avery staggered, almost falling, until Dylan pulled her upright.
Avery didn’t hesitate. She ran back to the cave entrance, getting pelted by rain again, but she could barely get in. The cave had completely collapsed.
Reuben watched Caspian working, utterly frustrated. He should be with his friends, not here, trying to undo some complicated, knotty spell that was completely beyond his abilities.
“Reuben,” Caspian said, not taking his eyes from the spell. “I can feel your annoyance. Help me!”
“I don’t know how!”
“That’s because you’re not focussing!”
“Because I’m worried about my girlfriend and our friends out there!”
Caspian lifted his head and stared at him, and Reuben felt pinned beneath the intensity of his gaze. “Water. I want you to focus on water!”
Reuben clenched his fists and with a deep breath, counted to five and released them again. “Okay. I’ll level with you. I don’t do this type of thing. I don’t know how to unpick a spell.”
“But you know how to make one?”
“Er, yes, I guess so.”
“What do you mean, guess? You have a grimoire full of spells, a good chunk of which are based around elemental water, and I’ve seen you work water magic, so what is wrong?”
Reuben wrestled with how much to say. He hated to confess he was useless, but Caspian should know he couldn’t rely on him. “I’m not that good a witch, Caspian. I use my magic more instinctively, and sporadically. The others, and you, seem to use it all the time. I don’t. Sorry. You’ve got the dud one.”
Caspian had been leaning on the table, but now he straightened. “That’s bullshit.”
“No, it’s not. It’s the truth.” He stared back at Caspian, unflinching, and waited to see the disappointment and derision he was due.
“I get it. You were late to the party. You ignored your magic, pretended it didn’t exist, and now you’re still doing it.”
“I’m not ignoring it. It’s just not there.”
“Of course it’s bloody there. I’ve seen you use it, and I can feel it now! You used it on us in my home last year! And on those bloody vampires. And at the Crossroads Circus,” he said, reminding him of what El had pointed out.
“It was a fluke.”
Caspian looked up at the ceiling. “The Goddess give me strength.” He levelled his gaze at Reuben again. “Water elemental magic is malleable, moody. It flows, seeping through cracks and finding ways through all sorts of things, much like water itself does. It wears things down over time. And, in large quantities, like the sea or raging rivers or masses of rain,” he threw his arms out, indicating the rain they could hear falling on the roof, “it is immensely powerful! But it is also intuitive, like you.”
“I’m not intuitive.”
“Yes, you are. You are one of the most intuitive witches I know. You feel every one of your friends, I can tell. You tune into them, their moods, their doubts, their happiness. That’s why you’re the joker. You like to put them at their ease, massaging the mood of the group, picking them up when they’re down, celebrating with them when they’re happy. You do it so instinctively you don’t even know you’re doing it.”
Reuben fell silent, debating whether Caspian was taking the piss, and then cast his mind back to when he was with them. Did he do that?
Caspian continued, “They like spending time with you, everyone does. You’re popular because you flow with people. You roll with your moods—or rather, their moods. Water is the most emotional element, more so than the psyche. We’re made of water. Water is life-giving, which means you have some healing abilities, too. And bodies of water—rivers, springs, lakes—are considered sacred spaces. And of course, you surf. You’ll use your magic then too, as I’m sure you know, but again because it’s so instinctive, you don’t even question it. Am I right?”
“You might be right about the surfing,” he grudgingly admitted.
Caspian smirked. “I’m right about it all. And that elemental magic is deep within you, like a well at your centre, and you have barely begun to tap it.”
Shadow had said a similar thing when he’d first met her, so had Oswald once, but this was the first time anyone had picked up on some of the things he did and hadn’t even noticed. He began to feel just the slightest bit more positive. “Perhaps.”
“The trouble with elemental water is that it is so malleable, so…well, watery. You think you’ve got it, and then it’s gone again, but you have to remember it’s still always there, and it flows through your veins, rich and full of life.”
“And how is that going to help me now?”
“I need you to be at your most instinctive. Let your emotional awareness flow around this spell. Water is a big part of it.” Caspian stared into the spinning words. “I think they used it because this is about cursing pirates, who are at their most comfortable at sea. And like I said, water in a mass is incredibly destructive. It sweeps away everything before it. But,” Caspian studied the spell from different angles, “this is structured differently to any spell I’ve seen before. The words are tangled together, like a knot, and we need to find the end of it to untangle it and read it fully. That’s what we’re looking for.”
“The end of the thread.” Reuben looked at the spell again, trying to let his instincts take over. He took a deep breath, and then addressing the spell rather than Caspian, said, “Thanks.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Yes, you did.”
“Thank me when we’ve cracked this thing. And by the way, don’t do anything too dramatic. We don’t want to end up unconscious again.”
Briar was covered in a layer of sand and earth, the ground hard beneath her, a dull ringing in her ears.
For a moment she was stunned, and then as reality filtered in, she leapt to her feet, brushing earth from her eyes and blinking rapidly to clear her vision. She was on the far side of the cave and the air was filled with dust, clogging her nose and throat. She reached for her t-shirt, pulling the hem over her nose and mouth as she tried to see the others.
Ash was circling overhead, the beat of his huge wings helping to clear the air. Around her, the others staggered to their feet, Ben pulling Cassie free from a mound of earth, and Newton cocking his shotgun.
But where was Alex, and what had happened?
“Alex!” she shouted, running to where she had last seen him.
He had been searching the final area they had uncovered. She scrambled over the debris, horrible memories of Gil’s death flooding back. They had found him behind the boxes, his neck broken, his eyes vacant.
For a second, grief overcame her and she couldn’t breathe. If Alex was dead…
In seconds, Newton had ran past her, throwing the remnants of boxes out of the way with surprising strength. He was quickly followed by Ben and Cassie, while she just stood there, unable to move.
What was the matter with her? She needed to focus. She needed to find Alex.
A blur of wings above her made her look up, and Ash streaked to where the mound of rubble and earth was biggest, grabbed something that was sticking out of the surface, and hauled a limp body out.
Briar collapsed, her eyes filling with tears. No. No.
Avery stared at the wall of rock, desperately trying to move it with her magic, but it stayed firmly put, and she could feel tears threatening to fall. She blinked them back, furious with herself.
“There’s no way past that,” Dylan said to Avery, his hand on her shoulder. “And if you succeed in some way, you might bring more down in the process.” He nodded up to where a huge crack ran across the rocky roof of the cave, and pulled her back with him so they were well away from the cave entrance and any potential rock fall.
“I have to get through.” Water streamed down her face as the raging weather buffeted them, and she shook his hand off. “Our friends are through there.”
“We need to find another way,” he said calmly, holding her gaze with his own.
She took a deep breath. He was right. She had to focus. But all she could think of was Alex. “What if they’re injured, or…” She couldn’t bring herself to say the word.
“And what if they’re not? What if this debris has just fallen between us, not in the main cave? Come on; let’s get back to shelter and El.”
He pulled her across the stony beach and into the bubble of protection, where El was still focussing on the cliffs. As they entered she started to smile, and then she saw their faces. “What’s wrong?”
“A rock fall has blocked the cave,” Dylan said quickly, shooting a nervous glance at Avery. “We have no idea how big it is, but we can’t get through.”
El was stunned into silence, her shoulders sagging, and she looked towards the entrance. “How bad?”
“Very,” Avery said, finding her voice. “I couldn’t move it with magic.”
A portion of rock suddenly sheared off with a rumble, completely occluding the entrance, and Avery was suddenly grateful for Dylan’s calm advice.
“Thanks,” she said to him. “I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“You’re worried about Alex, it’s understandable. El, any luck?”
“Yes. I’ve been focussing on energy and heat signatures, and I can see a section up there that’s emitting an energy similar to what’s above us.” She pointed halfway up the cliff face over on the right. “I think it’s the entrance to a passage, or another cave.”
Dylan grabbed his camera and focussed on the area, magnifying the image, and Avery saw that El was right. It was like a flame, flickering within the cliff.
Pushing her fear about Alex aside, Avery took a deep breath. “I can fly up there. Give me a moment, and I’ll check it out. If it’s clear, I’ll come back for both of you.”
And before any of them could complain, she summoned air and vanished.
As Reuben teased the last of the elemental water away, the words of the spell floated free, lining up into orderly sentences, still hovering over the page.
“Well done,” Caspian muttered. “Let’s see what this says.”
Reuben had been working on the opposite side of the table, but now he moved around and sat next to Caspian, studying the words with him. It had taken a good hour to unravel the spell, and the start had been the hardest. Essentially, the tendril of elemental water was as sinuous and undulating as a stream, and grasping it was like trying to pick up water between your finger and thumb. But as he’d relaxed into it, he’d finally made the connection.
As he worked on his part, Caspian untangled the other. It felt like they were performing surgery together, and was certainly weird, but oddly satisfying. And Caspian, surprisingly, had been incredibly patient and utterly focussed.
As he studied the words, Reuben realised it wasn’t just an incantation; it listed the ingredients, too. Salt water, dried and ground kelp, sea holly, thrift, and sea kale, as well as dragon’s blood, cinnamon, camomile, and sandalwood. Right at the beginning was Coppinger’s name.
“Bloody hell, Reuben, this is a horrible spell,” Caspian said, raising an eyebrow in masterful understatement. “The strength of it lies in the fact that it directs the evil of Coppinger and his gang back at them.” He pointed to a line of script. “‘And by your hand, all that walk with you shall suffer your fate. By wealth, by stealth, each raid by blade, to all who have lost and failed to grow old, thou shall know their pain a thousand fold.’”
“It does extend to his men, then.”
“Absolutely. The spell turns the offenders’ ill deeds back on them ‘a thousand fold.’ Then it uses their greed to bind them to the treasure, ensuring it acts as a poison, rendering a slow and painful death. Their spirits are then denied rest. It says, ‘As your spirit leaves your body it will be forever bound to the object of your desire, and ye shall never rest. Not by night, by day, by dark or full of moon, by sunshine, rain, or snow. Thou shall always be a slave to that which wrought your doom.’”
“The ingredients are water-based plants or seaside plants, too,” Reuben noted. “I guess that explains why the water element is so strong. How do we break it?”
“Good question.”
While Caspian stared at the words, Reuben stood and stretched his legs, heading over to the thermal imaging camera still trained on the island. He frowned and squinted at the image. “Er, Caspian. There’s been a development.”
“What?” He was at his side in seconds.
“The ship. It’s heading back to Gull Island, and there seems to be some big plume of energy rising even higher. Like an explosion.”
The ship had almost disappeared again, only the stern visible.
They stared at each other bleakly, and without another word, returned to the spell.