21

The night-children swarmed around Billy.

They looked shell-shocked, as if they couldn’t quite believe what had happened. Billy felt dazed too. Then it hit him – he had defeated the Magician!

‘Billy, I’m changing!’ came a voice from the crowd, and Lightning stepped forward, holding her hand up for everyone to see. Her skin was flushing with its natural colour and her wide, staring eyes had shrunk to their normal size.

‘And I remember my name!’ she said, with a catch in her voice. ‘I’m Abi!’

‘My real name is Joe,’ said Ace. He was changing back to his proper self too. ‘I can remember where my house is!’

‘I c-c-can remember everything,’ cried Tom with a wide grin.

‘You did it, Billy,’ said Fleetfoot, stepping forward. ‘I said you could.’ Her wrinkled face became smooth as the years spent in the darkness drained away, leaving a bright young girl only recognizable by the sparkle in her eyes.

‘Oh – look, everyone!’ cried Tom, pointing to the night sky.

A great fiery globe was rising above the horizon and it flooded the sky with golden sunlight.

One by one, all the night-children were turning back to their proper form, and Billy recognized lots of children from his school. Others were strangers, some even wearing sweatshirts and trainers that looked years out of date.

I never knew so many children were scared of the dark, he thought.

Then, as the sun rose higher and the sky grew lighter, the fortress began to rumble beneath their feet.

‘Uh-oh. I think it’s time to go,’ said Billy. ‘Come on, let’s get out of here!’

All the children, hundreds upon hundreds of them, ran for the doors and tumbled down the stairs. Jagged cracks snaked across the walls as they rushed through empty halls. Rubble began to fall from the ceilings and crashed all around them.

‘Quick,’ yelled Billy. ‘The whole lot is coming down.’ He dashed out of the Keep and into the lanes and courtyards. He saw the sword lying near a cloistered walkway and raced over to it.

‘Leave it, Billy,’ yelled Tom. ‘It’s too d-d-dangerous.’ But there was no way Billy was going to leave the back of his grandad’s pocket watch behind. He crouched down, snapped it from the sword’s blade and popped it back onto his watch. Then he ran, just as an archway collapsed and the mythical sword was buried beneath a tonne of falling rubble. He raced out of the main gate and into the streets of the town.

A mighty roar filled the air, and everyone turned to watch as the fortress towers toppled and the Magician’s great Keep crumbled and collapsed. The ground shook as if it were the end of the world, and a choking pall of dust filled the air and spread through the town.

Coughing and spluttering, Billy peered through the cloud. There was nothing left of the fortress but a huge pile of rubble. He climbed onto a heap of debris and faced the crowd of children.

‘It’s time to go home,’ he shouted.

‘How?’ asked a voice in the crowd. ‘Where do we go?’

‘Can you remember the place where you first arrived here?’

‘Yeah, over by the bakery,’ said Joe.

‘I ended up here when I went under the canal bridge,’ said Abi.

Everyone began to remember, and they all started talking at the same time.

‘Then go back there, wherever it is,’ shouted Billy above the hubbub. ‘Retrace your steps and I’m sure you will get home.’

The children immediately scattered, running off to different parts of town, whooping with joy. Abi went up to Billy and planted a smacker of a kiss on his cheek.

‘Bye, Billy, and thanks for everything,’ she said, a look of concern shadowing her face. ‘But what happens when we do get home? I’ve been away for ages. Fleetfoot’s been imprisoned here for years. Will our mums or dads or whatever be old – will they even remember who we are? And will we even be going back to the same time?’

‘Sorry, I just don’t know,’ said Billy. It was something that had been bothering him too. ‘Anywhere’s got to be better than this cursed place, though, hasn’t it?’

‘Yeah, I just wish we could all go home together, you know,’ she said with a smile. ‘Be friends in real life too.’

Then she and Ace, who was really Joe, and Dusty, who was really Freddie, and Grubby who really was Grubby, all said their goodbyes.

‘What about you, Tom?’ asked Billy, when they had gone and the two friends were left on their own.

‘I ended up here when I followed that cat, near the park,’ said Tom. ‘I’d best go back that w-w-way.’

‘See you soon,’ said Billy, and the two friends parted, Tom going one way and Billy heading back to Merlin Place. I hope this works, he said to himself.

The streets were still eerily empty, but rays of sunshine were starting to break through the pall of dust that enveloped the town.

Billy ran up the street to his house and cautiously tried the front door. His key turned in the lock, and he stepped inside. But it still seemed deserted, and there were even a few jackdaw feathers lying about. His heart sank. Nothing had changed.

He looked out of the bay window. It was a bright, sunny day, but the street remained empty and silent, and tears began to blur his vision – but then a car zoomed along the road, and a couple pushed a baby’s buggy past the end of the drive. Billy rushed out of the front door, down the drive and onto his bustling street. Everything seemed back to normal – but was it? Where was his mum?

Full of foreboding, Billy ran back inside the house. Now, a delicious smell of baking wafted from the kitchen, and when he cautiously opened the door a crack, he saw his mum busy preparing tea, as if nothing had happened. A feeling of joyous relief swept through him like a huge wave.

Billy checked his pocket watch. It was ticking away merrily, and read half-past five – but half-past five on what day? How was he going to explain to his mum and dad where he’d been for all this time?

He barged noisily into the kitchen and his mum looked up from her work with a stern look on her face.

‘You’re late,’ she said. ‘I was starting to worry. Where on earth …?’ but her sentence was cut short as Billy ran over and gave her a huge hug. He was so pleased to be home.

‘What day is it, Mum?’ he asked, a little nervously.

‘Friday, of course, silly!’

So, no time had passed at all for people at home – it must be like that for all the other night-children, and Billy felt certain they were all home safely. Wherever, or whenever, that was.

‘Sorry, Mum,’ he said. ‘I lost all track of time.’

Billy’s mum was so surprised by this show of affection her tetchy mood vanished. ‘Never mind. No harm done,’ she said, giving him a peck on his forehead.

Billy went upstairs to his bedroom, collapsed on his bed and thought about everything that had happened. He knew the sun would set that night and darkness flood the world, and he knew branches might tap against his window and the dark echo to strange noises, but he wasn’t worried any more. He had stood up to the Magician, and he had won.

And tomorrow, he would go to Tom’s for his friend’s birthday, and he would stay overnight.

Billy took the watch from his pocket and studied it. His dad had been right. Grandad’s watch was a talisman, and it had protected him through the horrifying twists and turns of the Night’s Realm. He wiped a smear of dirt from the engraving of the sword on its case, and put the watch safely under his pillow. Then Billy went downstairs for his tea.