The beach exploded, bones cracking and bodies thudding as the cliffs rushed to meet them. Overhead, the moon swelled in the night sky, as though it was coming down to take a closer look. Blood-curdling screams filled the little cove as Soulstalkers scrabbled to unbury themselves from the crumbling earth. Fionn’s grandfather blasted a pathway right through it.
He stopped on the edge of the ocean with raw fury in his eyes. ‘Come out of the sea, lad!’ He waved his candle, the flame crawling up inside it as he marched along the sand. ‘Show your snivelling face, Ivan. We want our Tide Summoner back!’
Fionn limped through the shallows, staring at his grandfather in dawning alarm.
Malachy Boyle had ripped the anchor from his own candle and turned it upside down.
He was burning up the very essence of his life and turning it to pure, undiluted power.
‘Grandad, no!’
Fionn’s grandfather wasn’t listening. He was too busy scouring the beach, upturning groaning Soulstalkers and flinging them into the sky like leaves.
‘Where are you, Ivan?’ Fionn’s grandfather yelled. ‘Come out and fight me, you creepy little insect!’
Fionn’s magic flickered in his chest – it was an ember buried in a cavern of icy fear, but it was enough to get his attention. To turn his head. The Tide Summoner was nearby. He could feel it. He scanned the shoreline, his chest growing warmer as he stumbled through the shallows, until … There! Just up ahead! The shell glinted bone-white in the moonlight, a stone’s throw from where the cauldron was wedged into the damp sand.
Fionn ignored the stiffness in his limbs and sprinted towards it, just as a Soulstalker emerged from a pile of rubble and launched herself in his direction.
Fionn leapt through the air, falling on the shell like it was a bomb about to explode. ‘I’ve got it!’ he yelled. ‘It’s here, Grandad!’
‘Take it with you!’ his grandfather shouted. ‘Get back to safety!’
Fionn tried to run, but the Soulstalker grabbed him by the back of his jumper and elbowed him in the ribs, yanking the Tide Summoner from his grasp.
Fionn pulled her by the hair, tussling back and forth for it. ‘Give it to me!’
‘Watch out, lad!’
Suddenly the ground cracked in two. The sand burrowed into itself, forging a gaping chasm between them. Fionn scrambled away, just the Soulstalker slipped into the hole. She reached out in a panic, grappling at nothing.
Fionn plunged his hand into the sinkhole, and felt the shift of gravity pulling him down. He ripped the Tide Summoner from her hand, throwing himself backwards before the hole could claim him too. The Soulstalker screamed as she disappeared – the last streaks of her brassy hair lost to the shifting sands. It covered her in a golden wave, the ground belching as it gulped her down.
And then she was gone.
‘FIONN!’
Tara and Sam skidded to a stop on the edge of the crumbling cliff.
‘FOUND THEM,’ screamed Tara, over her shoulder, while Sam waved a candle back and forth.
‘Climb up to us, mate! Hurry! We’ll hold them back with the wind!’
Relief rushed through Fionn. He slung the Tide Summoner around his neck and took the first steps towards freedom.
Behind him, across the cove, his grandfather stumbled.