Sam dashed to the door to help his uncle. The poor man lay in a dazed heap half in and half out of the house. Pairs of hands were lifting him and propping him up against the jamb.
There were lots of hands.
There were lots of hands because there was a huge crowd covering every bit of concrete and green outside the house. The street was filled, and Sam knew most of them. He hadn’t realised he knew that many creatures before. Hoy Poy came wandering out of his side path, looked at the strange mob and went yelping back indoors.
Amira, Hazel and Wilfred stood at the top of the steps, but more shifters covered the footpath and street behind them and gazed at him. He knew the smiling Kintamanis, Kokonis and Salukis, but many more wild-haired people nodded at him. He thought he recognised the Labrador twins from school, and a group of officious adults in uniforms. ’Thrope controllers. The ones who’d arrested the man who’d pretended to be Sam’s real father. To the left of the steps, a dishevelled group of people with dogs lingered. Sam recognised Russell and his corgi Kylie amongst them. All of them, dog and human, had an angelic thumbprint on their foreheads. Wheedle had told him his family members each had one, to make them unappetising to monsters. A few thousand small fairies waited behind them, blocking the road, the opposite footpath and the park beyond, weaving about the trees and sitting between their leaves. Sam saw Daniel peeking from between the branches of a beech tree. To the right of the path, two dozen gargoyles had appeared. Some were grey and gravelly, some marbleised, while others looked like they had been made of clay and fired in a kiln. Many had distorted human faces on animal bodies, or the other way around, or they were a mix of different animals. A lot looked rather like Nugget: bat-winged, monkey-faced, dog-bodied. A trio were standing in front of the others, gaping at the group headed by Russell. They looked uncomfortable. Sam could see the words ‘humans’ and ‘looking at us’ spread from stone mouth to stone mouth. Behind them a pair of white-winged angels and a small, rosy cherub hovered and grinned at Sam.
‘Seems to me you do have an army,’ Great-Aunt Colleen said from behind him.
Sam turned to his shifter friends. ‘Hazel?’ he asked. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Ask Wilfred. He said he got some message you needed help.’ She leaned forward and tapped her nose. ‘A divine one, he said. Your angel visited him, he said. We’ve been asked to believe an awful lot in the last few months, so here we are. All the shifters came. Dogs, cats, badgers. Even a few rabbits, but they don’t like fighting.’
A nervous-looking young man stepped forward. ‘I’m Reuben. You saved me from Woermann’s orb. We owe you, Sam.’
‘Well said, bunny boy,’ someone called.
Sam looked around for Wilfred, who was sitting on a step scratching at an ear. ‘Wilfred?’
‘I’d just got out of the car at home and Daniel showed up to say your family are missing. Dad can’t see him, but I told him what was going on. I don’t think anyone would have believed me yesterday, but all the kids had just turned back from being fish and we’d all seen you chat with a siren. Dad just accepted everything I said. Also, Mrs Maltese from next door could see him too. Anyway, Daniel said you were desperate and I told Dad, who told everyone else, so here we are …’ Wilfred motioned his free hand at the mob. ‘Please tell them you need help; some of them still think I’m bonkers.’
‘I definitely do, but did Daniel tell you what kind of help I need?’
‘Said your parents were taken by monsters into some underground lair and you could use a few people to get them back,’ Wilfred’s dad, D.I. Kintamani, replied.
‘Oh, that’s where he was goin’,’ Wheedle said.
‘There’s really a Daniel?’ D.I. Kintamani asked.
‘Yep, big, beautiful and incredibly annoying,’ Bladder said.
‘Wow!’
Sam peered at the crowd. ‘I hope we don’t have to fight, but having a lot of people behind me to fetch my family back would be great.’
‘If that’s what you need.’ D.I. Kintamani saluted him.
‘Thank you very much,’ Sam replied.
‘Now we know the problem, how can we help?’
A fairy pushed forward. ‘Why’d monsters take your family?’
Sam glanced at the fairy. ‘I think they want to use them to blackmail me into doing something horrible.’
‘With all the dust that hag Maggie’s been stealing from us?’
The few members of the crowd who could see the fairy studied him. He turned to them all and showed them the tiny stumps of wings. A few people ‘ouched’.
‘Please, sir, your consideration, sir.’ The fairy turned to Bladder. ‘We fairies all want to help because we heard some gargoyles needed aid. As one of them did me a great service, we would like to repay it.’
‘A gargoyle did you a service?’ Bladder asked.
‘Yes, sir; you did. At the Great Meadow Hunt. My name is Milkthistle.’ He reached to his shoulder and touched the stumps peeking over. ‘They are coming back, and I might have had none at all, because I’d be dead if you hadn’t saved me from being eaten.’ The fairy turned to the mob of tinies. ‘Hid me in his mouth, he did. I thought he was going to eat me himself, but he kept me safe and let me go when we were out of sight of the Great Hunt. On that night, I said I would give you a boon, sir.’
‘I thought that was a type of chocolate,’ Bladder replied.
The fairies giggled.
‘The ogres are hunting fairies,’ Sam said. ‘Aren’t you worried they might catch you?’
‘They stalk us individually. Each of us has only a little magic; together we are quite formidable.’
Sam understood fairy magic. It was potent stuff. Maybe they could just whisk his family out of The Hole.
The fairies made up the majority of the throng, and they looked furious. They might not scare the older monsters, but Sam thought they might send the young monsters into a panic.
Kylie dashed through the middle of the crowd and up the steps. ‘We homeless have-nots and hobos, we merry bunch of bums, we flat-broke few, we too offer our service to the cause. Some of our masters and mistresses have gone missing, and no more,’ Kylie yapped. ‘No more!’
‘Well said, pup.’ D.I. Kintamani replied.
The shifters, ’thropes and dogs howled in agreement. Everyone else looked around, not understanding the dogs and wild-looking humans. They had no idea what had set them off. Kylie raced back to Russell for an ear rub.
‘Are you sure you want to be here?’ Sam asked Russell, who stood at the head of his group.
‘We heard that Michelle has gone missing, and she’s been good to us at the shelter. Also, no one’s seen or heard of that strange redhead since you said you’d meet with her. We just want to help.’ He stared about the crowd. ‘Only, um, what kind of help do you need?’
His group hummed and hemmed in agreement. ‘We got a note saying to come here, if we wanted to help,’ a woman in a dirty great overcoat said. ‘That we might even see some magical beings.’
‘You may have to fight,’ Sam said.
Russell held up a stick.
‘In The Hole. It’s full of monsters.’
Russell looked around the gathering. ‘Then it looks like Nutty Nellie’s stories aren’t so nutty after all.’
‘Yeah.’ The woman in the overcoat grinned. ‘Look at these ones.’ She pointed as a lumpy, reddish-brown brick of a gargoyle lumbered forward.
Sam heard happy screeches from Spigot as he scuttled down the steps, pushing his way through the gathering and crowing as he danced.
‘Gouttière!’ Bladder shouted, and rubbed noses with the gargoyle.
‘Ah, the Brighton air does you good, mon ami,’ the gargoyle said. ‘You are, how you say? Cheerful?’
‘Sam, I have to introduce you to our good friend Gouttière,’ Bladder said. ‘Wheedle! Wheedle! Come out!’
While Wheedle dragged himself out of the house, Sam looked back through the doorway. He noticed that Uncle Paddy was gone, but Great-Aunt Colleen remained, watching from the entry with Beatrice and Nugget playing behind her swollen ankles.
The reddish-brown gargoyle bowed low. ‘I am Gouttière, once a pack member with Spigot, Bladder and Wheedle. These are my new pack: Égout, Aigle and Plomberie. And ’ere are many other gargoyles.’
Sam’s attention was caught by something at the back of the crowd. Daniel was struggling to move forward; there were so many people between him and Sam, he had to push his way through them. His face was urgent with intent.
‘Thank you for coming,’ Sam said to Gouttière. ‘We need everyone we can get.’
‘We ’ave come because our angels told us there was a need, and until we got ’ere, we thought we would be ’appy to ’elp, but we cannot go to The ’Ole and fight, if that is what you want. That place is dangerous enough to gargoyles when we are trying to stay out of trouble. We are très, très sorry, little man, but now we go ’ome.’
The little cherub had been grinning at Gouttière, but the bright smile dimmed. ‘No, you can’t,’ she said, touching the gargoyle’s shoulder. ‘You have to fight for Samuel.’ She said Sam’s name so the last two syllables sounded out you-well.
Égout stepped forward now and shook his head. ‘We break easily and our fighting skills, they are not good. We come because we thought we could ’elp. We are no use to you, little man.’
‘Nous sommes désolés. We are truly sorry, little man,’ Gouttière said. ‘We are sorry, most especially to you, mes amis.’ He dipped his head at Bladder, Wheedle and Spigot, and promptly turned tail, shouldering his way back through the crowd. The other gargoyles followed.
Russell, Kylie and the humans around them (the homeless people were the only true humans present, Sam realised) watched the gargoyles with mouths so wide open, Sam could see the pink of their throats.
Daniel had managed to slink through the crowd at last, and he grabbed Sam’s arm. ‘You mustn’t let the gargoyles leave.’
‘Why?’
‘To be truly complete, a gargoyle must learn sacrifice. Though they are monsters and made from sighs, they are meant for noble purpose. If they give in to their better natures, they get a great reward. It’s why angels look after them. It’s always been why we watch over them. Saving your parents would be the ultimate noble purpose. The other angels are so excited. Some of us have been waiting centuries for an opportunity like this.’
Sam frowned. He wasn’t sure he understood.
‘Did you never wonder why we needed to take care of them? The first of their kind were made from the living soil of Eden – what was left over by the first humans. You know how special they are. They have hearts. They’re blessed.’
‘How?’
‘Sam, trust me,’ Daniel said. ‘Anyway, it’s The Hole. You need as many bodies down there that know the lay of the land as possible. Look at the size of this group. Don’t let your experts go.’ The angel threw an arm in the direction of the crowd.
Sam looked at them all. They were a few thousand, and none of them would know how to reach the Great Cavern without guides. Then he wouldn’t just have to save his parents, he might be spending months searching for missing fairies in pitch-black chambers.
Sam ran after the gargoyles.
‘Win them back, Sam,’ Daniel called.
A wild courage surged from Daniel and into him, and Sam ran for the end of the street, Bladder at his heels. Shifters, ’thropes and fairies tried to ask him questions, but he ran on, hoping he could find the right words to say.
‘Back off. Let the boy do what he thinks is necessary.’ Great-Aunt Colleen hobbled down the step, helped by Russell and Nutty Nellie. Kylie and a few other small dogs scrambled through the group repeating her commands.
The mob all turned back to her with questions about Sam’s needs, weaponry, tactics and so on. Sam peered back to see her handling it and pointing at crowd members to represent their species. She makes a great general, Sam thought.
The large pack had stopped at the end of the road. They’d been jittery enough with Russell and the other wanderers looking at them, but there were even more people at the crossroads as crowds of parents and their newly returned children continued to make their way back from the beach. The French gargoyles huddled in the shadows, wondering what to do.
‘It will take us days to get back to the ferry with all these people everywhere,’ Sam heard Plomberie say. ‘It was quiet when we arrived. Where did all these people come from?’
‘An’ now, we are this ’uge group. We cannot avoid being seen,’ Égout added.
‘Then we will split up again,’ Gouttière replied. ‘We are less likely to be seen. Small packs. Oui?’
Sam opened his mouth, but a stronger voice came from over his shoulder. ‘You’re not monsters. You’re not!’ Bladder called.
Gouttière turned to him. ‘You have forgotten about the way monsters are formed then, mon ami.’
‘No, I haven’t, and you’re not monsters in the same sense as ogres and trolls,’ Bladder replied.
‘We are made of sighs. We might be considered the lowest of the low, but we are still monsters.’
‘We have hearts.’ Bladder put a paw to his chest. He breathed out a ‘whoof!’.
Sam guessed the weight of such a confession took a lot of courage.
Each member of the French pack gasped.
‘You do not say this out loud!’ Gouttière stared at Bladder, then looked at Sam. ‘The little man, he knows?’
‘He figured it out himself. He says we’re beautiful. He says our hearts are beautiful.’
Sam smiled. Yes, Bladder knows exactly what to say.
The pack fell silent. They studied Sam’s face, to see if they were being mocked.
‘He does not think we are beautiful,’ Égout said.
Bladder chuckled. ‘Yes, he does, and many other humans think we are too. Sam showed me on the Webby-Net. There’s tonnes of people who take our photos and study us and discuss us in universities as something to be prized, like artwork.’
‘This is not true,’ Gouttière said. The gargoyle pack harrumphed and boffed. Sam felt the air move over him as the packs’ angels set down, serenely smiling at Bladder. The cherub touched the end of his tail. Bladder glowed.
‘It is true,’ Bladder replied. Some of the gargoyles grimaced or raised eyebrows. Some frowned.
‘We are the stones that sing,’ Bladder continued. ‘At worst, humans think we are quirky and interesting.’
‘But some really think we are beautiful? Truly?’ Plomberie asked. ‘Even though we were ’atched?’
‘It doesn’t matter if you were hatched,’ Bladder said. ‘Sam was hatched too, but he has a heart and a human soul.’
The pack oohed.
‘It’s where you want to belong and who you want to belong to that counts. And, from the very beginning, we were meant to do something more than eat chocolate. Always,’ Bladder added. ‘I’m learning this.’
‘You do not sound like your old self, Bladder,’ Gouttière said.
‘I don’t think I am. I’m changing,’ Bladder agreed. ‘And I’ve learned that I’m not as much of a monster as I’ve been led to believe. Humans are our kind,’ Bladder said. ‘Humans have hearts and love the sun; we have more in common with them than ogres and trolls or any wet witch.’
Gouttière shook his head. ‘It was nice to see you, mon ami, but we will let you battle on your own. This is not our war.’
‘I do not agree,’ Plomberie said. ‘Bladder is right. We do have –’ she inhaled – ‘’earts. I want to meet more of these humans who find me beautiful. No one has ever said that to me before.’
‘You are beautiful,’ Sam said.
‘Yes, we think so too.’ Hazel, Amira and Wilfred raced to stand next to Sam.
Plomberie’s brick colouring reddened more.
Spigot ran into the mix and squawked. He did a dance with wings outstretched. Plomberie gave Spigot a friendly sniff, and then followed him back to Sam’s side. A few other gargoyles joined in, and blinked shyly when the shifter children scratched their stone ears.
‘Fight for those who love you, do not leave them to the mercy of those who never cared about you,’ Bladder said.
In the end, even Gouttière smiled. ‘Ah, we shall all end in broken pieces,’ he said and stepped towards Sam.
Sam, Daniel, Bladder, Wheedle, the fairy called Milkthistle, a ’Thrope Controller (‘Call me T.C. Angelina’), Russell, Kylie, D.I. Kintamani, Gouttière and Great-Aunt Colleen encircled the Kavanaghs’ kitchen table. Wheedle had set up its surface with salt and pepper pots, trivets, tea towels, coasters, egg cups and other bits and pieces he’d found in the kitchen to map out the layout of the Great Cavern.
‘This is where Maggie’s dais and throne are. This is the cage she’s put the Kavanaghs in. There are eight possible entrances to use; the biggest are here, here and here.’ The bull-faced gargoyle pointed. ‘And I think we should use these burrows here and here to set up watchpoints.’
‘So, the first step is to talk to Maggie and if that doesn’t work, incapacitate her?’ Bladder asked. ‘What with?’
‘I can prepare a spell, stronger than my day-to-day magics, that will make her incapable of moving until we decide to let her,’ Milkthistle said.
‘Good, cut the head off the serpent …’ Daniel started.
‘What serpent? Nobody said anything about snakes,’ Kylie said. ‘I don’t like snakes.’
‘It means if you bring down their leader, an army is likely to scatter. They’ve got no one to follow,’ Great-Aunt Colleen said. ‘It’s a grand plan. There are fewer of the nasty big ones, our stone friend has said.’ She patted Wheedle. ‘And with most being small and nervous, they might stampede.’
‘It happened before,’ Wheedle added. ‘A bit dangerous, but if we go in small, separate groups, then we can back up against the walls if they look to be heading in our direction. The winged warriors can fly above them.’
‘And stay in the entrance way to your burrow. That way the monsters won’t know the size of each group. We may be able to imply numbers, rather than actually ever have to show them,’ Daniel added.
Sam nodded. ‘They’re already frightened of me. A lot of ogres were killed last time I was there, so we can use their fear against them.’
‘The only problem will be getting the Kavanaghs out of the cage. It’s solid,’ Wheedle said.
‘What’s the cage made of?’ T.C. Angelina asked.
‘The bars are metal, but the bulk of it is wood. We could cut them out.’
A voice rang out from the door. ‘Where’s my Samuel? My dear friend?’ Sam heard twittering and scuffling along with it.
‘What are you?’ Uncle Paddy cried out.
‘Sam’s friend. And this here’s my family; I already told ’em tha’ out of doors,’ the voice said. ‘They said ye’d let me in.’
‘What does that boy think he’s doing? Patrick, go back upstairs,’ Great-Aunt Colleen called out. ‘And come in, Sam’s friend, whoever you are.’
Sam heard the thumping feet of his uncle running back to Nick’s room. The man began singing himself a lullaby.
‘In here, Dad,’ another voice called out.
A bundle of twigs fell into the kitchen and a trio of smaller bundles bounced in after it. ‘Dad! Dad! Dad! Are you OK?’
The bundle stood up. ‘I be fine, I be fine.’
Sam rushed over. ‘One-i’-the-Wood?’
The twig person stood. His face was a collection of fruits and flowers – two grapes for eyes, a pansy for a nose and a smile made from a row of tiny daisies. The body was taller, the legs straighter and greener (and wearing wellington boots), and both hands had twiggy thumbs. Sam barely recognised him: raspberries, a rose and a leaf had made up One’s face last time Sam had seen him, but Sam knew the voice, and he was pleased that One-i’-the-Wood had included two strands of willow for eyebrows. It gave the twig person much more expression.
Behind the grape eyes, three finches fluttered inside his head.
‘You got some dreams,’ Sam said.
‘That I do, that I do,’ One said, obviously pleased Sam had noticed. ‘All because of ’ee, Sam. Have a closer look.’ The twig person leaned forward to let Sam see the finches. ‘Settle down, now, fellas,’ One said, and the finches perched on a sturdy branch that ran from one of One’s ears to the other. ‘Ye gave me my first want, Sam: that handsome bird there with the fine red chest is Arthur, and he is my dream to make myself a family. Come on, kids, come and say hello to my friend Sam.’
The three smaller twig people hugged close to One-i’-the-Wood. A leaf, a reed, and a feather made up their different smiles.
‘This is my eldest, Two-i’-the-Wood,’ One said, gesturing at the twig person closest in height to him. It picked up a woven hat from its head.
The next twig person bowed low. ‘I be Three-i’-the-Wood.’
‘You must be Four-i’-the-Wood,’ Sam said to the smallest twig person.
‘Oh, no, I be Daisy,’ the twig person said. ‘Four ent a girl’s name. An’ I always has a daisy for a nose, so you can tell.’
‘Well, you are very welcome,’ Sam said.
‘Thank ’ee, thank ’ee, Sam,’ One-i’-the-Wood said. ‘You see, coming here helps me fill up on my next want. I wanted to see ’ee again, my friend, and be of some help to ’ee. It made me feel life was fuller and more, I don’t know, more real somehow, when I helped ’ee last. I wanted to do it again.’
‘Well, you couldn’t have come at a better time,’ Great-Aunt Colleen said. ‘Sam needs help getting his family back.’
‘Oh, my, the most magnificent of wants ever!’ One-i’-the-Wood. ‘How absolutely perfect! Now, did I hear ’ee say this family of yours was trapped in wood? Well, no one knows wood better than me an’ mine.’
When the plans were set, Sam and the gargoyles took up posts at eight different grates along the kerb on his street. Daniel flitted from group to group, pressing his thumb on to every human, part-human and animal forehead, making them as unappetising as possible to monsterkind. Then the gargoyles helped Sam’s army move through the bars, each creature surprised at how it worked (except the fairies, of course. Magic was not odd to them).
‘Can you teach me how to do that?’ Russell said, Kylie under one arm. ‘There’s a few nice dry spots all barred up I could use for a good kip.’ He looked at Sam hopefully. Sam shook his head apologetically. ‘Well, you never know unless you ask.’
It took half an hour to get everyone through. Great-Aunt Colleen remained in the doorway holding Nugget. Uncle Paddy cuddled Beatrice like a security blanket, his gaze darting from the baby gargoyle to the array of not-quite-humans and mythical creatures jumping into the drains in front of him. Uncle Paddy made a low groaning noise and he wasn’t blinking. He stared when Wilfred, Amira and Hazel began arguing with their mums and dads. As the shifter parents transformed into dogs, Sam could see the whites of Uncle Paddy’s eyes all the way around. It didn’t look healthy. Paddy’s mouth dropped open as he watched the kids whining at the pack of dogs that used to be their parents. Sam hoped he would be OK.
‘But Sam’s the same age as us,’ Wilfred was saying.
‘He’s battle hardened,’ Wilfred’s dad replied.
‘He can climb walls,’ Amira’s mum said.
Hazel’s parents just shook their doggy heads. ‘No,’ her dad replied.
‘We could be some use,’ Wilfred said.
The trio looked dejected, and stared at Sam, hoping for support, but he wasn’t going to give it. He didn’t want his friends facing off against trolls and ogres either. It was bad enough Richard, Michelle and Nick being down there.
‘It’s all right, my darlin’s,’ said Great-Aunt Colleen. ‘Some of us need to keep the home fires burning. To help those soldiers when they return. You can stay here with me and Paddy. He doesn’t seem to hear any words I’m saying to him right this moment, but he’ll come back to us for a nice cup of tea and a talking-to, if you give them to him. And you’d be doin’ me a favour.’
‘Go on,’ Wilfred’s dad said.
‘Spigot, you stay here and look after the babies. It’s an important job,’ Bladder said.
Spigot squawked.
The stone eagle and the shifter children all looked at Sam as if he’d betrayed them, but finally they hung their heads and followed Great-Aunt Colleen inside.
Sam thought Great-Aunt Colleen would be a bit put out, but she winked at him. ‘Grand!’ she said. Then she nodded at Sam. ‘Come safe home, my lovely boy, I know you’ll bring the others with you.’
‘Thanks for looking after them all,’ D.I. Kintamani barked at Great-Aunt Colleen.
‘Good dog,’ she said.
Amira’s mum laughed.
Sam slipped through the grate, meeting his group underground. He would try talking to Maggie first. Better not to go in with brute force – not an obvious one, anyway – so he’d organised a small group.
Bladder wasn’t happy. ‘What if she tries to catch you?’
‘I expect she will if it goes badly. But if I go in in a large threatening troop, it’s a statement of war. I want to avoid that, if at all possible.’
The shifters, ’thropes and even the dogs were not happy Sam refused to take any of them as part of his personal team, but he only wanted the I’-the-Wood family with him and a few fairies. They could break through the cage while Sam talked to Maggie. If he could talk to Maggie first, not let it come to blows, that would be the best thing, he thought.
‘He’s important to you, sir,’ Milkthistle had said to Bladder, ‘so I will defend him with my life.’ The wingless fairy was flanked by two winged comrades who also carried swords as long and sharp as embroidery needles.
As Sam dropped into the tunnel’s mouth, he considered his other worries. Once his army had been divided up into eight groups, they hadn’t looked as big as a street-full. Even a street-full couldn’t contend with a cavern of monsters, could they? And, while the grates were a few feet apart above ground, by the time they fed underground they were leagues away from each other. Until they got to their destination, the teams might as well be worlds apart. Even when they did arrive at the Great Cavern, they’d be at opposite ends.
‘It stinks down here,’ a fairy whined.
Sam ignored the complaints and pushed to the front. ‘This way,’ he said.
He led them through tunnel after tunnel, following the smell of ogres and other monsters towards the Great Cavern. Some ceilings stooped so low that Sam and One had to crawl on hands and knees. Sam wondered what that was about. He’d never had trouble travelling The Hole before. The first time it happened, Milkthistle cast a spell on the opening, commanding it to widen. On Earth or in Faeryland, the dirt would have vanished into the air, but all the fairy’s spell did was cause muck to tumble on to the troop in clods and clumps.
‘I don’t think yer magic works the same down here,’ One-i’-the-Wood said to the fairy. ‘Ye be an awful lot of “yes” and the magic down here be all “noes”. I suspect that may be why the going is so hard. The magic knows yer comin’. I’d be careful using yours, until you know how to work it better.’
The fairies muttered amongst themselves and tried little spells behind Sam as they went. There was much complaining, until one of them brought a flower out of nowhere and it blossomed in her hand. The group gave a low cheer.
‘Still, be careful,’ One-i’-the-Wood counselled.
Sam wondered what else could go wrong. He hoped they didn’t have to fight. If One was nervous, it was worth paying attention. He was a very wise twig man and understood many things the fairies didn’t.
The fairies lit the way. Sam was glad there were so many others with the humans. They did not have gargoyle eyes to see in this dark.
They trekked in the direction Bladder had suggested, until Sam found himself under another grate near a bricked sewer. He put his hand on the wall. He remembered. This was the wall he had climbed on his first day of life. If he put his head up, there would be a cathedral above and a street where May no longer worked. He remembered Ben, Beth and Henry, and hoped they were well.
‘What are we doing?’ Two-i’-the-Wood asked, cutting through his memory.
Sam led them the rest of the way, waving them back as he stepped into the Great Cavern, waiting in the shadows to see if he could spot any of the others.
He hoped they all made it without being discovered. If his talk with Maggie failed, maybe the surprise of a few thousand creatures coming out the darkness would scare the monsters. Great-Aunt Colleen, Bladder and One had talked about using the cover of the cavern entrances to suggest they were more than just a few thousand strong. Sam wouldn’t have thought of that.
Sam had come through the very back entrance, where the least monster traffic moved. He could see the huge blanket-covered lump holding his family and the gathering of monsters around it, and more surrounding the throne and dais. On top of it sat the water barrel; something was sloshing around up there, maybe a pixie going for a cup of water for Michelle, Nick or Richard. He squinted to see.
Movement distracted him at the far end of the cavern, and he caught sight of Bladder appearing from a distant entrance. He looked tiny, but waved a torch at Sam. Right at the other end of the cavern, where Gouttière and Plomberie’s group were meant to enter, Sam saw the glow of a tiny white dove. It was such a long way off. He saw shimmering on the wall opposite Bladder where the homeless people, their dogs and Daniel had emerged. Sam shuddered; Daniel’s light was low.
Daniel had explained that with enough humans packed together to sustain their need for love and faith, and angels and cherubs to give them hope, the human group would be able to cope with the collection of monsters in The Hole. And vice versa. A mutual support network, he’d said. Sam could just see the smaller angels at the rear, each with a hand on a human. They weren’t glowing too brightly either. Wheedle waved at him from the ledge outside their old burrow. Sam knew that from his perch there Wheedle would be able to see the layout of the entire Hole.
Bladder waved his torch again, letting them know that everyone was present.
It was all going the way they’d organised.
He relaxed a little.
Sam dropped back into the tunnel opening. ‘Everyone’s here,’ he said. ‘Time to move in, but remember to stick to the plan.’
Sam headed towards the cage and dais, followed by the I’-the-Woods and three nervous fairies. Going in by himself would have been less nerve-racking than taking in the small company. The trio of glowing fairies made him highly visible, and interesting to the monsters. Also, Daniel’s ward might protect the fairies from being eaten, but an ogre would not be opposed to tearing off their wings.
And if they had to fight, more than wings would be hurt. Armies clashed and soldiers got hurt. He was grateful everyone was willing to come and help save his family, but he wondered how much it would cost them.