Spellfall by Katherine Roberts Read Free Book Online Page B

legs were wobbly, her ankle stiff, her mouth felt like sandpaper. She was standing on bare boards, freezing air whispering up the backs of her legs. There was no sign of a radiator. She shivered and looked round more carefully: ancient chests of dark wood, a couple of cupboards, no rug, just the one chair. The door had been cut at an angle to fit the sloping ceiling and was firmly closed. “Where am I?” she whispered. “Who are you? Why have you brought me here?”
    She pulled the blanket closer, tiptoed to the window and squinted through the bars. Everything outside seemed blurred by rippling silver, like trying to see through frosted glass, but she made out a crumbling wall smothered in ivy, a garden choked with brambles, high iron gates, black trees losing their leaves... “The wood,” she whispered, remembering her dream. “We’re in Unicorn Wood, aren’t we?”
    Electric light suddenly flooded the room, making Natalie jump. Somehow, she’d expected candles. The light brought her fully awake. She sprang past the boy and made a dash for the door. It was locked. She rattled the handle, tears in her eyes, then took a deep breath and turned back to the boy. “Let me out?” she said. “Please.”
    The boy stood awkwardly by the wall, his hair brushing the low ceiling, watching her. “Can’t,” he said simply. “It’s bolted on the outside. And I’m not supposed to tell you where you are.”
    Was he a prisoner too, then? Her arms were a rash of goosebumps. She couldn’t think straight. She returned to the bed and tucked the covers around her cold feet. “Don’t you ever wash?” she said, uncomfortable with the way he was looking at her. “Those clothes look like they’ve come out of a bin.”
    The boy rubbed his elbow and said nothing.
    Natalie sighed. At least he had clothes. She tried again. “Look, I’m thirsty and my head hurts. I don’t understand any of this. Can’t you just tell me what you want? If you’ve kidnapped me, you’ve got the wrong person. My dad hasn’t got any money. He hasn’t even got a job, not any more, and all Julie’s money goes to buy food.” She squinted at the boy. “What’s your name? What school do you go to?”
    The boy chewed his lip. “Promise you won’t laugh.”
    The last thing Natalie felt like doing was laughing, but she said, “Promise.”
    “My name’s Merlin, and I don’t go to school. I’ve got my computer instead. Encarta , and lots of other stuff. Father gives me lessons in spell casting. Least, he used to before he started all this Earthaven business.”
    In spite of everything, Natalie spluttered. “Merlin? As in the great wizard, you mean?”
    He coloured. “You said you wouldn’t laugh! It’s a joke of my father’s, ’cause I’m so useless. We’re sort of like wizards, you see, even if we don’t have the power of the Earthaven Spellmages. But we still keep familiars and most of us use their names like in the old days. When I was little, Father got me a real merlin and made me take it out into the forest so we could bond.” He gave her a hesitant look. “It’s a kind of hawk.”
    “I know what a merlin is. I’m not stupid.”
    “Sorry. Then you know a merlin’s much smaller than a goshawk, which is what Father has for his familiar, but its claws are just as sharp. I was scared and let it go, so he bonded me with a mouse instead. I think that was supposed to be a joke too, ’cause I play with my computer so much. It’s got a plastic mouse, see?” Catching her expression, he rushed on. “Of course, I expect you know lots about computers if you go to school. But I don’t care. I’d much rather have a mouse than a silly bird, anyway. He’s called Redeye.” The boy’s face softened but his smile soon disappeared. “I’m supposed to show him to you, only Father’s still got him locked in the cellar.”
    Natalie shifted uneasily on the bed and a spring poinged . Merlin was obviously as crazy as the rest of his family.