The Crystal Mirror by Paula Harrison Read Free Book Online Page A

herself over, slid down the other side of the fence and landed in a crumpled heap. Claudia shook with silent laughter as she dragged Laney up and pulled her into the undergrowth.
    “Stop laughing!” said Laney.
    “Shh! Just stay still for a minute,” Claudia whispered back.
    Laney froze. She couldn’t hear anything or see anyone following.
    “It’s all right. They didn’t come outside,” said Claudia at last, straightening up.
    “How do you know they’ve gone?” said Laney.
    “I’m a Greytail. Our senses are sharper than any other tribe’s. I can hear and smell things you can’t.”
    “Lucky you.” Laney brushed dead leaves off her T-shirt.
    “You wouldn’t say that if you had to walk past the boys’ changing room after they’ve had PE.” Claudia wrinkled her nose. “It’s so gross!”
    “I don’t need super senses to know that.” Laney’s head suddenly ached and she leaned against a tree.She was worried about the way that Gwen had got rid of her. “Will people be happy that I’ve, you know, changed into a faerie?” she asked.
    “Course they will. It’s just…” Claudia screwed her face up. “You’re twelve. Everyone was sure by now that you didn’t have proper faerie magic. And now, suddenly, here you are.”
    “How old were you when you changed then? Did yours happen on your birthday?”
    “No, it wasn’t my birthday. I found out when I was about five, but I think I always knew in a way. Tom was always talking to the cats in front of me so it was pretty obvious.”
    “Tom can talk to cats?” asked Laney.
    “Yeah, we all can – all of us in the Greytail tribe,” said Claudia.
    Laney thought of Claudia’s brother – seventeen-year -old football-loving Tom. It seemed so weird that he had this whole side she didn’t know about. “So it usually happens when you’re younger than twelve?”
    “Much younger.”
    Laney’s heart sank. She couldn’t even do something weird like becoming a faerie in a normal kind of way.
    A light rain began to fall gently on their heads, soaking into their clothes.
    “Ugh! Laney, stop it,” said Claudia. “I hate gettingwet. I told you that.”
    “What?” Laney stared round. The rain was only falling in a small circle, which happened to be exactly where they were standing. It was her. She was making it rain.
    “You’re seriously going to have to stop it,” Claudia told her. “You can’t go round making it rain everywhere.”
    “I wasn’t trying to make it happen,” snapped Laney. “It just did!” The rain got heavier, pelting them with large drops.
    “Laney!” screeched Claudia.
    Laney raced away up the road, leaving the rain shower and Claudia behind.
    She slowed down after she turned into Beacon Way, passing the entrance to The Cattery, the crescent-shaped road where Claudia and her family lived. This time she wasn’t surprised to see a few odd-looking houses among the row of normal ones. From a distance it looked as if Claudia’s house had leopard-print walls. Laney blinked and walked on.
    She couldn’t help thinking that she was even more of a screw-up as a faerie than before she’d changed. First she’d got herself into trouble at school and then she’d turned the river red.
    She climbed the hill and saw Mrs Mottle and Mrs Hughes standing and chatting in the street. Therewere no gold rings in their eyes, which meant that they couldn’t see any change in hers either. They were human. As she got closer, she heard bits of their conversation.
    “And now there’s a big patch of red in the river,” Mrs Mottle told her neighbour. “I talked to Mr Lionhart down at the pet shop about it and he went very quiet.”
    “I bet it’s a chemical spill. Someone should tell the council about it,” said Mrs Hughes. “Did you see that big red moon last night? It gave me quite a shiver.”
    A crowd of white petals flew down from the sky and dive-bombed Mrs Mottle. Laney held her breath but Mrs Mottle didn’t even blink. The sprites