Page 39 of Skulk of Foxes
I fixed on the tree nearest us, perhaps twenty feet away. As I watched, my knuckles tightening on the arm rest, the tree creaked, groaned and spread itself upwards. One foot, two feet, then three. Within moments, it had stretched above the tallest roof.
Its trunk was expanding too. It burgeoned outwards, like a bloated stomach. Where the bark couldn’t quite keep up, it cracked and spread, fissures breaking across the rough surface. I almost expected small woodland creatures to appear but if there were any about, they were keeping their distance.
When the pavement and then the road broke apart from the force of the trees’ roots, I could understand why. So many trees were growing at such a rate that the ground started to shake.
There was a tremendous roaring sound. At first, I couldn’t work out what it was but when tiles dropped from the roof of one of the terraced houses near Rubus’s lair, I finally realised. Right in front of my eyes, an oak burst through the house towards the sky. From deep within the house, we could hear terrified screams.
I stopped gaping and started moving, pushing open the car door and sprinting for the house. At the rate that tree was going, whoever was inside was likely to become part of the root system.
Within moments, Morgan was next to me. We flung ourselves at the house, yanking open the door. What greeted us, however, wasn’t a neat hallway. All we could see was the continually expanding tree trunk straining against the walls. I could make out plaster cracking and warping. We had only moments before the entire structure collapsed and all that remained was tree.
I jumped back and peered upwards. The tree was slanting to the right. To the left, there was a window on the first floor. Suddenly it swung open and the terrified face of a young woman appeared.
‘Help!’ she shrieked. ‘Help me!’ Her wide eyes frantically searched the street before alighting on us. She waved her hands desperately. ‘I can’t open the bedroom door! My children are in the other room! I can’t… I can’t…’ She gulped in air, her anxiety taking over.
‘We’re on our way,’ I yelled. ‘Stay calm!’
Easy for me to say. Now we could hear screams from the streets nearby, though they were barely audible over the noise of the rupturing roads and pavements.
‘Give me a boost,’ I said to Morgan. ‘I’ll get inside and see what I can do.’
He nodded and formed a foothold with his palms. I hopped onto his hands, threw myself upwards and managed to grab the edge of the window frame.
Gasbudlikins. However much I wished it were different, I didn’t have sufficient strength in my arms. My legs writhed in the air as I did everything I could to avoid losing my grip. It was only when I braced my toes against the wall of the house that I managed to haul myself upwards so I could squeeze through the window.
The woman, still in full-blown panic mode, had abandoned her post and returned to her bedroom door, yanking at it to try and open it. From deep within the house, I could hear children crying. I dusted myself off and gritted my teeth.
‘How many children are there?’
The woman didn’t answer. She was too focused on frantically trying to tug the door open.
I placed a firm hand on her arm. ‘How many people are in the house?’
Morgan was clearly rubbing off on me because something about my stern, school-mistress tone finally got through to the woman. Although she kept her hands on the door handle, she stopped flailing and answered. ‘Two. Two children. Bertie – he’s only three. And Jess. She’s…’ The woman choked. ‘She’s just a baby.’
‘Where are they?’
‘Their bedroom. It’s only a few metres away at the opposite end of the house. I can’t get to them.’ Her voice rose again. ‘I can’t get to them! I can’t…!’
‘Hush. They’re crying so that means they’re still alive. I’ve got this. It’s only a tree. This will be a piece of cake.’
I’d barely finished speaking when there was a tremendous crunch. The wood panels on the door bulged and splintered. I pulled the woman back just in time before a branch shot out and pinned her to the far wall. She screamed again. Her shrieks were rather off-key – and off-putting.
I vaulted over the branch and grabbed her. If she hadn’t been so surprised, she’d have put up more of a fight. As it was, I managed to get her to the window.
‘Morgan!’ I yelled. ‘Incoming!’
I shoved the woman out. I heard an oomph and glanced down. Morgan had caught her – but he was now sprawled on his back with the woman on top of him. From the way she was moving, she was fine. From the glower on Morgan’s face as he gazed up at me, so was he. I flashed him a grin and a tiny wave, then scooted for the door.
I tried the same as the panicking mother had done, tugging on the door handle with all my might. The door frame was already buckling but, even with the shattered wood through which the branch had sprung, there was no way in this godforsaken demesne I was going to manage to open it.
I cocked my head and listened. Fortunately the tree seemed to have stopped its growth – at least for now. The children were still crying. After listening to their mother, I could see where they got it from.
‘Well, Madrona,’ I muttered to myself, ‘the doors are blocked. There’s no way through. You’re just going to have to find another way.’
Unwilling to let loose any magic without rooting it in anything real first, I stepped back and gazed upwards. From this angle, I could see the massive hole in the roof that the tree had created. If I couldn’t go down and I couldn’t go across, I’d darn well have to go up.
Without wasting any more time, I grabbed the dressing table and hauled it over before leaping onto it. If I jumped, maybe I could launch myself upwards to grab the side of the tree and get onto the roof.
