Page 17 of Fiendish Delights
I walked forward, preparing to follow Mudbut I didn’t get far; in fact, I could only push my way three inches into the hall. Beyond that, there was some kind of invisible barrier that prevented me from going any further. My skin prickled. I’d felt this before. There was a salt ward barring my entry.
‘Warded,’ I grunted to the others before they thought I was simply being weird. ‘And it’s a strong one.’
Hugo reached out his hand past me but drew it back sharply when he felt the ward. He gave a low whistle. ‘Indeed. Why on earth would he need a ward this strong? Why would he need a ward at all?’
Good question. I licked my lips and called. ‘Mr McAlpine? We can’t enter. We can’t get past your ward.’
There was rumble from deeper within the flat. A moment later, Mud reappeared. ‘Mud McAlpine forgot! Wait, wait.’
He scurried towards us with surprising speed before lifting up the hallway rug and revealing the salted barrier, then he half-closed his eyes. Witch magic vibrated from his fingertips. He whispered to himself, stood up and scuffed the salt away with his toe. ‘Safe now! Lord Hugo Pemberville may come in!’
I nudged Hugo. ‘Let’s keep him happy,’ I said under my breath. ‘You go first this time.’
Hugo nodded and stepped past me while Hester and Otis flapped up to take up their usual positions on my shoulders.
‘There’s something strange going on here,’ Otis said.
‘Definitely,’ Hester agreed.
I motioned to them to keep quiet. ‘Keep your wits about you,’ I told them. ‘Hopefully this won’t take long.’ My discomfort was growing by the second and I didn’t want to spend any longer here than was absolutely necessary. I held my breath and trailed after Hugo, no longer meeting any resistance as I entered the flat.
Mud took us into one of the back rooms. Initially, I assumed it was his living room, but it was devoid of any furniture beyonda single wooden chair. Some natural light seeped in through the low windows but, as the flat was located beneath ground level, there wasn’t much of it.
The dim lighting couldn’t hide what Mud McAlpine had done with the place. Every inch of every wall was covered with paper – scrawled maps, scribbled notes and pages upon pages of information and diagrams that seemed to have been ripped out from books. Some of those books were on the floor in towering piles that appeared to be on the verge of toppling over if I so much as looked at them too hard.
In the centre of the room was an open space marked out by a ring of unlit candles, strewn roots, leaves, a considerable amount of dirt and what looked like objects taken from Saughton Cemetery. It spoke of heavy magic that I knew I couldn’t begin to understand. Elf magic wasn’t like witch magic – not even close – but I was aware of the basics of witch powers because I’d taken the time to learn what I could about them. But whatever I already knew wasn’t enough; everything about this room was a mystery to me.
Hester pushed away from my shoulder and flew over to the strange circle to examine it. Mud, who’d been rummaging around in a box in the corner, straightened up and whirled around to bark at her, ‘No! Do not contaminate the area!’
Hester froze. She didn’t reply but she gave me a look that strongly suggested we should get hold of Nancy the doll and get out as quickly as possible. My instinct was to agree.
Mud returned his attention to the cardboard box. Hugo was gazing intently at something on one of the walls. I merely twitched.
‘If you give me the doll, Mr McAlpine,’ I said, trying not to sound as if I couldn’t wait to escape the place, ‘we’ll get out of your hair.’
He didn’t seem to hear me; instead he picked up somethingfrom the box and straightened. ‘Mud McAlpine has found it!’ He turned around and I stared at the cheese grater he was holding in both hands. Okay, then; nothing strange about that whatsoever.
Hugo pointed at several of the pages stuck to the wall ‘These notes refer to the thirteen mythical treasures of Britain.’
My ears perked up at the mention of treasure, but it wasn’t enough to dampen my desire to get out of the flat as quickly as possible.
‘Yes. Mud McAlpine has been searching for them for many years.’
Otis flapped over to join Hugo. ‘But if they’re mythical, they’re not real,’ he said. ‘So how can you be searching for them?’
‘They might be called mythical,’ Hugo said, ‘but their title is a misnomer. The treasures exist – or at least some of them do.’ His tone had taken on an edge of awe. He turned to look at Mud. ‘Have you found any trace of them?’
This time the witch didn’t answer. He reached inside the plastic bag, extracted the crusty toenail clipping and gave it a long sniff, then hummed happily to himself and stepped to the edge of the circle. I watched open-mouthed as he started to grate the edge of the toenail, dropping shavings carefully on top of the existing markings and moving around to distribute them evenly around the circle.
‘Where’s the doll, Mr McAlpine?’ I asked. He continued humming. I tried again. ‘Mr McAlpine, where is Nancy the doll? Can I take her?’
Something in my voice must have made an impact because he stopped and looked up. ‘Mud McAlpine will let you take the doll,’ he said dreamily. ‘Mud McAlpine does not need it. It does not have what he needs.’ He indicated the cardboard box where he’d found the cheese grater.
I didn’t waste any time but skirted around the circle to reach the box and find Nancy.
Mud continued talking, although I wasn’t sure whether he was addressing us or speaking to himself. ‘Mud McAlpine needed innocence. Mud thought that the doll would provide that, but the toy is tainted. Mud found a car instead.’
Confused, I looked around and spotted a small, rusty, Matchbox toy car nestled in an old bouquet of fading lilies. I scratched my head before returning my attention to the box and locating Nancy.
