Clearheart Page 10

  ‘Antarctica?’ said Charlie, and then he punched the air because his stutter had gone away. ‘Blimey. We’re going to freeze.’

  ‘Here, funny-looking P-P-P-Protector person, take these.’ The Giant offered Charlie his takings from the tree. Charlie could hardly hold them all. Thomas guffawed. ‘You can fold the leaf up, like a piece of paper,’ he said. ‘that should make it easier to carry.’ He reached into the pocket of his shorts (for that is all the Giant was wearing), and pulled out a hanky. It was enormous and, thankfully, clean. He threw it over Charlie’s head. Panicking, Charlie dropped the tree parts and flung himself this way and that trying to get out from under it. Thomas roared with laughter, sending Ella ducking for cover at the mere sound. Then, just as quickly, he became serious again.

  ‘The parts of the Great Gum I have given you will protect you in Antarctica. It is up to you though, Clearheart, if that is who you really are, to figure out how these parts can help. Whispers in the Gum’s breeze are telling me so. I can’t come with you, of course. Not just because I would probably lose my temper and end up destroying every one of those Magicals if I saw them, which would just make me as bad as them, but because I can only be above ground for a little while before the atmosphere up here starts to make me sick. The air is so, well, airy. And I don’t like hurting anything. But sometimes I can’t control my emotions. I’m also feeling a bit low. Overwhelmed by all the memories, I suppose. I just want to sleep.’ The Giant yawned and Charlie’s eyes nearly popped out of his head to see the size of the creature’s tonsils.

  ‘Oh. I suppose you’ll need some Waterway to travel through,’ said the Giant, seeming more miserable and distant by the second. He yawned again and let a big slurp of spittle roll out of his mouth. He gathered it in his hand with the dewdrop and the old spit.

  Ella and Charlie looked at one another. Ella’s pale face had turned a bit green. The Giant raised his eyebrows and lowered his palm to them. Ella gagged. Charlie closed his eyes.

  But there was nothing for it. Holding his nose, Charlie took Ella’s hand and hoicked himself up onto the Giant’s palm.

  ‘Ever so nice to meet you,’ said Ella, remembering her manners. The Giant nodded gratefully. ‘Oh, and Don Posiblemente wanted me to give you this.’ Ella motioned to Charlie, who pulled the red bottle out of the bag on his shoulder.

  The Giant observed it. ‘And what am I supposed to do with that? I can barely see it,’ he said.

  Thinking quickly, Charlie turned to Ella. ‘Think big thoughts, Ella,’ he urged. He poked her eye, which watered at once. Charlie rubbed the bottle over her cheek, where her tear fell. The bottle stretchified at once to the size of the Giant’s thumb.

  ‘Well that’s a sure sign of a Clearheart if ever I saw one,’ said the Giant, clearly impressed. He opened the bottle with that surprising softness he had displayed before and sniffed. It was sap. Oh, how wonderful! Thomas tipped his head back and let a drop land on his tongue. Delicious, reviving, nourishing sap. This simple kindness reminded Thomas of the days when the Giants and the Magicals had been friends. Of the goodwill they had shared. Of the marvellous environmental work they had done together. But he couldn’t say anything because a great lump was rising in his throat.

  Charlie and Ella stepped into the swirl of dewdrop and spit and drool and were gone.

  Thomas looked into his palm as the liquid matter settled in the children’s wake. The white world of Antarctica appeared in the Waters in his palm. Thomas sighed and shook his head. The tiny shadow of doubt he had carried with him all these years had been re-awoken with the child’s summoning. Was it possible that the Queen might have been right? Could it have been his own brother who had tried to kidnap the Queen using a whipwailing wind? He still could not, did not believe it. Not that it made a lot of difference what he believed anymore. The damage had been done that day, so long ago, when Bolgus had seen Thomas hesitate after the Queen accused him. And his brother had never spoken to him since. He had moved out of their shared cavern to another part of Gommoronahl that very day. A tear the size of a pillow rolled down the Giant’s leathered cheek. He sniffed. He had to get underground before all this air made him vomit. He needed a nap.

  chapter 16

  whispers & whatnots

  ‘Just send my daughter home at once, Anne Wheelbarrow,’ said Mrs Ulnus, glaring at the headmistress through the Waters. ‘I pay the fees, don’t I? My butler will be there in the next twenty minutes. I will have her back to you as soon as possible.’ The woman’s reflection disappeared.

  Ms Wheelbarrow really did not need this at the moment. A parent with unreasonable requests. She tugged absently at her messy grey ponytail, put her hands on her hips and frowned.

  ‘So sorry,’ Ms Wheelbarrow said, turning around and looking apologetically at Samuel, who sat next to one of the Rooniun’s most experienced Gnome Flitterwigs on her brown corduroy sofa. ‘Emergency tiptap,’ she said. ‘Can’t be avoided sometimes.’

  The Gnome Flitterwig was peering into a bowl of water, lips pursed, stroking his beard and looking very serious.

  Ms Wheelbarrow tweaked her ear and quickly Personified her teacup. ‘Tell Gloria Ulnus to come at once,’ she told it, opening the door for the thing. The teacup saluted, winked and flew off.

  ‘This isn’t good,’ said the Gnome Flitterwig. ‘No, this isn’t good at all.’ Angus Bungle, one of Flitterwiggery’s top experts at seeing in the waters, was having no luck at all getting a clear picture. It was getting harder and harder to do so of course, what with pollution getting worse each year. Not that he was able to locate anyone a great distance away anyway, unless that person was concentrating on being found. Ella and Charlie were clearly not in the immediate vicinity of Hedgeberry anymore, however, for the waters showed absolutely nothing of note.

  Samuel thanked Mr Bungle for his time and sent the man away.

  ‘I think we must make the assumption that the Duke and Saul are behind this disappearance and alert the Magicals,’ said Ms Wheelbarrow to Samuel as soon as Mr Bungle was gone, fiddling with one of her many large rings. It was yellow and star shaped. She flushed with the shame of having to ask the Magicals for help already. What would that say to them about her school?

  Samuel looked over at her, his mild face serious, his elegant hands resting still and calm in his lap.

  ‘Hundreds of your pupils have gone missing over the years, Annie, and reappeared of their own accord,’ said Samuel. ‘This is a school of Flitterwiggery, after all. Of course we must treat this case with particular caution, for it regards the Clearheart, but I think we should at least make some enquiries of our own before bothering anyone in Magus. After all, Ella has been having a little trouble controlling her powers recently, has she not? I shall talk to Don Posiblemente right away. He is the most learned of our kind and he has the Flitterwig Files at his fingertips. Furthermore, his ability to find folk in the Waters far surpasses anyone else’s. Perhaps he can shed some light on whether this disappearance is more than young Flitterwig tomfoolery.’

  ‘Good idea,’ said Ms Wheelbarrow. ‘I will try him at once. She returned to her Waterbowl and tiptapped her fingers on the surface. No-one appeared in it, even after some time.

  ‘There doesn’t seem to be anyone answering,’ she said.

  ‘Then I shall pay him a visit myself,’ said Samuel. ‘I haven’t seen the old boy for a while. It will be good to catch up.’

  Samuel rose from the settee, his clothes floating after him, and made for the door. Ms Wheelbarrow followed him. In the hallway they were met by Gloria.

  ‘Ah, Gloria, good,’ said Ms Wheelbarrow. ‘Follow us, please.’ She disappeared into a small room next to her office. There was nothing in there but an awful lot of books, a huge bush of pussy willow and a low barrel of water set upon the floorboards in a corner.

  ‘Keep me informed, Samuel,’ said Ms Wheelbarrow as he stepped into the barrel and disappeared with a tweak of his ear. ‘Gloria,’ said the headmistress, ‘you are to wait h
ere until your butler arrives. Your mother wants you home for a few hours. Highly irregular, but she insists.’ And then she was gone, in a whoosh of skirts and rings and floral scent. She didn’t notice Samantha and Humphrey slip into the room as she left. How could she? Humphrey had Bongled them both. Again!

  Luckily, Mrs Ulnus’s butler arrived before Humphrey’s Bonglification could wear off. Dripping but decorous in his wet black suit, the butler held a sprig of pussy willow elegantly in his left hand. No-one noticed the two children step into the barrel after him, touching the tip of his tail coat just in the nick of time. No-one noticed them slip behind a curtain in the great, rich drawing room of the Ulnus estate, as Gloria dried herself off on the pussy willow. If anyone had cared to look, however, they would have noticed wet, squelchy footprints on the Persian rug and puddles by the windows. Puddles that, in about thirty seconds, would have feet standing in them for all the world to see.

  Gloria heard her mother’s heels snip-snapping along the corridor towards the drawing room. Her long, lean body appeared at the door, all dressed in black. She was joined at once by a gentleman in a leafy-coloured smock. He had slanted eyes and tight curly hair like Samantha’s, but not as blond. Cynthia Ulnus stopped for a moment to take in her surrounds and then approached her daughter. ‘Examine her,’ she instructed the sprite physician, waving a long finger in Gloria’s direction. The physician smiled at Gloria and asked her to take her clothes off.

  ‘Why?’ said Gloria, doing as she was bid, for disobedience was not tolerated in the Ulnus household. ‘Mother, what is going on?’

  ‘It would seem, from the symptoms you described to me in the Waters, that you have been Possessified,’ said Mrs Ulnus between gritted teeth. ‘I want to see that no harm has been done you,’ she said tersely, ‘because believe you me, whoever is responsible will pay dearly for this if you have been damaged in any way.’

  Gloria was stupefied. She had been what? But she was also rather touched. Her parents never paid her a moment’s attention usually. They were always far too busy. To be having her physically examined must mean that her mother cared about her, at least a little.

  ‘She seems perfectly healthy to me,’ said the physician.

  ‘Fine. Get dressed then,’ said Mrs Ulnus, barely looking at her daughter. ‘You can have some tea if you like, before you go back to school. Let Jeeves know when you’re ready to return.’ Before Gloria could figure out what to say that might make her mother stay a while, Cynthia Ulnus had turned on her heel and left the room.

  From their spot behind the curtains, Samantha bit her bottom lip. Gloria might be the most annoying Flitterwig at Hedgeberry, but it was hardly a wonder really, with a mother like that.

  Gloria dressed and went in search of tea. Samantha and Humphrey were about to sneak out from behind the curtains when a very, very tall gentleman with skin the colour of teak and a long twiggy neck entered the room. Samantha recognised him as Mr Ulnus, Gloria’s father. She had seen him once at school. She remembered she had because she hadn’t been able to believe the size of his Adam’s apple then and she still couldn’t now. It poked out of his throat like the knot in a tree trunk. He was deep in conversation with a short, stocky, hairy fellow with large cauliflower ears.

  ‘… in order to get to Ella Montgomery is most unacceptable, Saul,’ said the man in hushed, woody tones, approaching a desk. He pulled a chequebook from a drawer. ‘My daughter. Really. That is low.’ Mr Ulnus shook his head. ‘We Dryad Flitterwigs have worked for generations to have our kind formally recognised in the Royal Court of Magus, and we will stop at nothing to get there. If you only knew where we have tried and failed in the past. But the Duke really ought to have consulted me first. I accept your invitation, however. If only to check that all is as it should be.’ Mr Ulnus scribbled on a cheque, signed the bottom, tore it out and handed it to Saul. ‘If you cross me again, I will cancel negotiations with my arms dealers and the whole alliance is off. You know how much I dislike the Elven race, Flitterwig or otherwise, so please, tell the Duke not to test me any further.’ As he left the room, Samantha and Humphrey heard him say, ‘What news of the Clearheart?’

  Samantha looked over at Humphrey behind the curtain. ‘Isn’t the Clearheart dead?’ she whispered, vaguely remembering something from her Magical History lessons.

  ‘I thought so,’ Humphrey answered distractedly. ‘Although, isn’t there a new one? Something to do with the lifting of the Ban?’ Humphrey was trying to Bongle himself again, but he could only get his hand to disappear. He had been worried that this might happen. He’d overused his Magic. How were they going to get back to Hedgeberry again if they were visible?

  Samuel couldn’t get in through Don Posiblemente’s staircase at all, which was most irregular. Not even Carmen or a single Literditty there to greet him? Samuel’s instincts told him that something was definitely amiss. He was always expected. There was nothing for it. Samuel would have to try arriving via the front door. He would travel by water as far as he could, and then fly the rest of the way. Not a decision made lightly, for flying Flitterwigs are a security risk. Anyone could spot him. Night was drawing in, however—somewhat safer than flying by day.

  Samuel was cold and weary by the time he alighted at the gates of Don Posiblemente’s home in Guadalajara Alta, Spain. He had travelled through the Waters to a seaport fifty-two miles away. After a bite to eat (the red pepper salad was delicious), he made straight for Don Posiblemente’s by wing without being spotted. He rang the bell on the great wooden gate in the high wall that surrounded the scholar’s property. There was no answer. He looked up over the wall, sensing the Dome of Inconspicuous Impenetration behind it. Not even Samuel had the password for this dome. He rang again. This was preposterous. There was never no-one home. It was unheard of. Samuel looked at the bolt holding the great wooden gate closed. By its purple hue, Samuel could tell that it was enchanted. He considered searing a laser of elf dust at it to try to prise it open, but thought better of it. Even though Samuel was perhaps the most powerful Flitterwig of his generation, the security on Don Posiblemente’s home was incredibly tight. He himself had worked on the very enchantments that had made it so.

  Had Don Posiblemente known that his colleague and friend was so nearby, on his very doorstep and yet locked out in the cold, he would surely have let him in. But Don Posiblemente had shut himself up in his living room and sent a flock of Mufflers out into his home and grounds to make sure all sounds travelling through the evening be muted and silenced at once. All over the property the fuzzy grey enchantments flew, soaking up every sound in earshot. For Don Posiblemente needed to keep his senses and instincts undisturbed during his constant vigil for the children. Should they need him, he had told them to find a water supply and think of him with all their might, and he would find them in the Waters and join them in an instant. It was one thing for the child to be able to think herself from one end of Europe to another. Quite another to travel to the other side of the world.

  On the stand by his side the Flitterwig Files lay open, a permanent reminder to Don Posiblemente of why he was acting single-handedly, without consulting the Rooniun, when he knew those who loved and cared for Ella would be worried by now.

  The Clearheart must act alone, with only her Protector as guide, if the Great Divide is to be bridged. For only the purity of guilelessness, faith, goodwill and a veritably clear heart can find the truth and heal the wounds of mistrust.

  Don Posiblemente read and re-read this line to keep his conviction strong. The Clearheart must act alone, he had to remember that. He was sure now that the second part of the Prophecy was in play. For one thing, Ella would have contacted him by now if she had not managed to raise the Giants and for another, the Gigantometer on his bookshelf, which had never so much as shimmered with more than a faint orange glow in all the years he had owned it, was sparkling and spitting busily, like a firework or the heart of a flame.

  A mere hundred metres away, Samuel Happenstance shook his
head and launched himself into the air, heading home.

  chapter 17

  ice & incredulity

  Had Ella and Charlie not been wearing their striped, oversized anoraks, they would surely have frozen on the spot as they popped up out of the ice in Antarctica. And had Charlie not thought at once to make them both swallow their Candleflosses, they would certainly never have dried out as fast as they did. The Candleflosses lit up the children’s bodies from inside and dried them out as surely as socks are soon dried when settled close before an open fire.

  The puffy rings in both anoraks were warm as hot-water bottles and their boots seemed to radiate heat from within. Indeed, so warm were they that the ice beneath them began to melt a little.

  The children stared across the continent they had just entered. A foreverness of cobalt-tinged ice stretched out in every direction as far as their eyes could see. A white sun lit up the snowy icecaps and the crisp air seemed alive with frosty colour. A strong breeze blew across the land.

  ‘Now what?’ said Charlie, checking under his collar to make sure that Harold had made it there in one piece. Travelling through water is quite freaky, to say the least. It wouldn’t have surprised Charlie at all to find his friend legless and skinned.

  ‘I’m fine thank you, dear chap,’ said Harold, tucking himself up deep inside Charlie’s hood, under the boy’s ear. Although, truth be known, Harold was feeling a little worn by all the excitement. Indeed, the Giant had scared him so much that he had been unable to croak or move the entire time they had been in Australia. He had wanted to be part of the boy’s tutelage at Hedgeberry, and had cherished the idea of adventure. But first a Giant in a desert, and now alone in the wilds of Antarctica? The little amphibian took a deep breath and reminded himself how lucky he was to experience the world so far from the monotony of pond life.