slowly and a tall, thin stem appeared. Translucent like glass, the stem unfurled and a large pure-white flower emerged, its tiny fronds covered in what looked like gold dust. Its petals opened and it shifted ever so slightly towards Nolin Sometimes and bowed its petal head.
An expectant hush descended. Sometimes touched it, then asked, ‘Tell us, Memory Flower, who took last Tuesday?’
Willow held her breath.
The flower began to shift, its petals unfurling outwards, twisting and growing, and changing before their eyes into the shape of a young man. His form was made of airy lace-like petals. There were holes where his eyes should have been, and his hair was made of the same golden thread that had covered the fronds of the memory flower. He was wearing a long robe with what looked like golden arrows in the centre.
The plant boy looked at them with eyes that weren’t there and said in a voice like wind rattling a doorframe, ‘The boy called Silas cast the spell hidden within the fortress.’
‘A fortress?’ cried Willow. ‘Which fortress? Which spell? How can we get it back?’
The plant boy shook his head, and before their eyes he began to disappear, turning back into a flower once more. Then each of the flower’s petals scattered to the wind.
Sometimes sighed. ‘Like I said, you only get the one question.’ He turned to look at Willow. ‘At least we know who to look for now.’
Willow nodded. Someone called Silas. ‘And that it was a spell.’
‘Which means that you won’t be able to summon the lost day,’ said Sometimes.
‘Why not?’ asked Willow.
‘The magic of the spell might react to your own when you summon it; it could do what Moreg feared and split apart the universe,’ explained Sometimes.
Willow blinked, put aside the part of her mind that was panicking in Oswin’s voice, and going ‘Oh noooo,’ and thought hard. ‘What if I tried to summon the spell?’
Sometimes contemplated the idea. ‘Hmm, yes, perhaps there is a counter-spell on the scroll. If it worked for whoever used it to take away the day, perhaps it could work for one of us too. Like I said, the old magic was here before, so if we found some of it, it’s possible we could still use it. I’m not sure, though.’
Willow had to at least try. It was worth trying to summon the spell scroll in any case. She closed her eyes and raised her hand to the sky. All she had to do was try to find it. It was a lost spell after all. She concentrated hard. But it would not come. It was as if somehow something was blocking her from getting it.
‘It’s no good – I feel it, but it won’t come.’
Sometimes gasped, perhaps as if he too realised something at the same time she did.
She opened her eyes and whispered, ‘Practical makes perfect.’
Had it been Moreg’s plan all along?
‘Pardon?’ asked Feathering.
Sometimes’s eyes went blank and he keeled over.
Willow explained. ‘I think I know which fortress the memory flower was referring to. I tried to summon the spell but I couldn’t. It was like something was blocking me, and I think I know why. It’s because the spell is in the one place in all of Starfell that can’t be penetrated with magic: Wolkana. The monastery of the Brothers of Wol. It’s a fortress. And the only way a witch can get inside is—’
‘If she gets captured,’ said Sometimes, sitting up. His eyes were going blue once more and he sounded awed. ‘Moreg meant to be! It was part of her plan!’
‘Practical makes perfect,’ repeated Willow. ‘It makes sense – she wanted them to take her so she could get inside!’
‘But how does that help us?’ asked Feathering. ‘If we can’t get inside? Can a dragon?’
Sometimes shook his head. ‘I think Wolkana is sealed off from all magical creatures.’
Willow blinked. ‘Maybe not.’ Something had just occurred to her.
‘What do you mean?’ asked Sometimes.
She grinned at them. ‘Moreg said whenever she’s lost she looks inside her pantry and that’s where she finds the answers …’
They all looked blank, so she continued. ‘Moreg’s cloak – which she was wearing when they took her – it’s a portal to the pantry in her home. If we can get inside that pantry, we can get to her!’
‘Brilliant, absolutely brilliant,’ said Nolin Sometimes.
‘So can you show us the way to Moreg’s house?’ Willow asked Sometimes.
‘Hmm, I was afraid you were going to say that,’ said Sometimes, before he keeled over backwards again.
Willow