Starfell Willow Moss and the Lost Day (Starfell #1) - Dominique Valente Page 0,41

o’ the chimonemuney there. I don’t fink the charm reaches that far,’ he said, a now orange paw pointing to the chimney.

Willow and Essential shared a look. They tested it, finding that Oswin was right; it wasn’t charmed shut. ‘Ah yes. That’s probably the best idea,’ said Essential, turning slightly pink.

‘Thanks, Oswin,’ said Willow.

Five minutes later, with the help of a ladder and some hefting and pulling, Willow and Essential – and Oswin – made it through on to the roof. From there they jumped on to the soft grass below, the bag landing with a bit of a thump, which caused Oswin to swear in High Dwarf.

‘This is Oswin, by the way,’ said Willow, introducing him to Essential as he muttered darkly about missing his stove and wondering what he was doing in a bag made of hair agreeing to come on some crazy adventure.

‘Why are you inside that bag anyway?’ interrupted Essential, who was curious about him.

He stopped grumbling. ‘Because I’s a kobold, and the monster from under the bed … At least I used to be. Now I’m the monster in the bag, which jes don’ have quite the same rings to it,’ he said with a sigh, as he ventured half a head out of the zipped bag to peer at her.

Essential brightened. ‘A kobold, wow – I hear they can blow things up.’

‘Only when we is really, really cross,’ said Oswin, who seemed to have warmed to Essential. He hadn’t turned completely orange at least.

‘Happens a lot,’ whispered Willow. Then she said more loudly, ‘Right. We need to find Nolin Sometimes – my mother said he was taken to the guard’s tent.’

Essential nodded. ‘I know it. Come on,’ she said, and they raced through the dark woods, looking over their shoulders in case anyone was keeping an eye out for them – particularly Willow’s sisters. After a while they entered the edge of the clearing and they could see the many coloured tents of the fair and the rows of string lights suspended above them.

They darted behind tents, crouching down low, and Essential said, ‘It’s the big red-and-white one, there.’ She pointed to the end of the clearing. As they neared they could hear raised voices coming from within the tent.

‘WHO TOLD YOU THAT?’

‘No one told me,’ said Nolin Sometimes in a small, tired voice.

‘SOMEONE’S PUT YOU UP TO THIS, HAVEN’T THEY? WAS IT BILL?’

‘Look, I can understand that you’re upset about your, er … most likely former business partner now, but, um, can you keep it down? I have a bit of a headache, you see. Also … incidentally, it was Bill, though he never told me exactly … but I mean how could you not have seen that he painted those chicken eggs gold?’

‘WOT YOU MEAN! HOW’D YER KNOW IT THEN? HUH, ’SPLAIN THAT?’

‘SO YOU ADMIT IT THEN, BILL! YOU LYING CROOK!’

Willow and Essential entered the tent to see two very angry guards glaring at each other.

‘Um, hello?’ said Willow.

They looked up, but carried on arguing.

Willow ran up to Sometimes, who sagged in relief when he saw her. ‘Who is this?’ he asked as she untied his hands.

‘Never mind, I’ll explain later,’ she said, tugging him along.

But he stopped, his eyes going white, then back to blue in a blink, and he muttered, his voice high and girly, ‘Freddy Slimespoon has eyes like drops of dew on a toad-filled grass. With a smile like the blissful morning sunshine ballooning through a crack of window and bouncing against the starry walls of my heart …’

Essential stared from him to Willow, utterly mortified. ‘Um,’ she squeaked, ‘how does he know about that?’ Her eyes were huge. ‘I was very young, well, younger, um, when I wrote that poem … I don’t know how you found it …’

Willow rolled her eyes. They didn’t have time for this. ‘C’mon,’ she said, but it was too late – they’d been spotted.

The two guards cried out. ‘Stop! Wait there just a minute!’

‘Essential!’ cried Willow. ‘Freeze them!’

She whirled round and froze the guards mid-stride.

‘Run!’ yelled Essential.

The freeze wore off almost instantly but it gave them just enough time to dash into the crowd. Nolin Sometimes had his hands over his ears and was going ‘Lalalalalalalala.’

‘What are you doing?’ asked Willow.

‘What?’ he bellowed, his hair wild and crackling with electricity, his blue eyes enormous.

‘What are you doing?’ she repeated.

‘Blocking them out – so I don’t have to hear their memories.’

But it was too late, as soon as he’d focused on Willow