13 Secrets (5 page)

Then she was off, over the courtyard and through the gates into the lanes beyond Elvesden Manor. The dream had been pushed into the furthest corners of her mind.

Tanya’s eyes snapped open at the sound of Spitfire’s yowl. She lay quiet for a moment as sleep pulled at her, wondering if perhaps Oberon had dared to get too close to the crotchety old cat, but this seemed unlikely. She was almost asleep again when a draught unexpectedly whistled past her ears. It was enough to wake her fully, sending her eyes to the windowsill,
where she expected to see Gredin, Raven, and the Mizhog. But there were no fairies.

She sat up. Somewhere in the house, a door had opened. She slid out of bed and crossed to the bathroom. Faint gurgles and gargles could be heard coming from the drain-dweller in the plughole. She ignored them and quietly entered Rowan’s room, sniffing at a smoky scent. Something had been burning. Approaching the bed, Tanya reached out.

“Rowan,” she whispered. “Are you awake? I think there’s someone in the house!”

Her hand sank into the empty bedclothes. Where was Rowan?

She hurried back to her room, throwing on jeans, a sweater, socks, and sneakers. Then she left her room and tiptoed across the landing to Fabian’s door. From Nell’s room, next to Fabian’s, loud snores were making the floor practically vibrate. Tanya twisted the doorknob and slipped into Fabian’s room, closing the door behind her.

The lamp was on, but Fabian was fast asleep, still wearing his glasses. His right cheek rested against some loose pages. He had evidently fallen asleep while reading them. Tanya leaned closer, wrinkling her nose at the gusts of stale, dragon-like breath coming from Fabian’s wide-open mouth.

She reached out and poked him. “Fabian! Wake up.”

His eyes flickered open momentarily, then shut
again. “Drain-dwellers took it,” he mumbled, and started to turn over.

“Fabian!”
She pulled back the covers. Fabian huddled up like a squirrel at the sudden lack of warmth. Tanya prodded him again.

“Rowan’s gone!” she whispered fiercely. “Get up, quickly!”

Fabian shot up in bed, a page stuck to his cheek.

“Gone where? What?” He straightened his glasses and peeled the piece of paper away from his face.

“I don’t know!” Tanya hissed, throwing a rumpled shirt and trousers at him from off the floor. “That’s the point. Get dressed; we’re going after her. Nice pajamas, by the way.”

Fabian blinked sleepily and peered down at himself. A brightly colored solar system was printed on the dark blue fabric.

She turned to face the door to allow him to get changed, but he appeared beside her so quickly that she realized he’d simply pulled his clothes on over his pajamas.

“Let’s go.”

They crept downstairs, walking a short distance apart to minimize creaks. When they reached the clock, Spitfire slunk out of their way as they passed.

Fabian grabbed some socks from a pile of laundry in the hallway. “Darn it, Nell,” he muttered to himself. “These socks aren’t properly dry.” He pulled them on anyway, grimacing, and they backed away
from the stairs toward the kitchen. There, Tanya quickly put a leash on Oberon.

“Did you even see which way she went?” asked Fabian. “Front or back?”

Tanya shook her head. “I didn’t see anything. But I think we should go the front way. If Rowan’s been so intent on keeping fairies away, then it doesn’t make sense for her to head toward the woods that are full of them.”

“Good thinking,” said Fabian. “Now, where’s my other shoe?”

Oberon stepped behind Tanya as Fabian huffily pulled his missing shoe, lightly nibbled, from Oberon’s basket. Fabian glared at the dog and tugged the shoe on with as much dignity as he could muster.

“You were right. Rowan’s key is missing,” he whispered as they opened the front door. He took his own front door key from his pocket.

Outside, there was no crunching across the gravel. This time they stuck to the path through the forecourt.

“We’re going to have to run,” said Tanya, once they were safely through the gates. Broken moonlight played on the dirt road through the gaps in the trees. “She’s got at least five minutes on us. She could be anywhere.”

“Head for the bus stop,” said Fabian. “All the main routes out go from there.”

They began to run, wordlessly, side by side, with Oberon slightly ahead. Five minutes later they neared the junction.

“Slow down,” Fabian said, his chest heaving for breath. “If she’s close by, she could hear us running.”

They continued forward, though with Oberon’s heavy panting a quiet approach seemed unlikely. Tanya stared in both directions, searching the lanes. They were quiet even during the day. At night, they were deserted.

“We’re too late,” she said in dismay, seeing nothing. “We’ve lost her.”

“Don’t give up yet,” said Fabian. “She would only have gone this way”—he nodded to the left—“or that way, toward Tickey End. Let’s just pick one and take a chance. We can’t be that far behind.”

Tanya turned from side to side. She was desperate to know where Rowan was—what was going on. “You decide,” she said finally. “I feel like whichever way I choose will be the wrong one.”

Fabian raked a hand through his bushy hair.

“Tickey End,” he said at last, as a look of recognition lit up his face. “I’ve just remembered something. Last week after school I saw her speaking to a homeless girl on the street. She acted like she didn’t know her, but I heard the girl call her ‘Red.’ I didn’t think of it until just now, but that’s when she started acting cagey. It’s something to do with that girl, I’m sure of it.” He started to walk. “Come on.”

Tanya made to follow, but a sudden jerk on her arm made her stop. Oberon was resisting, staring in the opposite direction with his nose twitching and his ears pricked up, alert.

“Wait,” she said.

“What’s up with him?” Fabian said impatiently.

“He doesn’t want to go that way,” said Tanya. “He’s pulling to go the other way. He’s scented something—it must be Rowan!”

They followed Oberon along the narrow lane, walking as quickly as they could while still remaining quiet. Less than a minute later, they followed the road over the crest of a hill. Before them, the lane spread out. There was no sign of Rowan’s boyish figure anywhere. Yet the road was not quite empty, for a small animal was skirting along the shoulder. They both saw it at once.

“Of course,” Fabian breathed. “That’s her. She’s wearing the fox-skin coat!”

“It could just be a fox,” said Tanya.

Fabian shook his head. “Look at the way it’s moving. It’s sticking to the edges but it’s bold as brass. Real foxes are more alert for predators, I’m sure of it.” His nostrils flared indignantly. “What’s she playing at? I say we just catch her up and confront her!”

“Don’t be nuts,” said Tanya. “She wouldn’t tell us a thing if we did that. The only way we’ll find out what she’s up to is by following her. If she’d wanted us to know what was going on she would have told us, wouldn’t she? Instead she’s chosen to sneak out in the middle of the night without saying a word.” Her throat tightened. “I thought she trusted us.”

“So did I,” said Fabian, bitterly. “Just shows that we don’t really know her at all.”

They set off, keeping at a safe distance from the fox-form up ahead. Thin wisps of cloud scudded across the moon overhead, and the stars winked at them.

“Keep to the edge of the road,” Fabian whispered. “Walking on the grass is quieter, and it means we can hide in the hedges if she turns around.”

They continued through the darkness, taking the lead from the fox. Once or twice the vixen slipped out of view, causing a flurry of panicked whispers between them, before one of them caught sight of her once more and the trail picked up again.

“Does she even know where she’s going?” Fabian whispered.

They had been walking for nearly thirty minutes and, despite the coolness of the night, Tanya’s cheeks burned with heat. Now that her senses had adapted to being outside in the night, she was picking up strains of whispering fey creatures and a few rustles from the trees surrounding them. Their presence was not going unnoticed.

“Maybe she doesn’t have a particular place in mind,” she replied. “For all we know, she’s running away.”

“Why would she run away?” Fabian spluttered. “She always says how much she likes it at Elvesden Manor. And, anyway, she hasn’t taken any of her stuff. It looks like all she’s got is the coat on her back.”

“I know,” Tanya said patiently. “But she’s used to coping with having nothing.”

“That still doesn’t explain
why
.”

“Something’s rattled her,” said Tanya. “That’s the only explanation. She’s scared anyway, it’s obvious from the way she keeps her room full of protection against fairies. I think it’s something to do with that girl in Tickey End. Are you sure you didn’t hear what they were talking about?”

“No,” said Fabian. “The girl was already leaving when I turned up.”

They continued in silence. Above them, trees towered over the road and met in the middle, and Tanya recognized it as the route her mother took whenever she drove to the manor. Through gaps in the hedges they saw a wide expanse of fields and farmland. After another forty minutes they had twice more ducked into the bushes at the side of the road as Rowan paused to navigate the lanes, and Fabian complained that he had torn his shirt.

“Why is it we always end up doing this?” he muttered, pulling brambles from his thick nest of hair. “Skulking about after dark. I thought our skulking days were over—”

“Shh!” said Tanya. “She’s stopped.”

They backed into the hedge, watching as the fox sniffed the air, then vanished into the foliage.

“Where did she go?” Fabian whispered.

They waited, wondering if Rowan would emerge. There was no sign of her.

“She must have seen us,” Fabian said. “She’s waiting for us, I bet.”

“Or maybe she’s taken a shortcut,” said Tanya. “We’re surrounded by fields, she could have gone into one. Let’s just head to where we last saw her. If she
has
seen us then we may as well confront her.”

They eased out of the hedge once more and headed onward. Tanya kept her eyes fixed on the spot where she thought Rowan had vanished. When they reached it, they poked about for a bit before determining that there was no break in the hedge at that point. Tanya wandered on a little further, watching Oberon for any telltale signs that they were on the right track. He snuffled at the grass and shuffled forward, pulling her closer to some bushes several meters from where Fabian stood.

Up ahead there was a fork in the road, with a weathered signpost informing travelers that Tickey End was twelve miles away, in the direction they had just come from. Tanya viewed it, calculating that she and Fabian must have walked at least three miles from the bus stop.

Then she saw that Oberon had stopped by a gap in the shrubbery and was looking up at her expectantly.

“Fabian,” Tanya whispered. “This way.”

They both pressed into the gap. A short distance across the field, a tumbledown building squatted forlornly. The brickwork was crumbling and part of the roof was missing. A few meters from the ruin stood an old feeding trough and a cluster of trees.

“It must have been used by one of the farms,” Fabian whispered.

“Doesn’t look like it’s used for anything much now,” Tanya whispered back. “Do you think that’s where Rowan’s gone? Why would she go in there?”

“Only one way to find out.” Fabian stepped into the scrubby field and began padding toward the building. He motioned for Tanya to head toward the trees with Oberon. She crept past the shabby building and took cover behind the trough, crouching with Oberon at her side. The trees whispered softly above her, their leaves making a canopy over her head, stopping her from feeling too exposed. From her position she saw Fabian moving silently around the building. The scent of rust from the old trough filled her nostrils.

She saw Fabian stiffen, his back to her. Moments later he crept back and eased himself down next to her.

“What did you see?” she asked in a low voice. “Was she in there?”

Fabian nodded.

“Well, what’s she doing?”