Ghosts on Board by Fleur Hitchcock

I was you I’d catch him and stick him right back in that purple swamp.’
    â€˜He did leave us here,’ I say.
    â€˜We don’t need to rush,’ says Eric.
    â€˜No,’ I say, starting on the next tree trunk. My axe bounces off the wood leaving it untouched. ‘But at this rate it could be days before we manage to build a raft. Look at how long it’s taking me.’
    Tilly and Eric pitch in, and between us we fell four screaming trees and free four screaming spirits. The whole thing makes me shudder, but once we have the four trunks, they are just like four normal tree trunks. We roll them down to the shore, where it’s light.
    â€˜We’re going to have to get a move on,’ I say. ‘They’ll be back at home by now, and who knows what Victor can get Jacob to do for him? He stole Jacob’s meteorite by the way.’
    â€˜
Mine
and Jacob’s if you don’t mind. But our powers only work in Bywater-by-Sea,’ says Eric, as if it’s only just occurred to him. ‘You can’t really do anything special outside the village. That’s why we can’t use them here. And you have to find a meteorite just after it’s fallen to get any power in the first place. I mean, it’s all very well, but anything Victor thinks he can do, he can only do in the village. And he can’t actually do anything anyway, because he hasn’t caught a meteorite.’
    I close my eyes, trying to make sense of what Eric just said.
    â€˜Really?’ says Flora Rose, trying and failing to stop one of the trunks rolling away.
    â€˜He’s right about the meteorites,’ I say, lugging the trunk back up the slope. ‘But, Eric, the castle dust is different. It can make strange things happen. I know it’s firmly locked up, but sooner or later he’s going to work out how to get into that cell, and then what’s going to happen?’
    â€˜Is that what made him human?’ asks Flora Rose.
    â€˜Yes, almost certainly,’ says Eric. ‘And it must have washed off when we all got tipped in the sea. It doesn’t work outside Bywater-by-Sea either. But inside the village it can cause huge disruption.’
    â€˜But don’t forget,’ I say, ‘Victor is a ghost – we have no idea what the dust would do for him. It might work outside the village. It could work anywhere in the world. He might actually be able to do extraordinary things.’
    â€˜Do you think he’d actually harm Jacob?’ Eric asks Flora Rose.
    A purple Y appears on a blank stone at my feet. Followed by an E and S.
    Flora Rose shrugs. ‘I think Billy’s right. Victor’s capable of anything.’
    â€˜Right,’ I say. ‘Let’s get this thing finished at full speed – we HAVE to rescue Jacob, whether or not he deserves it. And we have to stop Victor.’
    The raft is lumpy. It’s not watertight and it turns out that it’s impossible to steer.
    â€˜Try pushing again,’ says Eric, watching the tiny gap between us and the crumbling jetty get even smaller. ‘I’m sure if we can get out into the open sea it’ll be easier to get some forward motion.’
    â€˜It’s raining,’ says Tilly, helpfully.
    â€˜I know,’ I say, ‘and I’m trying as hard as possible but it’s just not easy. You could help, you know.’
    Tilly suddenly finds something in her bag really interesting.
    â€˜If I just  … ’ Eric wedges a long tree branch in the gap and puts his weight on it, pushing us away from the jetty until we begin to drift out through the fog and there’s a tantalising glimpse of the open sea. ‘Give me a lever long enough and I will move the world,’ he says, frantically dabbing with his branch to increase our speed.
    â€˜Eh?’ I say, paddling with a section of shed door on the other side of the boat.
    â€˜Archimedes,’ he says. ‘
Give me