Shadow Spell by Caro King

wall of the room she had just walked out of. By rights it should have three windows, not one.
    â€˜Magic,’ said Nin softly.
    It wasn’t just the room either. In front of her hung a spiral made of something soft and supple, like a twist of ribbon with colours coming off its glowing surface in silky veils. There was nothing visible supporting it, the thing just hung there, turning gently in an unfelt breeze.
    Nin stepped closer. The colours were shadowy ones,purples and blues and deep greys, but they gave off a glow like moonlight. Nin’s fingers tingled and electricity crackled over her skin. This had to be the clue!
    She wondered what to do next. She should go back into the other room and wait for Jonas, but …
    Frantic that the other room would have gone, Nin spun around. It hadn’t, she could still see its blue and yellow light through the doorway. She was about to head back in there when she hesitated. That room hadn’t vanished when she went through the arch, but what if this one, the one with the clue in it, did vanish? They might never find it again.
    Simple, she thought. I wait here, just inside the arch, and when Jonas comes back I’ll call.
    Picking a spot where she could see through into the other room, she settled down, sitting with her back against the wall. To pass the time she busied herself looking around the clue room, then wished she hadn’t.
    The windows were staring at her. The four panes were each filled with the image of a lion. The rain had stopped and the late-afternoon sun breaking through the clouds brought the colours to vivid life. The yellow lions had red manes and their scarlet claws and teeth were bared as if ready to attack. The eyes were emerald green and were watching Nin carefully.
    Spooked, Nin switched her gaze back to the softly swirling colours of the ribbon, noticing that faint shadows hung about it, shifting against the glow. Even so, she could still feel her skin prickling under the lions’emerald gaze. Trying to ignore them, she concentrated on her inspection of the clue, but the lions kept distracting her. Their gaze seemed just as penetrating, even when she wasn’t looking at them. She began to feel clammy, her scalp prickled and a thin trickle of sweat ran down her spine. She was suddenly aware that all the voices had stopped.
    They’re listening, she thought, waiting for something to happen.
    From the windows, four sets of emerald eyes raked over her hungrily, as if she was dinner or something. She looked at them, thinking that she might see them move, but they didn’t. Then she thought they might move when she
wasn’t
looking, so she studied the ribbon, then looked back quickly at the windows to catch them out. Nothing had changed.
    â€˜This is ridiculous,’ snapped Nin.
    With one part of her brain she heard movement in the other room, a firm tread.
    Jonas, she thought, thank goodness for that! I can get out of here. She got up and stepped forward, reaching out for the clue.
    A boy stepped through the arch into the room. He was about the same age as Jonas, though taller, and was wearing a green jacket, brown trousers, interesting boots and an awful lot of jewellery. His dark, curly hair was tied back with a green handkerchief.
    Before she had time to register that it wasn’t Jonas and to stop herself from doing what she had started to do,Nin’s hand was closing over something cool that seemed to stir and shift against her skin. She pulled the clue down, holding it in her palm where it swirled gently, as if deciding what to do next.
    The boy drew in a breath. ‘Oooo, big mistake that!’ he said. ‘Let’s hope it’s not fatal!’
    There was a moment of utter silence while Nin stared at the new boy in astonishment, and then the windows imploded, their stained images splitting into a thousand fragments that whirled about the room in a storm of splintered light and jagged sound.
    Nin screamed as