Shadow Spell by Caro King Page B

they hurtled down the stairs.
    She plunged on through a maze of rooms, one leading into another, with Seth behind her shouting directions to tell her which arch to take or corner to turn. As they hurtled past one archway she saw Jonas, running to see what the noise was.
    â€˜Can’t stop! Trouble!’ she yelled to his startled face, and flew on past.
    A moment later they burst out into a round room with three exits. Through one of them she could see open air.
    â€˜We’re out! she yelled, diving through it. She didn’t stop to listen for a word from Seth, she just went. With a groan, Seth followed.
    Nin had only run a short way across the grass when she realised her mistake. For a start, they were still high up, she could feel it in the clear, sharp air that took her breath away. The clouds had vanished with the rain and the scene was bathed in early-evening sunlight. In front of her was a stretch of emerald lawn, rimmed with flower beds gone wild. Roses grew in heavy-headed clustersof yellow and dark orange, and even though spring was long past the trees were rich with pink and white blossom. Her heart sank as she realised that she had come out in Dark’s garden.
    Glancing back, saw the guardians crashing into the round room in a furious blaze of colour.
    Seth grabbed her. ‘Wrong door!’ he gasped unnecessarily.
    â€˜Come on!’ yelled Nin, and turned back to the garden. Before her, a path of amber cobbles led past the trees, down the slope of lawn and over the stream to a low wall and some steps leading down. There was only one problem. Beyond that there was nothing but the sky.
    Still, there was nowhere else to go, they just had to hope the steps at the end led somewhere helpful.
    It wasn’t far to the wall. Nin skidded to a halt and gasped, her head spinning at the sight before her. Far below, the Land unrolled in a carpet of vivid colour. She had only a moment to take in its green meadows, purple hills, silver rivers and dark woods, but it was long enough for her to see that something was badly wrong. In every direction the colour was spotted with patches of dense white fog that spiralled up in cloudy funnels reaching to the sky. In one place, the Raw was so bad that only a hill remained, like an island rearing up in a lake of mist. Even as she turned her head to look for the steps, she saw one stretch of Raw explode upwards and outwards devouring another wood and a hillside clad inpurple heather.
    She felt Seth at her side and turned to look at him, the lions forgotten in the moment of realising something terrible.
    â€˜The Land is dying faster,’ she said, her voice tight with fear. ‘Not slowly but now, right NOW. There’ll be nothing left in a few days!’
    â€˜My guess is, he’s attacking the Seven,’ Seth whispered in her ear. ‘And if that’s so, well, the Fabulous, the Land, they’re all part of the same substance. Everything’s twined up together. You can’t kill one without killing the rest.’
    Behind them the lions bounded down the lawn, scattering light like jewels in the evening sun. One of them roared, a crashing, grinding roar that split the air in knives of sound. With a scream of fright, Nin turned to the steps. There were two of them, the rest had crumbled away. There was no way out. Except one.
    â€˜Well,’ said Seth. ‘It was nice meeting you, Ninevah Redstone. Sorry it had to end so soon.’
    He grabbed her hand and pulled her on to the parapet. A long way down, at the foot of Dark’s Mansion, she could see a steep hill tumbling away in a series of rocky ledges to end in a deep blue lake.
    Just a leap away, a lion gathered itself to spring, its emerald eyes still fixed on its target.
    â€˜Let’s put your luck to the test, eh?’
    â€˜What?’ said Nin, bewildered. Before her the landscape reeled. Trees like tiny sprigs far below. Far, farbelow. The wind whipped her hair across her