Soul Splinter by Abi Elphinstone

– and charged straight into Barbarous Grudge. Siddy screamed. Moll staggered backwards. But in seconds Grudge had collared them both.
    ‘You!’ he spat. Moll and Siddy twisted against Grudge’s hold, but he only tightened his grip. ‘You little tykes
dared
disobey me?’ He shoved Siddy towards the squat smuggler boy, then he raised his crowbar above Moll.
    ‘No!’ Siddy yelled.
    Moll closed her eyes, bracing herself for the blow.
    ‘Boss, we could use them,’ the smuggler holding Siddy muttered. Grudge’s crowbar halted in mid-air. ‘We’re short of hands and we can’t afford to mess this one up. I’ve got a couple of spare capes over by the wall.’
    Only then did Moll and Siddy notice the dozen or so smugglers huddled into the shadows before the harbour wall. They were a jumble of different heights and builds, but they all wore the same black capes buttoned at the neck, long boots in which to stash stolen bottles and, as a mark of allegiance to their boss, each one of them had grown a knot of dreadlocked hair. But there was one boy who stood out from the others. Smaller than the rest by far, he flitted between the smugglers excitedly, like a beetle in need of squashing: Smog Sprockett. Moll glowered at him.
    Grudge grunted and lowered his crowbar. He yanked a piece of rope from his pocket and bound Moll’s wrists then Siddy’s before dragging them up to his nose. ‘You’re gonna be sorry you were even born after this raid’s done and the amulet’s ours,’ he snarled. ‘Now get a move on.’
    Heads down to fend off the rain, Moll and Siddy followed the Dreads round the harbour wall. The houses behind them were shuttered up against the night, as if they knew all too well what was going on outside their front doors. A street light cast a hazy glow on to the cobbles and Moll glimpsed a child crouched before a window, watching wide-eyed. Seconds later, a woman appeared and bolted the window fast.
    The group hurried on, following the harbour wall round to the far side of the village. The sea below them moved like a phantom, gathering and swelling before crashing against the stones and mingling with the rain. They were nearing the walkway that ran along the inside of the harbour wall now and, just where it started, Moll noticed the stone steps leading down to the water’s edge. There, two smugglers battled against the waves to keep a large rowing boat steady. Moll looked out to sea; in the distance, a light was edging slowly through the gloom. Just as Grudge had said, a ship was sailing right past Inchgrundle.
    With no choice but to keep moving, Moll hastened on with the smugglers, watching the sea heave and churn below them. She thought of the Shadowmasks plotting to find her still – of their dark magic seeping in through thresholds after her and Gryff. Would the witch doctors stay outside Inchgrundle, as Oak had hoped, or did they not mind being seen by smugglers so wrapped up in dark deeds of their own that their evil might go unnoticed?
    Closing her eyes for a moment, Moll listened to the wind and tried to read its spirit, as Cinderella Bull had taught her. It surged in wild gusts, whipping rain into her face, and with a shudder Moll remembered the words of the Bone Murmur.
And storms will rise; trees will die, if they free their dark magic into the sky
. Perhaps this storm was a sign that the Shadowmasks’ evil was lurking close by. A cold sweat crawled over her skin. She and Siddy needed to get away and find the amulet fast.
    As if he’d been thinking the same thing, Siddy turned to her and, in words softer than a whisper, he said, ‘
Don’t get on the boat. We need to make a run for it, whatever Grudge threatens
.’
    Moll could have hugged Siddy then. She could sense his fear – her own heart was trembling – but hearing those words beneath the storm and Grudge’s threats made her feel bigger, bolder. Somehow they’d get out of this mess together. She nudged Siddy with her elbow as they