Crystal by Rebecca Lisle Page B

strangely. You’ve only to look at her … There’s talk of witchcraft again.’
    ‘Mum’s busy tonight. She has a lady coming to get some ointment for her rash.’
    ‘Then the lady will have to cancel.’
    ‘Maybe you’d like some of it instead?’ Crystal asked, staring pointedly at Raek’s sore cheeks.
    He frowned. ‘Take care,’ he snapped. ‘Take care. Look at her with that black cat on her knee! You should watch out, Crystal. Some people in the Town would like to see an end to your mother’s potions. An end to her, too!’
    Crystal gasped and tried to push the door shut but Raek stuck his foot in the way.
    ‘Can’t get rid of me that easily! You should respect me, Crystal; I’ve told you before. I’m like you. I was an outsider too once. I might be able to help you.’
    ‘I don’t want your help. Go away!’
    ‘You’ll be sorry, Crystal, I’m warning you.’
    He took his foot out of the way and sauntered down the path. ‘Until this evening … with the sly-ugg!’
    Crystal leaned against the closed door, holding her hand over her racing heart. She looked over at her mum; she had pushed the cat away and was hugging the lump of wood as if it were a long-lost friend.
    It was warm but raining again, and Raek put Crystal in the waiting room while her mother was seeing Grint. Crystal was glad; ever since Raek had visited she’d been hoping for this: now she could sneak out again and spy. She had to. This would be her very last chance to see what Grint got up to in that cold room, because tomorrow they’d be gone.
    Crystal sat in an old wooden chair waiting for Raek’s hard clacking footsteps to die away. The chair was a new addition to the waiting room; it seemed to pulse and tremble beneath her as if it were just about to take off. When they were free of the Town they’d have wooden furniture too. No more metal and stone, but lots of wood. Just sitting in it made her feel stronger.
    When it was quiet, she slipped through the door again, down the corridor and out into the garden. She pulled up her hood to keep the rain off her hair and tucked up her long skirt so it wouldn’t get muddy.
    The shutters were open, so she could see right into the room where Grint and her mother were. The windows were slightly cloudy. Crystal laid her fingertips on the glass; the panes were frosted on the inside.
    Grint and Effie were both wrapped in furs and sitting at either end of the iron table. On the table stood a strange, rather beautiful object. It appeared to be made of pearly glass and was about two feet high. It consisted of a central pole carved with faces and peculiar creatures. A slender tube shaped like a telescope passed through it at a right angle near the top. Strange shapes dangled from the crosspiece. Crystal had no idea what it could be.
    She was alarmed at the way her mum looked. Effie’s fair skin was snow white, the shadows beneath her eyes plum purple. Despite the furs she still appeared cold. And she looked even more blank than usual, as if she wasn’t there at all, as if her eyes and ears weren’t really working. She looked like a paper cutout of herself. A nerve twitching in her temple was the only sign of any life.
    ‘Effie! Come on!’ Grint said. ‘Read it! Tell me what it says!’
    ‘Icicle,’ said Effie, softly, resting her fingertips against the glass crosspiece. ‘It’s beautiful. Cold.’
    Icicle? Like the kitten? Cold? Was it made of ice then, not glass? That would explain the icy room, Crystal thought.
    ‘Don’t touch it too much,’ Grint said. ‘I don’t want it damaged. We’ll never get another one of these, Effie, will we? Because we can’t go back up there, back to the Marble Mountains, can we?’ Effie flinched, as if something he’d said had finally got through to her. ‘ Marble Mountains? Do you remember? No, you don’t, not really and it’s just as well … Come on, now. I want a fortune . Make it play a fortune, Effie. Effie! You know you can do better