Stardust by Linda Chapman Page B

looked round the clearing. Robyn wasn’t there.
    â€˜She must have flown on!’ Allegra said.
    â€˜But she wouldn’t,’ said Joanna.
    Lucy’s eyes spotted something small and golden on the ground. ‘What’s that?’ She dived down and picked up a gold hair bobble. ’It’s Robyn’s!’
    â€˜It must have fallen out of her hair,’ Allegra said.
    â€˜Why didn’t she stop to pick it up?’ Joanna looked very worried. ‘She wouldn’t have flown on without me. Where is she? Robyn!’ she shouted again.
    But there was no reply.

CHAPTER
Ten
    Lucy looked round the clearing. ‘Robyn must be near here.’ There was a huge clap of thunder.
    â€˜Something’s happening!’ Joanna said in alarm.
    All Lucy’s senses felt alert. Magic was pulsing across the dark skies. She could feel it, like lines of energy moving between the stars above the clouds. Where was Robyn?
    An owl swooped across the clearing.
    An idea came to Lucy. Maybe if she saw though its eyes she could find out where Robyn had got to. Not stopping to waste time asking the others if she should do it, she jumped into the owl’s mind. Almost immediately, she sensed the bird’s fear. It knew something was going on and it wanted to get away from the woods. It beat its wings hard. Lucy watched the trees flicking by beneath them, searching for any sign of Robyn.
    As the owl flew towards the river, Lucy gasped. Five hooded figures were standing in a circle around the old oak tree. Dark spirits and…
    â€˜Robyn!’ she whispered in shock.
    Robyn was cowering against the oak tree. Her eyes were moving desperately from side to side, but she wasn’t moving.
    The figures circled around her. In a flash, Lucy realized Robyn was being held by a binding spell. She had been held by one herself once. It was horrid. You couldn’t move; you couldn’t do anything.
    Lucy let go of the owl’s mind. She opened her eyes to find herself in the alder grove. ‘I’ve seen Robyn!’ she gasped, jumping to her feet. ‘She’s been captured by dark spirits!’
    Joanna paled. ‘Where is she?’

    â€˜By the riverbank!’ Lucy didn’t stop to think. Robyn looked in deadly danger. They had to do something – and fast! ‘Come on!’
    Joanna was already racing out of the clearing. Lucy and Allegra followed her.
    By the time they reached the riverbank, one of the dark figures was holding up her hands to the sky. Her hood had fallen back and Lucy saw it was a beautiful blonde-haired woman in her early forties. Her eyes glittered darkly. ‘The moment has come. Power will be ours!’ she declared. ‘I will lead you all in the Ritual of the Four Royal Stars.’
    â€˜Is everything ready for us to perform the ritual, Rowena?’ the spirit to her left hissed.
    â€˜Yes, Richard,’ Rowena, the first spirit,replied. With Morwenna’s Book of Darkness that Daniel brought us from Wales, and with the Last of the Summer Spirits, we shall become the most powerful dark spirits the world has ever known. We shall restore Daniel’s strength and draw all the stardust we could wish for down from the skies.’
    â€˜No!’ Joanna exclaimed.
    The dark spirits swung round. Their intake of breath sounded like a hiss.
    â€˜You!’
Rowena exclaimed, staring at Joanna as if she had seen a ghost.
    The air seemed to crackle between the two spirits and Lucy had the sudden feeling that they knew each other, but almost before the thought had finished forming in her mind, Rowena was stepping forward. ‘How dare you disturb us!’
    Joanna moved, but before she could do anything, Rowena shot a hand out towards her, Lucy and Allegra. Suddenly Lucy found that she was frozen in the air. A binding spell! She couldn’t move. Her eyes flicked from side to side and she realized that Joanna and Allegra were being held by the same