Fablehouse, p.1
Fablehouse, page 1
Praise for
‘An exciting, heartrending story with a magical twist’
Jacqueline Wilson
‘A thrilling, atmospheric fantasy’
Guardian
‘[An] exciting adventure . . . the sense of family and belonging shines through’
Daily Mail
‘Fast-paced and full of heart . . . a wonderful celebration of friendship, folklore and finding your place in the world’
Anna James
‘Unforgettable . . . powerful and extraordinary . . . Absolutely magical’
Zillah Bethell
‘PERFECT . . . courageous, kind and wise. It’s heartfelt, thrilling, glistening with magic and adventure’
Sophie Anderson
‘Such a great story and premise. I loved all the characters and their interactions with each other’
Emma Carroll
‘Exciting, important and endlessly entertaining . . . this is going to be huge’
Maz Evans
‘A brilliant, magical, insightful novel, filled with heart’
Joseph Coelho, Children’s Laureate
‘Empowering, imaginative and thought-provoking’
Michael Mann
‘If ever a book was written from the heart, it’s this one . . . a tale of friendship, family and being proud of who you are’
Lesley Parr
‘A powerful and important book, bursting with hope and wonder . . . a glorious celebration of friendship and a much-needed reminder that we all have the power to choose who we become’
Tọlá Okogwu
‘Atmospheric and simply bursting with magic and adventure, Fablehouse is an absolute joy of a book . . . myth, legend and wonder alongside a really heartfelt story about belonging, acceptance and found family. I loved it!’
Sophie Kirtley
‘A gorgeous, magical adventure with such heart!’
Perdita Cargill
Books by E.L. Norry
Fablehouse
Fablehouse: Heart of Fire
For Ed, who always lets me roam x
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Acknowledgements
Chapter One
Chapter Two
About the Author
Chapter One
It was a warm September morning and seven of us from Fablehouse were stretched out on the front lawn, enjoying the sun warming our faces. Arlene knelt behind me, gently combing my hair.
‘Heather, quit wriggling!’ she said, tugging on one of my plaits. ‘Stop moving an’ it won’t hurt.’ Her fingers carefully parted my matted curls. She always did a better job with my hair than any of the staff cos she knew exactly what having fuzzy hair was like.
I turned my head to the side and watched Nat and Lloyd sort through Lloyd’s latest pack of cigarette cards, a collection of wild animals baring their teeth, looking fierce.
‘I’d like to see a tiger and a bear race,’ Nat said. ‘Wouldn’t that be somethin’?’
I grinned – me too. ‘Who do you think would win?’
‘Oh, the tiger,’ Lloyd said. ‘Their reflexes are very fast. Did you know that a Siberian tiger can be as long as thirteen feet?’
Judy and Jeremiah, the nine-year-old twins, who seemed much younger, giggled over their game of Snap, and little Davey stood with all his weight pushed into a big stick, grinding it into the ground; suddenly it snapped.
‘Aww!’ he pouted.
‘Anyone fancy hide-and-seek? We’ve an hour before Miss Gloria rings the lunch bell?’ Nat asked.
‘Only if Lloyd’s not the seeker!’ Arlene jumped in.
‘Why can’t he be the seeker?’ asked Davey, finger firmly up his nose. ‘He’s extra good at finding us!’
Ditching his broken stick, he shuffled over to me, pointing out, with delight, the ladybird that had flown on to his knee.
‘Exactly!’ Arlene tilted her head towards Lloyd. ‘He’s only good because of his tracking powers. It won’t be a fair game, will it, if he knows where to look!’ She directed her brilliant smile at him. ‘No offence.’
‘None taken,’ Lloyd said, smiling and plucking at the grass.
Davey watched the ladybird take flight. ‘But it weren’t him who found me up the tree that one time, that was Heffver.’
‘True,’ I added. ‘But that was before—’
‘Before your magic powers came!’ Davey said gleefully, his eyes shining. ‘Tell me again!’
I’d lost count of how often I’d told him the story of rescuing everyone from the dark underworld of Fae Feld, and how me, Lloyd, Arlene and Nat discovered we could do special things. I was surprised he kept wanting to hear about it, because Fae Feld had been scary, but Lloyd reckoned by going over and over it, especially now we were safe, it made sense of everything Davey couldn’t remember.
‘But we all got taken to Fae Feld so why don’t we got powers?’ He pointed at himself, and then Judy and Jeremiah. ‘It’s not fair!’
‘I don’t know,’ I said, a bit irritated. The truth was, I didn’t understand it myself, so could hardly explain to him.
Incredible to think that only a couple of months ago, us four older ones had been granted powers in Fae Feld. Discovering special talents and using them to fight and save our friends made sense in another world, where our lives had been in danger, but bringing these powers back with us to Fablehouse didn’t make much sense. What use were they here?
‘I want a big stick.’ Davey held out his broken stick to Nat. ‘Can you make one as tall as me?’
Nat set down his card with an elephant on it. ‘I could, but it—’
‘It wouldn’t be real,’ Arlene said, finishing up my plaits by twisting a rubber band around the ends.
Davey wrinkled his nose, confused. ‘Why not?’
I sighed. ‘Nat can make objects magically appear, but they’re just illusions. So things might look real, but they’re not.’
‘If Nat conjured up a stick, you wouldn’t actually be able to touch it or use it,’ Lloyd explained, more patiently than I ever could.
Since our return from the strangeness of Fae Feld, life at Fablehouse had felt different, and not only because we’d discovered that magic existed. Now we often found that Davey and the twins followed us around, like our shadows. I grumbled about it, cos it meant the four of us couldn’t go to the cairn as often, because the little ones couldn’t walk that far and didn’t have bikes. But Miss Isolde, our headmistress, explained how it might take a while before the younger ones fully trusted her again – after all, she’d been the one who’d got tricked into letting the changelings into our world in the first place. She sounded very sad when she told me that. And she said that we ought to be kind, above all else, because the experience of being replaced by changelings was terrifying for the younger ones – and who knew how it might affect each of us?
Miss Isolde had also forbidden us from using our powers. At first, she was convinced they’d wear off, but weeks and then months had passed and that hadn’t happened. Now she refused to discuss them. She admitted she worried about their effect on us and simply wanted everything to get ‘back to normal’. I’m not sure she truly realised that our time in Fae Feld had changed everything. There wouldn’t ever be the same ‘normal’ as before. She didn’t even want us talking about our powers, but we couldn’t help ourselves. Wondering why we still had them dominated most of our conversations whenever we found ourselves alone.
‘Maybe Nat should be the seeker?’ Arlene suggested.
‘Why me? I don’t want to be the seeker!’ Nat pouted. Pushing the wild animal cards aside, he grumpily flung out his wooden yo-yo and reeled it back in. ‘You’re not the boss!’
‘Well, if you’re hiding – don’t trick us by doing any illusions. That’s cheating.’
‘Yeah!’ echoed Judy and Jeremiah. ‘No cheats,’ they said in unison.
‘I wasn’t gonna,’ huffed Nat, clearly offended. He wound the string round his yo-yo and stuffed it into his pocket.
‘If we don’t hurry and decide, we won’t have time to play,’ Lloyd warned. ‘H? Fancy counting?’
‘All right.’ I stood up and brushed grass off my pinafore. ‘Go on then, start hiding!’ I leaned against the oak in the middle of the lawn and put my hands over my eyes. ‘I’ll count to fifty.’
‘Make it one hunnerd,’ Davey insisted, tugging on the back of my cardigan.
‘An’ no peeking!’ Arlene said firmly.
‘Me, cheat?’ I spun round, puffing out my cheeks. ‘Not flippin’ likely!’
‘Well – I don’t see how you found me so easily last time,’ she griped. ‘I hid in an excellent spot.’
‘Weren’t that good!’ Nat snorted. ‘Your red ribbon poked way above the bushes!’
Arlene looked like she was about to
Arlene folded her arms and pursed her lips. ‘This time I’ll make sure that no one finds me. Davey, want to hide with me?’
‘Hurry up.’ I grimaced, flinging my arms out. ‘It’ll be bath time before you lot get a shift on!’
I turned back to the tree trunk. Golden leaves littered the ground; some crisp and sharp-edged and others soggy and so slippery that I’d need to be careful when running.
As the sounds of the others running off and laughing grew fainter, my heart swelled with warmth. This was exactly where I wanted to be: home. I swallowed against the sudden rushing emotion of it. There had been a time when I wasn’t sure I’d feel at home anywhere.
I breathed in deeply, the scent of damp moss and earth comforting, reminding me of where we were: Fablehouse. The home me and my friends had saved. Sometimes I still dreamed of grinning changelings dragging me across mulchy ground where I scrabbled, spitting out dirt, but I always woke to a soothing word or song from Arlene. And gradually those nightmares were becoming fewer, and the feeling of safety was growing.
With my forehead against the bark and my eyes closed, I took a moment to let the wind settle around me. Giggles echoed on the slight breeze, along with mutterings of ‘No, hide over here!’ and ‘Psst! This way!’
Startled, I had a sudden image of the Fae: glowing eyes gawping through the undergrowth. I shivered.
Fae Feld had played horrible, unkind tricks on us: showing us what we most longed for, making promises and bargains that were almost impossible to resist. Once, Lloyd became so entranced in a vision shown to him of his beloved grandad that I feared he’d be lost to us forever. My throat tightened and eyes prickled remembering that.
I drew a sharp breath. Why were these memories flooding back to me now? I didn’t need to think about all that. We were safe. Fablehouse was safe. I could relax, have fun, be happy. There was no danger here, not any more. But after always expecting bad news or disaster, it was difficult truly believing that I had no need to worry now.
Chapter Two
‘Ready or not, here I come!’ I yelled, spinning around and scanning the lawn. I didn’t see anyone, but a few twigs snapped, and giggles carried on the wind as rustling came from the bushes.
I bent to retie my loose boot lace. Then I headed round the back of the house to the chicken coops, weaving past the old wheelbarrow filled with broken plant pots.
‘Hullo, Heather!’ Pal called, raking leaves off the path alongside the house. I lifted my hand and waved, smiling as he made his way over to me, humming his favourite tune, ever since Arlene had taught it to him: ‘The Ugly Duckling’.
We’d found Pal at the cairn, so confused and beaten up that we weren’t sure if he was, you know, ‘all there’ in the head, as they say. When we learned he was actually a medieval knight of King Arthur’s court, we could barely believe it. He told us amazing stories about his life, the quests he’d been on, and how Merlin had given him the task of protecting the doorway between the Fae world and ours. He’d helped us harness the powers we’d discovered, and now he lived with us at Fablehouse. The villagers simply thought Pal was Fablehouse’s new caretaker. He was far from ordinary, but seeing him fixing things and looking after the grounds had become normal for us. He was very wise. Sometimes the expression in his eyes was sad and far away, and I wondered if he missed the quests and battles, the challenge and honour; if he was remembering friends, family or a long-lost love.
Pal felt very differently from Miss Isolde about our powers. He said we were ‘nurturing extraordinary gifts’ and that there might not be any limits on what we could do!
Lloyd had gone from being able to find people easily, by reading their footprints and tracks, to now being able to get to places almost instantaneously, by moving very fast. Arlene was able to make people follow her if she sang or hummed, and her voice was becoming even more powerful; sometimes it was as if she were weaving a spell over you with her voice. And Nat’s illusions were becoming bigger and bolder by the day. Pal advised us, and had even taken to training the others a little. There was no point in training me since I’d never been able to recreate anything like the orbs of fire and light I’d shown in Fae Feld, and Pal had never discovered any powers in himself, although he’d told me that he kept hoping.
We often checked in with each other, to see if anything had changed or developed for us.
‘Anything new?’ he called over to me now.
‘Nope. Just hot hands, as usual. How about you?’
‘Nothing.’ He leaned on his rake and looked to the sky. ‘I have come to think that perhaps magical powers are not in my destiny after all.’ He sighed. ‘I must make peace with that likelihood.’
I felt bad for him, but maybe we were better off this way, the two of us. I could manage the occasional burst of heat flaring up in my body, if that was all my ‘power’ was ever going to be.
‘You are hiding-and-seeking again?’
I nodded. ‘It’s the little ones’ favourite game.’
‘Ahh.’ Pal stroked his chin and smiled. ‘Well, we all like to be found. Don’t forget the stables,’ he said. ‘It is the place they like the most!’
* * *
The tall double stable doors creaked as I pushed them open. This was where we’d hidden Pal after we’d found him beaten up and bleeding at the cairn and squirrelled him away up the wooden ladder which led to the loft. I drew in a long breath, the musty smell of hay and rusty tools familiar. Brooms and shovels and a pitchfork rested against the rough wooden walls, which were bare now, but used to hold bridles and combs for the horses. At the back were two animal stalls.
I ran over to the battered old leather chest along the stable wall and banged my fists on the top.
‘Come out, you two! I know you’re in there!’
The heavy lid creaked open, and Judy’s face appeared. She poked her tongue out. Jeremiah grunted and held the lid open with both arms while Judy clambered over the side, before he followed.
‘You shouldn’t hide in there,’ I said, indicating the chest. ‘It’s not a good idea. You might . . . run out of air.’
The twins stared at each other for a long moment, like they were the only ones to exist. It was as if something passed between them, and I shuddered, remembering when they’d been turned into something not-quite-themselves by the Fae.
Suddenly, there was a massive sneeze. Atchoo!
Only one person sneezed like that – half-snuffle and half-snort . . .
‘Come out, Nat!’ I cried.
‘Aww, that’s not fair – you still haven’t found me!’ he whined.
Judy and Jeremiah ran a circuit inside the barn, whooping and stumbling into the kindling Pal had collected earlier. I stood in the middle of the barn, hands on hips and scanning around: a trough, old feed buckets, a cartwheel leaning against the side, gardening tools, rags, tin buckets and straw.
‘Nat, just because I can’t see you doesn’t mean you’re not found!’
‘Ow!’ He stood up from behind the trough, rubbing his head. ‘If I hadn’t sneezed, you’d still be looking,’ he grumbled. ‘I shoulda done some magic,’ he muttered, almost under his breath.
‘No. That’s exactly what you shouldn’t do,’ I muttered back, not sure if he heard me as he bundled to the door with the others.
Outside again, and circling the grounds with Nat’s keen eye, we soon found Lloyd and Arlene.
‘So, there’s only Davey left?’ I said, turning to Lloyd.
He nodded. ‘That’s right.’
Nat pulled his yo-yo back out. ‘He went off with you, didn’t he?’ He looked up at Arlene.
She picked leaves off her dress and said, ‘Well, we were next to each other by the big oak. He was very quiet. I hid up in the branches, but he might have run off. I didn’t see.’
Miss Gloria’s voice, along with the chiming lunch bell, rang out across the grounds.
‘Davey!’ I called.
Nothing.
‘I’m starving!’ Arlene whined. ‘If I don’t eat soon, I’ll likely go into a dead faint!’
‘We didn’t see him,’ the twins said together. I followed Lloyd towards the edge of the front lawn, down towards Pal’s cottage.
I must have looked worried because Lloyd started scanning the ground, peering into the footprints left by everyone else. He’d tuned into his tracking power.
