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  They all glanced round uneasily at the dark trees.

  Allegra squeezed Lucy’s arm. ‘It’ll be OK.’

  Lucy really wished she could believe her.

  CHAPTER

  Three

  ‘More toast, Lucy?’ Mrs Evans asked the next morning.

  Lucy started. She had been staring at a box of cornflakes, lost in thoughts about the night before.

  ‘Lucy?’ her mum said, holding out a piece of toast.

  ‘Thanks,’ Lucy said. She took it and absent-mindedly started to put chocolate spread on it. The Last of the Summer Spirits…A great battle for power…An important role to play… Xanthe’s words echoed round in her head.

  ‘Are you OK, Lucy?’ her mum asked her. ‘You’ve hardly said a word since you got up.’

  ‘I’m just thinking,’ Lucy replied.

  ‘Don’t strain your brain,’ teased Rachel, her thirteen-year-old sister who was sitting opposite. ‘So what big important things have you been thinking about? Whether to clean Thumper’s cage out this morning or this afternoon? Or whether to have Coco Pops or Weetabix for your breakfast?’

  Lucy sent her a withering look. If only her sister knew!

  ‘Oh, stop teasing, Rachel,’ said Hope, who was a year older than Rachel and much easier-going. She started to help Mrs Evans clear away. ‘I hope it doesn’t rain any more today, Mum,’ she said, changing the subject as Lucy and Rachel glared at each other across the table.

  Mrs Evans nodded. ‘The river in the village is really high. If it rains much more it is going to be in danger of flooding. The last time it flooded it was awful. There was lots of damage done. The water got into the ground-floor rooms of everyone’s houses. Cars were flooded. I really hope the rain holds off and the river has a chance to go down.’

  Lucy thought about the river in the woods that had almost flooded the night before. ‘I hope so too,’ she said worriedly.

  Her mum smiled at her. ‘Oh, poppet, there’s no need for you to worry about it.’ She ruffled Lucy’s hair. ‘The weather forecast said that the next few days should be dry.’

  But what if the forecast is wrong? Lucy thought, the image of a group of dark spirits drawing down power from the skies filling her mind.

  Allegra came round after breakfast. She and Lucy went outside to see Thumper, Lucy’s rabbit. ‘It’s weird to think that you’re the Last of the Summer Spirits,’ Allegra whispered as she sat on the grass and cuddled the small brown rabbit. ‘I couldn’t sleep last night. I just kept thinking about it.’

  ‘Me too,’ Lucy admitted, unclipping the water battle to refill it. ‘Your mum even said I might be involved in a battle.’

  Allegra stroked Thumper, looking worried. ‘There might not be. The stars only tell of things that might happen. Nothing’s definite.’

  ‘But what if it does?’ Lucy said.

  Mrs Evans came out to take in some washing that was drying on the line. ‘You two look very serious,’ she smiled. ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘Nothing,’ said Lucy quickly.

  Mrs Evans raised her eyebrows. ‘Nothing you’re going to tell me anyway.’ She shook her head. ‘Don’t worry. I remember what it’s like to be ten.’ She took the washing down and went back inside.

  Lucy sighed and rubbed her hands over her face. ‘What would she say if she knew?’

  Allegra looked at her sympathetically. ‘It must be hard not being able to talk about it with anyone here.’

  Lucy nodded. When she had first become a stardust spirit she had really liked having something that was all hers and that her family knew nothing about, but now she couldn’t help wishing she could tell them about it. It was all so scary.

  ‘Should we go to my house?’ Allegra said. ‘Mum said Joanna and Robyn might call in this morning.’

  Lucy remembered Xanthe mentioning her friend, Joanna and her daughter, Robyn. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘So what’s Robyn like?’ she asked as they covered up Thumper’s run and went next door.

  ‘Nice, I think,’ Allegra replied. ‘But I haven’t seen her since we were about six. Joanna’s always moving round the country with her job. She works for a company that makes medicines. Xanthe said she and Robyn are probably only staying here for a few months.’

  A smart grey sports car was in the driveway.

  ‘They’re here!’ Allegra said. She and Lucy hurried inside. Two people were sitting at the kitchen table with Xanthe – a woman with dark-red, shoulder-length hair and a girl with long chestnut-brown hair that was similar in colour to Lucy’s. They both looked very smart. The woman was wearing a pair of cream trousers and matching jacket with a brown camisole top underneath. The girl had on a pair of designer jeans, strappy sandals and a skinny white top with a star picked out in jewels on the front. Her hair was straightened and shiny and she was wearing lipgloss and mascara. Lucy looked down at her own jeans, old trainers and faded green T-shirt and felt very scruffy in comparison.

  ‘Hi, girls,’ Xanthe said with her usual warm smile. ‘This is Joanna and Robyn.’

  Joanna kissed Allegra and then while Allegra and Robyn said hello, Joanna took Lucy’s hand. ‘It’s so lovely to meet you, Lucy,’ she said warmly. ‘Xanthe’s been telling me all about you. So you are the Last of the Summer Spirits,’ she said, looking her up and down as if she couldn’t quite believe it.

  Lucy blushed and nodded.

  ‘Sorry,’ Joanna said quickly. ‘I didn’t mean to embarrass you. It’s just so amazing to think you have so much power and you’re only just Robyn’s age. Say hi to Lucy, Robyn.’

  Robyn stepped forward. ‘Hi, Lucy.’ Her green eyes held a sparkle of fun. ‘It’s good to meet you. Xanthe’s been telling us about the woods you go to. They sound great. She said there are otters and dormice there.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Lucy eagerly. ‘And buzzards and badgers.’

  ‘Cool. I can’t wait to visit,’ Robyn said.

  ‘What type of stardust spirit are you?’ asked Lucy.

  ‘Summer, like you,’ Robyn replied. ‘So’s Mum.’

  ‘I’m sure you three don’t want to sit here listening to Jo and I catch up,’ Xanthe said. ‘Why don’t you take some biscuits upstairs?’

  Allegra nodded. ‘Come on, I’ll show you my room!’ she said to Robyn.

  They went upstairs with a packet of chocolate biscuits. Robyn was really good fun and had lots of stories to tell of the countries and places she had stayed in and of the stardust groups she had been part of. By the time she and her mum left at lunchtime to go back to the apartment they were renting in the nearby town, Lucy already felt that they were firm friends.

  ‘See you both tonight,’ Robyn said as she got into the car.

  ‘Yeah,’ Allegra replied. ‘Then you can meet Ella and Faye.’

  ‘And the otters and badgers,’ Lucy said. She’d discovered that they were two of Robyn’s favourite animals.

  Joanna smiled at Lucy. ‘And Xanthe’s asked me if I’ll show you how to travel in animals’ minds. We can start that tonight if you’d like.’

  ‘Oh yes, please!’ Lucy breathed. In the daytime, with Xanthe at her side, the thought of dark spirits being after her seemed much less frightening. She felt her worries fade as she thought about learning to travel in an animal’s mind. She couldn’t wait!

  CHAPTER

  Four

  As soon as Lucy’s parents had gone to bed that night, Lucy and Allegra flew to the secret glade in the woods where the stardust spirits always gathered.

  Xanthe was already there. She was standing near the huge oak tree in the centre of the clearing with Joanna and Robyn. Being summer spirits they were both wearing golden dresses like Lucy’s. Robyn’s hair was tied back with a gold hair bobble. Stardust spirits wore different coloured clothes according to which type of spirit they were – autumn spirits wore silver, winter spirits wore blue and spring spirits wore green.

  ‘Hello, you two,’ Xanthe said as Lucy and Allegra swooped down. ‘Will you show Robyn aroun
d and introduce her to people?’ She gave Robyn a sympathetic look. ‘It must be hard always moving to new places and having to make new friends the whole time.’

  ‘Oh, Robyn doesn’t find that hard at all,’ Joanna said breezily. ‘She makes friends very easily. Wherever we go she’s always popular.’

  Lucy noticed Xanthe look at her. Xanthe frowned and opened her mouth as if about to say something, but then seemed to change her mind.

  ‘Why don’t you introduce me to the others,’ Joanna said. Xanthe nodded and the two older spirits flew off.

  ‘Faye and Ella will be here soon,’ Allegra told Robyn. ‘I bet you’ll really like them.’

  ‘I hope so. Why don’t we do some magic while we wait?’ Robyn looked at Lucy. ‘Mum says you’re really powerful.’

  ‘She is,’ Allegra said. ‘Go on, Lucy, do some magic.’

  Lucy felt a bit embarrassed. ‘What shall I do?’

  ‘Um…’ Allegra thought for a moment. ‘I know. Why don’t you stop a leaf falling? That’s cool!’

  ‘But there aren’t any leaves in the air,’ Lucy pointed out.

  ‘Says who?’ Allegra pointed her hand at a nearby horse chestnut tree. ‘Wind be with me!’ A breeze swept through the branches. Three leaves broke free and twirled downwards.

  Lucy quickly focused on one. She let the rest of the world fade away as she stared at the spinning green spring leaf. Magic began to tingle across her skin.

  Stop! Lucy thought to the leaf. It hovered in mid-air.

  ‘Hey!’ Lucy heard Robyn breathe beside her. ‘I’ve never seen anyone do that.’

  Lucy let the leaf go and it twirled to the ground. However, just before it reached the grass, Robyn raised her hand. ‘Shield be with me.’ The leaf was instantly surrounded by a protective shield. It shimmered around the leaf like a perfectly round, almost see-through

  ball. The leaf reached the ground and bounced gently.

  ‘Be gone!’ Robyn commanded. The shield vanished. At the same instant, Robyn snapped out, ‘Fire be with me!’ The leaf burst into flames.

  Lucy blinked. She was impressed. Although she could start fires easily herself she knew that most summer spirits their age found it very hard, if not impossible.

  Robyn clicked her fingers and to Lucy’s amazement the fire formed into a perfect column about half a metre high. She clicked her fingers again and the fire became a burning pyramid. Lucy was astonished. She’d never seen anyone make fire into shapes before. Robyn waved her hand. ‘Fire be gone!’

  The fire flickered and went out. All that was left was a faint swirl of smoke that faded away into the night sky.

  ‘That was amazing!’ Lucy said.

  Allegra nodded. ‘How did you make the fire go into shapes like that?’

  ‘It’s just practice,’ Robyn replied. ‘You don’t need lots of power or anything. Mum taught me and then made me practise it every night in our lessons until I could do it.’ She grinned. ‘I was very glad when I learned how to do it properly. It took six months!’

  Lucy stared. ‘Your mum gives you lessons?’

  Robyn nodded. ‘Every night. She makes me do stuff over and over again until I get it right.’

  Allegra and Lucy exchanged looks. They’d had a few lessons from older spirits when they’d been first been learning about using their magic, but most of the time they were just left to practise on their own as they looked after the woods. ‘I’d hate that!’ Allegra said.

  Robyn shrugged. ‘It’s OK. Mum just wants me to be as good at magic as I can be, I guess.’ Just then, Xanthe and Joanna flew back over.

  ‘That was very impressive, Robyn,’ Xanthe said.

  ‘Robyn’s very good at magic,’ Joanna said proudly.

  ‘Not as good as Lucy though,’ Robyn said. ‘She stopped a leaf from falling, Mum. Did you see her? She just stopped it in mid-air!’

  ‘It’s hard for any other summer spirit to compete with Lucy,’ Xanthe smiled. ‘She constantly amazes the rest of us with what she can do.’

  Lucy noticed Joanna’s mouth tighten as if she was displeased, but in the next instant her expression had cleared. ‘Well, I’m looking forward to showing you how to travel in animals’ minds, Lucy. Should we start?’

  ‘Yes, please,’ Lucy said eagerly.

  ‘You’ll need somewhere quieter than this,’ Xanthe said, looking round the clearing. There were stardust spirits flitting through the air, sitting in the trees, walking across the grass. ‘Why don’t you go to the aspen grove?’

  Just then, Ella and Faye came swooping into the clearing. Allegra waved to them.

  Joanna turned to Robyn. ‘You stay and make friends, Robyn. I’ll come and find you when Lucy and I have finished.’

  ‘OK,’ said Robyn happily.

  Lucy showed Joanna the way to the nearby grove of trees. ‘I think you will find this fairly easy,’ Joanna told her. ‘If you can stop a leaf falling, you already know the state of mind you need to get into. You must lose yourself in what you’re trying to do, stay focused but utterly relaxed.’

  There was a soft swish of wings and a tawny owl landed in the branches of a nearby tree. It looked curiously at the two stardust spirits with its huge dark eyes. ‘Perfect!’ Joanna said. ‘Let’s see if you can fly in the owl’s mind.’

  She sat down beside Lucy and took her hands. ‘Think of nothing but the owl. If you do it right your body will stay here, but your mind will enter the owl’s. You will see through its eyes, experience its thoughts. But remember, if you do get into its mind, it’s very important that you never force an animal to do something. Controlling any other living creature is completely wrong. You can travel with it, but you must go where it wishes.

  Do you understand?’ Lucy nodded.

  ‘OK. Have a try,’ Joanna said softly.

  Lucy sat on the ground and gazed at the owl. Its feathers were all different shades of brown and grey and there were pale beige circles around its wide eyes. Lucy took in the line of its curved beak, its round body, its strong talons, its powerful wings. She tried to imagine what it must be like to be an owl, to swoop through the sky, eyes scanning the darkness, to hear the squeak of a mouse, to plunge downwards…

  The world seemed to blur. Suddenly she was looking down from a height. She could see the clearing below her. There was Joanna, and another figure sitting cross-legged beside her, eyes shut.

  It’s me! Lucy thought with a start. Her vision swam, the picture getting smaller. She hastily pushed the thought away and tried to relax. There was the clearing, the two figures, the undergrowth, and in the undergrowth a rustle, a squeak. Everything seemed louder. The owl gave a soft hoot and suddenly soared upwards.

  Lucy let herself go with it. With every beat of the owl’s wings they rose higher. Lucy looked down, watching the ground get further and further away. She caught flashes of the pictures in the owl’s mind. A nest in a chestnut tree, a mate waiting, two babies to feed, their open mouths, their dark eyes…

  As the owl soared upwards above the trees she saw the skies overhead. Heavy rain clouds were gathering on the horizon, a black curtain that was rolling towards the woods, shutting out the stars.

  Lucy stared. More rain! She caught her breath and with a bump, as if she was in an airplane as it landed, she found herself back in her own body.

  Joanna scanned her face. ‘How was it?’

  ‘Rain clouds!’ Lucy gasped. She saw the confusion crossing Joanna’s face and jumped to her feet. ‘There’s another storm coming and more rain! The river will flood! We’ve got to tell the others!’

  CHAPTER

  Five

  To Lucy’s relief, Joanna didn’t waste time asking any questions. ‘Come on!’ she exclaimed. They flew back to the main clearing.

  ‘There are storm clouds in the sky!’ Lucy shouted as she swooped down towards Xanthe who was talking to Tom and Padma.

  Xanthe looked alarmed. ‘Storm clouds!’

  ‘The river through the woods will flood if there’s more ra
in,’ Padma said in concern.

  ‘Lucy, we’ll need you to help again!’ Xanthe said.

  ‘Robyn will be able to help too,’ Joanna put in.

  ‘It’s Lucy’s power we need,’ Xanthe said. Lucy saw Joanna frown, but Xanthe was already flying up into the air. ‘Come on, Lucy!’

  Lucy shot a look over to where Allegra was standing with Faye and Ella. She was longing to fly over and speak to them, but there wasn’t time. She raced after Xanthe to the riverbank. There was a crash of thunder as the first drops of rain began to fall.

  ‘Quick!’ Tom shouted as they reached the clearing.

  Xanthe hurried to join the other adult autumn spirits who were calling up a wind while Joanna and Robyn ran over to where the other summer spirits were conjuring a shield over the fast-flowing river. The wind whipped through the clearing.

  Lucy’s skin suddenly prickled as if she was being watched. She swung round. Robyn looked too and Lucy wondered if she’d had the same strange feeling. The bushes to one side moved slightly. Lucy caught her breath, but then she glimpsed a flash of red fur in the shadows. It was just a fox slipping through the trees.

  ‘Lucy!’ Xanthe yelled over the buffeting of the gale. ‘We need your power!’ Lucy fought against the wind to get closer to Xanthe. Xanthe reached out and Lucy grabbed her hand.

  ‘Power!’ she breathed. She could feel magic crackling around her. Come to me.

  Lucy waited for power to surge into her, but nothing happened.

  Come to me, she thought more insistently. But it was as if there was a barricade up in her mind. Something seemed to be stopping the power flowing into her.

  ‘Lucy?’ Xanthe demanded anxiously.

  ‘Nothing’s happening!’ Lucy said in

  panic. She tried again. But although she could feel the magic in the air all around her, it felt like there was a wall between it and her.

  Lucy swung round. The other summer spirits were holding the magic shield in place over the water. Everyone else’s magic seemed to be working. It was just hers! As she watched, she suddenly saw one of the riverbanks begin to move and slide. No one else had noticed it! ‘Watch out!’ she shouted. ‘The bank’s giving way!’