The Last Phoenix Read online

  Jess started at his tone. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Future Michael was clearly dying to tell her something. But then Future Jason grabbed him and started to bundle him away.

  “Do we manage to get everything for Fenella in time?” Jess called after them nervously. “And Milly and me—we are all right, aren’t we?”

  “Right now, you’re with her at her dumb audition,” said Future Michael.

  “I wish we could tell you everything,” Future Jason called earnestly to Jess, “but we really can’t. Now quickly, you know what to do—get the sunshine and get out of here before we manage to muck up your future, our past, and who knows what else!”

  “Yes, come on, let’s get back to Milly,” urged Jess, feeling strangely disquieted. She supposed that two Michaels and two Jasons side by side were enough to disquiet anyone.

  But as she led the way back to the little garden outside the workshop, a chill ran through her.

  Milly had disappeared!

  Chapter Eight

  Milly raced down the path. The big town clock, towering above the surrounding houses, gave the time as five forty-five p.m. Everyone who had been at the auditions would be just about to find out what parts they were going to have! I’ll be able to listen in, she thought.

  Her heart pounded as she ran onward. She knew she had to be careful. If someone noticed that she was both inside and outside the hall…

  I shouldn’t be doing this, she thought. But something seemed to be pushing her on. She had to know if she got the part!

  She crossed the road and ran up to the gates that led to the church hall. But as she reached them she stopped. There was a group of people waiting outside the hall, and coming out through the doors were all her friends from the drama group! The auditions must have finished slightly early and the announcement been made. Milly hastily slipped into the cover of the bushes beside the gate—then looked at the doors and caught her breath. Her stomach rolled over as she saw herself standing there—pale and stunned, eyes full of tears.

  “Well?”

  Milly jumped about a foot in the air as she heard Jess’s uncertain voice just in front of her.

  Jess—the Future Jess—broke out of the crowd of people in the parking lot and hurried forward. Future Milly hurled herself into her stepsister’s arms, tears streaking down her face.

  Milly felt sick, like she couldn’t remember how to breathe. The look of shock on her future face—and the tears—said it all. I won’t be Annie. The thought burned in her head. I was right. I’m not good enough. I’m going to mess everything up.

  Future Jess put her arms around Future Milly. “It’s okay. Don’t worry…”

  It was too much. Milly couldn’t bear to see any more. With tears stinging her eyes, she turned and ran back across the road and up the path. Despite everything she’d said to the others, she’d hoped that maybe she would be good enough to be Annie. But she wasn’t. She climbed back over the fence, a heavy dullness filling her heart. As she approached she saw Jess, Michael, and Jason searching around and looking worried. They know I’ve gone off somewhere, she realized. If I tell them what I’ve seen, I’ll never hear the end of it.

  She crept up to a tree, drew on all her acting ability and fixed a bright smile on her face. “Boo!” she shouted, jumping out from behind it. “Tricked you!”

  “Milly!” Jess complained. “That’s not funny!”

  “It’s lame,” Michael agreed. But then he froze. The clouds were floating away from the sun, and hard shadows stretched out on the ground behind them.

  “Quick!” Jess cried.

  Michael pulled the feather with the crystal out of his pocket and held it up to the sky. As the sun hit the top of it, the gem seemed to flare but then the light ebbed away once again. “It’s still not strong enough.”

  “Not yet…” Jason held up the magnifying glass, angling the sun’s rays against the feather and the gemstone. “But if I use my new magnifying glass to concentrate the sunbeam…”

  “I think it’s working!” whispered Milly.

  The little crystal glowed again, more and more fiercely. The light within it suddenly burst forth, blinding white. The Worthingtons all blinked, and for a moment each of them saw a bright white gem shape etched onto the inside of their eyelids. When they opened their eyes again the fierce sunlike blaze had gone, but the crystal was glowing and glittering in Michael’s hand, golden light swirling around inside it.

  They stared in silent awe for a few seconds.

  “Good one, Jase,” said Michael. “It’s worked!”

  Jason cheered. “We’ve got the shaft of tomorrow’s sunlight Fenella needs!”

  “Wow!” breathed Milly, her sadness almost forgotten in the excitement of completing the phoenix’s first magical task.

  Michael held out the feather. “Let’s get back to Fenella and let her do her gold-spinning thing!”

  The Worthingtons hurried back into the shed. Jason set down the magnifying glass outside the workshop door for his future self to collect, as he’d agreed. “Thank you, me,” he whispered.

  Then Michael held the feather out. They all touched it.

  Michael took a breath. “Time of yore, be never gone!”

  Milly felt herself swirling round again but this time going in the opposite direction. Golden flashes filled her vision, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. No sooner had the journey begun than it ended, and a huge relieved screech made her and the others jump into the air.

  Fenella was sitting on a workbench, hopping from leg to leg in anxiety. “Oh, dearies!” she squawked. “What a relief! Thank goodness you’re back safe and sound. All of a quiver I was!”

  “Me too,” Milly whispered, thinking back to the scene outside the church hall. “I’m glad we don’t have to go back to the future.”

  “What was I thinking?” Fenella cried theatrically. “Sending you off like that into goodness knows what!”

  “We got your shaft of sunlight!” Jason said eagerly.

  “Here,” said Michael, holding up the feather with its swirling, beautiful gemstone.

  “Oh, you wonderful children!” The phoenix rubbed her head affectionately against Michael’s arm. “Not that some silly sunlight matters as much as knowing you’re all safe, of course.” She blinked up at him through her eyelashes.

  “We’re fine,” Michael said gruffly.

  She gave him an expectant look and he tentatively stroked her head. “Oooh, that hits the spot, lovie, oh, yes…”

  Michael scratched a bit harder and Fenella, in her enjoyment, spun about on the spot—and suddenly, her tail burst into flames.

  “Whoa!” Michael yelled, leaping backward.

  “Oh, my goodness me,” squawked Fenella in alarm. “I just can’t control my body heat at the moment—I’m like that kiln, you can’t turn me off! None of you were hurt, were you?”

  Michael sucked his burned fingers. “Nothing a bit of gold wouldn’t cure.”

  “Don’t be so rude,” Jess hissed.

  “That’s not rude, Jess, lovie, it’s forthright!” Fenella winked at Michael. “Isn’t it, my pet?”

  Michael grinned and presented the feather to the phoenix. The crystal at the base of it glowed and sparkled.

  Fenella clapped her wings together. “A shaft of tomorrow’s sunshine—just what the genie egg-doctor ordered!”

  “We had to go a few days into the future, is that okay?” asked Jason anxiously, remembering it had been his idea.

  “Oh, that’s just fine,” said Fenella gaily. “A ray of sunshine from any old tomorrow will do. Silly me, forgetting to mention that! I don’t know what my mind’s doing at the moment.” She placed the feather on the workbench beside her. “Now, gather around, my little ducklings!”

  They all moved closer, exchanging looks of anticipation.

  Fenella walked once around the feather, rustled her wings and then began to sing. Her voice was beautiful, low and soft, but gradually
rising. The crystal started to vibrate, golden light swirling round inside it like a mini tornado. It began to hum. For a few seconds the phoenix and the crystal held the same note and then Fenella stopped singing and touched her beak to the top of the crystal. It continued to shake and hum and she pulled a long golden strand out of the crystal with her beak. The children watched in astonishment as she extracted more and more of the gold, passing it down to her left foot and, from there, to her right. Michael couldn’t stop staring as Fenella’s talons started to flit about in a lightning-quick dance, the gold thread passing from one foot to another almost as if she was knitting at superspeed with her claws. Milly tried to see what she was doing but the phoenix was moving too quickly now, her beak constantly passing down a new supply of the seemingly endless gold thread.

  “Look!” Milly said as from under Fenella’s right claw a small rectangle of smooth gold began to emerge.

  “She’s turning the thread into solid gold!” whispered Jason.

  Fenella glanced at him. “Weaving is the correct expression, lovie,” she said around the strand in her beak, before turning her attention back to the task.

  “Whatever it is, it’s amazing!” said Jess.

  Michael nodded, his eyes fixed on the gold rectangle. “Awesome…”

  On and on Fenella went, and soon there was a pile of golden rectangles—each the size and shape of a credit card—and a neatly rolled up ball of gold string, tied up tightly.

  The light in the crystal flickered and went out. Fenella lifted her beak from the feather. She looked proud but tired. “Phoenix gold!” she said in a low, breathless voice. “The string’s for my nest but the sheets are for you. I said I’d pay you well for your efforts to help me, dearies, and here you are—three bars each. Priceless, they are. Priceless!”

  Jess gulped. “You…you don’t have to pay us, you know.”

  Milly nodded. “We’re glad to help you. You’re amazing.”

  “As are you, my pets,” said Fenella with a puffed-out smile. “It’s a pleasure to spoil such deserving young chickadees. Now, don’t be shy. Come up and help yourselves!”

  “Well, if you insist…” Michael stepped up and grabbed three of the little slabs for himself and three for Milly.

  Milly took them from him carefully and stared in wonder. Smooth and glowing, each one felt warm and tingly in her hand. As she moved it in the light, it gave off a deep reddish gleam. “They’re beautiful,” she murmured. “Thank you, Fenella.”

  Jason nodded as he counted out three more. “Yes, thank you.”

  “They’re gorgeous,” breathed Jess, taking hers.

  “It’s gold!” said Michael, his eyes gleaming. “Gold, gold, lovely gold!”

  “I could tell you some tales about the times I’ve been ordered to weave it,” said Fenella, still panting softly for breath. “I’ve been captured, held prisoner, deprived of food until I gave in…dreadful situations! There was this one time when Sultan Ibrahim the First of the Ottoman Empire caught me in a net…” She covered her eyes as if it was too horrible to remember.

  “Oh, you poor thing,” said Milly.

  “You look worn out after all that weaving,” said Jess. “You should rest now. We’ll come again tomorrow.”

  Michael shrugged. “Beats getting ready for school the next day.”

  Fenella sighed. “Oh, you are a tonic, my loves. I’m so pleased I found you. Now I can sleep soundly at night again.” She stifled a yawn with a wing. “And I am rather spent.”

  “Bye-bye,” Milly whispered, kissing the bird on her head. Jason and Jess stroked her wings, and even Michael patted her awkwardly on the back.

  “Bye, lovies.” Her eyes began to close and she flapped clumsily back into the kiln. “Maybe if I just have forty winks…” She tucked her head under her wing, and soon she was snoring softly, glowing in the red heat of the furnace. Jess carefully closed the kiln door.

  “Wa-hoo—we’re loaded!” Michael cried gleefully, starting outside. “Who needs the lottery? I don’t know why I looked so fed up in the future. All we have to do is turn this gold into cash and then the fun really starts!”

  “Fun! Fun, he says!” A familiar mumbling, grumbling voice broke through the air behind them. The children stared at each other for a long, electric moment. “I might have known it. I might have expected it…”

  Milly was first to swing round. Floating beside the shed on a little pink cloud was a funny-looking worm with a drooping mustache and a purple genie turban on his head.

  “I don’t believe it!” she squealed. “It’s Skribble!”

  Chapter Nine

  Skribble’s tiny dark eyes gleamed above his mustache. His segmented body trembled as he bobbed about on the pink cloud.

  Jason beamed. “Skribble, is it really you?”

  “Course it is!” A grin spread over Michael’s face. “The grumpiest genie in the world.”

  “Grumpy, I? I, who have impressed popes and princes with my sweet nature? Huh!” Skribble looked set for a major huff, but then his expression softened. “Greetings to you all, my young friends.”

  “This is so brilliant!” Milly ran to the cloud and looked at the magical bookworm in delight. “I’ve missed you tons. Where did you come from? What are you doing here? Can you stay?”

  Skribble looked a little awkward. “I’m afraid I cannot, Milly. I have come here to…” He made a strange strangled squawk. “To…” He opened and closed his mouth, as if struggling for words. “I…I…”

  The children exchanged looks. Normally, nothing in the world could stop Skribble from speaking.

  “What’s the matter?” Jason asked.

  “The matter?” Skribble blustered. “Why…the only thing that’s the matter around here is the four of you and your attitude!”

  Jess frowned. “Pardon?”

  “You have all accepted a most vital quest to help that dear phoenix, and time is very short,” said Skribble imperiously. “I know how easily distracted you all are. Heads full of straw, the lot of you!” He glanced at Michael. “I particularly know the effect phoenix gold can exert on the human soul.”

  “Are you spying on us?” asked Michael indignantly.

  “No, but…” Skribble paused, his face contorted as if in pain. “I must warn you that you must proceed with your good work with all possible speed. There is no time to waste.”

  “Are you sure you’re all right, Skribble?” Milly frowned.

  Skribble looked at her closely. “You should know by now that where magic is concerned, great danger may be lurking.”

  “Danger?” Jason echoed nervously.

  “That map, the one I gave Fenella.” Skribble nodded his head toward Jason. “Do you have it?”

  Jason pulled it out of his pocket and unrolled it. “It’s here.”

  “Study it well,” said Skribble. “Look at the map closely. Make sure that you—and Fenella—read and digest every…single…syllable!” With each word he spoke he bobbed up and down. He looked fiercely at Michael and then back pointedly to the map. Michael followed the direction of the genie’s tiny eyes to the words at the bottom: KNOW YOURSELF, TRUST YOURSELF, BELIEVE IN YOURSELF. “Think clearly!” Skribble exclaimed, looking back at him. “Remember what you learned while following The Genie Handbook, and heed those lessons well.”

  “Okay, keep your mustache on, Worm,” said Michael.

  “Are you sure nothing’s wrong, Skribble?” asked Milly.

  “Wrong? Goodness, no. What could be wrong?” Skribble shook his head. “Simply remember that there…there is always one who watches…Watches closely…”

  Jess looked uneasy. “Who?”

  “My time has run out. I must leave you!” Skribble gabbled. “Delay no longer, but be careful, dear children—please be careful!”

  “But Skribble, we know we’re all right,” Michael pointed out. “We’ve seen ourselves in the future.”

  Skribble shook his head. “Nothing is set in stone where magic is involved.�
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  “Please, Skribble,” Milly urged him. “Can’t you just tell us who is watching us and—”

  “Farewell, my brave friends,” said Skribble. He started to swirl around and around on his cloud, faster and faster. “Remember what I have told you…” With a faint pop, Skribble and his cloud disappeared.

  For a moment the four Worthingtons just stood there staring at the empty air where Skribble had been.

  “What has he told us?” Milly felt utterly baffled. “Where’s he gone?”

  “And where did he come from?” said Jason.

  Jess frowned. “It was like he was trying to encourage us and warn us at the same time.”

  “‘There is one who watches closely,’” Milly quoted with a little shiver.

  “Maybe it’s Mr. Milton,” Michael suggested. “Spying on us from his rosebushes!”

  Jason frowned. “I wonder what Skribble did mean?”

  “You know the worm,” said Michael, shrugging. “He’s worse than Milly for making a drama out of nothing.”

  “Hey!” Milly protested.

  “Anyway, right now we’ve got other things to think about,” Michael went on, pulling his three gold cards out of his pocket. “Like how to cash in these! The shops are only open for another hour or so. I’m going to go into town right now and see who’ll swap this for some real money.”

  Milly stared at him. “You’re really going to sell Fenella’s gold?”

  “Yeah. So what?” Her look of disappointment bothered him, but he refused to show it.

  Milly bit her lip. “But Fenella gave us that gold—it’s special, it’s amazing, it’s…from her.”

  “But I’ve promised the guys a night out tonight. Look, I won’t sell all of it,” Michael countered. “I just really need some cash if I’m going to get my mates back.”

  Milly looked skeptical. “If they were really your mates you wouldn’t need to keep them with money.”

  “Oh, stick to singing your boring songs, Annie!” said Michael crossly. “I’m out of here!”

  Without a backward glance he jogged away through the clearing, along the driveway and started heading back into town. But as he ran along the footpath he knew he had only blown up at Milly because she was making sense. Even so, what was he supposed to do—give up and let Rick nick all his friends? He put his hand in his pocket and felt the phoenix gold. When I buy Rick his hot dog later, Michael thought, I hope he chokes on it.