The Night Princess Read online

  ‘I’ve got to show them this,’ Juniper told the Meek who jumped off her lap and went straight to Rick. He bent and picked her up with barely a break in the conversation. Juniper approached the group.

  ‘Excuse me,’ she said. None of them even turned. ‘Excuse me?’

  ‘Quiet, Juniper,’ Ysande said, ‘we’re talking, and this is important.’

  ‘Yeah, um…’

  ‘We’ll let you know when we’ve come to a decision.’

  ‘About that…’

  ‘When we’re finished, Juniper.’

  Juniper just stood there, glaring at Ysande. ‘I have something to say!’ she announced.

  They all turned to look at her. The Author’s Daughter raised one eyebrow in a sardonic movement that spoke volumes. Juniper ignored it. This was not a time to stay silent and inconspicuous. ‘We need the Sphere of Watersmith ice, in a setting of gold and glass. That will create a dome that the Vardai cannot penetrate. If we can put together all the missing pieces of the Sphere, then we can increase the size of that dome to cover not just one city or one world, but all of them.’

  They stared at her. ‘The Sphere of Watersmith ice?’ Guillaume asked. ‘That was shattered centuries ago. No one knows where all the shards are. As for the setting of gold and glass, that disappeared when the crystal shattered.’

  ‘Then I guess it comes down to how much we want it,’ Juniper retorted. ‘We’re just going to have to find it again.’ She held the book open so they could see the illustration. They couldn’t understand the words because they weren’t what Juniper was. They couldn’t read the book, but they could see the pictures.

  ‘Let me see that,’ Katie said. ‘That’s unusually coloured ice, isn’t it? Almost like an opal. I’ve seen something like that before, in the land of the dead.’

  Juniper had tried to forget that the woman served the goddess of the dead, then she had to go and say something like that and make forgetting impossible.

  The Author’s Daughter reached out for the book and snatched her hands back in a hurry when blue sparks flashed towards her fingers.

  ‘Little bastard bites, doesn’t it?!’ she exclaimed, grinning. It was all Juniper could do not to smirk. They’d listened to her — she’d made them listen — and it was a heady feeling. She wasn’t invisible anymore.

  The book had changed everything for Juniper. She wasn’t just the new kid with no friends anymore. She was the last in a line of Stewards, guardians, with special powers, born to protect the world against evil. She hadn’t mastered her powers yet, but that would come with time—if she lived long enough.

  Katie turned to Ysande. ‘I think we’ve got what we came for, without even realising it. We have to get back to Mum. Var Valerian will be coming after us. His Hunters will be able to find your scent eventually, even though you travelled through mirrors to get to the Guesthouse.’

  ‘But we can’t,’ Juniper protested. ‘I mean, I don’t know enough yet. I’ve only just started the book, and most of it so far was just history. I don’t know how to defeat them yet!’

  Katie shook her head. ‘We have no choice,’ she said. She clapped Juniper on the shoulder as she passed. ‘Don’t take it too hard, kid. It happens this way, sometimes. Every time you go on a quest, you have to accept that there’s a risk you won’t win. We can’t stay here and take time for you to read the book. We don’t have time to search for the magical Whatsit that does the magical Thingummy. We just have to deal with the circumstances we have. And right now, that means going back to the real world for a dramatic last stand at the Guesthouse. Every hero has to have a last stand sometime.’

  ‘You should stay here,’ Ysande said. ‘There’s no point risking your life, too. Stay here, read your book, and if we all die, you can carry on the fight.’

  ‘No,’ Juniper said. ‘I can help. I can fly. I’m strong. I won’t allow myself to be pushed into a corner again. I’m coming with you.’ She faced Guillaume and held out her hand. ‘I’d like my ring back, please.’

  He gave it to her without a word.

  Juniper was frightened by the thought of going back through the dark corridor, but she didn’t dare say a word about it. She wasn’t going to ruin her last little speech for anything, not even for fear of that creepy little bird.

  Guillaume went to the door first. For a moment, his cloak swirled about him, and Juniper couldn’t quite see what he was doing. Then he opened the door, and it showed the same hallway in the Guesthouse they’d come through to get to the Library in the first place.

  Juniper hid the book inside her jacket, wishing that it was small enough to stick in her pocket, even though there wasn’t much that would fit in the pocket of a pair of skinny jeans. Under her crooked arm, the book seemed to shrink. Juniper looked closely at it. It was shrinking. As she watched, it shrank until it was no bigger than a credit card… and just the right size to fit in the pocket of her skinny jeans.

  There was shouting, not too far away. Ysande and Katie exchanged a glance and hurried along the corridor and through that place in-between occupied by the Guesthouse to the door to the real world.

  The shouts grew louder as they entered the granny flat. Through the small windows, the night was illuminated by the ruddy glow of fire. Katie put her hand on the door handle to rip it open, but Rick stopped her and pulled her across to look out of the window first. The scene outside…

  …was chaos.

  There was a cohort of vampires on the lawn, and every minute more arrived. All the streetlights had gone out, and the houses around them were dark. The vampires were shouting and waving their flaming torches in the air.

  ‘Where is Mum?’ Rick asked.

  ‘Probably in the house,’ Katie murmured. ‘I can’t see that they’ve got her. They look too wound up for a group that’s already taken prisoners. No, this is the beginning.’

  ‘Of the end?’ Ysande asked, turning to flash a bright smile to the Author’s Daughter.

  ‘Shut up,’ Katie said.

  ‘We have to make a plan,’ Rick began, but Katie interrupted him.

  ‘Ssh! Listen!’

  Var Valerian crossed the front of the group of vampires, moving out of sight, to stand in front of the house.

  ‘Princess, we have you surrounded!’ he shouted.

  ‘Wonder what the neighbours are making of this?’ Katie remarked.

  Both Rick and Ysande turned on her and hissed, ‘Shut up!’ Guillaume ignored her.

  Var Valerian was delivering his ultimatum.

  ‘Give me Juniper, and no harm will come to you—not tonight. I’ll even allow your fictional friends to return to their own stories. All I want is Juniper. If you don’t give her to me in the next ten seconds, I’m going to change my mind and kill you all. Think fast, Princess!’

  ‘I’m thinking,’ Ysande muttered.

  ‘We’ve got to get Mum out of the house,’ Rick said.

  ‘I think I can do it,’ Juniper whispered.

  ‘What?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘What?’

  Ysande, Katie, and Rick all spoke at once. Only Guillaume remained silent, giving her an assessing look.

  ‘I can fly,’ Juniper explained. ‘I can fly from the second storey of the Guesthouse to the second storey of the main house. I’ll break a window or something. I’ve got super strength. I can defend her.’ That last was probably a stretch, but despite their obvious prowess, Juniper knew that even the muscular Rick wasn’t as strong as she was.

  ‘Do it,’ Ysande muttered.

  The others began to argue amongst themselves, but Juniper ignored them. She ran up the small spiral staircase that led to the upper floor and pushed open a window. The house was only a few metres away.

  She still felt squeamish about breaking a window with her bare hands, so she looked around the room quickly for something to use to break the glass. There was a hobby horse propped up in the corner beside the bed. It would do. She could hold the stick and bash the plush horse’s h
ead against the window to break it. It didn’t look like a treasured childhood toy. The stuffed head was stained dark, and the pink plush fur crusted with something that looked nasty.

  Juniper pulled away the fly screen and launched herself from the window. It was only a heartbeat before she reached the window of the house opposite. She swung the hobby horse like a baseball bat and shattered a window.

  There was a cry from the front of the house: the vampires had heard her.

  Juniper kept the hobby horse in her hand as she strode along the hallway. She felt like she was carrying a club.

  The door to Mrs Elliot’s room opened just as she reached it. Mrs Elliot came out first. Her eyes were wide and terrified, her face paper white. ‘Get out of here,’ she breathed.

  ‘Who are you talking to?’ From behind Mrs Elliot appeared a vampire, holding a knife to force her forward. His face broke into a broad smile when he saw Juniper. ‘What a pleasant surprise! Var Valerian’s going to promote me when I bring him both of you.’

  ‘You let her go,’ Juniper demanded.

  ‘Um, let me think about that…’ The vampire gestured with the knife. Mrs Elliot couldn’t take her eyes off it. ‘Um, no. I don’t think I will let her go.’ He pushed Mrs Elliot along the hallway, holding her from behind with an arm around her neck. Juniper gripped the hobby horse.

  ‘It’s me you want. It’s me he wants. And, do you know what, mister? I’m already annoyed enough for one night, so don’t push me. I’m a lot stronger than I look. I won’t come easily. I think that by the time we’ve finished fighting, you will have fallen on your silly little knife that you think makes you look like a big man.’

  They were at the head of the stairs now. Juniper wasn’t sure exactly what she was going to do, but she had to get Mrs Elliot away from that knife first. But that wouldn’t do her any good if she fell down the stairs.

  ‘Stop hesitating!’ the vampire shouted. He pushed Mrs Elliot ahead of him down the stairs and kept swinging the knife back and forth from Mrs Elliot to Juniper.

  At the foot of the stairs, Juniper made her move. The vampire had swung the knife away from Mrs Elliot to menace Juniper. Juniper grabbed his arm and twisted it until he dropped the knife. His whole body contorted, and his grip on Mrs Elliot loosened.

  ‘Run, Mrs Elliot!’ Juniper shouted.

  Mrs Elliot just cringed in the entryway, beside a large mirror.

  The vampire moved his body around further, and Juniper lost her grip on his arm. He caught her from behind, so she slammed her elbow backwards into his belly. He gasped with pain, as she slipped out of his arms and spun around and punched him. The punch sent the vampire flying backwards. He hit the wall and left a dent in the plaster before sliding to the floor.

  She had never punched anyone before. But then she’d never shoved anyone before tonight, either. And her first attempt at it put Ysande through a wall.

  ‘Go, Mrs Elliot!’ Juniper urged. She bent to pick up the knife and handed it to the older woman. ‘Take this with you, defend yourself!’

  Mrs Elliot took the knife, holding it like it was something dirty that she didn’t want to touch, and ran out towards the back of the house where she’d taken Juniper earlier that night.

  Juniper hadn’t realised that the vampire behind her had gotten up until he grabbed her throat from behind.

  Her hands dropped the hobby horse and flew up to try and slip beneath his grip, but he meant business. The pain was immense. She tried to kick backwards, but she couldn’t reach him. She tried to press her thumbs into his wrists to make him release her but to no avail.

  And then the pressure fell away. There was a heavy thump behind her. Juniper fell to her knees. She looked behind to see what had happened and saw Harry standing over the fallen vampire, his hands still curled into fists.

  Juniper climbed to her feet quickly. ‘You get away from me,’ she warned, holding her hands out in a gesture that was more shielding than aggressive.

  ‘I’m not here to hurt you,’ Harry said. ‘If you come with me, quickly, I think I can get you out of here.’

  ‘Why should I trust you?’

  ‘What did I ever do to deserve that? I didn’t do anything to you! I asked you out — I kissed you! I wasn’t the one to fight you, that was Evangeline!’

  ‘Who is your girlfriend, apparently,’ Juniper retorted. And whatever you think, you don’t deserve a medal for asking me out or kissing me.

  Then she said it out loud because there was no point being inconspicuous now. ‘I don’t owe you anything because you asked me out or because you kissed me.’

  ‘I wanted to, Juni.’

  Juniper paused for a moment to let her skin crawl. She hated that name. ‘I like you, that’s why I asked you out.’

  Juniper felt a sudden wash of confidence that could only be supernatural. Someone had mentioned tonight that some Vardai could influence the thoughts of others, and Juniper was sure that was one of Harry’s gifts. He’d done that to her before, made her feel safe and comfortable in an environment when she was at risk for her life. Now, if anything, it only made her angry.

  ‘I don’t care what you think, Harry. If we’re not going to fight, then get out of my way. I’m going to help my friends.’

  She tried to push past him but he caught her arm. She tried to pull away, but even with her newfound strength, he was as strong as she was. She remembered how Evangeline had mentioned that she and Harry were from the two most powerful Vardai bloodlines. And now, so close to Juniper’s magnification, his powers were even stronger.

  ‘You’re not going anywhere, Juni. We’re going to a safe place. I told you that I was going to look after you. You just have to trust me. Calm yourself.’

  This time the wash of emotion was even stronger, and Juniper had to fight to remain angry. It would be so easy to give in, to just let Harry look after her, to trust him, to love him. It was everything she’d dreamed of.

  Wasn’t it?

  She let Harry draw her towards the front door. In the hallway, there was a mirror on the wall. It was big enough to let an army through.

  ‘We’ll be together, Juni,’ Harry was crooning. ‘You’ll be mine. I’ll be the most powerful Var in any world, and you’ll be my mate. Var Valerian will have to bow before us.’

  Juniper planted her feet and pulled at his hand, leaving him just out of range of the door handle he’d been reaching for. He turned to look at her.

  ‘What if I decide I don’t want to be yours?’ she asked. ‘What then?’

  ‘Oh, honey.’ Harry moved towards her until they were nearly touching. He still held her hand tightly, but he put the other hand beneath her chin to raise her face to his. ‘You’ll want what I tell you to want, Juni.’

  Juniper stared up at him. She wasn’t going with him. He shouldn’t have stood so close to the mirror. He shouldn’t have called her Juni.

  ‘Dante,’ Juniper whispered.

  Juniper wasn’t ready for the slap that Harry tore across her face. ‘What the hell does that traitor have to do with us?’ he demanded.

  The hallway was dark and the reflection shadowy, but Juniper saw the vague outline of a person in the mirror. She was sure it was Dante. As the shadows dissipated, she could see Dante’s face clearly in the mirror.

  Harry was still attempting to influence her, but it didn’t even touch her now. She was furious but was working hard not to show it. It didn’t seem ladylike to shove a man right through a wall. It certainly wasn’t the kind of thing a girl raised to be inconspicuous would do.

  Dante’s hands reached through the mirror, his fingers seeping through the glass as though they were pushing into oil. She gave Harry one last chance.

  ‘You know,’ she said through gritted teeth, ‘I really hate it when people call me Juni. My name is Juniper, not Juni.’

  Harry pulled her close. ‘I’ll call you what I want to call you, Juni.’

  Juniper stood up on tiptoe and whispered in his ear. ‘Remember that I could ha
ve saved you, but you were too busy being a dickhead.’ She stepped back from him.

  ‘Juni?’

  ‘Call me by my bloody name, arsehole!’

  World, meet Juniper.

  Harry didn’t have time to say anything because Dante grabbed him. He didn’t even have time to scream before Dante pulled him through the glass and into the mirror.

  For a moment, Juniper saw Harry in the mirror as Dante dragged him through the darkness of the mirror world into that black fog where there was no way out. Then she turned and ran back through the house.

  Outside it was almost a pitched battle. Juniper’s friends were facing the vampires but had barely made it more than a few steps beyond the Guesthouse door. The fighting was intense. None of the vampires were looking back at the house. Juniper took one long stride to run and help the others…

  …and promptly tripped.

  She landed right on her face, scratching her hands and cheek against the pebble-crete. She pulled herself up, and noticed that the tiny book had fallen out of her pocket. She picked it up and dusted it off on her jeans. As she did, she noticed that the page showing on the outside of the book was different. She held it up to the light. As the glow from the flames flickered over the surface of the tiny, flat book, it displayed the same picture she’d seen before, but this time she could read the text. She drew it closer to make out the tiny writing.

  She shoved the book back into her pocket. From her other pocket, she drew out the ring her parents had given her and held it tightly in her left hand. She knew what she had to do now.

  Katie and Ysande were right in the middle of the melee, the Author’s Daughter with her sword, and the Night Princess with the two hooks she kept on her belt. Juniper just caught sight of Guillaume’s dark cloak flying, sword in hand, while Rick methodically butchered any vampire who came within his reach.

  What could a sixteen-year-old girl do? Juniper asked herself. She took a step back. Who was she kidding? She wasn’t a warrior. But then she shook herself. That was the old Juniper, the inconspicuous Juniper. Now she was strong. Now she could even fly.