Free The Phoenix Charm by Helen Scott Taylor Page B

him.
    “I won’t hurt you,” Michael repeated dutifully, infusing his voice with reassurance and compulsion. “Just tell us why you’re here.”
    “Guard the gate.” The beady eyes blinked behind the greasy knots of hair.
    “The gate to the Under world?” Cordelia crouched at Michael’s side, taking herself down to the creature’s level.
    The shaggy head bobbed up and down.
    Cordelia rose to her feet and leaned in to Michael, speaking softly. “I think it’s a coblynau, one of the Welsh minefairies. We passed mines earlier, so they’d be in this area. They’re not really dangerous.”
    Michael slanted her a sideways glance. “If one of those rocks had landed on your head, lass, you wouldn’t be saying that.”
    She frowned and gave one of her little huffs. “At least we know we’re in the right place.”
    Michael nodded. She had a point. He turned his attention back to the coblynau. “You’re going to open the gate into the Underworld for us.”
    “Oh no, no, no.” The creature hugged its head tighter and wailed. “Them Teg ain’t nice to coblys. They’ll hurt me.”
    “Aye, well, join the club.” Michael felt short on sympathy after the last two days.
    Thorn prodded the creature with the toe of his shoe and the volume of the wailing went up a decibel.
    “Good gracious, Thorn.” Cordelia edged around the creature and grabbed Thorn’s arm, pulling him back a couple of steps. “Don’t you dare kick the poor thing. I hope I raised you with more respect for other beings than that.”
    “And if you get lice, you’ll be walking home,” Nightshade added.
    Tamsy padded out from behind the waterfall and eyed the coblynau, the end of her tail flicking. With a screech, the filthy bund lescrabbled back ward at a surprising speed, forcing Cordelia and Thorn to jump aside into the shallow water at the edge of the river.
    “Keep it away.” A dirty hand pointed at Tamsy.
    Cordelia climbed back on the path and shook her feet, water leaking from her boots. “You don’t like cats?” she snapped waspishly. Her charitable attitude had obviously not survived the dunking. Michael’s lips twitched when she squelched past him and scooped Tamsy into her arms. “Unlock the gate to the Underworld, and I promise I won’t let her attack you.”
    The coblynau whined and twitched, then heaved ontotwo stubby legs. Still moaning to itself about the Teg, the creature waddled toward the waterfall. Michael covered his nose and stepped back when the thing passed him. It pulled a stick from a pocket and dragged the pointed end around the fissure in the rock they’d found earlier. The stick sank beneath the overhang until the rock door shifted with a clunk and hiss of air.
    The coblynau looked at them, the only evidence of its face two eyes gleaming through the hair. “Get inside. Must shut t’door again.”
    The creature wedged a shoulder in the gap and pushed the door open just enough for Michael to squeeze through sideways. Cordelia dropped Tamsy into her bag and waited behind him. Thorn stood next in line, with Nightshade last.
    Michael felt strange heading up the line, giving the orders, when all his life he’d been the follower, behind either Troy or Niall.
    “Once we’re through, we stick together,” Michael said, “no matter what we find on the other side.”

Chapter Five
    Cordelia hugged her cat bag to her side as she slipped through the door in the rock after Michael. Cool, damp darkness pressed around her. When the coblynau closed the door behind them, the shaft of light filtering through the doorway would be cut off, leaving them blind.
    Her heart thumped, and her mouth dried. She fumbled at the zipped pocket on the cat bag, her fingers clumsy in haste. With a spurt of relief, her hand closed around the tiny flashlight Michael had packed. She thumbed the switch and pulled the light from her bag.
    Thorn’s warm body pressed behind her in the narrow space, while the rocks resounded with the thud of the