Free Magicalamity by Kate Saunders Page B

belonged to my son, Justinian,” Dahlia said. “When he was a teenager.”
    “Your son?” It was hard to picture this elegant, rather wicked fairy as anyone’s mother.
    She smiled. “He’s grown up now, of course. You won’t have heard of him, but in the Realm he’s a rock star—Jay Trebonkers.”
    “A rock star!” Tom was impressed. “What kind of music does he play? What was his last big hit?”
    “He’s got a number one at the moment, called ‘Old Fairies Suck.’ ” She pointed to the notice board. “That’s Justinian—the one with the pointed ears.”
    It was fascinating to see photos of this boy who had large pointed ears—in real life, too, not in some sci-fi drama.
    “The old piskie families all have those ears,” Dahlia said. “Anyway, if there’s anything you need, ring the bell on the mantelpiece and one of the husbands will come.” In the doorway, halfway out of the room, she halted and turned round sharply. “You know, we’re idiots.”
    “Are we?”
    “We’ve overlooked the most important question.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You aunt, Dolores Falconer—it all comes back to her. She wants Jonas dead. Why?”
    “Why?” Tom echoed. “We know why—because he broke Milly Falconer’s heart and had an illegal demisprite.”
    “Oh, I know all the official reasons,” Dahlia said, “but I’m prepared to bet this isn’t about Milly Falconer, or the illegal breeding. Mark my words, Dolores is after something else!”

9

Intruder
    J ustinian’s old room had a bathroom, and Tom took a hot shower. He couldn’t get Dahlia’s question out of his mind—why did his aunt Dolores want to kill her own brother? It was becoming less and less surprising that Dad hadn’t told him anything about the Realm. How ironic that he’d been worried about getting bored during the holidays; Charlie would never believe a word of this.
    After the shower, feeling clean and very tired, Tom went back downstairs to find his godmothers. He heard loud voices, but not because they had started another fight. The three of them were in the drawing room,drinking coffee and chatting about their old college days.
    “Ah, there you are, darling,” Dahlia said. “We were just about to check the fairy headlines on the laptop.” Her laptop, encrusted with diamonds, was open on the low table in front of her.
    Tom had never seen a laptop covered with jewels before. “Do fairies have a different cyberspace?”
    “Totally different,” Iris Moth said. “The Realm Wide Web, or fairy Internet, exists in another dimension.”
    Dahlia’s scarlet nails clicked busily on the keyboard. The light that streamed from the screen was whiter and brighter than the light that came from computers in the mortal world. The colors had that special stained-glass radiance Tom had seen in Abdul’s flying carpet.
    “Oh, you’re on Abracadabra,” Iris said. “I use FOL.” Catching Tom’s eye, she added, “That’s Fairies Online—it’s a very good package.”
    Dahlia clicked on “Headlines” and the screen filled with a picture of a sulky young man with long red hair and pointed ears. TREBONKERS’S TANTRUM DESTROYS STADIUM.
    “It’s that son of yours,” Lorna said. “What’s he done now?”
    “It says he had a fight with the drummer in his band,” said Tom, reading the screen over Dahlia’s shoulder.“They started throwing grenades at each other, and the concert had to be canceled—the place was reduced to rubble—wow!” Mortal rock stars often destroyed hotel rooms and guitars; this was rock-star bad behavior on another scale.
    “Naughty boy,” Dahlia said comfortably. “That’s the second stadium he’s destroyed this year! Last time it was because they brought him the wrong sandwich. I sometimes wonder if I spoiled him.”
    The next news story flashed up, and Tom forgot all about rock stars.
    The headline said: POLICE HUNT GENIE TERRORIST. The picture was of a stout man with a black beard, wearing a