The Dark Stone

By Sally Startup

The amulet seems excited by the planned arts festival. Juliette will be exhibiting her paintings. Taz, Brendan and Winter will be in a band. But Wally doesn’t even want to go to the festival. She’s scared of what the amulet might decide to do there.
The fourth and final book in the Halloween Amulet series for 8-12 year-olds.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bees Nest Books
• Release date: Oct 27, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311695277

Sally Startup

Sally Startup lives in Hampshire, England. She writes books for children and young adults and has a PhD in writing for children from the University of Winchester, UK. She used to work as a medical herbalist and is interested in plants, nature and green issues.

Book preview

Sally Startup

The Dark Stone

The Halloween Amulet

Book Four

Bees’ Nest Books

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events in this story are fictitious, and any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.

Smashwords edition published 2015 by Bees’ Nest Books

Copyright 2012 Sally Startup

The right of Sally Startup to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Cover picture copyright Sally Startup 2015

Smashwords edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share the book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

The Halloween Amulet stories were originally created as part of an academic thesis. Throughout that process I received kind support and advice from many people.

With thanks to all.

CONTENTS

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

About the Author

THE DARK STONE

ONE

There were a lot of polished gemstones on the shop counter. Wally couldn’t see any quite like the ones in the amulet, but she looked closely at a basket of black stones labelled ‘obsidian’.

She was keeping a secret from her boyfriend and best friend Winter, who was with her in the shop. Wally hadn’t told him about the dark stone in the amulet. She hadn’t told her other best friends, Juliette, Taz and Brendan, either.

The amulet was a strange piece of old jewellery that they were taking turns to look after. The others all knew about the clear, bright green stone that had appeared during Winter’s turn, and the one that had turned a rich, deep red for Brendan. Now that it was Wally’s turn, a third stone was showing through the dirt that covered the rest of the amulet.

Sometimes the new stone was black and shiny, like a crow’s eye, or a bit like obsidian. At other times it was different, turning dull and cloudy like solid smoke. Wally was scared, wondering what the dark stone might mean, but she didn’t feel quite ready to tell the others about it yet.

The shop with the basket of obsidian belonged to Winter’s aunt Ophelia. As well as gemstones, Ophelia sold charms, jewellery, wind chimes, pictures of fairies, books about magic, and incense, clothes and ornaments. Wally found all of it rather creepy. She was only in the shop because Winter needed to talk to his aunt.

Are you OK, Wal? Winter asked. You’ve been staring at that counter for ages.

She looked up too suddenly, only just avoiding a whack in the eye from some strings of beads hanging above her head.

I’m fine, she lied. Go and find your aunt. I’ll wait here.

But Ophelia found them. She appeared beside them wearing a full-length purple dress, her long glossy black hair curling around her shoulders. Stephen... I mean, Winter. How lovely to see you. Who’s your friend?

This is Wally, Winter replied, but her family call her Andrea.

Welcome to my shop, Wally, said Ophelia. She was looking at the two of them as if she was trying to guess all their secrets.

Wally turned away and found herself staring at the basket of black gemstones again.

You like the obsidian? Ophelia asked, at once. That’s an interesting stone. It’s natural glass, formed in volcanoes. I like to think that all gemstones have their own special powers. Obsidian balances light and shadow.

That didn’t sound too bad. It can’t change, though, can it? Wally asked. I mean, if it’s shiny it stays shiny, right?

Ophelia nodded. Even unpolished obsidian’s shiny, she agreed.

Wally had known it was unlikely that any natural stone could change its appearance the way the one in the amulet did.

The only other black stone I’ve got is jet, Ophelia said, going to another counter and returning with a tiny piece of something. See, she said, handing it to Wally. It feels completely different, much softer.

Wally held the jet for a moment. It hardly seemed to weigh anything at all and it wasn’t cold like stone should be. Something about its flat darkness did remind her of how the one in the amulet sometimes looked, even though the jet was black and not grey. Is it really a stone? she asked.

Oh yes, but it’s made of fossilised trees, so it’s an unusual kind of stone.

Wow! cried Winter, taking it from Wally’s hand so he could feel it.

Ask what you came in for, she reminded him, trying to distract him from the thought of stones.

He laid the jet carefully on the counter and held out a pile of printed flyers in his other hand. Could you put these out in the shop? he asked his aunt. They’re about the summer arts festival in the park. Our school guitar club’s doing some music, then there’s a local band, called Drainpipes.

Of course, Ophelia agreed at once.

Look on the back at the list of guitar club bands, Wally told her. Winter’s in that one, Doone Road Dudes, on drums.

Doone Road Dudes was made up of Taz, Winter and Brendan. Winter and Taz hadn’t been going to the club for long. Wally didn’t know why it included drummers like Winter anyway, when it was called guitar club. She felt she ought to show support, even though she wasn’t all that interested in music.

Ophelia was very excited to hear that Winter was in a band. I’ll bring the kids along, she announced. "Amber and Humphrey will love