Cloud Magic

seemed to echo into her mind. Erin swung round. It sounded like someone was speaking just behind her, but there was nobody there.

    ‘W-what… w-who…?’ Erin stammered, looking around her bedroom wildly. ‘What…?’
    ‘Do not be scared. I am a sky stallion.’ The voice was strong but gentle at the same time. ‘The hagstone you are holding lets you hear me in your thoughts. Only weather weavers can do this.’
    Erin’s head spun. ‘A… a weather weaver! What’s that?’
    ‘ You are a weather weaver, child. You have just never realized it before. What is your name?’
    ‘Erin. What… who are you?’
    ‘My name is Tor. I usually lead the herd you have seen in the skies. We control the weather through our movements. Sometimes we bring rain, sometimes wind, sometimes clear days. But now a dark one has come who seeks to take control of the weather so that all shall live in fear. The dark one has trapped me here on Earth using magic. Without me, my sky herd is restless. If I do not return soon, I fear that fighting will break out and that the weather will descend into chaos, bringing storms and devastation to this land.’
    Erin shivered as she remembered Aunt Alice’s story about the last great storm.
    ‘Erin,’ Tor’s voice interrupted her thoughts. ‘I need your help.’
    Erin blinked. ‘My help? But what can I do?’
    ‘You must use the power you have as a weather weaver to –’ Tor broke off. ‘The dark one comes!’ He whinnied fiercely and then suddenly there was silence.
    ‘H-hello?’ Erin said quickly. ‘Are you there? Tor?’
    There was no reply.
    Erin felt totally bewildered. The words that she had just heard echoed around her head: my sky herd is restless… the weather will descend into chaos… you must use the power you have…
    She held the stone tightly. Maybe the stallion would talk some more. She desperately wanted to know how she could help him.
    ‘Hello?’ she said. ‘Tor?’
    But nothing happened.
    ‘Erin! We’re all going down to the beach. Get your things,’ her dad called up the stairs.
    Erin stood up shakily and went to the door. She didn’t want to go in case Tor tried to talk to her again. She had to find out more. ‘Can’t I stay here, Dad?’ she asked, looking out and feeling very strange.
    Her dad shook his head. ‘Sorry, sweetheart. You’re not old enough to stay home on your own. You know that.’
    Erin knew there was no point arguing. She fetched a book and, putting the hagstone into her pocket, she went downstairs and got into the car with her brothers. Their village was only a short drive away from a busy sandy beach just along the coast. While her dad and her brothers played football on the sand, Erin found a quiet place near the edge of the sand dunes and opened her book, but she ended up not reading a word. Her thoughts were too full of what had happened.

    Magic really existed! She could hardly believe it, but it did. A sky stallion – a horse made up of actual clouds – had spoken to her and told her she was something called a weather weaver. Erin was tempted to look at the clouds again through the hagstone, but she knew if her brothers or dad noticed they would ask her what she was doing and think she was strange.
    The skies were grey. She rubbed the goosebumps on her bare arms, not knowing whether to feel excited or alarmed. She really wished she could share it with someone. But who? Not Fran and Katie, that was for sure. They would just laugh at her. And Dad, Jo and her brothers were out of the question. They already thought she had an overactive imagination. They’d never believe her! Oh, if only I had someone I could talk to , she thought longingly.
    She remembered what Tor had said about how a storm would come if he didn’t return to the skies soon. What if it was a really big storm like the one Aunt Alice remembered? What if it was so bad that people were killed again? Erin looked at her brothers and her dad. She couldn’t bear it if anything happened to them – to anyone. She had to help stop it if she could. But she didn’t have the faintest idea what she could do
    Just then her dad left the others and came jogging up the beach towards her. ‘Hey, Erin!’ he called. ‘We’re going to go and get something to eat at the café. Do you want to come too?’
    ‘Yep.’ Erin got slowly to her feet.
    Her dad looked at her worried face. ‘Are you OK, sweetheart?’ he asked in concern. ‘You don’t look very