The Secret City

by C. J. Daugherty

  ‘What do you mean it recognised you?’ In the shadows, Louisa’s brow creased.

  Sacha tried to explain. ‘It looked at me like… it’s hard to say… Like I was the one it was looking for.’

  Louisa stared over his shoulder to the corridor beyond.

  ‘I guess it makes sense,’ she said. ‘It probably works for Mortimer. Like the Bringers. Only much more stupid.’

  ‘Why do you not use your ability to fight it?’ he asked.

  At the end of the hallway, the creature had begun to turn in their direction.

  ‘I threw everything I had at it,’ she said. ‘The thing almost seemed to… I don’t know. Like it.’

  ‘How is that possible?’ he asked, disbelieving.

  ‘No freaking idea.’

  Sacha didn’t know what to think. If Louisa’s abilities didn’t work against it, the thing would kill them both. It was twice their size, and it seemed to be getting faster. And no one knew they were here.

  They were alone with a monster.

  ‘What are we going to do?’ They stood together, watching the thing search for them.

  ‘Give me a minute,’ Louisa said. ‘I’m working on a plan.’

  But they didn’t have a minute. The thing had spotted them. It began lumbering in their direction.

  It was very dark, but it seemed to Sacha something was different about it.

  ‘Is it… growing?’ he heard himself ask faintly.

  ‘It can’t be…’

  Louisa didn’t have time to say more before the creature lunged at them with a guttural growl.

  ‘Go left,’ she shouted at him.

  With no time to think, he did as she said, hurtling out of the doorway. When he didn’t hear footsteps behind him, he turned back.

  Louisa had run in the opposite direction. Now she raised her hand towards it, trying one more time.

  Sacha thought he heard her mutter, ‘Will you just bugger off?’

  Again the thing stopped for a moment and quivered – it seemed to Sacha it could feel whatever she was sending at it. But it didn’t hurt. Without warning it spun towards her, swinging hard.

  This time, though, Louisa was ready. She leaped out of reach, running behind it at top speed, and ending up close to Sacha.

  As it had before, the thing paused, a stupefied expression on its face.

  Louisa was breathing heavily. Perspiration beaded her forehead.

  ‘I’m throwing all the power I can at it. It’s like it’s just absorbing it.’

  They watched as the creature shuddered. Its bulk stretched the seams of its black trousers and short-sleeved shirt. Now they could see more clearly the symbols branded on the skin of its arms and face.

  ‘It is growing,’ Louisa said, staring. ‘Isn’t it?’

  Sacha wanted to say no. He didn’t want any of this to be possible.

  ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘It is.’

  The creature peered into the darkness towards them. Its gaze locked onto Sacha. That sickening hunger filled its eyes, and it began running towards them.

  ‘Sod this,’ Louisa said. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

  Grabbing the sleeve of his t-shirt unceremoniously, she yanked him with her towards the deeper darkness at the end of the hallway. Behind them, the thing gave a roar of rage and thundered after them.

  It was getting faster, Sacha thought, but it wasn’t fast enough to catch them. They ran through the darkness, past rows of doors until the hallway ended abruptly in an elegant circular atrium.

  A blue wash of moonglow flooded in through skylights high overhead. In that ghostly light, Sacha could make out an elaborately tiled floor beneath their feet, and arched doorways leading in four directions.

  Louisa pointed to the one on the left. ‘That way!’

  Sacha thought she looked pale and drained, but that could have been the light. There wasn’t time to worry about it – the thing’s footsteps were getting closer. They ran together into the shadows of the narrow hallway she’d indicated.

  The hallway turned into another hallway, and then a third. Louisa led the way, turning left, then right, then left again. Finally, they couldn’t hear it chasing them anymore.

  ‘In here.’ She skidded to a stop in front of a door. They rushed into a room, shrouded in darkness, and she closed the door behind them and locked it.

  For a second they stood still, trying to catch their breath. Sacha pressed his ear against the cool wood of the door. He could hear nothing outside.

  ‘I think we lost it,’ he said, relieved.

  Louisa didn’t reply. Instead, slowly, and with surprising grace, she slid to the floor.

  ‘Louisa? What’s wrong?’ He crouched next to her, struggling to see her face in the darkness.

  ‘I don’t know.’ Her voice was hoarse. ‘I feel weak. I think that thing… I think it did something to me.’

  Reaching into his pocket, Sacha fumbled with his phone until he got the flashlight to work.

  The room sprang into view – a cluttered storage space filled with empty wooden tables, bookshelves and stacks of old chairs. When he looked down at Louisa, his breath caught. Her blue hair glinted around a face as white as paper.

  ‘Oh merde. You look horrible,’ he said. ‘We have to get help.’

  ‘I’m… fine,’ she insisted. ‘Just need… a second.’

  Her words came in short bursts, her breathing was shallow.

  Sacha crouched on the floor next to her. ‘What is it, Louisa?’

  ‘Been trying to… figure it. Every time I… try to manipulate… energy… it gets stronger. I get weaker.’ Her hair clung to her damp cheeks. ‘It’s stealing my energy. Draining me.’

  The first strands of real panic tightened around Sacha’s lungs. Pressing the flats of his hands against his forehead he tried to think.

  ‘We don’t even know what it is,’ he said, thinking aloud. ‘And those marks on its body – like burns. What do they mean?’

  Louisa pulled herself up a little. Sacha was relieved to see her breathing becoming more normal, although she still looked pale.

  ‘It’s Dark power,’ she said, wiping the sweat from her brow. ‘I can sense Mortimer on them. It’s faint. But it’s there. Whatever it is… it’s his. And I can’t fight it.’ She pulled out her phone, her movements unsteady. ‘I’m calling Alastair.’

  Alastair must have answered right away, because she spoke quietly into her phone without preamble.

  ‘Bodleian. Ground floor; medieval corridor. We need an extraction.’

  Even with the phone pressed to Louisa’s ear, Alastair’s creative expletives were audible to Sacha.

  Louisa’s expression didn’t change. ‘Directions, please.’

  He stopped shouting.

  They spoke for less than a minute, Louisa briefly described the creatures. After that, she mostly listened, nodding her head.

  ‘Quick as you can, Al,’ Louisa said, quietly. It was the only sign of urgency she gave. Then she ended the call.

  It struck Sacha that she looked a little better with every passing minute. Her breathing was normal now, and she was sitting easily. Still, she wasn’t going to be able to fight at her usual level, that much was obvious. He needed to be ready.

  Holding up his phone for light, he scoured the room, eventually settling on a battered chair with a sagging seat. Grabbing it by the back, he slammed it onto the floor as hard as he could. It shattered into several pieces.

  Louisa pushed herself upright. ‘What the hell are you doing? Trying to call every demonic bastard in the building?’

  Sacha picked through the pieces on the floor, finally settling on a chair leg with a sharp, jagged point at one end. He tested the weight of it, swinging it in the air. It felt good in his hand.

  He glanced over to her. ‘If you can’t use your power, we’re going to have to do this the hard way, aren’t we?’

  She considered this. Then she held out her hand. ‘Give me one of those.’

  He picked
up another jagged piece of broken wood. When he tossed it to her, she caught it easily.

  She was shaky, but she was alert and on her feet.

  ‘Alastair doesn’t know what those things are but he’s got someone looking into it now.’ She bent her knees, testing her balance. ‘He thinks there’s an exit near us. If we’re fast, we should be able to get to it.’

  That was all Sacha needed to hear. He turned towards the door they’d come in through, but Louisa shook her head.

  ‘Not that way.’ She walked across the room to where a bookcase leaned against the wall. ‘Help me move this thing.’

  The bookcase was heavy but empty, and the two of them were able to slide it far enough to see behind it.

  Behind it was another door.

  Louisa pressed her ear against it for a long time, then straightened.

  ‘Not a sound,’ she whispered. ‘Just follow me, OK? No matter what happens.’

  Sacha wasn’t about to argue. ‘Agreed.’

  She put her hand on the door handle.

  ‘I just hope that thing came alone,’ she said.

  The door opened with a faint creak that seemed as loud as a shout in the stillness of the huge library.

  They slipped out – Louisa first, Sacha right on her heels.

  The long, wide hallway was empty as far as they could see in both directions. It looked fine.

  And yet, apprehension settled heavily in Sacha’s chest. Some animal instinct told him they weren’t alone.

  He turned to whisper a warning to Louisa but she was already on the move. Motioning urgently for him to follow, she darted to the right.

  The darkness swallowed her instantly. Sacha sped after her, trying to move as silently as her.

  Ahead, Louisa was a dark shadow in black shorts and a t-shirt, moving so fast it was hard to believe he’d just seen her collapse a few minutes ago.

  They raced through the twisting hallways. There was no sign of the creatures.

  Finally, after what seemed like forever, Sacha saw the pale green glow of an exit sign in the distance.

  His heart jumped. They were going to get out of here.

  Ahead, he saw Louisa increase her speed, flying towards the light.

  She was moving so fast, she never really had a chance when the creature stepped out of a tall arched doorway, into her path.

  ‘Louisa!’ Sacha shouted.

  But it was already too late. She ran straight into it.

  Swearing under his breath, Sacha sped towards them.

  The thing was holding Louisa, who struggled fiercely in its grip. She was fighting hard, but she looked so tiny, all of a sudden. The creature was enormous.

  Desperately, Sacha danced around the two of them, looking for a way to help her.

  As he moved, on the edge of panic, he slowly became aware of an ominous sound from the shadows.

  Thud, shuffle. Thud, shuffle.

  He backed away from it slowly, straining to see the source of the sound in the darkness.

  Another of the creatures stepped out of the shadows.

  There were two of them.

  The second one looked like the first – not quite as big, perhaps, but he wore the same black trousers and pullover, had the same strange symbols scorched into his flesh. The same protuberant brow and swollen face turned towards Sacha as it scanned the corridor.

  With his heart hammering against his ribs, Sacha spun to see if Louisa had spotted the newcomer just as she kicked the creature holding her so hard in the knee Sacha heard the crack.

  With a roar of pain, the thing lifted one huge fist and punched her in the face.

  ‘No!’ Sacha cried.

  He heard the thud as its knuckles connected.

  Louisa’s head snapped back. The chair leg dropped from her hands, clattering to the floor.

  She didn’t move again.

  Thirteen

  ‘Louisa!’ Sacha hurtled towards her.

  The two creatures both swung towards him. Their huge, swollen faces held oddly identical expressions of dull surprise, as if they’d forgotten he was there and were delighted to be reminded.

  The one holding Louisa reached out towards him with a growl of hungry excitement that turned Sacha’s stomach.

  It was like it wanted to eat him. Or worse.

  In the thing’s thickly swollen arms, Louisa was horribly still.

  Gripping his chair leg, Sacha skidded to a stop. He had no idea what to do.

  He couldn’t take those things on alone. Louisa was twice the fighter he was, and she was an alchemist. It knocked her out with one blow.

  It wasn’t supposed to be like this, he thought miserably. They’d just come to find Mortimer and leave. Now, his only weapon was a broken chair leg and he faced two monsters all by himself. Even if he managed to get Louisa from the creature, he didn’t know where to go. He was helpless.

  Again.

  The floor shook. He looked up to see the newer of the creatures thudding heavily towards him. It was drooling.

  Without thinking, Sacha braced himself, raising the sharpened leg in his hand. Adrenaline rushed into his veins, setting his heart racing.

  Suddenly, he was angry. Mortimer had killed him once today. It wasn’t going to happen again.

  Anger has a wonderful side effect of clearing your thinking. The clouds disappear. And it becomes all about the fight.

  Maybe he wasn’t trained like Louisa. Sure, he didn’t have the natural ability to manipulate molecules, like alchemists could. On the other hand, he very much doubted any of them had fought the toughest gangs Paris had to offer. He had. He’d stolen a car from a notorious crime boss and lived to tell the tale. He’d jumped off the roof of a five-storey warehouse and walked away.

  Sacha knew how to fight.

  ‘Allez!’ Standing tall, he tossed the chair leg from one hand to another. Cocky. Fearless. ‘Salaud. I am not afraid of you.’

  The creature’s tiny eyes, half-hidden behind thick swollen flesh, glinted. It ran faster, thundering closer.

  Still Sacha didn’t move.

  He waited as it closed in. Waited as it reached out its huge hands for him. Waited as its mouth gaped open, revealing blackened teeth. Waited until he could smell its breath – a fetid scent of rot and earth.

  Only when its heavy fingers scratched at his shoulder did he move, feinting sharply to his right before cutting back hard to his left.

  The things couldn’t react quickly. Behind him, he heard it crash into a wall with a resounding thud that seemed to shake the building.

  Without looking back, he hurtled himself towards the one holding Louisa.

  It stared at him blankly, her unconscious body held loose in one hand, almost as if it had forgotten her.

  With a cry, Sacha raised the sharpened chair leg and lunged.

  The thing raised its free hand to block the blow, but its movements were sluggish. With all his strength, Sacha drove the sharp point into its chest.

  It entered the bloated body with horrifying ease.

  Landing lightly on the floor, Sacha crouched low, anticipating a blow.

  It never came.

  Instead, with an expression of astonishment, the creature stared down at the wooden spike sticking out of its body.

  Dark blood oozed down its chest, slickening its hand, pooling around its feet.

  The creature made a disgruntled, almost woeful sound, grabbing ineffectually at the stake with its free hand. This only made the bleeding worse.

  Taking advantage of its confusion and pain, Sacha grabbed Louisa’s wrists, yanking her free of its grip. She landed in his arms.

  The thing, its attention focussed on its wound, didn’t seem to notice.

  The other creature had now lumbered over to join the first, where it too yanked at the stake, in what looked like an oddly human attempt to help. Both seemed too befuddled by what had occurred to notice as Sacha carried Louisa down the hallway to the protective shadow of an arched doorway.

 
Her body was heavier than he’d expected – she was pure muscle. Her skin felt worryingly cool.

  Laying her down on the wood floor, Sacha fumbled at her wrists, trying to find a pulse, but he’d never checked a pulse before and he didn’t know how to do it. All he could feel was his own blood, pulsing too quickly through his veins.

  ‘Louisa, please… Please wake up,’ he hissed. She didn’t stir.

  Unconscious, she looked much younger than she did when awake. And more fragile. At least she was breathing.

  Sacha leaned out of the doorway to check on the creatures. The first one still clutched the end of the chair leg protruding from its chest. The other one was standing, hands loose at its sides.

  This close, Sacha could see the marks on their flesh more clearly – the raised scar tissue around the edges where their skin had been burned. They’d been branded, he realised with revulsion, like cattle.

  The wounded one crashed to its knees with a melancholy moan. Then, moments later, collapsed entirely, and lay still.

  For a moment, the second creature stared at it, as if dumbfounded. Then everything changed. Roaring in rage, it abruptly abandoned its wounded compatriot, and thundered away, yanking open doors, storming inside, and then crashing out again in a frenzied search.

  It was looking for them.

  Forcing himself to stay calm, he leaned close to Louisa, slapping her cheek with his fingertips and whispering as loudly as he dared, ‘Come on, Louisa. Wake up.’

  On the second slap, she drew a sharp breath.

  Her eyes fluttered open. ‘What…?’

  Sacha was so relieved he could have hugged her.

  Her hand flew up to touch her face, a purpling bruise had begun to bloom across her cheekbone.

  ‘Balls,’ she whispered. ‘It got me.’ Her voice was hoarse but strong.

  ‘It did,’ he agreed, one eye on the corridor.

  The second monster was getting closer. The walls shook from its movements. It would get to them soon.

  Louisa still looked shaky. They had to get out of there.

  His eyes darted to the glowing exit sign at the end of the corridor. It wasn’t that far – maybe fifty metres. They could make it. If they were fast.

  ‘Things are a bit dangerous, Louisa,’ he said, trying not to sound as urgent as he felt. ‘We need to leave, now. Can you walk?’