by T C Shelley
The smell of incense grew stronger. Beatrice threw a lively burst of pink sparkles around Sam’s head. She was awake and laughing at him.
‘Hello, little girl.’
‘Bada.’
‘You bet.’
They saw fire burning and smelt food. A camp lay ahead. Bladder pushed ahead, nosing between the bushes and tiptoeing forward. He waved Sam to follow him, and Sam peeked at the tongues of golden fire licking upwards and hiding the stars. They could make out a deformed shape hunched at the campfire and framed in living red and gold. When it moved, they both jumped.
‘Ogre?’ Bladder hissed. He scuttled back to the rocks.
Sam crept back too. The giant’s twin humps shifted until its covering fell away: a blanket. Then enormous white wings stretched wide against the flames, a coo rang out and the dark figure turned.
Sam ran forward. ‘Daniel? Bladder, it’s all right. It’s Daniel!’
‘Yeah, brilliant news,’ Bladder called back, but Sam could tell it made him happy.
The angel smiled. His face glowed, his wings were golden in the firelight. Yonah fluttered on to Sam’s shoulder. A pair of shadows peered out from under the angel’s wings.
‘Imp!’ Wheedle screamed. ‘Oh, my stars! Bladder! You’re alive!’
Spigot shrieked, and the pair rushed forward, jumping on the stone cat like puppies. When they had pounded him enough to make sparks fly off his stone skin, the pair came over to Sam.
Spigot shoved his beak into Sam’s hand, and Wheedle licked his face. ‘I missed you, Imp.’ ‘You put His Miserableness back together.’
Sam laughed. ‘I did. But how’d you find us?’
Daniel pointed up. ‘A few lost souls told us all about a baby and an imp called Sam.’
‘Daniel made us show him where we’d thought you might come up. Nothing but hundreds of pixies and brownies flooding the streets,’ Wheedle added. ‘When you didn’t come out the usual places, we knew exactly where to try.’
Spigot squawked.
‘No, not Stonehenge,’ Wheedle said. ‘Here. Mên-an-Tol. It’s always been a place for bringing babies.’
‘It’s my fault the imps are all over the place. There might be some ogres and trolls on the loose too,’ Sam said.
Daniel smiled. ‘They told us. They also told us you destroyed the Vorpal Sword and freed them from their slavery.’
‘But what will control the monsters now?’
Daniel gathered Sam into his arms and put his warming hands on Sam’s back. ‘That is a problem for another night, and maybe another hero. You’ve done enough good for a little while. Let it be someone else’s responsibility for now. It’s time to rest.’ The angel untied Beatrice and pulled out a bottle of milk from under a wing. Beatrice clamped dirty hands on it and guzzled. Daniel flourished a wing at the fire. ‘Help yourself, Samuel.’
A meal of stew and hot chocolate had been laid out, but Sam didn’t bother with it until he’d found a bottle of water and tipped the contents into his dry throat.
‘You were thirsty,’ Daniel said.
‘Thirsty? Is that the word?’
‘Yes it is!’ Bladder cheered, and sank up to the eyes in a bowl of hot chocolate.
‘Now, what don’t we know?’ Daniel asked. ‘Tell us everything.’
Wheedle and Spigot shuffled closer to the fire and stared at Sam. Bladder gargled hot chocolate.
‘I have a soul,’ Sam said.
‘That explains a lot. Your glow tonight was visible from the distance. A little bit of joy can do that.’
‘I’m glowing? Why can’t I see it?’ He looked at his hands and all he saw was dirt, but he felt cheered and his story spilt from him, nodding at extra comments Bladder threw in, as well as the unnecessary insults. When he finished, he felt emptied. His muscles weak, his bones like stone.
‘It’s interesting, isn’t it?’ Daniel said.
‘What?’
‘If Maggie had managed to grab you at your Hatching. If Thunderguts had taken you straight to the sword … what do you think you might have done?’
Sam remembered how nice it had been to be held by Maggie, even being told he would be a prince. If he hadn’t had anything else – no gargoyles, no Kavanaghs …
‘I would have taken the sword up for them, I guess. I would have done what they asked.’ He hung his head.
Bladder stormed towards the angel. ‘Give it a rest, wing-flapper!’
‘It just seems that …’
‘No, no, no! You are not going to start with “there’s a reason it all happened” and “this is all part of a plan”. Blahdy blah! Can’t you see, this boy’s tired and miserable and can do without your rubbish. He don’t need you to tell him why he had to go through all that muck. Me neither. He’s been brilliant! Can’t you leave him without trying to say there was some sense in it?’
Daniel glanced at Sam’s weary face. ‘You’re right, Bladder.’
Bladder stopped. He opened his mouth a few times. When no words came out, he took seat.
‘Wheedle and Spigot might have something to discuss with you, Bladder.’
‘What? What?’ Bladder thumped his forepaw into the dirt.
Wheedle nosed a box forward.
‘Chocolates?’ Bladder asked.
‘No, it’s pamphlets we been reading,’ Wheedle said. ‘We’ve been given some options. Just looking for two, of course, but now we’re back to three, thought we might look at a new cathedral. Maybe a museum.’
Spigot squawked around a photo in his mouth of a TV with a bed in the background.
‘Is that a hotel room?’ Bladder asked.
‘We been doin’ a lot of house hunting,’ Wheedle said. ‘We have options.’
‘Does it have a bar fridge? With chocolate?’
‘Think so.’
‘Where’s this one?’
Daniel stood. ‘Brighton. The hotel already has some gargoyles, chimeras actually. On the staircase. Now, you’ll be all right here. Sam needs my help to return him to the Kavanaghs. It’s time to take Beatrice home.’
Sam hung his head.
‘Don’t you want to go home, Samuel?’ Daniel asked.
‘It’s … it’s not my home. Can’t we stay here for a night? Just one? We can go in the morning.’
Daniel brushed the hair from Sam’s forehead. ‘Don’t you want to see the Kavanaghs? Don’t you think they’ve waited long enough to see you? Humans have hearts and theirs have broken at this loss.’
Sam hunched. ‘They won’t want to see me. You should take Beatrice back. By yourself. I know she should be with her mum and dad … I want them to be happy, to be their best. I love them.’
Sam looked up at the angel. How could he explain? He did want to see the Kavanaghs, but it would be the last time. ‘It’s because of me that Beatrice was taken. They aren’t going to want me around.’
Daniel sighed. ‘Well, we aren’t out of options, but we do need to take this baby home.’
Bladder’s tongue didn’t finish licking the hot chocolate under his eye. He plonked himself next to Sam. ‘This is probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever said, cos normally I hate humans, but I think you might really be one. And I’ve seen your face when you look at that baby. You light up like …’ He sneered at Daniel. ‘Like some glowy angel. Better. Like sunshine. I think you should try. We’ll have you back in a shot, if it don’t work. You will always belong to our pack, and it’ll just prove to me how ridiculous they are if they don’t want you.’
Sam hugged the gargoyle. ‘I love you too, Bladder.’
‘That’s not what I said.’
Wheedle snorted.
Daniel laughed. ‘It sounded like it.’
Bladder’s cheeks puffed and his mouth opened and closed. He stared at Spigot and Wheedle, who were capering about him. ‘You’re a complete bunch of …’
Daniel bowed to Bladder. ‘Would you like to find a new home or not?’
Bladder shut his mouth. Yonah and Spigot sat on the gr
ound next to the gargoyle, giggling.
Daniel pulled Sam and Beatrice under his arms and took off.
Bladder’s voice followed them as they flew away. ‘Stupid overstuffed turkey, obviously don’t know anything about gargoyles. He’s got dirt between his … And what are you two laughing about?’ Then Sam couldn’t hear them.
Daniel rushed up and up into the star-flecked inkiness of night. Sam held tightly to Beatrice and kept her from falling.
‘It’s astonishing how much it sounds like he loves you, Samuel,’ Daniel said. ‘What is it about gargoyles that they can do that?’
‘Gargoyles have hearts.’ Sam pressed his lips closed. He realised he wasn’t supposed to tell.
Daniel’s wings stopped flapping. The air quietened as they glided on a night current. The angel chuckled. ‘Well, that makes sense. Absolutely.’ He muttered something to himself before saying, ‘What are their hearts like?’
Sam smiled, remembering. ‘Bladder’s is beautiful, white like a star, and it glows like a soul. But it broke very easily. I bet Wheedle and Spigot’s are the same. You won’t tell them I told you?’
Daniel closed his eyes. Sam could not read the expression. ‘It’ll be our secret,’ the angel said.
The sky was magnificent, but as soon as Sam saw the Kavanaghs’ house, he decided that nothing was as magnificent as the slumping little house with its decaying brickwork and flower-filled garden.
‘Over there.’ Sam pointed to where the trees grew thickest. They set down in the middle of the pixie circle.
The house felt dark, like a stew of black gathered about it.
Daniel stepped back into the garden, behind a hedge of purple flowers, and pointed Sam to the front entrance.
‘I’m just going to leave her at the door, she’ll cry soon enough,’ Sam said.
‘Take your time.’
Sam waited a few minutes before he took slow, short steps to the door. He stared at it: on the other side Michelle, Richard and Nick slept. He supposed they were sleeping, maybe they were awake staring at the ceiling. He couldn’t hear snoring, just shallow breathing.
‘There you are.’
Sam jumped and, startled, he bit the inside of his mouth. Beyond the end of the porch, in a canvas chair among a bank of wilted flowers and greenery, Great-Aunt Colleen sat. She stared at him with one eye open, as if he’d just woken her.
‘I dreamed you’d come back. I dreamed you were watching us. Were you watching us, imp child?’
Sam shook his head. ‘Not on purpose. I didn’t mean to.’
‘Well, you came to them for a reason, it’s true. They already lost one babby, twelve years ago. The worst thing for a family, you know that, my boy?’
Sam nodded. His heart had broken the moment Beatrice was taken.
‘Then here you were, the very day their new babby was taken. The very day.’
Sam felt his heart beat. He did have a heart, and a soul, but it was questionable how human he was. He’d wanted to leave before he had to find out how badly they all thought of him.
‘You were brought here to watch over us, I’m thinking. So I’ve been telling them not to worry. “Samuel will bring her back,” I said. I told them. “Raised by angels, he was, so whatever he is he knows how to guard a body. He’s gone to fetch her back for us, don’t worry about it.” I don’t want to offend you, Samuel, but there may have been some swearing involved on both sides.’
Sam stared at her. ‘I thought everyone would think it was my fault. So I ran. When I met you, you asked me if I meant you harm.’
‘And so I did, but you said “no”, Samuel. And you have my brother’s face. That’s not the face of a liar. Mischief he was, and a danger to hisself certainly, like you’re wont to be, but never a liar, my Samuel, and I believe the same about you.’ Great-Aunt Colleen nodded at the shifting lump in Samuel’s arms. ‘I’m not wrong, am I?’
‘No, Great-Aunt Colleen.’
‘Look at you, you’re in need of a bath and a kip, aren’t you?’
Sam knew about baths, and he hoped a kip wasn’t painful.
‘I’m in need of a kip meself,’ Great-Aunt Colleen continued. ‘Couldn’t sleep, a voice kept telling me I needed to be up an’ watchin’. It’s a good voice, that’un, an’ has always guided me right. Have you enough strength in your spare arm to help an old lady out of a chair?’
Sam shot over, and offered his free hand.
‘I’m not sure I’ve seen a grubbier fella than you. What you must have gone through to get our Beatrice back. Tell them what they need to hear. I think they’ll listen.’ She winked at him. ‘Then you can tell me the whole truth later.’
She groaned as she stood upright, and grabbed the walking stick leaning against the chair. ‘Let’s see then.’
Sam looked at the front door. He didn’t know if he could walk through it again.
Then it opened. Nick stood on the other side, yawning and stretching. ‘Did the postman arrive?’
Great-Aunt Colleen laughed. ‘It’s two in the morning, you great idjit.’
Nick looked at the dark sky, and blinked a few times. ‘Oh, yeah. I thought I heard someone say there’s been a delivery. I must have been dreaming.’
‘Well, there has been a delivery, so I think it may have been more than a dream.’
Nick stared blearily around at the world outside. He rubbed his neck and shivered. Then he stared at Sam and the baby. He frowned. ‘Who’s that?’
Sam knew he looked like a filthy animal, with his dirt-painted face and torn clothing. He smelt too. ‘It’s Sam. Samuel.’
‘Sam?’ Nick opened his mouth, the sleepiness dropping away like a stone. He was awake and dashing towards him. ‘Sam! Sam!’ Nick yelled, then screamed. ‘Mum! Dad! Sam! Sam!’
The young man grabbed Sam’s arms, shaking him. The ache in Sam’s shoulder woke with a groan. If he’d been a normal human, he would have bruised. Nick stared at him with wild eyes and then he spotted Beatrice’s filthy, funny face staring back. Nick’s yells startled her and she joined in the bawling. ‘Beatrice! Mum! Dad! For crying out loud, get down here! Beatrice!’
The movement upstairs started sluggish and slow like flat-falling troll-tread. As Nick’s yells continued, their pace quickened then raced, Sam heard Richard slip on the stairs and travel the last three steps on his bum.
‘Nick? Are you all right?’ Michelle’s high, anxious voice called.
Nick yelled: ‘Beatrice! Sam!’ as if he’d lost all other words.
Michelle’s pale face appeared in the doorway, Richard just over her shoulder. They were both wearing ratty pyjamas, looking sallow and thin. Michelle took three steps towards him. Her gaze took in Beatrice’s face. Sam handed her over, and Michelle took her with greedy hands.
She looked back up, and stared at him, her eyes filled with tears.
Sam held his breath.
CHAPTER 23
Daniel was hunched over the chocolate-shop table. He watched May walking behind the counter.
‘You are right, she is powerful.’
Sam nodded. ‘She’s the only adult I’ve seen that glows.’
‘You’ll meet quite a few of them. All the ones you’ve been around until now have been at funerals and worrying about work. Admittedly, she is on constant high beam.’
Sam kept his voice low, watching Mrs Dancy, the lady from Children’s Services. She was pretending to study chocolates.
May smiled at him. ‘Something else, Rumpel?’
‘I’m fine, May, thank you.’
Daniel called out. ‘So, do you intend to keep working in a chocolate shop, May?’
‘Actually, Rumpel, I don’t. I’ve applied to get into social work. I think I want to work with the homeless.’
‘She can hear you?’ Sam said.
‘The real glowers always can,’ Daniel replied. He grinned at Sam. ‘So, did you see everyone?’
‘Mrs Dancy let me pop into the church.’ Sam grinned, remembering the OK hand signs he’d e
xchanged with Beth and Ben behind Mrs Dancy’s back.
Daniel rummaged under his wing and yanked a few times until a newspaper came out. ‘Read this.’
Daniel turned to page fifteen and Sam found a small article with a fine black-and-white photo. ‘Yesterday, local residents found three gargoyles in a Sussex playground. East Sussex Police believe it is an impressive prank but do not know who placed the statues. Each one weighs half a tonne. One had been positioned at the top of the slide.
‘Mrs Elizabeth Lane, who lives opposite the playground, said, “My children came home screaming about monsters chasing them around. Such lively imaginations they have.”
‘A crane hire company has been called out to move the pieces, although some locals thought it an interesting art instalment and are petitioning the council to leave it in place.’
Daniel complained. ‘They’ve gone crazy since they moved into that hotel.’
May looked up. ‘Who’re you talking to, Rumpel?’
‘Reading to myself.’
‘Where did you get the paper …’ The sudden baby squawk at the door interrupted her. ‘Ah, here they are.’
Sam felt his stomach lift as the Kavanaghs rushed towards him. He stroked the creases out of the front of his shirt.
Richard and Nick crowded around him. Michelle sat Beatrice on Sam’s knee. Sparkles unwound and twisted themselves around Michelle, even as Beatrice’s head rested on Sam’s shoulder. The writhing light encircled him, then stretched beyond him towards Nick, wrapping the young man in a scarf of blue stars before wriggling on to Richard, copying his fingers in glowing pink.
Michelle reached to touch Sam’s face, her other hand rubbing Beatrice’s back. ‘Don’t waste time with small talk – tell him the good news.’
‘The paperwork’s been approved: just one more hearing and you’ll be part of the family,’ Nick said.
Michelle wrapped him and Beatrice in her arms. He heard her steady heart racing. ‘We can take you home with us, Sam. Where you belong.’