Belonging

by P M Cole

  He climbed out and beckoned to Charlotte who brushed off Lucas’s attempt to help her, and promptly floated upwards and out of the hole.

  “I need to learn how to do that,” said Daniel. He then climbed up, then me, and finally Lucas. We were in a side street, with shops that were all closed. Shouts and horses could be heard back in the direction we came from.

  I made sure my scarf covered my face with just enough space for my eyes. “We’re a mile or two from the shop. Now what?” I asked.

  “Now I find us a carriage,” said Lucas. “Wait here.”

  I inhaled a breath. My fear of carriages had subsided, but I still hated being in them. But with the police nearby I didn’t fancy trying to walk our way back to the Palace.

  We moved into a recess of a cobblers, while Lucas disappeared around the corner and into a wider thoroughfare.

  A man in a grey coat walked past at the opposite end of the street making us all push even further against the shop's door.

  “So, you two have fun last night?” said Charlotte. Despite the scarf covering my reddening face she still saw my eyes widen and laughed. “Oh, you are young, you should be having fun! Especially with things how they are! Just be careful, if you know what I mean!”

  I was lost for words but smiled beneath the cloth covering my face.

  Two horses then a carriage came around the corner and stopped just in front of us. The side door opened, and Lucas stepped down. “Bit of a tight fit, but he will take us to Wraith Manor.”

  “Wraith Manor?” I said. “We have to return to the Palace; they might be under attack!”

  Charlotte walked up the steps. “Which is precisely why we cannot return there.”

  I looked at Colin who shrugged his shoulders.

  “Come now, we have some way to go,” said Lucas, waving me inside.

  I gave in and climbed up the steps and sat on the far side near the window. Daniel, Colin, and Lucas got in as well, and he closed the door.

  “I have told the driver to head south first before moving west. We don’t want to move back towards the police cordon,” said Lucas.

  “But Dax and the others will not know of our fate!” I said.

  “We will find a way to get a message to them,” said Lucas.

  The world outside started to move. We travelled south then west through Covent Garden, then Piccadilly Circus. Each time I saw a poster with my face I had to look away. Eventually, I had enough, and went to pull the curtain across the window.

  Lucas leaned forward. “What do you want people to think, that we’re Vampires?” He smiled. “No. If you do that, we will look suspicious to people outside.”

  I sighed; he was right. Instead I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes.

  CHAPTER SIX

  I staggered forward through a world of uniform colour. Ash grey and black. My lungs were heavy with dust as I looked at a street of rubble. Piles of bricks, wooden and iron beams were scattered around while carcasses of horses rotted in the heat. Above, a misty white sun shimmered against a yellow sky.

  I walked to what remained of a wall and looked at a torn poster on the brickwork. Again, my likeness was printed, but the notice given to passers-by was different.

  ‘God’s daughter fails to stop the end of everything. Bomb destroys city.’

  I traced my finger over the print, taking some of the ink with me.

  This is wrong. Everything about this place is wrong. I have to be dreaming.

  A gust of wind suddenly picked up, stirring up a cloud of dust, making me cough, and I covered my mouth looking for refuge, but then I saw them. Just shadows at first, but then their true form started to emerge from the gloom. Creatures which did not belong in this realm, but now called it their home. Some had wings similar to the Furies, others were covered in fur, all were crawling over and between the scraps of what used to be.

  The sound of horses echoed around the street. A carriage was coming. He was looking for me. Wanting to return me to the palace under the earth—

  A noise behind made me spin around to a blur and a flash of claw. I looked down at the bloodstain growing across my shirt.

  I opened my eyes with a jolt, then doubled over in pain. Colin was sitting opposite me as before, his eyes also sprung open. Before I could ask what was happening, I realised Charlotte and Lucas were equally in pain.

  “What’s happening!” I cried.

  “It’s Dax… we’re feeling what he is…”

  I looked at the white fields and hedgerows passing by. “We have to go to the Palace, help him!”

  Lucas gritted his teeth. “We can’t. We’re almost at—” He let out a partial breath, “—my home. There’s nothing we can do for him now.”

  I sat back, shaking my head, the pain reducing. I wanted this journey over with.

  Lucas sat back as well, taking a breath. “The driver said we will have to walk the final few miles on foot as the roads are blocked.”

  I nodded and a frustrated silence fell upon everyone in the carriage. I remembered my dream and the poster. Ever since this hellish adventure had started a month before, my dreams had been different than my usual nightmares, deeper, more exotic. Less memory and more a window onto some strange alternative future for us all. I wondered if the burgeoning of my abilities had connected me somehow to Hades' madness, or maybe…

  No.

  I pushed the idea away. He was my father, but that trick of fate was our only connection.

  The carriage bumped to a stop. A pleasant-looking snow-covered cottage was visible outside.

  Lucas opened the door and disappeared around the front, while those around me woke up and stretched.

  We all got out and stood at a junction as the carriage turned and trundled away. Auto chirped from within my coat. I opened it, pulled him from the pocket, and let him fly up in to the grey.

  Lucas looked in a number of directions and at the hedges around us, then to the wall of snow which rose to our waists and blocked most of the possible routes. “Unfortunately, it might be more difficult to get to the manor than I thought.”

  ‘W…h…e…r…e…?’ Auto chirped circling above.

  “We’re going to Wraith manor. Lucas’s home,” I said.

  “It’s remarkable that he can communicate with Morse code,” said Daniel.

  “Yes, it happened by—”

  I jolted upright with an idea.

  “Are you OK?” he said.

  I turned to Lucas. “I know how we can find out what’s happening at the Palace.”

  Daniel nodded, already predicting my idea.

  “We can send Auto!” I said.

  “Can he fly that far?” questioned Charlotte.

  “How far is it? We are already on the right side of the river. It’s just ten or so miles to our east, correct?”

  Lucas nodded. “It might work if someone understands Morse there.”

  “There actually might be a better way to use your little mechanical bird,” said Charlotte.

  “Ah…” said Lucas. “Yes, transmortation.”

  The three non-magic users looked at Lucas for an explanation. He briefly waved his hand. “I’ll explain when we are at the manor, but right now we need some way to get there…”

  “Sooner rather than later, Lucas,” said Charlotte. “I’m not spending my whole day on this road.”

  A sound made us all turn to face the cottage, and the door opened. A man walked up the pathway. “You folk—” His eyes widened on seeing Lucas, who appeared nonplussed in return. “Mr Wraith? Of the manor?”

  “Umm…yes?”

  The man appeared unsure how to continue. “I… thought you were… umm, detained by the authorities in London, sir?”

  Lucas threw his arms out. “I’m free! They let me out.”

  The man smiled. “Oh…” A woman with a baby in her arms appeared in the doorway. The man looked back at her. “It’s Mr Wraith! He’s back from his time in the clink!”

  Lucas produced his best
smile and walked towards the man and the gate at the end of the path. “I’m trying to keep my presence here a secret for the time being, so I would appreciate it if you did not share the news of my return just yet.”

  “Er… of course. I understand.” Confusion returned to the man’s face. “Why are you out here though?”

  “I appear to have misjudged the condition of the lanes. I had hoped we could walk the rest of the way.”

  “Oh, I see. Yes, the snowfall has been relentless. Was snowing all night. Well…” He scratched his chin. “I could get old Nell to pull you all up to the manor, if you don’t mind riding in the back of a hay cart?”

  This time Lucas’s smile was real, as was all of ours.

  The ride to the main gates of the manor was bumpy but thankfully not too long. Lucas gave the farmer a shilling for his trouble, saying he should stop by the manor at some point in the future, and then opened the gates and we walked up the path, which seemed oddly devoid of snow. I presumed magic had something to do with it.

  I was glad to be back. It was the only place I now felt safe, but that was mostly because of its distance from London and Grayton manor.

  We ascended the stone steps to the arched entrance, and Lucas slipped his hand behind one of the statues, retrieving a key, which he opened the door with. We then walked inside.

  “I’ll get the fires burning,” said Lucas.

  “You want me to find wood?” said Colin.

  “Yes, thank you.”

  Charlotte looked at the paintings on the walls, paying special attention to Lucas’s former wife and child. She visibly sighed.

  “You knew Lucas’s family?” I said.

  She nodded. Then looked away. “It was a long time ago. We were all different people then.” She moved off down a dark corridor. “I’m in need of the bathroom.”

  I noticed Daniel standing nearby.

  “A remarkable house,” he said, studying the stone arches and grand staircase. “I grew up in another manor, Grayton, but this home feel’s more...”

  “Alive?”

  He smiled. “Perhaps that is it.”

  “You didn’t live in that dwelling underground?”

  “No, that was a more recent development. He felt we needed a place where we would be better protected from our enemies… whoever they were. That is why all of us, Grace, Cassandra were so wary of you and especially after what happened in the grounds of the manor. We believed his lies…”

  I was about to reply, when Lucas reappeared. “With some more wood, the fire in the living room will be heating most of the ground floor soon. But I need to send a message to the Palace. To let them know where we are.” He looked at me. “We need to send Auto on his way.”

  After doing so, and partaking in some food and warm beverages, we were all in the large basement room, the fire burning bright. On the reading table stood a device which to my eyes initially looked like an ornate lamp. A series of crystals balanced on metal rods, spread out from a turnstile, with a wheel and handle to keep it turning.

  I looked at a grandfather clock behind me. “It has been almost an hour, he should be there by now,” I said to the others.

  “Stand in front of the device,” said Charlotte.

  I walked forward, doing as she said.

  “This is a transmortation device. You and the mechanical bird are connected by your magic, and these crystals in front of you will strengthen that connection, meaning we should see what the bird sees.”

  She looked at Lucas and he started turning the wheel, causing the crystals to spin.

  “Now feel your magic inside you and, when you’re ready, project it on to the crystals.”

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm my thoughts, but all I saw were flashes of ruined buildings and monsters…

  “Concentrate,” said Charlotte impatiently.

  “I’m trying!”

  After another deep intake and exhale of air, I opened my eyes and let my gaze be taken by the cycling flickers of light from the spinning shards. I started to feel dizzy and spread my hands to catch my balance, but instead I caught Colin who steadied me.

  “Keep looking, allow the light to take you away…” continued Charlotte.

  A tingle started to rise inside of me, and I held my hands out towards the spinning machine. Purple sparkles jumped between my fingers, and then to the device. Lucas turned the wheel faster causing the light effect to become continuous. My magic coiled and fizzed over the crystals and metal supports until eventually the light unified and burst upwards forming shapes, then an image. It was similar to what the viewing device in the monitoring station at the Factory had produced.

  “I see homes, streets. Your little bird is flying,” said Charlotte. She turned to Lucas. “Keep up the speed Lucas.”

  “I… am doing so,” he said slightly out of breath.

  “You’re doing well, Cog, keep focused,” she said.

  We all watched a purple-tinted view of houses give way to snow-covered paths and grass, hundreds of feet below, and then… police… wagons with bars across their small windows… and lines of people being led to them.

  “No…” I whispered and the image spluttered.

  “Don’t let your emotions break your concentration! We need to see,” said Charlotte.

  I redoubled my efforts and the image came back to life.

  “Tell Auto to find Dax!”

  I whispered and thought the commands and the frost-covered park slid below us and then suddenly grew closer until we could see thousands of fragments of glass. Auto had landed and was looking upon the large entrance of the Palace which was without many of its window panes and what were still there were cracked and jagged. He suddenly took back up into the air, flying straight through one of the openings where bloodied bodies came into view. My thoughts became muddled once again, but I quickly focused, and the moving images continued. I could feel what everyone in the room looking on was fearing, I felt it too. I wanted to turn away, stop what I knew we would soon see, but I could not. We had to know.

  An elderly man, his head down, was slumped against the damp concrete. I heard a sound come from next to me, but I would not allow my emotions to break the connection. I had to know. Auto got closer, until he was on the ground hopping towards the broken body of Dax.

  The crash of crystal jarred in my brain before I knew what had happened. I blinked bringing myself back to the room around me. The device, with its delicate rods was in pieces on the floor, and Charlotte sat nearby sobbing.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  I stood on the roof of Wraith manor. It had started snowing again and the light was failing due to the sun beginning its downward slide to the horizon. I shivered. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could remain, leaning up against the eastward facing wall, but a tiny glint above the trees warmed my heart, and informed me my long wait had not been in vain.

  “Auto!” I shouted.

  Soon the speck of golden light became a shape with flapping wings, and then the mechanical bird flew past me half landing half skidding across the smooth surface. I ran to the little automaton and picked him up from the ice. “You made it!”

  “L…o…w…N…e…e…d…R…e…s…t.”

  The nearby door to the attic sprung open and Lucas and Colin appeared.

  “We heard the shout,” said Lucas. He saw Auto and smiled.

  “Hello, Owl!” shouted Colin.

  Auto chirped his usual remark on seeing him and I giggled with a tear in my eye.

  “He’s always happy to see me!” said Colin with a smile.

  I went to continue with my small whisper of joy but then remembered the reason I came up on the roof when I did, to get away from the anguish. Charlotte had retired to one of the bedrooms and despite the thickness of the walls and doors we could hear her grief. I had suspected, but her state confirmed that she and Dax must have been much more than mere colleagues years before. I looked at Lucas. “Has she come out?”

  He sh
ook his head. “Come on, let’s get you warmed up. And we need to discuss what we do next.”

  I welcomed the wall of heat which washed over me when I walked into the basement room, and eagerly sat near the flames in one of the high-backed chairs. I placed Auto on the ground. He walked a few paces forward then stopped, his metal eyelids falling across his gemstone eyes.

  Lucas handed me a mug of hot tea, and some bread rolls which we had bought from the man with the cart.

  Colin sat on the floor in front of me, while Lucas pulled up a chair. Daniel remained at the reading table, seemingly lost in a volume.

  I took a quick sip of my tea. “Will they be coming here next? It seems everywhere we go, they find us…”

  “They may, but you might have noticed the lack of snow on the manor grounds. This house and what surrounds it are located on a nexus of strong magic. When I returned with…” He sighed. “Dax, we increased that protection. It would take a small army to make it inside these walls now. That’s the same for a god or casuals.”

  “It won’t matter to him, he will find a way in here eventually,” said Daniel looking up from his book. “He now has all the power of the British empire on his side. You really think some earth magic is going to stop him?”

  “No… I don’t. But it should allow us some time to come up with a plan of some kind for when that happens…”

  “We want him to come here,” said Charlotte standing in the doorway. A small blanket was draped around her shoulders. She walked forward and placed the necklace from the museum, and the odd little leather tube on the reading table. “We should now have enough power to break Chronus’s spell.”

  “What is in the leather box?” said Colin.

  “Why don’t you see for yourself?”

  Colin looked at me and then back to Charlotte. He then got to his feet.

  “I’m not sure you should,” I said to him.

  He smirked then walked to the table, picking up the small tube. He shook it, which made me and Lucas wince a little.