Light spilled from inside as the sound of a broken piano drifted towards her.
26
The Light House
As Eliza passed the inn, she tried to peer inside, but a blind covered the window and all she could see were misshapen silhouettes.
And then someone inside screamed.
Eliza hurried on, taking a right turn at the corner of the inn and stopping. “Oh…”
Halfway along a wide street was a light so bright, she was forced to clamp her hand over her eyes. She waited for her eyes to adjust before peeping through the cracks in her fingers.
It looked like daylight. Daylight shining upon a tall, crooked building in the middle of the night. “The light house.” As Eliza walked towards it, her eyes grew accustomed to its glare and, suddenly, she realized she’d seen it before.
In her dream.
A crowd of figures gathered at the edge of the light, their voices rising as they chattered and shrieked. There were hundreds of them, clamoring in the street and gawping at the house.
Eliza took a deep breath and set off, winding her way through the horde, trying her best to ignore them as she squeezed by all manner of hideous things, scales, fur, clammy skin, and dead, cold flesh. Here and there, bodies lay strewn about, smaller figures crushed in the heaving throng.
Eliza stepped on something. She looked down to find it was a foot and a moment later its owner produced a deafening roar. She looked up to see a large, muscular man with the head of a bull. “A minotaur…” she said stupidly, wincing as it bellowed once more and swung its fist towards her.
Eliza ducked, stepping aside as the minotaur’s fist connected with the head of a tusked lady. The lady yelled, reached into her coat, and produced a hammer.
And then they began to fight.
Eliza pushed her way through the crowd as the fight began to spread, the street full of crunching sounds and cries of rage and pain. She was almost at the edge of the light when a child, just like the imps she’d seen earlier, reached from its carrier’s shoulders and pulled Eliza’s hood back.
“Get off!” she cried, but it was too late as the child emitted a high-pitched squeal.
And then, it seemed, all eyes were upon her.
“Drearspawn!” a man with a skeletal face declared. “Drearspawn!”
The crowd reached for her. Nails and claws scraped her face as they fought to catch her. Eliza pushed them aside but there were too many, and now they were closing in.
She reached into her cloak, unsheathed her blade, and pulled it forth. “Get back!”
As the sound of the blade’s song rose, several creatures stepped away, pushing the crowd back behind them. Eliza let the blade do its work, hacking and slicing through the air, clearing a perfect circle around her. She winced as she stepped through the parted crowd, the light from the house smarting her eyes.
As Eliza set foot into the circle of light, a great wrenching sound ricocheted across the street.
Eliza stopped, glancing back to find the creatures mesmerized as they gazed at the house, an air of expectation rising. And then a long, skeletal finger issued from the crowd, pointing at the ground.
Eliza followed its path.
The light was flickering, slowly shifting towards the house, its circle of protection diminishing.
Eliza ran, hammering on the front door as the light flickered once more and a triumphant cheer rose behind.
The door opened, a filthy hand reached through, snatched Eliza by the scruff of her neck, and pulled her inside.
The first thing she noticed was the club the boy held as he glared at her. And then she looked at him again. Was he a boy? For his face was haggard and etched with lines and wrinkles. “How did you get through?” he demanded.
“Enough, Augustus!” a voice called from a room at the end of the gloomy hall. A silhouette appeared in the door beyond.
Augustus?
“Augustus Pinch?” Eliza asked, straining to see the figure in the door. “Tom? Is that you?”
As the man walked towards her, his step was slow and uncertain. “Who’s asking? And how did you reach the house?” he asked, placing a hand on Augustus’s arm so he lowered the club.
“It is you!” Eliza cried, pulling back her hood.
“Eliza?” Tom leaned closer, his eyes narrowing. “My, you’ve grown!” He raised a trembling hand to her cheek, his eyes misting over. “I never thought I’d see you again.”
“Me neither.” She was sure she had grown since he had last seen her, and while she’d grown, he’d shrunk, just a little. And aged. His body more stooped than she remembered, the skin on his face a little thinner. He looked frail, nothing like the confident, authoritative figure she remembered. She smiled, hoping he hadn’t noticed her shock.
“But what are you doing here, and how…?”
“I followed you,” Eliza replied. “I found The Book of Kindly Deaths and your pen. I wrote myself in, like you did. I had to. That…ghoul, Grim Shivers, attacked us.”
“Attacked?” Tom’s face was stricken with horror. “Is anyone hurt?”
“I don’t know.” Eliza’s eyes welled up. “Mum and Dad looked like they were sleeping. But they wouldn’t wake.”
“They’re asleep. In a sense,” Tom said. “But they will be fine. The ghoul cannot shed blood on our side unless his blood is shed first. And I can’t see either of your parents doing that. So how did Shivers come to attack you, and why?”
“We were at your house…”
“My house?” Tom looked confused. “What were you doing there? Your mother told me she never wanted to see me again.”
Eliza glanced at Augustus Pinch before turning back to her grandfather.
“You can talk openly in front of Augustus. He’s on our side.” Tom guided Eliza to a window and glanced out. “But you must tell me quickly. The light shadow I cast broke when you entered. It allows our kind to pass, but not the Grimwytch. However, it was only meant for Augustus and myself. So please, Eliza, be quick. What were you doing at my house?”
Eliza took a deep breath. “Mum tried to contact you in the summer. A friend of hers lost their father, and I think it made Mum think about…time. And family. She’s changed. A bit. I’d been asking to see you for years, and she finally gave in. When she couldn’t reach you by phone, she went to your house and found it empty. So she called the police and they searched for you, but after a few months they seemed to give up. We were at your house when Grim Shivers turned up, pretending to be a book collector.”
Tom laughed, waving his hand. “A book collector! He’s inventive, I’ll give him that. The spell I used to strand him was only supposed to be temporary; I knew nothing could contain him for the long term. And besides, he has his uses; he has a function here, no matter how distasteful it is. I just needed him gone from the Grimwytch for a time while I made amends for some of the injustices that have been meted out to our kind. I wonder how he found my house? Perhaps the book called to him. But anyway, please continue.”
“So, I found the hidden room. I remembered it from before.”
“How could you forget?” Tom gave her a sad smile. “I never meant for you to encounter the Grimwytch. At least, not at your age.”
“Well, I had forgotten it, sort of. But when I came to the house it brought it all back. I found The Book of Kindly Deaths and began to read. I realized who Grim Shivers was, but before I could stop him, he tricked Dad into letting him into the house.”
“And then he cast his sleeping dust over your parents,” Tom finished.
“Will they be alright?”
“They will. But we won’t be if we don’t find a way out,” Tom said. “We’ve been holed up here for what seems like eternity.”
“Why’s he here?” Eliza asked as she glanced at Augustus.
“Because I liberated him from the prison. He went on a little job to liberate a stolen mouth from a malefactrix. Unfortunately, we got caught and were chased to this house and we’ve been stuck
here ever since.”
“But what about the guild?” Eliza asked. “Can’t they help?”
“Their guards are in the crowd right now, waiting for us. I’ve tried to reason with them, but they’ve made it clear we’ll be arrested as soon as we set foot outside,” Tom said.
“But you’re a writer. Why would they arrest you?” Eliza watched in terror as the darkness swept towards the house like a tide, the crowd following close behind.
“I’ve committed several crimes. If you read the book, then you read of Robert Chandler…the boy whose mouth was stolen.”
Eliza nodded. “It was the first story.”
“That tale has always bothered me. The poor child should never have been written into the Grimwytch. James Maybury, the man who removed Robert’s mouth, should have been forced to return it. The malefactrix should have been hunted down and forced to return what she’d taken, too. But instead, she got away and our forefather, for whatever reason, let the matter pass.”
“But what does that have to do with anything?” Eliza asked, her heart thumping as she watched the crowd approaching in the darkness. “That was years ago!”
“There were two wrongs that I felt needed to be corrected,” Tom said. “Augustus being the second. Yes, he stole the book, but to allow Grim Shivers to pass judgment on a child was a monstrous error. One that was never resolved.”
“So you came back to fix it?” Eliza asked.
“Yes, I did,” Tom said. “After your mother refused my final plea to become my apprentice, I realized our family’s work was over. So I decided to fix these loose ends before retiring to whatever fate awaits me.”
Eliza pulled the tattered curtain aside. The darkness was almost at the door and now, through the crowd, she could see the guards who had stood before the Midnight Prison. “What’s going to happen when they arrest us?”
Tom swallowed. “I don’t know. When I first arrived at the Malady Inn, I heard of changes within the guild. Its chief justice, Lord Styxsturm, is said to have become a tyrant. Almost all of his judgments now result in execution, but I hope I can persuade the guild to be lenient.”
“The darkness is here,” Augustus cried. “What are we going to do?”
“Hand ourselves over to the guild,” Tom said. “We can’t fight them. There are too many.”
27
The Ghoul Triumphant
No,” Eliza said. “You can’t just hand us over! What about Mum and Dad? What about me?”
She noticed the tremble in Tom’s hand as he pointed at the window. “I’ve faced these creatures most of my adult life. But never like this, Eliza. I’d give anything for you not to be here. All we can do now is give ourselves over to the guild. At least they’ll stop the crowd from devouring us.”
“And then they’ll lock us up? Even though I’ve done nothing wrong?” Anger blazed through Eliza. “This is your fault. You’ve let this happen. Instead of hiding in this house, you should have found a way out. You told me bravery should always be rewarded. Where’s your bravery? And what about Mum and Dad? Anything could happen to them. No.” Eliza pulled her cloak aside, unsheathing her blade. “I’m not going to let that happen.”
The blade filled the air with its dark song.
“What’s that?” Tom cried, stepping away and taking Augustus with him. “Where did you get it?”
“I found it,” Eliza said. “And I killed a creature with it. And I know it terrifies them.”
“You killed something in our world with that blade?” Tom shook his head, his face turning pale in the dim light.
The door shook as thumps and fists rained down upon it.
“You can’t use that weapon!” Tom yelled over the growing din. “It’s darkling made. It’s forbidden!”
The door juddered.
Eliza stepped towards the door, brandishing the dagger. “I’m not going to bury my head and hope this goes away, like you and Mum did.”
She threw the door open.
A giant creature with two mouths squeezed into the house, a starved look in its malicious eyes. As Eliza swung the blade towards it, the creature howled, backing away, and taking the crowd with it. Eliza followed, allowing the blade to sweep through the air. The tide of creatures stepped back, anger and frustration on their deformed, monstrous faces.
“How do we cross back to our world?” Eliza shouted to Tom.
There was no answer.
She turned.
Two armored guards held Tom and Augustus, their arms around their throats, their hands resting on the visors of their helmets.
The crowd kept a respectful, fearful distance, watching in silence.
“Run!” Tom cried as the guard holding him began to open its visor.
“I’m not leaving you!” Eliza held up a hand to the guard holding Tom. It stopped opening its visor, and as she lowered her blade and sheathed it, it took its hand down from its helmet. Eliza watched numbly as a guard stepped forward and squeezed her neck until there was only darkness.
Eliza woke to find herself in a comfortable chair in a brightly lit, book-filled room. Tom sat beside her, staring into a fire as Augustus Pinch knelt on the floor, regarding Eliza with his vivid blue eyes.
“What happened?” Eliza asked.
“After they knocked you out,” Augustus replied curtly, “they brought us to the guild.”
Eliza looked around the room. The door in the corner was ajar. “The door’s open; we can leave?”
Augustus shook his head. “They don’t need to lock us in. There are two guards outside, and if we so much as set a foot beyond the door, it’s all over. I’d rather go back to the Midnight Prison than see their faces.”
“What do they look like?” Eliza asked. “Under those visors?”
“No one knows,” Tom replied. “Because anybody who’s seen them has gone mad and killed themselves in a most horrific way.”
Eliza felt for her dagger. It was still in its sheath. “I have my dagger!”
Tom nodded. “I know. It’s not good, Eliza.”
“Why?”
“They’ve only allowed you to keep it so it can be used as evidence against you. I’ve broken several laws in writing Grim Shivers out of the Grimwytch and myself inside. But the law you’ve broken is much more severe than any of my crimes.”
“Why?” Eliza asked, a twitch of panic building inside her.
“You journeyed to the Grimwytch without leave to enter,” Tom said. “And then…” he sighed. “Then you spilled blood. It happens here almost every other moment and usually goes unpunished. But in your case, you’re human.”
“I had to!” Eliza said. “Those things were going to kill me!”
“I believe you,” Tom said. “But you used a darkling blade. It’s completely forbidden to use such a thing. Those weapons don’t just take lives; they take phasmatis, as well. That is, the soul. There’s nothing crueler.”
Eliza flinched as she recalled the creature’s agony and how the blade had forced itself ever deeper inside. “But I didn’t know.”
Augustus Pinch shook his head. “That won’t matter to this lot. They don’t like humans at the best of times.”
“But they like you,” Eliza said to Tom. “You work for them, don’t you?”
“I did. But my work over the last few years has been… I’ve struggled. I was supposed to hand my duties on to your mother and…well, I’m not getting any younger. When she refused to take over, refused to even acknowledge that any of this existed, everything fell upon me. And I didn’t cope very well. But I’m not blaming your mother, believe me. This is my personal failure.” Tom sighed.
“So my mum does know about all of this,” Eliza said.
“I told her when she was not much older than you. At first she thought I was making it up, so I showed her the Grimwytch. I opened the stained glass window, the window between worlds. I don’t know what I expected from her, but it certainly wasn’t the reaction I got. She took one look through the window and turne
d as white as a sheet as she fled from the study. I found her later, sitting at a bus stop, expressionless and silent. It took days to coax a word from her. When I tried to speak about the event, she shut down. She said she had no idea what I was talking about and wouldn’t discuss the matter any further. I tried to engage with her over the years, tried to tell her how important her role was, but in the end she forbade me from ever seeing her or you again.”
“What about my father?” Eliza asked. “Does he know?”
Tom shook his head. “I doubt it very much indeed. Your father was both polite and friendly enough, but I always got the impression he thought I was a bit soft in the head. Who knows what your mother told him. I don’t blame her, though; fear does strange things to people. Still, it doesn’t help our problems. My failure to do my job is coming home to roost now. I don’t know how many breaches have been made between our worlds over the last few years. I dread to think…”
“Breaches?” Eliza asked.
“The places where the denizens of Grimwytch cross to our world. There are locations where the space between our worlds is narrow. So narrow that sometimes the Grimwytch can just step across. Other times, where the rift is less narrow, they need to be invited.”
“Like the Wrong People?” Eliza asked.
“Yes, that was an unfortunate accident. However, there are people in our world who know perfectly well that the tales of monsters are not tales at all. That they’re real. And a few have found ways to invite the peoples of Grimwytch over for their own selfish, sickening purposes.”
“And you send them back,” Eliza said.
“I try. As do the other writers. But it seems there are not enough of us. You see, when the guild first approached our family, hundreds of years ago, things were different. There were fewer creatures. Fewer humans, too. But as our population has grown, so has theirs.”
“So they need you more than ever!” Eliza said. “They’ll need both of us. I’ll be your apprentice!”
The Book of Kindly Deaths Page 22