Stranger Still

by Marilyn Messik

  I started backing away again slowly, this wasn’t going as well as could be hoped and it’s always good to keep options open. I went into her head and came out quickly; there were an awful lot of minds in there and as far as I could tell, none of them was Ruth. She smiled at me again, a crooked, knowing grimace of a grin, widened her eyes and whispered.

  “I wish I wish I wish I knew, exactly what to do with you.” And ice slid down my spine as the voice that wasn’t Ruth’s, blended with another, then another and another, an unholy chorus repeating the chant and no longer whispering. I reached the foot of the stairs, couldn’t risk turning my back on her so consequently stumbled, landing painfully on one hip and she moved slowly towards me. Slow and steady.

  I knew what had happened and I wondered how it was that a roomful of highly intelligent telepaths had overlooked the ‘what ifs’. What if solid steel reinforcements weren’t enough to hold Phillip? What if it hadn’t been possible to keep him unconscious? What if he didn’t need Alison’s consent to use her?’ Because that’s where the enormous power was coming from. I knew we could stop Alison as a group, we’d blended before and we were powerful indeed, but we weren’t together now, I didn’t even know if the others were still alive. The living energy in the room was cutting off all other sensation and whatever Ruth was now, her intention was clear, she was coming for Sara.

  I had one option and only one chance, there wouldn’t be a second. I had to stop Ruth and Alison simultaneously, one without the other wouldn’t do it. Two colossal but surgically precise hammer blows I couldn’t afford to get wrong, the stakes were too high. I was now making a clumsy, seated ascent backwards, step by step. Ruth was still advancing; things weren’t great and then they got worse.

  From the shadows of the corridor, emerged my old friend Phillip the Obnoxious. Average height, average build and Bugs Bunny pout, he should have looked comical, he didn’t. It would have been wonderful at that point to hear something from Glory or Rachael, but I couldn’t. I was on my own; solo so to speak. Well, not quite, I had a brand-new baby to protect.

  Phillip giggled, licked the pinkness of his lips and I realised, not only was he boosted by Alison’s power, he was using Ruth’s too, which meant he sliced into my head like a knife through butter, and I instantly felt the draining of energy and ability. In my arms Sara squirmed, catching my panic or maybe I just squeezed her too hard. Ruth was mounting the stairs; one foot on a step, the second brought up alongside. First foot on another step, second brought alongside, it wasn’t the quickest way, but who was I to talk, I was going up on my bottom.

  I had to act before I had nothing left to act with. I focused and knocked Ruth backwards, she grabbed at the wall rail too late, stepped back into nothingness and toppled clumsily back down the few stairs she’d climbed. I don’t think I even touched Alison, certainly didn’t feel any flicker in the power levels.

  Ruth ponderously got to her feet again, far sooner than she should have been able to, and those empty, empty eyes looked up to where I was now crouched at the top of the stairs, my back against the closed door. And she started moving again.

  In those few dreadful seconds, I looked over at him, he had the upper hand now, Alison’s power, Ruth’s too. He pouted a smile at me and shook his head slowly, had I really thought I could get the better of him? Of course, I could knock Ruth down again, and then again and again, but both he and I knew my strength would give out before theirs did. I reached for the door handle behind me. A door between us would only be an illusion of safety, it certainly wasn’t going to stop anyone, but it was better than staying on the stairs like a sitting duck.

  Ruth was looking directly at me, ready to attempt the stairs again, those empty eyes met and held mine as she moved and then slowly she turned. And he knew. In that moment he knew, but it was already too late. What leapt across the distance between them was soundless and invisible but swift and terrible. He stayed upright for a riveted few seconds longer, but he was stone dead, way before he hit the floor.

  Several other things happened all at once. The door behind me was flung open and as I turned my head, Ed and David both tried to squeeze through at once and from the basement corridor an enormous burnished brown shape crossed the floor in one huge leap and a bound and landed squarely on what had once been Phillip Obnoxious. David put his arms round me and the baby, and Ed, with hitherto unsuspected acrobatic ability, hands braced on the wall either side, vaulted over the top of us, hurled himself down the remaining stairs and caught Ruth before she too hit the floor. Supported by him, she looked up and if her voice was a little hoarse, it was her voice.

  “Stella dear,” she said, “would you mind?” and she inclined her head towards a furious Bella growling and circling the body.

  “I’ll do it. Bella, here girl.,” Rachael, more the worse for wear than I’d ever seen her, had followed Bella but at a slower pace and close behind was Glory, who also looked as if she’d been pulled through a bush backwards.

  If Rachael sounded near enough her normal authoritative self, it didn’t mask in any way, the supreme effort she was making to maintain self-control. Bella now obediently at heel, Glory and Rachael, each with an arm round the other crossed the floor, making a wide berth around the late unlamented. I wasn’t sure who was supporting who.

  Rachael said, “I don’t understand.” then couldn’t seem to say any more.

  Ruth, my Ruth now, leaning against Ed, reached one hand to her sister, the other to Glory. “It has all,” she admitted, “been a little tricky,” and she gave a small dry sob as Ed, enclosed Rachael and Glory with his other arm.

  A few feet away, Sam was holding his head with one hand, checking Boris with the other. “He’s OK, just taking longer to come round.” He turned to Devlin who wasn’t at all sure what it was that had happened, but hugely disgruntled that his partially completed puzzle been knocked completely off the table. He was, however, instantly distracted and awe-struck by the body on the floor.

  “Wow!” he said, “Oh wow, wow, wow! Is that a real live dead body?” I vaguely wondered whether Sam and Boris had found what they wanted, before they’d been so rudely interrupted. and was aware David was asking me all sorts of questions I didn’t have answers to. I felt sick, lightheaded and shivery and it was only because he was holding on to me that I hadn’t tumbled straight down the stairs.

  I looked over at Rachael who normally took bossy charge at times like these. But she, Ruth and Glory looked as if they were only upright because Ed was holding them.

  Well, this was daft, we couldn’t just stay here. Someone needed to take charge of the current not-run-of-the-mill situation, and as no-one else looked in a fit enough state, I stopped shaking and clinging and levered myself up.

  “If,” I said, “I don’t get a cup of coffee soon, there’s no telling what I’ll do or who I’ll do it to. What say we take this upstairs?”

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  “I do know,” said Ruth, “what I’ve put you all through. I am so sorry.” This time round we’d gathered upstairs in Ruth and Rachael’s living room, which if it had been crowded before, was now positively packed but it felt like the right place to be, and cosier than downstairs.

  We’d emerged from the basement under the horrified gaze of Mrs Millsop who’d commandeered the corridor to lead the children in a What’s the Time Mr Wolf? assisted by Laura who had the air of a woman landed on a strange planet and told to be nice to the aliens.

  “Good Gawd Almighty!” normally fairly unflappable Mrs Millsop had her hand to her chest, “what’s happened?” She turned swiftly to the children whose eyes were growing wider by the minute and clapped hands sharply, “Television room. Now. I’ll be there in a minute. Yes, course you can turn it on - go!” she didn’t have to tell them twice. As the last of the kids disappeared towards the back of the building, she turned and lifted Sara from my arms, thrusting her into the unready arms of her Grandmother, “Laura, sort her out, she’s soaking.”

  “I
need to feed her,” I protested.

  “And she’ll be a lot happier if that happens when she’s clean and dry.”

  “Oh no, I really don’t think…” said Laura.

  “Rubbish.” Mrs Millsop didn’t have time for nonsense. “You had a baby, didn’t you?”

  “Years ago!”

  “Well, they haven’t brought out a new model.” Mrs Millsop gave her a small push in the right direction, “chop chop.” Beside me, David, who was looking a little grey and leaning against the wall, gave a snort of amusement and Mrs Millsop hastened forward to Ruth and Rachel, neither of whom looked in better nick than the other. Rachael’s normally crisp white shirt looked as if it had been slept in, which it had, and her neat hair showed evidence of her having run hands through it more than once. Ruth had put on the track suit she must have been wearing before they put her to bed down there. Orange with black stripes, it would have done nobody any favours at the best of times.

  “No, don’t fuss Enid,” Rachael, rising above her appearance, had pulled herself together, “we’re better than we look; nothing to worry about.”

  “That’s as maybe,” Mrs Millsop was sceptical; she recognised shock when she saw it, “but I’m getting you hot sweet tea.” Then as Boris came up the stairs, supporting Ed who in his leap to catch Ruth had done something to his leg, she added “And ice for that leg.” Glory had followed behind the two men with the idea of preventing Ed from falling should he lose balance, although what she could have done was debatable.

  Boris looked pretty much untouched on the outside but his ordered mind was badly ruffled, he was appalled at how effectively he’d been knocked out; pride, if nothing else severely dented. Sam was last to emerge, holding the hand of an overexcited Devlin who grabbed the nearest arm, which happened to be Mrs Millsop’s as she hurried past.

  “There’s a dead body down there,” he shouted, “a real, dead, dead, dead body, want to see?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, young man. I think I’m looking at someone who’s had a bit more sugar than’s good for him.” she glanced briefly over at Rachael. Matron Millsop was a woman with her size eights planted firmly on the ground, but little as she liked to dwell, there was no doubt there were some funny things that went on here from time to time. Rachael had become extremely interested in ridding herself of a random piece of fluff which had attached itself to her cardigan sleeve. Mrs Millsop knew an avoidance tactic when she saw one, but it was her conviction that the Peacocks, whatever they did or did not do, were on the side of the angels. ‘Least questions asked’, her old mum used to say, ‘least damage done’ and Mrs Millsop had never seen fit to deviate from that policy.

  “Right young fellow, me lad,” she lifted Devlin’s hand from her arm, turned him smartly in the opposite direction “you need a bit of quiet time; the others are watching some TV rubbish; go on and I’ll want to see you sitting down when I come in, mind.”

  “Oh Lord,” Glory suddenly exclaimed, “Alison, where’s Alison?” Boris and Sam hastily made a guilty dash and returned pushing the wheelchair. Retrieved from outside she was dreadfully cold, utterly exhausted yet remarkably cheerful.

  “Well, yes,” she said to extreme concern “I was a little chilly I will admit, my own fault though, I insisted. Anyway, I knew someone at some stage would remember where I was, but I wasn’t freezing, this wonderful animal took it upon herself to look after me, bit of a squash, both of us in this chair but honestly, she was better than an electric blanket. Katerina shook herself a little and looked suitably modest. I was amazed, she wasn’t that keen on people, rarely attached herself to anyone other than me, and I’d always thought that was more contingency than caring, but maybe she sensed more than I gave her credit for.

  Alison looked reproachfully at Rachael, “You did say he wouldn’t be able to get to me.”

  “I was wrong,” said Rachael grimly, “I am so sorry.”

  Alison shrugged, “Perhaps for the best,” she looked at Ruth, “we did it, didn’t we?”

  “We did,” said Ruth.

  Alison nodded slowly, “I hope he rots in hell,” she said, and if the sentiment resounded oddly in the domestic setting of the hall, I don’t think any of us felt it was in any way out of place. Mrs Millsop returned at a trot, with a hot water bottle and Alison sat a little straighter in the chair and accepted it with gratitude.

  Bella had meanwhile climbed the stairs too and in the narrow confines of the hall, seemed larger than ever, the burnished brown of her coat rippling as she moved. She’d arrived in the downstairs fray a little late only because Rachael, with no clear idea of what was happening had hung onto her for dear life, but I couldn’t forget the speed and height she’d reached, then the heft of her landing on what she recognised as the threat to Ruth. She ambled past, giving my hip a gentle nudge, nearly knocking me over. Kat had her back turned but whirled indignantly when her rear end was sniffed, it was not a form of greeting she appreciated, but suddenly eye to eye with the bulk which was Bella, she gave a shriek and a jump which I swear took all four feet simultaneously off the ground, maybe she was channelling Laura. Alison, greeted in turn by Bella placing two enormous paws on her lap to stand upright and be patted, didn’t shriek but was taken aback.

  “Good God,” she said, “what is it?”

  “Leonberger-Newfoundland cross,” said Boris, leaning forward to urge Bella down.

  “Is she fully grown?” asked Alison, with interest.

  “Hang on one flipping minute,” David’s patience had run out, “what the heck? We’re standing around here chatting like nothing’s just happened. In fact, I’ve no clear idea what has just happened.” His voice rose further; if he’d been in a jokey mood I’d have told him it was verging on the petulant, but he wasn’t, so I didn’t.

  “I’d really, really like to know,” he paused, “but first, I’d better check on Ma and the baby,” and off he dashed, leaving me feeling guilty. The baby had rather slipped my mind; I’d have to watch that when I took her out, it would be awful if she ended up in Lost and Found. It was odd though, I didn’t feel anywhere near that same desperate urge to hold onto her all the time, what was all that about?

  “Not sure,” Boris answered my thought aloud “at a guess, I’d say it’s not anything you’re getting from the baby, but the change she brings about in you.” He glanced at Sam, who silently agreed. I wasn’t clear what he meant but before I could ask,

  “I think,” said Rachael, showing signs of getting back to brisk, “you’re probably right, but David has a point. This has been a trying time, all round and we need to discuss what happened while it’s fresh in our minds.”

  * * * *

  “I would never have known as early as I did, had it not been for Stella,” Ruth was sitting next to me on one of the sofas and she placed her hand over mine. “You spotted, in the middle of that dreadful show-down with Jamie, what I should have seen earlier. I hadn’t felt right for such a long time before that, drained of energy and fearful - in the true sense of the word - full of fear. I imagined all sorts of medical awfulness going on inside me, but when you said what you did, it instantly made complete and terrible sense. I was…” she paused, and we shared with her the shock of that first appalling realisation; for David, she politely put it into words, “not thrilled! In that instant, I understood there was something within me that shouldn’t have been there, and almost as swiftly I understood what it was, what it could do and worst of all, that I wasn’t the only one in trouble.” She wrapped her hands together in her lap, they were trembling and she wanted to still them, “At that point in time, my dears, I made my decision; I had to buy in, in order to bow out. And I had to do it on my own.”

  Rachael on her other side, sighed heavily, “Oh, Ruth, how could you?”

  “How could I not? The choices were stark, in truth there were no choices and I had no idea if the rest of you were at risk,” she looked at me again, “as indeed you were.”

  Rachael shifted against the cushi
ons, her agitation plain, “How on earth did you think you could possibly conceal something so dreadful for so long?”

  “And yet, Rachael, she did,” Boris spoke for the first time since we’d sat down.

  “Well, it was no walk in the park,” said Ruth, the wryness of the comment not concealing what she’d taken on, “I had to compartmentalise. Shut away my knowledge of his presence. He never knew I knew he was there. At the same time I had to deceive all of you, that was hateful, and harder. But in order to deal with him, with what he was doing to me and to others, I had to know more. Pleasant it was not, but the alternatives were worse, and I watched you all more closely than you can ever imagine,” her voice wavered; she covered it, “I watched you like an eagle.”

  “Hawk,” corrected David absently, “sorry, the journalist in me!”

  She laughed and we felt her total exhaustion, but she needed to get everything out. “I watched all of you for a sign or sense of infection, infiltration. At the same time I had to learn how he was able to do what he was doing.”

  Glory leaned forward, “But Ruth, you could have finished him - at any time.”

  “Of course I could!” Ruth’s response had echoes of Rachael’s impatience, “he wasn’t that strong, I knew that. What I did not understand was how he was able to exponentially increase what he had. I was also aware of the many others and it was their fate I held in my hand too. If I eliminated him, would I damage them, or worse still was he able to simply transfer completely into one of those minds he was already in.”

  The strain on her face was reflected across the table in Alison’s, two women sharing the impossibility of the position they’d found themselves in. Then tension was defused and that was no bad thing, by a token brisk knock on the door as it was flung open by Mrs Millsop with a tray over-burdened with sandwiches, flasks of tea, coffee, several varieties of cake and a fresh hot-water bottle to replenish Alison’s current one.