by Willow Mason
The answer didn’t sit well. “So, as long as he’s around me, Lucas will keep losing chunks of his memory?”
“Unless you stop doing anything supernatural around him,” Maisie said while Syd inched closer to the gaping hole in reality. “Or have any other supernatural creatures do anything near him.” She scrunched up her face. “Actually, it’ll be pretty much impossible to avoid.”
“Some humans are more susceptible than others,” Syd said as he retreated from the vortex, rubbing his forehead. “Lucas has been fine up until now, but whatever this thing is gave him a pretty bad case.”
“You knew?”
His eyes darted away from my face as he shrugged. “Sure. It’s why I try to keep Louise from giving him the supernatural callouts. The trouble is, he’s smart enough to know we’re keeping something from him and keeps finding new ways to get around us. If he was thicker, or lazier, you’d never have met him at all.”
Tears built up behind my eyes and I gulped to keep them falling. “Where does the vortex lead?” I asked, trying to distract myself from the disturbing news.
“Goodness knows.” Syd pulled a torch from his belt and ventured closer again, shining the beam inside.
“You did have a light!”
“We didn’t need it. You can see more if your eyes adjust than we can with a bright light shining.”
As he snapped the torch off, I had to agree. A large bubble of green and purple flashes hung in my vision, forcing me to close my eyes and count down again.
“I can’t see anything in there,” Syd said. “If the passenger fell into the hole, he’s long gone.”
“Have you seen vortexes… vortai… things like this before?”
“Not for a long time. Once, a young warlock discovered how to rip holes through space and time, but he made tiny ones and only used it to steal other kids pocket money.” He put his hands on his hips, pursing his lips. “Nothing like this.”
Maisie ventured a tad closer. “It’s making a weird sound.”
I tilted my head to one side, holding my breath to hear better. The noise emanating from the hole was soft, a rhythmic thump almost in time with my heartbeat. When my heartbeat wasn’t going a mile a minute, that was. “It sounds alive.”
“Maybe it’s the mouth to a gargantuan space creature.”
“No teeth,” Syd said in his matter-of-fact voice, failing to dispel the awful thought from my head.
Now my eyes had adjusted fully, I could see a faint glow coming from farther along the track. I presumed luminescent paint enhanced the creepiness of the puppets and mechanical frights presented along the ride. As I ventured a few steps forward, keeping strictly to the side opposite the great hole, I scratched a few flakes of pixie dust from my scalp. Just in case.
“He must have leapt out of his seat to get across to the vortex,” I observed while standing opposite. Never good with right and left, I held out my hands to check and compared them against my memory of the train as Lucas waved goodbye. “The hole was on Lucas’s side, so the man must have jumped across him.”
“That might explain how he ended up unconscious,” Syd said. “And why he had a nosebleed before you took care of that for him.”
I blushed at the thought of using my magic to muddy up a crime scene. Oops. Must try harder.
“It’s hard to think about what would make a man so eager to jump.” My eyes crept to the vortex, flicking away when the whirling inside made me giddy. “There’s nothing attractive about it to me.”
“Someone screamed,” Maisie pointed out. “Fair enough if that was Lucas getting a boot to the face, but what if it was the man being…” She broke off and shrugged. “I don’t know. Sucked in or something.”
My foot kicked against a stone and I bent to pick it up. I tossed it over the side of the vortex, tilting my head to pick up any resulting sound. Nothing.
“What are you thinking?” Syd asked with his eyes narrowed. “Tell me.”
“Just that someone might’ve been standing on the other side to drag him through. Someone’s more likely to scream when they’re fighting than through being kicked. But it doesn’t sound like there’s anything to stand on over there.”
Syd turned to Maisie. “You’re ephemeral. Do you want to poke your head in and take a look?”
“No, I most certainly do not! Just because I’m a ghost doesn’t mean you get to kill me.”
“But if you’re already dead, what harm could it do?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“Do I look like I’m dead? I’m moving. I’m thinking.”
It was hard to answer in the affirmative when her entire form wavered before my eyes like thinning fog.
“My original body might be six feet under, but my spirit is alive and kicking, thank you very much. I mightn’t have a lot of mass to me, but it’s a lot more than nothing.”
“We could throw something heavy into it,” Syd suggested. “Like an anchor with a rope attached. If the rope goes slack, that means it’s landed somewhere.”
“Good luck finding it, afterwards,” Maisie said with a sniff. “That thing could lead to a thousand different worlds.”
“A camera on the end would tell us.” I clapped my hands together in excitement. “We could turn it on and watch from a connected computer while it travels into the unknown.”
“A great unknown with free wifi?”
I arched an eyebrow at Maisie, unwilling to concede the point. “Then we’ll just have to pull it back through to see what it’s recorded. It mightn’t work, but it’s worth a shot.”
“It is,” Syd agreed. “I’ll call through to Louise to sort out the arrangements. In the meantime, I’m going to rope off the perimeter to keep people from wandering in here accidentally. This ghost train is closed for business.”
Maisie sped straight through the wall, disappearing to light and freedom. Syd shot me a conspiratorial glance and chuckled. “I guess we can’t ask her to monitor the hole while we’re outside.”
I opened my mouth to say, “Guess not,” when invisible arms closed around me. An invisible hand clamped over my mouth as I was dragged backwards, into the vortex, unable to even yell.
Chapter Three
I thumped onto a hardwood floor, setting my shoulder alight with pain. With a groan, I twisted over to my knees, gradually gaining altitude. My eyes narrowed at the influx of sunlight, watering at the intrusion.
For long minutes, I’d been dragged through a void of space, my mind reeling from an overload of panic and fear. Now, I shuffled backwards, not trusting my legs to hold me steady, but happy to use them as propellers to shove me away from the centre of the room.
The vortex might end close to where I sat, but there was no sign of it. As my eyes adjusted to the light, all I saw was a boring room. Wooden floors, plastered walls, and a featureless ceiling. The space was empty of furniture—the plainest room I’d ever seen.
“Who’s there?” I called out, mindful that whoever had pulled me into the vortex hadn’t been visible. They could be standing right beside me now and I wouldn’t know. After a few moments passed with no reply, I amended my question to, “Is someone there?”
I struggled to my feet and shuffled towards the only door, keeping my back pressed against the wall. When I finally fumbled the handle open and staggered outside, I gave a huge sigh of relief.
The vortex had been dreadful. The invisible arms were scary. The journey through the strange wormhole had terrified me. But now I was standing in the back yard of an empty house, apparently safe and sound.
Not taking any chances, I walked farther across the lawn before turning to survey the property from the safety of the footpath. Two-storied, made from a mix of shale and timber. Attractive if you liked that kind of thing, which I did not. Not any longer.
My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out, relieved to see a text from Rosie asking if I was okay. Feeling astonished that the answer was yes, I quickly texted back, then took a picture of the house and asked her
where it was.
“It’s on the edge of town,” Rosie texted back. “And empty. You should be safe to shelter in there until we come to get you.”
I wasn’t going back in the single room in case the vortex reversed and sucked me back through, so I tried the front door to the house. It swung open, revealing a comfortable kitchen with a rustic feel. After a few seconds on the threshold, listening for any residents, I called out, “Hello?”
There was no answer, but I hesitated, unwilling to enter another person’s property, even if they didn’t live there right now. A breaking twig caught my attention, and I pelted for the corner of the house, pressing myself flat against the wall before twisting my head around the side to look.
A teenage girl was bent over in the undergrowth near the back fence. Long straggly hair had been dyed black, a vastly different shade to her mousy eyebrows but matched to every inch of her clothing. She was fiddling in her backpack; a task made more difficult by the enormous smartphone clutched in one hand.
“Hello?” I called out.
The girl froze for a second, then jumped to her feet and pelted towards a line of poplar trees bordering the property. She ducked behind one slender trunk while her eyes flicked in a dozen directions, skipping straight over me without seeing.
A minute later, she ran along the treeline and into dense bushes, disappearing.
I waited for a while, then shrugged and returned to the front door. With no one answering my next shout, I followed Rosie’s advice and stepped inside.
A stale air of disuse greeted me. Marble counters gleamed, shot through with such intricate veining, it seemed a travesty they went unused. Hot and cold taps were coated in dust and the sink was bone dry.
I perched on the edge of a sofa, hoping the twins would come to my rescue soon. A small cloud of dust puffed up when I sat, catching in my throat so I coughed, then sneezed.
To my horror, footsteps pounded up from a lower floor, throwing the door to the room open before I could get to my feet.
“Intruder!” the man shouted, a black cape billowing around his shoulders. He raised a long sword and brandished it above his head. “You’ll pay the price for—”
He broke off, scanning me from head to toe while his fierce expression calmed. “Oh, you’re a pixie.”
“Y-yes,” I stuttered while scrambling to my feet on legs made from jelly. My eyes were fastened on the glinting blade held above his head. It could cut a man in two with one swipe.
“Don’t worry,” the man said, lowering the sword and trying to conceal it behind his back. Considering the weapon was at least a metre long, it was a vain pursuit. “My name’s Leo and this is my house.”
“Nice to meet you, Leo,” I said in rote politeness as my feet shuffled towards the door. “I’m sorry to have bothered you. Someone told me it would be okay to wait here for a ride home.”
“You’re no bother,” Leo replied with a wide grin and twinkling eyes. “It’s been a long time since a pixie came to visit.” He chuckled as he tossed the sword into the basement and closed the connecting door. “Thought you were teenagers. They’re always bothering me out here.”
“Teenagers?” Although my pulse slowed a little now the blade was out of sight, I wasn’t tracking at one hundred percent. “Do they live here?”
“No, just me.” He swept an arm across the small expanse of the living room and kitchen. “Although, I confess I don’t get up here much. Still, it’s no reason for kids to break in and treat it like a love shack.”
The thought set off alarm bells. Love shack? A whole new level of threat presented itself.
“I’d better be going,” I said, moving towards the exit with a firmer step. “Sorry to intrude on you.”
“Nonsense.” Leo smoothed a stray lock of hair back into place, the slick black strands gelled to within an inch of their lives. “It’s so seldom I get actual guests I must insist you stay for tea. I have a wide variety of different blends. Some exotic and some grown right in my back yard.”
“It’s very kind,” I said, the beginning of any polite decline. “But—”
“No buts.” Leo held up his hand and scurried to the sink, magicking a kettle out of somewhere on the way. “You’re staying for a cup of tea and maybe a biscuit and that’s that.”
A flash of movement caught my eye as Syd ran past the door, head swivelling back and forth. With Leo’s back turned toward the sink, I gave a wave to the officer. To my great relief, he saw me and knocked on the door.
“More guests!” Rather than sound alarmed at the thought of a uniformed policeman showing up on his doorstep, Leo appeared delighted. “Come in, come in. Are you two together? You make a cute couple.”
“No,” Syd and I said in unison.
“Ah. Touched a nerve, have I?” Leo fussed in a cupboard, pulling out an array of different jars and cannisters and lining them up on the marble counter. “Now, you must pick your favourite. I can’t decide for you. Tea is such an individual experience.”
“Really, I—”
Once again, Leo cut me off, this time with a wave of his hand. “I’ve said nothing about trespass and if you’re a guest of mine, I wouldn’t dare accuse you of such a thing.”
My face turned pale at the implied threat, but Syd leapt to my defence. “Hard to call it trespass when the general knowledge in Oakleaf Glade is that this house is abandoned.”
“Obviously, since I’m living here, it isn’t.” Leo hummed to himself as he pulled a jar out of the line-up and replaced it farther along the queue. “Now, which do you prefer?”
“Can you prove ownership?” Syd pulled his phone out and tapped into a branded police app. “Before anyone talks about trespass, we’d need to establish that.”
“Don’t be silly. Put your phone away and choose your refreshment. I don’t have all day.” Leo turned his face to me, still alight with pleasure at the unexpected company, and tittered. “Actually, I do. I have days and days and days with absolutely nothing to do.”
“Except chase people with swords,” I said in a dry voice.
Syd’s back stiffened. “That’s a far worse offence than an accidental trespass,” he said to Leo. “We can’t have homeowners waving swords about or someone’s liable to get injured.”
“Wait. Stop.” Leo held his hands up while his features rearranged into a hurt expression. “It appears we’ve got off on the wrong foot here. Hi, my name’s Leo, and I’m delighted to have a pixie inside my residence.”
He held out his hand and I couldn’t help but shake it. Charm oozed off him like the gel oozed off his slick hair.
“Ooh.” Leo pulled his hand back and stared at the palm, enraptured. “Looks like you left me a little present.”
I stared at my palm, remembering too late I’d scratched some pixie dust off when we were in the tunnel. It seemed a long time ago but was probably only ten minutes.
“You’ll feel a bit drunk for a while,” I warned him. “The effects wear off quickly.”
“Not on me, they don’t, dear.” Leo’s smile grew even broader, revealing a set of extending fangs. “Vampires react differently.”
“You’re a vampire?” I said, so shrill I hurt my own ears. “How are you able to walk around in bright daylight?”
Leo gave a disparaging shake of his head. “That’s nothing but hurtful rumours. I’m perfectly fine going around during the daytime; it’s just I prefer to come out at night.”
I was fascinated. “Do all vampires wear black capes?”
“Only the most refined.” Leo pulled at his collar and tilted his head to one side. “Into which category I definitely belong.”
“Stop showing off,” Syd admonished. “Instead of offering us tea, how about telling me why you’ve got a vortex terminating in your side room?”
“Oh, that.” Leo sniffed, still staring in wonder at his palm. “It’s been there since long before I took possession of the house. The seller warned me to stay out of there, and I do.” He frowned. “Is
that where you came from?”
“It’s where I did,” I said, surprised to hear Syd admit to the same. “How did the vortex get you too?”
“It didn’t. Rosie got a message you’d popped up in this house, so I jumped through the opening. Figured it’d be the quickest way to ensure you were safe.”
My mouth dropped wide open. “You could’ve been killed.”
“Are you insulting my abilities? What makes you think I’d be killed when you came through just fine?”
“Nothing. But I wouldn’t jump into some portal going goodness-knows-where without a signed assurance in triplicate I’d end up okay.”
“Police officers don’t need that stuff. Especially supernatural ones.”
“You know I’m still sitting right here,” Leo complained. “It’s rude to carry on a conversation that excludes me.”
“It’s rude to wave swords about,” Syd growled, earning an appreciative laugh from me.
“I’ve already explained, I thought she was a teenager.”
“Which doesn’t make it any better.”
“They come in here, mucking up my house just because someone made a bet they wouldn’t last through the night,” Leo grumbled. “What’s wrong with me protecting my property?”
“Nothing. But try a burglar alarm first next time, okay?”
Syd had been moving closer to the door with each sentence and now had his hand on the doorknob. I quickly followed his lead, making it outside onto the lawn with a grateful leap.
“Thanks for the offer of tea,” I said, with forced politeness. “I might take you up on it another time.” A bald-faced lie.
“I won’t be offering you another time,” Leo said, wrinkling his nose. “Not unless you plan on bringing me another helping of pixie dust. That always goes down a treat.”
“Not likely,” I muttered under my breath.
“Vampires have very good hearing,” Leo called out after me. “It might be worth your while to remember that in future.”
I pulled a face at Syd, who burst out laughing. “Don’t worry. For all Leo’s talk of being A-okay with sunlight, I don’t think he’ll follow us. He won’t die like the old human legends, but after a few minutes of seeing what happens to him, you’ll wish he would.”