THE REAPER'S SCYTHE: THE LOCI CHRONICLES BOOK 1

by L P PATERSON

  "Only when you're ready Audrey." he said.

  "I'm ready." I replied. And I was. I was ready to help him. He needed me and I would help him to find the scythe and then I could go home.

  "Just touch the mark." he said.

  The Time Master cackled again and rubbed his hands together. A grin crossed his face. "This is going to be fun." he said. "Touch the mark Loci." I was confused.

  "What are you talking about?" I asked. Before either could answer I felt a tingling on my neck and I lifted my hand to rub at my birthmark. As my fingers touched my skin a searing pain burned through my neck and flared out to my head and arms. Within seconds my whole body felt as if it was on fire. But it seemed that within the fire were millions of tiny red, hot needles which were diligently stabbing at me while the fire raged and burned. I screamed. At the same time the old man, who only a few minutes ago seemed so sympathetic, cackled and clapped. Cymon stood watching. I saw worry in his eyes and also fear. And I knew that when this was over, I was going to kill him.

  And then the room went blank. Everything was gone and I was looking into a white mist. The pain still had a hold of me but it was subdued. I strained to see through the mist wondering if Cymon and the Time Master were hidden within it. Then I heard someone call my name. My mother’s voice. The mist cleared to reveal an image of me at about the age of nine pulling out a chair to sit at the kitchen table. My mother placed a plate of food in front of me and I started to fork food into my mouth. She smoothed my hair, the same colour as her own and kissed me on the head before returning to the stove. My father was standing in the corner of the room and was having a heated discussion with Mr Peters.

  "No one is touching my daughter." I heard my father say. I saw my mother move to stand next to Mr Peters.

  "Lionel." she said. "It is for the best. She won't remember anything and she will be safe. "My father shook his head but did not say anything further. "And..." my mother continued, "all the writings are here. If she ever needs them, which I'm sure she won't, they will be here. They are safely packed away up in the loft." My father shook his head and left the kitchen. My mother went to follow him but Mr Peters stopped her and went after my father instead.

  Then the mist descended again. It seemed thinner this time and almost instantly another image replaced the first. This time I saw a tall woman walking quickly towards the gate of what I recognised as my house. Her long straight skirt and the small hat pulled tightly over her red curls indicated a period in time which was long past. Siblings never occurred in my family so I knew she must be a direct ancestor but I did not know which one.

  The image followed her into the house and once inside she charged upstairs to the landing, pulled the loft ladder and climbed into the loft. The loft was packed with boxes and trunks of all sizes. She opened a large silver trunk, the inside of which was lined with a blue velvety material and on this material was drawn numbers and equations of all sorts. I guess maths really did run in my mother’s family. The woman placed a small leather-bound book inside and quickly closed the trunk again. The mist swirled and descended a few more times. Each time it showed another red-haired young woman, all of them putting something in that trunk.

  Then the mist lifted to show our house again. But this time the house looked as if it had been only recently built. The black slates on the roof shone as they were hit by the bright sun and the wooden window frames gleamed white. There was a pretty flower garden at the front instead of the block paved driveway that I was used to. A young couple stood just inside the garden gate staring at the house. The wide grins on their faces and their bright eyes told me they were the new owners. The young man held a chubby baby who was squirming in his arms eager to practice its walking skills. The woman stretched out her hand to soothe the baby and I saw a deep purple stain on her left wrist.

  "Why don't you go inside dear." she said. "I just want to look a little longer."

  " Alright darling." the man replied. "But don't stay out here too long Agatha."

  "I won't." she said. She watched him go inside the house. Then she turned and looked me straight in the eye.

  "I know you are there." she said. "I cannot see you very clearly but I can feel you." I tried to swallow but my throat had suddenly turned into a dessert. Cymon had said that we couldn't interact with what we saw, so how was she seeing and talking to me?

  "Have you come to kill me?" she asked. "Because if you have, I will kill you first." She said this very casually as she bent to pick some flowers from the garden. "And if you have come for my daughter, I will kill you again." She stood to look at me, squinting maybe to avoid the glare of the sun or maybe to try to see me clearer. Her hair was a slightly darker red than mine but her eyes were not green like mine or my mothers. They were a deep blue. I was looking at my several times removed great grandmother Agatha. And she wanted to kill me.

  I opened my mouth to speak. To blurt out everything and tell her who I was and all that was happening to me. But nothing came out. There was no voice to carry the words from my mouth. But she had said that she could feel me. So I allowed all my emotions; all the anger, the fear, the worry to radiate from me towards her. I channelled all the love I had for my mother, for the family stories that she had constantly drummed into my head. I embraced the journey that I was on with Cymon, my bewilderment and confusion of the world I had been thrown into. My terror of the crazy Horseman War and the angel Gabrielle. And lastly my need to know who I was in this world and how to access my powers.

  She closed her eyes briefly and her hand quickly scraped across her cheek as she wiped at something. "I wish I could see you clearly." she whispered. Then she laughed. "At least I know we survive for a little while longer. I can't believe it has taken so long for another Loci to be born though." she said. "Do you know it's extremely rare, almost impossible for two Loci's to exist together. One must die before another can be born. That's why you never get a mother and daughter Loci pair. I'm obviously dead in your time of course, I mean there is almost two hundred years between us." she said. "It doesn't normally take this long though. Not this many generations." I could see that she was deep in her thoughts so I reigned in my feelings. "I guess there aren't many things being lost in the world anymore." she laughed. "Apart from scythes of course."

  I couldn't answer her so I waited. "Alright Audrey." Agatha said. "Here is some advice for you. Bertran’s bar is a safe place. If you need help, you can usually find it there. Rogier may look like a mean bastard, but he has been hurt and is probably still hurting even in your time. Love can do that to you. He is fair and those who enter his bar respect that." I wondered who had broken Rogier's heart and prayed that it hadn't been Agatha. I then wondered just how old Rogier was.

  "The four Horsemen are terrifying and powerful, but again they are fair." she continued. "But don't go looking for fairness Audrey. Stay away from the Horsemen. They practically rule our world and they decide on how that fairness is distributed. And it is not always nice." I pretty much knew that one already but I nodded anyway even though she could barely see me.

  "And finally Audrey, and this is the most important" she said and I saw her take a deep breath "Don't fuck with Angels."

  My eyes bulged as these words dropped from Agatha's mouth. My ears burned as I looked at her with a new level of respect. I did not know such words were in use in her time and I lowered my head in shame as my great grandmother used it so freely.

  "They are on a totally different plane to the rest of us." she continued "And they can kill you with a thought. If you think the Horsemen are bad, multiply that by a thousand and you still don't have a fraction of an angel’s power. By the way are you good with numbers? All Loci's are you know. It’s how we find things." She was rambling. "Dates, times, coordinates. You know, that kind of stuff. Angles, degrees, latitudes and longitudes. They all fly through our head so fast we don't even know we're calculating but somehow a path to the object or artefact or whatever is missing is drawn in our mind." she frown
ed. "Are you good at mathematics Audrey?" she asked. I let her know that I was very good with numbers and a smile spread across her face.

  "I am so glad to hear that Audrey. That means that you are more powerful than you know. Well I guess that's about it." Agatha said.

  No. This can't be it. I might be super powerful, according to Agatha, but I still didn't know how to unlock those powers or how to use them. I shook my head in denial. I radiated this new query to her. "Oh don't worry about that" she said "It might hurt a little bit but you'll be fine. Now Audrey. Wake up!" and she knelt down and slapped her hand three times on the bare earth of the ground. The three slaps sounded like three sonic booms in my head and instantly the intense pain returned and my head exploded in agony.

  It was like looking at a very old and very long piece of film. I saw reel after reel of information. Women from all eras and all of them ancestors of mine. Not all were Locis but they all ensured that the knowledge and information of the Loci was stored and passed on to the next generation so that the next Loci to be born would be prepared. And all of that information was now in my head. The mist descended and Agatha was gone.

  CHAPTER 11

  I fell to the ground exhausted. The pain had gone and now I felt shivers racking through me as my body tried to recalibrate itself after what it had just been through. My head felt swollen as if the new information and knowledge were taking up too much space. I curled into myself hugging my knees to my chest to try and reduce the shivering. I felt a cool hand on my forehead and someone lifting and carrying me, although I did not want anyone touching me, I was too weak to even flinch. Slowly the shaking eased and I was able to relax and stretch once more.

  "What did you see?" asked Cymon. I looked around the room. I was sitting in the Time Master's chair and Cymon was squatting in front of me. The Present Time Master was standing just behind him and was looking at me intently. I was glad that the Past Time Master was nowhere in sight, that cackling old fool was painful to see and to hear. A slight smile drifted across the Time Master's face and I wondered if I had voiced my thoughts.

  "I saw everything. I think." I answered Cymon. A heavy sigh escaped him and I saw his head bow in relief. But I worried that his relief might be short lived. I had seen a lot and Agatha had somehow shown me more, and she had caused everything to transfer into my head. If I had been locked before I truly believed that I was now unlocked and wide open. But I still did not know how to access my so-called powers. I did not know how to magic up a pathway to Cymon's scythe. I did not want to let him down but I had to tell him the truth. I still had no idea where his scythe was or how to find it. And now looking at him, he seemed even paler than before.

  "I saw images of my family Cymon. Well my mother’s ancestors anyway. I think that all the information I need is in the loft of my house. I saw a storage trunk and everything is in there I believe." I took a deep breath. “I also saw Agatha. She was the last Loci and she went missing. No one knew what happened to her."

  "Was her body ever found? Was she buried?" asked the Time Master.

  "You should know." I flung back at him. "You are a master of time after all."

  "Ahh yes. But present time only. I do not have all the memories of Past or Future. Not all the while anyway." he said.

  I turned back to Cymon. "Cymon. I don't know where your scythe is and I don't know how to find it. I thought that I would be able to just... know, but there is nothing. I'm sorry." I reached out to him, but he instantly jerked back out of my reach. I lowered my hand slowly, upset that my sympathy had been rejected.

  "It will come Audrey." he said. "It happens differently for everyone. If you saw the last Loci then the knowledge transfer happened. It just takes time."

  "I have the knowledge." I stated a little louder and more abrasive than I intended. I was still annoyed at his rejection of my sympathy.

  "Then it will come. You will understand how to use your power." said Cymon.

  "Erm. Not exactly." said the Time Master. "You may have a problem." Both Cymon and I turned slowly to look at him, our eyes questioning. If anyone told me that I had gone through all of this for nothing then something or someone was going to get damaged.

  "Two Locis never exist at the same time." The Time Master continued. "You say that your ancestor went missing. A body was never found?"

  I nodded my head in answer. "Yes. She went missing in 1850. Over one hundred and sixty years ago. No one knows what happened to her."

  "Well." he continued. "If there was no body found, then she may still be alive. That might explain why you cannot fully access your powers."

  I rolled my eyes as discretely as possible. I was still very aware that I was at the bottom of the hierarchy. "It was over 160 years ago." I repeated. Did they really expect me to believe that Agatha was still alive?

  Cymon stood and started pacing. I decided I was not getting drawn into a conversation about a woman who was clearly long dead possibly still being alive. I stood up from the chair and somehow my feet left the floor. I felt a wetness soak through me drenching my clothes and my body was suddenly ice cold. As I looked towards Cymon I saw his eyes open in wonder and his mouth drop open. The Time Master meanwhile looked at me strangely with eyes closed to slits as he repeatedly rubbed his chin. They were both blurred as if I looked at them through water. I opened my mouth to speak and gasped as I felt water rushing down my throat. Stinking, dirty, acrid tasting water. I coughed and wretched, desperately trying to clear my throat of the foul water. What the hell was happening to me? I was floating in the middle of a dry room and yet water was rushing into my mouth and soaking my clothes. I snapped my mouth shut only to feel my chest tighten and begin to burn as my air ran out. My clothes began to bubble and billow out as a layer of something pushed out from beneath them and I saw my hair floating in front me. I realised I was drowning and prayed that the little oxygen in my body would last until this nightmare was over.

  And then as suddenly as it had started it was over. Gravity returned and I dropped in a heap to the floor coughing and spluttering as I gasped for air. Everything around me was dry including my clothes and hair. I still had the horrible taste of dirty water in my mouth and longed to spit and clear it, but I dared not offend the Time Master or the clean white room.

  "What did you see?" asked Cymon.

  "I didn't see anything. I just swallowed a mouthful of horrible dirty water." I answered.

  "I think you need to head for the river." said a tiny voice. I looked up to see the little child once more. The young man was gone. I turned to Cymon while the little boy skipped around the room. His energy seemed endless.

  "What is he talking about?" I asked Cymon.

  "It seemed that you were floating in water Audrey. And you say that you swallowed some." he said. "I agree with the Time Master. We should head towards the Thames. It will bring us closer to my scythe."

  "Yes." said the child as he clapped his hands excitedly and his over white clothes blinded me. "Head for the Thames. You could use the Gates. And watch out for the death risers." he said as his grey eyes bored into mine. "They are after you Audrey."

  Great. Just bloody great!

  CHAPTER 12

  Cymon had decided to inform Rogier of what had happened inside the time sphere. I preferred to wait outside in the car park. I could sense that Rogier had not forgiven me for the incident with Gabrielle and I didn't want to be under his scrutiny. I also didn't see why he needed to be told anything. It was my 'unlocking' and my family's past that were being exposed. Why did Rogier need to know about it?

  I leaned back against one of the cars folding my arms and crossing my ankles to make myself comfortable. Luckily no alarm went off. I supposed that supernaturals or paranormals or immortals or whatever they called themselves didn't need security measures such as car alarms.

  We had just under nine hours left and I was eager to continue the search. Cymon was taking too long inside and this was hindering my return home. I desperately wanted to ch
eck the loft to see if there was a silver trunk up there and what was in it. Although I now had centuries of Loci memories inside my head, I had no idea how to find things on demand. It was random and dangerous. I was experiencing things that I'm sure I wouldn't need to if I knew how to use the powers which I supposedly had. What if Cymon's scythe was buried fifty feet below ground? I shivered as I tried to banish the thought of fifty feet of cold heavy dirt pressing down on me.

  A breeze blew through the lot. It was the middle of summer but I suddenly felt cold. Really cold. I shivered again as the feeling of icy fingers seeped into my bones and as I breathed in the cold air stung the inside of my nose. A darkness descended on the car park and I saw the silvery figure of a man detach from the shadows. I opened my mouth to scream for Cymon but all that came out were wispy threads of mist. The man's lips drew back and his long sharp teeth were exposed in a grotesque smile. He wore silvery white jeans which were matched with an off - white hoodie. The hood was pulled up making dark shadows form on his pale face. He walked towards me and I shrank back against the car. I was cornered.

  "Well well Loci." he said. "It looks like you've found yourself alone." He smiled that grotesque smile again and my mind flashed back to the revenant. This man was not hideous to look at but something about him made me feel uncomfortable. I had the niggling feeling that he meant me harm. His pale skin reminded me of Cymon and I wondered if he was a reaper. But he wore white. All the reapers that I had seen so far wore black. I also did not see a scythe. I looked at his ears, neck and wrists, everywhere that a piece of jewellery may be hanging, but I saw nothing.

  "You won't find the Reaper's scythe. You should give up now and go home. I know you want to go home." he said. How did he know about Cymon's scythe? Who was he? His voice was melodic. It seemed that he slowly sung the words instead of speaking them. My eyelids suddenly felt heavy and I fought to keep my eyes open. He smiled again and his teeth looked even sharper up close. I wondered again what he might be. Maybe he was a vampire. I pulled my head back trying to put space between us but he just pushed his face closer.