by P B Kane
Tiny droplets of moisture were tickling his skin. Then the slapping and his name: “Daniel… Daniel, please wake up.” It was a voice he recognised, a girl’s voice.
Jill.
Daniel opened his eyes and a couple of spots of rain fell on them, forcing him to blink the water away. He tried to get up, but it felt like there was a concrete slab on him. Then those same slapping hands were helping him sit upright, and he realised he’d been dragged quite a distance from the still burning town hall.
But that wasn’t the only place on fire…
As Daniel turned, he saw other buildings alight nearby, flames licking at and leaping from their frames. In fact, it seemed like the fire was hopping from structure to structure, handed on like a baton in a race.
People were milling around nearby staring into space, though some were sitting on the ground, heads in hands, crying. There was Mrs. Lacey, sobbing because her B&B was one of the buildings being consumed; Colin Finlay and his family all huddled together; Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins staring at their shop as it blazed away.
“How…How long…?” he began.
“Not very,” Jill replied, her face appearing beside him. “Are you okay?”
“I-I think so… Did everyone…?”
“Yeah, as far as we can tell, everyone got out in time. A lot of it thanks to you. I saw what happened with Weeks back there. You were so brave.”
“I tell you, if it weren’t for him, we’d all be dead. Me, Weeks. He was a genuine hero, Daniel… He was strong, brave. He got us out while the whole place was burning down around our ears. He got us out.”
Jill gave him a kiss on the cheek and he could feel his face flushing. Daniel looked instinctively around for Greg, but he was some way behind, still staring out into space.
“I froze. I mean I literally froze up: I was useless.”
Daniel felt sorry for his friend, who hadn’t been right since the confrontation with his father. Speaking of which, the big, balding man was also among those on the ground in tears.
But where was the person who’d caused all this? His eyes red, then yellow, then red, then…
Just like the flames.
Daniel took another look around him. The town was like Hell. Literally like Hell.
“John?” Daniel asked, then had a coughing fit.
Jill held him until he’d finished, and said: “We don’t know. Maybe still in there?”
If he ever was at all, thought Daniel. “I very much doubt it.”
Something brushed against his side and he jumped. A wet tongue licked his face; he put out his hand and felt fur. “Vincent! What’s he doing here?”
Jill shrugged. “He showed up not long after we got out.”
“But… Oh no,” said Daniel, clambering to get up. “Come on!”
Jill was frowning. “Where are we going?”
Daniel didn’t answer, he just pulled Jill along. They paused by their friend. “Greg? Greg…?” Jill said. He stared at them, then at his father, then at the fire.
“Come on,” urged Daniel. He didn’t have time for this. She reluctantly went with him, leaving Greg behind, but Vincent followed them both. When they were about halfway there, Jill realised where they were going. To her house.
Daniel ached all over, but shrugged it off. There was more at stake here then how he felt. The front door was already open, which explained how Vincent had got out… He’d run away from something, even though he still wasn’t back to his full strength.
When they got inside, they found Jill’s mother staring at the TV. “What happened?” she asked as they entered. “Everything just went blank.”
“Take a look out the window, Mother,” Jill said, gesturing behind her. “Half the town’s on fire.”
Daniel was already looking around, searching the living room, the kitchen. “Where’s Mikey?” he demanded.
Mrs. Sullivan looked at him vacantly, then replied: “Why, John called for him. I thought you’d be pleased. Wasn’t I meant to be minding him for John?” She looked over at her daughter, then lowered her voice. “Between you and me, sweetheart, the boy had designs on my cakes.”
“You stupid…” began Daniel, then shook his head.
“John’s the one who’s doing all this!” Jill said to her mum. “I have been trying to get that through to you!”
“Doing what? I don’t understand.” The large woman looked like she was about to burst into tears. “Have I done something wrong?”
“Let’s go,” said Daniel, grabbing Jill’s hand again. “We have to find him.” As they were on their way out again, Daniel noticed Mikey’s model of the town, pieced together, finished now and on the Sullivans’ dining table.
It was charred and flattened. Crushed by the person who had taken his brother.
“Okay, we have to find Mikey… Any ideas how?” Jill asked when they were outside.
“Actually…” said Daniel, looking down at Vincent. He bent to stroke the dog. “I know you’re not feeling great, and it’s probably the last thing you want to do in the world... But you and me have been in this together from the very start, boy, and I need you to do me a big, big favour.”
The dog looked at Daniel, and whined.
“Please, Vincent. Mikey’s in danger. He’s in so much danger right now.” Maybe it was something in Daniel’s tone, maybe the dog simply understood what he was saying, but Vincent turned and began up the road—just as the spots of rain turned into a light drizzle.
They followed the dog away from town, past the crossroads, but the glow of the fire meant that they could still see quite clearly. “Where are we going?” asked Jill, not really expecting an answer. They were going wherever Vincent was leading them, the dog stopping every now and again to sniff the air, to follow the trail.
It might have been Daniel’s imagination, but they seemed to be going up a lot of hills. They were certainly heading over countryside, the glow of the fires growing fainter and fainter as they walked. The rain continued to fall steadily, drenching them as surely as if it were a torrential downpour.
“I think we’re lost,” said Jill after a while.
“No,” Daniel told her, taking out his torch and shining it ahead of them. “No we’re not. I know exactly were we are. And I should have known to come here in the first place.”
When they crested the next rise, Vincent began to growl. “Easy boy,” said Daniel. They were getting close; had to be.
Yes. There, high up near the edge of a cliff-top, stood a figure. And he wasn’t alone.
“Mikey!” Daniel called out, breaking into a run.
“Daniel!” Jill shouted, trying to stop him. “Daniel, wait!”
The closer they came, the more they could see of both Mikey and John through the rain, holding hands. No, John was holding Mikey’s wrist. “You should listen to her,” John told him. He was still grinning that unnerving grin of his.
“I’m not afraid of you,” Daniel told him.
“I can see that.” John’s eyes flashed green… no, glowed green… then orange, then purple. “You should be.”
“We know what you are.” Jill pulled Daniel back before he could get too near.
“Oh? Quite the little detective, aren’t you? Solving the mysteries.”
“It wasn’t that difficult. But you’ve played your last trick here.”
John laughed, loud and hard, screwing up his eyes. When he opened them again, they began flashing in their multi-coloured way once more. “I’m not what you think I am, you know.”
“After everything you did back there, all for your own amusement!” This was Jill.
John cocked his head and they both recognised the action. They’d seen Miss Thickett, McLean and some of the others do it too. “I really didn’t have to do much at all. You people are very good at messing your own lives up. You see only what you want to see. All it takes sometimes is a little nudge. Love, greed, ambition…”
“Just give me back Mikey,” ordered Daniel, holding out his hand
.
“But what if he doesn’t want to come with you?” countered John, pulling the boy closer.
“Mikey, come here. Right now!”
“You’re… you’re not my dad.” Mikey said the words, but there wasn’t the sureness there this time. It was more like he was parroting lines.
“No… no, he’s not. But who is?” John patted Mikey on the head.
Daniel frowned. “What are you talking about? His dad was my dad.”
John grinned again. “Brothers, certainly. So alike, yet so different. One dark, one fair. That’s how this all started, so long ago.” He let the grin slip. “Quarrelling brothers. Like you two, we’ve had our… fallings out. Oh, so many times. So many times you wouldn’t believe it. Except this time is different. This time there’s you…” He pointed to Daniel. “And there’s him.” The finger moved down to Mikey. “Your mother does seem to have a thing for us… how shall I put it?... ‘foreign’ types.”
Daniel didn’t understand John’s words, didn’t want to. He knew who Mikey’s father was. Knew who his father was, too.
“She’s changed so, so much, though. That’s the trouble with humans: they age, they decay.” John smirked again. “But Susan… ah, now Susan.”
“I won’t ask you again.” Daniel moved forward, hand still out.
“And what do you think you’re going to do to me? The little stunt down there didn’t work, did it? Holy water? Give me a break.”
“But you didn’t like the cold, did you?” said Jill. “What’s the matter, too… frosty for you? Remind you too much of your family’s ancient enemies back where you come from?”
John cocked his head again. “You’re no giants, my dear. But touché. You’ve got a clever one here, Daniel. You should hold on to her… if you can.”
“Mikey,” Daniel reminded him.
“No, I remember the last time like it was yesterday. You were only what, about Mikey’s age here. Less?” He tugged on Mikey’s arm and the boy let out a yelp.
“Let him go.”
“He’s more mine than he is yours, boy!” John bellowed, and his words were echoed in a distant rumble of thunder. “But you. Well, you’re His. It took everything he had to stop me. Took a lot out of him… or should I say the body he’d been ‘borrowing’. Yeah, right. Like the poor sap had a choice.”
“What are you on about?” Jill asked.
But Daniel was starting to get the idea, starting to piece things together like the detective he was.
“He was a genuine hero, Daniel, and don’t let anyone else tell you different. Don’t you think any different. He wasn’t always how you remember him from the hospital, back then he was a different man. He was strong, brave.”
A different man.
So much like him. Especially before—
“It’s what killed him in the end, you know. The meat your real father took over for a while to get his kicks... Me? I prefer them already empty. Soul-less, like the arsonist Hamilton. Like this one.” He touched his own chest. “A stowaway, a drifter... literally, when he ended up in the water; pitched overboard in the storm. No one would ever miss him. I was fortunate he was nearby when I crossed over... And so was he. I gave him life beyond his own. His spirit was already gone. Well, almost.”
Daniel’s lip curled and he took another step towards John.
“I ask again, what do you think you’re going to do to me? What can you do?”
“Maybe he can’t do anything. But I can!” came a voice. They’d all been so focused on each other, on what they were saying and doing, nobody had noticed the newcomer, rushing up sideways with something in his hand. Something he plunged into John’s shoulder.
John let out a cry, but it was one of surprise rather than alarm. His eyes glowed blue, green, yellow… red, and he swatted away his attacker.
“Greg!” Jill left Daniel’s side and ran to him.
John was already pulling out the stake. He licked the tip. “Hmm, saltwater. It’s a new twist, driftwood, I’ll give you that. But you can’t hurt me with made up lore from stupid television shows.”
“Then how about this.” Daniel was close enough himself now to strike, and he brought down the needle he’d been hiding in his palm—figuring they were painful enough for anyone. Everybody hated needles, right? The end jabbed into John’s hand, the one holding Mikey, and he let out another fierce cry. Daniel grabbed Mikey and tried to wrench him away. But already John was there, clutching him again.
“You can’t have him. He’s mine. I just want a souvenir of my travels, that’s all. Something to take back with me across the bridge.”
There was another rumble of thunder, the rain beating down hard on them. A flash of lightning illuminated John’s manic stare.
Daniel reached around, delved into his bag for the only weapon he had left. He pulled it out, brandishing it at John. The “man” gave another long, deep laugh.
“Look at yourself. Just look at yourself… As if you needed any more proof, blondie.”
Daniel hesitated, then looked up at the hammer in his fist. There was a loud clap of thunder.
“Daniel, look out!” Jill warned. John was about to lash out at Daniel, topple him off his feet. But then something stopped him; a growling. Vincent’s teeth clamped on to John’s calf. He let out a cry, shaking off the collie.
Then it happened. Another flash of lightning, but this time it struck home. Struck the hammer in Daniel’s grasp, forcing it downwards, forcing it to strike John squarely in the chest as if directed somehow. Daniel felt the power flowing through him, but not harming him. Changing him.
John’s grin disappeared.
Then so did he, tumbling backwards and teetering on the very edge of the cliff. He dragged Mikey back with him, then suddenly they were gone. Over the edge.
“Mikey… no!” screamed Daniel, letting go of the hammer and dropping to his knees. His hands were out, and grasping at the spot where his brother had been only moments before.
His left hand found purchase, found a sleeve. Daniel shifted position, felt himself being pulled forwards too, pulled over. He was losing his balance, but then suddenly he himself was being lifted. Jill and Greg, each taking one of his arms, yanking him back and then helping Mikey onto the relative safety of the cliff-top while Vincent barked encouragement.
You found life. You saved a life.
The rain beat down on them all as they lay back, gasping for air.
Then Mikey crawled up Daniel and put his arms around him. Daniel sat up, clutching his brother to him, letting the boy sob into his shoulder. “It’s okay,” he told him. “It’s okay.”
He looked across at the faces of his friends, Jill and Greg, in turn. Then looked down. They were holding hands. Daniel nodded his thanks, and stroked Mikey’s hair.
“It’s okay. It’s over,” he told him. “It’s all over now.”
But he had the strangest feeling that it wasn’t in the slightest. We’ve had our… fallings out. Oh, so many times. So many times you wouldn’t believe it…
No, he didn’t think this was the end at all.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
AND OF COURSE, IT WASN’T. Not really. Nothing ever is.
Daniel knew that; somehow he’d always known it.
The rain continued to pour down even as they made their way back into town. It rained just long enough to put out all the fires. The injured were treated at the hospital, by Daniel’s mum. She’d woken from her drug-induced state, found the house empty, and made her way to her place of work as fast as possible. They’d found her there, and she’d embraced Daniel and Mikey, squeezing them so tightly. “I didn’t know what had happened to you. I think…” Tears were streaming down her face. “Everything’s in chaos. What’s happened?”
“It’s a long story,” Daniel told her. But not as long as the story she owed them. But that would be for another day. Another day years later actually, when Lorraine Routh had grown old and tired herself, and her end was near.
�
��There was a time when… I don’t know, maybe I was imagining it,” she told Daniel, who was sitting by her hospital beside that day.
“Go on,” he said.
“I don’t know. A time when your father was different… not the man I married. Am I making any sense?”
More than you could ever know.
“But then he got… well, he got sick and… there he was again.”
“It took everything he had to stop me. Took a lot out of him… or should I say the body he’d been “borrowing”. Yeah, right. Like the poor sap had a choice.”
A body his true father had taken over for a time.
“Just me being silly, I suppose. I still loved him, just as much, you know.”
“I know, Mum.” Daniel bit his lip, before venturing: “Tell me about Hamilton, Mum. Can you do that now, finally?” She’d avoided the subject for years, every time he’d brought it up. Now there was no running away from it.
“He…” Daniel’s mother was crying, and he hated to do this to her when she only had so long left, but he had to know.
“Mikey’s his, isn’t he? That guy who wound up starting the fires, the one who Dad went after and stopped.”
She nodded. “I had no idea what he was really like. He seemed so… nice. At first. To be honest I’m not even sure what happened. But, well. You know…”
Looks like “Dad” had another reason for going after him other than the obvious, thought Daniel.
He seemed so nice. Just like John. Exactly like John... because it had been him.
So many times… You wouldn’t believe. But now there’s you. And there’s him.
Couldn’t stand it that he had something you didn’t, could you?
“You need to tell Mikey,” Daniel said to her. “He has a right to know.” And she had, but it changed things forever between them. Though that was another story.
Shorepoint had rebuilt itself after the fires, the community coming back stronger than ever. The funny thing was, after a day or so, nobody could even remember John. Though the bay between the Clown’s Feet was searched, they could find no evidence of John’s body—although they did see the tail end of a pretty spectacular rainbow the morning following the storms.