by David J Howe
‘You touched it, and then went rigid … Then I panicked and ran at you, knocking you away.’
Kate shook her head. It was hard to remember what had happened herself. She had just a blur of being somewhere else, and of seeing something … but then nothing.
She looked at Cavendish sitting on her. ‘Would you mind?’
He smiled and got up, then helped her up. Kate brushed herself down, and looked at the statue.
‘I don’t know what that thing is, but I’m not touching it again! Let’s get back inside.’
They made their way back into the cottage, while the statue sat on the lawn. Immobile. Waiting.
8
Meet the Ghost
The night can be very long when you spend it either sitting on a chair, or lying on a sofa.
As dawn broke, Kate stretched and uncurled from the sofa where she had slept. Across the room, Cavendish stirred in his favourite armchair. He rubbed his eyes and looked around the room.
‘Oh my back,’ said Kate, groaning. ‘I hate sleeping on a couch.’
She looked at Cavendish. ‘At least nothing else happened … did it?’
‘I don’t think so.’
Cavendish cocked his head and listened. ‘The voices in my head. They’re not there.’
‘When I touched the statue, someone was saying that they didn’t need you anymore.’
‘What did they look like?’
Kate thought a moment. ‘I only got a glimpse … deformed … twisted … that was enough!’
‘Not our ghost then,’ said Cavendish.
‘No … this was someone else.’
‘Remember yesterday? We saw the ghost and he seemed to be trying to talk to us. He does that a lot.’
Cavendish curled back up on his chair. ‘I think he’s following me. Stalking me. I can’t make it stop. I can’t …’
Kate interrupted him: ‘Douglas. We’ll have a proper look around. For starters, what’s through that door? A basement?’
Kate left the room and stood by the locked door.
‘I don’t know … that is, I’ve never been down there … it’s locked.’
‘I know it’s locked. Where’s the key?’
Cavendish looked at the ground. ‘I … I threw it away.’
Kate looked at Cavendish, exasperated. ‘Why did you do that?’
‘I don’t … I just want it to stop.’
Kate shot Cavendish a look. ‘Then we’ve got to find out what’s happening here. Look, before that ghost appeared, there was some sort of mist coming from under this door. There was a mist around the statue, and in that … that other place I went to.’
‘Do you think they’re connected?’
Kate cocked her head to one side with a What do you think expression on her face.
‘We really need to see what’s on the other side of the door.’
Kate thought a moment, then headed off down the hall towards the front door.
‘I’m going outside to see if I can find some tools, or maybe another way under the cottage. It should be safe enough now it’s daylight. Will you be OK?’
Cavendish just stood looking at her and after a moment nodded. ‘Yes. I’ll be fine.’
Kate paused with her hand on the front door, then, after a moment, returned to the living room and picked the leather-bound book up off the table.
‘Just in case, eh?’ she said with a smile.
Then taking the book she headed off outside.
Left alone, Cavendish took a deep breath and, looking at the spirits and glasses on his side table, wondered idly if it was too early for a shot. His eyes moved to a calendar on the table. It was October 31 … All Hallows’ Eve.
He shuddered, and went to sit back down again. His eyes caught his own reflection in a mirror hanging on the wall, and he paused, looking into his own eyes.
He looked tired. Tired and unshaven.
He yawned and ran his hand over his bristles. Nothing that a good hot bath and a shave wouldn’t cure.
He was about to sit down again, when there was movement elsewhere in the mirror, and Cavendish found himself looking at the ghostly man.
Cavendish whirled around, but the room was empty, There was no-one there.
He turned again and looked back in the mirror, but the ghost was still there …
A panicked expressed crossed Cavendish’s face, but the ghost spoke, and this time Cavendish could hear him.
‘No, don’t run. Please don’t run. Can you hear me?’
Cavendish swallowed. There appeared to be no immediate threat.
‘Yes,’ his voice cracked as he spoke. ‘Yes. I can hear you. But …’
‘There’s no time,’ said the ghost quickly. ‘It’s the mirror, reflects and conserves power. I’m trapped, trapped in time … you have to help me … us.’
‘Help you? How?’
‘I know you think you caused all this, but you’re not to blame. Trust me.’
‘Trust you?’
Cavendish looked at his own reflection again, and back to the ghost standing behind him.
‘I’m really cracking up now,’ he said to himself.
‘There isn’t much time,’ said the ghost, ‘you have to listen.’
‘Okay,’ said Cavendish. ‘I’m listening.’
‘I come from the future,’ the ghost said. ‘Your future. And Hell is on Earth. A powerful faction of revolutionaries called the Sodality seized power. They’ll kill anyone who stands in their way. They’re committed to control and corruption. They use the science of an ancient race of beings called Dæmons, and they’re unstoppable.’
‘But who are you?’
‘In my era, we were called “Time Channellers”. With the aid of our Time Sensitive companions, we roamed history. But the Sodality killed me, destroyed me with psionic power. Now I have only this wretched half-existence, living in the past times I have visited. But it’s not all lost.
‘This time – this day – is key. It’s a crucial nexus point. With your help, we can frustrate the Sodality’s plans and start to give the future a chance.’
Cavendish shook his head. This was a lot to take in. ‘But you said this Sodality controlled the future?’
‘There are key moments where conditions are right to summon the Dæmons themselves. They’ve opened portals back through time. That’s where they’ll gain the greatest power of all.
‘There are other Time Channellers, people like me who can avert the death of the future before it becomes irreversible.’
Cavendish looked at the image of the ghost in wonder. ‘Am I one? Am I a Time Channeller?’
The ghost looked sadly at Cavendish. ‘No,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘No. You’re a vessel, someone weak and broken enough to be controlled by the Sodality. They used you to help open the way, but it’s not too late!’
‘What can I … we … do?’
The ghost looked around. ‘I need the book. It has power we can use.’
‘Kate took it. She …’
At that moment there was a loud scream. Kate was in trouble. Cavendish turned from the mirror, and the ghost faded from sight.
9
Doubles
Kate left the house, and with a wary glance at the statue, which was still in the same place on the front lawn as it had been last night, headed round the back towards the garage of curiosities. Maybe there was something there which would help her get the door open. After all, a garage was where you kept tools, wasn’t it?
She opened the door, flicked on the dim light and stood for a moment looking at the clutter.
She placed the book safely down on one of the shelves, and started to sort through the rubbish, hoping to see something she recognised.
There was a familiar creaking, grinding noise from outside, and Kate looked up. There was nothing to see. What she didn’t see was the face of the gargoyle looking in through the cobwebbed window of the garage.
Having spent the last few hours compiling some of the mo
st complex psyonic incantations that she had yet tried, the High Executioner had again assembled her acolytes after allowing them some rest. She knew from her augmented team that the humans in 2003 were resting, and so there was no hurry. But they needed to be ready when they awoke.
And now that time had come.
The chanting acolytes berated and summoned the power of the Dæmons, focussing it and channelling it. Whereas it was relatively simple to bring a stone creature to life in the same zone as you yourself were present, to do this over a 583 year difference, and to change the very form of the stone itself, was another undertaking.
As the power grew, so the High Executioner watched and waited. The time was approaching the key nexus point. And she had realised too over the last few hours, that the time was right for a summoning. Quite how that might work, she wasn’t sure. The last time they had summoned a Dæmon, back in Venice in 1586, the creature had rejected them, promising to return a thousand years later, very soon as it happened in the High Executioner’s current time zone. But 2003 was just 417 years later. How might it react?
The creature which had been Eva moaned with pleasure. She had sent her essence back through the portal to enable their totem to change appearance.
It had started.
Back in the garage, Kate was under attack. The whine of psyonic forces was getting louder and louder, and the shelves and the items upon them were starting to rattle and shake under the onslaught.
Kate crouched to the ground, her hands over her ears as the power grew and grew.
The vibration made the items start to fall from the shelves. Kate saw a futuristic chest unit fall, as well as a strange rubber doll-like creature. There was even one of the fabled shop-dummy arms clattering to the ground.
Suddenly, the heavy container in which the alien maggot was stored bounced off the shelf and fell, catching Kate a glancing blow on the head.
Kate screamed and fell to the floor, unconscious, as the power and noise rattled around her.
She didn’t see the door to the garage slowly open, and a stone, hoofed foot step inside.
The hoof twisted and melted into the shape of a trainer-clad foot, and a monstrous leg made from mottled stone became more shapely and clad in denim.
The door to the garage closed behind whatever had entered, and suddenly, with a flash of brilliant white light, the noise and shuddering stopped.
The garage door opened again, and Kate stood there. At least it looked like Kate.
The creature looked back at the slumped form of the real Kate on the floor, smiled a cold, chilling smile of triumph, and headed off for the house.
10
Charm Offensive
Cavendish left the relative safety of the living room, and stood in the hall by the locked door. He could see that the strange icy white mist was creeping from under the door again.
There was a click from the front door, and he looked up to see Kate standing there.
She smiled at him, and sauntered into the hallway, one hand playing with her hair.
‘Hi,’ she said. ‘I’m bored with this. Can you come and play awhile?’
Cavendish looked puzzled. ‘I heard a scream. Are you all right? Did you find any tools?’
Kate looked directly at Cavendish. ‘Scream did I?’
‘Well someone screamed.’
Cavendish headed for the front door, and opened it again, checking outside. He saw that the front garden was again empty. The statue had gone.
Kate put her hand on Cavendish’s arm. ‘You know, Douggie, we just spent all night together here … and you never once really noticed me.’
Cavendish closed the door and looked at Kate.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well?’
‘Well … I …’
‘Come on,’ chided Kate. ‘I know you like me.’
Cavendish nodded. ‘I do … yes … but …’
‘What?’ teased Kate.
She was slowly moving towards Cavendish, but he in turn, unnerved by this new turn of events, was slowly backing down the passageway.
‘I never get what I want … but I like you, Kate, I really do … but …’
Kate reached out and stroked Cavendish’s face gently.
‘You’re so cold … so cold …’ he said as her fingertips touched him.
‘Maybe I need warming up?’
Cavendish started to realise that something was very wrong here, and continued to back away.
‘No … it’s not … I’m not …’
‘What, Douggie? Don’t you want me?’
‘Yes … no … I … I don’t know … keep away.’
‘Aww. Doesn’t Douggie want to play? What a spoilsport.’
Cavendish wrapped his arms around himself, confused and upset by the way Kate was acting.
Then, her face cleared, the smile dropped from it. She stepped close to him again, and began one of the chants that Cavendish knew so well from the voices in his head.
‘Bmal elttila dahy ram …’
This was the final straw. ‘You’re not Kate!’ said Cavendish.
The creature stopped chanting and returned Kate’s smile to its face. ‘I could be …’
‘No!’ Cavendish stepped back again, falling to the floor in his confusion.
‘No matter,’ said the creature coldly. ‘It’s time. You’ve been struggling far too much …’
‘No. You’re not Kate! Not Kate!’
‘Of course I’m not Kate!’ said the creature. ‘I’m here to give you what you want … and in return, I just need to take a little from you.’
The figure stretched out her arm towards Cavendish.
In the garage, the air seemed to shimmer, and the form of the ghost stepped from thin air and approached the prone form of Kate.
‘You have to wake up,’ he said, holding his solidifying hand over her head. Kate stirred and groaned.
‘Oh, my head!’
The ghost looked back towards the cottage. ‘Come on, while there’s still time!’
Kate pushed herself into a sitting position and shook her head.
‘What hit me?’
She spotted the glass container and the alien maggot spilled out on the floor, surrounded by green goo.
‘Aahh.’
‘Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you,’ said the ghost.
Kate blinked and pulled back. She looked the man up and down. ‘I can see you,’ she said. ‘And hear you.’
‘I’m an echo, that’s all, a living echo of a possible future.’
Kate felt the bump on her head and winced. ‘I’ve heard crazier things today.’
‘Then listen. The power is building. The portal from the future is opening wider and wider. We can use that power.’
Kate stood up, her legs were a little shaky but she felt fine considering.
She tuned in to what the ghost was saying. ‘We? That’s as in “us”?’
The ghost nodded. ‘But the Sodality are strong. They’re intent on summoning the Dæmon.’
Kate shook her head. This was all too fast for her. ‘Whoa … no, no, no. Hang on. Dæmon? Portal?’
‘A passage between times.’
‘Oh, right.’
‘The Sodality used that to influence your friend to fetch the spell book. They used psionic power from the incantations to animate the statue. Here, in this time.’
Kate nodded. ‘I think I got in the way of that.’
‘We must hurry. The statue has shifted. It’s hunting the final power to secure the Sodality’s future.’
The ghost looked carefully at Kate. ‘You’re all right?’
Kate nodded.
‘Let me see if there’s anything here we can use … There must be something.’
Kate looked at the shelves once more. There was nothing obvious. She talked to the ghost while she checked the shelves.
‘So if these Dæmons interfere with Earth’s development …’
‘They are scientists and exp
lorers. They dabble when it suits them … they’ve no specific agenda to cause destruction.’
‘You come from the future?’ Kate eyed the ghost sceptically.
‘Where the Sodality rule using the Dæmon’s powers. Yes.’
‘And they’ve followed you here.’
‘Not really. They have limited control over time and space. They enslaved other Time Channellers. But I refused to cooperate. That’s why they killed me. I still exist in the times I visited. And I can try and disrupt their plans. When I saw you arriving, I couldn’t let you just walk away. I need your help.’
‘I figured that.’
Kate hissed in exasperation. ‘There’s nothing here.’ She picked up one object that had caught her eye. A small jar filled with … ‘Unless we’re expected to throw jelly babies at them?’
‘You have the book,’ said the Ghost.
‘Well … I …’ said Kate.
‘I saw you take it,’ he continued.
Kate moved to the shelf where she had placed the book. It looked so ordinary: assuming a centuries-old tome of alien magic could be called ordinary.
‘I had to get it away from Douglas,’ she said.
‘Good,’ said the ghost. ‘Its power is not easily read.’
She picked up the book. ‘Can we get rid of it?’
‘Better that we use it. Good or bad. You can use it for either.’
‘Me?’ said Kate with a smile. ‘I don’t do spells!’
The ghost looked at her levelly. ‘Who else is there?’
The creature looked at Cavendish on the floor of the hallway. He was half-sliding, half crawling to try and get away from it.
‘What are you?’ he said, ‘Are you a Dæmon?’
The creature laughed. ‘You want to see the form of the Dæmons?’
As it spoke so its image shifted around, becoming a monstrous shape composed of smoke and fire. Red eyes burned in the faded replica of Kate’s face. After a moment, the form restabilised into that of Kate.
The creature smiled again. ‘Scary, aren’t they.’
She reached Cavendish and took his hand. He could feel a static tingle as she did so.