by Nick Cook
A familiar buzz of nausea filled my gut and I knew exactly what was causing it. The last time I’d felt like this had been back at the old lab in Hopworth – near the original DEC. There was no doubt we were uncomfortably close to a new Shade portal. And at such proximity, the condensed dark energy had been enough to disrupt our Awoken powers. Now Sentinel’s training to combat that would really be put to the test.
I focused and, instead of trying to fight the nausea, I relaxed into it with a centring breath. Lesson after lesson flashed through me and the neural pathways carved during months of training came together. Energy crackled throughout my entire body and the nausea vanished. I tightened my grip on Chloe and shifted us both into the Light Web.
I stared around me at the high narrow circular balcony we were lying on. Somehow, and god knew how, we seemed to have been transported straight from General Hammond’s drawing room to the Whispering Gallery that Chloe had been talking about only a moment ago. With my free hand, I patted my own body just to make sure. Yes, this wasn’t any sort of projection. So what then – some form of teleportation? Well, if we lived through this, there’d be plenty of time to figure it out later, but if we were really here then that would mean…
Just along from us, a shadow wolf’s attention was locked on to a rat twitching at his feet. He pawed at the rat and sniffed the pool of crimson spreading out from its body. The wolf glanced up as though part of his subconscious registered our presence, even though we were effectively invisible to him. His hard eyes gazed straight through us before returning his attention to his prey. It seemed a dog’s sense of smell didn’t extend to a shadow wolf.
With one hand touching Chloe to keep us both shifted and invisible, I edged towards the balcony. I glanced down into the cathedral, trying to ignore the head-spinning stab of vertigo that hit me. Beneath us, just as Chloe had described, thousands of shadow crows swirled around the interior of the cathedral. Through the cracks between their rushing bodies of dark energy, I caught glimpses of a new and massive DEC, electrodes all focused on a single point of utter darkness. So all the clues had been right: the Shade had already started opening a new portal right here in the middle of London.
It seemed the Shade had learnt from their previous mistakes at the old lab and weren’t about to take any chances this time round. They’d brought a considerable force in case of a fight. If the sight of so many shadow crows wasn’t intimidating enough, hundreds of wolves also prowled along the perimeter, all guarding this new highway to the Void. So how long did we have until it achieved critical mass and swallowed up all of London? Hours? Minutes?
I spotted Mathews working on the DEC behind the wall of shadow crows. He turned to gaze at the sphere of pure nothingness right at the heart of the cathedral. The point didn’t reflect any light – a hole in the fabric of our reality. But there was still no sign of Archios. Where the hell was he? Why wasn’t he here, ready to celebrate their victory? Something else to puzzle over later…if we made it that far.
The wolf near us on the Whispering Gallery pawed at the rat one last time. With a final sniff, it walked away to some nearby stairs and relief surged through me as it padded down them.
I let my breath escape between my teeth and gazed at Chloe. Her face had begun to turn grey. Fighting back the swirl of panic rising through me, I forced myself to think. Chloe looked the same as when she’d fallen into the coma. But unlike what had happened at Big Ben, her physical body was also here…so why wasn’t she bloody waking up? The rat’s body convulsed and Chloe’s body twitched at the same time.
The answer slammed into me like a bullet. Sentinel had said Chloe’s consciousness would become trapped if she didn’t break contact… I stared at the rat. In my thermal vision the rat was almost black, as her life essence dribbled away.
I let go of Chloe’s hand and rushed to the dying rat, trembling as her life drained away. Chloe was going to die trapped inside this creature. Tears fractured my vision as my fingers reached out to brush the rat’s fur. As they made contact, a green spark leapt from the rat’s body. The electrical shock rushed up my arm and into my brain. Gasping, my focus broke and I dropped straight back into the Real.
In a giddying rush, Chloe’s thoughts flooded my mind, frightened and confused.
I clutched the sides of my head – my brain couldn’t hold all these other thoughts that were combining with my own. It was like a mental kaleidoscope, with different ideas fighting for attention. I ground my teeth, struggling to stay conscious as white spots danced across my vision.
Chloe’s voiced shouted inside my brain, Get to my body, Jake!
I staggered, dragging my feet every step, my eyesight starting to darken, and collapsed by Chloe’s body. Bitterness tinged the back of my throat as I reached out a shaking hand towards her face. Another crackle of green lightning jumped from my fingertips. It struck Chloe’s head and her whole body jolted as though she’d been shocked with a defibrillator. My head cleared and the cathedral came back into sharp focus.
With a gasp, Chloe’s eyes snapped open and she gulped in air as she stared at me. ‘I was trapped in that dying rat. You saved me!’
I clamped my hand over her mouth, but it was too late.
Wolf howls filled the cathedral from below.
‘Up there on the Whispering Gallery!’ Mathews shouted.
The colour began to return to Chloe’s face as she gazed around us. ‘How the hell did we get to St Paul’s?’ she whispered.
‘Somehow we teleported here when the rat you were controlling started to die. I grabbed hold of you and the next thing I knew…’ I spread my hands.
‘And what about Gem?’
‘I haven’t spotted her yet.’
A flurry of wings sounded beneath us. I peeked over the edge and saw at least a hundred shadow crows break free from the main flock and sweep up towards us.
‘Shift now, Chloe!’
We both vanished from the Real.
A howl echoed up the staircase.
‘We’ve got to get out of here before they trap us,’ Chloe said.
I pointed to another doorway on the opposite side of the balcony. ‘We’ll try over there.’
We rushed round the circular gallery balcony. But the sheer height of the dome seemed to suck at my body with every step. I fought every instinct to cling to the curved wall and kept my eyes fixed on the doorway as we sprinted towards it.
With a rustling noise, shadow crows surged up over our heads and knotted tightly together across the exit ahead of us. Mathews formed from the flock and stepped out. He licked his lips and gazed around the gallery, his eyes skating past us.
We turned round and crept back towards the other exit, running as silently as we could. Predictably, a lone wolf appeared, blocking it. Short of flying, we had nowhere left to run. The wolf sniffed the air and began to circle round the balcony towards us.
‘Whoever is here, show yourself, because you are not going to escape,’ Mathews demanded.
Chloe leant in close, just so I would hear her. ‘That’s what he thinks…’
For an awful moment, I thought she was suggesting we should jump.
Instead, she tipped her head to the side to look at me. ‘Do you know why this is called the Whispering Gallery?’
‘No.’
‘Then watch and learn.’ Chloe placed her head against the wall. ‘Behind you,’ she said loudly.
‘Are you trying to get us caught?’ I hissed.
‘Trust me…’
Rather than turning towards us, Mathews was staring at the wall directly behind him.
What?
‘They must be shifted. They’re right here!’ he said. He reached out his hands and began to feel through the air.
The lone wolf blocking our exit hurtled round the gallery to help his master search for us. As the wolf sped over, we threw ourselves flat against the wall and it went circling past, round to Mathews on the far side of the gallery.
Chloe grabbed my hand and pul
led me towards the now clear exit. We crept down the stairs, hardly daring to breathe the whole way.
‘How did you do that trick with Mathews just now?’ I asked.
‘Ah, inside knowledge. If you whisper something against the wall in the gallery, it’s heard on the opposite side.’
‘Of course – the acoustic reflection of the sound. I should have known that from physics lessons. But how do you know about something as obscure as that?’
‘A diet of YouTube videos and hanging out on forums.’
‘Thank god for your geekiness.’
‘Indeed.’
We reached the bottom of the spiral staircase and once again had to throw ourselves flat against the wall as another wolf padded past.
‘We somehow need to shut down the new DEC with Waverider,’ I whispered.
‘That plan has a familiar ring to it. We can try to set it to overload, like last time?’
‘Why not – it worked then! Although now we’ve the added pressure of finding and rescuing Gem.’
‘Challenge accepted,’ Chloe said.
Together, using the pillars as cover, we began to work our way towards the middle of the cathedral while dodging a ring of shadow wolf defenders.
Close up, the cracks between their wings were large enough to see through clearly. My hope rose as I caught a glimpse of Gem on the other side of barrier tied to a metal chair within metres of the portal. But her eyes were closed and her head flopped down. How much longer did we have? Then I spotted the demon apparition shimmering around her. Its eyes were shut too, and it was trembling, as if this thing – straight out of a horror movie – was having a nightmare.
Chloe stared at Gem. ‘So that’s why we’re not being jammed at the moment.’
‘They probably aren’t worried this close to the portal, because they’ll be thinking we can’t use our Awoken powers.’
‘Then won’t it be a pleasant surprise for them when we kick their arses?’
‘Exactly. We may not have planned for this, but it could be our first lucky break.’
‘So how do we help Gem get out of there?’ Chloe asked.
‘I’ll see if I can wake her with a mental projection.’
‘Are you crazy? If she wakes up, so does that demon of hers…and you know what happens then.’
‘But I’ll just use the keyword on her straight away.’
‘OK, so we have to be ready to take action if that doesn’t work. You do understand that?’
‘Of course I do, but please let me try.’
Chloe nodded and separated her hands in readiness.
I concentrated on Gem beyond the spinning shadow-crow wall, picturing her awake and seeing us. She didn’t move even a millimetre.
A cry of frustration drifted down from the Whispering Gallery.
‘No prizes for guessing they’ve worked out we’re no longer up there,’ Chloe said.
A knot of crows flowed down from the balcony and through the spinning wall of shadow wolves. Mathews materialised on the far side, near to a console I recognised from the old lab – the main power control for the DEC, with a black orb hanging within it. Wisps of fog spun around it as they were sucked in, a sphere of nothingness hanging in our world. The portal.
Mathews cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted, ‘Search for the intruders – they must be in here somewhere!’
The pack of wolves began to fan out, sniffing the floor and barking to each other.
We ducked behind a pillar.
‘If we can’t rouse Gem, we’ll need to try to deal with Mathews by ourselves,’ I whispered.
‘But we’re up against some serious opposition here, Jake.’
‘I know, but what other choice do we have? A delay could cost us everything.’
‘You’re right. It might be hopeless, but I’m with you on this, every step of the way.’
I flashed her a smile. ‘You are seriously wonderful.’
She grinned back at me. ‘Don’t I know it.’
We crept from the cover of the pillar and began weaving in and out of the searching wolves. Slowly, we made our way towards the spinning shadow-crow wall.
Beyond it, Mathews returned his attention to the control console.
‘What’s he up to now?’ Chloe asked.
I glanced round to see Mathews plugging a massive cable into the control console. From it, a wire snaked across the floor to a copper hoop that had been fastened round Gem’s leg.
‘It looks as if they’ve got her wired up directly to the power feed for the DEC control,’ I said.
Chloe paled. ‘Remember back at the Hopworth Science Park, when the Shade pushed that guard into the machine so it could feed on his energy?’
My stomach flipped over. ‘And Archios said they could draw even more power from an Awoken – right before they were about to sacrifice you!’
Mathews, still with his back to us, placed his hand on a knob with calibrated markings round it for power levels.
There were a hundred metres between us and the control console and still no direct line of fire to shoot a plasma ball at Mathews, thanks to Gem being in our way.
Without a word, we started to run round the spinning shadow-creature wall, weaving our way past any wolves in our path. We had to find a position for a clear shot at the control console…
Mathews flicked a switch and a computerised voice called out, ‘Charge initiating.’
The demon’s eyes immediately snapped open as it threw back its head and screamed.
A wave of pain slammed into my mind and my strength flowed away. As the mind-storm raged, the Light Web faded back to the Real. In seconds we would appear in clear sight of a pack of shadow wolves. We’d be torn apart in seconds. Together, Chloe and I crumpled to the floor.
I threw out a single last desperate thought to Gem, picturing the word in my mind as though it had been written on a whiteboard: Nemesis!
Gem’s eyes snapped open and the demon around her shattered instantly. The Light Web steadied as her crushing mind-storm ceased.
‘That was too bloody close,’ Chloe whispered.
But my attention was on Gem now. She was awake and jerking against her chair restraints as golden energy flowed away from her and along the cable into the electrodes. The portal began to crackle with energy.
The computerised voice spoke again, ‘Partial charge complete, sufficient to achieve critical mass. System firing commencing when capacitors have recharged.’
‘With Gem wired up to that machine they can draw all the power they need for their new portal until it goes critical.’
‘We have to stop this!’ Chloe replied.
We both jumped to our feet as a green bar scrolled across the control screen towards a marker on the right-hand side. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.
‘Let’s go!’ I said.
We both broke into a sprint as howling wolves turned in our general direction, trying to locate the sudden running footsteps.
The green bar reached the far side of the screen, which flashed with the word ‘Ignition’.
Light flared around Gem’s body, her face twisting in agony as she screamed. With a crack of thunder, pulses of lightning burst from the electrodes and poured into the portal. With a shudder, a pulse of darkness shot out from the floating portal and away through the walls of St Paul’s. The whole cathedral began to vibrate, stones groaning as the walls wavered in and out of focus, massive icicles breaking from the dome and crashing to the floor.
An intense coldness bit through the soles of my shoes as instant snow formed out of thin air, swirling thickly around us into a blizzard.
Chloe wrapped her arms round her body, her breath clouding. ‘Jake, look at the bloody ground!’
I glanced down and my mind skidded. However high up the Whispering Galley had seemed, this was a million times worse. In places, the floor had become glass-like and through it there was only never-ending darkness below.
With my head spinning, I reached out
and grabbed Chloe’s hand to steady myself. The cathedral was going to tear itself apart and drop into the nothingness. We were too late!
We hung on to each other, but the shaking subsided back to stillness. The ground hadn’t given way.
I slowly relaxed my grip on Chloe.
She raised a trembling finger at the portal as her teeth chattered.
The black orb was creeping outwards, centimetre by centimetre.
A wide smile filled Mathews’s face as he watched the screen and flicked the switch a second time.
‘Charge initiating…’ the computerised voice said again.
Gem’s head hung forward, a line of dribble falling from the corner of her mouth.
‘I’m not sure Gem can take another energy transfer like that,’ I said.
‘Another jolt like that and Mathews will almost certainly have the power to make that portal go critical. Come on, Jake! We can still stop him…’
Every one of my senses was telling me that the solid ground was about to vanish from beneath our feet. But I fought those thoughts, raising my hands as Chloe did the same, ready to let our sparks fly at Mathews. I focused my energy…
Mathews muttered something under his breath and the floor seemed to leap up at us while something hard bit into my wrists. I stared down at the floor, which had morphed into chains…now shackling themselves round our arms.
Mathews sliced his hand down through the air. Chloe and I were yanked by the stone chains to the floor.
The computer voice spoke calmly again, ‘System ready for final ignition sequence when capacitors are recharged.’ The green bar started to scroll.
Mathews smirked at us. ‘Ah, Jake and Chloe, we have been expecting you. And this is such perfect timing. Welcome to the end of your world.’ He placed his hand on the calibrated knob, no doubt ready to spin it again.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Every fibre of my body was shaking as the extreme cold crystallised my eyelashes with frost. Chloe and I pulled at our chains as the DEC’s hum grew louder. The capacitors crackled with energy as the green bar on the screen started to edge towards another ignition.