“Mum tell them I haven’t even got a pink top... I wouldn’t be seen dead in pink!!”
Anger which had been simmering almost unnoticed deep beneath the surface found itself mixing with that most unpredictable of all emotions, fear. Combining the two could only lead to an emotional explosion.
That ridiculous smile reappeared. “Listen to me Poppy... Calm down and tell the truth!”
“It’s you that’s not listening to me..! I didn’t do this... It wasn’t me.” Poppy stamped her feet in frustration, the fist signs that an eruption was imminent. “Mum, Granddad tell them please!”
The silence was deafening and only became noisier with the incessant sniffling and sobbing of Anne Darke. “Mum you know I had nothing to do with this!” By now Poppy had gone way beyond boiling point. “Mum!” She screamed.
Poppy stared in total disbelief at the only two people in the world who she trusted. Here they were willing to sacrifice her to protect their stupid magic. “Mum!” She whispered and was met with no reply.
The tears were already falling; Poppy couldn’t even remember when they started. She wiped some away and with a surge of red hot blood to her head. “I hate you..!” she screamed. “I hate you all!”
Then she jumped to her feet and barged passed the two inquisitors, knocking them both to the floor. The briefcase spewed its contents and even worse still the policewoman’s notebook flew straight into the burning fire and was reduced to ashes in seconds.
“I told you I didn’t do anything!” Poppy screeched angrily and before anyone could stop her she grabbed her coat and charged through the door in to the night.
“Poppy Darke get back here at once.” Her Mum shouted and then added some seconds later. “...I do believe you!”
Poppy didn’t hear a word as she sprinted across the old iron bridge and up the lane that led to the woods. Her anger blindly drove her on and on and gave her the strength to charge up the hill without rest and without slowing.
Tears mixed with the rain and poured down her cheeks. “I’ll find him and then they’ll have to believe me.” She screamed at the stormy sky. “... They don’t care about me, no one cares about me.”
By now her clothes were sodden and water poured down her back but she didn’t care as this was the direction the vision had told her to go, and nothing was going to stop her. At the edge of the woods her courage faltered slightly and she hesitated. The inky darkness of the forest floor sent shivers of fear down her spine and suddenly her legs were beginning to turn to jelly. One look over her shoulder sent her once again plunging into the embrace of darkness, for charging up the hill behind her were two police cars.
She ran and ran her rage refusing to subside, blindly rushing deeper into the labyrinth of the forest. Without warning a bolt of lightning lit up the sky and then forked down and struck a pine tree right in front of her. Then another struck an oak to her right and hardly any time passed before a rumble of thunder shook the ground as if an earth quake had taken place.
Poppy screamed and cowered as more lightning bolts struck the ground behind her and in front. Suddenly she realised she was falling and then tumbling head over heels down a steep slope and she put her arms out to try and grab something to slow her down. At the bottom of the slope Poppy slammed into a tree banging her forehead, blood instantly began to flow and followed the same path as the tears had taken only moments before.
Poppy used the tree trunk to pull herself up to her feet and once there wiped some of the blood out of her eyes. The sight of the sticky red stuff made her dizzy and she began to feel feint and nauseous. Even there in the moments before passing out her rage at the world would not subside.
“Stop it...Leave me alone!” She hollered angrily at the sky, at the slope and at just about anyone who might hear her. “I’m not scared... I’m not scared” Her legs buckled and gave way, then she fell to her knees sobbing. “I want my brother... Just give me my brother back... Please.” darkness came in waves as she toppled over on her side and finally passed out.
The ghostly specter glided across the fields with as much urgency as it could muster, running would have been faster but rain is quite ticklish for ghosts. He had important information and needed to get back to Burnham as quickly as possible. Jesse had never seen so many people about at this time of night, well not the living kind anyway. He spotted a group of women and a policeman so he stopped and spirited himself beside them.
“Right ladies...” The Policeman Said. “I know it’s late and I know it’s cold but we’ve got a job to do...”
Jesse screwed his face up in a frown and wondered what on earth they were up to, Halloween had been weeks ago and they weren’t wearing costumes anyway.
“Have you all got torches and a whistle... Good!” He said as each of them produced one of each. “This eleven year old has been missing for two hours now and it’s important we find her and get her safely home... We’ve got other groups searching different areas, we’ve got sniffer dogs coming down from the city and the local Hunt is combing the fields by horseback.” He paused to take a breath and then carried on. “Your job is to search this small copse to your front and the fields immediately around it... Any questions? Right, off you go then.”
The lead woman stopped as she opened the gate and then turned back to the Policeman with a look on her face that said she’d forgotten something. “What’s her name again?”
Jesse awaited the answer with bated breath, but somehow he already knew what it was.
“The name is Darke... Poppy Darke and she’s wanted in connection with the disappearance of her baby brother. For now though.... I just want her brought back safe and well!”
Jesse realised that Skuttlebucket must have been seen by a nosey neighbor when he was on her doorstep carrying baby Nathanial. Now it all added up, they’d committed the perfect crime. Poppy would take the wrap and go to gaol for murder and the old Witch would get away scot free again. He had to find Poppy and tell her everything; if he hurried they might just make it in time.
Midnight had searched for almost ten miles in every direction; whoever or whatever had taken that poor baby hadn’t left a trace of scent or a single track. After taking a long drink in a stream and once again sniffing the air he decided to head back. The hunger for vengeance consumed the inner Wolf in Midnight and he wanted to run and hunt until the prey was a half-eaten carcass. He should have woken up at the first sign of magic, and wondered why his super keen senses had failed him so badly.
He gazed at his own reflection in the stream and tried to see his face out of the gently swirling flow of the water. Perhaps he was getting old- Do Demon hounds get old? Whoever had done this would pay, his eyes flashed red with rage as he began to snarl. The snarl joined other snarls and soon the inner Wolf was howling at the sky.
He took off at a canter and with every stride gained speed until the countryside streaked passed in a hazy green blur. As the curtain of night began to fall Midnight slowed, he had heard something up ahead and his sense of smell was being teased by a plethora of human aromas. He couldn’t see them yet but the fields and woods were apparently full of people.
Indeed they were, soon he found himself silently skirting around humans. They seemed to be everywhere; beams of light from their torches flashed and flickered in all directions. He wondered why some of them were shouting Poppys name; surely they were still out looking for the baby.
Midnight easily singled out the scent of his master from all of the other scents that danced around the woods that night. The old man had brushed passed some stinging nettles and left his trace not ten minutes since; he wasn’t alone and from the tracks they left, in quite a hurry.
He caught up with his master in no time at all and fell in beside him.
“Ah there you are boy! Wondered where you’d got to!” The old man said and then turned to his two companions, one of whom was a police woman. “You two go on I’ll catch up in a minute.”
He waited and watched them disappe
ar around a bend in the track. “Right boy... Poppy’s gone and run off!” He fished a pair of old socks out of his pocket and thrust them in Midnights face. “She wore these in bed last night so you should get a good strong scent off ‘em... Find her and don’t let her out of your sight.”
As Midnight inhaled the cold night air through his nose he sensed a multitude of scents and aromas, so many that it was difficult to differentiate. Arching his back and straining his neck to the sky he inhaled deeply and savoured the sensations as the nerve endings in his nose fired messages to his brain. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the one he sought, and there it was, a tiny gathering of scent particles floating on the breeze from the north east. Worse still, there were other particles of scent markers - Blood!
Midnight growled...If anyone had harmed a hair on that Childs head he would eat them alive... Very very slowly. His keen nose latched onto the smell of blood as it was easier to follow and then he raced off in to the night.
Jesse didn’t know which people to follow, none of them seemed to know where to look. First he joined one group then another and then a third who were heading back to the village. It was all a hopeless mess and they were never going to find Poppy and rescue the baby at this rate. Suddenly he had an idea, and sprinted off down the path as fast as he could. He didn’t even stop to climb over the farmers gate like he usually did, he just ran straight through it.
The church wasn’t that far away but like everything when you’re in a rush it seemed to take forever to get there.
“Gulp..! Slurpe..! Where are you?” He shouted at the top of his ghostly voice. “Slurpe!” He bellowed.
“All right..! All right...! Keep your pants on.” Gulp cried angrily. “Can’t you see I’m busy...? These blooming spirits are playing up again. You know I told em I did... I told ‘em no party’s... No smoking and no loud music after eleven o’clock. Did they listen to me...? No they blooming well didn’t. They was having a right old knees up, they was! I was this close.” Gulp held up a finger and thumb. “This close to calling the riot squad... And don’t you lot think that I wouldn’t.”
He shouted back over his shoulder angrily.
Jesse waited for a gap in the tirade. “Where’s Slurpe? I need him to help me find Poppy Darke... She’s gone missing in the woods.”
“Well he’s about somewhere...” Gulp said and squinted at the gloom of night sky. “Slurpe get down here we’ve got a visitor..! He’s a good flier that one, he’ll be as good as his old dad one day... Here, did I tell you about the time I killed me a Demon king at the battle of Finsbury Fields... Surrounded, I was and...”
Jesse just managed to make a grimace look like a smile, he’d heard the story a thousand times and as exciting as it was he just didn’t have time for another. Suddenly Jesse heard a cry of excitement from above and when he looked up there was Slurpe dive bombing his dad with handfuls of mud and wet leaves.
“Cut that out and get down here. He’s got no manners that one!”
The young Goyle circled around and glided in, skimming the treetops as he went. “Watch this Dad!” He cried as he attempted a landing, but things went wrong from the off and he clipped a gravestone with his foot and tumbled head over heels into a freshly dug grave.
Gulp shook his head and dropped his shoulders in a mock show of disappointment. “Like I said he’s a good flier that one; but can he land..?” He shook his head again and dissed loudly three times.
Jesse peered into the hole and was quite worried as there was no sign of any movement. “Are you alright Slurpe?” He shouted.
He was answered with a groan and then. “My head hurts... I can see stars Dad... Lots of stars!”
“Then stop looking at the sky you nitwit.” His Father chortled. “They don’t make Boneshiners like they used to in my day!”
Slurpe dragged himself over the edge of the hole and threw his Dad a dirty look. “What did you say about Poppy?”
“She’s missing in the woods! The whole village is out but they can’t find her... Will you help me?”
Slurpe looked at his Father who nodded gravely. “You owe her that much boy.” He said. “Just remember what you are... You’re a Boneshiner... Protect the dead... Save the living.”
A surge of pride swept through Slurpe Rottenoffle. His Father had never said the Goyle creed to him before. Infact he’d never heard him say it out loud before.
“And make sure you’re back before sun up or you’ll fall out of the sky like a brick!”
“So how fast can you really fly then?” Jesse asked and immediately wished he hadn’t. If there was one thing that Slurpe did well it was showing off.
The young Goyle grinned. “How heavy are you?”
“I’m a ghost!”
“Well I can fly pretty fast then! You might want to hold on tight!”
Chapter 21
Powerful pangs of fear exploded like fireworks in Poppy’s stomach, making her heart pound and her eyes flicker open. At first the damp forest floor was blurred and Poppy had to rub dirt, blood and rainwater out of her eyes until she could see clearly. Her head was thumping and she felt dizzy, she also felt nauseous and almost vomited when she suddenly remembered why she was there.
She climbed unsteadily to her feet and brushed away some tangled hair which had become stuck to her face. Looking around she realised pretty quickly that firstly the woods looked exactly the same in all directions and secondly she was completely lost. Not to mention thirdly, fourthly and fifthly these all involved the woods being dark, scary and her being utterly terrified.
Luckily she seemed to be on a narrow earth path and figured that it must go somewhere eventually and decided to follow. It was difficult to see in almost zero visibility and branches whacked her in the face several times before she learnt to keep her hands up as shields.
The higher branches seemed still and heavy under the incessant fall of rainwater, the evergreens glistened under a scant moonlight and every now and then an owl would hoot from up its perch. The darkness became more and more claustrophobic as the minutes passed and Poppy couldn’t help but keep glancing nervously over her shoulder.
Increasingly fearful she walked faster and faster but found herself losing the path and crashing into a holly bush. In the gloom she panicked and screamed, the bush seemed alive as its branches grabbed and snagged at her clothes. She screamed again and began fighting her attacker off; the sodden ground caused her to slip on the mud as she tried to make good her escape. Finally pulling herself free she tumbled through the undergrowth into a clearing.
In that moment of freedom the pain in her head returned and so did the dizziness. Poppy Darke sank to her knees and then slumped over onto her side. Hardly alive and barely conscious, she tried to focus but it was like peering down an impossibly long tunnel. There was a light, a tiny bright glow in the far distance. Poppy yearned to reach that light, it sang to her like a siren, calling her name.
Suddenly she felt so very cold and wrapped herself in the comfort of darkness; smiling, she reached out to the strange light, no one could hurt her there... She was safe at last.
“Poppy!” Jesse shouted as loud as he could, and he was sure had he been alive his throat would have been hurting by now. “Slurpe! You need to fly lower... We’ve got to get below the canopy or we’ll never see her!”
“Tally ho... Could passengers please fasten their seatbelts we may be experiencing some turbulence...”
“Stop messing about Slurpe! This is serious.”
“Roger that... Bogey coming in at six o’clock!” Screamed the excited Goyle and suddenly shot his tongue out to catch an unsuspecting bat.
Jesse slapped him playfully on the back of his head. “This is no time for eating!”
“Just refueling!” Slurpe Cried painfully and without warning suddenly banked hard left. “There’s something down there... Hold on!”
Diving hard he suddenly pulled up and glided effortlessly across a tiny clearing. “Down there... I see her, I s
ee her...” He screamed.
Jesse only remembered at the last second and it was too late to jump off, Slurpe was rubbish at landing, but the bushes he piled into softened the blow to an almost acceptable touchdown.
“That!” Slurpe groaned and rubbed his knee. “Was my best landing yet?”
“If you say so... She’s over there, come on.” Said Jesse and sprinted over to his friend’s lifeless body. Stopping just short, he gasped in horror. “Slurpe... Is she..? Is she dead?”
The young Goyle wasn’t even a fully qualified Boneshiner yet, but some qualities were inbred and instinctive. His huge ears pricked up and began listening for any sign of a heartbeat. Moving closer he put a finger to his lips asking for some quiet.
“Life... There is life, but it fades with every beat... She is dying.” Slurpe sank to his knees. “Help her Jesse... Please!”
“How?” He cried desperately. “I don’t know what to do..! What can I do?”
Slurpe stood up and turned to his ghostly friend. “A kiss for the dying..! You must give her a kiss... This you must do or she WILL die!”
Jesse was puzzled but he knew to trust the young Goyle. Their knowledge of death and the spirit world was unsurpassed. Still, he’d never kissed a girl before and knew if he was alive he would be blushing by now.
“You want me to kiss her..? I’ve got to kiss Poppy Darke?”
Slurpe pulled Poppy on to her back and tilted her head slightly. “I know she’s really ugly but it’s only a kiss..!”
Jesse knelt down beside Poppy and put his hand on hers. “Please don’t die!” He pleaded and leaned forward. The instant their lips touched something magical happened. Jesse began glowing as energy passed from him to the unconscious girl. The light changed from blue to white as it entered her body and began pulsating.
The spark of life within Poppy absorbed everything Jesse had to offer and soon could take no more, Jesse fell to the ground exhausted and disappeared.
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