The Turnkey

by Allison Rushby

  “We have to follow them. They were talking about what’s going on downstairs, in the Hall of the Dead,” the girl replied, ignoring Flossie’s question, her eyes not budging from the doorway. “Come on.”

  Flossie went to ask another question and to tell her she’d visited here before, but it was too late. The girl had already started off. Talking would have to wait until later.

  Just as she’d done with Violet, Flossie followed the officers downstairs. She and the girl trailed them at a distance until, once again, they came to stand in the shadows at the bottom of that set of steep stone steps with its iron handrail.

  As before, the eternal flame was alight in the middle of the twelve stone plinths. This time the crystal skull stood at the ready, its velvet bag tossed to one side. Behind it stood Viktor Brun, holding his twilight skull. He glared angrily at the spiritualist, who was talking to some of the other officers, unaware of his presence. It was obvious his gift for sensing the twilight world wasn’t strong. Certainly not strong enough to appease the demanding Viktor Brun, that was for sure.

  A cloud must have shifted, because moonlight began to stream through the dome’s angled windows, a beam hitting the crystal skull. Flossie drew back, shocked by the light that burst from it, filling the room.

  The spiritualist shouted out in German, realising that Viktor Brun was now present.

  Everyone moved into place then – Viktor Brun lunged forwards, the spiritualist kneeled on the floor, his hands darting out to the skull, and another officer stood with his notebook at the ready.

  Flossie expected the information to come haltingly as it had done before.

  It didn’t.

  With a jolt, the spiritualist began to speak, much faster than last time, the officer taking down more notes than he’d previously done. Flossie watched on, as information was leaked from the crystal skull. Every so often, she heard a word or two that scared her to her very core. Cambridge. Bath. Dover. On and on it went as her fist clenched ever tighter around her iron ring. The words came faster and faster until she doubted how much more she could listen to before she must do something to stop them.

  Then, just when she thought she could bear it no longer, the clouds moved again, the beam of moonlight disappeared and the spiritualist ceased speaking.

  “Nein!” Viktor Brun cried out, but only Flossie and the girl could hear him.

  The spiritualist rose from in front of the plinth, seeming drained. The other officers crowded around him and a heated discussion ensued.

  “What are they talking about?” Flossie asked.

  “Some of them want to stay here and some of them want to go to the nearby rock formation. The Externsteine. Do you know what that is?”

  “Yes. A friend told me that might be their plan: to use the site along with the full moon to make a stronger connection between the worlds of the living and the dead. She said it would be a good place to destroy the skull. That they’d place it on an altar high up and it would just need one good push.”

  “A very good idea,” the girl replied, then she caught something that was being said inside the room. “Wait. They have decided. They will stay here a little longer. Until the moon reaches the full height needed for the best connection between the skulls.” She gestured back up the stairs. “Come, we will wait upstairs.”

  At the top of the stairs, the girl moved to her right and sat down upon the stone floor, her legs tucked under her.

  Flossie sat beside her, unsure. There was so much about this girl she didn’t understand. Perhaps she sensed Flossie’s unease, because the girl began to speak.

  “You want to know why I’m here, don’t you? Why I want to stop him.”

  Flossie nodded. She wanted to know this and so much more besides.

  “The reason is simple,” the girl told her. “I know what he and these men are capable of.”

  Flossie waited for more information.

  The girl gave a small shrug. “Here, I will tell you a story.” She pulled her knees to her chest and hugged them tight before she began.

  “There was a girl once, just like me. Her name was Hana. She lived downstairs from my grandparents and I used to play with her every Sunday when I went to visit them. We liked to draw together, or run around outside. My father and grandfather didn’t like me playing with her very much, but my grandmother would tell them to be quiet – that Hana’s parents were good people. Then, one Sunday, we went to visit my grandparents and something was wrong. My grandfather was very quiet and my grandmother was …” she struggled to find the word, “upset. She argued with my father and grandfather. She told me I couldn’t go down to see Hana.”

  There was silence as the girl closed her eyes, remembering.

  “While my father and grandmother argued, I slipped away. I ran downstairs and Hana’s family’s door was open. Their possessions were everywhere and they were nowhere. I ran back upstairs. I could see something very bad had happened. I knew they were Polish and that they were Jewish, of course. But they had been here so long, I never thought …” She shook her head. “They had been sent back to Poland. They were allowed to take nothing. Nothing! Only the clothes they stood in and the very smallest amount of money.” She was unable to continue.

  Flossie reached out a hand.

  “What happened to Hana?” she asked.

  The girl only laughed a grim laugh. “How would I know? You think someone cares? Someone checked? Two weeks after this, synagogues were burned, Jewish businesses destroyed and men beaten. Thirty thousand people were taken away! I thought then that the Nazis would be stopped. That other countries would step in. But no. No help came. None is coming. I see that now. And what I have told you is nothing, nothing compared to what the Nazis are planning.”

  Flossie waited, sensing the girl had more to say.

  The girl’s eyes, which had been fixed upon the stone floor, moved to meet Flossie’s once more. “Even without his help, they will do terrible damage, but with his help the world as we know it will end forever.”

  Flossie paused to gather her thoughts. So many questions ran through her mind she didn’t know where to start. “How have you heard all about this? By listening to him? When he’s at the cemetery?”

  No answer.

  “I still don’t understand though. Why aren’t you at rest? Why is there no Turnkey? Surely your Turnkey could help you?”

  The girl waved a hand now, agitated. “The Turnkey is so afraid of his strange powers that he’s gone into hiding. Don’t you see that none of that matters? All that matters now is that he must be stopped.”

  There was so much that didn’t add up here. “You’ve changed,” Flossie said. “When I first saw you, you were scared of him.”

  “Yes, but not any more,” she replied. “Not now I understand all that he is capable of. I only have to think of Hana and I know that I must destroy the skull once and for all. It is the only way.”

  “How can you move objects in the living world?” Flossie’s eyes narrowed.

  There was a long pause. “I just can.”

  Flossie didn’t like that this girl was being just as mysterious as Hugo Howsham, but she could have hugged her anyway. Anything not to have to rely on that horrible man.

  “I don’t even know your name.” Flossie held out her hand. “Mine’s Flossie.”

  The girl took it in hers and shook it firmly.

  “Elke,” she replied.

  Chapter 27

  In which Flossie climbs the Externsteine

  Before long, the voices rose again downstairs in the Hall of the Dead.

  Something was happening.

  Elke told Flossie to stay where she was and retreated down the stairs. Flossie crawled around to watch her descend. Below, Elke listened in for a minute or two before returning.

  “They’re preparing to leave,” she said.

  “So,” Flossie said, “this is it.” All those notes that had been taken downstairs, when the moonbeam hit the crystal skull – she could o
nly imagine the help that the light of a high full moon in the midst of a sacred rock formation would provide. The information stored inside the skull would be made effortlessly available.

  Elke squared her shoulders. “We should go now,” she said, as if attempting to talk herself into this. “It will take the living men a while to drive there, but we have the advantage. We can go there now and ready ourselves.”

  As the men started up the stairs from below, Flossie offered Elke her keyed hand.

  * * *

  “Oh!” Flossie exclaimed.

  She had expected to see some small standing stones, the likes of which she’d seen in her own country. But this, this was an incredible sight. The pair was standing on a road that ran between several tall, narrow rocks that drove up towards the sky. The light of the moon shone white and bright, illuminating their sandstone crevices and casting eerie shadows.

  Elke dropped Flossie’s hand.

  “Come,” she said, beckoning her.

  Flossie followed her along the road, the rocks towering above. After a few more steps they came to stand in front of a large religious carving in the rock face itself, high above their heads.

  Both girls’ eyes were fixed upon it in awe.

  “It’s medieval,” Elke told her. “People have been coming here for a long time. Forever, I expect.”

  Flossie’s attention had moved away from the carving as she recalled all Violet had told her. “Where’s the altar?” she asked Elke. “I was told that’s where they might place the crystal skull.”

  “Yes, that’s right. It’s up there.” She pointed to the tallest of the stone towers – the one that stood by itself in the middle of the others and had to be reached via a small, rounded, iron footbridge.

  Flossie found the stairs she needed and then she was off, Elke running behind her to catch up.

  The stone stairs were quite wide, but narrowed as the two towers of rock came closer together overhead. Flossie paused mid-flight, a strange, heavy feeling coming over her. It was almost as if someone was watching her. Was Viktor Brun here already? She could see only Elke. She felt uneasy – the rocks heavy overhead. She had to keep going. Flossie started upwards again, the stone steps curving around the side of the wide expanse of rock as they ascended. The girls moved to the point that would lead to the iron footbridge.

  They turned the corner and the footbridge was before them. Flossie paused at the start of it. It was a short bridge, rounded and exposed, and the ground felt a long, long way below. There wasn’t time to be scared. One hand on each of the railings, she crossed it, her key clinking – iron against iron – as she went.

  “Over there.” Elke indicated the small rock alcove to their right, only a step or two away from the end of the footbridge.

  Surveying the altar, Elke stiffened.

  “He’s close,” Elke said. “I can feel his presence. This way.” She ran back over the footbridge and crawled into a hiding space in the rock wall on the other side. There was just enough room for the two of them and from here they had a view of what was going on near the altar. Above her, the moon dimmed – hidden by a cloud.

  It felt like hours before they heard the living officers’ voices as they approached. Then they saw them – several of the heavy-coated officers tramping over the footbridge, the silver braid on their uniforms and shiny death’s heads on their hats glinting in the moonlight. Flossie and Elke squashed in together even tighter when they saw the last two men pass by – Viktor Brun and the spiritualist. The spiritualist carried the black velvet bag, heavy with its precious crystal contents. Viktor Brun held the skull of the twilight world. They crossed the footbridge, the spiritualist already uncloaking the crystal skull as he went. He lost no time in placing it inside the small alcove, on the altar itself.

  Thankfully, the moon was still behind a large cloud.

  “How are we going to do this?” Flossie whispered to Elke. “Should I distract him while you grab the skull?”

  Elke’s expression was determined. “There’s no rush. He’ll let me near him. You’ll see.”

  “He might know you from the Invalid Cemetery. But does he trust you?” Flossie wasn’t sure about this.

  Elke laughed a strange little laugh. “Yes.”

  Flossie pulled back. There was something not quite right about this. She had a bad feeling. “Elke …” As she spoke, she saw that the cloud above was moving again. Soon the moon would reveal itself in its full glory once more.

  Both the spiritualist and Viktor Brun were intent upon the altar.

  And that was when it happened.

  The cloud passed by, the moon shone down and the world was filled with light – the kind of which Flossie had not seen since she was alive. It was that blinding sort of light that comes from stepping out of the house on a bright summer’s day. Flossie squinted and held a hand to her eyes as she attempted to make out what was going on.

  When she had adjusted to the light, she noticed that the crystal skull of the living world shone brighter than she had ever believed to be possible. The colours emanating from it lit up the rock formations in a dazzling display. The twilight skull also shone like a beacon.

  But that wasn’t all there was to be seen. Now, the living officers pointed at something, a range of expressions on their faces – shock, fear, awe.

  As one, they pointed at Viktor Brun.

  Chapter 28

  In which Flossie finds out the truth

  “The living can see him!” Flossie whispered to Elke. “It’s working. The connection between the skulls is far more powerful here. They’ll be able to communicate directly.” The living officers circled Viktor Brun, amazed, terrified and talking hurriedly.

  With every second that passed by, Flossie’s panic rose. Soon, the living officers would get over their astonishment and they’d move on to obtaining all the information Viktor Brun could give them. That skull had to be destroyed. When Elke didn’t make a move, Flossie began to get up. But Elke only pulled her back down.

  “No! They’ll be able to see us as well. Just stay here a moment. It’s all right,” she said, nodding upwards as the moon passed behind another cloud.

  Everything dimmed once more and Flossie rested her head against the rock, relief flooding her body.

  The men’s voices rang out with confusion, the light from the crystal skull gone, as was their view of Viktor Brun.

  The spiritualist’s voice rang out the loudest, as if hoping to restore order.

  Elke translated, “He’s telling them that soon they will have all the information they need.”

  Everyone stared at the sky, waiting.

  Everyone but Flossie, whose eyes scanned the rock formation.

  She wasn’t surprised that Hugo Howsham was still nowhere to be seen.

  And Elke, what was she waiting for?

  She’d said she wanted to destroy the skull and now it seemed as though she was having second thoughts. Well, there was nothing else for it – Flossie would have to try to push the skull from the altar herself. Maybe there was a way. Perhaps the strong link between the skull in the living world and the one in the twilight world would enable her to move it? She didn’t know.

  She only knew she had to try.

  Flossie grabbed at Elke’s arm. “I have to go now. I can’t wait any longer. I have to try to destroy it. Don’t you understand? I can’t let them have that information.”

  “Not yet. We need to wait for them to be distracted again. Wait for the moonlight. Then we’ll move. I’ll run over and snatch the skull while you distract him.” Elke seemed strangely calm.

  Her thoughts confused and jumbled, Flossie tried to make sense of what Elke was saying. Maybe she was right. If Flossie ran now, Viktor Brun would notice her in a second. If he was distracted by the light of the two skulls, they’d have more time to carry out their plan.

  “All right,” Flossie agreed. Slowly, slowly, the cloud passed by until the light of the moon began to seep through the edges.

&
nbsp; Just as the moon was about to reveal itself completely, Elke clutched Flossie’s hand. Her eyes were wild, the calm of before gone. “Remember me,” she said, whispering no longer. “Remember me. And Hana.”

  Elke pushed past her as the blinding light came once more – even brighter than before, if that was possible. Flossie held up a hand to shade her eyes for a second.

  When she brought her hand down again, Elke was gone.

  Flossie stood, not caring any longer about remaining concealed. “Elke!” she called out as, through the light, she saw Elke running across the footbridge. She was almost at the other side already. There, the officers were pointing again, shocked not only by their view of Viktor Brun in his twilight form, but with seeing two more people from the twilight world.

  Viktor Brun, however, paid their gasps no heed, intent on Elke, who reached him without hesitation. When Flossie called out, she noticed that he didn’t seem surprised to see her at all.

  It was almost as if he had been expecting her.

  Standing at the start of the footbridge, Flossie paused, unsure of what was going on.

  “Ah, so you’ve brought her after all,” Viktor Brun said to Elke, speaking in English. He clapped his hands together as if he was pleased.

  It was seeing them standing together, so at ease with one another, that brought Flossie to the awful realisation of what was going on.

  Elke calling to her from the Invalid Cemetery, bringing her here, Viktor Brun’s lack of surprise on seeing her – it had all been a trick.

  Elke was never going to destroy the crystal skull. She’d never had any intention of doing so. This was all a trap in order to lure Flossie to this place.

  “You lied to me!” Flossie boomed. “You’re on his side. You always were. You lied to me!”

  She expected Elke not to be able to meet her eyes, but Elke’s gaze was level and unrepentant. She didn’t seem the least bit sorry, or as if she’d betrayed her, which made the knife in Flossie’s stomach twist that little bit more painfully. Flossie wondered if it had all been a lie, even the story about Hana. But no, it couldn’t have been. Flossie had seen the expression on Elke’s face as she told that tale. She had meant every word of what she’d said. Flossie had felt the truth of the words deep inside her.