The Quarter Moon (Afterlife saga)

by Hudson, Stephanie

  The Ouroboros: This is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. The name originates from the Greek language; (oura) meaning "tail" and (boros) meaning "eating", thus "he who eats the tail". The symbol is known to many ancient cultures as representing the eternal cycle of the renewal of life and infinity, the ultimate concept of eternity and the eternal return of life, death and rebirth, leading in the end to the path of immortality.

  'My end is my beginning.'

  But however in the Demon realm it is known as the symbol for Mastering Chaos and rightly so as the idea of the human race ever gaining the knowledge for such immortality will ultimately bring forth the end of all realms. Heaven, Hell and all in between will fall and the serpent will no longer circle life as it does death. For take one away and the balance will crumble in on itself, destroying Man once and for all.

  This is known as the Day of Judgement for all.

  After reading this and understanding its value I knew it was something not to be taken lightly. If I was honest, it kind of scared the living bejesus out of me. I was in way over my head, so much so I could almost see my shadow from above! But however much it scared me, I couldn’t help also drawing comfort from the fact that I now had a means to gain the answers I needed.

  After reading it quite a few times and eating a delicious steak sandwich at the same time, I finally closed the book. I heard the antique grandfather clock chime and when I looked up I saw that it was now Eight pm. I got up and walked over to the massive windows that showed a stunning sight of London not yet lit up thanks to the long summer nights and I looked up from the hundreds of years old architecture. I could feel the hum of what I couldn’t yet see and it travelled from my wrist all the way up to my necklace, like it had a little time ago.

  The Quarter Moon couldn’t yet be seen but already I was starting to feel it there. I raised my hand to the glass as if trying to reach out and touch it, even though it remained hidden from me but the humming pulse started to beat faster. So, when I heard the vibrating, at first I thought it was the beat of my own heart pounding. I turned and saw that the book was once again communicating something.

  I actually laughed as it was just like Pythia had said it would be, which was a mobile phone vibrating to tell me it had received a text message. My fingertips slipped down the cool glass, leaving the comforting sight of the moon behind as I walked away.

  “Time to get to work.” I said breaking the silence that had left the suite feeling cold and eerie. As soon as that thought entered my head I found myself humming the theme tune to ‘Mission Impossible’ just to break the tension of seriousness to what I was about to do.

  I sat down on the couch, dragged the table closer and waited for the snake to stop spinning. I even found myself biting my fingertips as the seconds ran into everlasting minutes. Finally the book settled down and I opened it to find the blood ink had already started to appear on the second page. I smiled as I read the first line.

  To my dear Tricks,

  I hope this next letter finds you sane and well,

  As now I must give you seven clues,

  On where to find Hell.

  Seven is the number of words you must find,

  Then put them in order that best fit in your mind.

  The clues are all there open in broad daylight,

  Use the Savoy’s entrance and start on your right.

  An English Rose sits proudly on the plaque

  At the bottom of the words of nobles in black.

  This is the point at where you should start

  And remember that marrying off girls isn’t always from the heart.

  The first letter before ladies of the word not behind

  That’s also the letter in the number that’s the third in your find.

  Now jump a side step and find the crown jewels,

  Read on about building the palace to find the right tools,

  Take the first 2 letters of the king you see

  And add on the LL’S you don’t find in Army.

  Making sure to keep on the same side

  See at the bottom what you find on any bride.

  When the Duke of Lancaster was given a home

  What is the right word both written and rhymed in chrome.

  It begins with the O you find there in who’s who

  And the first name of Gaunt is the last letter on view.

  Now you must ride on the wings of an eagle

  Where on the 3rd of September a marriage became legal

  So find out the time words were said by the priest,

  Add a B to the mix and find your man for the feast.

  Cross the road and you will see

  It is the A you’re looking for not the B

  So forget about the R MR

  Or you won’t get very far.

  Right now you’re here

  The 14 should soon appear

  So start at the Top

  Keep counting and don’t stop.

  3 Feathers are waiting

  And anticipating

  As you connect the dots in your mind

  As you look for a place

  Not fallen from grace

  Look closely at the plaque and you will find

  Take the names into account

  But find the S and I you need left out

  Use the second name to begin

  And see the Pressure within.

  A sign of the Gods and a king of the second

  Is also the number of 8 that is reckoned

  The last word on the plaque is where this refers

  After this letter figured take the first 2 from Hers

  Reuse the E and S that you also find in Bees

  Then you have the place where you must say please.

  Which brings me back to the now. I was outside the Savoy hotel looking along the building to my right and just as a London taxi came round the corner it flashed its headlight, and I caught a glimpse of the polished plaques that the cryptic poem spoke of. I must confess this wasn’t something I ever thought I would be doing on my birthday, looking for clues for a way into Hell but hey ho, there you go.

  I even groaned aloud when my mind locked onto the rhyming shit and even now was doing the same with my own thoughts. I hated trying to solve puzzles and was next to useless doing so but this seemed to be the way the Oracle wanted to play things. To be honest, I wasn’t entirely convinced at her reasoning either. I mean if no-one but me could read the book, then why not just give me the bloody answer right from the start?

  It was too frustrating to even think about and right now I was going to need all the brain power I had if I was ever going to crack this code…

  Sometimes, it just sucked to be me!

  Chapter 21

  Do You Want Cheese With That?

  “Impossible!” I shouted for like the hundredth time tonight. I was currently sat on the floor of the sitting room with seven sheets of paper spread out in an arch above the cryptic message that was mocking me in the book. It hadn’t taken me long to realise that standing in front of each plaque outside, looking like a right plebe, wasn’t going to help in solving the mother of all puzzles. So I quickly snapped a picture of each one with my phone and returned to the comfort of the Royal suite.

  Of course, the Royal suite had its own office, complete with laptop, wireless printer and a desk big enough for two people to sleep on. So after first figuring out the top notch technology, I managed to print out the pictures so that I could easily read the words…not that this was currently helping much!

  So this brought me back to the now and the now sucked big time! It was easy to say that each plaque was a word and unfortunately there were seven of the buggers. The only progress I had made in two hours was to use the clues and match them with the pictures that were at the bottom of every plaque. The order they read in went as such, the Rose, the Crown, Flowers, the Eagle, the initials AR-MR, Feathers and at last a Cross with the Royal mark for Charles the second. This had
me back and forth and crossing the road looking like a headless chicken. Needless to say about the funny looks I had received from the Bellboy when walking back into the Savoy.

  “Ah ha, Hell! That one must be Hell!” I shouted as the first word came to me. The second plaque, which was the Crown, told me to take the first two letters of the King I find, which was Henry the third. So I took the H.E and added the LL’S that it asked, getting my second word of HELL’S which I have to say wasn’t reassuring in the least.

  “Beast! Oh beast, beast!” I said repeating over and over until I wrote it down on my scrap paper, which was the fourth word. This was only because I took a moment to go through the list of words that rhymed with Feast and Priest, but stupidly coming up with East and Least before saying the one that was needed with the actual B in it, like it asked.

  Ok so now I had…

  Blank. Hell’s. Blank. Beast. Blank. Blank. And another bloody Blank!

  “Arrrhhh!” I shouted slapping my open palms to the rest of the papers. This was just too damn hard and getting me nowhere fast. I had been at this for over two hours now and only got two stinking words and about 50 headaches! This was the very last thing I ever wanted to be doing on my Birthday and in my little frustrated rage, I almost punched the cake that still sat there with only a few slices missing.

  “Ok, so think Keira, I need to find the Hell’s something Beast…didn’t that just sound like a jolly outing…ok so where on this Earth am I ever going to find that!?” I finished on a groan but then something about saying that out load must have snapped into place.

  “Wait a minute…Find…that’s it, that’s the first word!” I shouted as I grabbed the book to read it again.

  “Son of a bitch!” I said as it was right there the whole time. It was the last word!

  “Oh for God’s sake…right if that is how you are playing this Pythia, then let’s do this shit!” I said not even caring about what was happening to my mental health if I wasn’t even batting an eyelid at talking to myself.

  So before I knew it, I had another two words, after playing the rhyming game once more and getting the word OWN that rhymed with Chrome. Then I finally got the word CHEESE from not only rhyming with BEES but also from counting that the plaque held 8 C’s and taking the H.E from HERS like it told me to. At first I thought I must have been wrong, as how random is putting the word CHEESE with HELL’S BEAST, but no matter how I looked at it, the more it made me sure of its place.

  After writing this down it then clicked that the word after BEAST must be the word AT as the only letter that had 14 letters was T and it already told me to use the letter A. Of course when I wrote it down it made more sense. Now I had most of the sentence minus one word that I just couldn’t get but I was hoping it would be enough…

  FIND. HELL’S. OWN. BEAST. AT. BLANK.CHEESE.

  “Well, it’s a good enough start as any.” I said aloud before unfolding my numb legs from the floor and trying to shake off the pins and needles that assaulted me. I looked at the clock and saw that it was 11:17 at night but I knew the late hour wouldn’t stop me. So, before I could talk myself out of it, I walked into the bedroom and grabbed my long black hooded jacket. I quickly stuffed the book under the mattress and then thought better of it in case maid service was going to come in and turn down the bed. Instead I stuffed it under the sofa, hidden from view. I then hooked my bag over my body and left the suite.

  I fidgeted with the thumb holes on my top and debated with going back into the suite to grab the book or not. This continued right until I got to the main Lobby, where I finally decided that if I carried it on me and anything were to happen, then it would be better safe and hidden. I nodded to myself and walked through the revolving doors to find it pouring down with rain.

  “Of course.” I whispered to myself but the Bellboy raised his eyebrows.

  “Typical English summer you’ll find.” He said smiling and I grinned back.

  “Yeah, can’t say I missed it.” He smiled again and then asked,

  “Can I call you a taxi, Miss?” I nodded at a smiley face that was complete with warm eyes and dimpled cheeks. He lifted a long whistle to his lips and called one of the taxis waiting along the drive to come forward. He then opened the door and tipped the rim of his top hat in parting. It made me feel like a Jane Austin character.

  “Where to sugar?” Now this was the part of my plan I was kind of dreading…the embarrassing part. The guy in front turned round and the first thing I noticed was the reddish tattoo that swirled up the left side of his face in an unusual design. It looked almost like the tail part of something bigger as it forked at the end near his eye. He looked to be in his late forties and was big framed. His small grey eyes scanned me over momentarily before he cleared his throat. He was obviously waiting for me to answer.

  “Um…I know this is going to sound a bit strange but you don’t happen to know a place around here with the name Cheese in it, do you?” I asked waiting any minute for rather a confused look or one of those short laughs that says, ‘you’re joking right?’ so imagine my surprise when I didn’t receive either.

  “That will be the Cheshire Cheese pub then.” He said seriously as he pulled the car round the fountain and down towards the main road. My mind quickly flashed back to the clues that I had practically memorised and put the word ‘Cheshire’ as the possible answer.

  “Cheshire! Of course” I said and when the taxi driver turned round and said, ‘excuse me?’ I knew I had shouted it out loud and now he must think he’d picked up a loon. The ride there really didn’t take that long and I could have walked it in less than 20 minutes.

  He pulled up alongside a street filled with shops and a popular coffee chain all closed up for the night. Thankfully, the rain had eased into light spitting droplets.

  “See that alleyway there, well just down that you will find the pub.” He said taking my money. I nodded and thanked him as I got out.

  “Now what?” I said looking down at the alleyway called ‘Wine Office Court’. It was dark, looming and didn’t exactly scream inviting. But I knew there was obviously a good reason for me being here. So with that in mind, I pulled my hood up, hitched up my strap before my bag slipped off my shoulder and walked forward. I looked to the sides trying to make out the signs written in old script, but it was just too dark as the lights above flickered as I passed. It was as if my presence was causing an electrical interference or something because they sprang back to life once I had passed.

  I was starting to feel as if I was on some sort of bad horror movie. Any minute I would see a dark figure step from the shadows that would then come racing at me wearing a long cape. Then my mind started to think about Jack the Ripper and the last thing I would scream as he raised his butcher’s knife…that being ‘I’m not a prostitute, so don’t hurt me!’

  After shaking the stupid thoughts from my overactive imagination and a quick wonder if Jack the Ripper wasn’t in fact a Demon, I was soon stood outside a very quiet looking pub. The alleyway had opened up into a corridor of tall buildings either side but at least I could now see the sky. I shivered as I saw the Quarter Moon playing centre piece to this gloomy situation and I felt the tingling sensation at my wrist. One I tried to ignore.

  I looked up at the round wrought iron sign that stated,

  Ye Olde

  Cheshire Cheese

  Rebuilt 1667

  “Well, this must be the place.” I said looking left and right not finding a soul, or more importantly a shadow. The sign wasn’t even lit up and everything from outside looked like it was closed for the night. This was then confirmed when I saw the opening times and that it closed at 11pm.

  “Shit!” I said clenching my fists. If I hadn’t spent so bloody long trying to decrypt something with the same level of intellect needed for cracking codes for MI5, I would have been here in time. Now what I was supposed to do? I didn’t know but I wasn’t about to give up that easily. I took my still clenched fist and knocked on the door, ho
ping someone was still inside. It felt like I waited forever, when someone finally decided the knocking idiot just wasn’t going to go away.

  “We’re closed!” I got shouted at through the door first before I heard the locks grind.

  “Yes I know, I’m sorry but I think…” I wasn’t given time to finish as I saw a hand come out first with a palm flat out as if waiting for something to be placed there. The slither of a moon had become brighter thanks to the passing clouds and it now shone on the hand in front of me. It cast an eerie glow to reflect back from the palest skin. I could even make out the blue veins that bulged underneath the skin like thin tissue paper over electrical wires.

  “Umm…oh…oh ok, alright, money…I see,” I mumbled as I fished out my purse and took out a twenty. I folded it and placed it in the hand and then jumped back when it curled up and shot from sight.

  “What the Hell is this!? Sod off and stop wasting my time!” A gruff voice shouted and threw the twenty back at my face, all the time keeping their face clear from the door.

  “But wait! What do you want if… not money?” I said in a rush but it ended up trailing off into a whisper when the door slammed in my face. Then I found my anger at the rude reply and instead of knocking, I used my palm to bang louder on the door. I was actually surprised when it opened again and even more so when I saw why. The same hand flashed out, gave me the middle finger and said,

  “Piss off human and come back when you have earned the right for an invite!” This time when the door slammed shut I heard the locks to make it final.

  “Well at least that confirms I have the right place…YOU ASSHOLE!” I shouted at the door before storming off down the alleyway where I had come. I had no clue what I was going to do now, but I knew one thing for sure and that was, I was pissed…oh man was I pissed! In fact I was so angry I decided that I needed to work off some of the steam I was sure was coming from beneath my top. I started walking in the right direction back to my hotel and all the while my mind was reeling. I had no more clues to go on and had no idea what was meant by ‘Earning the right to an invite’. So in plain English…I was so screwed!