The Ferryman (The Guardians Series 1 Book 2)

by Wendy Saunders

  ‘Then go and get me the release forms, I’ll discharge myself.’

  ‘Ms Caldwell,’ she sighed in exasperation.

  ‘Still terrorising the staff I see,’ a familiar voice had them both turning towards the doorway.

  ‘Their incompetence astounds me’ Fiona grumbled, glaring mutinously at the nurse.

  ‘She’s all yours,’ the young woman breathed a sigh of relief as she slipped from the room.

  ‘How are you feeling?’ Olivia smiled, stepping into the room holding a bunch of flowers and a bag.

  ‘Why are you here?’ she snapped. ‘Why aren’t you looking after my cats?’

  ‘I have been looking after your cats,’ her mouth curved in amusement as she put the bag down and pulled a plastic pitcher from the locker beside the bed before disappearing into the bathroom to fill it.

  ‘So you say,’ she huffed, ‘they can’t be left on their own for too long.’

  ‘They’re fine,’ Olivia re-emerged from the bathroom and began to arrange the flowers.

  ‘I want to go home.’

  ‘Well you can’t,’ she replied pleasantly, ‘they’ve only just pulled a six-inch shard of glass from your neck. I’m afraid you’re stuck here until they decide you can go.’

  ‘Traitor,’ she hissed folding her arms. ‘If you don’t have anything more useful to say you can leave too.’

  ‘And if you can’t be more pleasant you won’t get your surprise.’

  ‘What surprise?’ she asked suspiciously.

  Olivia pulled a packet of cigarettes from her pocket.

  Fiona let loose a delighted cackle. ‘I knew there was a reason I liked you girl.’ Fiona began to throw back the covers.

  ‘Uh Uh’ Olivia shook her head ‘wheelchair.’

  Fiona paused. ‘Stuff and nonsense,’ she replied indignantly, ‘I don’t need a bloody wheelchair.’

  ‘Those are the terms,’ Olivia waved the cigarette pack in front of her. ‘I guess the question is, how bad do you want one of these?’

  ‘Fine,’ Fiona’s gaze narrowed.

  Olivia retrieved the bag and pulled out some fur-lined snow boots and a thick winter jacket, which she had retrieved from Fiona’s house, knowing the ones she’d been wearing when she was brought in were torn and covered in blood. Within minutes she had her tucked up in a wheelchair and covered with a blanket.

  ‘Shush,’ Olivia chuckled as she stuck her head around the corner to check the coast was clear. Noting that the nurses station was empty she pushed the wheelchair quickly down the corridor towards the elevators, both of them giggling like school girls.

  ‘Roof,’ Fiona decided as the doors opened and Olivia wheeled her inside. ‘They’ll never think to look for us up there.’

  They came out on the top floor heading for the exit onto the roof. Unable to hold back any longer Fiona pulled a cigarette from the pack and lit it taking a long drag and exhaling with a deeply pleasured sigh.

  ‘You couldn’t wait two more seconds?’

  ‘Nope,’ Fiona replied as she took another deep inhale before the door opened up and she found herself breathing cold air. ‘God that’s better,’ she sighed in relief, ‘it was beginning to feel as if the walls were closing in on me.’

  ‘You’re welcome,’ Olivia smiled parking the chair by the ledge and putting the brakes on.

  She dusted the snow off the bricks and sat down next to Fiona.

  ‘This would go down a treat with a brandy.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Olivia laughed, ‘but I draw the line at booze. I don’t know what meds they’ve got you on but I’m pretty sure alcohol wouldn’t mix well.’

  Fiona shrugged and resumed puffing away at her cigarette. ‘So what’s been happening?’

  ‘Not much since Father Hubert got rid of Jackson’s guest.’

  ‘You haven’t seen Charlotte again?’

  Olivia shook her head. ‘I’m at a bit of a standstill, I don’t know what she’s trying to tell me and in the meantime there seems to be more and more sightings. I spoke to Jake this morning and the phone has been ringing off the hook down at the station with people convinced they’ve seen ghosts. I can’t figure it out, I’ve never heard of so many spirit sightings, so suddenly, and all in one town.’

  Fiona watched Olivia silently as she absently tapped the ash from her cigarette.

  ‘It’s like you can feel them,’ Olivia murmured thoughtfully. ‘Like a flicker at the edge of your vision but when you turn your head there’s nothing there. You walk down the street and the tiny hairs on the back of your neck begin to rise as if the air is filled with static electricity. They’re everywhere; it’s almost as if…’

  ‘As if what?’

  ‘As if someone has left a door open and they’ve all just wandered in,’ her gaze locked on Fiona who was chewing on her lip pensively. ‘What?’

  ‘I think you’ve probably hit the nail on the head.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Picture it in your mind,’ Fiona replied quietly, ‘all the different versions of the afterlife you’ve ever heard of, the Nether, the spirit world, the summer lands, the other world…all the realms of the dead. They’re all real and they’re all connected. Everything is connected, each with its own doorway leading to someplace else. What if one of those doorways was left open?’

  ‘Let’s just say for one moment you’re right, shouldn’t the doorways be locked or guarded?’ Olivia frowned.

  ‘Yes,’ she nodded, ‘which begs the question who would have the knowledge and power to open one and why?’

  ‘Great, more questions,’ Olivia sighed.

  ‘I’m afraid so,’ Fiona pulled another cigarette from the pack and lit it from the first before flicking the butt into the snow. ‘But I believe it is the most important question; this is what we need to figure out the answer to and I’m afraid we don’t have much time.’

  ‘Why do I get a really bad feeling when you say that?’

  ‘Like I said,’ she took a drag of her fresh cigarette, ‘everything is connected by a series of doors and gateways. We’re all just parts of a whole, like one giant cosmic jigsaw puzzle. Just as all the spirit realms are attached to our world; other worlds are attached to them.’

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘The Underworld, Hell, Sheol, Tartarus, again all the most terrifying places of every faith and religion, where the sinners and monsters are cast down. They are all real. How long do you think it’s going to take them to realise there is an open doorway to the human world? And how long before they realise they can use the spirit world as a corridor from their hell to our world.’

  She took another pull and blew out a deep discontented breath.

  ‘If that happens,’ she shook her head, ‘the last thing we’ll have to worry about is a few ghosts. There are true horrors in the underworld, creatures who haven’t seen the light of day in thousands of years. What the hell do you think they are going to do if they are suddenly set loose on earth?’

  ‘So we need to find the doorway and close it?’

  ‘The problem is the gateways exist outside of the human range of perception. We can’t see them, even those of us who are gifted. There are very few creatures who can detect them; it’s supposed to be a failsafe to stop them from being opened. Even if we could find this one I have no idea how it was opened in the first place therefore I have no idea how to close it.’

  ‘We’re screwed,’ Olivia replied slowly.

  ‘Bet that brandy sounds good right about now doesn’t it?’

  ‘You’re not kidding.’

  Suddenly the door to the roof banged open and Louisa emerged pulling her coat on over her scrubs.

  ‘Thought I saw you escaping up here,’ she dropped down on the wall next to Olivia and plucked Fiona’s cigarette out of her hand and took a long drag.

  ‘I didn’t know you smoked,’ Olivia frowned.

  ‘I don’t,’ Louisa blew out a steady stream of smoke. ‘
I quit three years ago,’ she glanced back and forth between Olivia and Fiona noting their serious expressions. ‘You look like your day’s been about as good as mine. What’s the problem?’

  ‘The end of the world,’ Olivia breathed heavily, ‘and you?’

  ‘Lost a patient,’ she answered quietly as she took another pull, ‘and I seem to have misplaced my husband.’

  ‘Oh,’ Olivia clarified, ‘Tommy’s with Theo. He’s teaching him how to drive, God help us. Although it is kinda cute, I think they have a little bit of a bromance going on.’

  ‘Well at least he’s still talking to someone,’ she muttered.

  ‘Is there a problem?’

  ‘No,’ Louisa sighed, ‘I don’t know, Tommy’s just been…different since he came home this time.’

  ‘Different how?’

  ‘He doesn’t sleep, when he does he has nightmares but he won’t talk about it he just keeps snapping at me.’

  Olivia put her arm around Louisa pulling her in close until their heads rested together.

  ‘I’m sure it will be okay, I can’t even begin to imagine the things he’s seen. He’s bound to have trouble re-adjusting to normal life.’

  ‘That’s just the problem, I think he’s suffering from PTSD but I can’t get him to talk to me about it.’

  ‘Just give him time,’ Olivia replied, ‘that’s all you can do.’

  ‘I suppose,’ she finished the cigarette and flicked it into a small snowdrift, ‘but for now I’m afraid I’m going to have to take my patient back in before she catches Pneumonia and we’re stuck with her for even longer.’

  ‘It’s not my fault your staff are incompetent morons,’ Fiona shrugged as Louisa released the brakes and steered her back towards the door.

  ‘You made one of the orderlys cry yesterday.’

  Fiona cackled delightedly. ‘He should grow a thicker skin then.’

  ‘Maybe you should grow some manners,’ her mouth curved in amusement.

  Olivia followed behind them quietly, only half listening to them trade good natured insults. Her mind was still turning over what Fiona had told her about the gateways. If they didn’t figure out a solution soon she had the uncomfortable feeling they were going to be in deep trouble.

  After saying goodbye to them, Olivia headed back to her car. She barely even noticed the drive home until she pulled up in front of her house. Her mind was filled with the disturbing possibilities of an open portal left unchecked for any dark creature to be let loose on her world. Glancing down at her watch as she climbed the steps to the porch she realised Theo probably wouldn’t be back for a while. She could spend the next few hours trawling through the Internet looking for any reference to gateways or doorways to the spirit world. Somewhere, someone must have encountered one before.

  As she slid her key into the lock her brow folded into a frown, something didn’t feel right. She opened the door slowly and stepped into the hallway, letting the door close behind her with a gentle click. She paused but the house was still and quiet and nothing seemed out of place. Pulling her jacket off and hanging it on the rack by the door she kicked her boots off.

  Beau suddenly came scampering down the stairs wagging his tail enthusiastically.

  ‘Hey baby,’ she leaned down to stroke him, ‘have you been napping on my bed again?’

  He leaned into her hand, his whole body wagging with pleasure that she was home as he nipped at her hand and jumped up at her legs.

  ‘Come on,’ she smiled, ‘we’ve got some work to do.’

  She turned and headed for the library but as she reached the door she froze and her heart banged painfully in her chest.

  ‘Hello Olivia,’ her mother spoke coolly as she sat comfortably on the tatty couch. ‘I see you haven’t done much with the place,’ she glanced around the room distastefully, ‘still the same as I remember it.’

  ‘What are you doing here?’ Olivia whispered coldly.

  ‘I came to see you.’

  ‘That’s funny because last time we were together you shot me.’

  ‘If I’d wanted you dead Olivia,’ she answered casually, ‘you’d already be dead.’

  ‘Like Nana?’

  Something unreadable flickered behind Isabel’s eyes. ‘Unfortunate but unavoidable.’

  ‘She was your mother,’ Olivia whispered, ‘how could you?’

  ‘She was in my way,’ Isabel rose slowly to her feet.

  Olivia stood watching silently, unable to find any words, as Isabel moved until she was standing directly in front of her. Olivia’s heart clenched painfully as she looked into her mother’s eyes for the first time in twenty years. The child deep inside her wanted so desperately to put her arms out and be held by her mom, but the adult in her knew that she was a cold blooded murderer who could not be trusted.

  ‘I never wanted you,’ Isabel whispered.

  ‘What?’ Olivia gasped painfully.

  ‘Pregnant at eighteen?’ she replied calmly, ‘you think that was what I wanted? I couldn’t even have an abortion, my mother and my aunt knew just by looking at me that I had conceived. I had no choice but to have you,’ her fingertips reached out and slowly toyed with a stray lock of Olivia’s hair. ‘I remember the first time I held you…so tiny…so fragile…it would have been so easy to smother you.’

  ‘Then why didn’t you,’ she replied quietly.

  ‘Because I saw something in you.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Me,’ she answered slowly.

  ‘I am nothing like you,’ Olivia responded bitterly.

  ‘I’ve felt your power Olivia,’ her hand dropped from Olivia’s hair as she began to circle her like a hunter. ‘Its raw…undisciplined…unfocused…I could teach you,’ she moved back in front of Olivia and stopped. ‘I could teach you how to harness your power, you have no idea yet what you are truly capable of.’

  Olivia couldn’t speak, couldn’t form the words as yet again her world was torn apart.

  ‘We could be together again,’ she crooned softly, ‘you could have your mother back, isn’t that what you want? What you’ve always wanted.’

  Tears burned in her eyes as her gaze fixed on Isabel’s face. ‘No,’ she whispered defiantly, ‘No!’ she shoved her mother’s hand away and stepped back. ‘My mother is dead, she died twenty years ago.’

  Isabel’s mouth curved in amusement.

  ‘Deny it all you want Olivia but I am your mother and you and I are not finished. We will never be finished whether you like it or not.’

  The rage began to burn in her chest, smothering the pain as she felt for her magic, drew it down like armour and punched outwards with it. The invisible force hit Isabel and threw her back against a bookcase. Loose papers and books tumbled to the floor as Isabel straightened herself and smiled slowly.

  ‘Like I said undisciplined,’ she flicked her hand as if swatting away an errant fly and Olivia felt herself thrown backwards violently. The air was knocked out of her lungs as she landed on the desk, scattering more papers across the floor, followed by her laptop which cracked loudly as it hit the ground.

  ‘Unfocused,’ Isabel clenched her outstretched fist and threw it towards the opposite wall and Olivia was tossed like a rag doll. She felt her shoulder crack as she hit the other bookcase and dropped to the floor, books raining down on top of her.

  Beau went mad, snapping at Isabel’s ankles and growling loudly as he tried to protect his mistress. Isabel barely spared the puppy a glance, making a dismissive sweeping motion with her hand. Beau yelped as he skidded across the wooden floor out into the hallway before the door slammed shut in his face. Olivia could hear him barking and scratching frantically at the door trying to get back in. She tried to catch her breath while pushing herself up but her injured shoulder collapsed beneath her.

  ‘You have so much to learn,’ Isabel murmured as she kneeled down next to her daughter sweeping a dark lock of hair from her pale face and tucking it
tenderly behind her ear. ‘Think back Olivia…think back to the night at Boothe’s Hollow to when I broke the devils trap and set Nathaniel free and ask yourself this…why did I use your blood when mine would have sufficed?’

  Olivia stared in confusion as her mother stroked her cheek softly, then she saw her hand curl into a fist and darkness was the last thing she remembered.

  She wasn’t sure how long she’d been out but when she finally came around she was lying on the cold floor amidst the destruction of her library, with Beau desperately licking her face.

  ‘Alright boy,’ she murmured reaching out for him and stroking him soothingly, ‘I’m okay.’

  She pushed herself slowly into a sitting position wincing at the sharp pain in her shoulder. Glancing around the room she realised with a slow roll of dread in her stomach that this was far more destruction than that caused when her mother had thrown her across the room. This looked as if the room had been trashed deliberately, as if Isabel had been looking for something.

  ‘No…no,’ she shook her head in denial, her heart sinking as her gaze landed on the empty box where she had stored Hester’s Grimoire. That’s what her mother had wanted, she’d come looking for Hester’s spell book. Messing with her daughter had probably just been an added bonus. Fighting back the tears she shuffled against the nearest bookcase and leaned back. Beau climbed across her lap and settled down with a sigh, looking up at her with dark eyes. She touched her jaw gingerly and hissed with pain.

  Her mother obviously had a hell of a right hook, her jaw was badly bruised and the side of her mouth felt swollen but that was nothing compared to the pain of seeing her mother again, of being used yet again.

  She heard the door open and close and Theo’s voice call out to her. Beau leapt up and scrambled into the hallway barking frantically as if trying to tell him what had happened.

  ‘Hey boy,’ he reached down to stroke Beau, ‘where’s Olivia?’

  Beau snagged Theo’s sleeve with his teeth and tugged hard.

  ‘What is it Beau?’ Theo frowned.

  Beau dragged him towards the library. He straightened up as soon as he saw the devastation of Olivia’s favorite room, his eyes tracking around until they fell on where she had curled up against the wall with her head resting on her knees.