by Suzy Turner
'Erm, my kind?' asked Nisha.
'Yes, my love. Those that can freely see us and communicate with us like this. Granted, many people can see us and hear us but only if we want them to. You can see us regardless... it's nice that you want to see and talk to us. It certainly makes a change, I tell you,' she cackled. 'Been here a long time, and we don't often get to talk to anyone other than this ghostly lot,' she smiled, revealing several missing front teeth.
'I seen that boy you're looking for. He seems very frightened and lonely. Best you find him as soon as you can and lead him down the right path 'fore those others lead him the wrong way,' she said.
'Others?' asked Nisha.
'Yes my love. The others, those evil ones. They often have their eye on the newcomers. If you don't get him soon, it'll be too late.'
'But who are they?' asked Penny.
Before she could get an answer, though, the ghosts had vanished right before their eyes. Even Granville was no longer with them.
'Something's wrong,' said Nisha, looking around. 'I felt it. They got spooked. We need to get out of here.'
'What is it? What's wrong Nisha?' asked Emma. 'Ava, can you hear anything?'
Ava closed her eyes and concentrated hard. 'There's someone coming. It's a group, they're moving quickly. They're coming towards us,' she whispered shakily.
'Rupert? Can you see anything?' she asked as he focussed hard into the distance. 'There's about eight... no, nine. There's nine of them. They look really mean, guys. We need to get out of here. Get to the old chapel, as fast as you can, now' he said.
'But we're Watchers. We can take them,' growled Liam with clenched fists.
'No,' said Emma, 'We don't even know who they are. We mustn't get involved. Let's just get out of their way. Please, Liam, come on.'
Liam reluctantly nodded at her before they all rushed away and headed toward the old chapel from where Rupert kept a look out. His exceptional vision skills allowed him to see through the trees, the crypts and anything else that stood in their way.
'What's going on, Rupert?' whispered Imran as they all huddled behind him.
'They're looking for something,' he replied. 'But I can only see, I can't hear. Ava what are they saying?'
Ava closed her eyes and stood silently listening.
'They're after someone. They're laughing. Wait, he's saying, we're gonna get her this time. It's about time we showed her whose boss around here...'
'They've stopped,' added Rupert, 'One of them seems to be... sniffing the air. He's looking in our direction. Shhhh everyone,' he whispered as they all stood as silently as they possibly could.
'They're on the move again. They're coming this way. Oh God,' he said.
'What is it Rupert?' whispered Lana.
'A couple of them... they're not... human.'
Lana gasped as Liam grabbed hold of her hand.
'What do we do?'
'Just stay quiet, hold still,' Ava whispered. 'They're still looking for someone.'
'They've changed course,' said Rupert, 'They're heading away. I think they're goin...' but before he could even finish his sentence, something appeared at the door to the chapel, making them all jump backwards.
The four-legged creature snarled as it stood watching them, its black eyes flicking from one side of the nave to the other. Slowly stepping inside, the moonlight shining in from the holes in the roof glistened on its glossy black fur.
Lana began to step backwards, catching her foot on a broken stone tile in the floor. She stumbled. Before she hit the ground, Liam caught her just as the beast leaped forward. At exactly the same time, Elliott held out his hands and shook them until flames appeared dancing before his eyes. Flicking his fingers, the flames grew larger until the smell of burnt hair filled the air.
The creature yelped and dropped backwards as it continued to snarl at the group, standing in the broken doorway. Elliott concentrated, keeping the flames coming, just in case.
'They're coming,' said Rupert, 'They heard it yelp.'
'Now what? We're trapped in here,' Penny said as they all stood waiting while the beast continued its terrifying snarling.
'Not much we can do now. Let's just see what they want,' Diarmuid said as the figures burst through the chapel's entrance.
There were four men and three women, all dressed in black, and another large wolf-like beast.
Bending down, a woman with long straw-coloured dreadlocks stroked the creature who had thrown itself at the group. When she realised his fur had been singed, she stood, her eyes glowing yellow in the darkness. Stepping towards them, she let out a deep hiss.
One of the men, presumably their leader, held out his arm as a barrier to stop her.
'Wait,' he said, his voice slightly muffled. 'Who are you?' he asked them.
Liam stepped forward slightly, 'Nobody. Just kids,' he answered bravely.
The man started to laugh, which rippled through to the others in his gang.
'Just kids? I don't think so. What are you doing here?'
'It was a dare,' lied Lana from behind her boyfriend. 'We dared each other to come to the cemetery at midnight, that's all.'
'That's very brave of you,' he said, stepping forward so that his face was illuminated by the little moonlight from above the broken roof. He would have been very handsome were it not for the deathly pale, gaunt skin. He was about nineteen or twenty, with black shoulder length hair and light blue eyes. He pushed his hair away from his face, revealing a deep scar across his cheek towards his ear.
'You never know what's lurking in the shadows of a graveyard, especially one like Abney Park,' he laughed.
'We were just leaving,' squeaked Cassie from the back of the group.
'I'll tell you when you can leave,' he growled, curling his lip. 'But first, you must pay for the damage you've done to Grycan,' he said, glancing down at the slightly singed wolf.
Elliott stepped backward nervously, brushing against the stone altar.
'Who did this to you, Grycan,' the leader asked.
The wolf let out a deep howl, followed by what sounded like a bark.
'Him,' said the woman with dread-locks, 'The stocky one in the rugby shirt,' she pointed to Elliott.
'You will pay.'
'No!' Liam interjected. 'Your mutt tried to attack us, we were defending ourselves.'
'A pathetic excuse for injuring one of us. Now you will all pay,' the leader growled before leaping forward towards Liam.
Liam responded by dipping his head down and throwing himself at his opponent, pinning him to the far wall of the church.
'I don't think so,' he snapped as the rest of the Watchers reacted, preparing to defend themselves.
The wolves howled loudly as the four men in the other group jumped into action, attacking Elliott, Rupert and Diarmuid.
The three boys immediately retaliated, while the others all threw themselves into the fight causing the church to rumble and rocks to tumble all around them.
Lana and Emma worked together, the very same way they had done in the alleyway the week before, moving too fast for the women in the gang to get hold of them, eventually beating them down. But whenever they were thrown to the floor, the women were right back up again with their yellow eyes narrowing into slits, and their sharp teeth poking out from behind their auburn lips.
Cries of pain, punches and kicks echoed around the chapel as Elliott managed to dodge a sloppy attack from one of his enemies. Stepping backwards, he held out his hands and allowed huge flames to erupt from his fingertips towards the wolves who yelped the moment the heat grew too much. But they kept coming back for more.
Liam, who had so far managed to dodge the leader's attacks, was growing weaker.
'Get beside me,' shouted Diarmuid suddenly,' I can create a shield,' he said as the others waited for a break in order to rush to his side. Closing his eyes just for a moment, he let out a deep breath before a massive wall of electricity grew up from the floor, surrounding them.
&n
bsp; Two of the men steadied themselves, before looking across at each other and then leaping toward the group. A loud buzzing sound erupted from the wall and the men dropped to the floor. The stench of smouldering skin filled the nave.
Dusting himself down, the leader approached them, 'I knew you weren't just kids,' he spat. 'You have interesting skills, I'll give you that. But you are no match for The Skulls. We shall return and we shall get our revenge. Mark my words girls and boys, because you will be seeing us again.'
He turned abruptly, 'Come,' he said as the others followed him out into the darkened night. 'Let's get what we came for. Find the red-haired girl,' he instructed just out of ear shot of most of the Watchers.
'It's not over yet, guys. They came for the girl with the red hair. We need to find her and fast,' whispered Ava.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
'Granville, can you hear me? We need your help again. Please show yourself,' said Nisha just moments after the fight had come to its dramatic conclusion and the Skulls had vanished.
'I will show myself only if you assure me the evil ones are gone,' he whispered back so only Nisha could hear.
'Yes, they've gone. Please show yourselves, and the others. We need all of your help.'
Seconds later the ghosts materialised.
'What can we do for you, lovey?' said a completely different ghost, a stocky middle aged woman with curly brown hair whose hands appeared to be dripping with blood.
Curling up her face in disgust, Lana braved it and spoke, 'We need to know where the girl with the red hair is. We need to save her from the evil ones,' she gulped.
'Give us a moment,' the ghost replied. 'Everyone, go now. Find her before they do,' she said as they all evaporated into the air.
'What should we do now?' asked Cassie.
'We need to stick together, so we just wait for the ghosts to return,' Elliot suggested.
'It's too late,' said a voice from above. 'They've got her. I'm sorry, we didn't get there in time.' It was Granville.
'No,' shouted Emma. 'We've got to help her.'
'Wait... I think I know how,' said Imran who stepped forward. Perhaps if the ghosts tell me where she was when she was taken, I can go back and warn her?'
'You can do that? You can really go back in time?' asked Rupert.
'I can take one person with me,' he said, nodding.
'I'll come,' said Emma bravely.
Once the ghosts had told them where the girl had been hiding when she was captured, Emma took hold of Imran's hand and the two immediately began to spin. When the spinning eventually came to a stop, Emma found it difficult to regain her balance.
Swaying from side to side, Imran stood looking at her. 'Emma, there's no time for that. We've got to warn her now.'
Taking her hand, Imran pulled her around a small pathway until they faced the beautiful lion statue they'd spotted earlier.
The girl sat alone, beneath it.
As Emma and Imran approached, the sound of twigs breaking underfoot caused her to gasp, looking up. She stood quickly, staring at them, preparing to run.
'Wait,' Emma said softly before she disappeared again. 'Please, we're here to warn you. You're in danger. There's some really evil, crazy guys coming for you. They'll be here really soon. You need to get away from here as quick as you possibly can or... come with us, take my hand. We're going back to the chapel to the rest of our group. You'll be safe there,' but before Emma could say anything further, the girl had vanished.
'Sugar,' muttered Emma under her breath.
'We should go back, Emma. We've warned her. If she doesn't want to come with us, there's not much we can do about that. Let's go before they come.'
Emma turned around, searching for any sign of the girl but she knew it was pointless. She'd gone.
Taking Imran's offered hand, they began to spin again until they stood outside the chapel where the others stood waiting.
'She wouldn't come,' Emma sighed, kicking the floor in exasperation.
'But she did listen, right? She did run away?'
'Yeah, from where she was, but whose to say she didn't run right into their grasp? I just hope she's safe,' Emma sighed again as the others gathered around.
'We should get out of here,' said Moira who was holding her arm, wincing.
'Jesus, Moira, you're injured. You should have said something. You're right, let's get out of this place before they come back,' said Lana.
'But wait... what about Joe? We can't leave without him. That's why we came, remember?' said Emma as she pushed through the others so she stood facing them all.
'Please, we need to find him. You heard what the ghosts said, the evil ones would try and get to him. I don't even want to think about what they could do to him if they did,' she said, her face crumpling at the thought.
'He's a ghost, Em. What can they do to him that hasn't been done to him already?' Lana asked, giving in.
'You're joking right? Did you see how terrified those other ghosts were of them? And what about poor Joe finding his way home, crossing over, where he belongs? I'm not giving up on him, Sis and neither should you. It's not about the stupid task any more. It's about helping Joe, our friend. I'm not leaving this place without him. If you all want to go, then go. I won't hold it against you. Nisha, please just get the ghosts back so I can communicate with them before you go,' Emma said determinedly, turning to walk away from them all.
'Hey, wait a minute. Nobody is leaving you,' said Diarmuid as he pulled on her hand and dragged her back towards him. 'I sure as hell am not going to. I'll stay until we've found him. I promise, okay?' he said as he searched her eyes and watched as they filled with tears.
Roughly wiping at them, she nodded.
The others slowly began to step towards her, each placing a hand on her and nodding.
'I'm sorry, Sis. You're right. We're all in this together. Let's go and find him,' Lana said as she finally put her hand on her sister's back.
'You don't have to go anywhere,' said a gentle voice from nearby.
The others all dropped their hands from Emma and turned to face the sound. Sitting on a thick branch in an old oak tree just a few metres away was the red-haired girl.
'Daisy?' asked Emma.
The girl began to climb down. When she reached the bottom, she walked up to them and smiled sadly. She nodded, 'How do you know me?'
'The ghosts told us your name. I'm glad you got away.'
Smiling nervously, she replied, 'Only because of you. Thank you,' she nodded.
'What did you mean, we don't have to go anywhere,' asked Lana.
'The ghost you're looking for, I know where he is. I've been keeping him safe for a couple of days. You called him Joe, right?' she asked.
Lana nodded, 'That's his name, well Josiah. Josiah Grimshaw. He came with us from Andilyse Island last week but he seems to have forgotten everything.'
'Can you take us to him?' Emma asked.
The girl nodded, 'Follow me,' she whispered as the group all began to trample after her, careful not to make too much noise.
'What is that?' asked Imran as they approached a large memorial.
'It's a War Memorial,' said Daisy. 'There's catacombs beneath it. The main entrance has been blocked off, but I know a secret way in.'
'Cool,' said Liam as they walked around the memorial and then off to the side under a cluster of nearby trees. A hole in the ground had been dug and a tunnel led off towards the memorial.
'He's hiding in there... with my Dad,' she said shyly.
'Oh... okay. Nisha... over to you,' Emma said with a smile.
'You want me to climb down there?' she asked a little nervously.
Emma nodded.
'It's okay. It's not as bad as it looks. It's actually very clean, it's just the entrance that's looks a bit dodgy,' said Daisy. 'Follow me.'
Nisha rubbed her chin and followed Daisy down into the tunnel. Surprisingly, there was more room than she'd expected and once they'd arrived at the catacombs,
Nisha heard Daisy fidget around until a light was switched on.
'I always keep a few supplies down here,' she smiled as she held the torch upwards. 'Can you see Josiah? He often hides when my Dad is here. And he doesn't always come when I ask him to.'
Looking around, Nisha could only see a sleeping man. The odour of alcohol drifted under her nose making her scrunch it upwards in disgust.
'No, here's not here.'
'Josiah?' whispered Nisha.
'He doesn't remember his name, does he?'
'Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Hello, is there anybody here. Anybody ghostly? Can you show yourself?' Nisha asked, feeling a little foolish when nothing happened. 'Hello? We know you're here. We just want you to show yourself.'
Daisy's father mumbled something in his sleep before turning over and snoring, his sweatshirt lifted slightly, revealing a familiar tattoo on the base of his spine. Nisha gasped but said nothing, instead turning to concentrate on Josiah.
'Look, we know who you are. We know you've lost your memory. We can help you. It's why we're here.'
'It is? You know who I am?' said a voice in the semi-darkness as a figure slowly started to emerge in the corner. The ghost of the young man sat huddled up, his face filled with confusion and fear.
'Your name is Josiah, Josiah Grimshaw. Does that mean anything to you?' Nisha asked as he shook his head. 'We're your friends. You came to London with two girls, Lana Beth and Emma Jane Morgan. Do you remember?' she asked. A faint flicker of familiarity crossed his eyes and he sat up.
'Emma? It does seem familiar to me. Where is she?' he asked.
'She's above ground. We came here to find you. Will you return with us?' she asked.
He waited a moment before finally slowly nodding.
Nisha finally let out a sigh of relief and her shoulders dropped back to their natural position. 'Thank you. At last.'
Climbing back out into the cemetery, the group were huddled around each other waiting patiently for Nisha to do her work. When Joe's ghost finally appeared in front of them, they all let out a cheer, before hushing each other up in case those awful Skulls came back.