by Adele Abbott
Both Mad and I gave her the thumbs up.
For a petite woman, Connie packed a punch. Or in this case a kick. The door yielded to the second blow.
Inside, a scruffy-looking man with bad teeth and very little hair, seemed shocked at our sudden appearance.
“Hello, Viggo,” Connie said.
“There was no need to break down my door, Mrs Bowler.”
“I know you, Viggo. If I’d knocked, you’d have done a runner out the back door.”
“No, I wouldn’t. I’m always pleased to see you, Mrs Bowler. Who are your—?” He stopped mid-sentence when his gaze landed on me. “She’s not a ghost. Not a para neither.”
“This is Jill Gooder.” Connie made the introductions. “She’s a witch.”
“That ain’t possible.”
“Apparently, it is.” Mad walked towards him. “She’s come to collect some items which you stole from a friend of hers.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I ain’t stolen anything.”
“You won’t mind if we take a look around then, will you?” Connie didn’t wait for a reply.
Half an hour later, we had recovered all the items on the colonel’s list, and Connie had taken Viggo in, to face charges.
“Thanks for this, Mad,” I said.
“My pleasure. This new ability of yours is going to make such a difference.”
“I hope so. I’ll return these to their rightful owner, but before I go, do you mind if I ask you another favour?”
“Why not? It’s not like I don’t owe you.”
“My PA has a problem.”
“Which PA? You have so many.”
“Touché! It’s Mrs V. Her sister is talking about moving up here; she wants to live with Mrs V.”
“I take it Mrs V isn’t very enthusiastic?”
“No, and I don’t blame her. Her sister, Mrs G, is a nightmare.”
“Mrs V and Mrs G? Really?”
I nodded. “Mrs G is always putting Mrs V down. She’s a nasty piece of work.”
“How can I help?”
“I need you to give her the same kind of performance as you gave my noisy neighbour.”
“Is that all? No problem. I know a few ghosts who get a great kick out of scaring humans. Let me have all the details, and I’ll get onto it.”
***
The colonel was delighted to get his property back, but I was forced to decline his and Priscilla’s offer to join them for dinner. I needed to get to Maddy’s house, so she could give me the ‘pixie’ makeover again, ahead of my ‘Human Experience’.
I was a few minutes late getting to the rendezvous point; Frankie Forest was tapping his watch when I arrived.
“You’re late.”
“Only a couple of minutes, sorry.”
“Do you have the cash?”
I handed over the pixie dollars that Rhoda Riddle had given me.
After counting it, he ushered me onto the minibus which was human size, but which had six small seats fitted into the back. I joined the other three pixies—all males—who were already inside. Frankie Forest obviously wasn’t travelling with us. He had a few words with the driver, a wizard, and then waved us on our way.
“Hi, I’m Neil.” The pixie seated next to me introduced himself.
“Flo Feathers. Do you know how all this works?”
“No idea. It’s all very hush-hush. Are you nervous?”
“A little.”
The seats were too low to see out of the windows on the side of the bus, but I was able to see out of the window in the rear door. After a few miles, it became apparent that we were en route to Washbridge. I suppose I should have expected that. The Human Experience was bound to take place in the human world. But where?
We came to a halt, and I could hear the driver pressing keys on a number pad. Moments later, he drove through a set of metal gates, and into the grounds of a small factory. Even before he allowed us to get out of the vehicle, I realised where we were. It was the anonymous factory at Wash Point.
We were led inside by a wizard, wearing a white coat. He took us to a room, which had been fitted out with pixie-sized desks and chairs. When we were all seated, another wizard appeared through a door to our right.
“Welcome to the Human Experience. You are here because you want the opportunity to live in the human world—something which is normally impossible to do as a pixie.” He gestured to someone at the back of the room, who turned off the lights. “This brief video will show you the process. Before you view it, I should emphasise that it is totally painless, and entirely safe.” With that, he started the video which displayed on a large screen at the front of the room.
“Any questions?” he asked, once the presentation had finished, and the lights were back on.
“Are you sure it’s safe?” Neil asked.
“Absolutely. We’ve been doing this procedure now for some time without any issues. Any more questions?”
“When does it happen?” I asked.
“Tomorrow morning at nine am, so I suggest you all retire to your rooms where you’ll find a meal waiting for you. There’s a TV and DVDs for your entertainment. Please make sure you get a good night’s sleep. You must not, under any circumstances, leave the accommodation area until you are collected in the morning.”
From there we were taken to our accommodation which comprised individual, self-contained rooms not unlike those found in budget motels.
What I had seen on the video had horrified me. BeHuman had developed a means of changing a pixie into human form. The process was part magic, part chemical engineering. At least now I knew why they had positioned the factory to include the river in its grounds. The transformation process took place inside metal pods which became extremely hot. The river water was diverted into the factory where it was used to cool the pods during the two-hour long process. Taking that much water from the mains would have been very expensive. This way they were able to cool the pods without incurring additional costs, and the water wasn’t polluted in any way. The video had shown a pixie climb into one of the pods, and then climb out, two hours later, as a human. Impressive? Certainly. Scary? You better believe it.
What about Robbie Riddle? Where was he? And where were the other two missing pixies? According to the video, pixies who transformed into human form would still be able to return to Candlefield because, although they may appear to be human, they were still essentially sups. If that was the case, why hadn’t Robbie returned to Candlefield? He must have known his family and friends would be worried about him. Had something gone wrong? Was there something we weren’t being told?
It was time to find out.
Chapter 25
First, I reversed the ‘shrink’ spell to bring myself back to human size. Next, I cast the ‘invisible’ spell to enable me to explore the building without being observed. I made my way to the laboratory where the transformation process would take place. It was an elaborate set-up with four metal pods suspended from the ceiling. Below each of the pods were metal channels through which water flowed. I knew, from having viewed the video, that the pods were lowered, the pixies climbed into them, and then the pods were submerged in the water. When the process was complete, the pods were raised out of the water, and the pixies were taken out of them—now in their human-like bodies. During the induction video and talk, they had gone to great lengths to make it clear that the pixies would be sups inside a human ‘shell’. They would not actually be humans.
From the laboratory, I made my way along several corridors, and checked inside a number of offices, but didn’t see or hear anything of particular interest until I heard a voice.
“Let me out! I won’t say anything, I promise. Please, let me out!”
I followed the sound until I came to a door with a small window; inside was a wizard, with long unkempt hair.
When I reversed the ‘invisible’ spell, he jumped back in shock.
“Who are you?” He was visibly shaken.
<
br /> “Never mind that. Why have you been locked in there?”
“Because I threatened to blow the lid on this bogus operation.”
“What do you mean? Blow the lid, how?”
“Who are you?”
“I’m the person who will get you out of there, if you tell me everything you know.”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
“You don’t, but what other options do you have?”
He hesitated. “Okay. The transformation process works fine most of the time, but in a small number of cases, there’s a delayed side-effect.”
“What kind of side-effect?”
“The pixies seem okay when they leave here, but there have been reports of at least three of them falling into a coma.”
“That’s some side-effect.” I remembered the article I’d read about a number of unknown coma patients in Washbridge Hospital.
“I tried to persuade them to call a halt to operations until we’d found out why it was happening. When they refused, I said I was going to the Candlefield press. That’s when they locked me in here. Now, can you get me out?”
“Stand back. I’m going to use the ‘power’ spell.”
“That won’t work. I’ve already tried that. You have to find the key.”
“Stand away from the door.”
He looked doubtful, but did as I said.
The door proved to be no match for me once I’d cast the spell.
“How did you do that?” He looked stunned.
“There isn’t time to get into that now. What’s your name?”
“Max Blackstone.”
“Do you think you can find your way out of the factory without anyone seeing you, Max?”
“Sure. I know my way around here like the back of my hand.”
“Good. Get going then.”
“What about you?”
“I still have work to do here.”
He started down the corridor, but then stopped. “They’re holding a human prisoner.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. Someone they found in the grounds, I think. “
“Where is he?”
“I’m not sure, but I’ve heard him calling out, so he can’t be far away.”
“Okay. Get going!”
I checked every other door along the corridor. At the fifth one, I found what I was looking for. A human was sitting on the floor of the room.
I knocked on the glass. As soon as he saw me, he hurried over to the window.
“Get me out of here!”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Brendan Bowlings. I’m being held captive. Can you get me out?”
“Yes, but you’ll need to stand back from the door.”
Once he was clear, I forced it open.
“How did you manage that?”
“There’s no time to explain. Take my hand.”
He looked puzzled, but did as I asked. I magicked both of us to a stretch of the river upstream from the factory. Before he could ask any awkward questions, I cast the ‘forget’ spell, and made my escape while he was still dazed. He’d remember his captivity, but the spell should ensure he had no memory of me or how he got away. I was pretty sure he would already be on his way to contact the police, so I had to act fast.
I made a call.
“Daze? I need your help, and I need it now.”
“What’s wrong?”
I gave her a quick rundown on what I’d discovered, and she promised to be with me within fifteen minutes. At my request, she was going to bring plenty of backup.
While I waited for Daze to arrive, I played back the two cases in my mind. Brendan Bowlings must have found a way to get inside the fence, and had been captured and held prisoner ever since. What they eventually planned to do with him was anyone’s guess.
There was little doubt that Robbie Riddle had undergone the transformation to human form. What was less clear was what had become of him since then. He was obviously close to his family and friends, so why hadn’t he been back to Candlefield to visit them? Was he afraid they would be too shocked by his appearance, or had he been one of the pixies who had suffered side-effects? My instincts told me it was probably the latter.
“Okay. What’s the plan?” Daze was ready for the fray.
“The human who was being held prisoner in there is probably on his way to the police, so they could be here at any moment. If you and your guys can get everyone inside the factory back to Candlefield before the police get here, that would be great. The three pixies inside the accommodation area are innocent. Everyone else will need to face justice for what they’ve done. Oh, but if you come across a wizard named Max Blackstone, you should go easy on him. He did work here, but he tried to put a stop to the operation when he realised that things were going wrong. He was being held captive too. I let him out earlier, so he may already have made it back to Candlefield.”
“Okay, will do. What are you going to do?”
“I need to find those three coma victims. One of them could be the pixie I’ve been trying to locate. I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to do when I find them, though.”
“If the process is at least partially magic, it’s quite possible the wizards on the medical staff at Candlefield Hospital will be able to treat them. If you can magic the coma victims back there, I’ll warn the hospital staff that you’re coming.”
“That sounds like a plan.”
***
Before I entered Washbridge Hospital, I had a couple of dry runs at magicking myself back and forth between there and Candlefield Hospital. I wanted to be sure that I was able to land in the area that had been set aside for our arrival, where several mattresses had been laid out on the floor, to provide a soft landing for the incoming patients.
All three coma victims were in the high-dependency unit. There were several members of staff around, but no one was actually beside the beds. By making myself invisible, I was able to get to each bed in turn, to confirm that despite appearances, they were all sups.
I was going to attempt something I’d never done before: to magic someone who was unconscious back to Candlefield with me. I took hold of the hand of the first man, and cast the spell. Moments later, we touched down safely on the mattresses. While the medical staff took the first patient away on a trolley, I repeated the process for the other two. Phew! Success! And not a moment too soon because a nurse was headed towards the beds—she was in for something of a shock.
The fate of the three pixies was now in the hands of the wizard doctors in Candlefield Hospital.
***
I had an appointment with Mr Twoday at the offices of Day, Day, Day, Day & Week, solicitors.
“You have Magna Mondale’s book, I see,” he said. His forehead was just as shiny as on our previous meeting.
“I do.” I placed it on his desk.
“Would you mind if I take a look?”
“Help yourself.”
He examined the book for a few minutes, pronounced himself satisfied that it was the genuine article, and then handed it back to me. “I won’t be a minute.” He left the office for a short while, and then returned carrying a small book. “This is Imelda Barrowtop’s journal. I’ll need you to sign for it if you wouldn’t mind?”
The journal was roughly A5 in size. Once I was back outside, I couldn’t resist taking a quick look at it. The contents of the first page read:
Magna has asked me to keep this journal, and to record everything which happens to her. Although I readily agreed, I did ask her why she didn’t record it in a diary of her own. She told me that she feared that if something was to befall her, the diary might be taken or destroyed. No one would suspect that I might be keeping a journal on her behalf. She plans to contact me on a regular basis, and to bring me up to date on events, so that I may record them. The journal is to be passed on to whoever presents him or herself to me, bearing Magna’s book, which she has today sealed in a room in the basement under her house
. I asked who that person might be, but she insists she does not know. In the event of my death, I have left instructions in my Will relating to this journal.
There were literally hundreds and hundreds of pages of entries, and I could see from only a cursory glance that they did not cover every single day. In some cases, there were periods of days or even weeks between entries. I read the first few pages, but there was nothing of any particular significance. In fact, much of it was mundane: Magna went to the market place, Magna took tapestry classes, that kind of thing.
It was going to take a long time to read it all, and right then, I had other more pressing matters to attend to.
***
Mrs V was busy winding a ball of wool when I got back to the office.
“Any messages?”
“Nothing for you, but I’ve had some good news.” She beamed. “You know I asked you if you’d try to think of a way to stop G moving in with me?”
“Yes?”
“Well, you don’t need to bother. She’s packed up her stuff and gone home. And what’s more, she says she’s never going to spend another day in my house.”
“That is good news. What made her change her mind?”
“You’ll never believe it. That crazy sister of mine insists that she saw ghosts in my house. I think I’d know if I had ghosts. She’d probably been at the sherry. Anyway, I don’t care. It means that I don’t have to worry about that now.”
“That’s great news, Mrs V. I’m very pleased for you.”
Well done, Mad.
Chapter 26
A man couldn’t be in two places at once. And yet, Gordon Rice had been captured on CCTV going into his factory at the same time as he was supposedly in a restaurant with Sandra Rice. It was always possible that Sandra had lied, but my gut told me that wasn’t the case.
I brought up the short clip of CCTV, from the petrol station, that I’d saved to my phone. After playing it back and forth several times, I was just about to give up on it when I spotted something. As the man came into view and walked over to the front door of the industrial unit, he did so with a slight limp. It was nothing too pronounced, and could easily have gone unnoticed—I’d already missed it several times. But it was definitely there. To the best of my knowledge, Gordon Rice did not have a limp, but Jordan, his twin brother, did.