The Other Side (Thomas Skinner Book 1)

by S. I. Anderson

  From above, the house resembled a sort of rectangular shape with an open courtyard in the middle. Balconies covered entire sections, held up by pillars of silver and green that shone in the moonlit night. The house was enormous... It was going to take forever to find anything useful.

  “Shall we split up and look around?” Saafir asked as they flew up beside him.

  “Let’s not do that please,” Jenna said quickly.

  “We could stick together,” Gemma said a little too casually. “There’s no rush.”

  Tom agreed with the sentiment. Splitting up was always a bad idea.

  They circled the house on their brooms, taking in the sight. The twins seemed equally impressed by the sheer size of the place. They returned to the front of the house where they hovered over the large steps that led up to the House of Zarlock.

  Tom wasn’t so keen on going in. The thing that had killed the Zarlocks was old, a creature of supposed myth. What if it was still lurking about, waiting? The twins glanced back towards the bridge and beyond. They didn’t seem that eager either. Unsurprising considering what had happened the last time they tried to open a door.

  “Umm... What’s that?”

  Something was moving along the walls of the house, coming towards them fast. It was large, black and white markings covered its body, and now that it was close they could see its teeth. It had a lot. And they were sharp.

  For once, they all did the right thing. They turned and fled. Tom looked back as he flew forward as fast as he could. There were no more walls for the thing to jump to, to jump from.

  But it jumped anyway...

  It could fly...

  It was coming for him, and it was catching up. It stretched its arm out. The mouth opened wider, the tongue hung loose.

  “Tom!” he heard someone shout. It was Saafir. “You’re flying in a straight line. You can’t outrun it. You have to outmanoeuvre it.”

  As if to emphasis the point, the beast took its first swipe at him. It missed, but not by much. The next time it tried, it would have half of him in its claw – the other half would be hurtling towards the forest below.

  Tom didn’t know how to outmanoeuvre it. They had mostly practised flying straight. But he had to do something. He pulled the handle down. The broom shot toward the trees below much quicker than he thought even possible. It reminded him of being on a rollercoaster when it suddenly dropped.

  Those were safe. This wasn’t. He was going to crash into the trees and die. Or worse – he would break every bone in his body. And then the Nagruki would come to eat him alive. He had to stop thinking of horrible ways to die.

  “PULL UP! PULL UP! PULL UP!” someone shouted. Tom did pull up and just in time too as his back brushed against the tree tops. “That was close,” Saafir said.

  The creature wasn’t coming after him anymore. It had given up the chase. Tom could see it flying back toward the house.

  “What was that?” Jenna asked as the twins joined them.

  “A Nagruki?” Saafir said.

  Jenna shook her head frantically. “That wasn’t a Nagruki.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Nagruki aren’t that big. Their tails are longer. And they’re completely black. Not coloured like that.”

  “Oh. What was that then?” Saafir asked her.

  “I don’t know... I just asked what it was.”

  Tom thought he knew. The thing that had killed the Zarlocks, that’s what it was. He told them as much. There was silence at first and then Saafir said, “Should we go back?”

  “Are you crazy?” Gemma asked him.

  “Do you have a death wish?” Jenna said.

  “No,” Tom said.

  They agreed to call it a night. They would come back once a plan was formulated. The four of them flew back silently. Neither did they speak much as they landed near the tree house, or as they parted ways.

  Tom climbed into bed tired, but unable to sleep. He could see the beast, the teeth, the claws. There was no doubt in his mind: the Zarlocks had chosen the wrong person to avenge them.

  Chapter 25

  “That’s a stupid plan,” Saafir said.

  “Do you have a better one?” Jenna snapped.

  “No. But that doesn’t stop yours from being stupid.”

  There was a pause in the bickering and then, “You were a stupid plan!”

  It was midmorning Sunday. The four of them were in the tree house. The other three were talking, Tom was mostly listening. He was too tired to formulate any helpful contribution, though judging from the way the conversation seemed to be going he probably wasn’t the only one.

  What was a stupid plan?

  He had missed that part. His mind was wandering between blank and last night’s dream. It wasn’t new, the dream. He had had it before. He was running. Something was chasing him. He was sad, bitter, afraid, helpless...

  “Tom?”

  He looked up.

  “What do you think of their plan?” Saafir asked. “It’s stupid, isn’t it?”

  “Stop calling it stupid!”

  It was at this point his mind had resurfaced. He knew Saafir thought the plan to be stupid, but he had no idea what the plan exactly was.

  “You weren’t listening, were you?” Jenna asked.

  “I was... some... Sorry, I’m exhausted. I had the dream again last night and I’ve been awake since four... I think,” he mumbled. “Sorry, what was the plan?”

  “They want to lure the beast thing with some meat marinated in poison. It’s stupid,” Saafir said sullenly.

  “If you say it like that of course it’s going to sound stupid,” Jenna said.

  She was right. Said like that, it did sound foolish. The thing wasn’t a guard dog. Tom stared at her, waiting for her to say it her way, the way it wouldn’t sound so brainless.

  “The thing came at you like it wanted to eat you.” She said the words slowly, like she was explaining something really complicated. “It’s obviously a carnivore.” She paused. “We can use that to our advantage.”

  “It’s a stupid plan,” Saafir said.

  “Stop calling it stupid.”

  “This thing killed the Zarlocks,” Saafir said. “ZARLOCKS!” he added. “And you think it’s going to fall for the lame trick they try in every book? Oh look, there’s a beasty, what do we do?” Saafir’s voice changed into a really bad version of Jenna’s. “I know,” he continued in that vein, “let’s give it some meat and suddenly it’ll become our best friend and all cuddly.”

  “Oh, like you read books,” Jenna scoffed.

  They started again, the arguing. Tom listened to some of it. The twins thought last night was a success. They knew what they had to do. Kill the beast, avenge the Zarlocks.

  Saafir disagreed. They were lucky last night. Lucky no-one fell off their brooms and died. Lucky no-one met a Nagruki and died. Lucky the sleeping unicorns didn’t pierce their guts out and lucky that thing didn’t have them for a late night snack.

  It wasn’t long before they began throwing insults again. They were beginning to give him a headache. Tom rubbed his head and leaned against the wall. He was oh so tired. He closed his eyes as the room began to fade, to darken.

  “Tom!”

  He opened his eyes to see three blurry faces hovering over him, crowding him.

  “He’s awake.”

  “Are you OK?”

  Tom pushed them away gently and sat up. “What’s wrong?”

  “Your eyes closed and you tipped over on your side. We thought you might have died.”

  “I must’ve fallen asleep. How long was I out for?”

  “Not long.”

  “Why is my face wet?”

  “Long enough for us to worry and throw water all over you.”

  Saafir wasn’t joking. It wasn’t just his face that was wet. His clothes were too. What was the point of that? They didn’t need to give him a bath!

  “So?” Jenna asked.

  “What?” Tom asked
wearily.

  “Why did you fall asleep?”

  “I’m really tired.”

  “Is that a Wanderer thing?” Gemma asked. “Do they just randomly fall asleep if they don’t get a good night’s sleep?”

  “Yes. It also happens if we miss two or more meals in a row. Oh, and really loud noises make us faint.”

  “Really?” she asked and her eyes lit up.

  “No...” Did they understand sarcasm or not? “I’m exhausted. My body’s battered and bruised. I haven’t slept properly in...” How long had it been? “...a long time.”

  “Why’s your body battered and bruised?”

  He didn’t mean it literally, though it did feel like it. Tom told them how his body felt every time he woke from a dream. He expected a snide remark from Gemma about how weak he was, how he couldn’t handle a little dream-pain. But there was nothing. Only silence.

  “That’s normal, right?” Tom asked, silently begging for it to be so.

  Jenna shook her head slowly. “Dreams are supposed to be painless. It’s the soul of the unjustly killed that communicates with you, that comes into you. It’s supposed to be seamless. Some say it leaves a shiver as it exits... but that’s all.”

  It was definitely more than just a shiver, Tom thought. He didn’t add that his body ached in places he knew not possible. There was such a thing as too much information.

  He told them how he didn’t feel anything when the dreams start. He would be asleep when all of a sudden he would be dreaming. How long after he had been asleep the dreams began, he didn’t know. Though at first when he would wake up as the dream finished, it would be morning; the sun would be shining. Lately, he found himself screaming awake in the middle of the night.

  He didn’t feel any physical pain during the dream, but he felt plenty emotionally. There was fear, confusion, desperation, despair, and plenty more. Then he would awake. That’s when he would feel it.

  If he had to describe it, he would liken it to how he imagined it would feel if someone tried to pull his soul out. But the soul didn’t want to leave. It held on to every inch of his flesh, fighting all the way, leaving his body feeling battered and bruised inside.

  “Maybe there’s more to this than just avenging the Zarlocks,” Jenna said.

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. But a seer would. They have one in Serpent's Square, if you wouldn’t mind?”

  “Let’s do it,” Tom said enthusiastically.

  Jenna smiled. “You don’t always have to agree.”

  “You believe in seers?” Saafir asked, surprised.

  “Not that they can tell the future, but they can help Tom dream. And they might know why it would hurt.”

  “I don’t need help dreaming,” Tom said, suddenly alarmed and no longer feeling agreeable. He dreamt plenty enough on his own thank you very much!

  “Yes, you do,” Jenna said matter-of-factly. “Your dreams aren’t very helpful. If the Zarlocks wanted that beast killed, it doesn’t make sense choosing you. You’re awful at magic. You’ve just managed to light the torches.”

  He was awful at magic. But she didn’t have to belittle the fact that he could now light his room. It had been one of his proudest moments yet. His dreams were a mess though. He’d lost count of how many he had had, but all he did in them was run after/away from that thing.

  Surely if they wanted him to kill the beast, there were simpler ways of showing that. Off the top of his head, he could have dreamt of holding a bloodied sword in one hand, standing over the beast, its separated head in his other hand.

  “I thought they chose him because he’s the first wizard Wanderer?” Saafir said.

  “Yes, but if he’s important because of what he is, shouldn’t they tell him to stay away the house and that beast?” Jenna said, frustrated. “Not ask him to go there and die.”

  Of late, Tom hadn’t given much thought to why the Zarlocks had chosen him to avenge them. He just wanted the dreams to end. He was sure the others had – especially Gemma. It must kill her inside, to know that the mighty Zarlocks had chosen a mere Wanderer.

  “The seer it is,” he said, trying to be cheerful. “When do we go?”

  “That could be a problem.”

  Tom looked at Saafir enquiringly, not entirely surprised. Problems and he were best of friends, apparently.

  “You’d have to go into town to see him.”

  Serpent's Square was the town’s name. He was looking forward to that part – seeing a proper wizard town. He was a little bored of being stuck in school, and more specifically, in the tree house.

  “There’s a lot of Le Fays in town.”

  Isn’t there everywhere? Tom wondered.

  “Remember how I told you they didn’t like you much?”

  Tom nodded. It was when he had first thought of running away. Saafir had told him he was safer in school. It would be much worse outside – the grown up version. If the headmaster was to be believed, they would hang him – or something.

  “They still don’t like you very much.”

  Oh.

  “We’ll keep our heads down, be in and out before anyone notices,” Jenna said. “We don’t really have much of a choice. It’s either risk a few loony Le Fays or face the beast...” she looked around, as if asking them to choose.

  As if there really was something to choose between. He agreed with Saafir. The meat marinated in poison plan was a horrible one.

  “The Le Fays it is.”

  Chapter 26

  Cindy pushed open the front door and staggered in. It was her house; that much she knew. But the place seemed unfamiliar. Maybe it was the after-effects of having drunk so much of whatever it was they served these days.

  She had never really drunk before. Oh, she had drunk, but not really. Never like this. But then, two days ago she hadn’t killed a person either. Or had it been three days?

  It had seemed like a good idea at the time, drinking that was. Not killing. But as she tumbled across her little house, looking for her bed to collapse on, she concluded it had not been the wisest decision she had ever made.

  Drinking that was, not killing.

  Although, come to think of it, killing hadn’t been a very wise thing to do either. She didn’t even know his name, the poor soul, didn’t even know if he had a loved one somewhere, waiting for him to come home.

  She knew how it worked. It wasn’t a simple route to being a Guardian. You had to be very good at magic, and you needed wealthy parents. The fees the school charged – it was nothing for the nobles and the extremely wealthy. For everyone else, it was extortionate.

  Her parents weren’t rich, but they weren’t poor either. They owned a little farm, grew a few crops, kept some animals. There was always food on the table. They lived simple lives and it was enough.

  But they sold the farm to pay her fees. And now they lived in a small house in an obscure village, supported by the just about adequate salary she received as the lowest of Guardians.

  It had been a risky move. She knew before she joined that promotion through the ranks as a Guardian wasn’t solely based on merit but on who you were and who you knew. Though the odd few did make it on merit, they were the exception. And as wizards, they really were exceptional.

  Wilfred Notaries was one of those. A brilliant wizard from humble backgrounds, he was now Master of the Southern Border Patrols. The lords had given him that post gleefully, expecting him to fail like the many before him.

  The Southern Border Patrols held the Line of Control against the werewolves. Cindy had never seen a werewolf before, but she knew of them. Impossibly strong with mythical healing abilities, wolves were more than a match for even the best of wizards.

  The wolves were never defeated. They simply broke rank one morning during the war and fled. The Southern Border Patrols were supposed to hold the line, keep them at bay. But they never could. The border was too wide, too mountainous and there were too many wolves and not enough wizards.

&nb
sp; Wilfred Notaries was supposed to fail. But he didn’t. A year later, he returned to the House of Lords. From that day forth, he said, there would be no more wolf attacks. The lords mocked him. But the days passed and no werewolves attacked.

  Cindy had always wanted to be a Guardian. Her parents had faith in her. They sold their farm to fund her dream. She had been one for over a year now and had not progressed at all. It wasn’t enough just being brilliant. Some said you needed luck, others said you made your own. She didn’t believe either until she met Thomas. Suddenly, she was noticed by the lords themselves.

  What was supposed to be the chance of a lifetime became something else. She'd endangered a boy’s life and killed a man. One who, had luck been on his side, would have been a Guardian himself.

  Instead, he was dead.

  And now she was going to die too.

  They already knew who she was, but the man being shadowed somehow made it worse. The Le Fays would come for her. It was only a matter of time before... Would they torture her first? What would happen to her parents after she was gone? How would they manage? Would they ever know what happened to her?

  Cindy stumbled onto her bed and collapsed. It had never felt so comfortable. As her eyes closed, her last thoughts were of the poor little boy she had doomed alongside herself.

  ***

  Cindy woke with a jolt. She had a sinking feeling that something was wrong, something more than the awful throbbing in her head. She stepped out of bed gingerly, trying not to further upset the insides of her head. Why had she drunk so much last night? What sadness was she trying to drown?

  She had killed someone... she didn’t know his name. She could have asked him as he lay breathing his last. But she didn’t. Instead, she grabbed him by the collar and demanded to know who had shadowed him.

  She was a horrible person.

  Cindy almost sat back down on the bed, ready to wallow some more in her sorrow. But she had done enough of that in the past two days. Or was it three? She stepped out of her bedroom, clutching her head.