So Below: The Trilogy

by Matt Whyman

  “Is there nothing we can do?” This is Billy, kneeling with Mikhail at the creature’s feet.

  Yoshi bows his head, as does Livia. He senses Aleister returning from the darkness, and then stop at a respectful distance. The twins watch the light around the wretch continue to dwindle, and link arms for comfort. Meanwhile the young Russian looks on with one hand clamped over his mouth and both eyes shining. “Please tell me that he isn’t about to die!”

  Weakly, Jenks beckons Mikhail closer, and also gestures for Billy to join him. The others clear some space, watching now in silence as the wretch addresses them both.

  “Jenks has been most impressed by your street magic,” he tells them. “I’ve seen you float clean off the ground, and even disappear into thin air, and I still don’t know how you perform such miracles. I should just like to thank you for dazzling me so. It means a great deal.”

  “It isn’t a miracle,” says Mikhail, with a catch in his throat. “Everything we do is an illusion. We’re just tricksters.”

  “It’s you who has a genuine gift, Jenks.” Billy gestures at the light now settling over him like an ebbing tide. “Your aura marks you out as truly special.” Jenks sighs for so long that Yoshi fears it might be his last breath. But then he stirs to address Billy and Mikhail once again.

  “I used to look upon it as a curse,” he says. “Livia will tell you that an aura can change your life for better or for worse.”

  “Too right,” she mutters, her stern voice sounding thin now, as if she’s struggling to stop it from breaking. “Try blending into a crowd when it looks like the sun really is shining from your backside!”

  Jenks smiles, his chest rising and falling in a strangely broken rhythm. “The Elder made my life a misery because I happened to be born with a ghostly veil, but without it I would never have met any of you.” With that, he grasps Billy’s hand and then Mikhail’s, taking them both by surprise. His face contorts, and he squeezes their fingers through the pain. “I once told Yoshi how I wished that I could pass on my gift to someone who might make better use of it,” he continues, as a rattle develops in his throat. “Perhaps now that opportunity has arrived.”

  Billy and Mikhail glance across the shimmering light at one another. The young Russian shrugs, and Billy simply nods as if to let Jenks make this moment his own. The wretch closes his eyes, and tips his head back by a degree. At the same time, the light lingering over him begins to pulse like a heartbeat. It continues to weaken and shrink, but now both Billy and Mikhail detect another change in the make up of this psychic aura.

  “Is your hand buzzing?” the young Russian asks anxiously.

  “It’s weird,” Billy comments. “It’s as if I can feel a current running right through me.”

  Just as their concern begins to grow, Jenks exhales with an odd-sounding grunt. His whole body appears to slacken, while what light remains over him shrinks to a point, and dies.

  For a moment, the party look on in silence. With Jenks’ aura gone, the gloom seems a degree more foreboding than before. Aleister is the first to break the silence. He emerges from the darkness, places a reassuring arm around Mae Lin, and confirms what everyone fears. “He has left us. There is nothing more we can do for him.”

  Yoshi stands, barely able to believe what has just happened, and finds Livia waiting there for him. “I could’ve done something,” he whispers, and turns to face the brute. “I could’ve set you free when you asked. If I hadn’t ignored your warning, you could’ve taken care of the Elder before he got to Jenks. If it wasn’t for me, he’d still be alive!”

  Aleister rests a meaty paw on his shoulder. “You brought him here, Yoshi. All he wanted to do was come home.”

  “That’s where he is alright,” Mae Lin smiles kindly at the boy. “Home sweet home.”

  Billy folds Jenks’ lifeless arm across his chest, and Mikhail does likewise.

  “He looks at peace,” says Blaize.

  “It’s the first time I’ve seen him like that,” Scarlett adds, and then blinks from her thoughts. “Guys,” she says, addressing Billy and Mikhail. “Your hands are glowing.”

  The pair examine their palms, and gasp in surprise. It’s as if a torch has been pressed to the back of their hands, and now shines through the flesh and bone.

  “What’s going on?” the young Russian asks, and tries in vain to wipe his hands clean on his jeans.

  Billy claps his hands together, which creates a brief flare of light. As it fades, so his palms return to normal. He claps his hands again, repeating the same effect, as does Mikhail now.

  “Looks like Jenks has passed on his gift,” observes Livia, whose aura brightens at the thought. “As last wishes go, that’s pretty cool. You can even control yours! Boy that makes me envious. If I could switch mine on and off like that, I’d be one happy bunny!”

  “But what does it mean?” asks Billy, standing now. “Is this a psychic thing?”

  He looks around, awaiting explanation, but finds none from his friends.

  “What Jenks has done might just save this city,” says Aleister, the first to offer his view. He circles around the party, tapping a finger to his lips in thought, and then stops to count every young head present. He numbers them out loud as he goes around, from Yoshi to Livia, Blaize and Scarlett, and then Billy and Mikhail. “If you all share the same psychic talent now, that makes six in total.”

  “But we need seven psychics to unlock the Faerie Ring,” says Yoshi. “Jenks alone had the power to fire it up from here. If we’re going to cover every waypoint, we need one more pair of hands.”

  “Don’t look at me,” says Mae Lin. “I have a gift for making dim sum, but that’s it.”

  “Indeed,” replies Aleister, and shows the youngsters his palms. “But you’re forgetting that I share the same psychic gift as you all. Under less urgent circumstances, I would prefer to complete the number with another psychic youth at the height of their powers.” He stops to crack the knuckles in one hand. “I guess we’ll just have to hope that I’ve still got what it takes.”

  Yoshi glances at his friends. Billy and Mikhail are still working out how to control their newly acquired auras, and yet even they look up with a start at this. “But if we help you out then you’ll have won,” says Livia. “This war between you and Julius for control of the ring will be over.”

  “Is that so bad?” asks the brute.

  “It is if you’re planning to let the devil ride in,” says Yoshi. “That’s what Julius has warned will happen if you ever gained control.”

  Aleister says nothing for a moment, but a smile cracks across his face. Then he throws his head back and laughs so loudly that it echoes within the tunnel confines. “You’re the street magicians,” he says finally, fighting to regain his composure. “I thought you were trained not to believe everything you see or hear?”

  “Don’t take this the wrong way,” says Billy, “but when it comes to being the bad guy you fit the bill pretty well. Even your laugh just sent shivers down my spine. You have to admit that it’s hard for anyone to believe that you’re not in league with the devil.”

  “Appearances can be deceptive,” says Yoshi, speaking for the brute now. “You might say it’s just as tough to accept that Julius isn’t all he seems, but he’s been ruthless lately in his bid to control the ring. He may have hoped to convince us to work with him to save the city, but what if we’re being hoodwinked?”

  “No way,” says Billy. “We’re the great deceivers.”

  “And for that reason,” counters Mikhail, nodding to himself now, “we’re also the least likely to realise that the tables have been turned on us!”

  “So who do we trust?” asks Livia. “How can we be sure that Aleister isn’t trying to trick us?”

  “Because I have seen his soul,” says Yoshi, looking into Aleister’s eyes once more. “And I believe it’s a force for good.”

  Aleister nods appreciatively. “Does that means you’re in?” he asks, and raises his ha
nd for the boy to grasp. From the tunnel behind them, the first brave troglodytes creep forward to witness proceedings. None of them look fit to kill any more. It’s as if any sense of aggression died with their Elder. Yoshi watches them begin to pack out the shadows, and then turns his attention back to the brute.

  “Oh, I’m in,” he replies, standing now, and is pleased to see the others rise in turn, and make the same pledge.

  “If we’re going to guarantee the freedom of the city, both above ground and below,” says Aleister, “then let’s do it in the name of a lost friend.”

  “For Jenks!” says Yoshi, aware that they have made this oath over the body of the poor wretch. The boy finds all eyes upon him, and a team prepared to see this mission through as one.

  “For Jenks . . . ”

  28

  Light at the end of the tunnel

  The party retrace their steps with a fresh sense of purpose. Only Billy has cause to complain, but then everyone else is wearing sensible footwear.

  “Go easy, guys, my feet are killing me. Do you know how difficult it was to steer around all the rocks on that riverbed? Once was bad enough. The second time left me with blisters on my blisters!”

  “So take off your rollerblades.” This is Livia, just ahead of him. The party are making their way along a sewer that only fills at peak times of the day. According to Mae Lin, who has led them all this way, it’s the final leg of a shortcut that will take them directly to the Map Room. So long as it wasn’t time to get up or go to bed in the city, so she said, they would avoid the unpleasant torrent that followed a thousand and one toilet flushes. Not a single person had questioned how she knew her way around so well. What mattered is that she had been right every step of the way, and nobody wanted to get lost down here. Nor did any of them wish to hang around.

  “The day I remove my rollerblades,” moans Billy, “is the day hell freezes over.”

  “If you guys had helped Julius unlock the ring,” Aleister calls back, walking with Yoshi beside him, “that day might well have arrived sooner than you think.”

  Yoshi considers what the brute has just said. He hasn’t simply been retracing his steps. He’s been going over everything that’s happened to him since he escaped from Aleister’s programme.

  “If he had succeeded,” Yoshi asks, “what do you think would’ve happened?”

  “To the city?” Aleister thinks about this for a moment. “Julius and I have known about the ring’s existence for a long time. I must tell you that we used to work together in attempting to unlock its secrets. We met over a chess game, in fact. Despite facing each other from opposite sides, one black and one white, it turned out that we shared a common interest. That’s why we went on to establish The Foundation. Our aim was to cherry-pick the finest young psychics who came to us for help in managing their abilities. But the deeper Julius went with his investigations, the more secretive he became. It changed him, Yoshi. He became obsessed with it, and even began to hide some of his discoveries. Julius knew I once possessed the same strong psychic gift as the residents on our programme, you see. Through his eyes, that placed me one step closer to unlocking the ring for myself. Of course, I only ever wanted to protect the city from harm. To begin with, so did Julius. I think the sense of power-to-be-had went to his head. I just wish that I had been able to stop him before things went too far.” Aleister stops there, as if he himself has just said too much.

  “Go on,” says Yoshi. The pair continue to walk, but the beam from Yoshi’s headtorch is fixed on the brute’s face.

  “There is a good reason why Julius went to ground,” he says finally. “Like the zoo animals we’ve seen under London lately, it’s a safe place to hide out if you’re wanted on the streets.”

  “What did he do?”

  Aleister slows to a halt, and waits for the others to pass before he speaks again. “Yoshi, I know why you can’t remember life before the Foundation. You’ve come far since your arrival, and though the truth is going to be hard for you to handle, I believe that moment has arrived.”

  “I’m ready,” the boy says, sounding focused and calm.

  “Your psychic gift became apparent at a very early age,” he says. “Every parent believes their child is special, but yours had good reason to take pride in you. When they arrived at the Foundation and showed us what you could do, Julius knew that you were key to the future of this city. Understandably, your mother and father were alarmed by his sudden insistence that they sign over to him the care of such a young child.” Aleister pauses to consider his words. “Regrettably, by then, Julius would stop at nothing to get his own way.”

  This time, Yoshi is the one to slow to a halt. He doesn’t need the brute to spell out what this means. Even if there’s a mist in his memory that prevents any recollection of what happened, it’s chillingly clear to the boy now.

  “He killed them?”

  “I arrived just moments too late. I may have rescued you from his clutches, Yoshi, but I shall always regret not saving your dear parents. I gave chase, of course, with you in my arms, but he just vanished into the streets of Chinatown, as you would do many years later.”

  Yoshi presses one hand to his forehead, stunned by this revelation. “Why did I not know about this?” he asks. “I can’t remember anything before my last few months inside the Foundation. Every time I try to think back, my mind goes blank.”

  Aleister’s shoulders fall with a sigh. He gestures for the boy to walk with him once again, so he can bring him up to speed. “I confess I am responsible for your inability to remember anything about your childhood. At the time, hypnotising you into forgetting it all seemed like the kindest thing to do.”

  Yoshi is beyond shock now. He simply listens to the brute, and pieces everything together. “How much time did I spend at the Foundation?” he asks, and prepares himself for an answer he has already reached in his mind.

  “You grew up there,” says Aleister bluntly. “As an orphan, I took you in and raised you. I even moved the Foundation to a more secure location so that Julius couldn’t return for you. Every time you began asking questions, I’d snap my fingers and restrict your thoughts. I suppose I should’ve realised that in your teens you’d start to question everything and rebel as you did. I must admit I quite admired you for taking to the rooftops when the parkour bug bit hard. I can totally understand why you felt the need to head up there and find some space you could call your own. It’s just a shame it happened when I had come so close to amassing enough psychics to fire up the Faerie Ring and secure the safety of this city.”

  Yoshi tugs fretfully at one earlobe. “I hope you don’t mind me saying this to you now, seeing that I should be thanking you for taking care of me, but you were kind of obsessed with the whole Faerie Ring thing. All the kids in the Foundation agreed.”

  Aleister nods. “I suppose in some ways I became as bewitched by it as Julius had. With the future of London bound within it, I guess I lost sight of the fact that you were more than just keys to this city. You’re human beings, just like me.”

  Yoshi smiles, despite himself. Ahead, the party have gathered under a hatch in the empty sewer. One by one, they help each other climb through it. When it comes to Yoshi’s turn, Aleister clasps his hands together and invites him to step up. “One last thing,” the boy says. “If we do unlock this ring, what do you think will happen?”

  Aleister shrugs. “Julius is the only soul who can answer that question. His research far exceeds my own. All I can say is that if we get to it before he does, then hopefully nothing bad will happen. With the devil banished from the streets, the city will continue to prosper and her citizens live in peace.”

  “Once all this is over,” replies Yoshi, “can you hypnotise me into remembering my past?”

  “Of course,” he says with the trace of a smile. “Just the good memories?”

  “All of it.”

  Aleister nods. “Your parents would still be very proud of you.”

  Yoshi clim
bs into Aleister’s meshed hands, and hauls himself into the tunnel in the clay above. It looks like an old mine shaft after a wild party. Much of the wooden shoring has been toppled, while many of the Chinese lanterns that once provided light in here lie trampled on the floor. It’s the walls, however, that confirm their whereabouts. As Aleister joins Yoshi and his friends, they stop to examine the many different blueprints, diagrams and maps that chart this underground world and the earth energies that course through it. For this is the tunnel that leads from a great study belonging to a psycho-geographer and archeo-astronomer. A man who had devoted his life to uncovering the secrets of the Faerie Ring.

  “If we find Julius here,” whispers Yoshi now. “You’d better keep me away from him!”

  Once again, Aleister is at his side. Right there with a grip on his shoulder. “Don’t worry about that,” he growls. “It’ll be an honour for me to get to him first.”

  Mae Lin switches her attention between them. “Calm down, big boys! Goodness me, what a lot of macho talk. Now follow me and don’t step out of line. I’m in charge from here on in!”

  The twins step aside to let her through, and then grin at the brute and the boy in the white mink coat.

  “Look at you both,” says Blaize playfully. “It’s hard to tell the difference between you!”

  “You could be cut from the same cloth,” agrees Scarlett with a spark in her eye.

  “Girls,” says Yoshi. “You don’t know the half of it.”

  “We should move on,” Mikhail suggests, and jabs a thumb over his shoulder. “Mae Lin moves fast for a little old lady.”

  Billy wheels around to follow in her footsteps, only for a chilling shriek to whistle back from her direction and freeze the party in their tracks.

  29

  Show me the waypoints

  The Map Room is no tidier than when Yoshi was last here. The floor remains littered with toppled bookshelves, and no attempt has been made to tidy up. Either Julius’ mind has been on other matters, thinks the boy as they rush from the tunnel, or he hasn’t been here at all. There’s certainly no sign of him now. Mae Lin is the only person present. They find her at the mouth of the tunnel, seemingly rooted to the spot.