Benjamin Forrest and the School at the End of the World (Endinfinium Book 1)

by Chris Ward

  When Benjamin got to the Dining Hall, he was seething. The back of his hand still ached as he slumped down into a seat between Wilhelm and Miranda.

  ‘I got you extra pineapple,’ Wilhelm said, passing over a bowl. ‘Looks like they happened upon a tin of fruit somewhere.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  ‘He won’t let you stay?’

  ‘How did you…?’

  Wilhelm lifted an eyebrow, then turned to Miranda and smirked. ‘I didn’t, but I do now. You owe me a slice of apple.’

  Miranda stabbed a slice of apple and dumped it into Wilhelm’s bowl hard enough to splash custard over the tabletop. When he scraped it up with his finger, she punched him on the arm. ‘Disgusting boy.’ Turning back to Benjamin, she said, ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘I don’t care what anyone thinks. The Dark Man has my brother, I’m sure of it. I have to save him somehow. Once we get to this study place, I’m going to run away. Professor Loane has put some kind of blocker on me so I can’t use my power, but perhaps if I can get outside, it’ll work again.’ He gave a hopeless shrug. ‘To be honest, I have no idea.’

  ‘Professor Loane has covered the whole school,’ Miranda said. ‘Nothing I try works, either. If you run off, though, I’m coming with you. So is Wilhelm.’

  ‘What? I’ve had quite enough of—’

  ‘—boring school life,’ Miranda finished for him. ‘Don’t you want to be a hero?’

  ‘Well, make sure that after I’m torn apart by the Dark Man’s wraith-hounds, they build a statue for me out front there.’

  ‘Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it has three eyes, just so it’s accurate.’

  Around them, pupils were putting away their breakfast things and heading back to the dormitory to pack their bags. Benjamin, Wilhelm, and Miranda joined the back of the group, waiting to put their plates into the washing-up pile.

  ‘It’s a shame we can’t get them to help,’ Wilhelm said, pointing at the lurching cleaners as they cleared plates and dishes. ‘After all, it’s not like any harm can come to them. They’re already dead.’

  Benjamin looked up. ‘Where is it they’re supposed to come from?’

  ‘The Haunted Forest.’

  Benjamin clapped Wilhelm on the shoulder. ‘You’re a genius. Come on, let’s go.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘We have to find Snout. He can raise ghouls, can’t he? If he can raise ghouls, then surely he can raise cleaners?’

  ‘He said Godfrey taught him how to do it, that all he seems to be able to do is to bring nasty stuff back to life.’

  ‘Perfect. Let’s go get him.’

  Benjamin talked them through his plan, and even though Miranda and Wilhelm looked unconvinced, they agreed it was worth a try, so they nodded, agreeing to his proposals. As Miranda ran off for the basement levels, Benjamin and Wilhelm went up toward the dormitory, ready to ambush Snout.

  In the end, they didn’t even need to. Snout came huffing along with his rucksack on his back, shoulders slumped and eyes downcast as if watching his pet dog die on an endless loop reel.

  Wilhelm stepped out in front of him. ‘Hey! Are you busy?’

  ‘Do I look it?’

  ‘Can I ask a favour?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘We need someone for a special mission.’

  Snout frowned. ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘You don’t have to go outside; you can stay in here.’

  Snout gave a slow nod. ‘Sure, whatever.’

  He was happy enough to follow Benjamin and Wilhelm down a few flights and into the basements where it was at least warm and dry.

  When they reached the basement level with the door that exited out onto the gully heading inland, they stopped.

  ‘We’ve found Godfrey,’ Benjamin said. ‘But he’s gone a bit crazy. We were just wondering if you could talk some sense into him.’

  ‘What’s in it for me?’

  ‘Well, I heard from Professor Loane that calling up a ghoul is worth five thousand cleans in the Locker Room. Captain Roche hasn’t told him what you did by the lighthouse, but, um, it’s possible that someone else might.’

  ‘What? Who? You told me to do it!’ He jabbed a finger at Wilhelm.

  ‘I didn’t exactly ask you to call up a ghoul,’ Wilhelm said. ‘I just said, “Please show them your powers.” There’s a big difference.’

  ‘You tricked me!’

  ‘But, my dear Snout,’ Benjamin said and clapped a hand onto Snout’s shoulder, ‘don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy showing what you could do. Especially since everyone always talks about Godfrey. Wasn’t it nice to be out from under his shadow?’

  Snout shrugged. ‘He couldn’t have done that.’

  Benjamin might have disagreed, but he said nothing. Instead, he waited as Wilhelm said, ‘Of course he couldn’t. You control the dead. That makes you a … necromancer?’

  ‘Is that good?’

  Wilhelm nodded. ‘It’s the best,’ he said.

  ‘So what do you want me to say to Godfrey?’

  ‘It’s not really about what we want you to say….’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Look,’ Benjamin said, ‘let’s just get going and we’ll show you.’

  Miranda waited for them just outside the door. Pattering rain fell into the gully, and the twisting path looked slippery and treacherous. After taking one look at the route leading ahead, Snout started backing up. For a few minutes’ walk it was open to the air above, steep gully sides patched with clumps of green and brown where vegetation fought to cling to crumbling rock. After that, though, the sides closed in until it became a full cave.

  ‘I’m not going in there.’

  ‘Don’t worry, it comes out again in the hills surrounding the river. It’s a shortcut so we don’t get wet.’

  ‘Where exactly is Godfrey?’

  ‘Um, he’s in the Haunted Forest.’

  ‘You’ve got to be joking. That’s miles! I’m not going out there. Find someone else for your stupid mission. He probably won’t listen to me anyway.’

  Snout started to turn back, but Miranda slammed the door shut. ‘Oh, sorry about that,’ she said. ‘Perish this wind! Now the door is locked from the inside. Either we go this way, or you walk back through the rain to the front entrance of the school. And since we’re going this way, you’ll have to go alone. You know that ghouls come out in the rain, don’t you? Have you figured out how to send them back yet?’

  Snout glared at her, then gave a short shake of his head. ‘Okay, let’s get this over with. But I’m definitely telling the teachers on all of you if I get my uniform wet.’

  Miranda had found a lantern back in a store cupboard inside the door, but they tried to hold off using its limited supply of oil for as long as possible. The rain was getting heavier, though most of the path was covered by steep overhangs so they were able to keep dry. Snout scowled as a couple of drops fell onto his shirt, but he said nothing.

  Soon, the rock walls closed in overhead to form a cave, and even Wilhelm began to get nervous as the rock creaked and groaned like a giant’s unsettled stomach. Miranda, though, took Wilhelm’s lantern and marched ahead of the group, seemingly unperturbed.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ she called back, ‘Captain Roche took us this way on an orientation trip a month or so ago. It’s perfectly safe. In a few minutes we’ll come to a huge cavern with a hole in the roof where there’ll be some natural light. On the other side of the cavern, the path begins to rise, and it comes out on a hill not far from the river. If we can find something big enough that floats, I’m pretty sure I can get us across to the forest.’

  Snout shook his head. ‘You’re crazy. Why would Godfrey be over there?’

  ‘Perhaps he doesn’t know how to get back across. We can help him.’

  They continued along the path. From all around came the sound of dripping water, but beneath their feet it was louder, as though a river ran through the rock below.

>   ‘What’s that sound?’ Benjamin asked.

  ‘It’s a tributary of the river,’ Miranda said. She turned and grinned. ‘It goes right under the school. If the ground feels a little soft, don’t put your weight on it. You might fall right through.’

  Wilhelm jumped, grabbing hold of Snout’s arm for support. Snout brushed him away like a stray bogey.

  ‘Come on,’ Benjamin said. ‘Let’s stop slacking off.’

  Up ahead, the path began to widen, and Miranda quickened her step, eager to show them the cavern as though it were something of her own creation. As the path opened out, the air filled with a grey light, and Benjamin heard a soft pattering that could have been rain, over a light rustling, like brittle leaves caught in a breeze.

  ‘Is that it?’ he said. ‘Is that the underwater river?’

  ‘Don’t be silly,’ Miranda said, glancing back over her shoulder. ‘It’s below us.’

  ‘Then what’s that noise?’

  ‘The rain.’

  ‘No, that shu-sha-shu-sha sound.’

  Miranda stopped, the others halting behind her. They had emerged into the cavern, and far above, a circular grey blot gave them a view of clouds so dark it might as well have been night. A light rain fell, making a growing puddle in the centre of the cavern floor, water slowly eating up the dust as it spread out toward their feet.

  ‘I hear two noises as well,’ Wilhelm said. ‘What’s the other one?’

  Benjamin looked around. The walls of the cavern were dark and filled with blots of shadow, though they all seemed to be shimmering like something alive. Miranda gulped. Very slowly she lifted the lid off the lantern so that the light pushed the shadows away from the nearest section of wall.

  Huge, black haulocks hung from the rock, their canvas bodies shifting like the wings of roosting bats.

  ‘There are loads of them!’ Wilhelm hissed.

  ‘Godfrey said they don’t like rain,’ Snout muttered. ‘He said it stuck to their wings and made it hard for them to fly. I don’t know how he knew that. I thought he was making it up.’ He sighed. ‘I can’t believe I let you idiots talk me into this.’

  ‘They’re sleeping,’ Benjamin whispered. ‘I think we need to get out of here real quick, before they wake up.’

  ‘Turn off the lantern,’ Wilhelm said.

  ‘They don’t have eyes,’ Miranda answered.

  ‘Yeah, but the heat or the sound of the burner might startle them. If one wakes up, they all will, and we’ll likely end up as a late morning snack.’

  They took hold of each other’s hands in a line, with Miranda going first. Unsure of where the path was, she edged forward, one step at a time, feeling with her feet for the most trodden part of the ground. Inch by inch, they made their way across to the other side.

  The cavern’s exit announced itself as a deeper section of black. Miranda made to turn the lamp back on, when Wilhelm tugged at Benjamin’s wrist and pointed at the ceiling.

  ‘Look!’

  A light had appeared above and was slowly descending into the cave along with the whoosh of beating wings—a light held out in front of a human shape backed by billowing black sheets, a light that, as it descended, illuminated the stern, sour face of Professor Eaves.

  ‘Dusty!’ Wilhelm gasped, a moment before Benjamin clapped a hand over his mouth. Then he whispered: ‘He’s half ghoul!’

  Like a geriatric prince of darkness, Professor Eaves came to rest in the centre of the cavern, head and shoulders bent forward, one hand outstretched to steady himself while the other held the lantern aloft. As his huge wings folded up behind him, he lifted his head and rose to stand straight, still holding the lantern over his head like a slave making an offering to a god.

  As his jacket slipped back up over his wings, disguising them as the slight hunchback the pupils poked fun at when the old man was out of earshot, the lantern flared, filling the room with light. Thousands of haulocks rustled in greeting, while nestled beneath their wings like clusters of kittens, tens of thousands of scatlocks all began to stir as one. The cavern shook with their rustling. Benjamin and his friends all clapped their hands over their ears.

  Professor Eaves’ face was twisted like a fairytale demon’s as he spoke in a screeching, scratchy language that none of them could understand. The haulocks, though, shuddered and rustled, bodies clapping together in nightmarish applause. Then, almost as one, they took to flight, filling the cavern with black, beating wings.

  ‘Where are they going?’ Miranda whispered into Benjamin’s ear.

  ‘I don’t know, but I think we’d better get out of here, too,’ he hissed back. He stood up, pulling Wilhelm and Snout up with him. ‘Quick, into the tunnel.’

  Wilhelm gasped. ‘Too late.’

  A spotlight illuminated them from behind, casting long shadows ahead into the mouth of the cave. Professor Eaves stood there, part crouched, hands bent into claws and lips curled back in an expression of utter hatred. All around, black shapes fluttered and shifted.

  ‘Spies!’ Professor Eaves shrieked, voice still retaining the hideous scraping tone with which he had spoken to the haulocks. ‘Take them!’

  ‘Run!’ Wilhelm hollered, and they took off into the passage lit up by Professor Eaves’ light as the beating of wings rushed in pursuit. Screaming with terror, they blundered into the darkness, the chasing haulocks blocking off the light. While Miranda fumbled with the lantern as they ran, Benjamin was thrown against the passage wall, sharp rocks cutting into his back.

  ‘Help me!’ Wilhelm screamed.

  Miranda’s light came on, illuminating the tunnel. A maelstrom of flickering blackness had engulfed both Wilhelm and Snout, dragging them back down the tunnel.

  Benjamin felt the pull of Miranda’s magic as one haulock was dashed against the passage wall and another broke into pieces, but it wasn’t enough. More filled the space, and black canvas wrapped around Benjamin’s ankles, dragging him back.

  ‘No!’ he screamed, reaching out, drawing on everything he could. Pain surged, igniting under his skin like a thousand tiny fires. He squeezed his eyes closed, clenched his fists, and pulled tight every muscle in his body.

  ‘Leave … us … alone!’

  The rock gave a deafening rumble, and Benjamin opened his eyes, only to be blinded by a cloud of dust as the ceiling shattered and huge rocks crashed down to block the way back. Darkness enveloped him, but as the shifting rock fell still, so came a welcome sense of calm.

  Benjamin lay still until the groaning tunnel had fallen quiet, then he rolled over and sat up. His body screamed at him, but as the seconds passed, the tingle of pain began to ease. He thought he was going to pass out, when two warm hands pressed against his cheeks. He opened his eyes. Miranda leaned over him, the lamplight making her hair like fire.

  ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘I’m fine. Wilhelm … where is he?’

  Miranda shook her head. ‘He’s not here.’

  Benjamin stared into Miranda’s face, feeling more hopeless than ever. ‘They took him,’ he said. ‘Professor Eaves and his haulocks. They got Wilhelm.’

  42

  Plans

  Rain was falling steadily when Miranda dragged Benjamin out of the tunnel onto the hilltop overlooking the river, where they both fell in a heap in the wet grass, gasping for air, breathing in the sweet scent of fresh vegetation.

  ‘Benjamin!’ Miranda gasped after recovering her breath, eyes shining with tears. ‘What happened to you?’

  He touched his face where the pain was worst and felt the sting of a vicious burn from above his ear to below his jaw. Part of his hair seemed to have been singed off, and a cut ran across his cheek, dripping blood.

  ‘The power,’ he said. ‘I called it. I trapped Wilhelm and Snout in the tunnel with the haulocks and Professor Eaves. It’s my fault.’

  Miranda slapped him hard across the least injured side of his face, then immediately began to apologise. Benjamin scowled. ‘What on Earth was that for?’


  ‘Don’t say it was your fault. I’m tired of hearing it. Professor Eaves is one of them. He turned the haulocks on us.’

  ‘We have to rescue Wilhelm.’

  ‘How?’ Benjamin slammed his fists into the ground. ‘How can we do anything? Everything we try fails … it’s useless.’

  Miranda squatted beside him. ‘Look. What else can we do? We can’t just give up.’

  Benjamin ignored her, crawling through the grass to where the open hillcrest overlooked the river valley and the dark expanse of the Haunted Forest.

  ‘The Dark Man’s army … where is it?’

  He squinted. Behind them, the school was a black smudge, perched on the clifftop a couple of miles distant. In front, the river had risen with the rain, sloshing rubbish and junk onto the banks as it dragged its relentless load down to the sea.

  The rain was heaviest near the river, a slanting grey sheet that covered the world in a funeral veil.

  Miranda frowned. ‘It’s not there.’

  ‘It must be. There were thousands of ghouls, not to mention the machines. Where have they gone?’

  ‘There’s no way they can cross the river in this weather, unless the Dark Man parts it again like he did before.’

  Benjamin shook his head. ‘I doubt he can. If his power was that strong, he wouldn’t need those machines to attack the school. He could just kind of … smash it with magic.’

  ‘Unless it’s protected against his magic by other magic.’

  ‘Maybe. But whatever the reason, he’s chosen to send actual machines. So where are they?’

  ‘Those … what did you call them? Baggers? They were—’

  ‘Bucket excavators. Mining machines modified with giant chainsaws to chew through the school’s outer walls.’

  ‘There’s no bridge, and even if there was, there’s no bridge that could hold one.’

  ‘And they don’t float. So that means—’

  Both of them looked at the ground. ‘That sound we heard … it wasn’t a river, was it?’

  Miranda shook her head. ‘There’s a tributary, but it passes the school to the south, and we shouldn’t have been able to hear it. There are tunnels, though. The ground below us is like Swiss cheese, with caverns all over the place.’