The Third Skull (Book Two - The Revelation): A Paranormal Mystery Thriller

by Andrew Stafford

  Heather looked on in total disbelief. Were Morris and his gang really summoning the Devil?

  Morris continued the mantra.

  “Bagabi laccia bachabe Lamca cahi achababe Karrelyios Lamaci lameci Bachalyas Cabaheagy sabalyos Baryolas Lagoz athia cabyolas Samahaic et famiyolas Harrahya.”

  Morris repeated the chant of sacred words three times and then lowered his arms.

  Sophie and Heather saw something they couldn’t believe was possible.

  Black light.

  A glow of black light materialized over the table. Tension in the basement grew and even the flames from the candles were drawn to the strange black light. It was a glowing cloud of darkness. The black light emanated a smell like sulphur and emitted a deep drone which sounded like a rumble of distant thunder.

  The rumbling drone intensified and hurt Heather’s ears and the black light pained her eyes.

  Sophie squealed as something brushed past her face and a second later Heather felt the same thing. They looked up and saw the raven circling the basement. It barely missed the walls and continued to circuit the room. Heather tried to push back in the chair to dodge the bird. The raven flew faster, and the drone got louder. Drake, Snow and Morris stood motionless and Cromwell sat with his eyes closed. The bird continued to pick up speed and was flying in smaller circles as it came closer to the centre of the basement. The drone became unbearable, and the sisters wanted to put their hands over their ears to block it out.

  Cromwell stood up, raised his arms and released a primal cry which was only just audible over the increasing drone from the strange black light. The bird flew nearer to the middle of the room and closer to the table.

  Sophie shook with fear.

  The bird made its final circuit and as it did the cloud of black light expanded, engulfed the raven and then vanished taking the bird with it.

  The room was silent. The rumbling stopped the instant the light disappeared and Cromwell had stopped screaming.

  Heather looked around the room. She wondered whether if it was over. Did the men just summon the Devil?

  And if so, what would happen next?

  Chapter 86

  Linda looked around. The voice came from behind the hedge.

  “Go back and get the head.”

  “Who’s there?” called Linda.

  No one answered.

  She wasn't scared, she knew whoever spoke was trying to help.

  “Who is it, who’s there?”

  “Go back to the car.”

  Linda scurried through the hedge backwards and winced with pain as the twigs and branches cut her face.

  She backed out of the hedge, stood up and saw an old lady wearing a heavy black coat buttoned to her neck. The lady stood by Linda's car with something in her arms. Linda crossed the road.

  “Who are you? Are you the person who’s been speaking to me?”

  The lady smiled. She had a kind face.

  She held the electric blanket in which was wrapped the stone head.

  “How did you get that? I’d locked the car.”

  “My name is Hermione. Take this to the house. Find your way to the basement. You need to go now.”

  Hermione passed the blanket to Linda. The heat from the head radiated through the fabric.

  “What should I do?” asked Linda.

  The woman had gone.

  She was dumbstruck. She wondered what on earth she’d just seen. She questioned whether it had been a ghost. Strange things were happening, and she was more concerned than ever for her husband. She wanted him to be back home with her. She would have to worry about the ghostly lady later. She had to rescue her husband from whatever Butler had in mind for him.

  She ran back to the hedge, ducked down and made her way through the hole. She emerged through the other side with the head, stood up and brushed leaves from her coat. With the head tucked under her arm, she made her way to the house. Slowly she crept into the large hallway.

  The basement, Hermione said I need to find the basement, thought Linda.

  Warily she tiptoed along the hall as quietly as possible.

  Which way is the basement?

  She tried each of the doors along the hall. None of them opened to a basement. She got to the end of the hall and noticed part of the wood clad wall appeared to be open.

  This must be a secret door.

  Linda pushed the door open, saw the wooden staircase and made out the wavering glow of the candles from below. She held the head against her chest and felt the heat permeate through the blanket.

  She took a deep breath and placed her right foot on the top stair.

  In the basement silence prevailed.

  After screeching at the top of his voice, Cromwell lowered his arms. Heather looked at his eyes. They were different. The sclerae of his eyes, which should be white, were as black as coal, giving his pupils no definition. She turned and faced the other way.

  Morris began a new mantra which started in a tiny whisper.

  “Anil nathrach, ortha bhis is beatha, do chal danaimh.”

  And again, but a little louder.

  “Anil nathrach, ortha bhis is beatha, do chal danaimh.”

  And louder again.

  “Anil nathrach, ortha bhis is beatha, do chal danaimh.”

  Sophie saw the black light again, but this time it was different. The light appeared from an eye socket of one of the infant’s skulls as an obscure murky beam which slowly inched its way towards the third skull. It reminded her of a snake slithering through the air. It reached the left eye socket of Mathias’ skull and quickly emerged from the right one. It picked up speed and continued towards the other infant’s skull where it entered through the left eye socket. Sophie waited in anticipation for it to come out of the right one, but it didn’t, at least not straight away. Then, with a high-pitched whine it shot from the right socket and joined up with the left eye socket of the first skull making a perfect equilateral triangle. The black light pulsated and the low drone returned whilst the high-pitched whine diminished.

  The drone became louder than before and Heather squirmed as it shook her to the core. As the sound increased the temperature in the basement became warmer.

  At the top of the stairs Linda heard the drone. It sounded like an old gas-fired furnace. She smelt something odd which reminded her of spent matches.

  She took another step down the stairs.

  What the hell's happening in there? She thought, as she cautiously took another step.

  The old staircase creaked. She didn’t need to worry about anyone hearing it, the noise from the basement drowned it out.

  She reached the bottom of the stairs and poked her head around the corner and noticed how hot the basement was. The heat hadn’t risen up the stairs to the hall, it remained at the bottom of the stairs. She tightened her grip on the stone head and pulled it against her chest.

  The basement was lit by candles, and it took Linda a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the light. She saw the circular table surrounded by four men. She placed her hand over her mouth when her eyes met with Finn Maynard. He, like the other two men who were standing, wore a blue and silver cloak with a gold pentagram. Another man sat and wore a gold coloured cloak with his back towards her. She couldn’t see Gabriel Butler in the room, so assumed it was him in the chair.

  Linda gasped when she saw Sophie tied with a gag over her mouth. The young woman looked ashen with fear. She saw Heather on the other side. Linda recognised Heather as the woman who she’d nearly run over with the Porsche, the same woman who’d dropped the stone head on the car.

  What the hell is she doing here?

  Her eyes became more accustomed to the dimly lit room, and she spotted the infants’ skulls on the table with the strange black beams of light pulsating from the eye sockets. She couldn’t see Mathias’ skull because it was obscured by the man in the chair. The throbbing drone beat in her ears and she became disoriented. She took a breath of sulphurous air and slowly advanced i
nto the basement. She was scared, but had an inner confidence which drove her to find her husband.

  The drone felt like a drill through her head. She trembled as she walked towards the table and was astonished to see that none of the men had noticed her. They were transfixed by the light coming from the skulls. Then she saw the larger adult skull.

  “What in God’s name is happening here,” she whispered. Linda needn’t have bothered whispering. She may as well have shouted at the top of her lungs and still no one would have heard her over the drone which had become so loud, it made the floor of the basement shake.

  She took another pace forward and felt her knees buckle when she saw who was sitting in the chair.

  “Kieran,” she called.

  He took no notice.

  She looked at his eyes, they looked horrible. They were as dark as the December night sky.

  “Kieran, what are they doing to you?”

  Her eyes darted around the basement and she wondered why Gabriel Butler wasn’t there. She turned and stared at Sophie, who looked terrified and had been watching Linda from the moment she’d entered the basement. Her eyes pleaded with Linda.

  Then everything changed.

  The drone stopped and the black light beaming from the eyes of the skulls vanished.

  Everything became quiet.

  Fear overcame Linda. She stood a few feet from the men, and yet they didn’t see her. She was rooted to the spot, like a rabbit in headlights and was so scared she couldn’t move or think properly.

  Then something brought her to her senses.

  Mathias’ skull began to pulse like a beating heart. Linda watched Finn and the other two men standing around the table transfixed by the throbbing skull. She looked at her husband and his ghastly dark eyes. He seemed lifeless and stared into space like a waxwork dummy.

  For the first time she noticed the archetypon on the back of Mathias’ skull as it continued to throb. The skull looked like jelly. She couldn’t comprehend what was happening. The throbbing skull became translucent and she could see a spinning whirlpool of black light inside.

  The room was silent and all she could hear was her heart beating in her head.

  Suddenly a beam of black light blazed from the archetypon on the back of the third skull and contacted Kieran’s face. He jolted in the chair, but otherwise remained motionless. The black light crackled as it flickered. Then one of the men spoke.

  “It’s happening,” whispered Morris, “this is the moment we’ve been waiting for. Gentlemen, prepare to stand in the presence of Azazel, the King of Devils.”

  Linda watched her husband. His body arched forward as the light emanating from the skull pulled him in.

  The three men were so engrossed by what was happening, they still hadn’t noticed Linda on their peripheral.

  Kieran’s face contorted, and he continued to be pulled towards the skull.

  Linda watched in horror as her husband’s appearance changed in front of her eyes. His jawbone was widening, his temple became more prominent and his darkened eyes became wider apart. He was metamorphosing into someone else. Someone hideous.

  She remembered what the tattooed man said.

  ‘Prepare to stand in the presence of Azazel, the King of Devils.’

  Then it occurred to her what was happening. Finn Maynard and the other two men were using her husband to summon the devil, and her husband was becoming the devil, or as the man had just said, ‘Azazel, the King of Devils’.

  Her eyes darted between Sophie and Heather as if she sought guidance from them.

  Her husband’s face continued to change, and she barely recognised him.

  She needed to concentrate. What could she do to save him?

  Come on Linda, think, use your head.

  And then it came to her.

  I must use my head.

  Linda stepped back out of view of Finn and the other two men, kneeled on the floor and unrolled the blanket which she’d been holding tightly to her chest. The scorching hot stone head rolled from the blanket and onto the floor. She hurriedly laid the blanket out flat and crawled on her knees to pick up the stone. It was too hot to touch with her bare hands. Linda looked around, but found nothing with which she could pick it up. She spat on her hands and nudged the head with her palms, wincing as the stone burned her skin. It was like touching a scalding hot dish straight from the oven. Linda climbed to her feet and rolled the head with the sole of her shoe until it lay in the middle of the blanket.

  She leant forward and picket up two corners of the blanket, took two paces forward and picked up the other two corners and lifted the head from the floor.

  She gripped it with both hands so she was as close to the stone head as possible, hauled the blanket over her head, lunged unceremoniously towards the table and brought the stone head in the blanket crashing down upon Mathias’ skull.

  The skull cracked into two pieces. One half dropped from the cushion and slid across the table and the other half bounced to the floor.

  Morris made a swipe at Linda, but was surprised to find he had little strength as he staggered towards her.

  Linda saw him coming and jumped out of his way. She moved towards the half of Mathias’ skull on the floor and crushed it with her foot. Morris fell to his knees and stumbled across the floor. He reached for her leg, and she effortlessly kicked him in his eye with the toe of her shoe.

  She heard a thud and saw Kieran had fallen forward face down onto the table. She turned and was about to make her way to him, but was stopped by Morris who had grabbed hold of her ankle, causing her to lose her balance. Linda fell forward and hit her chin on the edge of the table. As she fell she grappled for the side of the table, pulling the blue velvet cloth which covered it. She rolled over holding onto the cover just as Morris lunged at her. She held the blue cover in front of her face, catching Morris as he fell towards her. Linda rolled him to one side in the cover and was surprised at how little resistance the funny little man put up. It was like pushing away a child. She clambered to her feet, picked up the stone which was still scorching hot. She tolerated the burning to the palms of her hands before sending it crashing down upon Morris who flailed beneath the cover. Then he lay still.

  Linda surveyed the basement. Finn Maynard looked around with a dumbstruck expression. She couldn’t see the other man. He seemed to have disappeared. The blue and silver cloak he’d been wearing lay crumpled on the floor. Linda weighed up the situation. She was sure she’d single-handedly brought down the short squat man with the tattooed face, Finn looked disoriented and appeared harmless enough, and there was no sign of the other man apart than the cloak he wore. Linda couldn’t be certain but was sure he hadn’t escaped up the stairs.

  She made a beeline for her husband who lay face down on the table, pulled away the hood of the gold cloak and saw the back of his head as he lay slumped upon the table. Linda held her breath and closed her eyes and moved to lift his head, not sure if she wanted to see his face after experiencing how it had contorted whilst being blasted by the black light which had flashed from the back of the skull.

  Slowly, she lifted his head and heard him breathe erratically as though something was blocking his airway. She turned his head, dreading what she expected to see.

  She let out a huge gasp when she saw he looked normal. His eyes were tightly closed, and he was definitely breathing.

  “Thank God,” she murmured.

  Linda looked up. She heard muffled shouts and screams coming from either side of the basement. It was Heather and Sophie vying for her attention. She jumped up, scurried to Sophie, untied her from the chair and removed the scarf from over her mouth. Sophie stretched her aching limbs and rubbed her wrists before going over to Heather and freeing her.

  As soon as she’d released her sister she ran to Finn, who ambled around the basement as if he was sleepwalking.

  “Finn, Finn its Sophie.”

  He turned around with the hood of the cloak obscuring his eyes. She bent
forward to look at his face beneath the hood.

  “Fin, speak to me.”

  Heather came over and hugged her sister.

  “He doesn’t know who I am,” sobbed Sophie.

  “Give him time, let him come around slowly,” replied Heather.

  Linda shook Kieran.

  “Wake up, please open your eyes and say something.”

  Kieran lifted his head from the table and opened his eyes. The blackness which had engulfed them had faded and his sclerae were a faint grey colour.

  “It’s okay, it’s over,” said Linda whilst holding her confused and disorientated husband.

  She pulled him close and hugged him.

  “What's happened to Snow?” asked Heather surveying the room.

  “I’ve no idea, I didn’t see him leave. But I’m not worrying about him, I’m concerned for Finn,” replied Sophie.

  Heather walked over to the cloak Snow had been wearing and nudged it with her toe.

  She scanned the room and the aftermath of the event. Heather saw what was left of Mathias’ skull lying crushed on the floor. She picked up a piece, examined the pattern on the back, dropped it back to the floor and crushed it with her heel. The two infant’s skulls lay next to each other near Charlie, the stone head.

  “Well Charlie, you’ve come in handy after all,” she said and then bent forward to pick up the head.

  She turned to the two skulls, pushed them with her foot so they lay next to each other, lifted Charlie as high as she could and then brought him crashing down upon both skulls shattering them into dozens of pieces.

  “What about him?” said Linda, pointing to Morris who lay motionless concealed by the cloak.

  “What about him?” replied Heather.

  “We should check him, make sure he won't cause any further trouble.”

  Heather and Linda bent forward to turn him over when Heather realised who Linda was.

  “Hang on, you’re the woman who nearly ran me over, you drove off with Charlie.”