The Moon Stealers Box Set. Books 1-4 (Fantasy Dystopian Books for Teenagers)

by Tim Flanagan

  ‘I don’t know yet.’

  Joe and Scarlet closed their eyes again and drifted into a light sleep while Edgar sat patiently waiting for something to happen. Ever since they had found the Silver Bough, Edgar had felt a strange feeling growing. He was nervous about the journey ahead, not the one on the train, but going through into the unseen world to find Peter but he didn’t have the first idea where to start looking. The children had put their trust in him during the search for the Silver Bough, but would they have so much confidence once they went into the other world?

  Edgar was stirred from his thoughts by a series of thumps and bangs from further down the train, he presumed the train was getting ready to go again. He looked out of the window towards the platform. In the reflection a black shadow passed on the opposite side of the train as rapid as the blinking of an eye. Everyone that had been standing on the platform before had now disappeared; it was deserted. Edgar settled into his seat and waited to hear the ignition and hum of the engine as it fired into life ready to take them on the last leg of their journey. Instead he heard screams of panic and more thumps and bangs from further down the train. Edgar stood and looked down the centre of the train through the glass of the interconnecting doors and straight into a scene of panic and destruction. Passengers were climbing over the backs of chairs and tables, desperate to escape whatever was inside the carriage with them. Instinctively, Edgar woke the children, holding a finger to his mouth to tell them to be quiet. He grabbed his bag from the overhead rack and gently pushed the children in the opposite direction towards the nearest exit. He kept them moving, preventing them from seeing what was happening further along the train despite their questions. As they reached the exit, he turned around once again and looked down the train. One man was being pulled through a hole in the carriage roof by a pair of thin black arms, the claws deeply embedded in his chest. An elderly woman appeared to be held by a black creature similar to the one they had encountered in the tunnels under Edinburgh Castle. The creature had hold of the lady’s head as if it was about to give it a kiss, but when it withdrew its hands, flesh peeled away from her face like it was made of jam. She fell to the ground behind the back of a chair followed by two or more hungry Moon Stealers.

  At the exit door Edgar checked it was safe for them to get off the train. There was still no one on the platform. Edgar slid Ethera, his white bladed sword from inside his coat, and stepped cautiously off the train. He signalled for the children to stay where they were whilst he quietly walked towards the station building. As he got further away from the carriage, he began to get a better view of the whole of the train. Further down the length of the train the roof appeared all twisted and torn and he could see the Moon Stealers flying in and out of it. Whilst keeping a careful eye on the other carriage Edgar signalled to the children to come over to him one by one. Joe stepped off first, followed by Max. At the back of the line Scarlet turned and looked down the train at the creature’s lifting bodies and taking them into the night. She started to let out a high pitched squeal before Edgar leapt at her and clasped a hand tightly around her mouth. The Moon Stealers didn’t appear to have noticed. Edgar signalled to Scarlet that she must be quiet, but he could see the fear in her eyes. They both carefully and slowly stood up and joined Max and Joe who had moved into the station waiting room.

  ‘It’s the Moon Stealers,’ whispered Joe to Edgar, ‘like the one we saw in the tunnels under the castle.’

  Edgar nodded. ‘We cannot waste any time. We must go through the gateway into the faerie world, find Peter and as the prophecy said, unite the worlds to save England.’

  ‘How far are we from Parsley Bottom?' asked Max.

  ‘We’ve stopped at Bishops Green; it’s about eight miles from Parsley Bottom,’ Edgar glanced over to the carriage that the Moon Stealers were attacking. ‘It looks like we’ve got off the train without being noticed.’

  ‘But all those people,’ said Scarlet desperately, ‘can’t we help them?’

  Edgar sadly shook his head. ‘No. The three of you and the Silver Bough are much more important than an entire train full of people.’ He turned away and started to look out of the windows on the other side of the station building, scanning the sky for signs of any more creatures.

  ‘Come on, let’s get out of here,’ said Edgar, satisfied that it was safe to leave the building. He slowly pulled the door inwards and slipped his head out so that he could have another look outside. At the back of the building there didn’t appear to be anyone around, but he could see that there were three cars parked facing the front steps of the building, one of which seemed to have its door open. Edgar crept out of the building keeping his head low and hid within the gap between two of the cars. The children followed in the same manner, all the time watching the sky and checking behind them.

  ‘Wait here,’ Edgar whispered as he shuffled his way to the back of the car. If he raised his head high enough, he could see the Moon Stealers still attacking the train so he kept low, holding onto the bumper of the car as he moved towards the one at the end of the row whose door was open. As he looked around the side of the car he could see the body of a man that lay half in and half out of the open door. His shirt was in tatters with deep red slashes across his chest. Patches of skin on his face and hands appeared to have dissolved and chunks of flesh had been gouged and torn from his body. Edgar crawled on the floor, hoping that the open door would shield him from the eye of the Moon Stealers. He pulled the body out of the car and placed it on the floor, then found the car keys inside the man’s blood soaked trouser pockets. Edgar slipped into the driver’s seat and tried to close the door as quietly as possible but couldn’t help making a slight banging noise. But that was nothing in comparison to the sound of the engine starting, which seemed loud enough to wake the dead. Quickly he put the car into reverse and backed out of the parking space until the passenger door was level with the gap the children were hidden in.

  ‘Quick! Jump in,’ he hissed at the children as he unlocked the passenger door and swung it open. By now he could see that some of the Moon Stealers had crawled along the carriage roof, curious to explore the source of the sounds. A couple of them leapt over to the top of the station building and stared down at the car. Their eyes looked like small lamps shining brightly in the night sky, searching for their prey.

  The children didn’t look back or hesitate; they just ran and dived through the open door as fast as they could. Edgar pushed against the accelerator so fast that the tires spun against the tarmac and the car lurched forward. Scarlet hadn’t had chance to close the passenger door behind her before the car moved, but as Edgar pulled the car to the left and out of the car park, the door swung shut and they drove away from the train as fast as they could.

  Dark shapes began gathering in the sky above them, watching the car like an owl watches an unsuspecting mouse from afar.

  30. Rosery Wood

  Steven and Georgia followed the man with the shotgun into the cover of the trees and watched in horror as the dead bodies were feasted on by the skeletal black shadows. Steven kept his handgun ready to shoot if a creature came nearer, but they didn’t seem to notice them from within the thick wooden trunks of the trees, their focus was concentrated on the curious people who came out of their houses to see what all the noise was about.

  ‘Thanks for saving us back there,’ said Steven in a breathless whisper. ‘Who are you?’

  ‘They call me Tracker; I’m the gamekeeper of these woods.’

  Steven introduced himself and Georgia and made it appear that they were just in Parsley Bottom on holiday. Tracker looked down at the weapon in Steven’s hand, a look of doubt crossed over his face, but he decided not to ask about the gun.

  ‘This is unbelievable. Have you ever seen anything like it before?' Tracker asked Steven. ‘What do you think they are?’ Now that they were closer to him, Steven noticed that his skin was well tanned and with at least two days worth of golden stubble on his chin. He wore a blue
baseball cap on his head that promoted an American baseball team that Steven had never heard of, and some straw-coloured curls licked up from under the back of the cap around his neck. The cap cast a dark shadow over his eyes, but there still appeared to be a light green sparkle coming through as he stared at the creatures.

  He turned around and began to walk away, leaving Steven and Georgia no other choice but to follow.

  ‘Where are you going?' shouted Steven to Tracker’s retreating back.

  ‘Into Rosery Woods,’ came the reply. ‘There are loads of those creatures in the sky as well as roaming the streets of Parsley Bottom. I tried to help as many people as I could but there’s just too many. For now, the only way we can protect ourselves is to hide amongst the trees.’

  Steven felt uncomfortable about following an armed man that they didn’t know away from civilisation and into woodland, but for now they didn’t have any other option. He remembered that Coldred had said the creatures reacted badly to daylight and realised that they wouldn’t be able to help many people while it was night.

  ‘Do you know Rosery Woods?' Steven asked Georgia quietly.

  ‘I’ve seen it on the map. It’s woodland that forms part of the Butterwick Hall estate,’ she whispered back to Steven.

  ‘That’s correct, Miss,’ shouted Tracker who obviously still managed to hear them despite walking twelve feet ahead. Large trees towered high above them as they went deeper into the woodland. Tracker took out a flashlight and followed a well trodden path.

  The thickened tree trunks in the woodland were old with brown dry bark that flaked off when they brushed against it. As they walked further amongst the trees, the path became narrow so they had to walk in single file. Occasionally thorny brambles would snag and pull at their trousers, or they would have to duck under a lower branch.

  ‘Where are we going?' Steven asked once again.

  Tracker stopped and turned round.

  ‘Through the woodland to the rear entrance of Butterwick Hall. We should be safe there.’

  Steven still felt unsure whether they had made the right decision in following Tracker to such an isolated place, but, if he had been a danger to them, he could have just left them to the creatures in Parsley Bottom.

  After a while they reached a glade surrounded by rocks on both sides. They remained there watching the skies for any sign of the creatures for several minutes. The trees on one side appeared to be thinner and they could see between the trunks and across the Yorkshire Moors.

  ‘We need to get across this glade to get onto the path that will take us to the Hall,’ Tracker whispered to Steven and Georgia. ‘There’s this as well,’ he added kicking at a blanket that was wedged between some rocks.

  Steven walked nearer to the man. At his feet was a red and yellow tartan blanket, frayed at the edges with some holes worn in the middle. The blanket was weighed down at all four corners by heavy stones and it didn’t appear to be lying smoothly against the ground. In the limited glow from the moon, it looked like there was something trapped beneath it and as he lifted one of the stones from the corner he pulled the fabric back to reveal crumpled body of a creature.

  The creature was lying on its side with the arms folded across its chest. At the end of each arm were two hooked claw like fingers together with a thin flap of black skin that hung lifelessly across where its back would be. Two long thin skeletal legs were also tucked up towards the body together with a pointed tail. Given more time, the animal that Georgia had taken to London would have grown into a creature like this one when fully grown. It was almost like looking at an enlarged bat with longer arms and legs. The same single milky white eye stared back at them and a hole beneath the eye hung slightly open to reveal a ring of small inward pointing teeth. There was also a large gun shot wound on its chest revealing a yellowy grey mass of tissue and flesh.

  ‘Is it dead?' said Georgia as she took a step backwards. Steven nodded slowly.

  ‘What happened?' Steven asked Tracker.

  ‘I had been doing my evening checks of the perimeter when I saw something black hanging from that tree over there,’ he pointed to a large oak tree on the edge of the glade. ‘As I took a step nearer to it to see what it was, it flew into the air and swept down to attack me. I ducked just in time before it circled round to have another go. This time I was ready and shot it through the chest. From here I could see a swarm of these monsters circling above the town. There wasn’t much that I could do on my own. One shotgun would not be able to stop them.’

  ‘How many do you think there are?' asked Steven.

  ‘I don’t know, hundreds I suppose.’

  Steven sat on the dewy grass next to the creature thinking about what to do next. There was no point in going back to town to try and stop the creatures from attacking the rest of the people. It wouldn’t be long before they too became victims to them or ran out of ammunition. The best thing he could think of was to wait until daylight. If the creatures were more vulnerable in the daylight, they may hide themselves away and he might still be able to find the nest and call in the SWAT team as Seward and Coldred had instructed.

  ‘Could we take this body somewhere?' Steven asked Tracker.

  ‘Why? Shouldn’t we just burn it?’

  ‘No. This is an animal that we haven’t met before and it needs to be studied. If they’re killing humans, we need to find out how to stop them or at least how to protect ourselves against them.’

  ‘Who are you?' Tracker asked Steven, ‘and this time the truth. No one on holiday carries a handgun with them when they go out for an evening stroll.’

  ‘We work for MI6 and we need to get this body back to London.’

  ‘There’s too many of these things out there. We wouldn’t get far.’

  ‘What about if we store it somewhere?' Georgia asked. 'The creatures are effected by sunlight, if we go into Parsley Bottom in the morning we could retrieve the car and take it to London.’

  Tracker thought about it. ‘There’s an old ice house in the grounds of Butterwick Hall. The cold would stop it from deteriorating.’

  ‘How far?' Georgia asked.

  ‘Just through the trees and round the lake.’

  Steven and Tracker wrapped the creature in the blanket and began dragging it behind them as they cautiously walked into the glade. Silently Tracker directed them across to the other side, constantly checking the sky for more creatures until they safely reached the other side of the clearing. Ahead of them Steven could see a small lake that swept round some trees, but then he caught a glimpse of something dark flash in the reflection of the water.

  Suddenly, Tracker stopped.

  Steven took a few more steps forward before he realised that Tracker was no longer walking beside him. Georgia, who had been walking behind the two men had also stopped next to Tracker.

  ‘Don’t move,' he said without moving his head, 'we’re being watched.' He was listening closely to the sounds in the wood. The sounds he knew so well were now different: the sound of the wind between the trees had changed; the sound of animals snuffling through the undergrowth had stopped. Tracker looked over to Steven, ‘There are at least four of those creatures in the trees above us.’ Very slowly Tracker reached to his belt and took two shotgun cartridges out and slid them into the barrels of the gun.

  ‘You might need that gun now,’ he said to Steven as they both suddenly became aware of a breathy gurgling sound coming from above. It was heading straight down towards them, and at speed.

  31. The Ice House

  There was a whistling sound in the air above them as something heavy sank quickly towards the ground. In one swift action Tracker, who was alert to the changes in the wood, looked up to the sky and released a cartridge from his shotgun into a black shape that was coming towards him. A hole instantly appeared in the wing of the creature causing it to spin and twist uncontrollably, skimming low before crashing against a tree and falling into a pile of leaves at the base. The blast from the gun knocked Tracker
backwards until he stumbled and fell so that he was now lying down looking up towards the canopy of the trees and the remaining creatures that circled in the sky above them. Steven had hesitated but now he pulled the gun out from the back of his trousers, crept over to Tracker and helped him off the ground. Georgia went over towards the other two and crouched down on the floor keeping out of the way of the guns.

  Tracker watched the other three creatures above them; two more now started to plummet to the ground ready to attack. Steven and Tracker both knelt down on the ground and supported their guns with both hands to keep themselves steady. Steven fired several bullets harmlessly into the air. Tracker waited. At the sound of Steven’s gun the creatures pulled out of their dive, skimming over the tops of their heads, but it didn’t take long before they turned and came round for another try, this time from opposite directions. Steven fired again. He knew that at least a couple of bullets had punctured the wings of the creature, but the holes were not as big as those caused by the shotgun and the creature continued to glide unharmed towards him. Steven knew that he needed to aim at the head if he wanted to kill the creature. He looked calmly along the barrel of the gun until he could clearly see the eye of the creature. He squeezed the trigger and another bullet span out of the barrel and pieced the white eye. The limp and heavy body was carried by the speed and momentum it had built up in flight and tumbled straight into Steven and Georgia, knocking them backwards onto Tracker.

  Tracker had also been taking his time to aim carefully at the creature as it came towards him, but as Steven and Georgia knocked into him, the round from his gun shot harmlessly into the ground. The creature skimmed over the heads of Steven and Georgia, its hooked claws trailing down as it flew over, cutting into the soft flesh of Steven’s chest. Steven let out a sharp yell as two lines of blood quickly appeared through the torn material of his shirt. He rolled onto the leafy ground, the gun harmlessly tossed under a bramble bush, as the pain across his chest burnt and stung.