by Ian Richards
‘What now?’ he said softly.
There was a long moment before anyone answered him.
‘We go home, of course’ Vanessa said.
He looked at her in astonishment. ‘Go home?’
Martell nodded. ‘She’s right, Tony. We’ve already seen what this place can do to people. I doubt anyone apart from the magician could live here and remain uncorrupted by such power.’
‘You think that would happen to us?’
‘Maybe. Maybe not. But I don’t really want to take the chance.’
‘It seems overly cautious, chimney sweep, I know that. And yes, who wouldn’t want to live here? It’s a damned sight more attractive than a grotty old antiques shop—no offence, Martell. But can’t you feel the magic in the air, even now?’
He could. It was a slight, subtle sensation, but it was definitely there. A buzzing in the blood. A freshness of the soul. He felt as if he could soar ten feet in the air if he wanted to. A couple of days here, he thought, and I bet I could. I bet I could do almost anything I wanted.
‘What will happen to the house?’
Martell shrugged. ‘That’s up to Vanessa. It’s hers now.’
‘And after what we’ve been through I’m quite happy to let the blasted thing disappear altogether.’ She shrugged her shoulders. ‘Let’s be honest here, no-one is going to be strong enough to ever use Marshwood for its intended purpose. And if we leave the house as it is then whoever comes here next will probably go the same way as Firefox, Silvertongue and everyone else. I don’t think we have any choice really. We have to destroy it.’
‘No,’ Tony cried. There was a desperation in his voice that he hadn’t intended. He pressed on, trying to ignore the looks he was attracting. ‘Just look at the place. It’s a marvel. We can’t get rid of it.’
Martell shook his head. ‘What choice do we have, my boy?’
‘Besides,’ Vanessa added, ‘what if it falls into the wrong hands? What would happen then?’
‘No. No, the boy is right, listen to him …’ The voice came from behind them. They turned, only to recoil in the shock when they saw the sight awaiting them.
Silvertongue stood propped up against the doorframe, barely able to stand. A gruesome mixture of dirt, blood and snow coated his face. His eyelids fluttered like moths trapped in spiderweb.
‘Thomas!’ Martell rushed towards him then stopped, suddenly cautious.
‘It’s all right,’ Silvertongue coughed. ‘I can’t hurt you, Martell … I’m beaten … It’s taken all my strength just to drag myself back here … to my wonderful house …’
Vanessa remained unmoving. ‘He’s telling the truth,’ she said eventually. ‘He’s no threat to us now.’
On cue Silvertongue dropped to his knees. He appeared to be only moments away from losing consciousness. His eyes swam like a pair of emeralds dropped into the deepest of wishing wells.
‘It’s a trick,’ Martell said. ‘It must be.’
Vanessa shook her head. ‘No. I don’t think it is.’
For several moments Silvertongue remained still but for the steady rise and fall of his chest. Then he touched his forehead against the floor, took a deep breath and looked up once more.
Tony felt a stabbing pain in his heart.
Because it wasn’t Silvertongue looking at him any more.
It was Thomas Lott.
His father.
‘Dad …’ He couldn’t help himself. He ran to Thomas’s side, dropping to his knees and cradling his broken body in his arms. His father. Seeing him like this, as a real person, filled him with a rush of emotions: happiness, excitement, uncertainty, grief. He thought back to the photographs he used to study as a child and held back a choking sob. This was his real father, not the twisted creature he had become. Thomas Lott. He had found him at last.
‘Tony … my boy …’
‘It’s all right. Take it easy. Rest now.’
‘Don’t listen to them … you’re right … Marshwood should never be destroyed … it’s too important … it’s the greatest magical achievement of all time … to destroy it … no … no, that would be an act of vandalism … It would be like bulldozing the Taj Mahal … like burning a Van Gogh …’
‘Tony,’ Martell said softly. ‘Step away from him.’
‘They’re scared,’ Thomas went on, gripping his son tightly. ‘But you know in your heart all that this house can do … Think of the things we can learn from it … all the adventures we could share …’
‘You said ‘we’ …’
‘Yes, Tony, you and I, you and I, my boy. We could travel worlds together. We could explore wonders.’
‘Dad …’
‘Don’t say you’re not tempted, Tony. Don’t lie to me, I know you. This is in your blood.’
‘I—’
‘You want this just as much as I do. You know you do.’
‘Tony—’ Martell moved to intervene but Vanessa held up her hand.
‘The girl, she can give you the house. Let her and Martell go back to Dover Street. Let them rot in their shop full of old things. We’ll walk across stars. We’ll talk with Gods.’ His eyes swam with tears. ‘I only started this because of Emily … your mother … I thought I might be able to find some way to bring her back … And I can … we can … Somewhere in this house, Tony, is a door that leads to the afterlife. We can save her. We can save all your friends. The bookshop man, whatever his name was … The big, bearded man that Mr. Krook killed …’
Tony turned to Vanessa. ‘Is it true? Could you give me the house?’
‘It’s mine now, Tony. I can do whatever I like with it.’
He nodded. For a long moment he remained silent, his head bowed and his throat choked with sorrow.
‘He’s right.’ When he spoke his voice was barely a whisper. ‘I do want to travel across worlds. I do want to see wonders.’
‘Yes,’ Thomas said, pressing his palms to the boy’s face. ‘Yes, you understand. I knew you would.’
‘It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.’
‘Me too, my boy, me too.’
‘And—’ —he took a deep breath—‘that’s what I’m going to spend the rest of my life doing.’
With a sad shake of his head he looked out at the glorious sunrise stretching itself across the horizon.
‘Vanessa,’ he said. ‘Close it up. We’re going home.’
‘No!’ Thomas’s grip tightened now. His face became angry, lined with desperation. ‘You don’t know what you’re doing. You wanted wonders!’
‘I live on Dover Street, Dad. I see wonders every day. And travelling to far-off worlds is easy. All I’ve got to do is open one of Martell’s books.’
‘Fool! It’s not the same!’
‘Perhaps not. But if you want to share adventures with me like you say you do then you can come with us.’
‘Back to Dover Street? I’d rather die.’
Vanessa took off her ring. At once the house began shaking again. Out in the corridor, one by one, the doors started to slam shut.
‘Come with us, Dad’ Tony said. ‘Please?’
There was a momentary pause as Thomas stared at him with wide-eyed confusion. Tony felt as if he were looking into a strange mirror. This would eventually be him if he stayed here—worn and haggard and utterly lost. The compassion he had seen in his father’s eyes had disappeared. He saw only desperation now. Terror.
‘Out of my way.’ Thomas pushed him aside and staggered back to his feet. They followed him out into the corridor where he stumbled desperately from closing door to closing door, missing each one by a matter of seconds.
Boom, boom, boom.
‘No,’ he sobbed. ‘No, stop it. You don’t know what you’re doing.’
Boom, boom, boom.
They were closing at a faster pace now. He ran down the corridor until he eventually found a door that was still open. Tony recognized it from earlier. Beyond its frame it offered only chill blackness: an eerie, star-studded not
hingness that even being near had made his stomach dip.
‘Dad, no—’
But it was too late.
Thomas Lott threw himself into oblivion seconds before the door slammed shut behind him.
He was gone.
And though Tony had never really known his father—though he had spent his entire life wondering about Thomas Lott and what kind of a person he might be—he couldn’t help but feel as if a part of him had disappeared into the darkness, too.
*
Later, once the house had fallen silent again, the genie led them to the only door in Marshwood that remained open. Inside its old, tatty frame, a snowy evening in central London bustled softly. It looked like a photograph come to life. The chuntering buses, the passing pedestrians. The soft smell of exhaust fumes and inner-city grime drifted out into the hallway where it contrasted wickedly with the stately aroma of the house. It was difficult to imagine two more different worlds. The pomp and grandeur of Marshwood and the bustling ordinariness of life in the city. They stood on the threshold for what felt like a very long time.
‘This is it,’ Vanessa said eventually. ‘The door Kepler and Krook used to travel through when they came here. The only one left. Once we pass through it will close and Marshwood will be gone forever.’
Tony remained silent, as if hypnotized by the swirling snowflakes in front of him. Martell squeezed his shoulder. ‘It wasn’t really him, my boy, you know that, don’t you? All those years inside this house ate away at his mind.’
He could still see his father now, tossing himself into eternity like a penny into a wishing well. The thought made him cold inside. The lies. The deception. There was so much he would never know: so many questions he still wanted answered.
The genie hovered next to him. ‘Master Tony, I must thank you for all you have done for me. You have given me my freedom. For that I will eternally grateful.’
Tony turned to look at the sad, strange creature. ‘It’s all right, genie. I’m glad I could help you.’
‘I don’t think you understand what a special thing you did, master. For centuries I have listened to others tell me they will release me only to have my heart broken. You have done what countless of others before you could not. You alone had the courage and the kindness to release me from my curse.’
‘He’s right, you know’ Vanessa said. ‘That was a good thing you did, Tony.’
‘It was, my boy,’ Martell echoed. ‘It was a wonderful, marvelous, brave thing. We’re all very proud of you.’
Though he nodded, a great weight pressed itself against his chest. Once again he saw the pleading eyes of his father. The twinkling darkness.
‘My dad wasn’t,’ he said softly. ‘He wasn’t proud of me.’
‘Well, he bloody well should have been,’ Vanessa snapped. The sudden anger in her voice took them all aback. ‘Now look here, chimney sweep, I know you’re upset about losing your father all over again, but honestly, what good can moping do you? Martell already told you, that creepy fellow wasn’t your dad. He was a lunatic. Yes, he might have been Thomas Lott once, but as soon as magic began to consume him he became a different person altogether. It happens. It’s sad and it’s distressing, but don’t you dare start torturing yourself because he couldn’t live up to your ridiculously high standards. Besides, it’s not as if you don’t have anyone else to care about you. You’ve got your uncle. You’ve got the genie. You’ve got me. We should matter more to you than some demented fool who tried to kill us all. Some dad he was.’
‘Blimey,’ Tony said, scratching the back of his head. ‘Tell it like it is, why don’t you?’
‘Well, someone has to. Besides, it’s true, isn’t it? You’ve got us.’
He nodded, conceding the point. Then, despite himself, he started laughing.
‘Come on,’ Martell said, patting the boy on the back. ‘Let’s go home.’
Martell went first, stepping through the doorway and out into the alleyway. A heavy snow fell around him, sticking in his hair and turning the city white. He moved forward a few more paces, savoring the sweet crunch of ice beneath his feet, glancing up at the dark London sky and watching as the snow rained down from above.
The genie followed, drifting out into the snow on a plume of blue smoke. At first he remained hovering in this cold, unfamiliar climate, as if unsure what to do with himself. Then, whooping with delight, he shot into the sky like a flare and made flashes of color explode amongst the heavy clouds. This impromptu fireworks display continued for several minutes, so spectacular that bemused Londoners would speak of it for years to come.
Back in Marshwood Tony and Vanessa stood side by side in front of the doorway. The world awaiting them on the other side was gloomy with snow and sleet. Even on this side of the door they could feel the cold coming through towards them.
They looked at each other.
‘All right then,’ Vanessa said. ‘This is it. Ready?’
Tony looked around at the inside of the house, then nodded.
‘Ready,’ he said.
And together, holding hands, they stepped out into the snow.
THE END