by Robin Jarvis
“You don’t know nuthin’ ’bout my family!” Lee snapped. “Spence, get the wand – tea and cakes with Tinkerbell is over.”
“I know all there is about your families,” she said. “I made it my business to do so. Lee Jules Sherlon Charles, I know that your grandmother had a painting of the Bad Shepherd hanging in her precious front room. A painting she hid from view, the moment she became one of the blessed.”
Lee lowered the skull.
“Wait,” he murmured. “What exactly you sayin’?”
“What’s she on about?” Maggie mumbled.
Lee thought he knew, but he couldn’t dare bring himself to believe it.
“That painting on my grandmother’s wall was of Jesus,” he said cautiously. “Which she replaced with a nasty print of your White Castle. You’s talkin’ bull.”
“The Bad Shepherd has many names where you come from,” Malinda informed them. “Prophets in dusty sandals are so numerous there. They infect the place like a virus. Even in this Realm we were not immune: an aspect of him came seeping in. But, fortunately, his presence here is a malady that can be cured. I made sure of that; every eventuality was considered.”
“Damn – you’re one of the biggest loons of the whole bunch!” Lee declared. “You’re telling me that homicidal wack-job, the off-his-meds schizo what tried to chop me up with an axe that night, is really Jesus Christ? Oh – I heard it all now.”
Malinda inclined her head. “But of course. How else would such as he appear in the Dawn Prince’s Kingdom – the distorting prism of the Devil’s own playground?”
“Oh, she’s totally nuts,” Maggie broke in.
“The joy of it is,” Malinda continued, “by invading this Realm, and assuming the role of the Bad Shepherd, the Nazarene has had to agree to… how shall I say? My terms and conditions. Therefore, if he dies here, he has to die in every other world also. His power and influence will perish out of existence entirely. Only the Creeper can bring this about. That is what I want you to do for me. This is what you must do.”
Lee struggled to find what to say. “You is aksin’ me to kill Jesus? Seriously? You want me to do that? You expect I’d even think about it for a second?”
“That is why I have waited so long to meet you. Why you are so important. This mighty victory is in your gift alone. So much pain and unpleasantness could have been avoided if you had declared yourself sooner.”
Maggie had heard enough. “Let’s get out of here,” she said in disgust.
The girl reached for the door, but Malinda twirled a forefinger and the lock snicked into place.
“You cannot leave,” she said. “I am not done. The deal is not yet made.”
“Stuff you!” Maggie snorted. “We don’t need to use the door. Lee can take us back to our world from in here.”
“Tsk, tsk, he can only return if he’s outside. It doesn’t work indoors, does it, my dear?”
Lee didn’t answer. He’d had enough too and was revolted by what he had heard. She wasn’t keeping them here. Striding to the nearest leaded window, he smashed it with the skull. Malinda tapped her fingers and the wooden shutters outside came slamming to. He pushed and beat his fist against them, but they were like iron.
“You’ll never get out, without my permission,” Malinda said and now her voice was different. It was deeper, crueller – almost masculine. A speck of black mould bloomed on her cheek.
“And I’m not about to let you return to the camp to murder my devoted Lockpick. His family have served me faithfully for three generations and he’s done such a thorough job of keeping you so abjectly miserable in that place. I’ve found it far more amusing than I anticipated. Watching your little arguments, the backbiting, the budding romances – most diverting. But here we are at last.”
The teenagers turned to her.
“How’d you know about the camp?” Maggie asked. “And how do you know so much about us? Who are you really?”
The Fairy Godmother rolled her eyes. “Haven’t you worked it out yet, you cretinous lard depository?”
With a rustle of taffeta, she turned slowly on the stool, wheeling around in a circle. By the time it was complete, her face had changed and the gown no longer fitted. The aged back was straight and the rounded shoulders were broader and defined. Sinewy forearms protruded from the sleeves and the legs had stretched. The eyes weren’t blue any more, but immeasurably dark. The features were gaunt and the spun-sugar hair was now sleek and black. Empty bandages fell to the floor.
The old woman was gone. Sitting in her place, but wearing the same clothes, was the Ismus.
The trademark crooked smile appeared.
“That’s much better,” he said, unlacing the cuffs and rolling them back. “Speaking through a pensioner’s mouth, long distance, isn’t exactly high up on my list of pleasures. This is much more comfortable… well, apart from the frock. Not really my colour. Now then, isn’t this nice? I feel I know you so well, apart from you, Spencer – you’re a bit of a repressed oddball and keep to yourself far too much. It isn’t healthy. But Garrugaska has taken a real shine to you, it’s rather adorable really. When a Punchinello wants to kill you, it’s practically a declaration of love. So, in a way, all three of you have had a romance in the camp. Isn’t that splendid?”
The teenagers were too taken aback to respond.
“Now I can finally stop house-sitting inside the head of one of your fellow aberrants. Another grave for someone to dig there, when I vacate possession, I’m afraid. You really did take an inordinately long time to show yourself, Creeper. It’s been months since your last visit to these shores. What kept you? I’d have thought you’d be making regular raiding trips to selflessly steal food for your chums. How thin did you want them to get? Even the body I was hiding in was starving and it’s been dead for two months!”
Lee recovered from the shock and took an angry step forward. “This is Christmas and birthdays rolled in one,” he said with a dangerous grin on his face. “You, me, here, on our own – with no blacked-up minders watchin’ your back. Couldn’t be sweeter. First, I’m gonna make sure you know real hurt, then I’m gonna cut off your head and burn it. Let’s see what that does to this ‘playground’ you got goin’ here. I’m bettin’ it’ll fizzle to nuthin’.”
“But you haven’t even heard my offer yet,” the Ismus said calmly. “You know what I want you to do; let me tell you what I’ll do for you.”
“Ain’t nuthin’ you got I want, Dead-meat.”
The Ismus laced his mittened fingers together and leaned back on the stool.
“Charm was such a lovely girl, wasn’t she?” he said appreciatively.
“You do not get to say her name!” Lee bawled.
“Oh, wouldn’t you like to see her again?”
“What?”
“This, my dear Creeper, is the bargain. It’s very simple. You dispose of the Bad Shepherd for me, and you get to live happy ever after, here, with the pretty Miss Benedict – and all her whimsy.”
“She’s gone – you stinkin’ pile of crap!”
The Ismus raised his eyebrows. “Come now,” he said. “You of all people realise that doesn’t matter here. Tell me, did your previous random explorations ever take you to Battle Wood, atop the southernmost hill?”
Doubt and uncertainty swamped Lee’s anger.
“Probably not,” the man continued. “No one ever goes there now and there’s not a great deal to see. It’s almost impassable anyway. Thorns and ivy and brambles have taken over, but once, long ago, there was an ancient stronghold on that lofty summit. I imagine it’s crumbing into ruin now, but there is an old tale of a fair maiden who lies in enchanted sleep within its topmost chamber. Only her true love can break the spell, with a kiss.”
Lee stepped back, breathing hard.
“You shut up,” he said.
“That maiden could so easily be Charm,” the Ismus tempted him. “I could make that happen. This world is my creation. You could be the valiant p
rince who rescues her. Think of it, the life together you wanted – better even. I will give you a princedom. You will be equal to the Jacks and Jills.”
Lee’s stocky frame sagged. The unicorn club slid through his fingers. He stumbled back against the doorway, his heart and mind whirling.
“Don’t listen to him,” Maggie cried. “It wouldn’t be real. You know she’s dead. You know what Jangler did to her! It wouldn’t be Charm! It would be a lie – like everything else here!”
“This is no lie, far from it – just a different reality. Imagine, a whole lifetime with her – and one day, if you so desire, children too. Could you truly abandon that? Did she mean so little to you?”
“Stop it!” Spencer shouted suddenly. “Open this door and let us out!”
“Don’t interrupt me, boy,” the Ismus growled at him. “This is between the Creeper and me.”
“Oh, really?” Spencer said, stooping quickly to pluck something from the floor. “You sure about that? Cos I think you need to do what I say right now – or else…”
In his hand he held the glass rabbit that had come snuffling by. Its legs paddled the air and its ears were waggling.
“Put that down,” the man ordered. “I said, put it down!”
“Not a chance! I’m going to count up to three and if that door doesn’t open, this Easter refugee gets smashed to bits and out pops that plague.”
“You’d never do it,” the Ismus scoffed. “You’d never condemn everyone here to such an agonising death. You’re no mass-murderer. You’d be killing everyone you know, everyone who is currently under the spell of Dancing Jax. If they die here, they die back in your world too – including yourself and Lee and Maggie of course. That takes a certain amount of abandon and backbone you simply do not have.”
Spencer’s mouth was dry. “Maybe I wouldn’t,” he muttered timidly. Then he gave an insolent wink. “But Herr Spenzer can.”
The Ismus looked startled, almost impressed.
“And what of you, Gilly?” he asked the rabbit. “Have you nothing to say?”
The glass animal squirmed in the boy’s grasp and its little mouth quivered open.
“Please don’t shatter me!” it pleaded. “I may be reckless and clumsy, but that isn’t my fault. I don’t want to die. I didn’t want this badness inside me. I can’t help it. Eating the forbidden sweetmeat made me this way. Please don’t!”
“Oh, God!” Maggie spluttered, recognising the rabbit’s plaintive voice and staring at it in horror. “It’s Jody!”
Spencer almost dropped it in alarm and Lee raised his eyes, surfacing from the conflict boiling inside him.
The Ismus grinned. “Yes, poor mad Jody. This is what she became in Mooncaster. Her conversion was a complete surprise to me. What a rotten old time of it she’s had. Jangler really broke her in the camp. Would you do the same to her here?”
Spencer lifted the rabbit higher, as if to hurl it down. Her piteous wails were heartbreaking. The boy wavered. Then he began to shake and knew he couldn’t do it.
The Holy Enchanter relaxed. The boy was weak.
“You see,” Lee said abruptly as he snatched the glass animal from Spencer, “I never actually liked the girl. She were a royal pain in the ass from day one. So I got me no guilt about crushing her blue bunny head under my Nikes. Don’t care ’bout no plague neither, cos I’ve sworn I’m gonna take out Jangler and as many of them guards as I can, even if it kills me. This won’t be as up close an’ personal as I’d like, but it’d get the job done. It’s win-win for me – how about you?”
He held the whimpering glass rabbit out in front of him and met the Holy Enchanter’s hostile glare, and matched it. They both knew he wasn’t bluffing and he was grimly amused to see the smirk wiped from the Ismus’s face.
“One…” he began counting.
“Two…”
“Thr—”
“All right!” the Ismus shouted, mould breaking out across his pale, perspiring skin. “But when you reawaken at the camp, you’ll be dead within minutes. I’ll see to that.”
Lee laughed bleakly. “Them minutes is gonna be glorious an’ messy though,” he promised. “You’re gonna have to audition you a new Lockpick, cos that one’s just reached his expiry date. Now open the goddamn door.”
The Ismus raised a finger and the lock clicked back. Maggie wrenched the door open and she and Spencer dashed outside.
“A life with Charm,” the Ismus reminded Lee as the lad retrieved the unicorn club and backed out. “That’s what you’re throwing away.”
“As you so rightly called it, my life is gonna consist of minutes back there – an’ real busy ones at that. Guess I can deal with any regret in whatever time I get spare. Now go put some guy clothes on, you dumb-ass!”
With that, he threw the glass rabbit into the cottage and slammed the door behind him.
The calico cat above the knocker jiggled madly on its nail. “Call again soon!” it warbled dizzily.
“Gimme your hands,” Lee told the others. “Keep tight hold of that wand, Spence.”
“But he just said it’ll be useless there!”
“Maybe – but do the guards and Jangler know that?”
The cottage door was torn open and the Ismus stood there, clasping the glass rabbit he had barely managed to catch safely.
The teenagers had already gone and the frog on the bucket fell into the wishing well in wide-eyed surprise.
Back at the camp, all hell was about to break loose.
IT WAS ALMOST ten o’clock and the light of the July day was finally failing. The ambulance bearing Jody away had departed almost an hour ago, her blue glass eyes still staring upwards. Not knowing what to do for the best, with the help of the other kids, Alasdair had the three unconscious bodies of Lee, Maggie and Spencer brought inside his cabin as it was the nearest to where they fell. Jangler had been too preoccupied to fuss about a girl remaining in there after lights out and the guards were making a night of it, celebrating the acquittal of the Jill of Spades.
Punch-drunk again, the Scot thought. Any excuse to get bladdered. They’re worse than I was.
Christina had begged to stay, but he didn’t want to risk getting her into trouble. Once Jangler realised his precious rules were being broken, there was no knowing what he’d do. Alasdair passed her into the care of the other girls in her cabin and the seven-year-old shuffled away unhappily.
The cacophonous din of the guards in the hut next door was worse than usual. Two TVs were turned up full, one showing a violent Western, the other blasting out hip hop. Yikker was on duty in the skelter tower, guzzling red wine, otherwise the other TV in there would have been showing a slasher flick.
Nicholas and Drew had to sleep on the mezzanine because their beds downstairs were being occupied. Alasdair sat on his own. He couldn’t understand what had caused Maggie, Lee and Spencer to pass out like that – and simultaneously. It was well weird, but then what wasn’t here? He had checked under their eyelids and was relieved to see they were human, but the pupils were unnaturally large. That happened when the book took you over. Had they become Jaxers now too? What would happen if they didn’t come round? They couldn’t lie there indefinitely.
The questions and the stress were giving him a headache. He bowed his head and rested it in his hands. This place was killing them, one by one. Who was going to be next? He thought of the first young lad. It was two months since Jim Parker had been murdered. Alasdair blamed himself for not doing more to help him. If he had only spared the time, that first weekend, to sit him down and talk. Could that have prevented his death? Alasdair reproached himself bitterly, because he was certain it would have.
Suddenly the three figures on the beds around him kicked their legs as though they were running and let out wild yells. The Scot raised his face in astonishment and saw them sit up sharply, panting and gasping. Spencer put his arms out as if to save himself from falling and Alasdair did a double-take when he saw the thing he clutched in his hand. It
looked for all the world like a magic wand and had not been there a few seconds ago. Then he saw the stick Lee was holding – and what was fixed to one end of that.
“What?” he cried, jumping up and staring – a hundred questions firing in his mind and getting tangled on his tongue. “What the… how… what? Just what?”
The others swayed on the beds, disoriented. Lee gazed around blankly, until he recognised the familiar shape of the cabin. Then he sprang up and ran to the door.
“What are you doing?” Alasdair asked, dragging his eyes off the unicorn club left behind on the bed. “It’s ten o’clock. You cannae go oot there! You’ve been dead to the world for hours.”
“Ain’t goin’ out,” the boy answered. “Anyone gone by here just now? You see anyone? One of the other kids?”
“No – I didnae – I wasnae looking. Where the hell have you been? Cos you were no just flaked oot, I ken that noo! What is…?”
Lee hissed at him to be quiet. Further along the row, a cabin door had opened, just as he knew it would. He put a finger to his lips and waited, pulling as far back into the dim shadows as he could whilst remaining close to the door. Stealthy footsteps were approaching. Someone was walking this way, heading for Jangler’s chalet at the end – to alert him.
Lee held his breath as the figure passed by and he stole a wary glance up at the tower. Yikker had slumped down, out of sight, and was gargling vulgar songs. Perfect. Then Lee moved with a speed and agility greater than Alasdair ever thought he was capable of. He yanked the door open and darted out. An instant later, he returned, dragging someone with him, his hand clamped firmly over their mouth.
Maggie and Spencer were still feeling groggy, but they understood what was happening. Alasdair didn’t.
“Hey!” he shouted in outrage. “What you doing? Let go o’ her!”
Lee didn’t answer. He swung the person he had caught, like a sack of potatoes, and slammed her against the wall violently. With his other hand, he grabbed the girl by the throat and lifted her off the ground.
“Christina!” Alasdair bawled, leaping forward to pull the insane Lee off her with his good hand. “What are ye doing? Get off! Let her go – you lunatic!”