They shuffled forwards with the queue until they were close enough to listen to a talk about the animals. They stroked the skunk and a cockatoo, and fed grapes to a sleepy-looking black and white lemur. No cuddling, though: it held tightly to its keeper and didn’t look as if it was ever going to let go.
“I wonder just how bad skunk smell really is?” mused Callie. “There was a tiny bit of me hoping I’d find out.”
“Well, I just hope I’m not with you if you do,” said Josh firmly.
***
A bit later, Callie got round to asking the question that had been on her mind for hours.
“Josh, can I ask you a favour?”
“Yeah, what?”
“Will you stay at my place tonight? I want to have one last try at dealing with this… whatever it is, without getting Rose involved. Getting a good night’s sleep last night makes it all seem… a bit silly really. I think it’s been a combination of witch power leaking out – sort of like static – and bad dreams, and everything getting out of proportion because I haven’t been sleeping properly. It doesn’t seem nearly as bad now looking back at what actually happened.”
Josh looked doubtful. “You’re sure it wouldn’t just be easier to talk to Rose about it? You were all set to do it yesterday.”
“I know. And yes, I’m sure it would be easier. But I must be feeling braver today or something. I really want to do this. Will you come?”
“How could I resist?” Josh said, with a certain amount of irony. “Remind me – have I ever told you you’re crazy?”
“Of course.” Callie was already texting as she spoke. “I should warn you – I’ve just said we’ll cook tea. It’ll stop Mum going overboard trying to entertain you. I’ll try not to let her ask you too many questions.”
Josh laughed. “It’s okay. Honestly. So what are we cooking?”
“Not a clue.”
***
They got back to Callie’s house mid-afternoon, carrying prawns and dressed crabs. They picked strawberries and raspberries from the garden and made a summer pudding, then lay in the sun, having already checked that Callie’s room was okay.
“So, what do we do tonight? Try to stay awake or try to sleep?” Josh asked, shading his eyes.
“Things have started when I’ve been asleep before,” said Callie after a few seconds thought. “So I suppose if we actually want something to happen, we should try to sleep. I’m going to go up in a minute, though, and try to put a protective spell on the room.”
“Can I watch?”
“Yes, but don’t expect it to be exciting.” She got to her feet, bent down to pick up a pinch of soil and put it in her pocket. “You’ll see in a minute,” she said, to forestall Josh’s question.
Passing through the kitchen she collected a glass of water and a box of tea lights.
“What should I do?” asked Josh once they were in Callie’s bedroom.
“Sit on the bed and don’t say anything. I need to concentrate.”
Callie put a candle in each corner of the room, one in the doorway and one on the windowsill, and lit them with a snap of her fingers, ignoring Josh’s wild-eyed grin. Next, she picked up the glass of water and went from candle to candle, sprinkling a few drops onto the flames. The flames sizzled, but instead of being extinguished, they grew tall and translucent, more like molten glass than fire now. She went round once more, sprinkling a few grains of soil from her pocket onto each candle, and Josh saw the flames turn to the colour of dried blood.
Callie returned to the centre of the room, ignoring him completely now, her face serious.
“I call on the elements to protect this place and all those in it. I call on Air, I call on Earth, I call on Fire, I call on Water. Meld yourselves into a shield about this place. Let nothing wicked pass.” As she spoke, the colour of the flames grew more and more intense, until they were like tongues of molten metal. “I draw you together with my power. Shield this place according to your natures. Let it be so.”
The flames grew so bright that Josh had to screw his eyes up, then they were gone, leaving no sign that the candles had ever been lit, not even a wisp of smoke.
Callie turned to look at him expectantly. “Well?”
“Looked pretty impressive to me, but what would I know?”
She sighed. “Well, it’s all I can do just now.” She looked at the clock. “I hope you’re ready for the onslaught. The parents will be home soon.”
***
“What do you miss about Edinburgh when you’re here, Josh?” asked Julia, continuing her cross-examination.
Callie was mortified, but if Josh minded, he gave no sign of the fact.
“Nothing, really, when the weather’s good. But if it rains I miss the indoor stuff you can do: bowling, cinemas, you know. And I miss the buses for getting around. I mean, I know you’ve got buses here, but at home they come much more often.”
Callie was trapped between squirming embarrassment for Josh, and concern for her father, who had hardly said a word since he came in, and was now staring morosely at his crab and prawn salad, as though it was a particularly discouraging horoscope.
“You okay, Dad?” she asked, while Josh and Julia were engrossed in twenty questions. David roused himself with a look of surprise.
“Yes. Fine. Just a bit down about life,” he said with a sad smile.
Callie had never heard him say anything like that ever before. He never got depressed about anything. She felt a small, cold knot of anxiety develop in the pit of her stomach.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, just ignore me.”
What could have happened? As if there wasn’t enough to worry about already.
***
Callie had persuaded Julia that having Josh in the same room the night before had helped her sleep and that they should share here as well, although Julia had frowned when the question was raised.
“You said it was okay last night at the cottages,” Callie reminded her.
“I thought it was just a one-off: some company to take your mind off these dreams. And it would have looked rude if I’d refused – as though I didn’t trust Josh’s mum. I’m not sure you ought to.”
“Oh for goodness sake! We’re not… there’s nothing…” Callie could feel her face getting hot just thinking about the words. “I wouldn’t even dare ask if… Look, we’re just friends. I keep telling you that. Surely you can see?”
Julia gave her a long look. “Oh, all right. Josh’s mum obviously thought everything went okay last night.”
“Thanks, Mum,” said Callie, with relief.
***
Callie finished shoving the pillow into its pillowcase and tossed it to Josh.
“Are you sure you don’t mind a sleeping bag?”
“No. It’s fine. Look, you’ve given me a mattress. That’s practically luxury. I’m always sleeping on mates’ floors at home.”
They heard the sound of raised voices from downstairs. “What do you mean, it’s my fault? You’re the one who…” The rest of what David was saying was lost in the sound of a slamming door.
Josh tried to act as though he hadn’t heard anything, but when he sneaked a glance at Callie’s face it was obvious she knew he had.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with them. They don’t usually argue, but recently… And there was definitely something wrong with Dad at teatime. Did you notice how quiet he was?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t know if he was usually like that or not. Maybe it’s their work. It must be pretty stressful being a doctor.”
“I hope that’s it. I wish they would tell me what’s going on, though, instead of acting as if I haven’t noticed.”
“Have you actually tried asking them what’s wrong?”
Callie shook her head. “I was hoping it would stop, but it just seems to be getting worse.” She forced a smile. “Anyway, we’ve got other things to worry about just now. Bedtime?”
Josh glanced at Callie’s alarm. Eleven f
orty. “Bedtime,” he agreed. “Who knows, maybe it’ll be like last night now you’ve put that spell on the room.”
“Maybe.” But Callie didn’t sound convinced.
The sound of raised voices continued for another ten minutes, to be replaced at last by simmering silence.
Chutney Mary came scrabbling through the window, jumped onto the bed and settled down, purring.
“She seems happy enough,” Josh said.
“Let’s hope she stays like that.”
They lay down to sleep.
***
Chutney Mary’s hiss woke Callie instantly. She lay as still as a stone, breathing into the darkness, eyes wide, ears straining.
There was silence apart from the gentle whuff whuff of Josh’s breath from the floor at the side of her bed. As far as she could tell, he was still asleep.
Callie waited. The cat was sitting up, staring into the opposite corner of the room, but there was nothing there that Callie could see. She licked her dry lips, wishing Josh was awake.
Five minutes passed and still nothing had happened. Callie began to relax a little. Maybe she’d imagined Chutney Mary hissing. Or maybe it was just coincidence. She looked at her clock. Ten past three.
“There’s nothing there, cat,” she whispered. Her voice sounded wrong. The sounds came out of her mouth and seemed to stop without travelling anywhere, not even as far as the cat, poised alert at her feet.
Chutney Mary suddenly gave another long hiss, jumped to her feet, and backed away from the foot of the bed, stiff-legged.
“Josh! Josh, wake up,” Callie whispered urgently. “Wake up!”
Surely he wasn’t going to sleep through whatever was about to happen?
Tap.
Tap. Tap.
“Josh, wake up!”
9. APPARITION
“Josh, wake up!”
He woke at last, with a gasp, and sat up. “What is it, Callie?”
Tap. Tap. Tap. Getting louder…
“Can you hear it?” she asked in a strangled whisper.
Josh nodded. “Yes.”
The cat had backed herself all the way to the headboard and stood perfectly still and silent, tail bristling, the hair all along her spine sticking up.
Callie reached for her bedside lamp, but once again, instead of a reassuring flood of light there was only a wan flickering glow that shook the shadows but didn’t banish them.
Hammering in the walls. All around them. Under them. Above them.
Josh flailed out of the sleeping bag, Callie stumbled out of bed and they stood, pressed together, listening as the crash of hammer and pick on stone grew louder.
“Do something, Callie,” Josh gasped. “Some spell. Something.”
He’s right. I have to do something.
She searched her memory for a spell that would help, but what was left? She’d used two spells of protection and they’d made no difference at all. She felt the familiar prickling in her palms as she desperately tried to think of something. For once, she didn’t try to push the power down. Could she focus it without using a spell at all, shield herself and Josh, blast whatever it was out of her room? Callie felt power flowing into her, though she had no idea where it was coming from. She started to organise it, so she could use it against the unknown threat they faced, and began to build it into a shield.
And then a hand came up over the foot of the bed and gripped the mattress and a black figure began to pull itself out of the floor, and her mind went blank. All the power she’d been so carefully marshalling escaped her control and roared through the room like a whirlwind, smashing the window as it did so.
Josh and Callie clung together in horror as the dark figure emerged fully and crouched on the floor at the end of the bed. They could hear its rasping breath, but it seemed to cast its own pall of darkness and they could make out little apart from its human shape.
And still the noise battered at them, the noise of picks and hammers striking rock, over and over…
The figure stood up slowly, and at last Josh and Callie saw clearly what it was: a man, pushing dripping dark hair back from a battered face, patched red and black. Blood trickled from wounds all over his body; under a gaping flap of skin hanging from his chest, shattered ribs showed as white fragments. His left hand was missing, the arm ending in a bloody stump. A single, baleful eye stared at them.
“What are you? What do you want?” gasped Callie.
The figure opened its mouth to speak, but the sound seemed to come from the whole room.
We want what was taken from us. We want our lives. We want air. We want light. We were trapped for centuries. Now we want your lives.
Without warning, there was an explosion of sound and light and the air was full of fragments of stone and flying water.
Josh and Callie yelled in terror and crouched, hands over their heads, convinced they were about to die.
All the noise died away until there was nothing but their own gasping breaths in the darkness.
The door crashed open, the light went on and both Callie’s parents burst in and stopped dead, mouths gaping.
Josh and Callie were huddled together against the far wall. The room was strewn with chunks of masonry and there was a gaping hole in the ceiling. A tiny functional part of Callie’s mind realised that, looking up, she could sees stars: part of the roof was gone too.
“Oh my God. Callie, Josh, are you all right, are you hurt?” Julia stumbled towards them, closely followed by David. “What happened?”
David looked around. “It’s the chimney. The chimney’s come down. You could have been killed!”
Josh and Callie looked around them in silent bewilderment as David and Julia pulled them to their feet.
“Let’s get out of here in case anything else goes.”
As she was helped from the room, Callie stopped. “The cat! Where is she?”
“It’s all right, love. She shot out as soon as we opened the bedroom door.”
As they made their way downstairs, Callie felt her legs begin to quiver. They only carried her as far as the sofa before they gave way.
Josh was next to her, still silent, but she could see that his hands had begun to shake. They looked at each other, faces white with plaster dust as well as fear, hair clogged with grit and wood and paint, each thinking how awful the other looked.
“Your face is bleeding,” said Callie, and reached out to touch Josh’s cheek, her fingers coming away red.
“It’s all right, Josh, it’s nothing much, we’ll get it cleaned up in a minute.” Both Julia and David had switched automatically to doctor mode. “Here.” David handed them each a bowl of hot water and a towel. “Wash that muck off your faces before it gets into your eyes.”
Julia brought blankets through; both Callie and Josh were shivering with shock now.
“Right, Josh, let’s see that cut.” David peered at the wound as he cleaned it. “It should heal okay. I don’t think it’ll leave a scar.” He put a couple of Steri-Strips on to close it. “Should be good as new in a few days. Keep these on and try not to get them wet. I’ll check it in 48 hours.” He stopped. “I sound like a doctor, don’t I? Not your friend’s dad. Sorry.”
“That’s all right,” said Josh. It was the first time he’d spoken since the events upstairs. “It’s quite reassuring.”
“Right. You two stay there and take it easy. You’ve had quite some fright. Julia, let’s go and have a proper look at the damage.”
“Dad, no! It might be dangerous.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll be careful.”
Callie and Josh were left alone to contemplate what had just happened. This is it, thought Callie. This is where Josh tells me he doesn’t want anything to do with me any more. I don’t really blame him. She searched in vain for something to say. At her side, Josh was equally silent.
He’s trying to think of a way to tell me he never wants to see me again. I should say something, make it easy for him. I don’t know why I ever told
him anyway. It’s not as if there’s anything someone like him could do to help. It’s just made things more complicated.
She still couldn’t think of anything to say, so they sat on in silence until Julia and David reappeared a few minutes later.
“There’s nothing we can do until morning,” said David. “Then we’ll have to get a builder – or maybe a roofer – to look at the damage.”
“Josh, I’ll take you back to East Neuk Cottages in a few minutes. Do you want to phone your mum first?” asked Julia.
“Do I have to go? I mean, I will of course, if I’m in the way, but it doesn’t seem worth waking Mum in the middle of the night when I’m okay.”
Callie stared at him in astonishment. He’d just turned down a chance to escape. Why?
“You should go,” she heard herself say.
“Do you want me to?” Josh looked puzzled.
“No, but after what happened…”
“You can stay if you want, Josh. Let us know one way or another in the next ten minutes,” said Julia, and followed David out of the room.
As soon as they were alone, Josh turned to Callie.
“What was that… thing… that came out of the floor? Did you see the state it was in?”
She shook her head. “I’ve got no idea. Could you hear it when it spoke?”
Josh nodded. “No air, no light, trapped for centuries… You know what this is about, don’t you? That noise beforehand… I knew I’d heard it somewhere else, but I couldn’t think where until just now.”
“It’s the tunnel under the castle,” said Callie. “I should have worked it out before. I’ve been hearing the tunnellers. That’s why all this started when it did.”
“Callie, you have to tell Rose what’s been happening. You can’t possibly sort this out; even I can tell it’s much too strong. Sorry.”
She sighed. “You’re right. I’ll go and see her in the morning.”
“Do you want me to come, or would you rather I didn’t?”
“Come, if you’re sure you don’t want to bail on me.”
“How often do you have to be told, you idiot? I’m not bailing on you.”
Dark Spell Page 8