by carl ashmore
‘It seems not,’ Uncle Percy replied.
‘But why did he snatch you in London?’ Joe asked Becky. ‘It doesn’t make sense when he’s got all this on his plate. Where’d you go?’
The moment the question was out there, Becky felt conflicted. She wanted so much to tell him the truth, but also felt there were things she wasn’t quite ready to share. ‘He wanted to show me how I got my powers.’
Joe looked surprised. ‘Really? And did he?’
‘To some extent, but I don’t think anyone really understands it, do they, Uncle Percy?’
‘No, Becky, they don’t.’
‘To what extent then?’ Joe asked.
‘He said that someone can develop powers like mine when they’ve been killed, and a time traveller goes back in time and reverses the death. He said it had only happened once before.’
‘But that would mean you were - ’
‘Dead,’ Becky said, stone-faced. ‘I was killed in a hit and run when I was a child. The driver was off his head on drugs. It happened at some place called Woodford on the outskirts of Manchester. Drake showed me the whole thing.’
‘How dare he?’ Uncle Percy exhaled.
‘You saw your own death?’ Joe gasped.
Becky nodded. ‘It wasn’t fun.’
‘Who saved you?’ Joe asked.
Becky nodded at Uncle Percy, but couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes. ‘Uncle Percy. Dad found me when I was dead, but the Omega Effect wouldn’t let him save me. For some reason, it had to be Uncle Percy. I suppose I should be grateful.’
‘You don’t have to “be” anything,’ Uncle Percy replied. ‘I would understand if you were furious with me.’
‘I should be,’ Becky said. ‘The amount of times I’ve asked you to tell me the truth, I should be livid. But what hurts is that it should’ve been you telling me all this, not Emerson Drake.’
‘I know.’
‘But I suppose I understand why you never told me,’ Becky said. ‘No one likes to hear they were roadkill.’
‘I am sorry. It should’ve been me.’
‘No sweat. I should be grateful … I am grateful.’
Joe shook his head with frustration. ‘Is there ever gonna be a time when grownups think we’re tough enough to handle the truth?’
Uncle Percy looked uncomfortable. ‘I take your point, Joe, but some truths are difficult to voice.’
‘It’s the fact you don’t try that does my head in,’ Joe growled back.
Becky wasn’t about to get into this argument. ‘And there’s something else,’ she said to Joe. ‘You know I once told you about my recurring nightmare... the one with the monster.’
‘Yeah … a big black cat.’
‘The car that ran me over was a black Jaguar.’
‘That’s freaky.’
‘You never told me about your nightmare,’ Uncle Percy said.
‘You never told me I was a corpse,’ Becky replied bluntly. ‘We’re even.’
‘What about the driver?’ Joe asked. ‘What happened to that scumbag?’
Becky’s glanced at Uncle Percy and saw he knew everything. ‘He got away.’
‘He got away?’ Joe replied, his hands making fists. ‘Then let’s find him. I’ll put an arrow right up his -’
‘Forget it, Joe,’ Becky cut in.
‘I don’t wanna forget it,’ Joe said, his voice rising.
‘Please,’ Becky said quietly. ‘For me.’
Hearing the brittleness in Becky’s voice, Joe’s anger faded. ‘For now,’ he said. ‘So did Drake show you anything else?’
Becky didn’t want to lie to Joe, but she certainly wasn’t ready for him to know the full story. ‘No. That was it.’
‘And are you okay with everything?’
‘It’s weird,’ Becky replied. ‘I mean, knowing I was actually dead. But nothing really changes for me … I’m alive. There are plenty across the world today that won’t have a time traveller come to their rescue. I was lucky.’
Joe turned to Uncle Percy. ‘So what’re the plans now?’
‘I’m sure they’ll call a GITT committee meeting shortly. They’ll talk it through.’
‘We don’t need talk,’ Joe said dismissively. ‘We need action. Drake has to pay for what he’s done today.’
‘There are things in the pipeline, Joe. We won’t be taking this lying down.’
‘What kind of things?’
‘Nothing for you to concern yourself with.’
‘And there you go again … keeping stuff from us.’
‘In this particular case, young man, it’s got nothing to do with you. ’
Becky could see Joe’s temper swelling and jumped in to intervene. ‘So what’re we doing? Are we going to Bowen Hall as planned?’
Uncle Percy thought hard for a second. ‘I thought we might stay here for the night and think on it. After the day we’ve had, one night away from the twenty first century wouldn’t be such a bad thing …’
*
Day blended seamlessly into night. Uncle Percy returned to the future to inform Coppenhill High School, Maria and Jacob, and most importantly Mrs Mellor that Becky was safe, unharmed and in his care.
That evening, Becky and Joe walked the perimeter of the island, its miles of sandy beach silky soft beneath their bare feet. Throughout, they scarcely said two words to each other, preferring silence to any discussion of the events of that day.
To Becky’s surprise, Uncle Percy didn’t return that night. At half past eleven, she retired to an upstairs bedroom and changed into the pyjamas left out for her on the bed. As soon as her head found the pillow, however, she knew sleep would be unlikely.
The hours crawled by. At two, she rose from the bed and left her room. Descending the stairs, she opened the lodge door and went outside.
Darkness surrounded her. The sea air salted her lips. Moonlight made the water look like streams of electric current, the waves licking the shore in a calm, hypnotic rhythm. She walked a hundred or so yards along the beach, then sat down on the cool sand and gazed out to sea. It was then she saw a jet of water shoot into the sky, before tumbling back down in a shower of what looked like glittering diamonds.
A gigantic whale broke the surface, and gave a low booming moan, a sound both haunting and deeply soothing. At that moment, she heard a voice.
‘Shouldn’t you be at least trying to get some sleep?’
Becky looked round to see Uncle Percy approaching. To her astonishment, he wore a thick silver beard, his features creased with what appeared to be exhaustion and satisfaction in equal measure. He sat down beside her.
‘How long have you been away?’
‘A month.’
‘A month?’ Becky gasped.
‘I’ve been busy.’
‘Doing what?’
‘With too many things to mention,’ Uncle Percy replied. ‘But I did talk to your mother and she’s fine. The moment she heard about the Palace of Westminster she was desperate to get the first plane home, but every single plane across Europe and most of the world has been grounded for the time being.’ He sighed. ‘It seems Drake really has brought the world to a standstill.’ When Becky didn’t respond, he motioned toward the whale. ‘I see you’ve met Alfred. He’s wonderful, isn’t he?’
‘What type of whale is he?’
‘He’s Balaenoptera musculus – the Blue Whale … The largest creature to have ever existed. At one hundred and fifty tonnes and over a hundred feet in length, no dinosaur came as close to its size, and it’s alive in the twenty first century. Yes, it’s safe to say that earth has never known an animal as majestic or regal as the Blue Whale.’
‘He is incredible.’
‘He is,’ Uncle Percy replied simply. ‘Now, I think you wish to have a little chat with me, am I right?’
Becky nodded. ‘I know about your argument with my dad. I know why you were furious with him. And I know all about what really happened to Edward Timmerson.’
‘Of course you do,’ Uncle Percy replied calmly. ‘And I agree with you that Joe doesn’t need to know this.’
‘You would,’ Becky replied, more curtly than she meant. ‘I will tell him, but in my own time.’
‘Very well.’
‘Drake showed me everything,’ Becky said. ‘I know Timmerson didn’t just get away. I know a week after the Hit and Run my dad tracked him down to the Hacienda Apartments, and I know that he …’ She struggled to say the next words. ‘I know exactly what Dad did to him.’
‘You know the full story?’
‘I saw Timmerson close to death in his apartment. I saw him in the recuperation home after the doctors told him he would never walk again.’ Her voice was shaking. ‘How could Dad have gone round to beat him up like that? I didn’t die … he knew that, yet he battered Timmerson to the point he nearly killed him.’
‘Did you actually witness their fight?’
Becky shook her head. ‘No. The Omega Effect wouldn’t allow it.’
‘That was the same for me,’ Uncle Percy replied. ‘Therefore, we only have your father’s word as to what happened … and it’s a word I wholly believe. I don’t think he went there to harm him at all.’
‘Then why’d he go round?’
‘To confront him.’
‘About what?’
Uncle Percy took a moment to answer. ‘Because what happened to you wasn’t the first time Timmerson had been involved in something like that.’
The words stunned Becky to silence. ‘What d’you mean?’
‘Your father learned that Timmerson had hit someone with his car before … and in a similar drug addled state. That time he collided with a pensioner named Albert Edwards in Manchester City Centre. Fortunately, Albert survived, but the matter went to trial and Timmerson walked free.’
‘How?’
‘He employed the services of a hugely expensive and unquestionably corrupt barrister … one that had no qualms with bribing a jury, and Timmerson could afford it. As history has proved countless times, the wealthy have a long standing tradition for buying themselves out of trouble.’
‘If Dad was just going to talk to him, then how did it turn into a bloodbath?’
‘I don’t know. All I do know is your father told me Timmerson, intoxicated by a cocktail of hard drugs and alcohol, prompted the fight.’
‘It doesn’t matter who started it. Dad shouldn’t have left him like that.’
‘I think he knew that. In fact, I think it’s that guilt that fuelled the clash I had with him.’
‘He should’ve felt guilty,’ Becky said quietly. ‘He destroyed a man’s life that night. Even a scumbag like Timmerson didn’t deserve that.’
A peculiar twinkle flashed in Uncle Percy’s eyes. ‘How much more did Drake show you?’
‘Nothing.’
Uncle Percy gave a mirthless chuckle. ‘Typical.’
‘Why d’you say that?’
‘Because, believe it or not, this story has a happy ending of sorts, not that Drake would’ve taken the time to find out.’
‘A happy ending?’
‘I can take you back in time and show you if you’d like?’
‘No,’ Becky replied. ‘Just tell me.’
‘In time, Edward Timmerson made a full recovery.’
Becky’s mouth tumbled open. ‘But the doctors said he’d never walk again, never see or hear properly again.’
‘Those doctors weren’t Doctor Aziz and they didn’t have the resources, experience or expertise of the GITT medical team.’
‘I don’t get it.’
‘Just after your father had been kidnapped, or died as I believed at the time, I tracked down Edward Timmerson. If I couldn’t help your father, I was damn sure I’d try and rectify one of his mistakes. I contacted Doctor Aziz and he gathered a team of the finest experts in the world. They performed revolutionary surgery and, thankfully, it was successful. Eventually, Timmerson was fully healed.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes. And with his recovery came a change in Timmerson no one could’ve predicted … he was a different man. He conquered his addictions and more than that, sold his apartment, resigned his position, abandoned his old life entirely, and used his wealth to form an organisation for aiding addicts overcome their problems. He even opened an outreach centre in Hulme, which is thriving today. Anyway, a few years ago he married a lovely woman, Kerrie, and last year they had their first child … a little girl.’ His voice softened. ‘A little girl he named Rebecca…’
Chapter 9
The Sacred Chalice
Becky didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ‘I don’t know how to feel about that.’
‘You don’t have to feel any way about it,’ Uncle Percy replied. ‘The truth is, your father made a mistake. We all do. And like Aristotle says, “To err is human, to forgive divine”. And there is certainly another way to view all of this. Through the horror, the violence, the distress, a man’s soul has been saved. And instead of living a life of greed and self-destruction, Edward Timmerson now helps others improve their lives. We can all learn a lot from his journey.’
‘I can see that.’
‘Good. Now shall we get some sleep?’
Becky got to her feet, and soon they were walking back to the lodge.
‘So where have you been?’ Becky asked.
‘I’ve been visiting some old friends … some of whom are very old, indeed. I’ve also been making progress on finding the next Eden Relic.’
Becky stopped in her tracks. ‘You have? What is it?’
‘Shouldn’t we save the big reveal until Joe is here?’
‘Aw, tell me. It really winds him up when I know things he doesn’t. And I’ve had a harder day than him.’
‘True.’
‘Go on then …’
‘Well I suppose we should’ve seen it coming. The fifth relic is perhaps the most famous mythical artefact of them all. Of course, it seems, as ever, the truth behind the myth is somewhat different from the common perception. Moreover, the relic has acquired many names over the millennia, and -’
‘ – And will you save the poncy talk and just tell me.’
Uncle Percy grinned. ‘I suppose we know it best as ‘The Holy Grail…’
*
As she entered the lodge, Becky tried to recall all she knew about the Holy Grail. She remembered Mrs Skeet, her Religious Education teacher, speaking with sherry tinged breath about it being Jesus’s cup at the Last Supper, and she had a vague recollection of a comedy film her dad played repeatedly about King Arthur, a legless medieval knight and a killer rabbit. Other than that, nothing else really sprang to mind.
The next morning, her sleep was disturbed by a gull’s screech outside her bedroom window. For a moment, she lay there stock-still as she thought over all that had happened the day before. Then a vision of the Holy Grail entered her mind and she bolted upright. Clambering out of bed, she threw on the jeans and t-shirt Barbie had left bedside her bed and dashed across the landing to Joe’s room. She banged her fist against the door and waited. In a matter of seconds it opened to reveal Joe, his face lengthened in a giant yawn.
‘What?’
‘I know what the fifth Eden relic is.’
‘You do? How?’
‘I got up in the night. Uncle Percy came back. He’s been in the past for a month.’
‘So what is it?’
‘The Holy Grail.’
‘That’s the biggie,’ Joe said excitedly. ‘What do we know about it?’
‘Get some clothes on and we’ll go and find out.’
It wasn’t long before Becky and Joe were scurrying downstairs to see Barbie in the kitchen and Uncle Percy, bright eyed and clean-shaven.
‘Good morning,’ he said brightly. ‘Did you both sleep well?’
Joe wasn’t vaguely interested in chitchat. ‘What do we know about the Grail then?’
‘We’re forgoing all pleasantries, are we?’ Uncle Percy said.
Uncle Percy chuckled. ‘First of all I suggest we call it something other than the Holy Grail, because it has almost no known association to any Christian artefact, and is considerably older than Jesus Christ.’
‘You can call it Rupert for all I care,’ Joe said. ‘It’s the fifth Eden Relic. That’s all that matters.’
‘Then let’s call it The Sacred Chalice. Anyway, as seems to be the case with Eden Relics, the Chalice has a long and complex history, purportedly changing hands a number of times over the centuries, including the Ancient Greeks and early Scandinavians. However, the first tangible evidence of an all-powerful cup, The Cup of Jamshid, surfaced in the city of Pārsa, more commonly known as Persepolis, in Ancient Persia around two and a half thousand years ago.’
‘And what was so special about it?’ Joe asked.
‘Well, amongst its many powers, The Cup of Jamshid was said to make its possessor immortal.’
Joe looked impressed. ‘Fair dos. That’s just about as special as it gets.’
‘And under its influence, the Persian Empire grew to be the biggest realm of the time. However, the cup was stolen from Pārsa and within a few years the empire had crumbled.’
‘Who took it?’
‘No one knows. But it went missing for over a thousand years until it surfaced again in Patagonia, South America. And this is where the story gets rather implausible to say the least. It is said the cup fashioned a great city around itself called Trapalanda or the Wandering City, a city fashioned from gold. Moreover, the Patagones, a race of giant people at least double the size of a normal man, were supposed to defend it.’
But Joe had been silenced by one word. ‘Gold?’
‘Yes. And even more incredibly, the city was supposed to be able disappear at will and reappear at a different location, hence the name The Wandering City.’
Becky snorted with disbelief. ‘Even by Eden Relic standards that sounds nuts.’
‘I couldn’t agree more,’ Uncle Percy said.
‘I dunno, Becks,’ Joe said. ‘We’ve seen some pretty bonkers stuff.’
‘Yeah, but vanishing cities?’