Mortiswood: Kaelia Awakening (Mortiswood Tales)

by Gina Dickerson

  A darkened figure strode from within the flames and onto the street. A flash of bright white glimmered from the figure’s face forming an upturned crescent. Screaming, Kaelia fumbled with the ignition but it refused to work. The figure rapidly approached the driver’s door. Terrified, Kaelia pressed the automatic button to lock the doors. The figure’s long fingered hand reached out for the car door handle and Kaelia watched, frozen. A hideous, contorted face lowered level with hers, separated by the thin glass of the door’s window. Kaelia swallowed the rising lump in her throat, whether it was bile or a scream she wasn’t entirely sure. Who - or what - had eyes so completely dark even the whites were no longer visible? What was that red, fuzzy haze surrounding the figure? The figure’s pointy-toothed grin made all of the hairs on Kaelia’s arm jump to attention. A sharp nail scratched the thin pane of glass separating them, etching a long, claw mark. The sound of it made the figure’s face light up with nefarious amusement. An odd, disturbing noise bubbled from the figure’s mouth and it tapped the scratch with its fingernail. Time stood still. Kaelia watched the scratch slowly evolve into a crack with thin veins spreading outwards like the legs of a spider. One more tap and the glass would shatter. Kaelia’s bottom lip trembled uncontrollably, making her teeth chatter.

  ‘I’m going to die,’ she whispered.

  Then, in a blur of grey-white, the wolf pounced at the figure, pulling it to the floor. They rolled in a flurry of fur and limbs until the wolf emerged on top. Again and again the wolf’s powerful jaws ripped at the figure until the figure stopped moving. The wolf snapped its head to face Kaelia, amber eyes burning bright. Dark blood dripped from its jaw onto the tarmac. It opened its mouth and howled.

  Kaelia did not need to be offered a second chance. She willed her hand to spark and pointed a finger at the ignition, jumping it into life with a shot of ice-blue light. Once she’d reached the end of the road she glanced back. The figure slowly drew back up, larger than before and the wolf, facing it, held its head low as it charged, whipping the figure back down and starting the fight all over again.

  * * *

  Two

  Mortiswood

  Kaelia refused to become a gibbering wreck. Tears would not help her no matter how much she wanted to cry. What use would eyes puffed up by tears be? She had to make it to Mortiswood in one piece. Hopefully there she would start to find answers. Was her mother dead too, had The Salloki taken her? How could she find out? Thoughts rolled over and over in her head, reminiscent of the fight between the pointy toothed figure and the wolf, on the drive to Mortiswood.

  Mortiswood was a densely wooded area, one part of it popular with ramblers and tourists alike for the viewing point commanding distant views back towards Margate town and its shoreline. Kaelia turned into the unlit car park and, leaving the car’s engine running and lights on, quickly made her way to the boot. The gravel of the parking area scrunched under the thin soles of her sandals and hurt her feet, making her glad she had packed a pair of boots. Night’s breath rustled through trees lining the exterior of the gravelled area, carrying with it the scent of woods - a concoction of damp leaves, pine needles, and wildness. From the suitcase, Kaelia hurriedly pulled out the small book and carried it back to the security of the car.

  ‘What use are you?’ She turned it over in her hands before opening the front cover and running her hand across the empty page. ‘You’re no use, that’s what you are!’ She thumped the book in frustration, shards of ice-blue light spraying out from under her fist.

  Shadows danced upwards from the empty page and Kaelia instinctively threw the book away from her, shrinking into her seat, watching the shadows change into a mix of multi-coloured lights which floated through the glass and out onto the gravel.

  The colours converged, building into the translucent shape of a woman with waist length hair. The ghost-woman smiled, beckoning Kaelia with her see-through hand before floating some distance away and repeating the motion.

  Kaelia slowly edged the car forward, afraid of hitting a tree. The gap between the trees looked wide enough for the small car but Kaelia had never driven on such uneven terrain. The woman nodded encouragingly, floating further into the trees and gesturing for Kaelia to continue following. With a lot of stops and starts, Kaelia wove the vehicle through the trees, into the heart of Mortiswood.

  * * *

  Twenty minutes later, the ghost-woman motioned for Kaelia to abandon the car and follow her on foot. She led Kaelia to where ivy draped over the mouth of a cave, part concealing it.

  ‘You want me to go in there?’ Kaelia asked disbelievingly.

  The ghost-woman nodded.

  ‘But it’s a cave!’ Kaelia wailed. ‘It’ll be dark and scary!’

  The ghost-woman floated back towards the car and faded into the night. Kaelia returned to the car, checked the torch was working, and switched off the vehicle’s engine. She had enough petrol to drive back into town and couldn’t afford to waste any more tonight. Emboldened by the strong beam of the torch, she trudged through scratchy bracken and pulled aside the ivy concealing the cave. The torch easily illuminated the interior of the cave. There was no smell of damp and only one entrance. Perfect for defending, Kaelia thought. She shivered; one thing the cave wasn’t, was warm.

  Kaelia dragged the case and bags into the cave, and unzipped the pop-up tent, jumping back as it sprung into life. With a heavy heart she pulled her quilt and pillows from the case and arranged them inside the tent, tossing the spare blanket inside too. She pushed the cases to one side of the small cave and remembered the book was still in the car, on the dashboard. Figuring she may need it, she plodded back to the car.

  With the book safely in hand and torch still going strong, Kaelia returned to the cave. Her screams reverberated within the dome shaped walls, the torch and book clattered to the ground. Kaelia froze, wide-eyed and terrified. The torch rocked on the uneven ground, its beam shakily illuminating snarling fangs and dense, grey-white fur.

  The rushing of Kaelia’s blood filled her ears. Her tongue, suddenly large and dry, stuck to the roof of her mouth. The soles of her sandals behaved as if super-glued. She held out her palms in a conciliatory gesture and cast her eyes frantically around the small cave. In one leap the wolf could reach her and by the size of its jaws, snap her in one bite. The wolf snarled. Its shaggily furred body was even bigger now it was inside the cave with her and not on top of her car. She stepped backwards. The wolf leapt forward until it was an inch from her. Its head reached level with her waist and its eyes flared. She was an intruder. The wolf’s amber eyes ignited, burning a permanent image into Kaelia’s mind.

  ‘I don’t mean you any harm,’ she whispered. ‘Please don’t hurt me.’

  The wolf turned abruptly, whipping her legs with its tail and reached her case in one huge bound. Its teeth made a popping noise as they punctured the top of the case and the creature lifted it in the air, flinging the case towards her. Kaelia crashed back against the cave wall, shielding herself with her arms as the wolf did the same with the bags, their contents erupting over the ground near her. She jumped as the hard edge of a tin can knocked painfully against her shin, cutting it.

  Kaelia sobbed, sliding onto her bottom, arms covering her head. A shuffling noise cut through her cries and she peeked out from under her arms. The wolf pushed the case across the cave floor, stopping once it was outside the tent. Disbelief kept her eyes on the creature as it repeated the motion with the scattered contents of the bags before retreating to the spot where Kaelia had originally left her belongings and curled up, burying its nose within the fluffiness of its thick tail.

  Kaelia, who had thought she was likely to end up as a snack, smiled hesitantly. ‘I can stay?’

  The wolf’s eyes opened into narrow slits.

  Kaelia picked up the book and torch before edging towards her tent. ‘You won’t even notice I’m here,’ she promised.

  The wolf reclosed its eyes.

  Kaelia stepped towards the wolf,
thinking how much it now resembled a sleeping dog, albeit extremely overgrown. ‘You’re not all bad, are you?’ Her toe, poking from her sandal, touched the tip of its tail.

  Both amber eyes popped open, the wolf’s head rose and its lips curled in a snarl.

  Kaelia held out her hands again. ‘Okay, I understand.’ She backed into her tent and drew the quilt over herself, frightened to fall asleep until exhausted, sleep claimed her giving her no choice.

  * * *

  Kaelia woke as soon as the sun rose the following morning, cutting fractured patterns through the curtains. She languished in the warm cocoon of her covers before memories returned and she realised it wasn’t curtains but the thin tent. She was alone. Well, apart from the wolf. The covers rustled loudly as she shoved them aside and cautiously crept from the tent. Enough light filtered through the veil of ivy so she was able to see the corner where the wolf had slept last night, was now empty. Unable to decide whether she was relieved, Kaelia pushed the ivy strands to either side of the cave mouth and knotted them together until they hung like variegated, horticultural curtains.

  Thankful she had brought food, she prepared a breakfast of bread and cold spaghetti hoops, with water to wash it down. She was mid-meal when a large shadow licked from the cave mouth to her bare toes. Apprehensively, she drew her feet close to her body, the bowl of food slipping unnoticed from her lap. The wolf padded deliberately to the corner of the cave where it had slept. Keeping one eye on it, Kaelia scooped the remainder of the spaghetti hoops into another plastic bowl and broke a slice of bread in half before dropping it on the hoops.

  She edged towards the wolf. ‘Are you hungry?’ Laying the bowl on the ground as close to the beast as she dared, she then scurried back to what she already considered to be “her side” of the cave.

  The wolf’s amber eyes stayed on her but it sniffed the offering. Its mouth opened, exposing immense fangs, and it made a noise Kaelia hadn’t heard before. Turning its back to her, the wolf noisily devoured the contents of the bowl. Tomato sauce stained the soft white fur around its muzzle as the wolf faced her. Its large, pink tongue made slapping sounds as the wolf licked its lips. Then, in a flash of fur, it bolted out into the woods.

  Relieved she hadn’t ended up as the wolf’s main course, Kaelia threw the remnants of her meal in the bracken a short distance away from the cave and rinsed her bowl clean with a small amount of water to keep wastage of it to a minimum. Changing into a pair of jeans, a long sleeved top, and her low-heeled boots, she wondered how she could keep both herself and the clothes clean. She couldn’t spend her life in the cave, she must return to civilisation and find out everything she could about The Salloki. How long was she supposed to stay here?

  There was a soft thud behind her, prompting her to turn around. The wolf stood within touching distance. If Kaelia was brave enough she could sink her hand into its dense fur but she wasn’t that bold. Besides, she liked her hand with all of the fingers intact.

  Blood dripped from the wolf’s panting mouth, its tongue lolled to one side, saliva diluting the red into pinkish globules. The creature lowered its gaze and Kaelia’s eyes followed. It had brought her a rabbit. Kaelia crouched and touched the soft, mottled grey fur; the little thing was still twitching.

  ‘I can’t eat this.’ Kaelia laid a palm across the rabbit’s chest, its heartbeat a mere echo. Kaelia’s palm grew warm until it glowed orange-red. Remembering how she had healed Bay all of those years ago, she concentrated on allowing the light to pulsate from within her. The heat began inside her chest and moved down her arms before surging from her palms.

  The rabbit squirmed under Kaelia’s touch and slipped free, hopping rapidly to the cave’s entrance. Kaelia laughed, clapping her hands together delightedly and shrugged at the wolf which seemed to be glowering. ‘You can eat all the rabbits you need but I can’t bring myself to eat one. Not until I absolutely have to.’

  The wolf growled, the sound rumbling around them, and loped from the cave.

  ‘Hey!’ Kaelia called, following it. ‘You don’t have to leave, I’m sorry if I sounded ungrateful.’ She raised her voice as the creature bounded into the trees. ‘It really was very thoughtful of you!’

  * * *

  The wolf returned some time later and Kaelia was bemused at the sight of such a giant, fearsome looking creature carrying a branch between its jaws as if it were the most precious treasure in the whole world. The wolf laid the branch, which still had leaves sprouting from it, at Kaelia’s feet. Once more, Kaelia crouched and inspected the wolf’s offering. A smile creased her face.

  ‘Apples!’ She picked one from the branch. ‘I love apples.’

  She held the apple out to the wolf but it looked away. Sensing the creature would not take the fruit from her hand, Kaelia set it on the ground before helping herself to one.

  ‘Thank you,’ she said between mouthfuls.

  The wolf gently picked up the apple Kaelia had laid out and crunched it, swallowing it in one go. Amber eyes caught Kaelia’s and, mesmerised, her hand slipped forwards. The tips of her fingers grazed one of the wolf’s ears before it darted out of reach and raced, whining, from the cave.

  * * *

  That night was colder than the one before and Kaelia swaddled herself in the covers as soon as the sun set, and then sat outside her tent. The wolf had not returned. Kaelia’s fingers itched for the feel of a mug of warm coffee between them. Taking a long, hot, bubble-bath would be absolute bliss right now. If she closed her eyes and really concentrated, she could smell the delicate aroma of the white-musk bubble-bath she and her mother had always used. The memory made her cry. Grief added an extra layer to her covers, really sealing her in the heat of emotional loss. If only that silly little flicker of light hadn’t sparked from her hands those years back in Northdown Park, then none of this would have happened - her father would have lived, her mother would not have disappeared, and Bay would still be alive.

  Kaelia did not know how long she cried for. The strength of her sobs made her whole body shake and she was glad no-one was around to hear her. The tears slowly eased off and she washed her face with a little of the bottled water. Her eyelids were puffy to her touch and closing them was hard work, her eyes itched underneath them.

  She did not want to eat but forced a few mouthfuls of bread and half a bottle of water down, then settled inside the tent. She set the torch onto its lowest setting and laid it facing away from her so its beam dimly illuminated the interior of the cave. It was scarier being alone in the cave than it had been with the wolf there. Her eyes caught the movement of shadows and several times she crawled out of the tent, convinced The Salloki had found her again.

  Then, when she was too exhausted to do anything else, she fell asleep and dreamed.

  It was night and the house was still. Kaelia pushed the covers off her and slipped out of bed. She was still dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved top. Kaelia tiptoed to the door of her mother’s bedroom, it was slightly ajar. She peeked inside but the curtains were pulled tight so she couldn’t make anything out in the darkness.

  Carefully, Kaelia pulled the door to. Quietly, she stole down the stairs and into the hallway. Her ballet-pumps were by the front door and she picked them up. Willing the lock not to give her away, Kaelia pocketed her keys and opened the front door.

  The cool night air hit her and she pulled the door shut, careful not to let it slam. The key made a slight noise as she turned it in the lock to double-lock the door. She hesitated, fearful the tiny noise would draw attention to her but the house remained in darkness. She hurried, barefoot, along the garden path and lifted her leg up and over the gate, which would be sure to creak loudly if she attempted to open it.

  Once safely on the pavement outside, Kaelia slipped on her flat shoes and walked along the road. The call of foxes unsettled her, the sound eerie in the calmness of the night. The dark sky was illuminated with the twinkle of stars and with the clouds gone, it was cold. Kaelia wished she had thought of bri
nging a jacket with her. Her footsteps were the only ones she could hear as she turned a corner and followed the road to the park. A car broke the silence as it whizzed around the corner, faster than it would have travelled during the day but considering the road was now empty, the vehicle sailed past Kaelia without stopping. Streetlights cast their beams along the road and lights flickered from the downstairs rooms of several houses Kaelia passed, no doubt the residents were watching late-night television.

  It did not take her long to reach Northdown Park and she walked quickly to the side of the library building. The building had one nightlight on the front but none at the back and the park itself was, of course, a blanket of darkness. She headed straight for the play area.

  A shadow shifted on one of the swings. The creak of the swing’s chains caught on the breeze and hit her. She squinted, trying to focus on the blurry shape on the swing.

  ‘Who are you?’ she called, her voice louder than expected.

  The figure didn’t turn, the swing kept on swinging.

  ‘What do you want?’ Kaelia asked, reaching out a hand.

  The shadow moved, twisting its face to her. Kaelia snapped her hand back. The shadow faded and distinguishable features fell into focus.

  Kaelia gasped.

  ‘You look surprised to see me,’ the person chuckled, smiling with a lopsided smile.

  ‘Bay?’ Kaelia asked tentatively. She reached for him.

  ‘It’s me.’ He grasped her hand and lifted her fingers to his lips.