by Gill, J. G.
Without warning, the man flicked his gaze sideways at the boy, making him cringe. The boy averted his eyes awkwardly, a cold shiver racing down his back. There was something unnervingly cold about the way the man had looked at him, like a reptile sizing up its prey.
Before Demarge had taken a breath to introduce the man, Morana’s disembodied voice slid into the room.
“Ecoli, it’s lovely to see you again.”
The man’s attention darted immediately towards the stairwell, his eyes quivering violet for just the briefest of seconds, as Morana descended the final step. They held each other’s gaze.
“Morana, you look well, as always,” he said.
She smiled, slyly, as if sharing a private joke.
The boy glanced covertly at Morana and Ecoli, trying to gauge the relationship between them. Ecoli’s jaw was no longer tightly clenched, his skin less tightly stretched over his high cheekbones. His face looked softer somehow, more human. From the way they were smiling at one another, the boy could tell they were intimately connected. The tautness in the air between them was as strong and immutable as steel rope.
A gentle growl gurgled somewhere deep in the dog’s throat. It padded across the room to Morana, its claws clattering against the black tiles. She stroked its head, her eyes still trained on Ecoli.
“Good boy, Eredus,” she whispered.
Demarge glanced briefly from Morana to Ecoli, appraising the relationship between them.
“I trust you will focus on the task,” he said curtly.
“Of course,” said Ecoli, tearing his gaze away from Morana.
Demarge turned to the large clock that occupied the whole of the ceiling.
“Your quarry is going to emerge from the back door of the old millinery in approximately thirteen minutes. Go!”
CHAPTER XVI
Calix navigated the complicated patterns of winding streets and narrow pathways, while Bede kept pace immediately behind her. They had been running solidly for half an hour and Bede could feel the sweat bubbling up through the pores of his skin, despite the cold. He was now in a part of the city that was less familiar and he felt uncomfortably disoriented. He was also keenly aware that every step he took was a step further away from finding his sister.
“Hey, are we nearly there?” asked Bede.
Calix glanced over her shoulder, mid-stride.
“Almost, it’s just around this corner.”
Bede followed her as she turned down a further side street and into a large gravel car park. They slowed to a fast walk. Bede’s gaze tracked across the stones to a wide strip of asphalt that formed the forecourt of a huge, square, slate-grey factory. At the front of it, a purple, double door was sandwiched between two bright yellow industrial skips, piled high with rubbish. To the left of the building, a wide ramp sloped downwards into it like a tongue. As Bede drew closer he could see a cluster of trucks parked in a turning bay at the bottom. The place was eerily quiet.
“What is this?” he said.
“My work,” said Calix, as if stating the blindingly obvious.
“Your work is the hideout?” said Bede. “Where is everyone?”
“Striking, over pay,” Calix smiled wryly. “Just my luck I had to come in after all. Let’s go inside.”
As she moved towards the purple door, Bede faltered.
“Look, don’t think I’m not grateful, I am, but I’ve got to get going,” he said, running his hand through his hair and scanning the forecourt for a discreet exit.
“What’s with you?” said Calix, frowning. “We’ve almost killed ourselves trying to escape, and now you want to go back out there again?”
“Look, it’s a long story,” said Bede, “but I don’t really have a choice. My sister’s on the streets right now and she needs me.”
“She’s younger then?” said Calix.
Bede nodded. “Yeah, just turned sixteen.”
Calix shrugged and smiled. “Fair enough.”
She was just about to point out the pathway that led to the road at the back of the building when something stopped her. A siren. It was heart-stoppingly close.
“Shit,” said Bede under his breath.
“C’mon!” Calix grabbed his shirt and pulled him behind the nearest skip. There was just enough space for both of them to crouch down low, as the square, black bonnet of the police car bounced over a speed bump and into the car park. The vehicle ground to a halt in the gravel and a thin, dark-haired man stepped out from the driver’s side. A taller, younger, sandy-haired officer soon joined him in the middle of the forecourt. From the angry expression on the dark haired man’s face, it looked as if they’d been arguing.
“That’s your whole problem, Molloy, you’re a liberal,” the dark-haired man spat. “If we had it your way, the crims would be out on the streets. In fact, it’s beyond me why you even became a cop. It’s like you’re a bleeding social worker most of the time.”
Molloy rolled his eyes covertly. “That’s not what I’m saying, Chief. I just don’t get why everyone thinks the kid did it. Killing his own father? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Like I keep trying to tell you, the criminal mind doesn’t make sense,” said the chief.
Bede suddenly felt his stomach lurch towards his throat. He knew exactly what the police were talking about. A third voice now entered the conversation.
“Can I help you officers?”
Calix glanced briefly at Bede. “That’s Bailey, he’s one of the bosses,” she whispered.
“Yeah, we’re looking for a couple of kids,” the Chief replied. “We think one of them might work here, a.” he paused to refer to his notebook, “…Calix Michaels?”
“No way,” said Calix, mouthing the syllables silently as she exchanged startled glances with Bede.
“Yeah, the name’s vaguely familiar,” said Bailey. “You won’t find her here today though. Worker’s strike, they’re all off whingeing about pay.”
“Can you let us know when she turns up again?” said the chief. “We believe she’s got information about a dangerous murder suspect.” He shot a glance pointedly at Officer Molloy who, just as pointedly, ignored him.
Calix spun around to face Bede, her eyes a mix of fear and confusion. He was suddenly conscious of just how small and bird-like she felt, huddled up next to him.
“They mean you?” she whispered. “They think you killed your father?”
“I didn’t do it, I swear,” Bede whispered back.
Calix stared at him for a couple of seconds, trying to decide whether or not to believe him. She was still making up her mind when the voices on the forecourt distracted her again.
“Do you mind if we take a quick look around the grounds?” asked the Chief.
Bailey shrugged nonchalantly. “Yeah, be my guests.”
“We won’t be long.” The Chief turned to Officer Molloy. “I’ll take the loading bay, you search out here.”
The younger officer nodded quickly, relieved to be having a break from his boss. He began scanning the forecourt when his eyes snagged on a flicker of movement. It was coming from behind one of the bright yellow skips. He began walking slowly towards it.
“Get down!” Bede hissed, realising as soon as he’d said it how stupid it sounded there was no possible way he or Calix could crouch any lower. The police officer was now just a few steps away from discovering them.
“Hey, Molloy!” the Chief’s voice suddenly boomed across the forecourt. “Not there, I meant go around the building.”
“Yeah, but Chief I think I saw something moving up here!” he shouted back.
“Probably cats. We’re looking for kids, Molloy, kids.”
Officer Molloy paused, squinting at the large metal bins as if willing whatever was lurking inside them to jump out. Bede held his breath, keeping his eyes fixed on the pitch black tarmac beneath his feet.
Please go, please, please just go, he pleaded inside his head.
Slowly, the officer’s gaze shifted si
deways to the pine trees marking the edges of the grounds. He took one final, backward glance at the skips, before trudging dejectedly towards the line of the fence. It wasn’t until his footsteps had become tiny pinpricks of sound that Bede allowed himself to breathe again.
“He’ll be back, Calix, we’ve got to move.”
Calix glanced at him indignantly.
“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” she said.
“Okay, but not here.” Bede nodded towards the double doors. “Are they open?”
“Should be, they always unlock them if someone’s in.”
Calix peered around the corner of the skip, checking furtively left and right before crawling towards the door. The handle gave way easily.
“Quick, this way,” she whispered, beckoning Bede to follow her inside. “I know how to get to the main assembly room without being seen.”
They began inching their way down the long, narrow corridor into the bowels of the building. After about fifty metres, the corridor opened up into a mezzanine floor that overlooked a large workshop below.
“I reckon this is probably the best place to hide,” said Calix. “It’s a total zoo down there, no one will ever find us.”
As Bede looked over the banister, he could see exactly what Calix meant. Hanging from the rafters, and from every conceivable hook, were thousands of doll parts of various shapes and sizes, from heads with glass eyes and glazed expressions, to flesh-coloured arms, legs and torsos.
“Man, this place is seriously creepy,” said Bede. “It’s like some sort of doll’s horror show.”
“I know, Frankenstein does plastic,” said Calix. She motioned towards the flight of metal stairs that led to the ground floor. “C’mon, we can talk once we’re a bit more camouflaged.”
They made their way across the floor to the aisles of body parts. Calix chose an aisle and went in first, while Bede hesitated, fidgeting about at the entrance.
“What are you waiting for?” she said.
“These rows are pretty narrow. If we knock over the racks, every man and his Pekingese is going to come running in here,” said Bede.
“No they won’t,” said Calix. “Management’s upstairs, they won’t hear a thing.”
Before Bede could reply, Calix reached out, grabbed his sleeve, and pulled him into the aisle. Taken by surprise, he thumped straight into her, before stepping back awkwardly.
“Sorry, are you all right?” he asked.
“Yeah, fine.” Calix brushed herself down. “It’s not like you murdered me,” she said, steering the conversation back to the one they’d overheard on the forecourt. “Now spill, what’s this about your father?”
Bede took a deep breath, before briefly recounting the break-in at the house, and the conversation he’d had with his stepmother. By the time he’d finished, Calix was wrinkling her forehead in confusion.
“So is your dad actually…” She didn’t want to say the next word.
“Dead?” said Bede.
“Yeah,” said Calix awkwardly, “or just missing?”
“I dunno,” said Bede.
Deep down though, buried in his central core, he did know, even if he couldn’t quite admit it to himself. Suddenly, unpredictably, Bede began to feel his eyes prickle. He quickly looked away.
“Hey,” said Calix gently, reaching for his arm.
Embarrassed, Bede gently shook her off. “I’m fine,” he said.
Neither of them heard the door close at the top of the mezzanine floor, or the footsteps descend the stairs. Nor did they hear the sound of boots, stepping softly across the assembly room floor. In fact it wasn’t until a tall figure, dressed entirely in black, cast a dark shadow in the aisle that they realised there was anyone else in the room.
“Stay where you are,” said Demarge.
Bede spun around as a jolt of adrenalin fired in his veins.
“The cops?” whispered Calix, as she tried to peer around him. Bede shook his head.
“Run, Calix,” he said, turning back to face Demarge.
“How did you find me?” he said.
“Your good friend Shrapnel was extremely useful,” said Demarge. “It was predictable that you’d go running to him for help sooner or later. So I did what any sensible businessman would – I paid him a lot of money to let me know the minute you turned up. In fact, the money you have in your pocket right now may well be mine. Ironic, isn’t it? Of course, it also helped that your friend, Troy, decided to set up a squat in one of my buildings. The police, bless them, are very sympathetic to landlords in those circumstances.” He laughed dryly. “Really Bede, this has all been way too easy.”
Bede felt a small hand grab at the back of his shirt, pulling him backwards into a gallop. He turned and followed Calix down the aisle. They were almost at the end of it when something brought them to an abrupt halt. Demarge was already waiting for them, casually inspecting his black-gloved hands. His eyes flicked up the second the footsteps stopped.
“You can’t escape,” he said.
Bede shook his head in disbelief. There was no way of explaining how Demarge had been able to move so quickly.
“I don’t get it. How…” Bede’s voice trailed away as Calix began tugging on his shirt again.
“C’mon!” she said.
Bede turned to see her dive under the lowest shelf of the rack behind him and scurry into the next aisle.
“Get under!” Calix screamed.
“So what are you going to do, Bede?” said Demarge, coolly. “Come quietly, or try to escape like your friend?”
“What do you want?” said Bede. “Whatever my father’s done, can’t you just sort it out with him?”
Demarge raised his right eyebrow, frowning in mock confusion. “Your father? This has nothing to do with him.”
“Then what has it got to do with?” asked Bede.
“Your sister. I need her.”
Bede felt his fear begin to disintegrate, as rage began to boil in the pit of his stomach.
“My sister?” he shouted. “What do you want with her?
Demarge shrugged casually. “Just a conversation, nothing more.”
“You leave her alone or…”
“Or what? You’ll be angry, try to kill me even?” Demarge laughed. “It would be entertaining to see you try.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you, freak!” Bede shouted.
Demarge flinched slightly, then quickly regained his composure.
“Is that so?” he said. “Well how about if I invite your friend along as well?”
“She’s got nothing to do with this,” said Bede.
“How do you know, Bede? What makes you think you know anything?” said Demarge.
“Just leave her alone,” said Bede,
“Like this maybe?”
Demarge curled his fingers into his palm before flicking them open as if there were spring-loaded. A ragged spike of electrical light sprung from his fingertips and snaked quickly under the rack. Bede could hear it sizzling like bacon on a burning hot griddle.
“Calix, look out!” he shouted, falling to his knees and scanning the underside of the racks. The glow of the light led his eyes directly to her. Calix was huddled in the far corner, her back slammed up against the wall and her arms clamped tightly over her head. The light was just seconds away from finding its target.
“No!” screamed Bede.
Then, just as it was about to strike, the light suddenly veered to the right and exploded into a cluster of dolls’ heads. A sharp, chemical smell of burning plastic filled the air as dozens of glass eyes rolled and rattled in their charred skulls.
“How did you do that?” said Bede.
Demarge smiled, ignoring the question.
“I’m a very generous man,” he said. “As you can see, I just saved your girlfriend. I also believe in choice, and right now the choice is all yours. Your first option is to come with me now and I’ll let the girl go. Your second is to refuse and I’ll have to turn her in
to a crunchy barbecue snack for one of my snakes. Then you still get to come with me. So what would you like to do?”
Bede looked defeated. “Calix, if you can hear me, please get out of here,” he said. He turned to Demarge. “I’ll come with you now, but this is not the end.”
“You’re quite right,” said Demarge, “This is just the beginning.”
CHAPTER XVII
I almost wept when I finally saw the door. It was a faded, wrecked thing with red paint peeling off it like sunburnt skin. But it was still the door. The one that led back to the outside world where there were no blood-sucking bats dive-bombing my head.
“Not long now,” said Min, turning to Thomas and me. She was pale and her eyelids sagged with tiredness. How are you, Clare?” she said.
“Fine,” I lied. Truth was, I was completely knackered. My boots had rubbed my heels raw and I had mental pictures of the humungous blisters that had sprouted under my socks. Gross. But there seemed little point in saying that. It would just make Min and Thomas worry, and dwelling on it would only make me feel worse than I already did. The main thing was just to get the heck out of there.
I glanced at the last stretch of the ridge that lay between us and the magical door to freedom. There was still about two hundred metres left to go and it was by far the steepest part of the whole journey.
“Don’t worry Clare, we’ll help you up,” I heard a voice behind me say. I turned to Thomas and smiled.
“You read my mind,” I said.
“Here, grab hold of this,” said Min, handing me the frayed end of a thick, twisted piece of rope. It felt heavy and solid in my hands, the coarse strands rough against my skin. Tracing along the length of it with my eyes, I saw that it was part of a banister, suspended above the ground by a series of rusty metal posts.
I took a deep breath, clutched the rope as hard as I could, and began hauling myself up the rock face. The scree was even looser here than it had been before and as I stepped forward a mound of stones shifted sideways beneath me. The pebbles clattered into the chasm like a volley of bullets. I lurched forwards violently, realising with horror that I was now falling headlong into the void.