A brawny youth came from the direction of the mobile-classrooms and headed towards the entrance. Juliet observed how he walked with attitude, a manly strut, swagger, it gave a clear message: don’t mess with me. The youth didn’t look unkind, but more along the lines of cocky.
She recognised shapes in his face, some attractive traits.
‘Is that Tommy?’ she asked, loosely pointing in the brawn’s direction.
‘Ah, yeah, that’s him. I’ll go get him.’ Nick got out the car and ran over to Tommy. Juliet watched Nick move; he went fast, but stoically. She saw him exchange a few words with his brother, but couldn’t hear from inside the car.
They marched over and Nick opened the door, levered the driver seat forward, then Tommy squeezed into the back of the car. He looked uncomfortably large sat in the back.
‘Alright?’ Tommy asked, as Nick repositioned his seat and got back in.
‘Hello, I’m Juliet Maystone.’
‘Tommy.’ he replied with a shrug. Juliet smiled, somewhat wearily.
‘I’ll drive home to get Tom now.’ Nick said. ‘Why wasn’t he at college anyway? You’re on the same course, aren’t you?’ he asked, twisting to face his brother.
‘I dunno, I think he don’t like it nowadays. Always skips classes and stuff. Should do summin like art or whatever, not construction.’
Juliet hated Tommy’s manner of speaking. She also marked how different his voice was to Nick’s.
Tommy had a deep, sonorous sound, but Nick’s voice was softer, gentler. Nick’s was rich in tone, and he spoke clearly, but in comparison to Tommy’s voice, it was effeminate. At least he spoke clearly though.
No one talked on the drive to get Tom. Juliet’s hands were cold, and she became annoyed at herself for forgetting her gloves.
Nick pulled into the drive of a house. It was a detached home, plain, nothing distinctive about it. The front garden was tidy. Juliet thought it was ‘nice enough’. She wasn’t sure if Nick lived there with his brothers, or if he had his own house or lived with his dad, or whatever combination.
She kind of hoped he had his own place.
‘I’ll ring him, tell him we are here.’ Nick said, searching his phone contacts. ‘We’re outside.’
A slender brown-haired guy hurried out to the car. He was dressed sensibly for the cold weather and he looked nervous. He had the same face as Tommy, minus a bit of stock.
Figure-wise, he resembled Nick more than Tommy, but Juliet could plainly see that he was Tommy’s identical twin. Nick let him in his side of the car, and Tommy shuffled over to make room in the back.
‘Hi, I’m Tom.’ the latest addition said and smiled at Juliet.
‘Hello,’ she smiled back. ‘Juliet Maystone.’
Everyone fell silent while Nick adjusted himself back into his seat. He then turned to address his brothers. He told them about the morning events.
Juliet felt uncomfortable, she avoided eye contact with all of them. When Nick spoke about the way that Aldrich controlled her mind and body, she turned away completely. She held back tears and just listened to the twins’ reactions.
Tommy outright laughed at some of it, but Tom seemed to at least consider what was being said.
‘I knew yuh were into weird stuff, Nick, but is this supposed to be a joke or summin?’ Tommy asked, with a face of boredom.
‘It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe me. I’m just warning you that Aldrich could be dangerous. He knows something about our mum’s disappearance. Surely you want to know about that?’ Nick replied.
‘Howdyuh know that?’ Tommy asked incredulously.
‘Someone found Juliet, told her where to find me and to take me to Grendel Manor. They said it was about Mum.’ he lied.
The twins didn’t know about Juliet’s ability or Nick’s, and they didn’t need to know.
‘Whatever, this better not be a joke. And why aren’t yuh tellin’ Dad about it?’
‘You know how he is about Mum. I don’t want to tell him anything until we know more.’
Juliet respected Nick’s decision not to involve his dad yet. Her opinion of Tommy sunk lower and lower, but she took a moment to observe Tom. He looked preoccupied.
‘If it’s about Mum, I’m happy to come with you.’ Tom spoke suddenly. He smiled again and leaned back, ready to get the show on the road. Juliet gathered that he was a smiley kind of guy, which she liked, because his smile was as handsome as Nick’s.
‘Let’s just leave already.’ Tommy capitulated.
It took almost twenty minutes to return to the manor. On the way, Juliet thought she heard Tommy mutter something to Tom along the lines of: ‘Looks like Nick is gettin’ some then.’ She assumed it was an inappropriate reference about her, but she didn’t retaliate; she felt too uncomfortable.
Nick parked on the gravel area as before, and all four got out the car. It was late morning and the wind from the sea was harsh and bitterly cold. Earlier on, the sun had peered through the clouds in places, but now it was glum, mostly overcast. The wind stung Juliet’s face.
She let Nicolas and the twins take the lead; they walked through the foliage archway towards the manor. She’d seen beautiful houses such as this before and admired them, but all she could feel now was deep dread. The front door was still open as Nick said it would be.
‘Wait outside, Juliet, just in case.’ said Nick.
He cautiously stepped inside, his brothers followed in the same manner. Juliet couldn’t see inside and didn’t exactly want to. She waited. No sounds came from the manor. She waited some more. Her intuition screamed that something wasn’t right. What was taking them so long?
The wind howled in her ears, growing persistently louder. It was unnatural, like it was trying to communicate with her. It built to an almost deafening level, then stopped. Everything fell silent.
Samantha Crystan appeared.
She materialised so quick that it looked like the empty space in which she now filled swirled and imploded. Ripples swam through the fabric of the air that surrounded her.
‘Save my boys!’ she reached both arms out to Juliet, ‘SAVE THEM!’ the spirit roared, then fizzled out of sight as swiftly as she had appeared.
Juliet pelted up the chalky path then shoved the large door fully open.
Aldrich wasn’t on the floor as Nick had foreseen; there was the blood, the cane, the statue parts.
The twins were facing another direction. They seemed to be peering into a room, searching. Juliet stopped still when she spotted Nicolas. He became alert when he saw the panic in her face.
‘Get down!’ she shrieked, and pointed behind him.
She vaulted to one side and slid across the floor. The twins twisted around to see what was happening. Juliet covered her ears and squeezed her eyes shut. She stayed low on the floor.
There was a thunderous bang. Her body rattled. She heard something fall and land beside her. It made a clamorous cracking sound, but she remained still, too afraid to open her eyes yet.
She whimpered involuntarily and slowly opened her eyes. She expected to see Nick’s brains all over the floor and blood everywhere. But that’s not what she saw.
Nick was struggling to seize a shotgun from Aldrich’s grip. Tom ran over to help. Tommy stood with a hand covering part of his left arm, and then he charged towards Aldrich and kneed him in the thigh.
Aldrich lost his grip on the gun. The twins secured his arms behind his back. Juliet looked around her; it was a painting that had fallen and split on the floor.
The banister of the staircase was splintered. There were marks and dark holes splattered across the floor and the walls.
She gazed over at Tommy again. There was a tear in his jacket and a bloody patch where he’d been holding his left arm.
‘Are you okay?’ she asked, struggling to find the supporting breath.
‘What? My ears are ringin’,’ he shouted, and Juliet repeated the question, nodding towards his left arm, ‘I’m alright. It’s jus
t a graze I think.’ he held firmly to Aldrich.
At that moment, Aldrich fixed his eyes on Juliet.
Her mind went dark; there was nothing.
Then she was a step away from Nicolas, her hands held up aggressively. The twins stared at her; both looked horrified. Aldrich’s eyes were closed and his head drooped on his neck.
‘What happened?’ she asked, letting her arms fall back to her side.
‘He did it again, he controlled you. You came towards me in a rage, but I hit him with the butt of the gun.’ Nick answered.
‘You were tellin’ the truth.’ Tommy’s voice raised an octave in astonishment, ‘How the hell does he do it? He’s like a Jedi.’
‘More like a Sith.’ Tom said.
Juliet recognised the word ‘Jedi’ as something to do with the Star Wars films, but she didn’t know what a ‘Sith’ was. Now wasn’t the time for jokes though.
She clenched her fists and performed a violent shake of her body at the thought that he’d violated her again. She cringed and tried to quell a surge of anger.
‘I think I know how he does it.’ Nick said, ‘Well, not exactly how, but I think he uses his eyes. He has to see the person he is controlling. We should cover his eyes before he comes back around, if he comes back around. I’ve knocked him unconscious twice now. He’s lost a lot of blood.’ he looked over at the pool on the floor.
‘Good idea.’ Juliet replied wearily.
Tommy said, ‘Come hold him up would yuh, Nick?’
Nick passed the shotgun to Juliet and then took hold of Aldrich. Tom was still supporting Aldrich’s weight and restraining one of his arms behind his back.
Although Juliet appreciated the level of trust in being handed the shotgun, she was disgusted to hold such a thing. It was smooth, heavy; it had the same squirming effect on her that she imagined holding a dead and gored bird in her hands would have. She placed it on a step out of the way, and as she did, she noticed her mobile phone on the floor. She picked it up and put it in her pocket.
Tommy ripped at the jacket sleeve where the fresh bullet-hole was. The bottom half of the sleeve tore off completely and he used it to blindfold Aldrich. Juliet suddenly felt wrong about all of this.
‘Wait, what are we doing? Shouldn’t we call the police?’ she pleaded.
‘Yeah, we can’t hold him hostage like this,’ Tom chimed in, ‘he tried to shoot you, Nick. The police should deal with this.’
Nick shook his head, ‘We can’t call them. We can’t tell them about his ability. They won’t believe us, and they will take the blindfold off of him. Then he will be able to control them. And, no offence, Juliet, but he could do more damage with a police officer than he did with you. He’d kill all of us.’
Juliet could see his point, she wasn’t offended but she hated the situation. She started pacing back and forth and didn’t respond to what Nick had said.
She caught Nick’s eyes and he looked at her compassionately, ‘We’ll figure it out as we go along, but we’re not calling the police or anyone until he tells us what he knows about my mum, and why he tried to kill me.’
‘Okay.’ she mustered up what courage she could.
‘Nick, we should close the front door.’ Tom said, ‘And if we are going to question him, we should tie his arms behind his back. I don’t want to hold him like this all day. He’s creepy; I don’t want to touch him.’
Tommy scurried off into another room, and after a while he came back with a black wire. Nick and Tom laid Aldrich face down on the floor while Tommy tied his hands together behind his back. This is so wrong, Juliet thought, but what could she do?
‘We should take him outside, away from the front of the Manor.’ Tom was on a role, ‘If a visitor comes, he might try to alert them. I saw from the hill as we drove here that he has loads of land behind the manor. It stretches right out to the cliff. We should lock the front door and take him far outside. I doubt anyone would hear us from out there, it’s too windy.’
‘Have you done this before, Tom? Is there something you’re not telling us?’ Nick asked and laughed.
‘No, I just don’t want to be caught with a tied up and bloodied man. If we are going to interrogate him, let’s do it properly and not get caught in the process.’
‘I was only joking, Tom.’
‘Well, you’re about as funny as a log.’ Tom said bitterly, then smiled and laughed with Nick.
Must be a personal joke.
Nick asked, ‘What should we do about the pool of blood?’
‘Just leave it. If someone comes to the door, they wouldn’t be able to see it through the windows. There are bullet holes everywhere anyway. Hopefully he lives here alone.’ Tom began to frown; he looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. He wasn’t the only one.
‘We should try to wake him,’ said Juliet, ‘unless you want to drag him outside. I’ll fetch a glass of water.’ she walked through a hallway to the left, and assumed the kitchen (or a kitchen) would be at the rear of the manor.
The hallway echoed with the sound of her wedge boots clip-clopping on the floor. She could hear Nick and the twins mumbling about something back in the entry hall. The utter silence dwelling in the rest of the manor was disconcerting; it kept her on edge.
Every room she passed was decorated in the same style as the entry hall. There were statues of winged angels, naked men and women, and bodiless heads. There were bronze platters and ornaments, and the Greek meander pattern trailing the hall way.
Most things resembled ancient Greece, but she passed one room distinctly decorated in an Egyptian style with hieroglyphics, scarabs and various gods.
At the end of the hall she was greeted by a disturbing statue. It stood taller than her.
The statue was of a man with the head of a bull. His arms were up at his sides, positioned the way you would show a police man that you were unarmed. Its upper body was broad and muscular. It didn’t have a lower body; where its legs were meant to be, had been converted into a sort of wood burner, a miniature furnace. Its wrists and neck were spiked, adding to the beast’s hostile appearance.
Juliet hated statues: the eerie way that they appeared ready to spring to life. She half expected its eyes to follow her, or to blink. She forced herself not to look at the statue any longer and continued on her way.
She found the kitchen and used her common sense to locate a glass. She filled it with water and hurried back to the entry hall.
Tommy turned Aldrich over, onto his back, and propped him into an upright position. Juliet was about to poor some water into his mouth, then realised that he could well choke on it. A lot of things went through her mind, Recovery position, I’ve done first aid training, call an ambulance, call the police, but due to the circumstances, she decided to flick some water on his face. She gave him a light slap on the cheek. It worked.
‘Unnghh,’ he groaned.
He smelt rusty, metallic. One side of his hair was dried flat with dark blood. His curly fringe was dishevelled and partially covered the mark on his forehead, from where Nick hit him with the butt of the shotgun. Blood had stained one shoulder of his tweed jacket a mouldy brown colour.
‘We need to speak to you.’ Juliet said gently.
‘I can’t see,’ he mumbled, and then with more power, ‘I can’t see!’
‘We’ve blindfolded you so that you can’t get me to attack anyone.’
He wailed and fiercely shook his body, but Tommy held tight to him. Juliet’s heart sank miserably when she looked at this pathetic and helpless man.
‘You’ve tied my hands, it’s too tight. I’m cold.’ he complained. Tom looked around nervously, he seemed afraid that someone would hear Aldrich shouting. He gestured towards the back of the manor and gave a strict nod.
‘We are going to take you outside to speak with you.’ Juliet started, ‘We will find a blanket to keep you warm. Would you like some water, I have some here.’ she said clearly.
‘You fucking bitch, you whore, you slut
, untie me!’ he screamed, spitting in anger.
Nick’s face changed demeanour; he looked ready to yell something in protest, but Juliet calmly held up a hand, gesturing him to not bother.
She said to Aldrich, ‘I’d appreciate it if you didn’t speak to me in that manner.’ her voice was austere, ‘We came here simply to ask some questions, but you’ve attacked us repeatedly. I don’t take orders from anyone, and why would name-calling give me cause to help you? If you answer our questions, I’m certain we can come to an agreement in which we all walk away with no further harm.’
Aldrich didn’t reply. She watched his nostrils flare and his lips pull together in a resentful line. He breathed heavily out of his nose and remained silent. Tom raised his eyebrows, showing how impressed he was at Juliet’s handling of the situation.
Nick seemed to have calmed down.
Pressing the glass of water to Aldrich’s lips, Juliet said, ‘Drink some water, and then we are going to stand you up and take you outside.’ he did as she said and then she turned to Nick and Tom, ‘Could one of you go and find a blanket for him please?’ she asked.
Tom jogged up the staircase to the indoor balcony then through a doorway and out of sight. He returned with a chocolate-brown throw. Tommy pulled Aldrich to his feet, then all of them headed down the hallway and into the kitchen. There was a back door in the kitchen, and Nick searched for the key. When he had no luck, Aldrich begrudgingly gruffled, ‘The flowerpot.’
Nick found the key underneath the pot on a nearby shelf.
The ‘garden’ wasn’t exactly a garden at all. Behind Grendel Manor was a large field of land. There was a faint trodden path where it was apparent someone had regularly walked in that direction.
They decided to follow it. They walked for over ten minutes, the sound of the sea grew louder and the force of the wind swelled stronger.
It was difficult for Juliet to walk in her wedge boots on the uneven ground. In hindsight, they weren’t the best choice of footwear; she stood awkwardly taller than Nick and the twins, and she’d already had to run a few times this morning. She mentally decided that the next time she did a spirit’s bidding, she’d wear trainers.
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