by J. R. Wallis
‘You’ve got to help me too!’ shouted Thomas Gabriel.
Drewman grinned. ‘Yes, why not. Anything to annoy the Order. But you’ll need to prove you’re worthy of having magic.’
Suddenly, the fæcce let out a yelp. Everyone turned to see a little piece of its forehead fall away and splash to the floor. ‘I’m melting!’ it cried in a terrified voice, its fingers searching across its face to check what else was coming loose.
‘We have to go,’ said Thomas Gabriel. ‘We have to leave now otherwise the Trolls will know it’s not Givens.’
Ruby stepped in front of the head and stared in its eyes. Her insides felt twisted and tight after hearing what Drewman had said about women and magic. ‘How do we find the rest of you?’ she asked.
‘The Black Amulet,’ said Drewman. ‘The Order have always taken great pleasure in assuring me that the boxes are so well hidden with magic they can never be found. But the amulet will fire up what magic there is inside each of you, and allow you to cast the spells you’ll need, far better than any other Badlanders can. Use the amulet with caution, only when you must. Share it among you to prevent it taking hold of your hearts and minds. As long as you keep using it, take bitter potions to keep your heads clear and stop the amulet taking possession of your thoughts. And, most importantly of all, once you’ve found the rest of my body, you must hide the amulet somewhere it can never be found.’
‘Where is it now?’ asked Ruby as the fæcce yelped again. It was looking at its hand. The thumb was gathering into a great pink drop that was getting ready to fall off.
‘You’ll need a Moon Globe,’ said Drewman. ‘Then go to St Anselm’s Abbey and look for the hidden door. Open it and you’ll find the amulet.’
‘Givens said he was going to an abbey,’ said Ruby. ‘Tonight.’
Drewman cursed under his breath. ‘Are you sure, girl?’
Ruby nodded. ‘St Anselm’s Abbey. A place known for Wihta, he said.’
‘Then there’s no time to lose. If Givens is heading there, he may have finally worked out where the amulet is. He uses potions on me, confuses me. I can’t remember half of what I’ve told him and perhaps he’s been piecing it together one bit at a time. You must find the amulet before he does if you want me to correct your Commencements.’
Ruby nodded and then Jones was grabbing her and pulling her away. Thomas Gabriel was already ahead of them, helping the fæcce down the corridor, an arm looped round its waist.
When they arrived at the door back into Givens’s study, they rushed through as fast as they could. The top half of the fæcce’s body was starting to sag, particularly the shoulders, which were becoming more and more rounded. The neck was starting to gather in little rolls.
But, with Thomas Gabriel keeping it upright and Jones shutting the door, the fæcce leant forward and pushed the key into the lock.
One of the Trolls poked its snout out of the picture and took a sniff, then, seemingly unconvinced, it sniffed the fæcce again and leant further out of the picture. The other Troll appeared too. They scrutinized the man that looked like Givens and for a moment no one said anything.
And then both Trolls slipped back into the picture and the image of the door began to recede.
Thomas Gabriel and Jones ushered the poor shaking fæcce out of the study as fast as they could. Ruby followed, avoiding the damp patches left on the carpet by the creature.
The boys managed to push the fæcce up the stairs, telling it everything would be okay once it returned to the bath it had come from. It kept nodding and seemed driven by some instinct towards the water, slipping into the cold bath without a thought.
As it ducked under, the last thing they saw was its smiling face as it broke apart, the grey-looking skin and the blue of its eyes dissolving. And then it was gone.
Jones grabbed the chain and yanked out the plug and the water started to gurgle away.
‘There’s only one place I know where we can find a Moon Globe fast,’ he said.
‘St Crosse College,’ agreed Thomas Gabriel. ‘Pindlebury’s got one.’
‘We need to go now,’ said Ruby, ‘if we’re going to get the Moon Globe and still reach the abbey before Givens.’ She went up to the bathroom mirror and stared at it, conjuring up a picture of Givens driving with his apprentice riding shotgun.
‘Looks like they’re still on their way.’
Jones checked his smart watch, which seemed so out of place in the Badlands because Badlanders didn’t use anything like them.
‘It’s not even eight o’clock yet. However far away they are, they’ll rest up in the van first until much later,’ said Jones. ‘They’ll wanna make sure no one’s about at the abbey. And they’ll need to be as prepared as they can if there’s Wihta there. That’s what Maitland and I would have done.’
‘Me and Simeon too,’ agreed Thomas Gabriel. ‘Meeting one Wiht would be bad enough, let alone lots of them.’
Ruby peered out of the bathroom window. It was a dark spring night now. The trees looked bare and bony in the moonlight. ‘It’s dark enough to use Slap Dust. Let’s go!’ As they took out their vials, Jones paused.
‘What is it?’ asked Thomas Gabriel. Jones looked at them.
‘It’s family movie night.’
‘What on earth is that?’ spluttered Thomas Gabriel.
‘Jones, we need you,’ said Ruby. ‘Your parents will understand.’
‘That ain’t the point though, is it?’ Jones bit the inside of his cheek as Ruby and Thomas Gabriel stared at him.
‘Jones, this is your chance to get that magic out of you if we can find the amulet,’ said Ruby.
And the boy didn’t need long to think about that. ‘Let’s go then,’ he said, nodding.
TWELVE
St Crosse College looked the same as the last time Jones and the others had been there. In fact, thought Jones, as he stood, peering through the small side gate with Ruby and Thomas Gabriel, it had probably not changed at all over the last few hundred years. He could see why a Badlander might like it, safe and secure in the stone buildings and in rooms behind leaded windows, insulated from most of what went on outside in the world of regular people.
‘It’s all clear,’ whispered Thomas Gabriel and they slapped their hands together and vanished, reappearing on the other side of the gate.
The quadrangle was bordered on all sides by an uneven path of cobbles worn smooth by the feet of students and academics over centuries. In the middle was a square of grass, pale green in the moonlight. Jones and the others crept quickly round the quadrangle, stopping at the bottom of each staircase to read the list of professors who had rooms in that area and a board showing who was ‘in’ or ‘out’ at that moment.
Ruby was the first one to see the name they were looking for. ‘Elgin Pindlebury’ had the title ‘Research Fellow’ painted next to it and, according to the board, Pindlebury was currently ‘in’ his rooms. All three looked at each other with relief. They hadn’t dared imagine Pindlebury not being there – they didn’t know where else to find a Moon Globe – but it seemed their luck was in.
‘So what’s the plan?’ whispered Ruby.
‘Leave it to me,’ said Thomas Gabriel, picking two glass vials out of his limitless pockets. He drank down the contents of the first vial. The second one he showed to Jones, who nodded after reading the label: Hurdy Gurdy.
‘Stay here and keep a lookout.’ Thomas Gabriel swept his herringbone coat around him and disappeared up the curling staircase. Ruby and Jones crept a little way up the stairs after him and sat down to wait.
‘Jones, perhaps you should start wearing your overcoat again when you’re with us.’
‘Why?’
‘Well.’ Ruby shuffled her bottom on the cold steps. ‘It might be useful. You’d have all your Badlander stuff you kept in the pockets.’
‘Ruby, I’m not a Badlander.’
‘I know, but it might make things easier. How about if you had your catapult? You’re good with tha
t.’
‘I’m fine without it.’
‘Yes, but—’
Jones put his finger to his lips, silencing Ruby. ‘Yes, nothing. I don’t need my overcoat or any of the things in it. This is just temporary. I’m not a Badlander and I don’t wanna talk about it no more.’.
When Thomas Gabriel arrived at the top floor, he saw the door he was after, with Pindlebury’s name on it, and knocked briskly. A few moments later, a studious-looking man, round glasses perched on his nose, opened the door. He was dressed in a baggy green cardigan, a shirt and tie, and wore corduroy trousers the colour of gold.
‘Yes?’ said the man.
‘Elgin Pindlebury?’ asked Thomas Gabriel.
The man looked at him over the top of his glasses. ‘And you are?’
‘Thomas Gabriel, previously apprentice to Simeon Rowell. I wish to speak with you. It’s important Badlander business. I don’t have time to waste.’
‘I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘You don’t need to pretend, Pindlebury. I know who you are. You’re the Badlander Research Fellow here at St Crosse College. You spend your time researching creatures. Doing bookwork. Not exactly the type of dangerous life most Badlanders are used to.’
Thomas Gabriel peered in through the doorway and saw an old, comfortable sofa. Shelves of books. A desk in front of the window. A radio was turned down low, a piece of piano music burbling like running water. He tapped his foot because he was in a hurry to get this over with and return to the others.
Pindlebury pushed his glasses up his nose and stood up straighter, wrapping his cardigan round him. ‘What do you want exactly, boy?’
‘I might be young, but I’ve already Commenced. I’m working my way up the Order now.’
‘Good for you.’
‘I’m here at the behest of Randall Givens. He’s my mentor.’
Pindlebury raised his eyebrows. ‘Givens? What does he want?’
‘If you’ll let me in, I’ll tell you. It’s not the most private place here.’
Pindlebury studied the boy. ‘Have we met before?’ he asked. ‘I feel like we have, but I can’t quite place it.’
Thomas Gabriel shook his head. ‘No, sir, I don’t think so. I’d remember.’ He tried not to smirk as he lied. He remembered perfectly the last time they’d met, of course. It had been a few months ago in the college chapel. The only reason Pindlebury didn’t remember was because the boy had removed all memory of it.
‘Yes, of course.’ Pindlebury frowned as if still trying to place the boy. ‘Very well, if Givens has sent you then I suppose you’d better come in.’
Thomas Gabriel sat on the sofa and started to give a very plausible explanation as to why Randall Givens had sent him. At least, Pindlebury seemed to accept it as he listened intently to the boy’s description of a strange hybrid Ent that Givens had encountered on one of his hunting trips.
‘It had three eyes, four arms, as well as a coat of red fur on its back.’
‘Really?’ Pindlebury seemed genuinely intrigued by the mystery creature as he asked the boy to describe it in more detail.
‘Umm, there were scales on its arms. And it had a tail. Forked, I believe.’
Pindlebury stared at the boy and narrowed his eyes. ‘You’re having me on,’ he said. ‘Why are you really here?’
But by then it was too late.
Thomas Gabriel had already opened the vial of Hurdy Gurdy and released some of the clear vapour into the air, controlling the amount by opening and closing his thumb over the top like a valve. It was distilled from a variety of herbs and plants and Thomas Gabriel’s former Master, Simeon Rowell, had been an expert at making it. He had passed his secret recipe onto his apprentice who always kept some in his pocket for emergencies, along with the antidote too, which he’d taken outside at the bottom of the stairs.
The Hurdy Gurdy made the air glisten gold in places, one of the clues that gave it away. But Pindlebury didn’t seem to notice this. In fact, he didn’t seem to notice much at all. The vapour had confused and befuddled him, and he sat blinking in his chair.
Thomas Gabriel checked the man’s eyes and saw them dulled, with the telltale red dots in the pupils. Grabbing Pindlebury by the shoulders, Thomas Gabriel gave him a shake. Just enough to bring him to his senses.
‘So, Pindlebury, tell me where you keep that Moon Globe of yours.’
The man grinned and raised his eyebrows.
‘The Moon Globe is a special thing.’
‘Yes, I know. That’s why you have it.’
‘Precisely.’
‘So where is it?’
Pindlebury pointed to a small brown box on his desk. When Thomas Gabriel picked it up, he discovered it was locked.
‘Where’s the key?’
Pindlebury pointed to his mouth and tried to purse his lips, taking a moment to produce a short, rubbery-sounding note. ‘It’s a Whistle Lock. Only I can open it with a special tune. I’m very important, you know.’
Thomas Gabriel held up the box with the keyhole in front of the man’s mouth. ‘Open it.’
Pindlebury’s tongue flapped like the tail of a dying fish as it poked through his lips and he tried to whistle. Thomas Gabriel started to worry that the Hurdy Gurdy was going to affect Pindlebury’s whistling ability too much, but, after a couple of attempts, the lock clicked and the box opened. Inside was another locked box. Thomas Gabriel took it out and held it up to the man’s mouth again, but this time Pindlebury shook his head and plucked a brown hair from his head. He pushed the hair into the lock and there was a click, the lid popping open.
Inside was the Moon Globe, a small orb illuminated from within by a pale light, sitting on a red velvet inlay. Thomas Gabriel smiled as he picked it up. He felt a coolness on his fingers that made them tingle.
‘Careful with that,’ said Pindlebury. ‘It’s special. Like me.’
Thomas Gabriel popped the Moon Globe into one pocket. He held up the vial of Hurdy Gurdy and let what was left in it out into the room.
‘What’s that?’ asked Pindlebury.
‘Hurdy Gurdy.’
‘Hurdeeee . . . Gurdeeeee—’
Thomas Gabriel watched Pindlebury’s eyelids flicker and close. As the man’s chin came to rest on his chest, he started snoring.
When Jones and Ruby saw Thomas Gabriel come running down the stairs, they thought the worst at first. But, when he saw their worried faces, he held up the Moon Globe and its ghostly glow lit up the dark doorway to the quadrangle.
‘We’ve got a few hours till he wakes up,’ said Thomas Gabriel. ‘Let’s get to St Anselm’s Abbey now!’
Ruby went across to a small framed notice – something to do with fire regulations. With a crease of her brow, she managed to scry on Givens by conjuring an image of him in the glass. He was sitting in his van, eating, with Wilfried. She blinked and the image disappeared. She nodded at the others. ‘You were right,’ she said. ‘They’ve stopped to prepare. We can still get to the abbey before them.’
THIRTEEN
St Anselm’s Abbey was just the bare bones of a place with only the ends of the building still standing. Each end framed huge archways with window shapes that must have been filled with glass once. Now the wind and the rain hurtled through them at will, making the ivy stuck to them hiss and flap. Blocks of weathered stone lay scattered over the grass. There were still walls rising out of the ground in various places, some of them leaning at precarious angles. The scattered ruins of the abbey could have been the remains of some vast prehistoric creature that had once roamed the earth.
Ruby was starting to feel not only cold but exhausted. It had been a long few hours after going to Givens’s house first, then St Crosse College and now finally the abbey. But she still had a job to do, keeping watch for Givens who hadn’t turned up yet. She’d been sniffing the air for Wihta too, because Jones had told her a Badlander would always smell a Wiht before seeing it and that would be her warning if there wer
e any about.
It was dark now the moon had gone, which didn’t help, and she had already stubbed her toes on the various stones embedded in the earth because it was difficult to see them. There were molehills that leapt out at her as well, trying to trip her up.
She’d tucked the gun back in her waistband after it had kept talking about a great adventure it had gone on in an old ruined abbey with Maitland and how this place wasn’t a patch on that. Not only was the gun’s constant chatter annoying, Ruby wanted some silence to think.
She glanced back at Jones and Thomas Gabriel moving about with the Moon Globe. They were holding it up, casting a dim glow across the broken pieces of wall that were still standing as they searched for the hidden door. When Ruby had tried to use the Moon Globe, it had made a funny buzzing sound and then all the light had drained away from it. The object had also become so hot suddenly that she’d thrown it up in the air with a great cry. Thomas Gabriel had cursed out loud as he’d caught it safely and cradled it in his hands, so she’d left the boys to it.
Ruby picked her way over the grass, pondering the fact that she’d found something else in the Badlands that didn’t work for her. She’d brushed it off at first, striding away, not wanting to feel embarrassed in front of the other two. But, with each step, she started thinking more and more about her encounter with the Vampire and the Jump ’em Juice that hadn’t worked either. She still didn’t know how the creature had followed her to the cottage, but that didn’t matter. It was her fault it had. And it was because of her that Victor Brynn was no longer alive. There was still a raw red patch in her heart because of that, however much she was supposed to accept the wyrd.
She missed Victor Brynn terribly. He might have been strict, but he’d been kind too, happy to listen to whatever was on her mind. She wished she could speak to him now about the Moon Globe and Jump ’em Juice, and how scared she was about never being accepted as a Badlander, because what would she do then? There seemed to be so many things to learn on her own and suddenly it all felt too much.