‘Probably the next time the house complains about yer kickin’ and stompin’!’ laughed the stranger. ‘And look after that pendant!’ he called as he stopped by a small door. He paused to wave at Charlie, then dashed on through.
‘Wait, please wait!’ called Charlie. ‘I don’t even know your name!’
But it was too late. The door had shut and Charlie was sure the stranger couldn’t have heard. Raising her foot to deal out some serious stomping and stamping to the floorboards, she was interrupted by the door reopening.
Out popped the stranger’s head and with a twinkle in his eyes he sang out to Charlie, ‘Jensen the Willow is me name!’ Then his head ducked out of sight and the door began to swing shut. Before it could close it banged back open and Jensen’s head re-emerged. ‘And no more stompin’!’
The door crashed shut.
Charlie, who was still standing on one foot, mid-stomp, nearly toppled over.
Rushing down the hallway, she yanked open the door and dashed through. She came to a shocked standstill. She had never been in this room before.
It was huge.
A domed ceiling was hidden in shadows and the curved walls on the far side were a good stone’s throw away. On brackets evenly spaced across the walls were blazing torches that flickered and cast dancing silhouettes over the floor. Carved on the stone walls were huge snarling dragons that seemed to flail and thrash. Massive circular doors punctured the walls at regular intervals. Charlie stood there and gaped, mouth wide open. Turning round, she discovered that she was alone; she couldn’t see Jensen anywhere. The cavernous room was empty.
How could this room possibly exist in my house? Charlie thought to herself. She was used to the idea that there were far more doors and corridors than should really be within its four walls, but this room was something else.
Realizing she probably looked pretty stupid with her tonsils showing, Charlie snapped her mouth shut and went to investigate the nearest door. It was gigantic. Standing next to it, she had to crane her neck right back to see the top.
The door was constructed from a huge slab of stone. Wonderful carvings of roses, vines and thorns criss-crossed its surface in complex patterns. An oversized handle of black rock jutted outward. Grasping this with both hands, Charlie tugged, pulled and pushed with all her might. But the door refused to budge.
Frowning, she moved on to the next door. It had been made from timber and was so cleverly constructed that no joints could be seen. Carvings of trees and birds swept across its surface. Trying the handle of the door, Charlie was annoyed to find that it too wouldn’t open.
With her mouth set in a determined line, she went from door to door, trying the handles and getting more and more frustrated as each successive door failed to open. Finally she found herself back at the smaller door that had led into the room.
‘Fine then, don’t open! See if I care!’ she grumped aloud.
Taking a last look at the strange room with all of its bewitching carvings, she sneaked back through the little door and hurried to check on her grandmother.
2
Cookies, Croissant and a Dark Visitor
Mr Crow sat alone at his desk. He was cracking his knuckles and using his long, ink-stained fingers to pick his nose. On sudden impulse the lawyer stood up and walked over to the enormous steel safe that loomed in one corner of the room. Entering the safe’s combination, he opened the door and stared at all the money stacked high inside.
‘Lovely, lovely,’ he crooned. His dark eyes blinked slowly as he ran his knobbly fingers gently up and down each bundled tower of notes. With the smell of money still lingering in his nostrils he locked the safe and returned to his paperwork and nose-picking. But his concentration was broken a few moments later when the safe gave a little tremor. Looking up, Crow stared at the steel casket with puzzled concern.
His safe certainly shouldn’t tremor.
Giving it a sharp look, the lawyer returned his attention to Charlie’s latest bank statements.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the safe shake and quiver for a second time.
Knitting his brow in puzzlement, Mr Crow stood up to investigate. Reaching for the door, he yelped and then fell over on his backside in alarm as the safe began to clamour and boom as though caught in an earthquake.
As the noise coming from the safe reached a crescendo, the study lights began to flicker and dim. Suddenly it fell silent, although not for long.
‘Open the door,’ commanded a voice that issued forth like rumbling thunder.
Crow stared at the safe. It sounded like the voice was coming from inside, but that was impossible.
‘Open the door, you bumbling Human, or face my wrath!’
The blood drained from Crow’s face. ‘Who’s that speaking? Who’s there?’ squeaked the lawyer.
‘You chittering, chattering fool! Open this Portal or I shall suck the marrow from your spindly bones and squish your brain!’ threatened the dark, growling voice.
The lawyer’s hands shook as he reached for the safe’s lock and entered the combination. With a violently trembling arm, Mr Crow pulled back the door.
The money had disappeared. In its place a dark shadowy figure emerged … and kept on emerging and emerging.
It was a man, or at least it looked like one. But Crow had never seen anyone as large as this before. The figure almost filled the room, towering over the desk and making the lanky lawyer look tiny in comparison. For the first time in his life Crow felt fear. Fear that snatched at his bladder, fear that sent cold waves screaming up his spine and locked all his muscles into a spasm. This … thing that now stood in his study could not be Human.
‘You will do as I warrant, you little wretch,’ spoke the hulking figure. ‘Fail to please me and I shall tear your skin into lengths, rip your hair into twine and use your fingernails as buttons. I will make you into a garment to be worn. Do I have your attention, you little squashy maggot?’
‘Yes, yes, yes!’ stammered Mr Crow. ‘All my attention, all of it, you’ve got it, yes, yes.’
‘Stop your babbling.’
Mr Crow’s jaw clamped shut. He stared at the menacing figure. It was almost as wide as it was tall, wrapped head to toe in black bandages, its head covered by a heavy cowl. Crow quailed as he stared into the dark depths of the hood’s shadow.
‘There is something that I desire and you, little maggot, shall be of use in my hunt for it.’
The figure continued to talk. Mr Crow, dwarfed by the hulking figure, grovelled and nodded his head in quick agreement as the newcomer laid out his demands. At one point Crow interrupted, ‘But how will I recognize this if I’ve never seen one before?’
‘I will send one of my Shades with a sketch of its likeness. You may bide your time until then, but bear this in mind, little worm: I will suffer no failure on your part. Fail to please me and your life will be forfeit.’
Mr Crow gulped.
‘Understood?’
‘Y-yes!’
‘Yes, what?’ growled the figure.
‘Yes, er, lord?’
‘Good.’ The giant nodded his head. Turning, he strode towards the safe and, placing one oversized foot inside, he paused. ‘Something to remember me by, little worm.’ He upended his fist and a scattering of rubies tinkled across the wooden floor. ‘But a word of caution, greedy Human. My generosity is great, both in reward and in pain.’
Turning once more, the giant climbed back into the safe. One of his bulging arms reached out and pulled the safe door shut with a quiet click.
Mr Crow wiped cold sweat from his brow. He took an unsteady step forward, then hastily sat down in a heap before his shaking legs gave out. Surrounded by glinting rubies, his heart still hammering in his chest, he let out a long, long sigh.
The weekend arrived and Charlie had seen nothing more of the mysterious green Jensen from Bellania. Also, despite endless searching, she hadn’t been able to find the strange domed room where he had disappeared.
<
br /> She stumbled into the kitchen for breakfast. As usual, her hair was a mess.
‘Good morning, Charlie, my scruffy little angel. Now then, who’s got a kiss for her gran?’
Charlie gave her grandmother a hug and a big kiss.
‘Ooh, what a sweetie you are! And what have you got planned for today, poppet?’
Charlie sat on a stool as her gran took out a big wooden comb and began to pull the knots from Charlie’s bedraggled hair. Even though she did this every day, it was still a mess.
‘I’m going over to Tina’s. Her mum’s going to drive us to gymnastics, so we’re going to hang there for a bit, then spend the afternoon chilling back at her house.’
‘That’s nice, poppet. Be sure to be home before dark, OK?’
‘Of course, Gran,’ said Charlie. ‘Ouch! Have you finished with my hair, or were you planning on pulling all of it out by its roots?’
‘Oh, Charlie!’ laughed her gran. ‘Don’t be such a baby. I’m just making you presentable. It’s important, you know.’
‘Hhmpf.’
‘Your mother always complained as well.’ Gran’s laughter tinkled across the kitchen. ‘All right, there you go, my pet. Now then, off you run.’
Charlie, with her hair combed into two crazy-looking pigtails, gave her gran another hug. Sliding off the stool, she grabbed a croissant from the table and scampered for the door. Turning to say goodbye, she saw a familiar slackness shudder across her gran’s face.
‘Charlie! Good morning, my little angel. And where are you off to this beautiful day?’
Charlie struggled not to let her despair show. Running back to her gran, she gave her another big hug.
‘Nowhere special, Gran, nowhere special.’
Running out of the kitchen, she almost bumped into Mr Crow, who casually slapped her round the back of the head in passing.
‘Clumsy girl, watch where you step,’ he snarled.
Charlie’s turquoise eyes narrowed. ‘Sorry,’ she forced herself to say.
‘Sorry what?’
‘Sorry, sir,’ she grumbled.
Her reluctance did not go unnoticed by the lawyer. ‘Just remember, my little filly,’ he hissed, too low for her grandmother to hear, ‘if you don’t play ball with me I’ll have social services take you away. Then you really will be an orphan and your dear grandmother will have to look after herself. Now get out of my way.’
Charlie hurried down the corridor, feeling sick to the stomach and full of unvoiced anger. She hated confrontations with Mr Crow and despised his constant barbs about her missing parents. She still couldn’t believe that they had been in her life one day and then gone the next without even the smallest clue as to what had happened to them.
Part of the reason she hated Crow so much was that she was sure he knew more than he was telling her about their disappearance. He said he had organized an investigation – and she had certainly signed a form to pay for one – but not one policeman or detective had ever spoken to Charlie.
Stepping out of the house, she let loose a sigh as the front door shut quietly behind her. She began to feel better as she headed further away. By the time she reached Tina’s a smile had appeared on her face. She always enjoyed gymnastics and loved working on new acrobatic moves.
Tina answered the door to Charlie’s knock. ‘So, are you ready, then?’ she asked, hopping from one foot to the next. ‘I’m super excited!’
‘Of course! Anything that gets me out of the house and Crow’s way sounds good.’
‘Is that skinny old idiot still being a pain?’ asked Tina with a grimace as they went into her bedroom. ‘My neighbour had a run-in with him yesterday. Crow clobbered the poor man around the head with his umbrella when he didn’t move out of the way fast enough.’
‘Yeah, that sounds like the miserable fool,’ sighed Charlie. ‘I wish I was big enough to tie his skinny legs together.’
‘Ha! That’s at least a couple more years away, unless you’re planning on having a huge growth spurt,’ laughed Tina. ‘Come on now. I’ve got to go tell my mum we’re ready.’
Charlie always enjoyed being around Tina, who had a knack of making her forget about her home and all the problems it contained. They walked into the kitchen, where Tina’s mum was sitting at the table with her laptop.
‘Hiya, Mrs Bagley. How are you?’
‘Charlie, how wonderful to see you. I’m well, thank you. I’m guessing this means you’re ready to go, so why don’t you both grab a cookie for the car journey and we’ll be on our way?’
They filed out of the house, with Tina talking excitedly about gymnastics.
As she sat in the back of the car, Charlie thought back to her odd meeting with Jensen the previous weekend.
‘Mrs Bagley, have you ever heard of a place called Bellania?’ she asked.
‘Bellania? No, I don’t think I have. Transylvania sure, but never Bellania. Why, is it in Russia somewhere?’ she asked.
‘I’m not sure myself, Mrs Bagley. I heard it mentioned recently, on the telly, and I just wondered where it was.’
‘Maybe it was a movie or something,’ said Tina. ‘It doesn’t sound like a real place. Bit like you still believing in dragons, isn’t it?’
‘But dragons are real!’ protested Charlie.
‘Sure they are,’ chuckled Tina. Reaching over, she gave Charlie a playful punch on the shoulder.
3
An Angry Giant
Mr Crow was quietly sitting in his office. He couldn’t stop fidgeting. Every once in a while he would turn round and stare with nervous eyes at the safe. Going up to it, he would reach out to unlock the door, but each time his hand would start shaking so violently that he would have to return to his desk, sit down and wait for his nerves to calm down. Crow was fiercely annoyed. Fear of huge bulking giant had finally conquered his love for money and now he dared not open the safe, not even to play with his money.
Sitting there with his head held in his hands, the lawyer didn’t see the Shade as it slid under the door. However, the sudden drop in the study’s temperature caused Mr Crow to look up.
Yelping in terror, he tipped backwards in his chair and fell in an untidy heap. Hunched on top of his desk, a shapeless, inky-black monstrosity pulsed and writhed. Extending what could have been either an arm or a paw, it offered a parchment, rolled and bound in black ribbon.
‘Take it,’ the Shade’s voice whispered like a chill winter wind. ‘Take it, miserable Human.’
‘Hhmpf, I assume you’re the Shade my new benefactor was referring to.’ Crow snatched the parchment. Unravelling the ribbon and breaking the seal, he stared in disbelief at the sketch.
‘Ahhh! It’s been under my nose all this time – I don’t believe it! I’ll skin that little filly alive! Quick, you! Go and tell your master it’s here, that I know where it is!’
The Shade didn’t budge.
‘Well, hurry, you piece of bile. Do what you’re told! Go on, shoo! Go and tell your master!’
The Shade jumped off the desk and thrust its shadowy head into Crow’s face. Cold, fish-like breath washed over the lawyer.
‘Your master too, Human, yours too. Don’t forget.’
With a snarl the Shade shook itself. Turning, it slid from the room.
Charlie had had a really enjoyable day. Breaking a sweat at gymnastics and hanging out with Tina had helped ease her worries and concerns. She finally felt strong enough to return home. But stepping through the front door Charlie groaned. Mr Crow was waiting for her.
‘Well, well, my filly. Had a good day, did you? Been out cavorting and playing with your friends while poor Crow has been working his fingers to the bone?’
Charlie’s anger levels suddenly soared. She would never be free of him, she realized. Losing all sense of caution, she stepped forward to speak her mind.
‘You’ve never done a real day’s work in your life, you lazy sack of bones. You’re just a bully. You pick on me because I’m small, and you can get away with t
hings because my gran can’t help. Well, you’d better watch out – cos when I get bigger I’ll make you pay!’
Crow’s eyes bulged, his fingers twitched and his face went red, then purple. Charlie shrank back. She knew she’d get punished, but she didn’t care; some things had to be said. Suddenly Mr Crow laughed. His mouth twisted into a sneer. Cracking his knuckles, he leaned forward.
‘When you get bigger? If you get bigger, my filly. IF!’
Striding forward on his long legs, Mr Crow grabbed Charlie by the hair and dragged her down the hall.
‘You’re in luck, my pretty. It’s not me you have to worry about. Someone else has expressed an interest in you. Oh yes, your precious little neck has more value than you think and it’s time for you to meet the new master of the house!’
Crow shouldered open the study door and, hauling Charlie kicking and screaming into the room, threw her to the floor by the safe. Stepping back, Crow called out, ‘My lord, she’s here! And she has what you want.’
Charlie looked up at Crow in bewilderment. Had the skinny lawyer lost his mind? Who was he talking to? She knew Crow talked to money, much like one talked to a pet, but surely calling it ‘master’ was a step too far?
BOOM!
Charlie stared as the safe door shook like a leaf in a gale.
BOOM!
The door began to buckle and bend.
KRA-KKOOM!
The safe door flew across the room and landed on the floor with a loud clang. Charlie sat up. What had just happened? All of a sudden she felt sick and butterflies tore around the inside of her stomach. She couldn’t believe it. A huge foot was sticking out of the safe. Charlie began to whimper as the foot stepped out and a leg the size of a tree trunk followed.
Standing up and filling the study with his bulk, the creature radiated such a sense of menace that Charlie began to shake uncontrollably.
‘This is the one? She holds the key?’ asked the hulking giant in his deep voice. Stooping, he lifted Charlie up easily with one mammoth hand. Turning her head from side to side, he scrutinized his find. ‘Yes, I can see the family resemblance.’ Then, tilting Charlie’s head backwards, he examined her pendant. ‘You have done well, worm. She does indeed carry the key.’ Casually dumping Charlie back on the floor, the giant turned to Crow. ‘Remove the pendant and bind her. I will take them both.’
Keeper of the Realms: Crow's Revenge (Book 1) Page 2