by M S C Barnes
“Yes,” Seb said, “He stood up and howled at the image.”
“No, Seb. He didn’t.” Alice, leant forward. Seb looked at him, puzzled. “He wasn’t even looking where you were looking,” Alice said.
Seb realised Alice was right. “Sorry, yes; Pace was looking out of our dining room window. The image I saw was in the corner.” Seb was even more confused. Aelfric just nodded.
“Does that mean something?” Seb asked.
“It means I was correct to bring you here,” Aelfric said.
“What’s happening?” Seb hoped the answer wouldn’t be as scary as his imagination was making all this.
“Seb,” Aelfric spoke slowly, “I believe that you are under attack.” Seb’s mouth went dry. “The sadness you have been feeling — I can feel it too. But not as sadness, I feel it as the darkness I spoke to you about. At first I wasn’t sure, but I seemed to note a change in your demeanour whenever I sensed that darkness — as though the two were connected.
“When we spoke on Thursday evening, you had a sudden change in mood. Not only did I feel that from you, but Cue picked up on it too and I became more certain the two things were linked.
“I was not alone in noticing. On Friday, Nat asked to speak with me at lunchtime. She told me that she had been sensing something ‘around’ you. She described it as an ‘interference’, and that this interference was causing your behaviour to change.
“So, when I came to see you on Friday, before you left for home, I asked Greg to come with me. I apologise for not being open with you.” He smiled sadly at Seb who simply sat, staring at him. “But I felt that darkness again. And what is more, Pace detected it, as did Greg. And I noticed your mood change.” Seb remembered the sadness he had felt, walking over to sit on the sofa, and when greeting his mother. He couldn’t understand, though, what that had to do with the visions of himself he had seen, or the excruciating pain he had felt.
Aelfric continued, “When you left, Greg suggested that it was actually the sadness you were feeling that was causing the darkness I was sensing, as if I was attuned to your feelings. That would also explain why Nat, your Sensor, felt the disruption around you.” He frowned. “I had no other explanation — although,” he looked intently at Seb, “I did believe I was noting the darkness just before your mood changes and it didn’t explain why the wolves were detecting it too.”
“I don’t understand what difference it makes,” Seb said. “If you ask Zach, I am always miserable. What’s new?”
Alice chuckled. Dierne frowned at him.
“Seb, what happened earlier is far more serious than simple sad feelings. What I believe is happening is that someone is using sympathetic imitative or contagious means to attack you.” Seb looked baffled.
“Feelings are very powerful, as you know,” Aelfric said, “and they can cause distortions and ripples in the fibres of the realities around us. Intentions, too, can have an affect. We witnessed that in the things Braddock learned to do with just his mind.”
Seb knew that was true. Braddock, Heath’s Dryad twin soul, had been banished to the Soul Drop many years before Seb was ever born. In that dark place, without body, physical presence or any tangible world around him, he had managed to use the intent and emotions of his soul to reach into the physical world. With just the power of his thoughts he had been able to influence the weather, causing storms, rain, wind and mists to develop where he chose, and move as he dictated. He had changed a small, trickling brook into a strong-flowing river and he had caused a fireball to engulf Seb’s house. He had even been able to control the behaviour of bats, getting them to attack Seb in small numbers initially and then, in their hordes, to focus an attack firstly on Seb and then on Alice. So Seb was only too aware of the power of the emotions and intent of a soul.
“A soul manipulating the world around them is one thing,” Aelfric said, “But the same intent can be used to manipulate the mind, and physical body of another.”
Suddenly the lights gleaming on St Michael’s Mount and the mainland didn’t look so cheerful to Seb, as he glanced across the bay. The darkness of the sky above them, the undulating swell of waves lashing towards them, the depth of blackness of the land behind, all now seemed to overpower their happy glimmerings, casting an ominous backdrop to them, full of malice and hidden threat. He tore his eyes away and looked back at Aelfric, who spoke in a quieter voice.
“Seb, some would call it magic, but really it is just the knowledge that all things are influenced by all others and all things, tangible or otherwise, are linked. With that knowledge a soul, should they choose, can use those links to cause harm.
“If they are able to obtain something that has been a part of your physical body — or in contact with it — and that can be something as simple as a strand of hair or a piece of clothing — they can use contagious means to work their will on your actual body from a distance. Whatever they do to the object they have obtained, it will be as if they were doing it to your own body. Alternatively, they can use imitative means to a similar effect. By creating a representation or imitation of you, which contains the object — or taglock — they have obtained, they can attack your body.”
Seb struggled to comprehend what Aelfric was saying. The word ‘contagious’ bounced around his mind, conjuring all sorts of images of plague, disease, illness.
“Seb, just as a person can change the way you feel emotionally in a moment, by words they say to you, or can inflict pain on you by striking at you physically, so they can have the same effect by acting on an object, made as a likeness of you, and which contains a taglock — a sample or a part of you. Your body reacts in ‘sympathy’ with whatever that person does to the imitative form.”
Suddenly Seb thought he understood.
“You mean like someone sticking a pin in a Voodoo Doll?” He was horrified.
“If that is an easier way for you to understand it Seb, then yes, like that.”
Dierne moved forward now, as though he had something to say, and Aelfric, nodding, stood. Looking down at Seb’s worried face he said, “You are safe here for now, Seb. Greg and Dom will, I hope, explain more and they are waiting. There are some boots and a jumper and coat in the bedroom. Go with Alice, put them on and meet me back here in a few minutes.”
Safe at Sea
“Voodoo?” Seb said as soon as they got downstairs into the bedroom.
“Sympathetic Influence, Seb.” Alice said. “Voodoo makes it sound spooky.”
“Well, it is, isn’t it?” Seb didn’t bother trying to hide his concern. “That pain was just so —” He shook his head trying not to relive it, as Aelfric had advised.
Alice sat crossed legged in the air, a foot above the bed. “If you had shared it with me, I could have halved the pain for you,” he said.
“I honestly didn’t get the chance. It came so suddenly and was so horrendous. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you, I just really didn’t get the chance,” Seb said.
He found a thick jumper and a coat on the chair beside the bed, with a pair of boots underneath and, leaning against Pace, who had flopped on the floor next to him, he put them on quickly. Unable to stop his concern building he spoke what was on his mind, “What if it happens again, Alice? I’ll be honest,” he looked at his twin, “I am terrified of feeling that pain again.”
Alice swooped over and stood beside him as he laced his boots. “Seb, I can break in to your thoughts you know? If you give me permission.” Seb stared at him. “I can go into your mind without you asking,” Alice tried to explain. “I don’t have to wait for you to open up to me. It is just that I am not permitted to do it — unless you say I can.”
Seb took a moment to ponder that. Alice speaking into his mind was one thing, and him choosing to share specific experiences with his twin was another, but Alice jumping into his head, with the ability to see his memories, read his thoughts, know his most intimate feelings, that was totally different. Worried at the personal exposure, he couldn’t answer.
As if understanding Alice put a hand on his arm, “It would only be if you were attacked like that again. I wouldn’t do anything but weave the pain between us and find some peaceful memories; I wouldn’t look at anything else.” He sighed, “Seb, do you know how awful it was watching you scream like that and not being able to help?”
Seb had a flashback to the moment, three months before, when, having only known Alice a matter of days, he had felt heart-wrenched and angry at the site of a colony of bats attacking his twin in a violent frenzy. At least he had been able to do something about it. And he understood what Alice was saying now. So he smiled.
“Okay. For that only. But you really don’t know what you’re letting yourself in for,” he tried to make the comment sound light-hearted but couldn’t and then felt better when he saw the look of relief on Alice’s face.
“It will help, honestly,” Alice said. Then he jerked his head up. “Dierne is calling us. Are you ready?”
“No,” Seb laughed, “Haven’t a clue what’s going to happen now. Certainly not ready. But we’d better go.”
Feeling surprisingly much happier, with Alice, he rejoined Aelfric and Dierne, who were waiting by the glass wall at the far end of the room for them. Aelfric was wearing a heavy trench-coat.
“Where are we going? Seb asked.
“For a walk.” Aelfric smiled and then pulled one of the glass panels. It slid sideways and a blast of cold, sea air rushed into the room.
Salt spray covered Seb’s face. “What? Where?” he called over the noise of the wind and stirring waves.
Dierne zoomed out into the night. A bank of clouds had swept across in front of the moon and Seb could only just see him hovering above the soaking deck. Alice joined him and the two Dryads swooped left and disappeared over the side of the boat.
As he stepped out into the freezing night air, Seb gasped. He hadn’t realised just how big the boat was. Having closed the glass door, Aelfric walked him to the low wooden wall, topped with a chain-link rail, that bordered the deck. Seb stared over the side in horror. Even without the moonlight, he could see the rolling white peaks of the waves at least twenty feet below them. Dierne and Alice hung in the air just inches above the water, looking back up at them, waiting.
“Now Seb, stay with me,” Aelfric said to him and, opening a gated section of the deck wall, he walked forward and off the boat. As he stepped into thin air, Dierne swooped up, grabbed him under the arms and lowered him onto the surface of the sea. And there Aelfric stopped, standing on the water.
“Jump Seb,” Alice called into his mind, “I’ll catch you.”
Seb stared into the depths, looking for what was supporting Aelfric. Before his confirmation, Aelfric had taken him to the Ancient Place, a huge cave, hidden behind the decorated Royston Cave in Bedfordshire. At its centre lay a still lake and Aelfric had led him onto this lake by foot. As they trod across the surface, millions of tiny imp-type creatures, that lived within the lake’s waters, had risen to support their feet, bearing them up. Seb had, therefore, walked on water before. He knew something similar must be holding Aelfric up now but, as he stared at the seawater, he could see nothing. Drawing a deep breath, and trusting that Alice would catch him, he took a leap of faith.
Instantly, Alice swooped up, grabbed him and slowly lowered him to the surface of the sea. The wind tore at him and blasted salt spray into his eyes. Blinking to clear his vision, as Alice let go of him, he looked down and now he could see that, though the waves splashed towards his boots, he was actually standing three or four inches above them. His footing felt firm, but there was nothing obvious below, or within the white foam and black waves that would explain what was supporting him; there was certainly no sign of any tiny water-imps.
Aelfric had started striding towards St Michael’s Mount, his feet landing clear of the waves. Seb watched him, straining his eyes to see what he was walking on. He took a tentative step forward himself. His foot hit something solid. He took a few paces and now he realised that, each time he took a step, there was a small shimmer around his feet. He looked more closely and, as he concentrated, an image appeared. Formed out of glimmering blue-white lines, he could see the outline of ghostly fingers clasping his boots — fingers that attached to hands and arms which stretched up from below the surface of the water. Beneath the foam he could now make out the shape of a human form, lying on its back under the water, arms up-stretched. Ahead of it were several more of these hollow, ghost-like shapes, gliding slowly on their backs, arms up, hands ready to grasp his feet as he placed them down.
His heart leapt with a mixture of fear and excitement.
“What are they?” he asked Alice, who shrugged.
“I see them, but I don’t know what they are,” he said.
“Mermaids?” Seb called now, placing his feet faster. Pace appeared and loped along beside him. “Are these Mermaids? Is that what they are?” he shouted to Aelfric.
“No, Seb. They are asrais,” Aelfric said, as Seb caught up with him. “While at sea, they will help us.”
Seb watched Aelfric’s feet and, as he trod confidently forward, more of these ghost-like underwater creatures swam in, forming a line ahead of him, reaching their glistening, outlined hands into the air, grasping his boots and supporting his every step.
Suddenly, the clouds parted allowing the moon to shine through and, by that light, Seb could see many more asrais, swimming beneath the waves, forming a silvery pathway for him and Aelfric to follow. He glanced back and his breath caught in his throat. Behind him, the huge boat that was Aelfric’s home was turning in the water. Beneath its hull twenty to thirty of these creatures appeared to be carrying it on their shoulders as they swam, guiding it round to point its prow towards the mainland.
“Aelfric’s crew,” Alice said into Seb’s head, noticing where he was looking. “Dierne says that’s how the boat is sailed; the asrais guide it wherever Aelfric wills.”
Seb had never even thought about how the boat had been sailing, whether there was a crew on board, or some sort of auto-pilot system. Now he knew it was neither.
He turned back to face front and could see the shining path where the asrais, still lit up by the moon, lay in the water. He had thought they were heading for St Michaels Mount but the glistening pathway curved left towards a dark cluster of rocks that stretched into the bay from the mainland — Great Hogus — Seb knew the name.
It was quite a distance away and, as they continued on, Seb found his eyes continually drawn to the beauty of these serene and ephemeral creatures below the sea. They looked like exquisite drawings, marked in a glowing pencil line. He could make out their faces. Some appeared male, others female and, although their eyes were open and regarded Seb with what he deemed to be awareness, their features displayed no noticeable emotion. He tried smiling at one. His heart skipped as the creature gave the briefest of smiles back before its face became an expressionless mask once more.
Slightly unnerved he asked Aelfric, “So are they ghosts?”
Aelfric, not slowing his pace, glanced at him.
“You could view them as such,” he answered. Seb could barely hear his words above the crashing of the waves and the wind and he strained his ears to listen. “These are souls, Seb, who in their last visit, took the life of …” He paused, as if changing his mind about what he was going to say, then he continued, “These souls took a life, in very specific circumstances. They do not return straight to Áberan. They come to the sea, and will not be released to sleep until they have saved a life — or,” he stopped briefly and turned to look at Seb, “served a Custodian.”
“Like a punishment then?” Seb looked down at the ghostly shapes floating beneath him. “I thought we don’t punish?” He looked back up at Aelfric.
“This is not of my doing, or any other Custodian’s Seb. This is Nature’s way.” There was something troubled in the look on Aelfric’s face but he hid it quickly, and set off again towards the craggy outcrop.
&nbs
p; “What circumstances?” Seb asked. Aelfric glanced at him, frowning. “You said took a life in very specific circumstances. What circumstances?”
“Forgive me, but that will have to be for another time, Seb,” Aelfric said as they neared the rocks. “Where does Dom say it is?” he called to Dierne.
Swooping closer to him Dierne answered, “To the extreme left.”
Nodding, Aelfric lifted his arm and shone moonlight towards the part of the outcrop that was farthest from the shore. Silver sparkles lit up the night and a door appeared. As it opened, several figures stepped through and Seb recognised their silhouettes instantly: Greg, Trudy, Dom and The Caretaker. No Lily he realised — and none of his group.
Reaching them, Seb lifted a foot to step onto the rock nearest him but Aelfric held him back. “Not ashore Seb,” he said, remaining, like Seb, supported on the hands of an asrai, as the waves lashed at their feet. “On land you can be tracked more easily. You are safer at sea.”
“Where are we to go?” Greg called over the noise of the crashing breakers.
Aelfric indicated over his shoulder to his boat, which now appeared to be at anchor.
“So we walk.” Trudy stepped towards the sea.
“Trudy, they are asrais, they will not carry you,” Aelfric said, waving a hand to reveal the ethereal shapes to her and the others. “We will each take one of you.”
She looked astounded.
“We could find a boat,” she suggested.
“This way is quicker,” Aelfric said. “The night wears on and we must solve this before issues arise at Seb’s home.”
My mum! Seb thought, suddenly realising that he had been swifted away by Aelfric before tea and it was now gone ten o’clock. Surely his mother would have reported him missing when she couldn’t find him at tea time? He wondered what Scarlet had told her and whether the police were out looking for him now.
Trudy, understanding, gave a curt nod.