The Shiver Stone

by Sharon Tregenza

She gave up on me after a while. ‘It’s harder work chasing after you, Carys, than it is doing it myself.’

  I fed Tia tiny bits of fresh ham and stroked her soft fur.

  I didn’t want this Saturday job in the Crab’s Claw and Linette didn’t want me there. Dad thought it would be a good idea for us to get to know each other better. It wasn’t.

  At five o’ clock, when Linette closed the cafe for the day, Tristan still hadn’t come back for his dog.

  ‘Better phone him,’ she said.

  ‘He hasn’t got a phone.’

  ‘Not even a mobile?’

  ‘No, he says it fries your brain.’

  ‘Reckon his brain is already fried,’ Linette said. ‘Okay, take Tia up to his place but come straight home after. I’m making dinner for the three of us tonight.’

  ‘Hmm.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Does that mean Dad’s off fishing then?’

  ‘Yes. And I’m staying the night to look after you, whether you like it or not.’

  ‘I’m twelve. I can look after myself.’

  ‘Look, I’m tired, Carys. Just get rid of the dog, will you.’

  It was cool and quiet along the lane. There was a low buzz coming from Hug Howells’ beehives and, in the distance, the swoosh of the sea. I took my time enjoying every minute with Tia. I pretended she was mine.

  I was daydreaming again. I was thinking how good it would be if Tia slept on my bed every night; if she cuddled my feet when I was cold; if she licked my nose to wake me up…

  A bee buzzed close to my face and I flicked it away.

  That’s when I got the creepy feeling. You know – when your neck tingles, when it feels like someone is watching you, that creepy feeling.

  I scooped Tia into my arms and turned full circle. I couldn’t see anyone but the silence wasn’t peaceful anymore, it was scary.

  I was past Hug’s house and could see Tristan’s shed set back in the trees. I started to run towards it when a loud voice shouted, ‘Hey!’

  I jumped so hard I almost dropped Tia.

  Skinny beard man was leaning against the wall. The sun glinted off his sunglasses so they looked like huge insect eyes.

  My heart beat fast.

  He walked slowly towards me. ‘Don’t think he’s here. Know where he could be?’

  I shook my head. Tia started her low growl.

  This time he laughed. ‘Don’t think the pup likes me much.’

  I didn’t answer. As he got closer, I backed away.

  ‘Don’t be scared. Here have a tic tac.’

  ‘I’m not scared,’ I lied.

  ‘Damn, look at me offering sweets to a kid. You must know never to take stuff from a stranger and then here’s me … sorry about that.’

  ‘S’okay.’

  Behind him was the path to Hug’s house. I knew, if I needed to, I could run fast and hard and be banging on her door in seconds.

  ‘I’m Kemble Sykes,’ he said, ‘and I know your name is Carys.’ He stretched forward as if to shake my hand and Tia went berserk, yapping, snarling and struggling furiously to get at him.

  He laughed and raised both arms in a gesture of surrender. With a shock I recognised his tattoo. From his elbow to his wrist in thick black ink I read Vulpes Vulpes.

  CHAPTER

  3

  It took me a while to control Tia. I’d never seen her like that but, tiny as she was, I knew those teeth of hers were needle sharp. I daren’t let her go. She wriggled and twisted and fought to be free, yapping all the time. It was so out of character I laughed.

  Gradually she calmed down and, when I looked up again, skinny beard guy was gone. I peered up and down the lane. Nothing. Nothing but the gentle buzz of Hug’s bees and the sea’s swish in the background.

  I thought about the tattoo. Two men with the same words needled into their skin. What did it mean – a secret club?

  Tia squirmed so I let her down. She peed on a dandelion.

  ‘Well, Tia, it looks like…’ I tried his name out, ‘Kemble Sykes was right about one thing, Tristan’s not here. There’s no sign of his bike.’

  His motorbike was hard to miss. Not too many bikers have a pink dog carrier strapped between the handlebars.

  ‘Better check inside, though.’

  Tristan’s house is a metal shed in a field beside Hug Howell’s place. It’s like a huge barrel cut in half and laid length ways on the ground. He’s painted it with splodgy blocks of colour. I knocked on the door – a door that looked like it had been cut out with a giant tin opener.

  ‘Tristan? Tristan? It’s Carys. I’ve got Tia.’

  I’d been to his place plenty of times, mostly to get Tia. If he’s busy or sick Tristan pays me to walk her. I’d do it for nothing. Haven’t told him that though. I pulled at the door and it rattled open with a horrible tinny screech where the edge caught on the gravel.

  ‘Tristan?’

  I slipped Tia’s lead off and she leapt onto the sofa. She lay with her head on her paws looking up at me with a sad expression.

  ‘I dunno where he is, girl,’ I said.

  From the outside it was just a broken-down old shed but inside he’d made it nice. Light shone in through three small windows cut into one side and a huge one in the roof. I didn’t know what to do next. Take Tia home? Dogs aren’t allowed in the flats, as Dad keeps reminding me. But I couldn’t leave her here on her own. What if he didn’t come back?

  A bee landed on a map of Pembrokeshire on the wall beside me. I watched it crawl from coast to coast, from Fishguard to Tenby.

  Tristan’s shed smelled like the inside of a cave. The stone dust from his sculptures was everywhere. I sneezed.

  At the far end was a proper door with a bar across it.

  ‘Tristan?’

  I’d never been in that room before. It’s where he worked and he was secretive about it. I don’t know what he carved or sculpted up here alone in his hot tin shed.

  The whole thing, with Tristan racing off in a blind panic, with the creepy Mr Skinny Beard hanging around, was making me nervous.

  My hand shook as I opened the door. It was gloomy inside, the dust thick, and I coughed. I could only make out shadows. I felt for a switch and clicked. Light lit the room like a sharp shock and I saw it – the thing in the corner.

  Its huge mouth grinned, exposing razor sharp shark’s teeth beneath a grotesque nose. It stood on the chair, its vicious eyes glinting at me.

  With a shriek I turned and ran. My heart banged in my chest. I ran as fast as I could, out of the room, out of the shed. Tia hurtled after me barking and nipping at my ankles. We shot out of the door together and barrelled straight into someone standing right outside.

  I screamed again.

  Thinking about it now, it’s no wonder the woman and boy looked at me like I was a lunatic. I must have frightened the hell out of them. She grabbed my arm as I tried to push past.

  ‘What is it? What’s the matter, child?’

  ‘Troll!’ I jabbered. ‘Shark’s teeth. Quick, run!’ I struggled to get away but her grip was strong.

  ‘Wait!’ she said, ‘wait right here. You too, Jago. I’ll go see what this is all about.’

  ‘No don’t go in…’

  ‘Tristan?’ she shouted, ‘Tristan, are you in there?’ She disappeared into the shed.

  There was the creepy silence again. Tia scrabbled at my legs, so I hoisted her up onto my shoulder.

  I’d moved far enough away from the shed to make a run for it if I needed to, but curiosity held me there. The boy was about my age. He flicked his eyes from me to the door of the shed and back to me again. Scared as I was, I thought: Weird looking kid. Pale face, and white-blond hair flowing over his shoulders. He looked a bit … ghostly. He reminded me of someone.

  The screech of the metal door made us both jump. The woman was back.

  ‘It’s not a troll, dear. It’s a coblyn, if I’m not mistaken. Tristan hasn’t lost his touch, I see.’ She raised her pencilled
-on eyebrows at me like people do when they expect you to know something. ‘It’s a statue of a coblyn?’

  ‘What?’ the boy and I said together and we laughed. He didn’t look ghostly when he laughed. Nice teeth, I thought.

  ‘Coblynau are mine spirits, they live in the coal mines,’ the woman said. ‘Nice enough most of the time but given to throwing stones, I believe. I did a class on Welsh mythology when I was in Uni.’ She was obviously enjoying the chance to show off what she knew. ‘Someone commissioned the sculpture, I suppose.’

  ‘It’s a statue? But it’s wearing clothes.’

  ‘Hmm, nice touch. Aren’t you a bit too old to be frightened by goblins, dear, real or stone?’ She wrinkled her painted eyebrows at me.

  The boy laughed and I felt stupid. ‘It was dark, I couldn’t see…’

  ‘And why don’t you explain why you’re sneaking around in Tristan’s place, anyway?’

  ‘Sneaking? I wasn’t sneaking anywhere.’ I glared at her. I’d made a complete fool of myself, but I wasn’t going to be accused of sneaking by some stranger who knew nothing about me.

  As if he’d read my thoughts the boy said, ‘Drop it, Mum. You don’t know who she is or why she’s here.’

  The woman’s frown turned to a sheepish smile. ‘You’re right, Jago. I’m sorry, dear. Put it down to nerves. I’m very nervous. Where is Tristan?’

  ‘Don’t know.’ I shrugged.

  She turned to her son. ‘Come in and see some of your father’s extraordinary work, Jago.’

  Father? Of course. That’s who the boy looked like. He looked like Tristan.

  ‘I’m Polly Pepper,’ she said, holding out her hand. I snorted but managed not to laugh. Polly Pepper? What kind of dumb name was that? It sounded like a nursery rhyme.

  I shook her hand. It was limp and cold, like a fish.

  ‘This is my son, Jago. He hasn’t seen his father since he was two. He abandoned us ten years ago. Just disappeared. Didn’t bother to contact us.’ She spoke quickly, with anger in her voice.

  The boy stared down and kicked at the gravel. ‘That’s enough, Mum. She doesn’t want to know our life history.’

  But I did! This was all news to me.

  A bee buzzed between us and a look of sheer panic came over the woman’s face. ‘Bee! Bee! Quickly, get inside!’

  A bit over the top, I thought. But I scrambled back into the shed with them.

  I didn’t like being in Tristan’s place when he wasn’t there, it didn’t feel right.

  But Polly wasn’t worried about it. She picked up a kettle, lifted the lid and sniffed for some reason. Then she filled it with water and lit the small gas stove. While she searched through the cupboards, Jago sat on the sofa looking as uncomfortable as I felt.

  ‘I wouldn’t have bothered but Jago should at least meet his father, don’t you think?’ Polly said. She didn’t wait for an answer. ‘We saw him on TV – you know the beach prank thing? That’s how I found out where he was.’

  ‘I did that,’ I said. ‘I took that video. I was on telly too.’

  Polly wasn’t interested. ‘Nice, huh? Good father, huh? And now this… He knew we were coming. I can’t believe he’d run off and leave us again.’

  She sniffed and I saw she was close to tears.

  I tried to say I thought Tristan might have been running from skinny beard man, but again she ignored me.

  ‘Don’t know why I thought this was a good idea,’ she said.

  Tia wriggled in my arms so I dropped her onto the rug. She peed. I pretended not to notice. So did Jago.

  Then Tia did an odd thing – for her anyway. She ran over to the boy and threw herself onto his lap. She licked his face like crazy, doing her happy squeaks and snorts. He laughed and rubbed his nose into her fur.

  ‘She doesn’t usually go to strangers.’ I felt a bit peeved. Jealous even.

  ‘I’m very much a cat person myself.’ Polly looked disapproving. ‘We’ve got five.’ She tossed back her hair and tugged at both ends of the long silky scarf around her neck. ‘We’ve travelled from Bristol so that Jago can meet his father … and meet him we will. Even if he’s hiding from us. You know him. You can help us find him.’

  I sneezed. Now that the door was open the dust swirled in the draft. Then Jago sneezed and Tia leapt out of his arms in fright. Even Polly laughed this time. She seemed less angry.

  ‘Where’s this goblin then?’ Jago said.

  ‘Coblyn, dear, remember? It’s like a Welsh version of the Cornish Knocker, little people who live in mines.’

  ‘Whatever.’ Jago flicked his hand at his mother.

  God, how could I have forgotten the monster in Tristan’s workroom? I nodded towards the end of the shed.

  Jago tucked Tia under his chin and peered in. His free arm held the doorframe. I think he was getting ready for a quick escape.

  ‘Yes, take a look at your father’s work,’ Polly said. She was helping herself to coffee and sounding happier.

  ‘Wow!’ Jago pulled his head out of the doorway faster than he’d put it in.

  I crept up behind him, steeled myself and peeped under his arm into the room. It still frightened the hell out of me. A closer look showed massive ears and the eyes looked so real, so spiteful.

  ‘It’s only small though,’ Jago said.

  ‘Yeah, but it’s got real clothes on, that’s what so creepy. And it’s standing on a chair,’ I whispered. ‘Is that a miner’s lamp it’s carrying, and a hammer?’

  ‘I think it’s a fossil pick,’ Jago said.

  ‘Fossil pick, okaaay.’ I’ve got a right geek here, I thought.

  ‘Jeez, that is really ugly. No wonder you were scared. I would be if I came across that by accident in a dark room.’ Then he added, ‘I wouldn’t have run away though.’

  ‘Yeah, right.’

  Tia sneezed so violently her whole body leapt in Jago’s arms and we laughed.

  Polly’s sudden scream cut through our laughter. We spun around to find her standing in the middle of the shed, holding her neck and whimpering.

  ‘I’m stung, Jago. I’m stung!’ Her voice rose to a shrill cry.

  ‘Oh my God! Mum?’ Jago dropped Tia almost without noticing.

  I stood still, amazed by all the fuss. Okay, a bee sting hurts but…

  ‘The pen, Jago, it’s in my bag. Get my pen!’

  Now she’s going to write about it? I was confused.

  Jago leapt to her handbag and searched frantically inside. With a sob of panic he scattered the contents onto the sofa.

  ‘It’s here! Mum, it’s here!’ But as he handed her a plastic tube her body crumpled and she collapsed to the floor. There was a loud crack as her head hit the edge of the coffee table.

  Polly Pepper lay sprawled on the rug. A trickle of blood ran from her painted eyebrow down into her hair. She was pale as death.

  CHAPTER

  4

  ‘Muuuuuum,’ Jago sobbed, dropping to the floor beside her.

  It all happened so fast I couldn’t think clearly. I stood rooted to the spot. Tia was obviously as confused as I was and darted backwards and forwards at Polly, yapping excitedly. She thought it was a game. I scooped up the little dog, ushered her into the workroom and closed the door.

  Jago leapt up again. ‘The phone. Where’s the phone? We need an ambulance. She’s allergic to bee stings. Badly allergic. She could die.’ He was struggling to open a plastic tube he’d taken from her bag.

  Polly was breathing oddly – fast and wheezy.

  ‘I’ve got my mobile?’

  ‘Dial 999!’ Jago screamed.

  With trembling fingers I dialled.

  ‘Tell them it’s anaphylactic shock. Tell them to get here right away.’

  ‘Tell them it’s what…?’

  A voice on the phone asked me which service I needed.

  ‘Ambulance. Quickly.’ I could hear my voice trembling.

  ‘Ambulance, what’s the full address of the emergency, please?’
>
  I told her where we were.

  ‘Okay, tell me exactly what’s happened.’

  ‘This woman, a bee sting, it’s … it’s…’

  ‘Anaphylactic shock,’ Jago shouted at me. He shook his mother’s shoulder. ‘Mum, Mum, I’ve got the EpiPen. What do I do?’

  I repeated what he told me to the emergency operator without taking my eyes off Polly. She was turning blue and her face and neck were swelling fast.

  ‘The ambulance is on its way,’ the calm voice said.

  ‘Tell them she’s unconscious,’ Jago wept.

  I was shaking so hard it was difficult to hold onto my phone. Again I repeated what he said.

  ‘Do you know how to place someone in a recovery position?’ the operator asked.

  ‘Recovery position?’ I shouted at Jago.

  He shook his head, looking devastated. He was still fumbling with the pen thing, his whole body shaking uncontrollably.

  ‘Do you have an EpiPen?’ the voice said.

  ‘Yes, her son’s here, he’s got the pen,’ I blurted.

  ‘Tell him to…’

  ‘I can’t do it. I can’t do it,’ Jago sobbed.

  Without thinking I shoved my phone at him and grabbed the pen. I wrestled it free from the tube. It was like a syringe. My stomach churned.

  As the emergency operator gave instructions to Jago he repeated them to me. ‘There is a black tip on the small end of the EpiPen. DON’T put your fingers on this, it’s where the needle comes out.’

  I nodded.

  I followed the directions from Jago. His voice grew stronger and his hands stopped shaking. The world seemed to fade away as we concentrated on every single word the operator said.

  ‘…and gently but FIRMLY jab the black tip into her outer thigh.’

  I did something I never expected to do in the whole of my life. I brought my fist down with a thump and forced a needle into someone’s leg. Polly didn’t even flinch.

  Together we counted off the ten seconds that we were told to keep the needle in.

  When we reached seven we heard the Whaaa Whaaa Whaaa of the ambulance siren. It pulled up outside with a screech of brakes and within seconds paramedics took over. Polly was placed on a stretcher and bundled into the ambulance where they gave her oxygen. I was thrilled to hear her groan.