Haunters (9780545502542)

by Taylor, Thomas

  “I don’t feel it,” said David, blushing. “I still can’t believe I’m really here.”

  He sat down and was introduced to Théo as a waiter came over. It was as he ordered himself an icy drink that he remembered his mother.

  “There’s no phone in my room,” he said to Petra. “I need to call home. My mum’ll be going mad.”

  “Ah,” said Petra, “you can only call out from the front desk, actually. If they let you.”

  “But she must be wondering where I am.”

  “She probably already knows,” said Dishita. “Or rather, she thinks she does. They’re bound to have told her something she’ll accept. Unsleep House employs some very persuasive people. None more so than us dreamwalkers.”

  “What does that mean?” said David.

  “Remember the château you saw on your dreamwalk earlier?” said Dishita. “My family thinks it’s a top-flight science academy. And they were only too ready to believe it, especially with a dreamwalker telling it to them. A freed mind is so much stronger than a captive one, David, as you’ll know when you can finally be bothered to take the training course.”

  “Other people think it’s a hospital or a Swiss finishing school,” said Petra, glaring at Dishita, “or whatever it needs to be. Your mother would have been told something entirely convincing, David; don’t worry about it.”

  “It’s easier for dreamwalkers who don’t live at Unsleep House,” said Théo, “the part-timers who work from home. It’s only us misfits the Project keeps here, where we can look out for each other.”

  Théo put his hand on Petra’s shoulder and gave a slight squeeze. For some reason she seemed grateful to him for what he’d just said.

  David changed the subject.

  “So this Unsleep House I keep hearing about, it’s just the name of the château, then?”

  “Yes,” said Dishita, “though we rarely use the old place these days. It was a gift to your grandfather from the Swiss government.”

  “They gave Eddie a stately home? That’s insane!”

  “When the Dreamwalker Project took off, the United Nations wanted it based somewhere neutral.” Dishita shrugged, as if what she was saying was entirely normal. “The Swiss were only too happy to have us. Sir Edmund renamed it, and it’s been Unsleep House ever since.”

  “Eddie really is a big deal for you people, isn’t he?” said David.

  “Sir Edmund is everything to us,” Dishita replied.

  David looked again at his sophisticated surroundings, and tried to imagine what the shy, geeky boy from his dream would say if David told him he would one day turn out to be the founder of all this. Not to mention the discoverer of something as extraordinary as dreamwalking. His eye was drawn back to the strange rock painting of the spindly blue man.

  “I see you’re admiring the art,” said Dishita with a chuckle. “And so you should. That is the oldest image of a dreamwalker yet discovered. Or rather, I should say, of a haunter.”

  “How old exactly?”

  “Oh, only about thirty thousand years.”

  “What?”

  “It was found in a cave in southern France a few years ago. That particular shade of blue would have been very difficult for prehistoric man to create, so they must have really wanted to use it. The further back you try and dreamwalk the harder it is to do it accurately, but the Haunting are always pushing the limit. We managed to stop them that time, but the professor insisted on securing the evidence once the cave was discovered. They set it up here as a reminder of what we’re up against.”

  “Talking of which,” David said, “are you okay? I’m still not sure I understand what happened to you earlier, but it looked like it must have hurt.”

  Dishita seemed pleased David was asking, but it was clear she wasn’t going to be fussed.

  “It was nothing. Just an unpleasant surprise.”

  “That wasn’t a normal spear, right?”

  “No, there wasn’t really a spear at all,” she said. “When we make a mind attack like that, we often dream up something that fits the environment we’re in to help us do it. But it’s just pure mental energy. The spear was simply a way to project that energy.”

  “Yeah, but you vanished,” said David.

  “Like I said, it was a surprise. Knocked right out of my dreamwalk like some newbie. I’ll get Adam for that.”

  “So is that what Adam wants to do to Eddie? Kill him with a mind attack?”

  Théo let out a laugh, then tried to cover it up. He stood, said good night, and left the Cave.

  “No,” Dishita said, in a voice that suggested she’d just been asked something very stupid. “Even the strongest mind pulse has no effect on the physical world. It’s a dreamwalker weapon only.”

  “So what’s Adam planning, then? How dangerous can he be to Eddie if he can’t even touch him?”

  “Didn’t you visit the museum earlier?” said Dishita. “He’ll do what the Haunting always do — find someone in 1940 to terrify into helping him. And whomever he chooses, it won’t be anyone Eddie will want to meet in a dark alley, that’s for certain.”

  “You’ve stopped the Haunting before, though. So …”

  “But with Adam it’s different, David. He used to be one of us. He knows how we operate. He knows to keep moving so that we can’t pinpoint him on the Metascape Map. He’s got every advantage now, except one: He clearly doesn’t know where Eddie’s gone either. That’s where you come in.”

  “I keep telling you people,” David said, “I don’t know where Eddie is.”

  “Are you sure?” Dishita narrowed her eyes at him. “Because if you did know, we could get Eddie to safety tonight, move him to some random place in 1940 Adam could never guess at. You could end all this very quickly.”

  David folded his arms, wishing more than ever that he did know something, if only to shut everyone up about it.

  “I looked Adam up on the Showing Glass thing,” said David, “but I couldn’t get much sense of him as a person. Except for all this business about him being the best dreamwalker you’ve ever had.”

  “Ha!” Dishita looked unimpressed. “He’d love to hear you say that. He’s good, yes, and his mind’s very strong, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us are losers. Adam’s too arrogant and selfish to really be the best.”

  “David, can I ask you something?” said Petra.

  David nodded, grateful to have questions going the other way for a change.

  “What’s Eddie actually like? As a teenager, I mean? We know he was good-looking and painfully shy, but what was he like to be with?”

  David blinked. Didn’t they know? And good-looking? Eddie? David realized both girls were watching him eagerly, and a flash of jealousy interfered with his fears for Eddie’s safety once again. He tried to ignore it. Anyway, if you liked tall and thin with sad eyes and decades-old clothes, then okay, perhaps Eddie was good-looking. To David, though, he’d always seemed sickly — far too pale to be healthy. No doubt that was because of all the books and writing …

  Dishita let out a gasp.

  David followed her gaze and found that he’d absentmindedly taken Eddie’s notebook from his pocket.

  “That’s one of Sir Edmund’s notebooks! They’re priceless! Where did you get it?”

  “I found it in my room. And if you really want to know what Eddie was like, just look inside.”

  Dishita took the book as if it were a sacred text, allowing the pages to fall open, one after another.

  “It’s one of his early ones. So few of them survive …” Dishita trailed off. David guessed she was noticing that almost everything that had been written in the book had then been crossed out. She glanced up at David.

  “That’s what he was like,” said David, pointing at the scribbles. “Lost. But desperate not to be.”

  Dishita sniffed and handed the book back.

  “He was still very young. He hadn’t made any of his breakthroughs yet. But believe me, Sir Edmund had a brillia
nt mind.”

  “Yes, but we’re not looking for Sir Edmund,” said Petra. “We’re looking for the confused boy who will grow into him. Is that what you’re trying to tell us, David?”

  David wasn’t sure he’d been trying to tell them anything, but he nodded anyway and tried to look smarter than he felt.

  “You know, now that I think about it, Eddie was exactly the kind of person who would make friends with a ghost.” David chuckled. “But I’ve been wondering about something. You say Eddie discovered dreamwalking as an adult, but when he was a boy was he a dreamwalker himself?”

  “Yes,” said Dishita, “we think so. Dreamwalking can be hereditary, you know. Sir Edmund remembered especially vivid dreams from his childhood that he later came to realize were probably dreamwalks. Don’t forget, you yourself didn’t realize you could dreamwalk until we told you, but there was no one to tell Eddie. By the time he’d worked it out by himself, his own abilities were long gone.”

  “And you were his inspiration, David,” said Petra. “Eddie’s ghost.”

  David grew thoughtful again. If dreamwalking was hereditary, and David had the gift, and his grandfather had had it too, then …

  “Do you really have no idea where Eddie might have run to after the fire?” said Dishita, interrupting his thoughts. “Because they’re going to ask you again. Roman is planning to interview you extensively, starting first thing in the morning. They’re expecting some new information. It might get a bit heavy.”

  “Oh, great!” said David.

  He wondered just how heavy Roman would get before he accepted that David had nothing at all to tell them.

  “I wish I could have a rummage in Adam’s room.”

  The two girls looked at him in surprise.

  “What for?” said Dishita. “Security’s been all over it since Adam disappeared. Roman searched it personally.”

  “I don’t know,” said David. “I just can’t quite believe in Adam Lang. Everyone keeps telling me he was so powerful and amazing, but no one’s that good. Maybe if I could get a better sense of him, I could think of some way to stop him. Everyone has a weak spot.”

  “Maybe,” said Petra, “but there is no way to get into Adam’s room without either his handprint or security clearance. And the door’s taped up. I’d love to break in, but they would notice.”

  “Oh, the tape can be stuck back on,” said Dishita quietly.

  The conversation moved on after that, and Dishita became withdrawn and eventually stopped speaking entirely. It was long past midnight when they rose to go to bed. As they walked out into the corridor and said good night, Dishita broke in with an unexpected question.

  “Do you really think it would be worthwhile looking in Adam’s room?” she asked.

  David shrugged. “I’d certainly like to know more about him. Especially since he seems determined to wipe out my whole family.”

  Dishita seemed to be caught in indecision, but after a moment she spoke.

  “In that case, meet me in the corridor in two hours’ time. I know how to get into Adam’s room.”

  Charlie Grinn stood before the classical front of Saint Paul’s Cathedral and waited. In the inside pocket of his trench coat he could feel the gloriously thick roll of notes that he’d won when the horse named Trojan Mate had come home first, much to everyone’s surprise. Two unlikely wins in a row — neither of them the least bit predictable. Grinn loved gambling, but he loved winning more, and he was now faced with the promise of a fortune, all for the paltry price of the life of one insignificant boy.

  But how could Adam possibly make good on his promise? How could anyone know the future? Then again, there was clearly something very peculiar about the strange boy in the improbably good suit. Only that morning Grinn had seen him apparently walk through a solid brick wall, and though common sense insisted it must have been some sort of trick, Grinn couldn’t see how he’d possibly done it.

  The gangster pulled his coat collar up around his ears. The sun was gone and it was bitterly cold. Was that a black cat he could see sauntering past him? With the blackout in force, the city nights were so dark it was hard to be sure of anything. Grinn’s eyes darted around the plaza and he was relieved that he could still just about pick out the five men he’d scattered around as security against some sort of setup.

  “Still don’t trust me, I see,” said a voice right behind him.

  Grinn spun around to see the dark figure of Adam standing just a pace away.

  “I told you to come alone.”

  “Why should I trust you?” Grinn stammered. “You’re not normal, not … natural. How did you know about those races? Who are you?”

  “I told you, my name is Adam. And didn’t I explain that I have special knowledge of things? Come on, Grinn — clearly the horse won or you wouldn’t be here now.”

  “Adam? Right,” said Grinn, grateful that the young man’s gaze was not boring into him as it had done earlier. He really didn’t want to feel that sensation again.

  “So, Mr. Adam, you said something about a boy.”

  “Yes. You are well known in this city as a man who can find people, Mr. Grinn, a man who can get things done. No one knows London’s underworld as well as you. Come with me now, and I will give you your next target, and then — when you have killed the boy — we can go about making you rich.”

  With that, Adam moved away, covering a great distance with each enormous stride. Grinn was taken by surprise and almost had to run to keep up.

  “You want me to do it now?” he said. “Good thing I always carry a knife, Mr. Adam, but what’s the hurry?”

  “Unfortunately, there is a slight complication,” Adam replied over his shoulder. “The boy in question has gone into hiding. You may need your network of contacts to find him first.”

  “You don’t know where he is?” Grinn said, without thinking. “But I thought you said you knew things.”

  Adam turned on Grinn, his eyes bright and terrible as two black suns. The gangster almost fell over with shock. The five bodyguards who were trailing them stopped too, but none dared approach.

  “We can either work together, Mr. Grinn, or I can drop you now and find someone else. Which will it be?”

  “All right, all right,” said Grinn, holding his hands up. “You lead on, and when I know enough, I’ll get the lads out hunting. We’ll have this boy in a day or two, don’t you doubt it, Mr. Adam.”

  “A wise decision. Now hurry! Like you, I can’t stay anywhere for too long,” Adam said as he strode off. Grinn jogged along behind him in silence.

  After half an hour walking, they came to a part of the city that had been hit in the raid the night before, a residential area. Grinn felt a sense of satisfaction at the sight of so many rich people’s houses in ruins and the thought of the treasures that lay in them, waiting to be looted. He’d have to get the lads busy here too.

  They came to a street that was especially badly hit and stopped by what remained of one particular house. The smell of wet soot and burned belongings was bitter and strong.

  Adam climbed the steps of the collapsed house and pointed down into the rubble of what must have once been a hallway.

  “Who’s got the light?” Grinn called out to the five men behind him. “Come on now, look sharp!”

  Tater came forward and handed his boss a flashlight. Grinn flicked it on, turned the narrow wartime beam to the floor, and saw a shattered picture frame. He reached down and lifted a badly scorched photo from the wreckage. Despite the fire and water damage, he could clearly make out a thin boy with glasses and a studious look.

  “This,” said Adam, “is Edmund Utherwise. He is your target. Find him and snuff him out, and little Eddie boy will make your fortune. Are you man enough for the job, Mr. Grinn? I want it done. I want it seen to.”

  Charlie Grinn stared at the boy in the photo. There was a slight sense of unease in his mind — it was just a child, after all — but Grinn was long past having much of a conscience about
these matters. He could no longer even count the number of people he’d killed, so what was one more life? Especially when people were dying all around him in night after night of air raids. Business is business, thought Grinn, as he put the picture in his pocket.

  “I am, Mr. Adam — more than man enough. I’ll get the boys on it straightaway. If this Eddie is still alive and still in the city, I’ll find him. And then I’ll introduce him to this.” And with that he took the bone-handled knife from his pocket and flicked out the blade. The metal gleamed in the beam of the flashlight.

  Adam let out a long sigh of satisfaction.

  Then he spoke.

  “Now, listen up, Grinn. It’s true I don’t know where little Eddie is hiding right now, but I may yet be able to lead you to him. It just so happens I know precisely where he will be at noon tomorrow.”

  Still dressed in the dreamwalker suit, David slid back his door and peered out. The corridor was very dimly lit now. He looked down toward Dishita’s room and noticed the shadows move slightly. Dishita stepped forward into the low light and David went to meet her, his footsteps silent with the soft rubber of his boots. Within moments Petra had joined them, and they all crept over to Adam’s door. Both David and Petra were looking at Dishita expectantly. The older girl gave each of them a small pocket flashlight.

  “I suppose I should explain,” she whispered, “but I won’t. All you need to know is that our doors have an emergency release. The codes are simple, and Adam and I amused ourselves by breaking them one afternoon.”

  Dishita seemed embarrassed. She turned away and began peeling the adhesive tape off the door, sticking it across the wall for later. When she’d finished, she reached her fingers into a recess in the wall, and a small panel swung silently open. There was a keypad and a narrow screen on it.

  “I didn’t know about that,” said Petra. “You mean Security can just get into our rooms?”

  Dishita shrugged and started keying in digits. “I don’t know the code for your room, Petra.”

  The door hissed open and Dishita slipped into the dark beyond, beckoning the others to follow. Once the door had been closed, Dishita switched on her flashlight. The others did the same.