‘But not the kind I’m looking for.’ His voice was harsh in the falling darkness. ‘I want exactly the sort of ghost a good psychic like you tries to avoid.’
I shook my head. ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about. This isn’t a horror film you can switch off. The dead can be dangerous.’
‘Not to me.’ He smiled and I became even more certain that he’d changed during his trip away. The boy staring down at me now with eyes as cold as the blackest frozen lake was a different person to the one I’d fallen in love with. Dontay had been right; there was something very wrong. ‘I haven’t told you the best bit about my trip yet.’
I watched his breath cloud between us, the iciness in my bones deeper than the falling temperature merited. ‘Oh?’
He looked up at the sky thoughtfully. ‘The family friends I mentioned back in Romania? They’re not exactly what you’d call friends.’
That must have been what he’d meant earlier, when he’d called them his clan, I decided. Dontay had been right about that, too. I didn’t care any more what Nico wanted to tell me – I was frightened and wanted to go home. If I could distract him, I could make a run for it. ‘Go on.’
‘Ever heard of Dracula?’
In spite of my terrified state, I rolled my eyes. ‘Oh, please. You don’t seriously expect me to believe you’re a vampire?’
His mouth curved into a smile. I resisted the temptation to check for suddenly pointy teeth. ‘There’s no such thing. But the legend of Vlad Dracul came out of the Carpathian Mountains. All sorts of stories come out of there, and not all of them are fairy tales.’
I hugged myself, rubbing my arms briskly as my gaze darted sideways into the shadows. ‘Spare me the dramatic build-up and get to the point, Nico.’
He shrugged easily. ‘Romanian legend tells of an ancient order called the Solomonarii, who used magic to do great good. The oldest tales say that Dracula himself was a member.’
I went still. ‘Dracula’s not exactly famous for his social work, is he?’ I clamped my teeth together to stop my teeth from chattering. As if I wasn’t cold enough, tendrils of fog were creeping towards us – just what I needed.
‘There were nine members originally and they studied for years to master the skills to do their work. Skills like being able to control the weather, for example.’ He glanced around contemplatively at the blanket of white mist snaking around our feet. ‘Or the ability to talk to the dead and bend the spirit world to their will.’
I’d like to see anyone try to bend Mary Drover to do their bidding. She’d bamboozle them with babble. I stared at Nico, trying to shake off the horrible feeling that he really had joined a gang, and not just any gang either – the kind that made the London Fields Posse look like a bunch of playschool kids. ‘Why are you telling me this now?’
His black eyes sought mine. ‘Come on, Skye, why do you think I’m telling you? What if I told you the stories aren’t all make-believe? That the Solomonarii really exist?’
Trying to ignore the dense fog, I summoned up a disdainful look. ‘So what if they do? What has that got to do with me?’
He grinned, but there was no trace of humour in it. ‘Quite a lot, actually.’ He took a step closer and I cowered at the undisguised menace in his tone. ‘Because last week I finally became one of them. And you have something I need.’
It was a joke; it had to be.
I backed away from him. ‘That’s not funny, Nico.’
‘It’s not meant to be. It is true, though.’ He waved a hand at the whiteness surrounding us. It was waist high. ‘I decided on fog, for added atmosphere, but I could produce a few lightning bolts if it’ll help.’
‘Stop it.’
He raised an eyebrow and a fork of brilliant white light split the darkness. I jumped violently and felt the colour drain from my face. My brain stuttered and refused to absorb what my senses were telling it. Nico couldn’t be controlling the weather; it had to be a coincidence. But how likely was a lightning strike at the exact second he demanded one?
‘All of the Solomonarii are born with a birthmark.’ He dragged the hair behind his left ear back. Involuntarily, I looked up and saw an ugly, puckered mark, dark against his pale skin. ‘I think it looks like a mask. What do you think?’
The black mark was striking and I could see why he thought it looked like a mask. That explained why he kept his hair longer than the rest of the boys as well. I’d assumed he was working the rock god look but he’d actually been hiding something which would have caused awkward comments at school. I ignored his question. ‘Loads of people have birthmarks. It doesn’t mean they’re members of a secret society.’
He sighed impatiently. ‘Still not convinced? How about some thunder?’
On cue, a deep boom rumbled ominously overhead, and I couldn’t deny the truth any more. I was suddenly more scared than I’d ever been. ‘You’re not joking.’
He clapped slowly. ‘Well done.’
And if he was telling the truth about the weather, that must mean —
‘Can you really talk to the dead?’ I blurted out.
‘Not yet,’ he said. ‘Controlling the weather is easy, but I can’t seem to contact the spirit world. So that’s why I need you.’
A shudder ran through me. Was this what Dontay had heard him say I wouldn’t do? ‘I’m not being your mouthpiece, if that’s what you think.’ He eyed me, a look of genuine puzzlement on his face. ‘We ’ve got something good together. Why not make it better?’
I glared back at him. ‘Well, let’s see. You lie about why you wanted to come in here, drag me about like I’m a rag-doll and get me totally lost.’ A horrible thought occurred to me. ‘You planned this from the very beginning, didn’t you?’
‘What?’ he said, surprised. ‘Of course I didn’t. Although you caught my interest much more than I expected.’
‘Liar,’ I said savagely. ‘The gig at the Roundhouse was meant to make me fall head over heels for you, wasn’t it, so I’d help you talk to ghosts? Well, here’s a newsflash, Nico: you’re not that irresistible.’
He looked away. ‘You’ve got it all wrong,’ he answered in a low voice. ‘I had no idea there was anything unusual about you when I saw you in that alley with Peterson. You just seemed like you needed my help, and for some reason I wanted to protect you. Then I got to know you, and the more I found out, the more I wanted to know.’
‘And you needed to trap me here so you could tell me that?’
He shook his head. ‘New members of the Solomonarii have to pass an initiation test. They have to prove to the other members that they can influence a ghost for the good of the order.’ Then his shoulders slumped in defeat. ‘I hoped you’d be able to help.’
He looked so vulnerable that for a moment I was almost tempted. But then common sense kicked in. I didn’t know why the Solomonarii were so obsessed with manipulating the dead, but their reasons couldn’t be honourable. What I needed was to buy myself a bit of time to work out how to get away. I pursed my lips and pretended to think. ‘Let’s just say I help you. What do I have to do? And what happens to the ghost?’
‘Once the order has evidence that I control the spirit, we let it go.’
There was a subtle shift behind his eyes and I knew it wasn’t the truth. I wondered what kind of evidence the Solomonarii would need – how did you prove you could command a ghost? The ones I’d met had minds of their own and rarely did as they were told.
My own eyes strayed to the watch on my wrist; it was five minutes to closing time. If I had any chance of getting out of there before the gates were padlocked for the night, I had to go now and hope that the direction I chose led me back to the exit.
‘It looks like you’re in luck,’ I said, pointing over his left shoulder. ‘There’s a ghost coming now.’
I didn’t really expect it to work, but his eyes flickered backwards and he twisted around. Hoping my legs were long enough to find the target, I raised my knee as hard as I could. Nico’s ago
nised groan told me I’d hit him exactly where I’d intended. As he doubled over and sank to the ground, I ran faster than I’d ever run before. The fog blocked out any trace of the lamplight and nothing looked the same as it had on the way in; I could only hope I was going in the right direction. I knew it wouldn’t be long before Nico was following me, and a muffled pounding behind me told me he was already on my trail. I didn’t think he’d actually hurt me, but there was no way I wanted to spend the night in Highgate Cemetery.
Something struck my face, bouncing off my cheek. The sharp pain caused my eyes to fill with tears and I gasped. Slowing, I swept both hands from the bridge of my nose across each cheek, wondering if I’d been bitten. Then I felt the stab of tiny needles on the top of my head and shoulders. I looked up. Shards of ice were falling from the sky. I held out a hand to catch a hailstone; it was the size of a marble. A second later, giant hail was tumbling around me. Throwing half a glance backwards, I sped up, ignoring the sickening crunch of snail shells under my feet. In a few minutes the hail would turn the path into an ice rink, not to mention cut my face to ribbons.
A roaring gust of wind nearly knocked me off my feet as I reached the point where the path had forked. Struggling to stay upright and ignoring the treacherous hailstones, I hurtled forwards, praying I’d reach the exit without breaking my neck. The wind did me a favour; up ahead, I caught a glimpse of a faint light through the flailing trees. It was too low to be one of the lamp-posts. My heart leaped. Maybe it was a torch.
‘Wait!’ I yelled and forced my legs to move faster. ‘Wait for me!’
The shaft of light paused and swung towards me. ‘Is there someone there?’
A ragged sob rose up in my throat. ‘Yes! Please don’t lock me in.’
I slowed as I got closer to the torch and relief flooded through me. Wrapped up in a fluorescent raincoat was the woman who’d sold us our tickets and she had a large bunch of keys in her hand. Her face glowed eerily inside the yellow hood. ‘I thought everyone had left already. Come on, I’m just locking up. Terrible weather, isn’t it?’
She turned away. I glanced uneasily over my shoulder. There was no sign of Nico and I didn’t know what I’d do if he appeared on the path behind me. As we reached the heavy iron gates, I chewed at my lip. Should I tell the woman he was still inside?
The gate swung open and the woman gestured at me to leave. ‘What an awful storm,’ she said. Then she frowned. ‘We ren’t there two of you?’
A flurry of hail battered at my head, causing me to lift a soggy arm in protection as we were buffeted by the wind. A sudden burst of rage charged through me. I was chilled to the bone, shocked and soaking, all thanks to Nico. He’d shown no mercy when he’d tried to make me help him. Why should I show any to him?
‘He left before me,’ I said, crossing my fingers inside my sleeve and stepping through the gate. ‘Thanks for letting me out.’
I walked away without looking back, determined not to give in to the tears I felt prickling behind my eyes. As I moved further away from the cemetery, the wind died down and the vicious hailstorm petered away to nothing. I guessed Nico could only control the weather in his immediate vicinity. I heard the heavy clang of gates behind me and tried to ignore the guilty whisper that I was abandoning him. There would be another way out, I was sure – maybe a gap in the fence alongside the neighbouring Waterlow Park, or he’d find a way over the wall – so he wouldn’t be there all night. But hopefully by the time he got out, I’d be long gone. I shook my numbed head, stunned by the evening’s events. What had happened to the real Nico; the one who’d taken me to the Roundhouse and made me forget everything when he kissed me? Was he trapped inside the monster I’d left in the cemetery? I choked back a sudden sob at the memory of his cruel expression and hurried home.
Celestine knew there was something wrong the second I stumbled through the front door.
‘Get out of those wet clothes and into the shower,’ she commanded, as my bag fell from my icy fingers and thudded on to the floor. ‘I’ll make you a hot drink.’
By the time the warm water had chased the last of the chill from my bones and I had dragged myself reluctantly out of the shower, the cup of tea had gone stone cold. After wrapping me up on the sofa under a fleecy blanket, Celestine made another and then settled beside me.
‘What happened? And don’t say you got caught out in a downpour, I can see it was much more than that.’
Her blue eyes stared into mine and I knew there was no point in holding anything back. In a halting voice I told her everything. When I’d finished, she was silent.
‘Do you think we should call someone, to let them know he’s in there?’ I asked.
She shook her head. ‘He’s got a mobile, right?’ When I nodded, she went on, ‘Then I doubt he’s still there. He’d have called for help if he couldn’t find a way out.’
Another worry rose up to take the place of the one she’d just put to rest. ‘What if he did meet a ghost?’
There was a derisive snort from the doorway. I looked up to see Mary hovering there, and from the look on her face she’d heard everything.
‘There art dark and restless souls in yonder graveyard,’ she said, grinning unpleasantly. ‘Mayhap the young fool received his heart’s desire and will bother thee no more.’
‘Haven’t you ever heard that it’s rude to eavesdrop?’ I demanded. As scared as I’d been in the cemetery, I wouldn’t wish an evil spirit on anyone.
She raised a grime-covered hand to shake a warning finger at me. ‘The Solomonarii mean harm to all in the ghostly realm. If one should fall before gaining full strength it would be a blessing.’
No matter what Nico had done, I didn’t want any harm to come to him. ‘Just who are the Solomonarii?’ I asked Celestine, not at all sure I was ready for her answer. ‘Dontay thought they might be a gang, but I couldn’t find anything on Google. Have you ever heard of them?’
‘Not for a long time,’ she said, her voice troubled. ‘And never outside of Romania. What did you say Nico’s surname was again?’
‘Albescu.’
‘They are unholy men,’ Mary intoned, determined to make us listen to her. ‘They do the devil’s shaded work.’
This seemed a bit rich, coming from a self-proclaimed witch who’d made it her mission to torment the life out of me. ‘Gee, Mary, you think?’
Celestine looked worried. ‘She’s right.The Solomonarii might have started out pretending to work for the good of mankind, but it didn’t take long for people to realise they were serving a darker master.’
‘Who?’ I asked, my imagination conjuring up a bizarre cross between Satan and the genie from Aladdin.
‘No one knows. Their castle in Romania is called the Scholomance but the locals know it better as the Devil’s Academy.’
‘And they really communicate with the dead?’
Mary gave a hollow laugh. ‘They seek to commune with us but care not if the act consumes us.’
I glanced at my aunt helplessly. ‘Tr anslation?’
Her expression grew serious. ‘The Solomonarii don’t just talk to the dead. They put the dead to work for them. By the time they’ve finished with them, the ghost is nothing more than an empty shell. They call them the Eaten. If Nico’s father is a member, then that would explain why Nico has been sucked in.’
Her words filled me with horror. I didn’t know what was worse: the thought of a ghost being used to do evil or the idea that Nico could be involved in something so terrible. ‘What are we going to do?’
Celestine shook her head sadly. ‘We can consult the other psychics at the Dearly D. They might have some suggestions. In the meantime, keep away from Nico in case his powers grow.’
I wasn’t exactly filled with confidence. His powers had seemed pretty strong already. ‘What do we do if he is controlling a spirit?’
Mary raised a dirt-encrusted finger and dragged it across her throat. I felt the colour drain from my face.
‘Why don’
t we cross that bridge when we get to it?’ Celestine cut in, offering me a reassuring smile. ‘In the meantime, make sure you’re not alone with him. Would it help if I spoke to your teachers?’
I stared at my folded hands, an empty feeling rising up inside me. I’d trusted Nico. Was it only a week ago that I’d been crying myself to sleep because I missed him so much? Now he’d betrayed me and I was scared to see him again. I shivered, remembering his face as he’d summoned the thunder and lightning. Whoever the Solomonarii were, they couldn’t be a force for good if joining them brought about such a drastic change in someone’s personality. What kind of monster forced his son into such a clan? Unless it had been Nico’s choice and he’d been acting out a role when he’d been kissing me? Maybe he’d only pretended to care about me and the darkness was his true character. The thought made me want to throw up.
Aware that Celestine was waiting for an answer, I said, ‘I don’t think so.’ I felt my voice crack. ‘It’s going home that worries me.’
Mary drifted towards us. ‘Fear not. I shall guard thy steps at the rising of the sun and the fall of each night.’
She bared her blackened teeth in a stumpy smile and my heart rose a little bit more. As minders went, I could do a lot worse than Mary. If Nico so much as flicked a snowflake in my direction, he’d have Mary to deal with. The smallest of smiles tugged at my mouth at the thought. She might not have the presence of a prize-winning boxer, but she knew how to fight dirty. I had no doubt who would come off worst.
Mary was as good as her word. Every morning after that, she accompanied me to the school gates and she was waiting there for me at the end of the day. I could only guess how many of the other kids walked through her as she stood watching me cross the playground. From the pained expression on her face it was more than one, and I felt bad that I’d ever wished she didn’t exist.
Tamsyn Murray-My So-Called Haunting Page 12