The Trespassing of Souls

by M S C Barnes

You have to form the intent to speak, but then not actually say the words.”

  “Mm.” Zach sounded sceptical but obviously tried it since Alice now zoomed up to stand on his shoulders. Zach gave a blusterous laugh.

  Scarlet looked annoyed. “Ridiculous! Childish,” she moaned.

  “But effective.” Zach laughed back at her. “I love this Dryad!”

  Alice flitted down and his words reached somewhere into Seb’s head. “What’s the problem, Seb?”

  Without moving his lips, Seb voiced his own reply in his head, “Are you sure you can’t read our thoughts?”

  “Why, are you thinking nasty things about me?” Alice replied to Seb’s mind.

  “Not recently, no,” he smiled. “Can the others hear me too?”

  Alice laughed. “Can you hear your sister? She is barraging me with questions at the moment.”

  Seb shook his head. “What’s she asking you?”

  “Now, Seb, that would be a betrayal if I told you.”

  “Why, is it insulting?”

  “No, it’s just that you all have to be able to trust that if you say something to me I won’t repeat it to anyone else unless you ask me to. Just a second, Seb; I can’t deal with you and your sister’s incessant chatter.”

  “How can we speak to you one at a time if we can’t hear if the others are talking to you?” Scarlet said out loud.

  “Don’t know. Hadn’t expected you all to talk so much! In case you hadn’t noticed, Aelfric and his group aren’t so chatty. Guess I’ll just have to tell you to shut up if I need to.” Alice smiled sweetly at her.

  Reaching the car they all hovered about, reluctant to leave.

  “That’s it for the weekend, then,” Zach said grumpily and kicked a stone into the undergrowth.

  “Suppose so.” Scarlet was downcast.

  “What if something happens over the weekend?” Aiden looked worried.

  “Open a door.” Alice’s simple response surprised them all. He laughed at their expressions. “You really are novices, aren’t you? Seriously, separation is only a point in space. It means nothing to you. The Five Springs to the library! How did you manage that then?” He was still laughing when Seb’s mum opened the car window.

  “Come on, you two; it looks like another storm is coming. How was your trip?” Glancing at the mud covering Seb’s shoes and trousers she said nothing more.

  Waving to their friends, Seb and Scarlet jumped into the car. Alice had disappeared. As soon as they got home Seb was ordered to strip and dip. Scarlet followed him upstairs as he peeled his uniform off and clambered into the shower. Even the sight of him naked and muddy didn’t persuade her to leave him in peace. She jabbered on over the sound of the running water. “It’s all so amazing, don’t you think, Seb?”

  He ignored her, watching the silt-filled water spiral from his toes down the plughole. A few hazy shapes swirled around in the shallow rivulets at his feet. Curious, he focused on them, then wished he hadn’t; they solidified into squat, pebble-shaped, jelly-textured creatures. Only about a quarter of an inch high and an inch in diameter, they were almost all mouth. Seb shifted his feet, trying to avoid coming in to contact with them. He tried telling himself they had always been there; he had just been ignorant of them so he should shower as normal. It didn’t help. One, undulating like a jellyfish, opened its mouth as if about to attach itself to his big toe. He leapt to the other end of the shower cubicle.

  Scarlet was still talking. “The Five Springs, the fairies, oh, and when Alice appeared, well – he’s amazing. Shame he has to look like you …” She stopped rambling as his shoulders hit the shower door.

  “What are you doing, Seb?” She tapped annoyingly on the Perspex. “Stop messing around.” She slid the door open and thrust her head into the confined space. “Seb!”

  He rounded on her. “If you must know Scarlet, I am trying to stop these jelly-mouth things from eating my toes!” He stared at the water in the shower basin.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I thought you were supposed to be able to see,” Seb shouted. Then he waved his hand in the direction of the nearest soggy mouth-thing. “Look!” A flurry of silver sparks dusted the moist air.

  “Eeoou!” Scarlet yelled, leaning back from the cubicle.

  “Well, you asked,” Seb said, stepping out onto the mat and grabbing a towel.

  “What are those?” She screwed her nose up then stared at him in disgust. “Did they come off you?”

  “No they didn’t!” he said, shuddering and shutting the cubicle door.

  There was a ripple of laughter behind him and Seb turned to see Alice in hysterics. He quickly held the towel in front of him.

  “Is there no privacy? It’s bad enough I have to put up with my sister, but you too?”

  “Oh shut up, Seb.” Scarlet was gingerly opening the shower door.

  “What are you doing? Don’t open it!” He slammed it shut.

  “Well you can’t leave the shower running all night …”

  Seb stared down at the greenish-brown creatures. They were now crowded around the plughole, shovelling water into their huge mouths with stumpy protrusions that stuck out from their sides, making revolting slurping sounds every now and then.

  “They are gross!” Seb said.

  “No, they are loachers.” Alice hovered beside the cubicle. “Actually, I find them quite cute. What’s the biggy, Seb? You’ve bathed and showered with them all your life. Why so squeamish now?”

  “Well I didn’t know they were there all my life,” Seb retorted, drying himself roughly and stomping to his room.

  Scarlet, tutting, opened the cubicle door and turned off the water.

  Seb put on clean clothes as Scarlet and Alice joined him.

  “Can you get your gadget,” he said to Scarlet. “I want to do some research. Aiden seems to know so much because he reads about fairies and pixies and rowan trees. Maybe if I look stuff up I’ll stop being so totally confused.”

  “You won’t find the answers on a computer, Seb, you will find them by just opening your mind and seeing and feeling what is around you,” Alice explained.

  Seb got annoyed. “Mr Duir said my role is to prevent trespassing souls from travelling here when they’re not supposed to. I haven’t a clue how I do that. The ogre, for example – what is it and why does it keep coming after us? It’s all very well that I can now see lots of beasties and creatures I couldn’t see before, but I have no idea which ones are good and which are bad. I’m sorry, yes, I am sorry that I doubted you but believing doesn’t seem to stop me being just so confused and absolutely clueless!

  “When Aiden asked you what we should do if something happens you said ‘Open a door.’ Well how on earth do we do that? Everyone is telling us stuff but no one is teaching us stuff!” With that he plonked onto the bottom bunk with such a look of desolation on his face Scarlet couldn’t help herself. She dashed over, sat beside him and laughed.

  “You really are so negative, Seb Thomas. What you ignore are all the positives. It’s amazing what we’re involved in, and the most important thing Mr Duir said was, We will not hand over the mantle until you are all ready, or did you forget that bit? They aren’t just going to let us fend for ourselves. Have you not noticed that whenever something scary happens the teachers appear and save the day?”

  Seb realised Scarlet was right. Actually, it was Mr Duir; whenever the ogre appeared, when the gytrash attacked, Mr Duir always arrived just in time.

  “I think you’ll find that I was involved on occasion too.” Alice grinned, whizzing over to join them. “Seb, how did you learn to speak?” Seb stared at him. Alice asked again, “How did you learn to speak? Did your mother sit you down every day and say, ‘ Now I’m going to teach you some new words ’? ”

  Seb got the point. He had learned language simply by being exposed to it; he was never taught to speak.

  “These teachers, mentors if you like, will help you learn, not through lessons but
through experience. Your mind has been opened, thank goodness … it took long enough. So now you can watch, experience, learn and do!” Alice flitted to the rain-spattered window. The room had become dark and full of brooding shadows.

  Seb mumbled, “We need the light on.”

  Alice turned. “And?”

  Seb felt a bit foolish as he spoke, “Flamers, please.”

  As if he had flicked a light switch, hundreds of tiny glowing orbs appeared. The whole room lit up in a comforting glow.

  “Clever old you!” Scarlet reached for a couple of flamers beside her. When they popped and disappeared, she slumped. “How come Aiden gets to hold them?”

  There was a sudden bang as The Taz shoved the door open so hard it hit the wall and he ran into the room.

  “Mum’s lighting the bog burner!” He was so excited. The log burner had lain idle since February so this was the first lighting since spring.

  “It’s a log burner!” Scarlet laughed, correcting him. He ran round the room shouting, “Bog burner! Bog burner” then out again. He could be heard bumping down the stairs shouting, “Can I light a match?”

  Looking happily at the flamers, Seb had a real feeling of achievement. Maybe all this wouldn’t be so hard. His palm was throbbing slightly and he rubbed it. Lifting his hand he stared at the interlinking lines in the skin. He suddenly got a feeling of foreboding but couldn’t quite grasp why.

  Alice noticed he had gone quiet. “What, Seb?”

  Seb looked at him. “It’s throbbing, my hand. It does it sometimes …” he paused, uncertain.

  “When?” Alice’s