The Trespassing of Souls

by M S C Barnes

towards Heath. Mr Duir, with a groan of pain, shoved Seb behind him, putting himself between him and Heath.

  Before Miss West and The Caretaker could get to him Heath reached for Nat who had got to her knees. Pulling her up he placed his right arm around her neck and held his left arm out, hand turned in. As if he were brandishing his hand like a loaded pistol he shouted, “Now, make your choice. Give me Seb or lose your Sensor!”

  Nat sobbed and Seb’s heart felt like it was going to break. That was no choice; he couldn’t see Nat sacrificed to save him. As he stepped round to go to Heath, Mr Duir put his arm out, stopping him.

  “You cannot have him!” Mr Duir’s voice rattled as he spoke, as though the words were the hardest he had ever said.

  “Come now, Aelfric. Do you mean to say that the Custodian is more important than any other member of the group?” As Braddock spat the words they betrayed an age-old resentment.

  “I am saying you cannot have him,” Mr Duir snarled.

  “So you will sacrifice the lovely Nat to spare the Custodian. What kind of message is that you are sending?”

  If Braddock thought to cause a rift among the group members Seb thought, that may just work. The message was clear – Nat was expendable, Seb was not.

  He glanced around at the teachers. None moved. They glared angrily at Heath’s body, his arm tight around Nat’s neck. She wriggled slightly, struggling to breathe. As Seb made eye contact she managed the slightest smile, as if telling him it was okay. But it wasn’t okay! Seb couldn’t lose her; he couldn’t sacrifice any of his friends, his sister, just to save himself. None of them had asked for this life, just like he hadn’t, but all of them had been jeopardized by his reluctance to accept his role.

  He shouted, “Let her go.”

  Braddock gazed at him, a look of pleasure crossing the features that belonged to Heath.

  “Ah, so noble of you, Seb. You will be my willing lamb then?”

  In that moment Seb realised that, actually, he had nothing to fear. He remembered, in Braddock’s icy grip, with that soul using all his will, all his powers of persuasion, when he was at his most vulnerable that he, Seb, had driven Braddock from his body. He could do the same again.

  “No, Seb!” Mr Duir grabbed him by the arm.

  “But I drove him out once,” he whispered.

  “This is far different, Seb,” Mr Duir answered. “Braddock has a Custodian’s body now!”

  Seb was utterly confused. “But surely he’s after mine? I don’t get it.” Seb heard a faint fluttering but there was no sign of Alice.

  Mr West spoke angrily. “Seb, he has Heath’s body and so now has the power to drive souls out of their host bodies!’

  And then the whole enormity of the danger hit Seb, the reason Mr Duir was so adamant he could not permit this trespassing Dryad soul to have a Custodian’s body. He hadn’t realised that the Custodian’s powers included the ability to remove any soul, from any host. That would give them the power to pick and choose which soul could remain in which body; the power to decide which souls could travel the ley lines to this reality and bar any others; the power to rewrite Nature and her laws. And the only thing stopping the Custodians from abusing that power, from upsetting the balance and taking it upon themselves to pick and choose which souls get to have a human life, was the conscience of the individual Custodian.

  The fundamental responsibility of his role hit Seb. He could misuse the power he had been given, so could any Custodian. It seemed Heath had started on that path. His motive? A desire for the return of his Dryad twin. And what of Braddock in a Custodian’s body? There was a malignancy to this character that gave Seb an idea as to why he had been in that dark place, the Soul Drop.

  But then he never liked me … did you, Greg? Seb remembered Braddock’s words. And now Seb guessed Braddock’s intent: using Heath’s Custodian powers he would drive Seb’s soul from the young Custodian’s body. Seb would be displaced before Braddock entered the body, giving Seb no chance to fight back. His soul would be doomed to return prematurely to Áberan or even sent to the Soul Drop. He wasn’t sure what that place was, but given that Braddock had emerged from it, it couldn’t be good.

  So now Seb, like Mr Duir, was torn. He couldn’t risk letting Braddock have his body. The havoc such a soul could wreak was dreadful. And what of Heath? When Braddock got Seb’s body, would Heath ally himself with that soul and would the two commence a rampage through reality, deciding who they wanted around them, manipulating people, souls, even Nature itself?

  But he couldn’t let Nat die, either.

  So the stand-off continued, the pressure building as Nat gasped for breath. Seb knew they didn’t have long and his thoughts crashed and tumbled, desperately looking for a solution. Again he stepped out from behind Mr Duir, not sure what he could say or do. But he had to do something.

  “We can’t leave her to die!”

  “Ah, can you not, Seb?” Braddock grinned. “Then give me what I want!” he snapped angrily.

  Suddenly Nat went limp against him and Seb felt a wave of anger and hatred towards this vile, nasty soul.

  “Let her go!” he shouted and Braddock laughed so loud and so cruelly that Seb wanted to pummel him. But in his deepest subconscious he knew he couldn’t act. He had no idea what would happen if he acted blindly, as he had twice already, and he couldn’t risk doing something that would force Braddock out of Heath’s body and allow him to then dive into someone else’s, possibly Nat’s.

  “Or what, Seb?” Braddock shouted as if he knew Seb’s dilemma. “Or what? Come on! You’ve impressed them all so far; what’s stopping you now?”

  Mr Duir placed a sympathetic hand on Seb’s shoulder and Mr West said, “Seb, you can do nothing.”

  Scarlet was crying. So was Aiden. Zach stood glaring angrily at Heath but didn’t move. It was as if they were all just waiting for Nat to die, unable to do anything else.

  “She is still alive, Seb. I can feel her life force. These Custodian powers are really something you know.” Braddock sounded joyful. “I can keep her like this for a while. But soon her soul will … give up the ghost!” He laughed. “Did you like that, Give up the ghost?” His face straightened. “Now give up yours!”

  Mr Duir took a step forward.

  “Heath, you see what he is? You see what you are helping create? You still have the power to fight him.”

  Seb thought he saw those eyes freeze, for just the slightest moment, and then Braddock answered, “Oh, Aelfric, that opportunity is long since passed. Did he not miss me? Did his soul not feel as if it was missing half of itself when he lost me? Did he not tell you that? You know he loved me more than anything … like a true twin soul. You witnessed his grief, the years of mourning, of anguish, of desolation. And now, when at last we are back together, you believe you can prick his conscience, can apply moral coercion to make him cast me aside. How little you know your friend, your mentor!”

  Another momentary freeze. Seb was sure now that he had seen it. He heard a crunching sound a good distance to his left, beyond the dark, cracked stones. He ignored it, staring at Heath’s face, looking for another blip, another fleeting freezing of the features.

  Mr Duir took another step forward. “Heath, you cannot have known, but you know now. See him for what he is. This is all you have spent your life fighting. Do not become a part of it!”

  “Stop this, Aelfric. He is not listening! Will not listen. Now, give me the boy.” There was a desperation to Braddock’s voice and Seb saw it again, like a flinch – a second where the eyes glazed over and the body was motionless. Mr Duir must have seen it too.

  “Heath, he was never your soulmate; he dominated you. You must remember the difficult times. You must remember the doubts. Nothing can stop your missing him but he is not the soul you believed he was. Look at this; look at what he has caused. Heath—”

  Braddock cut him off. “Enough, Aelfric. The boy, or Nat, dies.” Standing more upright he released his arm from Nat’s neck, let he
r fall to the ground. Seb felt like he had been punched in the chest as he watched her limp body hit the speckled earth. And then Heath stepped back and, tilting his arm, caught the moonlight once more on his palm. He slowly brought the reflected light towards Nat’s body but then there was a frenzy of movement. A huge shape leapt past Seb to his left and in a single bound landed on Heath, both massive front paws striking and knocking him to the ground.

  Cue stood over him, baring his teeth and snarling.

   

   

  A Mind’s Power

  From between the standing stones eight further wolf-stags charged into the circle and surrounded Heath, who lay beneath Cue, a look of horror, surprise and anger on his face.

  In the thin moonlight Seb could see dreadful-looking gashes and marks on Cue’s body. It was as though he had been to war and come off the worse for it: a chunk of his left ear was missing and a deep cut, raw and painful-looking, ran along his snout; his left hind leg was misshapen and there were many lacerations to his body. Seb remembered the cries of pain followed by the whimpering in the woods and wondered what had attacked the poor beast. Instantly he knew the answer, though: Heath! Heath had been left with him. When he was trying to persuade Seb to get in the boat and Seb had run off, Cue had blocked Heath’s path.

  “Cue, get off me, damn you!” Braddock yelled. “You know me! Get off me,” he said more coaxingly.

  Cue continued