The Children of Black Annis

by Amy Cross

  "Told you," I say, smiling.

  A few paces ahead of us, Meredith is still holding hands with the children, letting them guide us. "How far do we have to go?" she asks.

  "We don't know," says the girl, "but it's definitely this way."

  "We're lost," the boy continues.

  "Our mother is sick," the girl adds. "She might be dead."

  "I'm sure she's not," Meredith says, glancing over her shoulder to check that Duncan and I are still coming. "I'm sure your mother is fine"," she continues, but I can see from the look in her eyes that she doesn't really believe that this is true.

  Suddenly Duncan drops to his knees, then leans forward onto his elbows. I drop down to see what's wrong, but his face is wracked with agony and his mouth is open in a silent scream.

  "Stop it!" I shout at the children. "Stop doing this to him!"

  "We're not doing anything," the girl says.

  "You are!" I shout at her. "You don't realize it, but you are! You did it to me, and now you're doing it to him! Please, stop!"

  "It's not our fault," says the boy.

  Duncan rolls onto his side, clutching his head. He's clearly in agony. I guess when you've been alive for a century or two, all that pain kind of builds up. It must be a bitch to have it suddenly flow back into your consciousness like this. A whole lifetime of pain, fear and hopelessness, compressed into the immediacy of now. It was bad enough for me; for someone like Duncan, it must be unimaginable.

  "There she is," says the little girl, pointing ahead. I look up and see something large and dark on the beach, a couple of hundred meters away. It looks like some kind of creature from the sea, but from this distance it's impossible to make it out properly.

  "Mother," says the little boy, as he and the girl break into a run.

  "Is he okay?" Meredith asks, staring down at Duncan.

  "Go with them!" I say to her. "They don't seem to be affecting you. Go and see if you can help them!"

  She turns and runs after the children, leaving me to deal with Duncan. He's clearly in agony, his whole body tense and shaking. I've never seen anyone like this before, and to see Duncan - who's usually so cool and collected - reduced to such a chaotic, damaged figure is kind of terrifying.

  "It's going to be okay," I say, even though I don't believe it. "I'll make sure that -"

  Suddenly he looks up at me, his eyes wide and staring. "Anna," he gasps, reaching a shaking hand out to me. "You have to save me, Anna."

  Jess

  "I'm not Anna," I say quietly, trying not to let his confusion affect me.

  "Where's Anna?" he says, clearly in agony. "I need Anna."

  "I don't know who Anna is," I say, "or where she is. I'm Jess. Remember?"

  He stares wildly at me. I don't think he understands what's going on, or where he is. The pain must have driven him insane. I can only hope it's a temporary effect. The last thing I need is to have to deal with an even crazier Duncan.

  "Where's Anna?" he whimpers, tears streaming down his face. "Get Anna!"

  "Jess!" Meredith shouts. I look over and see that she's with the children, over by the large creature further along the beach. She's waving for me to join them.

  "Can you walk?" I ask Duncan.

  "Anna..." he says, staring at me.

  "Wait here," I say, sighing as I get to my feet and run along the beach. When I reach Meredith and the children, I pull up sharp as I realize what they've found. Laid out across the pebbles is the most enormous, hideous squid-like creature I've ever seen. Its body is dark gray, thick and slimy, and its long tentacles are draped across the pebbles. The whole thing must be twenty meters long, and although it's ugly and it stinks of rotting fish, it's also strangely beautiful in a hypnotic kind of way.

  "What the hell is it?" Meredith whispers at me.

  "I don't know," I say as I watch the children. They're kneeling by the creature, each of them reaching out and stroking its skin. It takes me a moment to realize that the large black blob near the creatures tip is actually an eye. With horror, I recognize that it's a larger version of the black eyes that the children have on their own faces.

  "Our mother is sick," says the little girl, with a hint of sadness in her voice. "She can't take us home."

  "There's no way..." I say, getting down onto my knees so I can get a better view of the creature. Now, I'm no expert on huge monster squid, but even I can see that this creature isn't just sick: it's dying. For whatever reason, it seems to have beached itself here. It's still alive, just about, but it can't have long left.

  "I heard something," Meredith says, pulling her hand away. She's reached out to touch the creature, but now she seems nervous. She looks at me. "I heard a voice in my mind when I touched it."

  I reach out and put a hand on the creature's slimy skin. I don't hear any kind of voice. "What did it say?" I ask Meredith.

  She pauses. "It thanked us for looking after its children," she says, "and it said they can't go home. They've changed too much."

  "No kidding," I say. "Where are their tentacles?"

  "They're not evil," Meredith says, reaching out and touching the creature again. "They're... She's old. The mother is old. The children are young. She's scared that they'll die without her. She's a good mother. All she wants is for her children to be okay. She's scared of darkness consuming them from within, and she's scared of what might happen to them if she's not around to look after them."

  I look back at Duncan. He's clearly still in agony, paralyzed on the ground. "Tell her to get them to stop doing that to Duncan," I say. "Tell her to make them stop."

  "She can't," Meredith replies after a moment. "She says her children don't understand their own powers. They were never supposed to come into contact with humans."

  "He can't handle this much longer," I say. "Trust me, I've been through it and I know what it's like. It's agony." I pause. "How come they aren't affecting you," I ask.

  "They are," she replies, "but look at me. I'm dying. My family are dead. I have no fear left, apart from the fear of a slow and painful death and that's something I've already decided I won't allow. So I guess I'm not as badly affected as you or Duncan." She looks over at him. "It's weird," she says, "but I assumed he'd be able to deal with them. I thought he'd turn out to be too strong."

  "Him?" I say, a little surprised. "Are you kidding? He's the most repressed person I've ever met. He keeps all his emotions tucked away most of the time, but it comes out occasionally." I watch as he continues to clutch his head, in a doomed attempt to get rid of the pain. "I've never seen him like this, though," I say. "I'm worried that he'll end up with some kind of permanent damage if these little fuckers don't stop."

  Meredith still has her hand on the side of the creature, as if she's listening to its mind. "She sent her children onto land so they could spend time among humans," she says eventually. "It was only supposed to be for a few days, but then she got sick and they've been stuck like this. She's worried about what'll happen to them now that she's dying. She wants them to understand the value of human life, but now she can't teach them. In a few days they're supposed to become adult and return to the sea, but she doesn't know what's going to happen to them if she's not around."

  "Tell her to shut them off," I say. "Tell her they're killing people."

  "She knows that," Meredith replies, "but she says she doesn't know how to help them. They're her children and she wants to teach them to control their powers, but she's too weak."

  There's a sudden scream from further along the beach. I look over and see Duncan has started crawling towards the water. It's as if he's overcome by the same impulse that I felt last night: a desire to die, to get away from the world and never have to think about bad things again.

  "This has to stop!" I insist, turning back to Meredith. "He can't take this!"

  Meredith is still looking down at the creature, but now there are tears in her eyes. "It's too late," she says quietly. "She's dead."

  I look at the creature
's huge black eye, and I realize that it has stopped moving completely. Glancing over at the children, I see from their faces that they understand what just happened. They've just witnessed the death of their mother, and I guess even creepy little black-eyed kids have feelings. "You're killing my friend," I say, hoping that maybe I can reason with them. "Whatever you're doing, it kills people. Don't you understand?"

  They look up at me, and it's clear that they have no idea what I'm talking about.

  "If you don't stop," I say, "I'm going to have to make you stop." I don't really have a plan, but I'm pretty sure that in my wolf form I could do some damage. After all, their mother just died so obviously they have weaknesses.

  "Listen," says Meredith, reaching out and touching their shoulders, turning them to face her. "The man over there by the water is very sick, and the reason is that something you're doing is reaching out to his mind and making him feel very, very bad." It's like she's talking to two normal children. "Can you try to think of anything you're doing that might be causing him to feel so bad?"

  The children stare at her.

  "Try really hard," Meredith says. "Please. I know you don't want to kill anyone, do you?"

  "We're not doing it on purpose," the girl says.

  "I know," Meredith replies. "But you're very strong. Stronger than you realize. You have to learn to control yourselves."

  I look over at Duncan and see that he's collapsed just at the edge of the water. His eyes are open and he's staring up at the sky. "I think it's working," I say, getting to my feet and running over to him. "Are you okay?" I ask.

  He sits up, a shocked look on his face. It's obvious that whatever happened to him, it went deeper than he expected. I guess he under-estimated the children after all. "That was interesting," he says, his voice sounding weak. "That was... They're strong, aren't they? I've never felt anything like it."

  I help him get to his feet and we walk over to where Meredith is still sitting with the children, next to the body of their mother.

  "Do you know what it is?" I ask Duncan.

  He shakes his head. "Never seen anything like it before. But if it came from the sea, it could be anything. I don't mind admitting that there are things out there in the depths of the oceans that no-one here on land could possibly imagine. Creatures with wisdom greater than all our libraries put together."

  "I'm going to stay with them," Meredith says, looking over at us. "She said they just need a couple more days before they're adult and they're ready to return to the water. I think they might need me."

  "What about your drugs?" I ask.

  She shrugs. "I can manage a few days. They'll go back to the water eventually, and I'll go home." She smiles a little sadly. "Frankly, I'd rather go with them and live where they live, but I guess that's impossible."

  "Nothing's impossible," Duncan says. He steps towards her and reaches out a hand. "Good luck."

  She shakes Duncan's hand, smiling and looking a little nervous. "Thanks," she says. "You too."

  "Thanks for the egg and bacon," I say as we shake hands.

  "Look me up if you ever come this way again," she says. "I haven't got long left, maybe a year or a little more, but if you ever want a cup of tea and a chat, I'll be living in my father's house from now on."

  "Are you sure about this?" I ask.

  She nods. "I like the idea that long after I'm gone, these two will be out there in the ocean, and they'll remember me."

  "Goodbye," says the boy, looking straight at me. He's pretty polite for a creepy-eyed sea monster. I guess when he and his sister are ready to go back into the water, they'll change their forms so that they look more like their mother. It's freaky, but I guess it's no more freaky than being a werewolf.

  "Shake their hands," Meredith tells the children, really warming to her new role. "Be polite."

  The children extend their hands, and Duncan and I shake them.

  As we walk away, Duncan and I don't talk for a while. I keep glancing back at Meredith and the children, watching as she leads them away from their mother's body and back over towards the cave. It's strange how she seems to be at peace with herself, and the children don't have the same effect on her mind that they had on Duncan and me. I guess Meredith gets to have a little family of her own for a few days, something to make her feel like she's contributing to something.

  "I guess I was out of my mind for a while back there," Duncan says eventually.

  "Yep," I say as we get closer to town.

  "Did I say anything... unusual?"

  I pause. "No," I say, deciding I want to keep a few things to myself. I want to find out the truth about this Anna woman, and I know that talking to Duncan won't help. If he thinks I'm interested, he'll cover his tracks. "Nothing unusual at all," I add as the heavens open and a mighty rain begins to fall.

  Epilogue

  One week later.

  "This isn't working," Duncan is saying as I enter the room. He's got several large sheets of paper unfolded in front of him, and he's drawing what looks like a complex series of mathematical calculations.

  "I didn't know you were good at math," I say.

  "I'm not," he says. "That's why it's not working."

  I stare at the papers. "Are you trying to work out the location of Excalibur using algebra?"

  "Yes," he says, "but it's hard. For one thing, algebra is hard. For another, Excalibur doesn't exist." He pauses. "There's really only one thing for it. I've been putting this off for a long time, but there's no way around it. We're going to have to go to the library."

  "Okay," I say. I pause for a moment. "I don't have a library card. Do you?"

  "Of course I do!" he replies as he starts rolling up the paper. "Anyway, we're not going to any old boring human library. We're going to the library used by werewolves and other creatures."

  "Sounds fun," I say.

  "It's not," he replies. "It's a very dangerous place. Books are dangerous. Knowledge is dangerous. So a library, a real library, is like a minefield. Not everyone comes out alive. And that's even before you factor in the Librarian. He's a nasty piece of work. You've never seen so many teeth."

  "Sounds fun in a different kind of way," I say.

  "That's the spirit," Duncan says. "It's the only way we're going to get the answers we need. There are certain books that can't be found anywhere else. Shouldn't take long."

  I hand him the newspaper I just bought at a shop down the road. The headline is about how the suicides in Herne have stopped. Local officials have carried out an investigation and determined that there was no pattern after all, and that the whole thing was a huge coincidence.

  "Convenient," Duncan says.

  "Turn to page five," I say.

  When he gets to page five, Duncan sees the short report about a missing woman from the Herne area. According to the paper, Meredith Martin is suspected of having been the last suicide before everything went back to normal. There's a brief mention of the fact that her parents and boyfriend also killed themselves, with the implication being that she found her life to be hopeless and decided to follow her family into death.

  "What happened to her?" I ask. "Do you think the children killed her?"

  "It's possible," Duncan says, clearly lost in thought. "But I doubt it. They weren't evil, and she seemed pretty good at training them. Anyway, there's no point dwelling on the past. Let's get packed up and head off. We've got a library to visit."

  As Duncan starts putting his papers away, I flick through the newspaper. I can understand why he doesn't want to dwell on the past; I feel the same. But his past seems to affect the present quite significantly. Just as I'm considering bringing up the subject of Anna, and trying to get a few answers from him, I spot a report buried later on in the newspaper. It seems that a few days ago, a large decaying sea creature was found on the beach near Herne. It was so badly decomposed, no-one can tell what it was. And then, on the next page, there's another story.

  "Listen to this," I say.

 
; "More local news?" Duncan asks, not sounding very interested.

  "Just listen," I say. "Fisherman off the coast of Herne saw three large squid-like creatures in the water. Two of the creatures seemed to be leading the third. They didn't get any photos, but the fishermen swear that they know what they saw. An expert from the local university dismissed the claims, saying that large squid aren't ever seen in these waters." I pause. "Three creatures? You don't think it's possible that -"

  "Anything's possible," Duncan says.

  I stare at the newspaper. "But if Meredith -"

  "Anything's possible," he says again. "Maybe the children liked her and found a way to take her with them. It's not like she had much to live for on land, is it?"

  I shake my head. "I'd love it if it was true, but there's no way they could turn her into one of them."

  "No?" Duncan says, leading me to the door. "That's a bit presumptuous, coming from someone who was turned into a werewolf by me."

  "Yeah, but that's different," I say.

  "Is it?"

  I pause as we leave the room. "I suppose not," I say eventually. Ultimately, I decide not to do any digging into the story. If it's not true, then I guess Meredith is back at Brian Martin's house, alone, taking her pills and waiting for the cancer to kill her. But if the fishermen were right, then maybe she's got a whole new life, out there with her adopted children. I guess it's not impossible. After all, I've seen some pretty strange things over the past year. Why not add human octopus creatures to the list? The newspaper suggested that Meredith followed her family into death, but maybe she got a new family and followed them somewhere else...

  Part Four

  Broken Spirits

  Prologue

  Hundreds of years ago.

  Although his armor doesn't fit, the knight stands proudly before the great door. He knows that his people are depending upon him: if he succeeds, the land will be saved and there will be good harvests for generations to come; if he fails, the land will fall barren and the people will starve. Already, there is great suffering throughout the valleys, with entire families starving in the wake of the Forbidders. With the Librarian reported to have fled the Citadel, the secret to unlocking the riches of the land has been lost, and there is only one way to get it back. There is only one power that can save them all. And there is only one man who can complete the quest.