‘I said quickly.’ Steel was facing the landing again. ‘There won’t be time left. Take it back now!’
And, once again, there was an uneasy period of silence as Rob and Steel watched the landing. Yet Rob felt confident. He remembered the way that Sapphire had dealt with Constable Daly. It had been simple on her part. No effort at all. He could visualise the blueness of her eyes right now as she concentrated on, and dealt with, whatever it was that was threatening her, that was keeping her trapped in that strange, invisible room.
‘Steel?’
Sapphire’s voice surprised Rob slightly. He had unconsciously believed that the next logical step was Sapphire’s reappearance. Not that isolated voice that seemed to speak from nowhere.
‘Yes?’ Steel’s voice was just faintly apprehensive.
‘It’s not working, Steel.’
Helen shifted her head to look up at Rob. But Rob held on to her tightly and put one finger to his lips as he watched both the landing and Steel’s face.
‘What d’you mean, it’s not working?’
‘It isn’t. I’ve tried, but nothing happens. It won’t go back. It refuses to. Therefore we can’t go back.’
‘Try again,’ Steel urged her. ‘Quickly.’
They waited. Rob felt a tiny sensation. It was like a movement, he thought. Or rather, like an intended movement. As if he had meant to do something, meant to go somewhere, and then found that he had changed his mind without having made the effort to move.
‘It’s still no use, Steel.’
‘Try! Keep trying!’
‘Yes.’
Slowly, clearly, Sapphire’s voice was beginning to lose its calmness.
Rob could feel the same slight sensation again. Like being in a lift that has stopped while someone is trying all sorts of knobs and switches to get the thing started again.
‘No.’ It was almost a shout of protest from Sapphire now. ‘Please, Steel. It’s no good. It’s in here with me.’
‘Sapphire...?’
‘Can’t you see it?’
They saw it. Helen was already pointing a finger at the landing as Rob looked. Steel had already noticed it.
The patch of light was shining palely through the picture, glowing through the grim structure of the cottage.
‘Look!’ cried Rob.
Steel stared at the patch of light. ‘Yes,’ he said, quietly. ‘We can see it, Sapphire.’
‘Good. Because it’s fighting me. It’s holding me here.’ Sapphire’s voice now sounded anxious. ‘It’s fighting me and it’s winning.’ Then quickly, ‘Do you hear me, Steel?’
‘Yes, Sapphire.’ He turned from the landing. ‘Just wait.’
‘I haven’t much choice, have I?’
But Steel, with a determined look on his face, was already walking down the stairs.
‘What are you going to do?’ Rob called after him.
‘Deal with it.’ Steel eased his way past Helen. When he had reached the hallway, Steel looked back. ‘In the meantime, keep your sister where she is and keep Sapphire talking.’
‘Right,’ said Rob. And Steel walked quickly towards the kitchen without once looking back.
Rob stood there on the stairs for a moment. Then, still holding Helen’s hand, he walked up the next two steps with her and stopped. Just two small figures looking up at an empty landing and the weird patch of light.
‘Sapphire?’ Rob called.
It seemed a moment or two before there was an answer.
‘Yes?’
‘Is it like the wall?’
‘The what?’
‘The wall in Helen’s room. Is that — is that thing like it?’
There was another pause before Sapphire answered. ‘It’s a part of it. A fragment. So don’t come near it. Don’t come near the landing.’
‘No.’ Rob looked down at Helen who smiled back up at him, anxiously. Rob cleared his throat and faced the landing once more. ‘I’m supposed to keep you talking,’ he announced.
‘You’re doing fine,’ was the wry reply.
‘Sapphire?’ Helen could not locate the source of the voice but she had decided to call out anyway, peering in various directions as she did so.
‘Hallo, Helen.’
‘I want to see you, Sapphire.’
There was yet another long moment of silence.
‘Soon, Helen. Soon.’ Sapphire’s voice seemed to swallow slightly on the words. ‘You just be patient, will you?’
‘Yes.’ Helen nodded at the empty air around her.
Both children failed to notice the tiny increase of power from the patch of light. Just a faint, momentary brightening of the pale glow.
On the attic landing, around the edges of the boarded-up room, there was a sudden, luminous flicker, as if in answer to the one below. Then two more patches of light eased themselves out from under the darkness of the door. Accompanied by the mini-rumbling sound, the two patches of light glided across the landing floor. At the top of the cupboard-stair they stopped and waited.
Behind the door, in the attic bedroom, the low, whispered voice continued with its endless chanting. ‘Upstairs and downstairs, Upstairs and downstairs...’
The two Ironside troopers appeared on the stairs. Like the voice, their intentions seemed, at first, to be as repetitious and as mechanical as before. Then, as the troopers, with drawn swords, reached the landing, the two patches of light moved forward to meet them. The lights seemed to blend in with the bodies of the troopers. As they did so, their sounds and the glow faded.
And this time the troopers stopped before they reached the attic room door. Both figures turned, moved back across the landing and began to descend the stairs.
Behind the door, the quiet voice kept up its variation. ‘Upstairs and downstairs, Upstairs and downstairs...’
‘I’ll tell you one thing, Rob.’ Sapphire’s voice spoke out to the two children still waiting on the stairs.
‘What’s that?’ Rob asked.
‘I’m glad of the rhyme that you chose. You might have settled for “Oranges and Lemons”.’
Rob thought about it for a second or two and then realised as he remembered Sapphire’s description of the block and the axe.
He glanced towards the picture. The glow of light was still visible.
Sapphire’s voice sounded a little edgy as her words tumbled from her once more. ‘Then again, if Roundhead soldiers belong anywhere, I suppose they belong in this hell-hole of a room.’
Rob was about to adopt Steel’s instructions and warn Sapphire not to think about the cottage room, when her voice suddenly shouted at him.
‘Rob! Do you hear that?’
Rob listened. He could hear nothing.
‘Hear what?’
‘Footsteps. Heavy footsteps. On stone — on stone steps. Can you hear them, Rob?’
There was still nothing to be heard, but Rob felt his sister hold his hand tightly, squeezing it, and he, too, felt scared.
‘They’re coming here, Rob.’ Sapphire’s voice was louder still now. ‘Climbing down stone steps. Coming to this room. They’re going to smash the door of this room.’
‘Sapphire...’
But Sapphire’s voice cried out. ‘Something happened here! Something terrible!’
Rob and Helen stared at the finely carved table and the careful arrangement of dried flowers that decorated the peaceful-looking first-floor landing.
‘Rob!’ It was almost a scream now. ‘Get Steel! Quickly!’ But Rob was already running down the last few steps to the hallway.
‘Please! Help me!’ Sapphire’s voice seemed to fill the deserted landing area.
But there was only the small frightened figure of Helen watching from the staircase.
Chapter Ten
Rob was shoving open the kitchen door as Steel crossed the room from the direction of the empty office. ‘Steel.’ Rob began. And then he stopped.
Walking at medium pace and looking almost mechanical, Steel was approaching Rob and t
he open kitchen door. Steel’s face was ash white and his stare was fixed firmly on the doorway and the hallway beyond.
‘Don’t come near me.’ Steel said as he walked. ‘Don’t speak to me. Don’t touch me.’
The voice, too, sounded unhuman. Rob moved back from the doorway, allowing Steel to pass. As he did so, Rob felt a blast of icy coldness. It was coming from Steel. It was like opening the door of a cold storage plant. Rob moved away quickly. ‘But you’re cold— you’re freezing.’
‘I said, don’t come near me.’ Steel cautioned him, as he moved through the doorway and into the hall. Once there, Steel kept on walking, straight towards the first staircase, with Rob following after him at a safe, warm distance.
Helen turned to stare, wide-eyed, as Steel began to climb the stairs.
‘Keep the child away from me.’
Rob scrambled up the first two or three steps, keeping behind, and to one side, of Steel. Rob reached forward and grabbed Helen’s arm, pulling her clear of Steel’s path.
‘Quickly! Please!’ Sapphire’s hollow voice was still shouting.
Steel walked slowly and steadily up the stairs, as if he had no intention of stopping before he reached the landing.
Sapphire’s voice continued to call out. ‘Somebody died in this room. A young girl.’
Rob looked quickly at the picture. The glow of light was still there.
‘And it wants me to be her, wants it to happen all over again,’ said Sapphire’s unseen voice.
‘No, Sapphire,’ Helen cried out, frightened. And Rob held her tightly as Steel carried on climbing the stairs. He had almost reached the top.
‘And the girl’s killers are here. Outside. They’re breaking down the door, Steel.’
Steel reached the landing. He did not stop walking. For a brief second, Rob remembered the warning about what would happen to anyone who stepped on to the landing. But some instinct told him that this ice-cold, white-faced Steel did not happen to be just anyone at this moment.
Steel walked on to the landing without stopping. Rob saw him walk straight to the picture, reaching up and out with his hands as he did so. He then touched the picture with the flat of both hands.
Rob and Helen stared. They saw the picture, and the surrounding area of wall, instantly cloud up and frost over. There was an odd cry. It was similar to the fabric sound, but this was more like a shrill cry of pain, the kind that a small animal might make. The patch of light appeared to glow brighter and then was still, as if frozen there. It then tipped and fell from the picture. It seemed to spin, like a lit shuttlecock, down the wall and on to the floor as Sapphire reappeared on the landing.
‘Sapphire!’ Rob found himself crying out with relief as he saw her. And Helen, too, was trying to rush forward to greet Sapphire.
But Rob had seen the troopers.
‘There!’ Rob shouted a warning as he ran up the stairs towards the landing.
The two troopers had appeared from the second flight of stairs. They were moving across the landing, moving towards the turned backs of Sapphire and Steel.
But Steel was aware of them. He swung around quickly to face them. And Rob, running on to the landing, wondered why he had bothered to shout out. After all, these ghosts, or whatever they were, couldn’t hurt you. That had already been proved.
This time, though, the troopers did not pass through the air like ghosts. The first one walked right into Rob. Rob heard the jingle of metal and could smell leather and the musty odour of decay as he felt the full force of the impact. He was thrown backwards, pitching and stumbling, the sword missing his head as it was swung across and down.
‘It’s in them, Steel.’
Rob heard Sapphire’s cry as he hit the landing floor and rolled over.
‘The light’s in them. Carried through. The girl died...’ Sapphire stopped talking as the second trooper grabbed her.
Rob saw it all as he rolled over and looked up. He saw Sapphire thrown back against the wall, under the picture. He saw the trooper reaching with his free hand, reaching and dragging down an invisible length of rope. The first trooper had turned. He was looking down at Rob. And Rob could see the ancient, skull-like face under the helmet visor. He thought that he could hear himself screaming, and then realised, through the fear and the confusion, that it was Helen’s voice that cried out in fear.
The first trooper was raising the sword again. From where Rob lay, it seemed to be a mile high, but still above him. And then he saw Steel moving, his hands reaching out, palms extended. Steel touched both troopers simultaneously. The cloud-like, freezing frost appeared in the air and upon the troopers, like white mist. There was the shrill cry of pain once more, the shifting movement of light, and then the troopers disappeared.
As Rob dragged himself to his feet he saw two patches of light moving swiftly, climbing the second flight of stairs. Their strange sound rustled an accompaniment as they retreated to the darkness and safety of the landing above.
By the time Rob had turned to see why Steel was not giving chase, the two patches of light moved out of sight. But, at that moment, Rob no longer cared. He was more concerned about Steel.
Leaning back against the opposite wall, Steel looked tired and ill. He was breathing deeply, as if all his energy had been drained from him.
Sapphire had been comforting Helen. But now she released the child as she moved to the sick-looking Steel.
‘He said not to touch him,’ Rob remembered.
‘It’s alright now,’ said Sapphire, as she took Steel’s hands and began to massage some circulation back into them.
‘Not enough. We didn’t do enough.’ Steel murmured, his eyes half closed.
‘Yes we did.’ Sapphire eased Steel’s fingers to and fro.
Steel shook his head weakly. ‘Not enough to stop them. Not enough to hold them.’
‘But we’ve held that one.’ Sapphire indicated with a nod of her head. ‘Look.’
The first patch of light was on the floor, directly beneath the picture. It still appeared to be in a frozen state. It was like the spot at the end of a beam of light, but without the beam. Also, unlike normal light, it was not transparent. The pattern of the rug, on which it lay, could not be seen through it.
‘Oh, yes,’ said Steel. Then he closed his eyes and rested his head back against the wall.
‘What’s wrong with him?’ asked Rob.
‘Go down into the kitchen, will you?’ said Sapphire. ‘Make up the fire.’ She put her arms around Steel and helped him away from the wall. ‘And make sure it’s a good fire.’
‘Yes,’ said Rob and began to hurry down the stairs.
‘Come on, Steel.’ Sapphire put her arm about Steel’s waist to support him. ‘We need you well again,’ she said as she helped him towards the top of the stairs, then added, ‘As soon as possible.’
Helen moved to help Sapphire. And Rob, looking up from the hallway, felt a sadness and a fear as he watched the tall figure of Sapphire, and the small shape of Helen assisting Steel as he moved feebly down the stairs.
‘That fire.’ Sapphire reminded him.
‘Sorry,’ said Rob and hurried along the hallway to the kitchen.
The stove in the kitchen was blazing brightly. The big parlour chair had been pulled up to the fire and Steel was sat in it. Although his eyes were still closed and he seemed asleep, some of the colour had returned to his face. Helen’s blanket was draped about his shoulders.
Helen sat on a stool by the fire and watched Steel as Sapphire stacked provisions, that had earlier been in the freezer, into the refrigerator.
It was what happened to his mother’s freezer that had, at first, concerned Rob. The heavy cabinet, minus its lid, was now in the cleared-out office, and a make-shift dial had been attached to the freezer motor. The freezer lid was set against a wall near the door.
Rob stood in the lobby, looking in at the office. The room was much colder now. In fact, even the freezer seemed colder than normal. The iced frost effect, t
hat had helped to get rid of the troopers, could be seen all along the panelling that housed the machine’s power source.
And it had all been done by Steel in a very short space of time. It was there, like this, when they had brought Steel, semi-conscious, down from the landing. A large, heavy sheet of bevelled glass, that had once been the top of Rob’s father’s favourite table, was now leaning against the far office wall. All Steel’s handiwork. Except that there was one extra item in the office now. If it could be called an item. The thing that was imprisoned in the freezer cabinet.
Rob wandered back into the kitchen. Sapphire was closing the refrigerator door. She looked up as Rob crossed the room to look at Steel.
‘Is he better yet?’ Rob asked.
‘Not yet, no,’ said Sapphire. ‘But he will be.’
‘Fire.’ Steel murmured, his eyes still closed.
Sapphire moved quickly across the room to the fireside.
‘Has the fire gone out?’ Steel shivered slightly.
‘No.’ Sapphire gathered the blanket around him. ‘It’s still burning. Still hot.’
Steel seemed to relax. ‘Oh,’ he muttered, and began to doze again.
Sapphire picked up the poker and stirred the coals of the stove.
Rob looked at the sleeping Steel, then asked, ‘What did he do?’
‘Do?’ asked Sapphire, innocently.
‘Before he came up the stairs. Before he rescued you. He must have done something. He was like ice. I couldn’t stand near him.’
Sapphire replaced the poker. ‘Yes, he did do something.’ And there was the slight smile in her eyes, the joke. ‘He took himself down.’
Rob stared at her. ‘Down?’
Sapphire nodded. ‘To about minus two-seven-three degrees, I think it is, in your temperature scale.’
Rob was still looking at her in astonishment when she asked, ‘Well, it did the trick, didn’t it?’
‘So if I’d touched him..?’
‘You would have been instantly drained of heat.’ Sapphire pointed towards the office. ‘Like that thing in there.’
Turning his head to look towards the office, Rob felt grateful for Steel’s warning.
‘The — the piece of light.’ Steel murmured once more, eyes closed.
Sapphire and Steel Page 8
