Sapphire and Steel

by Peter J. Hammond

  As Rob’s father took him by the hand, Rob was half aware that the room was different, that it was somehow furnished again. He thought he could see the desk, the bookshelves, the swivel-chair. But these things were only vaguely glimpsed, like objects seen through tired eyes.

  In fact, Rob felt very tired and heavy-eyed as his father opened the office door and led him through the lobby and into the kitchen.

  The kitchen was deserted, and, because of his half-awake state, Rob thought he could see the room as it was before the strong wind had burst through and wrecked it. But he felt far too weary to have to try and think about it.

  He tried to keep his feet steady as his father led the way across the deserted kitchen.

  Steel and Lead had walked back over the broken door, then through the lobby and into the kitchen. There they stopped.

  Sapphire was standing in the centre of the room. Her head turned slowly as she ‘tested’, with raised hand, the room’s atmosphere.

  ‘There’s something in here, Steel,’ she said, turning and scanning the room with her hands. ‘Crossing the room. Passing through it.’

  ‘Malevolent?’ asked Steel.

  ‘Part of it, yes.’ Sapphire swivelled her hands through the air of the room. ‘It’s about — let me see, I’d say about three days out of time.’

  ‘Forward or backwards?’

  Sapphire’s hands swung slowly to follow an imaginary path that led to the hallway door. ‘In past time,’ was her calculation. ‘Yes, it’s moving on a mirror-line.’

  ‘How great?’ asked Steel, following the movement of Sapphire’s hands and measuring an imaginary beam.

  ‘An echo-sequence, that’s all,’ said Sapphire, ‘A visual echo.’

  Steel continued to move across the room, like a man on stepping-stones. Lead walked with him, keeping close.

  ‘And you can’t cut in on it?’ Lead suggested.

  Sapphire shook her head. ‘No. Too far back for me.’ She then stopped, her hands directed at the hallway door. ‘It’s gone now. Yes, it’s gone.’

  She lowered her hands.

  ‘Where’s Rob?’ asked Helen. ‘Where is he?’

  But no-one answered. Steel and Lead were hurrying back to the office room as Sapphire moved warily towards the hallway door.

  Rob still felt in a tired, sleep-like state as his father guided him along the hallway to the cellar door.

  His father opened the door and they stepped down on to the dank, stone steps of the cellar, closing the door to after them.

  The steps were steep, and the cellar itself was more like a series of low passageways that twisted their way under the house.

  But Rob did not feel scared any more as his father led the way through the darkness of the cellar that was lit only by the few small overhead gratings. The sleepiness was like an anaesthetic. All Rob cared about was the fact that he was with his father and soon he would see his mother.

  And he was reminded of other days, other evenings. When he was younger. When he was a small boy and it was holiday time. It would be dusk, growing into evening, and his father would be walking him back to the holiday chalet. There would be lights on in windows, and it would be late, well past his time for going to bed. But it was the summer, and it was a holiday, and no matter how tired he felt in the warm evening air, he would be comforted by the knowledge that his father would be taking him to some strange, but bright and cosy room where his mother would be waiting.

  So this was like it, this walk through the cellar. These were the same hazy, safe feelings. Therefore there could be nothing to worry about, he told himself.

  Chapter Fourteen

  ‘Lift it!’ Steel shouted the words like a command.

  Lead seized the heavy sheet of glass and swung it up from the top of the cabinet. Sapphire was waiting in the hallway with Helen as Steel and Lead came out from the kitchen.

  Steel’s face was tense. ‘It’s gone,’ he announced. ‘The patch of light has gone.’

  There was no surprise on Sapphire’s face, only a look of seriousness that matched the expression of Steel’s. ‘And I think I know where it’s gone,’ she said as she turned to face the cellar door.

  Moving on instinct, Lead hit the cellar door in the same way that he had gained entry to the office. The cellar door caved inwards under the impact.

  Rob and his father were halfway across the cellar, moving around boxes and cases and old pieces of furniture, when one stray thought, perhaps triggered by what seemed the faraway sound of the breaking door, entered Rob’s mind.

  ‘I’ve been — I’ve been down here a lot of times since you and Mum disappeared,’ he said, but his father did not answer as they threaded their way through the cellar towards the end section.

  ‘So why haven’t I seen you?’

  ‘Seen us?’ his father asked, still leading Rob by his hand.

  ‘Yes. Why haven’t I seen you? I mean, there aren’t that many places to hide, down here.’

  ‘No places, no. But there are ways.’

  ‘Ways?’ Rob asked, sleepily.

  ‘Ways of hiding. I’ll show you.’

  Sapphire’s voice echoed through the narrow alleyways of the cellar. ‘Ro-ob!’

  And then Steel’s voice. ‘Rob?’

  Some reflex made Rob halt as the voices floated through his tired mind, like the voices of faceless people in a dream.

  ‘Are you down there, Rob?’

  His father tightened the grip on his hand. ‘Don’t listen to them,’ he whispered. ‘We’ll soon be safe.’

  Helen had been told to sit at the top of the cellar steps, and to stay there, while Steel, Sapphire and Lead made their way down the steps to the cellar itself. They peered through at the darkness, Sapphire glancing back to check on Helen as they looked and listened and exercised their senses.

  The end section of the cellar was darker still. There were no gratings here to provide even a dim light. A cross-beam and two upright, sunken beams formed a kind of arch that led to the end section and the bare, blank wall beyond. The wall that was the very end of the house.

  Rob’s father led the way to the beams and then stopped.

  ‘Where is she?’ Rob peered lazily into the darkness beyond the beams. ‘Where’s Mum?’

  Rob’s father said nothing.

  ‘I can’t see her,’ said Rob.

  ‘Look.’ His father pointed towards the shadowy end wall of the house. ‘There she is.’

  In the corner of the end section, a dark shape seemed to detach itself from the matching darkness.

  Rob stared through tired eyes. He could just about define the shape as the shadowed figure of a woman. But her head was lowered, and it was turned away from him. Her long hair hung down like dark curtains.

  ‘Mum?’ Rob said, smiling a weary but pleased smile.

  ‘Hello, Rob,’ murmured the dark shape, its head still lowered, still turned away.

  ‘There you are,’ Rob’s father said, moving towards the beams, towards the dark shape, taking Rob with him.

  Again, some hidden reflex, the same tiny scrap of spirit that had made Rob question his mother’s voice at the attic room door, nagged away inside him. And so he held back from the beams that seemed to lead nowhere.

  The grip was tightened on Rob’s hand as his father asked, ‘Come on, you wanted to see her, didn’t you?’

  ‘Yes, but...’

  ‘But what?’

  Rob tried to focus his eyes on the dark shape that resembled his mother, and yet chose to look away.

  ‘Well, why — why doesn’t she look at us?’

  Rob’s father stood there for a moment, as if to consider the question. He then spoke to the figure. ‘Yes, dear. Why won’t you look at us?’

  The figure raised its head very slowly and then turned its body, equally slowly, to face Rob.

  The figure had no face. No features. There was only a darkness under the strands of hair, where a face should have been. Just a blackness. A nothingness.

>   Rob screamed loudly, and the tiredness suddenly left him. But it was far too late. Whatever this thing was, this thing that pretended to be his father, it was dragging him past the beams and into the end section of the cellar.

  At the sound of the scream, Steel, Sapphire and Lead ran quickly through the cluttered passageways of the cellar.

  When they eventually reached the arched support beams, and were ready to move on past them, Sapphire stopped suddenly, her arms extended like a barrier.

  ‘Wait.’

  Steel and Lead waited.

  ‘Just — just there.’ Sapphire’s hands moved, testing the area around the beams. ‘Beyond those wooden beams.’

  Steel nodded and took a half pace forward. ‘We’re alright as far as the beams?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘What about the beams themselves?’ said Steel, taking another half pace forward.

  ‘No!’

  Steel checked himself in mid-action and moved back one pace, watching Sapphire as he did so.

  ‘It’s where it starts,’ said Sapphire, ‘Somewhere.’

  ‘In the beams?’

  ‘Somewhere.’ Sapphire was still testing. ‘Here somewhere. These beams are a part of it.’

  Steel nodded, and Sapphire relaxed and moved back slightly from the archway of beams.

  Moving from one side of the cellar wall to the other, Steel studied the space between the beams as if he were looking closely at some invisible texture. He then looked beyond the wooden supports and into the end section.

  Rob was not there. Neither was his father, nor the shadowed figure.

  Steel waited for a moment and then called, ‘Rob?’

  ‘Yes — yes, Steel?’ Rob’s voice answered back from the empty section of the cellar.

  The moment that Rob had been pulled past the beams, things had changed abruptly. He had found himself alone and in full command of his senses. He also felt very lost and frightened.

  He had immediately realised that he was no longer in the house. He was outside somewhere. But where? It was still night and he had looked around him, as far as he could see, on a night that was quite cloudy with very little moonlight.

  The wind blew in, unbroken, across what seemed to be open land. And Rob had recognised it as the very same wind, coming in from the bay, that blew ceaselessly past the house.

  But the house was not there anymore.

  Then, adjusting to the darkness, he had looked at the ground around his feet. He had then found that he was standing on a flagstone floor that was surrounded by a comparatively shallow, rectangular trench. There were a few rough building stones set into the trench and, here and there, some pegs and posts set out like markers. Then, he had looked up and seen the two upright beams, freshly hewn and fixed temporarily into place.

  And the night air was different. It smelled and tasted somehow clearer.

  He had kept his position, the same position that he had been in when the image of his father and the shadowed figure had vanished, leaving him there alone, because he knew that to stay exactly as he was standing was important.

  But he had moved his head. He had wanted to try to look out towards Scars Edge. The lights of the village could always be seen reflected against the night sky, especially when there was low cloud.

  So he had moved his head carefully. He then saw, close at hand, some old, heavy-looking building tools and a wheelbarrow that resembled a wooden tub. He had then looked out in the direction of Scars Edge.

  The wind was the same, and so was the faint sound of the sea. But there were no comforting lights at a distance. Scars Edge was not there.

  And then he had realised why he was outside in the night air. The village of Scars Edge had probably not been thought of — yet. And his house, the old house that he lived in, was only just about to be built.

  He had then moved his head back quickly and maintained his original position. He was very frightened, and had been relieved to hear Steel’s voice so close at hand.

  ‘I know what to do, Steel,’ he called out to the night air.

  Steel’s voice answered, still close by. ‘Tell me, Rob.’

  ‘Well, this is — this is what happened to Sapphire, isn’t it? Like on the landing?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘So I — so I know what to do, Steel. I just stand very still, don’t I?’

  There was no answer and Rob felt a sudden surge of panic. ‘Don’t I?’ he called out again, louder this time.

  Steel’s voice answered quickly. ‘Yes, Rob, you do. And that’s good. That’s very good, Rob. You’re doing the right thing.’

  And Rob smiled a little, nervously. Just a pleased smile to himself. Being praised by Steel, that was something. Then, calling out again, he said, ‘I’m sorry, Steel, but it was my father.’

  ‘Your father?’ Steel’s voice came back to him through the fresh, clear air.

  ‘Yes. He brought me down here, down into the cellar — well, not really him.’

  A moment passed, as if Steel was busy thinking things out, back there in the proper time. And Rob wanted to be there. He was sorry that he had mistrusted them. He was sorry for so many things. And yet he felt that he had tried. Had tried his best, in his own way.

  ‘Whatever it was that was pretending to be your father,’ said Steel’s voice, ‘Is it with you now?’

  Rob sensed some anxiety in the voice. ‘No,’ he called back, ‘I’m alone here.’

  Once again, Steel answered quickly. ‘You’re not alone, Rob.’

  ‘No.’ Rob whispered.

  ‘Did you hear that?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You’re quite close to us, Rob.’ It was Sapphire’s voice this time.

  ‘Yes, Sapphire.’

  Sapphire spoke again. ‘We’re all here in the cellar and you’re one of us.’

  Then Lead spoke, the deep voice booming its reassurance. ‘Yes, you’re with us, boy. You’re right here with us.’

  And Rob felt the cool wind blowing in across this open, alien landscape. Two hundred years back in time, and he was there like something that did not belong, something that was not protected, like a caged bird let loose into a vast open territory that it did not know and was not equipped for.

  And everything, the fear, the hurt, the anxiety for his parents, plus the confusion and the false, fake hopes, all seemed to shift uncontrollably inside him.

  Rob began to cry.

  Steel and Sapphire, watched by Lead, stood in the dark cellar and listened to the sound of Rob crying.

  Beckoning to Sapphire, Steel turned away, so that he could not be heard by the unseen Rob.

  ‘Is he in danger?’ Steel asked, quietly.

  ‘Yes.’ Sapphire nodded, keeping her voice low. ‘He’s in great danger.’

  Steel looked at her, then glanced back at the wooden beams and the empty, shadowy section of the cellar.

  Lead had heard. He watched them, a set look on his face.

  ‘You see, he’s not really alone in there.’ Sapphire whispered, ‘Something’s in there with him.’

  It was a moment or two before Steel moved back to face the wall again. ‘Rob?’ he called.

  ‘Yes?’ Rob spoke, swallowing hard, trying to hide his tears.

  ‘Can you describe where you are to me? Without moving from your position, can you do that?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Rob’s voice, ‘I’ve already looked.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘And I’m in the cellar. The end of the cellar. Well — part of it, I suppose.’

  ‘Part of it?’

  ‘Yes. It’s the cellar, but it isn’t finished.’

  Steel looked at Sapphire, then at Lead, then back to the arched beams.

  ‘It’s being built.’ Rob’s voice spoke out from the emptiness once more. ‘It’s the house, but it’s — it isn’t here yet. It’s being built. Only just being built. I can see the foundations. There’s — there’s no-one here. It’s night time, you see. They must have all gone home.
’

  ‘Alright, Rob,’ said Steel, ‘Now just be patient, will you?’

  ‘Yes,’ was the choked reply.

  ‘There’s no need to cry and there’s no need to worry.’

  ‘I’m not crying,’ Rob’s voice said quickly.

  ‘Good. Now just be patient and leave it to us.’ Steel then turned to Lead. ‘The other child,’ he said, ‘She’s still on her own.’

  Lead nodded and ambled back down the cellar passageways towards the stairs, ducking his head under the low sections of ceiling as he went.

  Steel had turned to Sapphire once more. ‘The house being built?’ he asked quietly, ‘Why should it take him back there?’

  ‘Because whatever’s in there has chosen it.’

  ‘The patches of light?’

  Sapphire nodded. ‘Most probably, yes.’

  ‘How many of them?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  Steel glanced towards the end section of the cellar once more, then back. ‘But they need something to lock onto, don’t they?’ he said. ‘I mean, I can’t imagine pictures being hung, or rhymes being said, in a house that isn’t even built.’

  ‘All the same, they must be in there.’

  Steel looked steadily at Sapphire for a moment. ‘Right,’ he said, turning back to face the end section, ‘Let’s locate them.’

  ‘Rob?’

  Sapphire’s voice spoke from out of the night, from the cellar, from the house that he was no longer in, no longer a part of.

  ‘Yes?’ Rob answered, glad of the sound of the voice in this lonely place.

  ‘Those patches of light, Rob.’ Sapphire tried to make it sound as casual as possible under the circumstances. ‘Remember them?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Then there was a pause, and Rob waited anxiously to hear the voice again.

  ‘Well they’re — they’re probably in there with you, Rob.’

  Rob swallowed hard.

  ‘Rob?’ Sapphire’s voice called quickly, urgently.

  ‘Yes — yes, I heard,’ said Rob. He moved his head to look around him at the darkness.

  ‘So therefore we must find them, Rob. We must find those patches of light.’

  ‘Find them?’ For a moment, Rob thought that he would be asked to search for the patches of light. He experienced a cold feeling of fear.