by Vance Huxley
“Perfect, thank you. Um, check with me another time please, in case I want something kept alive?” That had been quick, efficient, and without any hesitation. Ferryl claimed Zephyr took her character from him, so was he a killer at heart? Abel gingerly picked the floppy body up by the back feet, feeling definitely un-murderish. “I hope it hasn’t got fleas.”
“Shall I kill them?”
That came as a relief, both Zephyr asking and that she’d get rid of the fleas. “Yes please.” Zephyr flowed over the rabbit’s fur then soared into the sky.
“All gone. I was not sure I could knock a rabbit down without getting dizzy. You told me not to do that. I have been practicing being tight and hard. A flying fist of doom.” Zephyr swooped and soared. “The next time there is trouble, I can help more. Do we want another?” She came down to hover in front of him. Abel felt sure if Zephyr had a tail it would be wagging.
“Not just now, thank you. We’d best take this to Stan.” Abel giggled. “Or we could ask Kelis if she wants rabbit stew.” Though he took this one to Stan. Zephyr caught the next one at the weekend so Ferryl/Jenny quickly and expertly drained, skinned and gutted it. The goblins scoffed all the gunky stuff including the fur, but Kelis still didn’t want the meat. She felt sure her mum would run a mile from the bloody lumps. Instead, Abel surprised his mum with the joints, claiming Stan had caught too many. When rabbit stew turned out to be better than expected Abel hoped Zephyr caught more, though he still didn’t fancy learning to skin them.
∼∼
The two weeks after the exams weren’t a holiday because school hadn’t officially finished. Instead everyone attended but year eleven did little work while year thirteen were leaving school anyway. The attitude of some of the seraphims had eased after Jenny took to sitting with the geeks. Now, with the relaxation after the exams, a few of the seraphims became really interested in the Tavern game. That might have been due to Jenny adopting it, or just an excuse to mix with geeks and talk to her. After all, many were her friends or co-members of the Acro dancers.
If the weather let them the students now spent breaks out on the school field instead of in the canteen. One or two at a time, seraphims or teenagers who normally had nothing to do with geeks joined a growing group to discuss characters. The idea of making up people complete with their appearance and character appealed to a wide variety of teenagers. One seventeen-year-old in particular, Laurence Sperrick, seemed to find more and more reasons to ask Kelis questions.
Laurence even came up with a character. He suggested a rakish wastrel, the disgraced, disowned fourth son of a noble who hung around chatting up Bonny the Barmaid and tried to act like a bold, dangerous adventurer. Laurence spent some time with Kelis trying to design the character, called Spenz F’Lorinze. The result, tall and gangling with a hooked nose, bore a definite resemblance to Laurence. The original even promised to try to get a big hat with a feather, striped tights, a frilled shirt and a rapier if he could get an invite to a Taverner party.
When Kelis perfected the drawing Laurence strutted up and down in front of the Taverners, waving his imaginary rapier and spouting flowery compliments to demonstrate how Spenz should act. As he bent over Kelis’ hand, pretending to kiss it, a familiar voice cut through the laughter. This voice didn’t usually come out here on the school field at break time. Seraph preferred to stay in the canteen rather than wallow about in the mud while she ate, as she put it. “Laurence Horatio Sperrick, you will stop that ridiculous behaviour now. Come away from that disgusting peasant, and never go anywhere near her again.”
Laurence let go of Kelis’ hand and stood, turning to face Seraph, and for a moment Abel thought he’d do as he was told. Instead another familiar voice rang out. “Laurence Horatio Sperrick, ignore her.” Heads turned to see Ferryl/Jenny glaring but at Seraph, not Laurence. “Seraph Angelique Bellamy-Courts, you will be quiet! I do not wish to hear that tone of voice from you ever again. Do you understand?” It wasn’t aimed at him, but the sheer compulsion in Ferryl/Jenny’s voice pulled at Abel and probably everyone else there. At least his ward didn’t chill, so nobody except Seraph was in danger of being actually commanded.
Seraph, however, never had a chance. Unlike her own semi-magical instructions, this was full magical compulsion. Her face blanked before she whispered “Yes.”
Ferryl/Jenny wasn’t done. “You keep ordering people about, or insulting and bullying them, and that must stop right now. No more of it, ever again. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
Now people were starting to look puzzled, or even a bit alarmed. Abel tugged at Ferryl/Jenny’s hand, speaking through Zephyr. “Ferryl, stop it. Everyone is looking. Enough.”
Ferryl/Jenny took a deep breath, let it go and Abel sighed in relief. Too soon. “I think we need a little more. She could be dangerous to you if she keeps her influence with these young people when she leaves school. I will not allow that.” A bright smile spread over Ferryl/Jenny’s face. “Now look, you’ve made me sound just like you. Tell me Seraph, why do you do that, insult people and order them about?” Abel heard the little bit of command in the last bit.
Ferryl already had Seraph under control so she answered without hesitation. “I am jealous.” Muttering and a few giggles broke out but Ferryl wasn’t done.
“Why? Who are you jealous of?”
“Laurence. He is poor but has blue blood. Even though my father has more money Laurence will always get preference over me, always be invited to the best places. I hate the Acro dancers. Just because they are fit and show off in those leotards everyone likes them. That skinny wretch Kelis and her scruffy friends are actually popular because of a stupid game, which is totally unfair. I despise those musclebound idiots in the rugby team, especially Henry, but I have to tolerate the lout so I can use him to beat others into line.”
“Enough. I think we all understand. Goodbye, Seraph.”
Seraph staggered slightly, then looked puzzled. Comprehension, or maybe memory, spread over her face followed by a magnificent blush before she turned away. The erstwhile leader of the seraphims ran from the playing field followed by enough laughter to burn her soul for ever, from the very people she despised. At least the laughter, and the immediate discussions about what Seraph said, stopped most of them thinking about why she’d said it.
Laurence looked totally confused. “I don’t understand. I never tell anyone about father’s title and all that.”
“Are you a really a disgraced fourth son?” Kelis nudged him. “That would explain your way with women. You’ve even managed to charm a sorceress.” Abel looked away as Laurence turned towards her with a sweeping bow, and occupied himself by watching everyone else. Rob and a small group of geeks and betas, including Diane, were rolling about laughing. A triumphant Diane gave her big sister a double thumbs-up when Ferryl/Jenny looked that way.
“You got away with the magic, I think. What will your instructions do to Seraph?”
“I’ve no real idea. Telling her not to order people about might mean she can’t order a drink in a café, but I doubt it will work that well.” Intense satisfaction filled Ferryl’s mental voice. “She certainly won’t be repeating the sort of thing she tried with Jenny.”
Surprised, Abel forgot to use Zephyr. Instead he turned to whisper. “With Jenny? After she refused to sit with Henry?”
“Seraph kept pushing after that, harassment that got worse. Jenny’s body must have been barely aware of magic, because Seraph’s voice didn’t work. Even so the commands pulled at her, made her confused. Seraph would tell her she wasn’t good enough for the Acro team so Jenny would wonder, then fail at routines she’d performed flawlessly at other times. I have been waking Jenny at night, and now I have her last memories. I finally found out why she hid round the back of the school.” Ferryl/Jenny’s hand tightened as she leaned closer to whisper in Abel’s ear. “I never read the last memories or they might have roused her, but they were fresh in Jenny’s mind when she woke up.”
“Gave Jenny an ultimatum to think about over the holiday. Jenny could come back to sit at Seraph’s table, apologise and sit next to Henry as instructed, or she could stop Acro dancing. The team captains would drop her, permanently. It seems Seraph really did give Claris and Laurence their orders.
Abel actually put his arm round Ferryl/Jenny, without thought, because he could hear how that had hurt Jenny even second-hand through Ferryl. “She had her head in her hands when I saw her, but then she ran away.” He paused. “Round the corner and under the lorry.”
“I’ll show Jenny what happened here, but not how I did it.” Ferryl/Jenny hugged him hard for a moment. “You’ll have to stop this soon.”
Abel realised what they were doing, hugging each other and whispering, and noticed the amused faces nearby. He glanced towards Kelis and froze. She had her arm around Laurence, looking right at Ferryl/Jenny with a little smile. Laurence put his arm round her, said something, and she laughed and turned away. With a pang Abel realised they were the same height, made for each other. Ferryl/Jenny’s voice whispered in his ear. “Be happy, the link is broken.” When he turned to her their faces nearly touched and she kissed him on the nose. “Now smile.” Abel did, just about.
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Several of the Taverners descended on Abel and Ferryl/Jenny, mostly to congratulate her on trimming Seraph down to size. The talk turned to the Tavern game, with some wanting to know when the next real meeting could be held. Others wanted to know the progress on the new characters. Some were interested in both; they wanted to see if Kelis could persuade Laurence to wear tights. Apparently most other people had already assumed if the pair weren’t a couple now, it wouldn’t be long. Except Abel, who had missed it entirely.
He’d caught up by the time break ended because Laurence still had an arm round Kelis as they went back in, only breaking away to go to his class. Abel, preoccupied, found his way blocked by Henry. “Not now Henry. I’m really not in the mood.” He felt Zephyr move slightly in the tattoo, poised to act.
Ferryl/Jenny squeezed his hand. “Behave, everyone is watching.”
True, when Abel glanced round, but Henry wasn’t looking for trouble. “Do I have to join your game? To make the things go away. They don’t bother you.” His eyes moved to Ferryl/Jenny. “Or you, any of those playing that game. I can’t sleep, they crawl on me, and in my food.” Henry looked tired, sounded desperate, and had a definite twitch.
For long moments Abel considered telling him to go to hell, but he’d already had all the revenge he needed. Seraph had just totally humiliated Henry in front of the whole school, and instead of going crackers he’d come begging to the wimp who broke his arm. “I’ll get you something. It’ll keep them away. Catch me at the lockers before we go home.” Abel brushed past. He didn’t want any more to do with Henry than he had to.
Ferryl/Jenny leaned close. “You will give him a hex, a real one?” Abel could feel Zephyr’s interest.
“Yes, enough of them so he can eat and sleep free of creatures. I can’t even hate him anymore. He won’t bother us again, and even Kelis has stopped complaining she never got to beat on him.” Abel turned to Ferryl/Jenny, changing the subject. “Another week or so to the big breakup.”
“Small, quiet breakup. I have been studying these things and talking to Jenny. We will all remain friends, because Jenny will need tuition. Not only that, she is a shareholder.” A quick hug and she left for her classes.
“I thought you’d pounce on Kelis once Jenny woke up.” Rob spoke quietly, teasing Abel but gently. “She must have got tired of waiting.”
“Maybe she just found someone the right height.”
“It’ll save her carrying a stepladder about for when someone wants to kiss her.” For some reason Rob found that funny, giggling all the way to class.
Abel didn’t have to say much to Henry. No sooner had he handed over a few Tavern hexes, with instructions about using them, when several students pounced. They really wanted a meeting of some sort, someplace, for everyone who could cast a glyph. A couple of them suggested Frederick’s house would be ideal. Frederick had already given the Taverners a big room to use, and there really was a private garden with plenty of room to throw magic.
They’d been a bit wary at first but Frederick seemed to be just what he’d looked like, a lonely old man in a big empty house. A couple of visits showed that the magical creatures nobody else could see really did upset him, because he stuck to the few rooms he had hexes for. At first the Taverners always arranged to meet up there in groups, but now they trickled in and out more or less at will at the weekends. Frederick always seemed pleased to see them. That might be because his visitors helped him with magic, or because they’d started putting hexes in the rest of his house.
Abel added that to his list of things to sort out, but right now getting the Leech out of Claris filled the top ten places.
∼∼
According to Rob, each time he turned Claris’ phone on for her to call her mum it showed missed calls from a withheld number. Whoever had the key must be impatient. Not as impatient as Claris’ mum, though she had been mollified by promises to meet up in a couple weeks.
As the end of term came nearer, Abel, Kelis and Rob realised they’d ignored one big problem. They had to convince the Blood Leech it would go into another person, yet stop it doing so. The problem soon became urgent, because the Leech knew the time must be getting close and asked to see its new body.
“If we go to the hospital we can find someone with a terminal illness. That is how adult Leeches find victims.” Ferryl couldn’t see a problem. “From what I see in Jenny’s memory, people find out about cancer while they are still healthy. The Leech would have very little to fix.”
“I’d even consider that, except now we know the poor sucker will be awake all the time.” Abel shivered. “Can you imagine the state someone will be in after forty years of being compelled to kill and then drink the blood. Claris knows it’ll be out of her soon but it’s still driving her crackers.” Claris still started her conscious periods in a blind panic, and hated having to go back under control. She hadn’t hesitated for a moment about Ferryl possessing her after the Leech left, because Jenny looked both happy and healthy.
“Maybe not, because I’m sure Leeches usually leave the hosts happy and healthy, with no memory of bloodshed. Perhaps this only happens when a new seed grows.” Ferryl/Claris looked a little guilty. “I never cared much. I just killed any Leeches I found and drank their magic, providing I could do so without alerting the church. Now I wish I’d asked a few questions.”
“We could keep the new host here, make a deal so they weren’t hurt like we did with Claris?” Kelis slumped. “No we can’t, not even if the Leech can scramble Stan’s head enough to accept another prisoner. We can’t afford the food and Goblin bribery, and if we could someone will notice the squatter in the church sooner or later. There’ll be a funeral here or something and a vicar will come and discover everything.”
“Then the church rips the Leech out, and the host dies.” Abel turned to Kelis, suddenly curious. “That smile when I said we’d offer the Leech a life, but it didn’t have to be a good one. What did you think of?”
That same smile flitted across Kelis’ face, perhaps more malicious, before she answered. “I thought of a rat, unless we could find a big enough toad? Kept in a cage, with enough sedatives in the blood we fed it so the host never felt a thing. It would be so spaced the Leech wouldn’t be able to hurt it to get its kicks.”
“That amount of sleeping pills or whatever would kill a rat or toad.” Rob looked at Abel for confirmation but he shrugged.
Kelis chipped in. “No it wouldn’t. The Leech would have to work non-stop to keep the host alive, or die as well.”
“It might not fit in a rat.” Abel frowned. He’d seen the size of what Henry upchucked.
“You’ve seen that wooden block in our kitchen, the one w
ith all the knives in it?” Puzzled, Abel and Rob nodded so Kelis continued. “I’ll bring the cleaver to make sure it fits. After all, if it can heal Claris then healing itself should be easy. Perhaps some pain might convince it to go easy on future hosts.”
“Ouch.” Rob mock-winced, or maybe really did. “Remind me to never, ever get you properly mad at me.”
“You need reminding? This is K’liss Windcatcher, and I believe she is becoming a real Glyphmistress at last.” Ferryl/Jenny didn’t see Kelis’ shocked look.
“We’d never get the Leech to go into a rat anyway. It will tear Claris’ mind to shreds first. Not unless we can disguise a rat’s mouth as a healthy human one.” Rob shrugged at the sceptical looks. “Maybe we can persuade it to come outside Claris, towards another host, then grab it.”
“Unlikely.” Ferryl/Jenny shook her head. “It would want mouth to mouth contact so there wouldn’t be much to grab. Worse, a Blood Leech is slippery. Not just with blood, but because much of it is magic. Hands would slither through or off it.” They all sat thinking hard.
For once, Zephyr interrupted a serious discussion. “Can it slither away from the flying fist of doom?” Smiles broke out and they began to really think about ways and means.
∼∼
The last day of school, Kelis looked really thoughtful when the three of them got off the bus. The other two were happy to be finished for six weeks, and making vague plans for a Tavern meeting, but she never said a word. Rob stopped talking and watched her for a few moments. “She’s got the dreaded lurgy.”
“The what?” Abel actually looked to see if there were spots before he noticed Rob’s little smile. “What are the symptoms?”
“Mostly withdrawal. Though if she puts a big hat with a feather on a broom handle to carry around with her that should make her feel better.”
“I am not moping about Laurence!” Kelis glowered, but it didn’t have the usual force and soon faltered. “But he is funny, and I’ve sort of got used to seeing him. He’s not as stuck-up as I thought, not really.”
