by Amy Cross
He gets to his feet, while taking care to make sure that the fabric is wrapped around his body.
“I have to repent, Milly,” he explains. “In my anger, I believed that everyone here at the soul auction deserved to die. There's still a part of me that thinks the same thing, but I can't live with what I've done. I'm going to make a pilgrimage to the Temple of Courtaud. He's been praying there since his French transgression in the fifteenth century, so maybe he needs a disciple.” He sighs. “But first, Milly, I'm going to get you home.”
He steps closer and holds a hand out toward me.
“If you'll trust me,” he adds. “Just one more time.”
A few minutes later, as we emerge from the ruins of the soul auction and reach the start of the great plain, I can't shake a strange feeling that there's still something I need to do before I leave. Before I can think about that, however, I hear a strange rumbling sound nearby, and I turn to see that three smaller dragons are gathered around the body of the dragon that died yesterday. They seem to be inspecting the body, bowing their heads in a series of bobs and weaves that doesn't look particularly random. It's almost as if -
“So it's true,” Duncan says, his voice filled with a hint of wonder. “They do mourn their dead. We might be the first people who ever got to witness something like this, Milly.”
“They look sad,” I reply.
“I don't think they are,” he continues. “I think they're remembering. Maybe those three are the children of the dragon that died. Or maybe I'm getting a little soppy in my old age.” He turns to me and almost smiles, although something seems to be holding him back. “I think I'd like to be away from people for a while. Maybe Courtaud can send me to hang out with dragons or weasels or something. Or owls. Oh, or -”
“You should bury your sister,” I say, interrupting him.
I don't even know where that idea came from, but somehow deep down I feel that I'm right.
“You make a lot of jokes,” I add. “Well, they're not really funny jokes, but I can see what you're trying to do. But instead, you should go and bury Matilda. I can help you, if you like.”
He stares at me for a moment, before shaking his head.
“No, that's alright,” he says. “I'll go and do that after I've taken you to the gate. You should be getting home.”
He turns and starts limping toward the distant mountains.
“Come on!” he calls back to me. “Let's go!”
I'm about to follow him, but then I spot two of the dragons flying away. One dragon remains for a moment, still examining the dead body, before turning and taking flight. I watch the three dragons soaring through the sky, and then I realize that they're going in different directions. And then, finally, I understand the funny feeling I got just a moment ago, and I realize that I know what I have to do.
“No!” I shout at Duncan.
He stops and turns to me.
“I'm going by myself,” I tell him, hurrying over to him and then stopping to look up at his confused expression. “Tell me one more time, the way, and then I'll go.”
“Why?” he asks. “I can take you now, I can -”
“But I want to do it by myself,” I say, interrupting him. “You told me it's not that hard.”
“Sure, but -”
“And I just have to walk toward the part where there's a deep V in the mountain range.”
“That's the first -”
“And then I follow the river that goes past the forest.”
“Right, but -”
“And there's a cave.”
“A cave with red rocks.”
“Okay. Red rocks.”
“But Milly, I should come and -”
“And you said I could find my way from there.”
“But -”
“And I can!” I add firmly. “Honestly. I want to do it by myself. Just this last little bit. I want to know when I get home, that I got there all by myself. You can understand that, can't you?”
“You're not scared?” he asks cautiously.
“Will there be bandits?”
He shakes his head.
“Then I'll be fine,” I tell him. “I'm only a little bit scared, and that's okay. I'll feel better when I've done it.”
I wait for him to argue with me, but instead he seems lost in thought. And then, slowly, he places a hand on my shoulder.
“You'll be fine,” he says.
I nod.
“And I'll see you again some day,” he adds. “I don't know when, or where, but I promise I'll track you down some time. Deal?”
“Okay,” I reply. “If you want.”
With that, I can't help smiling as I turn and start walking away, heading toward the mountains. There's a part of me that wants to turn back, to tell Duncan that I've changed my mind and that I'd like him to help me after all, but I manage to keep going by telling myself that I really do want to do this by myself. I might have ended up lost in the night, but this time I feel a lot more confident. In fact, with each step, I feel more and more certain that I've made the right choice, and that I'll get home just fine.
I do look over my shoulder, though, just for a moment, and I spot Duncan walking away in the opposite direction.
“Good luck,” I whisper, before turning and quickening my pace, setting out on my way home.
***
And I do get home.
Eventually.
I mean, there are a few slight delays and detours. I should get home within about a day, but it takes a little longer than that. Well, a lot longer, and there are moments when I feel that I definitely should have accepted Duncan's help. I manage to get by, though, and I meet a lot of people along the way, some of whom become really good friends. In fact, it takes me quite a few years to get home, by which point I have a lot of explaining to do. But the point is that I do get home finally, even if I end up taking the long route. I even met someone who lived in a door, and someone who'd once been a mountain but who was now trying to be the sea, and someone who was trying really hard to stop being the god of a small village, and someone for whom the grand octopus had no -
Well, maybe those are stories for another time.
Epilogue
Today
A couple of seconds after he left the room, Duncan ducks back through the doorway.
“Oh, by the way, eighty years ago you were basically dead at the end of our fight. I had to turn you into a werewolf to save your life, but I didn't tell you because I felt kind of awkward, and you might not have realized yet because it's complicated and the right circumstances might not have arisen, but you're basically immortal, you can control your aging in both directions, and of course you can turn into a wolf once you've mastered certain dynamics inherent in your physiology, oh and there's a strong chance your doll Lucy is now sentient and will start talking. Okay, got to go now. Bye!”
Also by Amy Cross
THE ASH HOUSE
Why would anyone ever return to a haunted house?
For Diane Mercer the answer is simple. She's dying of cancer, and she wants to know once and for all whether ghosts are real.
Heading home with her young son, Diane is determined to find out whether the stories are real. After all, everyone else claimed to see and hear strange things in the house over the years. Everyone except Diane had some kind of experience in the house, or in the little ash house in the yard.
As Diane explores the house where she grew up, however, her son is exploring the yard and the forest. And while his mother might be struggling to come to terms with her own impending death, Daniel Mercer is puzzled by fleeting appearances of a strange little girl who seems drawn to the ash house, and by strange, rasping coughs that he keeps hearing at night.
The Ash House is a horror novel about a woman who desperately wants to know what will happen to her when she dies, and about a boy who uncovers the shocking truth about a young girl's murder.
Also by Amy Cross
HAUNTED
Twenty y
ears ago, the ghost of a dead little girl drove Sheriff Michael Blaine to his death.
Now, that same ghost is coming for his daughter.
Returning to the small town where she grew up, Alex Roberts is determined to live a normal, quiet life. For the residents of Railham, however, she's an unwelcome reminder of the town's darkest hour.
Twenty years ago, nine-year-old Mo Garvey was found brutally murdered in a nearby forest. Everyone thinks that Alex's father was responsible, but if the killer was brought to justice, why is the ghost of Mo Garvey still after revenge?
And how far will the real killer go to protect his secret, when Alex starts getting closer to the truth?
Haunted is a horror novel about a woman who has to face her past, about a town that would rather forget, and about a little girl who refuses to let death stand in her way.
Also by Amy Cross
THE BRIDE OF ASHBYRN HOUSE
“I have waited so long for your return.”
In the English countryside, miles from the nearest town, there stands an old stone house. Nobody has set foot in the house for years. Nobody has dared. For it is said that even though the lady of the house is long dead, a face can sometimes be seen at one of the windows. A pale, dead face that waits patiently behind a silk wedding veil.
Seeking an escape from his life in London, Owen Stone purchases Ashbyrn House without waiting to find out about its history. As far as Owen is concerned, ghosts aren't real and his only company in the house will be the thin-legged spiders that lurk on the walls. Even after he moves in, and after he starts hearing strange noises in the night, Owen insists that Ashbyrn House can't possibly be haunted.
But Owen knows nothing about the ghostly figure that is said to haunt the house. Or about the mysterious church bells that ring out across the lawn at night. Or about the terrible fate that befell the house's previous inhabitants when they dared defy the bride. Even as Owen starts to understand the horrific truth about Ashbyrn House's past, he might be too late to escape the clutches of the presence that watches his every move.
The Bride of Ashbyrn House is a ghost story about a man who believes the past can't hurt him, and about a woman whose search for a husband has survived even her own tragic death.
Also by Amy Cross
THE BODY AT AUERCLIFF
“We'll bury her so deep, even her ghost will have a mouth full of dirt!”
When Rebecca Wallace arrives at Auercliff to check on her aged aunt, she's in for a shock. Her aunt's mind is crumbling, and the old woman refuses to let Rebecca stay overnight. And just as she thinks she's starting to understand the truth, Rebecca makes a horrifying discovery in one of the house's many spare rooms.
A dead body. A woman. Old and rotten. And her aunt insists she has no idea where it came from.
The truth lies buried in the past. For generations, the occupants of Auercliff have been tormented by the repercussions of a horrific secret. And somehow everything seems to be centered upon the mausoleum in the house's ground, where every member of the family is entombed once they die.
Whose body was left to rot in one of the house's rooms? Why have successive generations of the family been plagued by a persistent scratching sound? And what really happened to Rebecca many years ago, when she found herself locked inside the Auercliff mausoleum?
The Body at Auercliff is a horror story about a family and a house, and about the refusal of the past to stay buried.
OTHER BOOKS
BY AMY CROSS INCLUDE
Horror
Stephen
The Soul Auction
The Girl Who Threw Rocks at the Devil
The Ash House
The Camera Man
The Bride of Ashbyrn House
The Body at Auercliff
Haunted
B&B
Laura
Asylum
Meds (Asylum 2)
Annie's Room
The Farm
The Ghost of Molly Holt
The Curse of Wetherley House
The Ghosts of Lakeforth Hotel
The Haunting of Blackwych Grange
The Ghosts of Hexley Airport
The Devil, the Witch and the Whore (The Deal book 1)
Darper Danver: The Complete First Series
The Disappearance of Katie Wren
The Horror of Devil's Root Lake
The Nurse
American Coven
Eli's Town
The Night Girl
Devil's Briar
The Cabin
After the Cabin
The Ghost of Shapley Hall
A House in London
The Blood House
The Priest Hole (Nykolas Freeman book 1)
Battlefield (Nykolas Freeman book 2)
The Border
Short Story Collections
Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories
Twisted Little Things and Other Stories
The Ghost of Longthorn Manor and Other Stories
The Vampire of Downing Street and Other Stories
Thrillers
The Murder at Skellin Cottage (Jo Mason book 1)
The Return of Rachel Stone (Jo Mason book 2)
The Girl Who Never Came Back
Friend From the Internet
Dystopian / Science Fiction
The Dog
The Island (The Island book 1)
Persona (The Island book 2)
The Abyss (The Island book 3)
