by D. J. McCune
Adam nodded. There was no point arguing about it. It wasn’t like he would have any choice. But as he made his way to Bonehill the next day, he found himself resenting the meeting all the same. He didn’t know Hikaru. He had a vague sense that he had seen him before, on a job somewhere. He knew that the Japanese Luman had two sons, one of whom had already come of age. Nathanial had attended the Marking although the rest of the family hadn’t.
The good weather was still holding. He wished he could spend his lunchtimes walking round with Melissa but for once it wasn’t the Beast stopping them. Melissa was fanatical about her art work and wanted to spend every lunchtime she could in the art rooms. Adam could understand this – at home she didn’t have the time, space or money to get any work done.
At least they got some quiet time together. The art store was pretty much their only chance of privacy. After a very long and hungry kiss, Melissa pulled away from him. ‘Look, I can’t do this every lunchtime. I want to but I really need to get ahead with my coursework. Everyone else is doing loads at home and I just can’t. I’m trying to do some extra things for Luna Kazuna’s gallery show.’
‘It’s OK,’ Adam said. He knew how much it meant to her. In fact, it was one of the things he liked best about her – she didn’t need him around all the time. She had her own life beyond him. It was just as well really; she would have found him a big disappointment otherwise. ‘When is the show again?’
‘November. I’m putting in the painting I did last year but she’s letting us submit two more pieces. If she likes them they’ll go into the show too.’ She hugged him suddenly and laughed. ‘I can’t believe my stuff is going into a real gallery! And Luna is so brilliant!’
Adam grinned against her hair. ‘Yeah, she’s really … unique.’ He could still remember the eccentric artist’s visit to Bonehill the previous year. It had involved a werewolf-sized bodyguard, too many cigarette butts and some seriously revealing clothing. He had a feeling it would stay with people for a long time to come …
Melissa pulled back and made a face. ‘I know you think she’s weird but she’s really not. Anyway, that’s why I have to work so much. But you could come up here on Thursday. And I’m going out on Friday night, with some of my friends.’ She hesitated. ‘It would be really great if you could come. They want to meet you. Ben has been torturing me. He keeps saying I have an imaginary boyfriend.’
Adam grimaced. He’d been avoiding meeting anyone involved with Melissa. If they were like Melissa they would be normal and nice and friendly – which meant they would ask questions and want to know all about him. Which meant more lies to more people. It was a depressing thought but when he saw her hopeful face he couldn’t bear disappointing her again. ‘Yeah, it sounds really good. I mean, I need to check at home. But it should be cool.’
‘Brilliant!’ She kissed him, smiling as she did it.
‘Yay,’ Adam murmured. At that particular moment, he would have promised her exactly anything.
Adam was still smiling on the bus home. Now that the decision was made he felt nervous but happy about meeting Melissa’s friends. Some of them were people she knew from work – and working in Alter Eden and hanging out on Flip Street all the time meant that Adam was guaranteed to be the least cool person there. He didn’t care though. The only person he wanted to impress was Melissa – and happily he could do that just by showing up.
But on Wednesday evening his hopes were dashed. After dinner, when he was up in his room working, there was a hesitant knock on the door. A moment later Nathanial poked his head around the frame. ‘Sorry to disturb you, Adam.’
‘It’s OK. Is everything all right?’ Adam put his pen down, wondering what had prompted the visit. He couldn’t remember the last time his father had come up to the top floor.
‘Yes, everything’s fine, thank you. In fact, I have some good news. I’ve just heard back from Hikaru and he’s given us a time to call. He’s very busy so it’s good of him to fit us in at such short notice. We’ll be going there on Saturday morning.’
Adam nodded. ‘OK. At least I won’t miss school.’ He hoped Hikaru wasn’t an early riser.
Nathanial smiled. ‘Well of course you won’t miss school! It will be late in the evening.’
Adam stared at him first with puzzlement and then dismay. ‘You mean we’re meeting him …’
‘On Saturday morning, Japanese time. In our time it will be Friday evening. We’ll be joining the family for breakfast so we’ll just have a light evening meal here.’
‘But …’ Adam began – then tailed off. What was the point in saying anything? Sorry, I can’t go and meet the High Luman of Japan, who’s graciously fitting us into his busy schedule, because I want to go and hang out with the girlfriend I’m not allowed to have. It was a lost cause. He gritted his teeth and sighed. ‘OK.’
Nathanial frowned, looking disappointed. ‘I thought you’d be happy about the visit, Adam. It’s a great honour to be invited to Hikaru’s house. And of course it adds credibility to your trip to Japan, should any of the Concilium express … doubts about its appropriateness.’
Adam scowled. He had no need to ask who his father was talking about. ‘When’s he coming? Darian?’
‘We haven’t heard anything yet. I believe he’s been talking with some of the other British Lumen. And if his investigations don’t uncover anything untoward, he may well realise his mistake and leave the Kingdom.’
From Nathanial’s face he could tell that his father didn’t believe that any more than he did, which was just as well. The sooner he realised the threat that Darian posed to them, the better.
And now he had another problem to deal with: letting Melissa down. He went into school on Thursday morning, feeling apprehensive. It wasn’t like he hadn’t disappointed her before. How many strikes was he going to get before she finally gave up on him?
He broke the news to her at lunchtime. ‘I’m really sorry. It’s just … he’s this guy my father works with sometimes. He lives overseas. It’s really hard to see him and … we have to meet him.’
She was disappointed. ‘Prison-dad strikes again,’ she said, only half joking.
He smiled and kissed her but she was off with him. After a few minutes she said that she needed to get on with her work. Adam nodded and hugged her. ‘I’m really sorry. I want to meet your friends. We’ll do it another night.’
‘Yeah,’ she said but her face was saying something different – and Adam didn’t like it.
Chapter 12
t was depressing coming home from school on Friday. As Adam ate dinner he tried not to think about what he could have been doing right then. There was still no sign of Darian, which was a relief for everyone but no one could completely relax. He could appear at any moment; the spectre at the feast.
The evening dragged by. Luc had disappeared out as soon as dinner was over. Aron was on duty handling the call-outs and Chloe and Elise had gone up to their rooms early. By eleven o’clock Adam was yawning and wishing he could go to bed and crash out with some music on. Instead he was changing into his good suit and trying to flatten his sandy hair into a semi-respectable state. He glared at his reflection in the mirror. Right now he should have been somewhere on Flip Street with his arms round Melissa, kissing her. They should have spent a whole evening kissing and talking and eating pizza, like normal people did. At the very least he should have been taking his clothes off (albeit on his own), not getting dressed and going to have breakfast in Japan in the middle of the night.
He stomped downstairs, seething with resentment, and sloped into the den. Auntie Jo was perched on the sofa, laptop on her knee. Instead of a slasher film there was a different kind of horror playing out on the TV: lots of people in Lycra leaping about in unison and screeching motivational slogans. Adam winced. ‘I would so much rather have zombies.’
‘A few of this lot are definitely from the zombie genus,’ Auntie Jo said. She glanced up. ‘All set for your big night out?’
‘Not really,’ he said sourly. It could have been a big night out but Nathanial and Hikaru had thwarted that particular plan. He nodded at the TV. ‘Can we put something else on? I mean, sitting here watching it doesn’t actually count as exercise.’
Auntie Jo sighed and passed him the remote. ‘I know but I like to try and trick my body into thinking it’s doing something.’
Adam flicked through the channels until he found something stupid and gory enough to satisfy both of them. They sat and watched in companionable silence (broken only by occasional bouts of mocking the stupidity of the average horror film hero) until Nathanial came in just before midnight. Like Adam he was smartly dressed, although unlike Adam this was nothing unusual.
‘Ready to go?’
Adam nodded. He gave Auntie Jo a mock salute as she trilled, ‘Have fun!’
Nathanial led the way out into the garden. It was a little cooler tonight and there was a fresh, green smell in the air. Adam looked around at the street lamps glowing beyond the trees. Sam and Morty barked in greeting but fell quiet at Nathanial’s command. In a moment all this would be behind them and they would be blinking in the daylight of a new morning in Japan.
They stepped into the Hinterland and the world became even dimmer and quieter. Nathanial turned to Adam. ‘Hikaru has placed our Keystone out in readiness so we’ll have no problem finding our way. I know you haven’t been there before so it might be best if you hold my arm. I have a clearer picture of where we’re aiming for.’
Adam nodded, and clasped his father’s wrist, feeling awkward. He closed his eyes and listened to Nathanial’s voice. ‘At the foot of the mountains there’s a house in traditional Japanese style. The gardens are laid out in grass and trees. There’s a pond with carp and a stone bench beside it …’ He was talking softly, giving small details, trying to create the scene for Adam until – there, a hook, at the back of his throat. Adam could see it … feel it … he squeezed Nathanial’s arm, feeling the pull of the Keystone where it lay in Hikaru’s garden and a second later they swooped.
The sensation was never pleasant for Adam but when he opened his eyes he was blinking in daylight. He put his hand to his nose and when he examined his fingers a single drop of blood was smeared across the tips. Nathanial passed him a handkerchief wordlessly and he cleaned himself up, looking around, mesmerised by their surroundings.
The place Nathanial had tried to conjure up in words was all around them. The house was three storeys of white plaster, interspersed with dark beams, the roof curving on top. They were standing at the far end of a long, ornamental garden, dotted with trees and stone benches. There was a small shrine with bright flags hanging from a cord. Behind them was a vast pond, as still as glass, reflecting the sky above. The mountains rose up all around them, the house a small oasis in an otherwise wild and empty landscape.
They stepped out of the Hinterland and into a new morning in a new world. The air was cold and fresh and thin. Nathanial bent down and picked up the Mortson Keystone placed reverently in the open hands of a stone Buddha, a long, smooth oblong, just a portion of a full-sized Keystone. He slipped it into an inner pocket of his camel-hair coat and they started towards the house, Nathanial murmuring instructions to Adam as they walked. ‘We’ll remove our shoes when we step into the genkan – the entrance porch. Assume we’ll bow, rather than shaking hands. Just follow my lead and you’ll be fine.’
As they reached the house the door opened. A small, slim Japanese man emerged, smiling at Nathanial. He bowed in greeting and they did the same – but he followed up by clasping Nathanial’s hand warmly between his own smaller hands. ‘Welcome, Nathanial Mortson. Welcome to my home. It is an honour.’ He turned and reached for Adam’s hand. ‘And welcome to you, Adam Mortson.’
Adam muttered something polite in return, feeling awkward. They followed Hikaru through the door into the genkan, the low hallway where shoes were removed. He gestured to a small step up into the main house. ‘There are slippers for your comfort.’ They followed his lead and kicked off their shoes, stepping into beautifully embroidered silk slippers. Adam’s feet just about fitted in but Nathanial’s heels hung over the back. Of course he made no mention of it, already moving forward to greet Hikaru’s family. There were two sons, Daichi and Hayan, both older than Adam, and two daughters around Chloe’s age called Hoshi and Megumi. Hikaru’s wife Rita welcomed them warmly. She was small and dark-haired with a strong Spanish accent. She bowed but followed up by kissing Nathanial and Adam on both cheeks.
Adam followed everyone else into a low room with walls made of glass. It overlooked the gardens and the mountains beyond. The floor was covered in smooth, springy tatami matting, the edges bound together with pale cord. The walls were painted a soft grey, broken at intervals by exquisite paintings in subdued colours. Two vases stood side by side, each containing a mixture of bamboo and foliage, and the main wall was broken by a recess containing a floral arrangement in a plain vase and a paper plaque hanging above, painted with calligraphy. The whole scene conveyed a sense of calm and order, the same kind of feeling Adam got when he stepped into his father’s study.
Rita waved them towards a long, low, lacquered table laid with small bowls and chopsticks. ‘Please join us for breakfast.’
Adam tried to kneel the way Hikaru’s family did but it was amazing how quickly it began to hurt. He decided to copy Nathanial and sat down cross-legged. Rita and her daughters served food, although it wasn’t the kind of breakfast Adam was familiar with. There was rice, soup and pieces of fish. There were vegetables chopped finely and a thin, brown sauce to dip them in. He felt a twinge of relief when a final platter appeared covered in small pastries, along with some chopped-up fruit. Rita smiled at him. He had a feeling this was the kind of food she had grown up with.
They ate and drank, enjoying the morning sunshine. Nathanial admired the garden and Hikaru talked about the principles behind it; the way everything fitted together to create something in harmony with the landscape beyond. There was no sign of any other human life. It was beautiful but the remoteness of it all made Adam feel twitchy. At least in London he could leave the Luman world behind him; hop on a bus and go to school or Flip Street or anywhere normal. Here there would be no escape.
Their visit might have seemed like a social call but Hikaru was a busy man, overseeing a Kingdom teeming with souls. The women cleared the food as soon as it was finished and the two sons bowed deeply and left the room. Rita served tea to her husband and visitors, dark green in tiny, exquisite, handle-less cups. She smiled and padded across the tatami, sliding the screened doors closed behind her.
Hikaru’s manner changed subtly although his words were still hospitable. ‘I am delighted to see you, Nathanial, and most glad to see your son almost grown.’
‘Thank you for having us. As you say, Adam is approaching manhood. I hope that in the near future he will be Marked and join us in our work.’
‘I believe you still attend a school establishment, Adam?’ At Adam’s startled nod, Hikaru inclined his head. ‘As you can imagine, it is most unusual for a Luman of your age and standing to have continued in education. Unorthodox – but it interests me. I share your love of learning.’ He turned away and looked out over his domain. ‘Had I been born into a different life, I believe I would have chosen to work in a university. Of course, for a Luman the road we follow is laid out from birth.’ His face was placid.
‘Adam is aware of this, Hikaru.’ Was there just the faintest hint of an edge to Nathanial’s voice? ‘His time at school is drawing to a close and soon he will fully commit himself to our work. To ease this transition we have agreed that Adam should have one last opportunity to experience life beyond our world. He will soon be visiting Japan with his friends on a school trip.’
The last words sounded awkward coming from Nathanial’s mouth. Hikaru raised his eyebrows. ‘That is most understanding of you. Perhaps you have reason to believe this will help Adam’s … adjustment.’
There wa
s a silence, filled with the ghostly, unmentionable presence of another Mortson who had found the adjustment impossible. Looking at his father, Adam could trace some of the same features he had only seen in his uncle’s photograph. The difference was that Lucian’s eyes had held the haunted expression of someone adrift.
Nathanial cleared his throat. ‘I see this as an opportunity to learn more about our own world too. With that in mind I would like to offer you his assistance while he is here.’
Hikaru nodded. He picked up the porcelain teapot and poured more of the green tea into Nathanial’s cup. When he put it down Nathanial immediately poured tea into Hikaru’s cup in return. The Luman murmured his thanks. His face was impassive but his eyes had narrowed a little. He looked like a man who was puzzling over something. Nathanial didn’t seem surprised at this but sat drinking his tea. Adam tried to do the same but the tea had a rich, mulchy taste that made him grimace. He set the cup down.
At last Hikaru nodded. ‘Thank you for your generous offer. I have little knowledge of the kind of visit your son will make but I imagine he will be with his fellow pupils at most times?’ At Adam’s nod he frowned a little. ‘It would seem important to be discreet about our Luman world and take no action that might reveal it for scrutiny. I believe there will be limited opportunity for Adam to accompany me without arousing suspicion – but if such an opportunity should arise,’ and he turned to Adam, ‘I invite you to visit us here.’
Adam glanced at Nathanial and at his father’s slight frown he said, ‘Thank you.’
Hikaru turned to Nathanial. ‘And as much as it is in my power to do so, I will watch over Adam while he is in my Kingdom.’
‘Thank you, Hikaru.’ Nathanial looked satisfied. He picked up his tea and raised it in a toast to the other man. ‘We are grateful for your kindness.’
