A knock on the big wooden doors makes both of us jump.
‘Anyone in there?’ It’s Freddie’s voice.
Father Gowlett looks at me frantically. ‘You mustn’t let them know I know. And be careful, Mariel. Your cousins are deadly.’
‘But why am I not affected?’
‘You’re different.’
‘That’s what Lily said. What do you mean?’ He turns to get the door but I grab his sleeve. ‘You must tell me.’
He pulls himself free from my grip. ‘The gene follows a very specific pattern,’ he says.
‘What pattern?’
Freddie bangs on the door again.
‘Coming!’ shouts Father Gowlett. He turns to me and whispers, ‘The Lycan gene is passed down through carriers of the opposite sex so it only continued through Flora’s sons. But it always skips a generation so none of them have it themselves.’
‘But if it’s passed down through the opposite sex, shouldn’t it only affect the girls?’
‘No. Your uncles are all carriers. All of their children, regardless of their sex, may develop the condition.
‘Now, I must open the door. Promise me you’ll stay indoors at night, Mariel.’ Father Gowlett walks up the aisle and throws open the door. Light spills into the church. On the other side of the door Freddie stands in perfect silhouette.
‘I was about to find a battering ram and break the door down.’ He laughs. ‘Hi, Father. Come on, Mariel, Rob’s got the engine running.’
‘Rob?’ I say.
‘My dad,’ says Freddie. ‘He doesn’t like it when I call him dad. Says it makes him feel old.’
Uncle Robson is sitting in the driving seat of a red sports car with music blaring out of the radio. Freddie opens the passenger door and pulls the seat forward to let me climb into the back. I look over my shoulder for Father Gowlett but he has disappeared inside the church.
‘How do you like the new set of wheels, Mariel?’ asks Uncle Robson.
‘Very nice,’ I reply.
‘Nice?’ he yells over the music. ‘I pick her up in this limited edition Aston Martin DB5 and she calls it nice.’ He laughs.
‘It’s great,’ I say.
Freddie pushes the seat back and sits next to his dad. ‘Rob just bought this car. There are only fifty exactly like it in the country.’
‘And I don’t mind telling you, it cost a fair packet,’ shouts Uncle Robson.
‘Where’s Mum?’ I yell back.
‘She’s back at the flat, probably enjoying the fifty-two-inch widescreen or the jacuzzi we just had installed. Oh yes, you’ve just upgraded by coming to stay with us. Buckle up.’
Uncle Robson puts his foot on the accelerator and I quickly grab the seat belt and put it on. With the revving engine and the blasting radio, I notice passers-by turning to see what is making the noise as we speed down through the little villages into Chilton.
Freddie swivels round to talk to me but it still doesn’t occur to either of them to turn down the music. ‘What were you doing at church anyway?’ he asks with a mischievous smile.
‘Father Gowlett said a prayer for Grandma.’
It surprises me how funny Freddie finds this. ‘Grandma used to say the only bit of religion she liked were the sacrifices.’ He winks at me and I am in no doubt that the others have told him that I know.
‘The problem I have with all that religion stuff is the whole business of waiting for your rewards in heaven,’ says Uncle Robson. ‘To be honest, I’d rather get my rewards a bit sooner. As I see it, I work hard therefore I’ve earned the right to a few rewards now, like this car, and wait until you see the flat. We’ve just had the roof terrace done. We’re having a big family get-together up there tomorrow.’
The red light turns to amber and Uncle Robson accelerates so quickly that I am pushed back into my seat.
I am glad when the car finally stops in the underground garage because I am beginning to feel travel-sick. Freddie lifts up the seat and I step out. Next to us is the hire car Mum and I arrived in.
We cross the car park to a lift with a sliding metal grate.
‘This place used to be a pea factory,’ says Uncle Robson, ‘but the company went out of business years ago. It was just a shell when I first found it.’
‘A pea shell,’ says Freddie. It sounds like a well-rehearsed joke.
I force out a fake laugh.
‘Yep, I saw the place had potential,’ says Uncle Robson, answering a question I didn’t ask. ‘A wad of cash, a bit of time and a whole lot of hard work later and the old pea factory is now ten luxury flats in the heart of Chilton. The biggest of which belongs to yours truly.’
‘It used to have millions of peas, now it’s worth millions of pounds,’ adds Freddie.
I wonder how many times they have told this story with the same bad jokes. The lift takes us to the top floor. We step out and I follow them into the flat.
They both turn to look at me for a reaction as we enter and, even though I don’t want to be, it is difficult not to be impressed by the flat. It has large windows from the floor to the high ceiling that boast a view of Chilton’s skyline. I can see the curve of the canal that runs through its centre. The walls of the flat are decorated with expensive-looking artwork and the biggest flatscreen television I have ever seen. Mum is sitting on a large L-shaped sofa.
‘Hello, love,’ she says. ‘How was church?’
It is such a simple question. But what is the answer? I learnt that her mother murdered her father. I discovered that I’m not the only one who knows about my cousins transforming into wild creatures every night. I know the reason her mother cared so little for her and the reason her father warned us to stay away. If only he had explained that it would never be safe to return, even after Grandma’s death, then we could have carried on as we were, just the two of us, ‘our compact little family unit’. I tell her church was OK.
Freddie shows me the room I’ll be sleeping in, which has glass doors that lead out on to a small balcony. I follow him out but I stay away from the edge. I have learnt my lesson about my cousins and heights.
‘Don’t be nervous,’ he says. ‘I’m not like Oberon.’
There is no chance of being heard by Mum and Uncle Robson but I am still surprised he refers so casually to Oberon’s attempt to kill me. The secret of my cousins’ curse doesn’t seem to weigh him down like it does the others.
He laughs. ‘Even if you did fall, it’s not exactly far.’
I see that below the balcony is another part of the building easily near enough to jump to without hurting myself.
‘My room’s up there.’ He points to another balcony above. ‘There’s a way out over the roofs. I’ll show you tonight. You can come with me.’
‘That’s very kind of you but no thanks,’ I say.
‘You’re not scared are you?’
‘Just because two nights ago my cousins turned into wolves and tried to kill me? No, why would I be scared?’
‘Listen, Mariel, I can see why Oberon and Elspeth might freak you out but you haven’t seen what fun it can be. I’m not going to harm you.’
‘I don’t want to go anywhere. I’ll be just fine here, thanks.’
Uncle Robson appears at the doorway. ‘Hey, Fred, I was thinking we’d go out tonight for a bite to eat, show our guests a bit of the nightlife of Chilton.’
‘Excellent idea, Rob,’ says Freddie. ‘I was just saying the same thing.’
Chapter 15
A Night out
The restaurant Uncle Robson takes us to is really smart and all the other customers look like they have a lot of money. The food is so expensive that Mum flinches when she sees the menu. Uncle Robson sees this too and says, ‘Don’t worry, Lynda. Tonight’s on me.’ Mum politely protests but gives in soon enough. A waiter brings a bottle of wine and says, ‘Would you or your wife like to taste it?’ he asks.
Everyone laughs at this and Uncle Robson says that his sister will try the wine, which makes the
waiter apologise. Once he has gone Uncle Robson says, ‘He must be new. I come here with enough different women.’
‘Any potential marriage material?’ asks Mum.
‘No way. After Sophie and I divorced, I decided that was it for marriage and me.’
Mum says, ‘How long ago did you and she split?’
‘Freddie was four so however long that is.’
‘How did you decide who Freddie stayed with?’ she asks.
Uncle Robson takes a sip of wine and says, ‘Sophie wanted custody but as you can imagine Mum was pretty fierce about the whole thing.’ He puts on a voice and says, ‘No grandchild of mine is going to be brought up by a stranger.’
‘Did you go to court?’ asks Mum.
‘No. In the end Sophie agreed to let Freddie decide for himself. It was Mum’s idea and she could hardly argue with it. He decided to stay with me. Good job, eh? What did you say her husband drives, Fred?’
‘A ten-year-old Ford Focus.’
They both laugh.
Grandma worked so hard to make sure all of her grandchildren stayed nearby and had the ability to slip out of their homes at night.
‘You made a four-year-old choose between his parents? That’s terrible, Rob,’ Mum sounds appalled.
I completely agree with her so I’m surprised to hear myself say, ‘It’s more choice than I ever had.’
It’s an awkward moment and everyone looks grateful when the waiter comes back with our drinks. By the time we’ve ordered food, the conversation has moved on. During the meal, Uncle Robson and Mum talk while Freddie amuses me by pointing out people in the restaurant and guessing what they are saying, putting on funny voices, some of which make me laugh so much that I snort drink out of my nose, making us both giggle even more. It feels good to laugh. Freddie puts such energy into enjoying himself that it makes it difficult to think about everything else and there are moments when I forget about the horror of Friday night.
After the meal, back at the apartment, Mum stays up with Uncle Robson but I’m tired and go to bed. I want to avoid Freddie until morning but he comes to my room to say goodnight and whispers, ‘I’ll knock on the window when they’ve gone to sleep and we’ll slip out.’
‘No, I told you, I’m not going,’ I reply.
‘I’ll see you later,’ he says with a grin. I can tell he thinks he’ll be able to persuade me.
I struggle to draw the curtains until I realise there’s a button that operates them automatically. I sit on the bed and watch them slowly close, shutting out the moon, which is so big and has such a luminous glow that if I didn’t know otherwise I would have said it was full. I press the button and the curtains open, allowing me to look at it again. The face I’ve seen in it before looks different tonight. It feels like it is staring straight at me. I shut the curtains again and get into bed.
I lie awake for an hour or so, unable to sleep for the anticipation of the tap on the window I know is coming. When it comes, I say, ‘Leave me alone,’ but Freddie taps again.
I get up, dress and press the button to open the curtain. He is sitting on the ledge. It’s Freddie all right but he is no longer human. His body is covered in long brown hair. The whites of his eyes are now red. He smiles. It’s strange how even after the change my cousins are recognisably themselves.
‘Open the door,’ says Freddie.
‘Go away,’ I say. ‘I’m not going anywhere with you.’
‘I’m hardly going to attack you here, in my home,’ he says.
He’s such an amazing-looking creature that I understand why Father Gowlett described my grandma as beautiful. Part of me wants to reach out and touch him, to check that he is real. I slide the door open. The icy night air makes me shiver.
Freddie grins, displaying his long white teeth. ‘On Friday afternoon you had no idea this was possible,’ he says. ‘You lived in the same boring world as everyone else. But Friday night your world got bigger, didn’t it? I’ve known about this since I was five years old, but you . . . You must be questioning everything you thought you knew. And you’re telling me you’re happy to turn your back on it all and go back to sleep like all these other humans?’ He turns his head and motions to the rest of the city.
‘How long have you been working on that speech then?’ I ask.
Again, the grin. ‘About an hour. How was it?’
‘Great. I’m not going.’
Freddie stretches his legs and arches his back. In the moonlight I can see not just the hair that covers his body but the curves of his muscles, his strong legs and powerful shoulders.
‘Why not?’ he says.
‘I don’t trust you. If you kill me, you can become the pack leader.’
Freddie steps down and brings his face closer to mine. Even as a wolf, there is an attractive symmetry to his features.
‘If I had wanted to kill you, I’d have done it when you were sitting in that tree,’ he says.
I suddenly realise his are the same eyes that I saw a few nights ago, up on the hill.
‘That was you?’
‘Yes, and if I wanted you to come to any harm I’d have howled and brought the others. But I didn’t want you involved . . .’
‘What’s changed?’
‘Now you are involved. And don’t you want to find out more? You won’t get many more chances. You’ve only got a few days left here before you fly back home to Australia. And even if Oberon and Elspeth did come I would protect you. You’d be safe.’
It isn’t that Freddie’s words are so persuasive that they stop me being scared, but my thirst to learn more about this world is strong and Freddie’s words convince me it’s safe to go. And that’s all they need to do.
‘Hold on.’ I go back into the room and pull on my coat and boots then return to the balcony.
Freddie jumps down to the roof below and without another thought I climb over the railing and follow him.
I land heavily and for a moment I feel that same confusion as when I awake from sleepwalking. The Mariel that jumped feels like a different person to the one who landed. I straighten up and look back.
‘There’s only one way back in and that’s to follow me,’ says Freddie, his eyes glowing red. He runs along the roof and disappears off the end. The next roof we land on slopes and we have to keep moving to avoid falling. There are another couple of easy jumps before we reach a fire escape that takes us down to the ground.
‘This is a mistake,’ I say. ‘I want to go back now.’
Freddie lifts his head to reveal a set of keys hanging around his neck. ‘Unless you’ve got your own set then you have two choices. Come with me or sit here and wait for me to return, hoping that Oberon and Elspeth aren’t out tonight.’
He turns his back and walks along the pavement, his tail swishing casually behind him. After a moment’s consideration I go after him.
‘Come on, we’re going this way,’ he says.
We go down a dark overgrown path. We step out on to the canal towpath where the still water reflects the moon. We both stop to look at it. ‘How does the moon affect you?’ I ask.
‘We’re most powerful when it’s full but as our power grows so does the wolf’s voice.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘When the moon is full, we are more wolf than human. It’s when we’re most careless. That’s why in the stories they say we only change once a month. It’s the time we’re most likely to get seen.’
‘But you don’t seem any different to me.’
‘Being the wolf doesn’t change who you are. Oberon is as greedy a wolf as he is a human, Elspeth was born crazy and I’m just as much fun whatever.’
‘So what does the voice say?’
He turns to look at me, the red of his eyes like blood. ‘It tells us to kill kill kill,’ he says. He laughs. ‘But don’t worry, we can control what we kill. I’m not going to hurt you.’
Freddie stops and sniffs the air. ‘There are people up there.’
‘I can’t se
e anyone,’ I reply.
‘I can smell the flesh of two food sources on the water around the next bend so that’s either two humans on a boat or two very large ducks.’ He grins at me then adds, ‘I can’t be seen.’ He disappears into the undergrowth. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be right next to you.’
I turn the corner and see a longboat on the canal. There is light coming from it and two male voices. I feel more vulnerable on my own. The men sound drunk. They are sitting on top of the boat in deckchairs. There are two pinpricks of light from the cigarettes they’re smoking.
I speed up but one of them notices me. ‘Hello.’
I keep walking.
‘Nice evening for a stroll,’ says the other.
I don’t look at them as I pass.
‘Hey, don’t be unfriendly now,’ says one. ‘Why not stop for a beer?’
Both of them slur their words.
‘We only want a little chat.’
Behind me, I hear them both jump off the boat and follow.
‘Out late on your lonesome, aren’t you?’ says one.
‘I’m walking my dog. Leave me alone.’
My heart pounds.
One of the men gets in front of me and blocks my way.
The other is behind me. ‘What dog?’ he says. ‘I don’t see any dog. Here doggy dog.’
‘He’s in the bushes,’ I say.
The man pulls out a silver lighter, flicks it open, mocking me by pretending to use it to look. Suddenly there’s a throaty growl and he flies into the water. Freddie is so fast I barely see him move. There is a second splash as the other man is pushed into the canal.
‘Come on,’ Freddie whispers.
I run after him. The fear I feel explodes from me as laughter. Freddie allows me to catch up. I see he’s holding the man’s silver lighter between his jaws.
‘What is it about silver?’ I ask.
‘Silver calls to us,’ he replies. ‘I don’t know why, something about the way it shines in the moonlight. If you were a wolf, your instinct would to be to tear it from me.’
‘But aren’t you afraid of the others?’
‘No, none of the others would dare to attack me.’
The Considine Curse Page 9
