Fading Light

by Nick Cook

  Her dark eyes finally slid towards mine. For a moment, once again, I had the strangest feeling that I’d known her all my life. But Gemma’s eyes widened and her expression became one of confusion and fear. She scrabbled away from me along the ledge to the far side of the sewer.

  ‘It’s all right. You’re safe now,’ I said.

  ‘But you’re one of them – the Awoken who killed my parents!’ She pointed her hand at me and closed her eyes as a demon started to materialise around her.

  ‘Stop—’ I began, but the mind-storm smashed into me and a sudden fierce wind slammed me into the wall.

  Gemma reached forward, and like a puppet her demon did the same, clamping its clawed hand round my chest. Pain blazed through my body and white spots swam into my vision as I felt my ribs threatening to splinter.

  My jaw jammed together but I managed to force words out, even though I could barely breathe. ‘That’s not what happened – it was the Shade that killed your parents.’

  ‘Liar!’ she screamed.

  Her demon raised me from the ledge, over her head. Gemma stared up at me, her hair flowing around her in the supernatural wind. Fear swept through me as I felt the power radiating through the creature’s grip. This thing could crush me to death in a split second.

  But I could feel the mental link to her growing, could feel her thoughts in my mind like my own. And if I could sense her thoughts then maybe she could sense mine too…

  I concentrated and put everything I could into visualising a series of memories that would hopefully show her the truth…

  When I’d been only twelve and Clarke had appeared on my doorstep to tell me Dad had been killed in an explosion…

  Gemma stared at me, confusion all over her face.

  I conjured up the memory of when the shadow crows had chased me through the park in Stoneham and the fear I’d felt as the world as I’d known it was turned upside down.

  The wind’s howl wavered.

  Another memory – back in the research lab when Langton transformed into the shadow man and the despair I’d felt as I watched Dave being attacked by him.

  The demon’s crushing grip slackened on my chest.

  And now to hit Gemma with the hardest truth of all…

  I recalled the moment that Clarke had told us how the Shade had killed Gemma’s parents, and the look on his face as he relived the memory that had haunted him – so much so that he had sacrificed his life to prevent Gavin killing me.

  Gemma’s face crumpled and she screamed with pure, raw grief. At once the demon around her vanished.

  Freed, I fell into the icy black water and dropped beneath the surface. I kicked against the current to stop it taking hold of me. As I broke the surface, the silence was deafening. Then I heard someone quietly sobbing. With every muscle aching, I pulled myself back on to the ledge. I shifted my vision to thermal and saw Gemma had pulled up her knees and buried her face into them.

  I crawled to her side and leant back against the wall, allowing my breath to slow, giving her space, time…whatever she needed.

  Gemma raised her tear-streaked face to me. ‘They lied to me, Jake, and I believed them.’

  ‘Only because they’d hypnotised you, Gemma. The Shade are experts at twisting things like that.’

  Her eyes searched my face. ‘Memories are starting to come back to me. I helped them capture your friend, Chloe, back in Big Ben, didn’t I?’

  ‘Yes, but you didn’t know what you were doing.’

  Fresh tears flowed down her face as she shook her head.

  ‘None of this is your fault…’

  But I thought of Paul and Allan too, other souls who’d been stolen away. My eyes stung as I looked away from Gemma, staring at the slime-covered wall opposite.

  Gemma buried her face back into her knees. ‘What have I done, Jake?’

  I reached out and gently rubbed her back as she started to sob again, while my soul ached for what might have been.

  Chapter Twenty

  I sat slumped against the wall, my head tipped back against the cold brickwork. Gemma, now wrapped in my jacket, rested herself on me for warmth.

  She’d cried all the tears she had, for now at least. She was soaked, filthy and exhausted, but thankfully calmer.

  I turned on my phone torch for her benefit and illuminated the curved brickwork overhead. How were Ethan and Domino doing up there? Had they managed to escape?

  ‘You’re worried about your friends, aren’t you?’ Gemma said, peering at me.

  ‘I am. There’s every chance that they’ve been grabbed by the Shade by now. I’ve already lost too many people close to me.’

  Her expression fell. ‘And all because of me.’

  ‘No. Everything, and I mean everything, is the Shade’s fault and always has been.’

  Her shoulders lifted a fraction. ‘If there’s anything I can do to help you make things right, I will, Jake.’

  ‘I already know that, Gemma.’

  ‘Good…’ Her attention focused on the water. ‘There’s a question I need to ask you.’

  ‘Go ahead.’

  ‘How was it that I could hear your thoughts in my head just now?’

  ‘I’m not sure to be honest…but I could hear yours too.’

  ‘Gem – that’s what my friends call me.’

  ‘So you see me as a friend now?’

  She gazed into my eyes. ‘You did just save my life, Jake.’

  ‘I did, didn’t I…Gem?’

  The corners of her mouth curled up. ‘So this mind-link thing, is that another Awoken ability?’

  ‘I guess so.’

  ‘You mean you don’t know?’

  ‘It’s something that we’ve never come across before. But it’s strange, because if there’s anyone I should have some sort of psychic link with, it should be Chloe.’

  ‘She’s someone special then?’

  ‘Very.’

  Gem gave me another small smile and nodded. She scooped her curly hair over her ears and gazed back down at the inky water. ‘How are we going to get out of here? The last thing I remember was being swept into the underwater tunnel.’

  ‘The current must have dragged us down through it and into this chamber. I do have an idea that may help us find our way out, but I need to check something first.’ I closed my eyes and shifted my vision to the X-ray frequency, dialling it up to the maximum.

  Gem’s jaw dropped and her head turned left and right. ‘Where did you go, Jake?’

  ‘Don’t worry, I’m still here, just invisible because I’m shifting. I’ll reappear in a moment when I’ve finished and return to the Real.’

  ‘OK…’

  Behind the brick walls, I could see thick electricity cables and pipes criss-crossing through the soil. I could even see worms wriggling through the clay. But the most jaw-dropping sight was far beneath us. The faint outline of a Tube train was visible, trundling slowly through a tunnel. With my X-ray vision I could even see the skeletons of its driver and passengers. All very freaky, but also very cool. More relevant to our situation, and much closer, was the underwater tunnel that continued from our chamber to a second chamber about twenty metres away. Leading from that were several other tunnels – but they were dry.

  ‘OK, I think I’ve found a way out,’ I said as I shifted back into the Real.

  ‘God, you made me jump reappearing like that,’ Gem said.

  ‘I’ll teach you how to do the same when we have more time.’

  ‘You think we’re going to get out of this alive?’

  It was a straight question and deserved a straight answer. ‘I’m certainly going to give it my best shot. I haven’t come this far to give up now. The only downside of this plan is that we’re going to have to go back underwater again, but just for a short distance.’

  Gem shivered. ‘You know I can’t swim, right?’

  ‘No problem – I’ll tow you through.’

  ‘All right, although I hate being so helpless and I’m no
t going to pretend to like it. But OK, I’m putting my life in your hands again, Jake.’

  I looked at this woman. She was half frightened to death, yet already trusted me enough to do this. It seemed impossible that the same person had a demon wrapped round her less than ten minutes ago. But this was the same woman whom I felt as though I’d known my whole life. Talking to her now was only increasing that sense of uncanny familiarity between us. What was going on here?

  I gave Gem my phone to hold, slipped off the ledge and tensed at the touch of the heat-leaching grip of cold water around my body. The pull of the current grabbed hold of me and I had to hang on to the side of the ledge to avoid being dragged away deeper into the sewer network.

  I extended my other hand towards Gem. ‘Are you ready?’

  ‘Nope, but I don’t much fancy starving to death in here either.’

  Her hand wrapped round mine and I could feel her trembling as she slid into the water by my side.

  ‘Hold on to my neck and I’ll guide us through.’

  Gem did as I asked, her breath warm on my ear. I couldn’t help but be aware of her body pressing into my mine, but there wasn’t time to be distracted. What I was about to try needed a hundred per cent concentration, because once we dived beneath the surface there would be way too much going on.

  I pocketed my mobile and the suffocating darkness pressed in on us. ‘Deep breath, Gem.’

  I heard her suck in some air.

  ‘Here we go!’ I grabbed a lungful of air too, ducked underwater and let go of the ledge.

  We were swept away, the water grabbing us, bellowing noise pressing in on my eardrums.

  One, two, three, I counted off in my head. I felt the current beginning to ease around us and slacken over our heads. We had already made it to the next chamber. I kicked hard and we broke the surface.

  I heard Gem gulping in air as I reached out. Bricks skimmed under my touch – just a few more seconds and we would be carried even deeper into the sewers and underwater again…where we’d almost certainly drown.

  My hand clawed into a broken brick and we came to a shuddering stop. I felt around it and found another ledge. I quickly brought my legs up, my feet scrabbling on the tunnel’s wall beneath the surface. With my muscles protesting, I pulled us both up and slid us on to a wet brick floor.

  Gem released the lock of her arms round my neck and panted in the utter darkness.

  A shiver passed through me. God, I was seriously cold.

  An idea popped into my mind, so obvious that I wondered why I hadn’t thought of it before. I held out my palm and lit a sphere of plasma strong enough to cast a light out around us. More importantly, it gave out a steady, gentle heat. I saw an almost dry tunnel leading away at right angles from this new chamber.

  Gem stared at the fireball floating above my palm. ‘Really?’

  ‘Yes – another ability from the Awoken playbook. There’s quite a long list to brief you on.’

  She shivered as she nodded.

  I increased the strength of my fireball, just enough to warm us through while not risking incinerating my hand.

  ‘You are a seriously useful person to know in a crisis,’ Gem said, her eyes reflecting the light like two perfect stars.

  I smiled at her. ‘I hope so. Come on, let’s get you out of here.’ I stood up and, taking Gem’s hand in mine, pulled her back to her feet.

  I was almost too exhausted to think, let alone talk. We’d walked in silence, my fireball lighting the way, through yet another sewer with a ribbon of smelly water running along the water. I glanced at my diver’s watch. It had been twenty minutes since we’d started to negotiate our way through this labyrinth of tunnels.

  I paused to shift my vision, this time to infrared, hoping to catch a glimpse of an exit. Still nothing. God only knew what Gem made of the guy next to her vanishing all the time. I knew if I had been in her place, I would have been scared to death by now.

  A booming sound sent ripples eddying through the water that trickled along the bottom of the tunnel.

  ‘God, what now?’ Gem asked.

  ‘With the Shade, anything is possible.’

  A second rumble reverberated within the sewer walls. Maybe Archios himself, the shadow man, was coming to track us down and finish what Mathews had started?

  But Gem’s face relaxed into a smile. ‘It’s a thunderstorm, Jake.’

  Relief swept through me. ‘Of course it is.’ But then a fresh worry took its place. If the storm was intensifying, did that mean the new DEC was getting closer to achieving critical mass? How long did London have left?

  We started forward again, listening to the distant rumbles of thunder from somewhere far above our heads.

  There was a high-pitched squeak and a rat rushed past us.

  Gem ducked behind me. ‘Oh yuck.’

  I tried to sound as I imagined Ethan would in this situation: calm, confident and totally unfazed. ‘They’re far more afraid of us.’

  But Gem didn’t answer – instead, her gaze was glued to the floor. ‘The water’s getting higher, Jake.’

  I glanced down. She was right. What had been a tiny stream was now lapping around our ankles. The background gurgle of water had grown louder too.

  If the storm rain was being fed straight into the sewers, it could only mean…

  I stared at Gem. ‘We need to get out of here, and fast.’ I grabbed her hand and we began to run.

  Our feet threw out showers of spray as we fled along the tunnel. The black storm water quickly crept up to the height of our knees. I caught a movement in the gloom ahead of us and held up the plasma sphere in my palm. The light showed another rat running at full pelt along a ledge. They probably knew these tunnels as well as Ethan… Of course! This was how we could find our way out of the sewers.

  ‘Hey, Gem, did you see where that rat went?’

  ‘Yes, why?’

  ‘All we have to do is follow it! If any creature knows the way out of here in a hurry, it will be our furry friend.’

  She gave me a sharp nod. ‘Come on then – let’s follow our underground guide before we lose him.’

  The water was now at our waists as we took off after the rat. Within a few steps we were having to battle to stay on our feet. The rat was on a higher ledge, with its head held low, its tail streaming out behind. It scurried round a bend ahead of us. We reached the corner just in time to see the creature’s back legs disappearing into a small pipe in the sewer wall. I groaned and peered into the hole.

  Gem clenched her fists on her head, hope extinguished in her eyes. ‘No!’

  ‘There’ll be another way out of here.’

  I just hoped that was true, because the water now sloshed at our chests.

  We pushed forward again and hope fluttered inside me – beneath my feet, the tunnel was beginning to slope upwards.

  I glanced back – the route behind us had already disappeared underwater. With a roar, the water surged to our chins.

  ‘Grab my neck now!’ I shouted.

  Gem held me just as our feet floated free. I clung on to the wall, pulling us hand-over-hand along the wall to the next bend. We reached the junction with two tunnels stretching away from it into the rushing gloom.

  ‘Which way?’ Gem called out over the bellow of the water.

  I hung on as another gush of water lifted our heads towards the ceiling. I had to make a decision before it was too late even if it was a random choice.

  ‘The left tunnel!’ I shouted.

  I braced my legs against the wall, ready to push out towards it.

  A bark echoed from the right-hand tunnel and I stared at the collie dog paddling madly towards us.

  ‘Domino!’ There was something strange about the dog’s expression. His eyes were screwed up, his cheeks pulled in. It was exactly the sort of expression that Chloe used to have when she was concentrating…

  The dog butted my hand and gestured with his head back towards the right-hand tunnel.

  I
knew that Domino was clever, but this?

  ‘I think he wants us to go that way,’ Gem said.

  This was utterly crazy, but Domino must have appeared from somewhere. And Ethan had said the dog knew the sewer system inside out, so…

  The collie turned and started paddling back the way he’d come, the tunnel also rapidly disappearing underwater. This was a gamble, but what else could I do? With Gem’s arms still locked round my neck, I struck out into a front crawl behind the dog and caught up with Domino just as we reached the tunnel entrance.

  A rushing sound filled the sewer behind us and I glanced back to see a wave thundering our way.

  I snatched a breath just as the swollen storm water barrelled over us. In an instant, everyone was submerged. I grabbed on to Domino’s collar and hung on grimly as we were all carried forward with the current.

  Ahead, a glowing green point of shimmering light rushed towards us. A hand reached down into the raging water and I grabbed on to the fingers. I was clamped by a familiar iron grip, almost wrenching my arm out of its socket and we all came to a sudden halt.

  A second set of hands grabbed Gem and I helped push her up. Hands gripped me under my shoulders and heaved me up too from the water.

  I panted for air, shaking in the freezing rain that pelted me. I was in the middle of a fog-filled street, standing next to an open manhole cover.

  Gem retched up water next to me as Ethan patted her back. Someone draped a jacket over my shoulders and, without warning, a wet, sticky tongue licked my face. Domino, his tail wagging wildly, nuzzled his head into me.

  Ethan laughed. ‘I think you just made a friend for life, Jake.’

  ‘The feeling is mutual. He just saved our lives,’ I said, as I managed to sit up.

  ‘I think I might have had something to do with that too,’ a familiar voice said.

  My head snapped round and I found myself staring into Chloe’s relieved, tear-streaked face.

  ‘You!’ With a shake of her head, she pulled me into a fierce hug.

  Chapter Twenty-One