She held the book like a Frisbee then threw it towards the window, sending it spinning through the air to strike the bars where it frazzled in a sudden flash of smoke and sparks. Lauren jumped back, staring in horror as the charred remains of the book fell to the bed.
“I’ve already told you, there’s 240 Volts running through those bars,” said Maxine. “The same goes for the shutter.”
From another pocket she took out a small remote control, pointing it towards the window then pushing a button. There came a mechanical, whirring sound as the metal shutter came down like a roller blind, covering the window beyond the bars to shroud the room in darkness. Maxine backed away to the door, finding a switch on the wall then turning on the light.
“Fie!” said Echo, shielding her eyes as she looked up at the glowing bulb. “’Tis more powerful than twenty candles.”
The chamber darkened then brightened again, time speeding up and sweeping forward several hours. Jason saw that the bed had been returned to the corner of the chamber. Lauren was sitting on it, as before, though now her feet and legs were bare. She was wearing a long tee-shirt that partly covered the three dryad marks near the top of her left thigh. The shutter was still down and her bedside lamp was on.
“Looks like night time,” Jason said.
He heard the key in the lock again, and whirled around. The steel door opened and Maxine came into the chamber, this time carrying a bag of shopping. She walked across to sit on the end of the bed where she put the bag down beside her.
“I went to town earlier,” she said to Lauren. “I got you some bits and bobs - permitted luxuries, you might say. Let’s call it a peace offering, after our little argument this morning. Ah yes, and I got you this.”
From the bag she produced a cuddly toy; a tiger with black and brilliant orange stripes.
Lauren scowled. “I bet you got it free with petrol or something.”
“No need to be like that,” snapped Maxine. “We’ve got to get along, haven’t we?”
“Huh,” said Lauren. “You’re just trying to keep me sweet, that’s all.”
For a brief instant the chamber darkened into shadow as Maxine disappeared away. Slowly the light returned and now Lauren was alone, still sitting on the bed, the tiger toy on her lap.
“I suppose it’s not your fault if that horrible woman bought you,” she was saying. “You’re quite cute really. I think I’ll call you Ethel – Ethel the Tiger. I used to have a tabby cat called Ethel. Let me show you something.”
Lauren swung her legs off the bed, taking the tiger with her as she stepped barefoot to the fireplace.
“Don’t worry, Ethel,” she said. “It’s all right, me talking to you like this. No one can hear me ’cos the walls are too thick. The room isn’t bugged either, and there aren’t any hidden cameras – I’d know if there were. I can find hidden objects, you see. Talking of which…”
She held the tiger closer to the fireplace, and the fleur-de-lis carving at the top right-hand side.
“There’s something hidden behind there,” she said. “And I just know it’s really important. But I can’t break in ’cos the Cobalts will see what I’ve done. No, I bet there’s a secret way to open it. Somehow we’ll work it out, won’t we, Ethel?”
The chamber shone with a ghostly light before the scene changed again. Lauren’s bedside lamp was still on but time must have moved forward to another evening because she was in different nightclothes. The tiger sat on the mantelshelf as Lauren studied the panel and fleur-de-lis, and the smaller carvings all around it. She touched each one in turn.
“You know what, Ethel, I think we’re close to cracking it.”
Time accelerated again, to the moment when Lauren pulled away the gargoyle carving to expose the long steel rod. After a few more attempts she succeeded in removing the skull carving. She pushed the steel rod and gargoyle into the hole until she heard a click. Her eyes shone as the secret drawer snapped open. She reached inside and, with a gasp, lifted out the cassette recorder. She hurried across to the bed and sat down, putting the machine on her lap and pressing the play button.
“Oh great!” she said. “The batteries are dead. This thing must’ve been hidden for ages.” She lifted the plastic lid. “There’s a tape in here, though. This is what’s really important I bet.” She examined the side of the machine. “There’s a slot here, for a mains lead. But we haven’t got a mains lead – and there wasn’t one in the secret drawer. Still we don’t give up that easily, do we, Ethel?”
A further twist in time saw Lauren in daylight, back in her jeans and striped top, sitting on the bed with Maxine.
“I’m sorry I was so rude about the tiger,” Lauren was saying. “I really like her now. But I was wondering if I could have a few more things, to stop me getting bored.”
“We’ve already given you plenty of books,” said Maxine. “And Scott won’t get you anything that’ll let you send a message to the outside.”
“I didn’t expect him to give me a mobile,” said Lauren. “But I thought maybe I could have a telly, or a CD player and some CDs. You want me to be in a good mood, don’t you, when we go night-hawking? It won’t cost much, compared to the stuff I find for you guys.”
“Okay, okay,” said Maxine. “I’ll see what I can do.”
The scene hovered between one day and another before new objects gradually appeared in the chamber. Now there was a television in one corner, and a CD player on a stand at the far side. Lauren was alone again, kneeling down to inspect the back of the CD player. She pulled out its mains lead then removed the plug from the wall socket. Moments later she was by the bed, taking the cassette recorder from beneath it. She pushed the mains lead into the slot, found the nearest wall socket and plugged in the machine, sitting beside it on the floor. She pressed the rewind button, then play. Her eyes widened as she heard the voice of Scott, threatening an old man into signing a will. She pressed stop, ejected the tape and flipped it over.
“Tell you what,” she said, glancing up at the tiger on the bed. “If the police ever get hold of this tape, the Cobalts will be finished! But we can take it a step further, can’t we, my stripy friend?”
Time advanced to a different day and now Lauren was lying fully-clothed on the bed, clutching her middle. Maxine and Tiffany stood over her.
“I don’t think I can go night-hawking right now,” Lauren was saying, a pained expression on her face. “I’ve got stomach ache, and I feel lousy.”
“Liar!” sneered Tiffany. “There’s nothing wrong with you.”
“You can’t let Scott down,” Maxine added.
“Yeah right,” said Lauren. “I owe Scott a big favour, don’t I, seeing as he killed my mother?”
“That was an accident,” said Tiffany. “He was only gonna threaten her with the knife. It was her stupid fault for struggling.”
“How many times have we been through all this?” said Maxine. “I don’t want any harm to come to you, Lauren, but you’ve got to play the game. Do we understand each other?”
“Whatever,” said Lauren with a sigh. “Just give me a few minutes, okay?”
Maxine and Tiffany left the chamber, shutting the door, pushing the heavy handle into place and turning the key in the lock. Lauren waited until she heard their footsteps on the stairs, then shot up from the bed to kneel beside it. She pulled out the cassette recorder from underneath, stopping the recording then rewinding. She played the section of tape where Tiffany said That was an accident, he was only gonna threaten her with the knife. Lauren grinned at the tiger on the bedside table.
“We’ve got them, Ethel!” she said. “We’ll put this back in the secret drawer for now, but there’ll be other chances. I’ll make loads of recordings like that.”
Jason smiled. He knew his sister was smart, but this was simply brilliant. Soon Lauren was sitting back down on the bed, cuddling the tiger toy.
“That’s not all,” she said. “Something really weird has been happening to me. I see thin
gs – kind of daydreams, but not quite. My head goes all funny and I get black-and-white visions – of my brother Jason. I’m not sure why, but he seems quite a bit older than I remember him. He’s in a clearing in a wood, pulling a girl out from a fallen tree trunk. She’s a strange girl, all stripy, a bit like you. They’re coming to rescue me one day, Jason and the girl, and some other people – I’ve seen that too. It might be a long way off, but it’ll happen all right. And when it does, I’ll give that tape to the police - and the Cobalts and their friends will end up in jail!” She paused, letting out a long sigh. “Jason,” she said softly. “I miss him so much.”
“Fie!” said Echo. “She has gained the dryad gift of scrying – the power to see snatches of the future.”
Jason felt the hairs prickle at the back of his neck.
“And she knows about you,” he said. “She knows we’re coming to save her.”
Now Lauren was speaking to the tiger again.
“I’ll tell you something else,” she said. “That girl, Jason’s friend, I’ve seen her in another vision. She’s standing in the same clearing in the wood, with a pack on her back. I heard her talking about how she’s going to travel the country, living in the wilds, and helping anyone who deserves her help in this time. I wonder what she means by in this time.”
Echo gasped. “Thy sister has seen a vision of my future. ’Tis my destiny to wander the land, helping others as I did in mine own time.”
“Your destiny?” said Jason.
But Echo didn’t have chance to answer. The chamber grew dim, distorting and condensing before new scenery took shape all around. Now they were standing in sunlight, in a street lined with parked cars. Jason surveyed his surroundings; they were in a town, though not one he recognised. Nearby, on the pavement, he saw two people in front of a high, solid fence. One of them was a blond young man, holding a large sheet of paper. With him was a freckle-faced woman with very long, raven-black hair. She wore heavy boots, a purple tassled skirt and a blue tee-shirt printed with a silver-coloured five-pointed star. Like the man, she was in her early twenties. Jason and Echo stepped closer. The woman had a tub of glue at her feet, and a large paintbrush in her hand. Suddenly Jason recognised the man; Ben Wild, though he seemed to have aged three or four years since George’s funeral.
“Ben is most handsome now,” Echo remarked.
“If you say so,” said Jason. “But who’s he with? I’m sure it isn’t Kate.”
Echo pointed a finger and closed her eyes for a moment. “Nay, she is simply a friend.”
The woman smeared the back of the paper with glue then Ben stuck it up on the fence.
Karmic Sometimes, the poster announced. Playing live at Hazelby Festival, sports field, 2.30pm.
Jason read the date and the year. “Fourth June. That’s tomorrow!”
“But we are not seeing tomorrow,” Echo told him. “These are the events of the recent past.”
“You’re right,” said Jason. “I guess this all happened a few days ago.”
As he spoke, a young woman with long, frizzy, bright-red hair came strutting around the corner. She wore pink lipstick, a low-cut top and a very short skirt.
“Don’t panic, Nikki,” said Ben to his friend. “It’s only Amber Clarke.”
“Hiya, Ben!” grinned the red-haired woman as she tripped along in her high heels. She stopped next to him, fluttering her eyelashes before reading the poster. “Wotcha doin’? Stickin’ up adverts where ya shouldn’t be? Don’t let nobody catch ya!”
“Have you heard of our band?” Ben said. “Karmic Sometimes.”
“Yeah, sort of,” said Amber, turning her attention to the dark-haired woman. “Yer Nikki Wheeler, aintcha?”
The woman nodded. “Yeah, I remember you from school. You haven’t changed much.”
“How are things with you these days, Amber?” Ben asked.
“I’m good,” she replied. “I’ve gotta new job, workin’ for a kissogram agency.”
Echo turned to Jason. “I do not understand kissogram agency.”
“A kissogram gets paid to wear fancy dress,” Jason explained. “Then she goes up and kisses somebody.”
Ben rolled his eyes. “Why am I not surprised?” He tapped the poster. “Anyway, I hope you can make it to our gig.”
“Fourth June?” Amber said. “Now there’s a funny thing! I’ve gotta a job that evenin’ – and guess where? Only Ravenstone Manor! Didn’t ya used to know the girl what lived there?”
“I’ve been going out with Kate since we were sixteen,” said Ben. “She’s in the band too. But Kate never lived at Ravenstone Manor – it was her great-uncle’s house. How come you’re going there anyway?”
“It’s Kevin Cobalt’s twenty-fifth birthday, ain’t it?” Amber replied. “’E’s ’avin’ a party and ’is bruvver’s booked me as a surprise.”
“Ugh!” said Nikki, making a face. “You mean you’re actually going to kiss Kevin Cobalt?”
Amber glared. “What’s yer problem? All money, ain’t it? I’m goin’ as the bride ’a Dracula. They want me to give Kevin a vampire kiss!”
“Takes all sorts, I guess,” said Ben. “Anyway, the party’s in the evening but the gig’s in the afternoon – so maybe we’ll see you there, Amber.”
She twisted her mouth. “Dunno. I’ll ’ave to think about it.”
“A musical event not to be missed,” Ben added. “Free entry too.”
Amber’s expression brightened. “Great, I’ll ’ave anythin’ what’s free. Yeah, I’ll be there.”
The street lost its colour then disappeared in a sparkling white flash. Jason blinked away the afterimages as he returned to the present, and the bridge over the brook where he sat with Echo.
“I think I understand it all now,” he said, once his head had stopped spinning. “When we first saw the Cobalts in a gewita, they weren’t making any money with their night-hawking and they lived in that little house in Cleaving. Scott was working as George Megginson’s farm manager. Then the Cobalts forced the old man into signing a dodgy will, but George had recorded the whole thing on the hidden tape recorder. He wanted to give the tape to the nurse - Ben’s mum - but he died before he could tell her about it. Ravenstone Manor should belong to Kate, but Scott got it instead. He couldn’t afford to keep the place up, and that’s when he found out about Lauren. He killed Mum and took Lauren and locked her in the chamber, the same basement room where George had died. But Lauren sussed out where the cassette player was hidden, and she’s made loads of recordings of her own! I’m not sure what the last gewita was about, though – Ben and his friend, putting up a poster.”
“And still I do not understand about the tape,” said Echo.
“If the police ever get their hands on it, the Cobalts will be finished,” Jason explained. “And Ravenstone Manor will go to Kate.” His thoughts returned to Lauren. “Remember in one of the gewitas, when Maxine came into the chamber? She said there were two keys for the metal door – Scott’s got one of them, and she’s got the other. Maybe we should go to the manor, right now. We can sneak in, take one of the keys and set Lauren free. We could get the tape too.”
“Still I believe the Cobalts will be ready for us,” said Echo. “And Scott will have that fearsome weapon. ’Tis important to remember what my mother did say. Without the minstrels you will not succeed. They will need your help in equal measure. Surely it is better to help others. These words are a warning. She did mean that we will certainly fail, were we to raid the manor alone. We must join with Kate and Ben and offer them our help, then they in turn will give us theirs.”
Jason sighed. “I guess that is what Fenella meant – and you’re right, we do want to help Kate get the manor back. Thing is, we can’t get hold of her right now – or Ben. We don’t know where they live.” He paused. “Wait a minute! Now I understand the last gewita! They’re playing in a band at Hazelby Festival tomorrow afternoon. That’s how we’re meant to meet them.”
“Dost thou mean
a band of outlaws?”
“No, I mean a band that plays music,” Jason told her. “A rock group.”
Echo frowned. “A group of rocks?”
“It’s what Fenella meant by minstrels,” Jason explained. “I’ll look at the map and see where Hazelby is.” He was reaching for his side pocket when he paused. “There’s still a problem though. We’ve only got one pair of trousers between us now. You can’t go to town with your legs showing.”
“Thou couldst lend me thy breeches.”
“My trousers?” said Jason. “What, and go to Hazelby in my underpants? Great idea!”
“Nay, we can exchange garments.”
Jason stared at her. “You want me to wear your dress?”
“Thy legs have no dryad markings,” Echo pointed out. “Thou couldst wear my dress and also the green garment, with the hood up. The Cobalts and these police people, they are seeking a boy and a girl. If thou wearest my dress we will look like two girls.”
Jason had to admit she’d got a point. In fact, he’d concluded that Echo was quite a bright kid. But dressing up as a girl? No, there had to be another way.
“If we are to join these allies to raid the manor, then I should teach thee how to fight the dryad way,” Echo went on. “For thee to learn properly may take many months, even years, but today can be the start.”
“Sounds good,” said Jason. He got to his feet, glancing across to the old farm. “Looks like we’ll be sleeping on the straw in those cattle stalls tonight.”
Echo stood up on the bridge. “’Tis no discomfort to me.”
Together they crossed to the other side of the brook. They found an area of hardened earth behind the reeds where Echo took up a fighting stance. For the next hour-and-a-half they practised fighting moves. Echo taught him how to deflect punches, and block kicks, and deliver elbow thrusts and scissor-kicks. All the while they worked on improving Echo’s modern English, Jason correcting her each time she made a mistake. By the end of the session the sun was setting and Jason felt very hungry. He was thinking about food again, the entire MacDonald’s menu flashing through his mind.
Echo McCool, Outlaw Through Time Page 12
