Hikers - The Collection (Complete Box Set of 5 Books)

by Lauren Algeo

  ‘I’m supposed to stay here,’ she said. ‘And I can’t swim, teddy.’

  His mother was looking in the fridge for snacks. ‘I can make some ham sandwiches and we can have an early lunch?’

  ‘Sounds great,’ he smiled. ‘I’ll pour some juice.’

  He took a bottle of orange squash from the counter and got a jug from the cupboard, although most of his mind was focussed on what was going on outside.

  ‘Please,’ he begged Izzy. ‘It’s so hot and I just want a little paddle. You can put me at the edge.’

  ‘Ok.’ Izzy was easily won over by her magical bear. ‘Just for a second or I’ll get into trouble.’

  Daniel came forward in her mind a little more to watch through her eyes as she skipped over to the pond with the fluffy beige bear clutched tightly in her hand. She crouched down by the edge and dangled the bear’s legs into the water.

  ‘There you go!’ she told him happily.

  Daniel’s mother passed by him with a loaf of bread but he barely noticed.

  ‘It’s not enough,’ he said sadly to Izzy. ‘Take me in.’

  She hesitated and stared at the water. ‘It’s too deep for me.’

  ‘No it’s not,’ he insisted. ‘You can stand in the middle and hold me.’ He took a firmer grip on her mind to press his point. ‘Do it now.’

  Izzy stepped down into the water, still wearing her trainers. Daniel could feel the cold water lapping at her ankles through her mind. She was wearing thin white leggings and a pink dress, and they were drenched in moments as she waded towards the middle of the pond.

  ‘Do you want ham and cheese in yours?’ His mother was asking from somewhere far away.

  ‘Yes please.’ He spoke the words out loud but didn’t hear them.

  Every part of his body was tingling in anticipation of what was to come. Feeling Izzy’s emotions through the connection with her mind was exhilarating.

  She started to panic near the deepest part of the pond as the water lapped at her neck. She bucked against his hold and tried to propel herself back to the shallow sides.

  ‘No teddy! I don’t like it!’ she cried out. ‘Please let me out.’

  ‘No.’ His voice was firm. ‘I want to go right to the middle.’

  He forced her legs to keep moving forward in the mud. She lost her footing and slipped under the water briefly. Her arms floundered, and she coughed and spluttered. She tried to scream but Daniel managed to hold back the sound so he only heard it as a faint squeal through her ears.

  He knew he didn’t have much time left to savour the end of her life; his mother would be finished with the sandwiches soon. Izzy had let go of her teddy when she’d slipped and he saw it floating past through her terrified eyes.

  ‘Your teddy isn’t real,’ he taunted her cruelly. ‘Now you’re going to start swimming lessons.’

  Her vision blurred as tears filled her eyes. She kept on fighting him but her efforts were too weak for his superior mental power. He lifted her legs off the bottom of the pond and her head ducked under again. This time he didn’t let her lift it back up. He forced her down to the mud.

  She thrashed in her mind and with her body but it was no good. Daniel retreated from her mind as water filled her aching lungs, although he could still pick up her emotions. There was confusion and panic and pain. He greedily clung on to them all, savouring the taste of her fear. It took him a moment to realise that he was weakening too as her body drifted in the murky water. She was close to death and he was affected by it.

  ‘Daniel!’ His mother’s shout jolted him from Izzy’s mind and he lost the connection.

  He blinked at the jug of squash in his hand and saw that he’d overfilled a glass on the counter. There was squash puddled on the surface and dripping down onto the floor.

  ‘Sorry,’ he apologised quickly.

  ‘Don’t worry.’ His mother kissed him on the top of the head. ‘You looked like you were miles away. I’ll clean it up.’

  Daniel filled another cup carefully while she soaked a cloth under the tap. There was adrenaline coursing through his veins yet he felt shaken too. He’d always thought of himself as invincible but he’d almost been sucked down with Izzy. He’d have to make sure that never happened again. He would have more control in future and retreat from a mind well before the point of releasing.

  His feeling of naivety was swiftly brushed aside by the enormity of what he’d just achieved. Irritating little Izzy was gone from his life.

  He waited for his mother to pick up the tray of sandwiches and crisps, and eagerly followed her outside, holding two glasses of squash. His heart was racing faster than it ever had before. Any moment now she would see.

  His mother gave an ear-piercing shriek. The tray fell from her hands and clattered loudly onto the patio, sending food everywhere.

  ‘Izzy!’ She started sprinting across the garden to the pond and Daniel got his first look at what she’d seen.

  Izzy was floating face down on the surface of the pond with her pink dress swirling around her. Daniel put the glasses of squash carefully onto the outside table and trotted over towards them.

  ‘Daniel, stay back!’ his mother shouted as she waded into the pond frantically.

  He ignored her and kept on walking. He had to see. He wanted to look into her glassy eyes and know that she had been released because of him.

  His mother splashed loudly as she dragged Izzy’s body towards her. She scooped up the girl and struggled back towards the edge. There was a terrible scream from near the house and Julia came racing towards them. Daniel latched onto her hysterical mind to pick up her thoughts.

  ‘Oh my god! No. Please. Not my baby! Please let her be ok. No!’

  The pleasure was immeasurable. He watched with interest as the two women laid Izzy on the grass and began to paw at her. Julia was crying and wailing, trying to shake the girl. His mother pushed her aside and attempted to perform CPR.

  To Daniel’s disappointment, Izzy’s eyes were closed, although the rest of it was all very exciting. He wanted to applaud his handiwork but that would have been frowned upon. Instead, he drank in the mental image of Izzy’s dead body then turned back towards the house with his mask firmly in place.

  ‘I’ll phone an ambulance,’ he called over his shoulder but the two inconsolable women didn’t hear him. He practically skipped inside. He had done it.

  Daniel stared down at John’s lifeless body now and took in his dull eyes. They were still wide with shock but they weren’t seeing anything. He gave a nod of approval – that would put an end to his tedious lessons for a while. His parents wouldn’t find another suitable tutor immediately so it would give him time to focus on other delights.

  The only downside was that his mother would try to spend more time with him and attempt to teach him herself although he could manipulate her into leaving him alone. With a discreet push she’d suddenly have lots of reading and sewing and organising to do. He might even persuade her to let him accompany his father on more trips – that was where the interesting minds were.

  His parents would be worried about how this new ‘trauma’ would affect him and he could play on their sympathies to get what he wanted. He remembered how upset they’d been about Izzy two years ago and how they’d pandered to his every whim.

  Her death had been written off as a tragic accident. Her teddy had been found floating in the pond and everyone presumed that she’d fallen in trying to rescue it. Why would they think anything else? Daniel had been safely in the kitchen with his mother the entire time.

  Julia had sobbed uncontrollably to the police that her baby couldn’t swim and it was her fault that she’d never had lessons. His own mother was eaten up by guilt that she’d left Izzy unattended in the garden and she blamed herself for the accident – it still weighed heavily on her mind. No one thought it was Daniel’s fault. The same way that no one would blame him for this next ‘tragedy’ with John. He would be the poor young boy who’d witnessed his teacher�
�s sudden death.

  Daniel smiled smugly to himself and sat back in the chair. He took in every inch of the scene so he could re-live it for his own amusement later then he finally got ready to deliver his impeccable acting skills.

  He opened his mouth wide and screamed to his mother for help.

  Chapter 19

  ‘Are you sure you’ll be ok on your own for the night?’

  Brewer could see the doubt on Ellen’s face and he waved away her concern.

  ‘I’ll be fine,’ he reassured her. ‘I’m just going to try to relax and have an early night.’

  The car outside honked its horn again and Ellen picked up the tan overnight bag from the hallway floor. Trudy was waiting to drive them both to the hotel to get ready for the hen do. Ellen opened the front door and he waved towards the car.

  ‘I’ll be on my phone if you need anything,’ she said. ‘I won’t be home too late tomorrow either.’

  ‘Go and have a good time.’ He gave her a brief kiss on the lips. ‘I promise you, I’ll be fine.’

  ‘Ok.’ Ellen backed away down the driveway. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’

  ‘Bye.’

  Brewer waited until Trudy’s dark green Fiat pulled away then he closed the front door with a loud sigh. He stood with his eyes closed for a moment and savoured the silence in the house. It would be nice to have some time to himself, when he wouldn’t have to pretend that he was fine. Even though he’d admitted to Ellen that the task was affecting him more than he’d let on, it was a relief to have a break from her worried glances. It was exhausting to be under constant scrutiny both at work and at home.

  He’d had a text from Adders a couple of hours ago with a link to a story about the night before. The team were still buzzing with the excitement of it all, however Brewer felt nothing but horror when he thought of it. Daniel had tried to kill an innocent man in front of a room full of people. The boy clearly had no problem with carrying out an attack whilst maintaining polite conversation with his parents at the table. He had mental powers to rival the Grand.

  Brewer thought back to the other two children he’d encountered all those years ago. Would they have turned out to be as strong as Daniel if they hadn’t grown up with the fear of the Grand over them? They’d both enjoyed torture and killings, and temporarily had free reign from the Grand when he’d come across them, but they’d still known they had a father who could kill them in an instant.

  Daniel had a father who he could control himself. There was no one to answer to for his actions and nobody to stilt his mental growth. He would keep getting stronger and more violent as the years went on.

  Brewer walked through to the living room and flicked on the TV. It was nearly 4pm and there were several football matches on the sports channels. It might be a good idea to keep up-to-date so he had something to chat to the team about on Monday morning.

  He eyed up the drinks cabinet in the corner and contemplated pouring a shot of Jack Daniels but he’d made a vow to cut back on the drinking, especially alone. Instead, he went to the kitchen and made a cup of black tea. He would spend an hour or so watching the football then go out to the garden to do some weeding. He’d been neglecting his gardening duties since they’d found out about Daniel and the back garden was already overgrown.

  The weather was mild and dry so he could even mow the grass. There wasn’t time to do any of the neighbours’ gardens but they all understood that he had an important new job in the city. He’d made half-hearted noises about trying to fit in their garden maintenance in between shifts even though he’d known there would be no time for it. He didn’t have the mental strength to keep up with that as well as tackling Daniel.

  Brewer had been sitting on the sofa for fifteen minutes when the doorbell rang twice in quick succession. He frowned towards the living room window but couldn’t see anything from where he was sitting. He got to his feet and put down his empty mug. Perhaps it was the delivery of insulin from Mitch.

  He saw the shape of a man through the small, stained-glass panel in the front door and he didn’t appear to be holding anything. As he inched the door open, Marcus’s beaming face appeared.

  ‘Hey mate!’ he exclaimed, clearly not noticing the surprise on Brewer’s face. ‘We’ve finally got some peace from the women.’

  He stepped past Brewer and wandered into the hall. ‘I’ve got a box of beers in the car but you didn’t say if you wanted to go out to the pub first?’

  Marcus looked at Brewer expectantly as he struggled with a reply. He’d completely forgotten that Marcus had wanted to do something while their wives were away. His friend had texted him earlier in the week and he couldn’t remember if he’d actually replied to him. Trudy had probably reminded Ellen too but with all the drama of last night, she must have forgotten to relay it to him.

  ‘Uh, let’s stay in,’ he managed to say.

  He couldn’t think of anything worse than going to a busy pub; he wanted quiet. At least if they stayed in he only had Marcus to contend with.

  ‘Great!’ Marcus nodded. ‘I can see you’ve already got the footie on. Let me bring in the beers.’

  Brewer waited while Marcus fetched a large box of bottled lager from his silver Ford. He hadn’t bought anything in preparation for his friend’s visit.

  ‘I thought we could get a curry?’ He tried to cover over his lack of food and alcohol.

  ‘Sounds good.’ Marcus carried the beer through to the kitchen.

  There was always the bottle of Jack Daniels and some other random spirits in the drinks cabinet if they ran out of beers.

  ‘Ella is staying at a friend’s house tonight so we can make a night of it and I’ll head home in the morning.’ Marcus began loading beers into the fridge while Brewer checked the cupboards to see if they at least had any crisps or peanuts in.

  ‘Sure,’ Brewer replied reluctantly. ‘The spare room is all made up.’

  Marcus staying would be a pain but there was no way to get out of it. Even if he pretended to be ill or feigned an emergency call in to work later, once Marcus had drunk a few beers he wouldn’t be able to drive anywhere, and he lived too far away to get a cab. He would stay regardless of any excuse Brewer could come up with.

  ‘Have you still got that poker set?’ Marcus was suddenly heading for the dining room before Brewer realised what was happening. ‘It was in here last time we…’

  ‘No!’ Brewer bolted behind him but it was too late.

  Marcus had already opened the door and he stopped in confusion when he saw what was in there. Brewer groaned inwardly at the sight of their research boards spread across one end of the table. There were printed out photos and biographies, and cut out newspaper articles. If he’d remembered that Marcus was coming, he would have hidden all the evidence carefully.

  ‘Erm.’ Marcus stepped into the room slowly then turned to look at him.

  Brewer could feel the blood rushing to his face and his head was muddled. There had to be a reasonable explanation for all of this.

  ‘Have you been working on something you haven’t told me about?’ Marcus raised an eyebrow questioningly.

  Brewer forced himself to laugh through the crippling self-awareness. His friend was searching his face for answers and he knew he was slowly turning scarlet. The room was too hot and starved of air.

  ‘God, no. I’d forgotten this was in here.’ He quickly pulled the largest board down and began stacking the research before Marcus could read any of it in detail. ‘Ellen and I thought it would help to research before I started the job. I used these to swot up on Connors and the team, and map out where they were going wrong. I guess we got a bit carried away.’

  He prayed that Marcus hadn’t taken in all the photos and notes about Daniel. Marcus gave a relaxed laugh, which was exactly what Brewer had wanted to hear.

  ‘Jesus, mate.’ His friend patted him on the shoulder. ‘There’s being prepared for a new job and then there’s that!’

  Brewer shoved the pile of boards
and papers onto a chair and tucked it under the table. That had been way too close for comfort but he seemed to have gotten away with it.

  ‘The poker set is in the cupboard,’ he told Marcus. ‘We can play it later and I’ll kick your arse, as always.’

  ‘We’ll see,’ Marcus smirked. ‘I plan to ply you with beer first to loosen up your poker face.’

  To Brewer’s relief, they left the dining room and he got two beers from the fridge. He handed one to Marcus then took a long swig of the tepid liquid. The beers could have done with longer to chill but he didn’t care, he needed the alcohol to calm his frayed nerves. He took out the bag of unopened Doritos that he’d found in one of the cupboards and tipped the cheesy crisps into a large bowl.

  ‘How is the new job going anyway?’ Marcus asked.

  ‘Pretty tough,’ Brewer admitted, leaning back on the kitchen counter. ‘The team are taking a while to win round.’

  ‘Well, it’s only been a week,’ Marcus said. ‘They’ll get to know you in no time.’

  Brewer nodded and had another sip of his beer. ‘It’s definitely been an eventful week. Have you seen any of the news today?’

  ‘No.’ Marcus popped a handful of crisps into his mouth. ‘Trudy had me food shopping and driving Ella around like a taxi service.’

  Brewer quickly filled him in on the attack at the charity event and the police statements at Downing Street afterwards.

  ‘Holy shit,’ Marcus whistled. ‘That’s quite a start for you. At least no one got seriously hurt and you got the Connors family out of there.’ His eyes narrowed as he studied Brewer’s face. ‘Are you sure you want to be taking on this much stress? No offence mate, but you look like crap and you’ve only been there a week.’

  Brewer knew he looked rough. There were dark circles under his eyes and his skin was pale. If he’d recalled that Marcus was coming, he would have made an effort to shave and sort out his hair. He hadn’t had it cut for nearly two months and for the first time, he could see the grey at his temples beginning to spread out to the rest of his hair.