It was almost as if someone had flipped a switch on what had been a bright and sunny day but the second that book had opened, it felt as though nature was responding to its inner darkness…And Theo was right, because the next thing he knew,
That darkness spoke.
The book suddenly stopped flipping erratically through its pages, coming to rest open at the very centre of the book. Theo stepped closer to see what it obviously wanted him to see and the second he did the words started to disappear from the page. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing and in a moment of logical thinking he picked up the book just to check it wasn’t his eyesight that was starting to blur.
He raised it up and the moment he did the book started to bleed. It was as though the disappearing words had seeped into the pages beneath and because of this it caused black ink to overflow, dripping to the floor and all over Theo’s hands.
“What is this!” he shouted down at the book, shaking it and expecting it to tell him… and tell him it did.
As soon as he made this demand, words started to reappear on the pages and on the one he held with his left hand scratchy looking letters soaked through forming the words…
‘Lies are all you know,’
And the rest started to appear soon after in the centre of the page he held with his right hand…
‘…find the truth that’s hiding below.’
Theo slammed the book shut and threw it, tossing it across the room where it hit the window with a thud. The black ink splattered against the glass and smeared a black line down its length as the book slid down the window defying gravity. But the way it did this made Theo wonder if it was ink after all?
This made Theo look down at his hands and he rubbed his forefinger and thumb together, testing the black substance covering his hands. It was a thick, sticky substance but also strangely smelled a lot like blood, with its metallic tang that made Theo want nothing more than to run to the nearest bathroom and scrub his hands. Well whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t black ink as he’d first thought.
He snarled back at the book, knowing that whatever it was, it was clearly something demonic. Although that in itself could mean anything these days and Theo could no longer automatically assume that it was something evil. Man, but it had certainly been a lot simpler being able to put a label on things in a time before he stepped foot on that bus.
“Demons equal bad, Angels equal good but oh no, not anymore, that would be waaay too simple…what’s next, the tooth fairy that kicks your teeth out, then sells them on the black market?” Theo muttered, talking to himself again and trying to defuse some of the tense craziness of what had just happened.
“So, come on, what’s the next cryptic message?” Theo said sounding unimpressed, cracking his neck to the side and getting ready to tear that book up into tiny sticky little pieces for even thinking it would work in casting doubt on this place. He was just about to reach his stained hands to retrieve it from the floor where it had finally slid down to rest, when he noticed something above him.
“What now?” he asked frowning hard and wondering if this had anything to do with that douche bag, death dealer Carrick.
“What is it…what do you want me to find!?” he shouted losing his patience.
The black substance still stuck to the window started to bubble and crackle as if the glass beneath it were scorching hot. It hissed and started to spread thinner, shrinking down from the intense heat and creating new words as it moved…
‘me’
“You? But where? Where do I find you?” Theo couldn’t help but ask, giving into his weakness, the one that compelled him to help others.
‘imprisoned below’
“Below? Below what…below this place? And why, why do I need to find you?” Theo asked all at once, pounding his hand against the window in some desperate need to know. The second his fist made contact with the glass it started to shatter and the answer to his questions came from the furious action. The last two words were spelled out by the travelling cracks, branching out like lightning bolts and forming a person’s final sentence…
‘Death awaits’
The tiny fine fractures continued to travel, cracking further outwards around the words, like little forked tongues licking at the glass. Theo stumbled back a step to the sound of it shattering further and he looked back over his shoulder to see that what once held a picture of the stormy sky was now a giant milky white jigsaw puzzle. The sound was a haunting one, as usually there was little good that could ever come from that particular song of destruction.
Just then a knock sounded at his door and Theo shot a panicked look in that direction. He didn’t want any of the others seeing this so he called out in a voice he had to force to sound calm,
“Just a minute, I will be right out!”
“Theo? Are you okay in there?” It was Ena and it didn’t sound like she bought his calm and collected act. Theo was torn as to where to look next as he heard both the sound of the door handle turning and the sound of the glass that had finally hit its limit. The explosion happened so fast that Theo barely had time to react, although it felt like everything around him was happening in slow motion.
He just had time to shout towards the door,
“ENA NO!” Then he spun around, lowering to his knees as he went down in the crouched position and covered his head with his arms to protect himself. The window erupted in an explosive arc around him, falling with the grace of snow only with icy fragments with deadly intentions. Just as he should have started to feel the first wave slicing into his back or hear the first musical death notes of shards chiming against the floor, Ena opened the door.
“Uh…Theo? What are you doing?” The sound of Ena’s obvious concern wasn’t the panicked strain he had been expecting and thinking about it, shouldn’t he have felt pain by now? He looked up slowly, finding himself still in the protective cocoon he had chosen as being the best course of action at the time, but it had been for nothing. He first looked to Ena who was stood before him with a hand on her hip and looking down at him with one eyebrow raised. He then snapped his head around to look back at the window to see the impossible…
Not one single crack.
‘How is that possible’? he asked himself silently in his confused mind. The window wasn’t only flawless but so was the clear sky that no longer had a cloud in sight. He looked to the floor to see that even the book had disappeared and Theo had to ask himself the embarrassing question…had he imagined it all?
What else could it be? There was not one single shred of evidence to suggest otherwise. There was no demonic ink, no cryptic words written by the very destruction of the glass, no storm or even any signs that there had even been one. So, what the Hell was going on around here or going on with him? Either question was one that needed an answer.
“Theo?” Ena said his name again, alerting him to the fact that he was still knelt on the floor looking around the room like a crazy person. He didn’t quite know what to say other than thinking quick on his feet but first he had to get up on them. So, he stood and said the only thing that came to mind.
“I…uh…must have nodded off.” Her face said it all.
“Are you trying to tell me you fell asleep like that?” she asked sceptically nodding to where he had been huddled on the floor like a scared kid. Theo inwardly winced and then looked to the bed.
“No, I was up there… I must have been sleep walking,” he added quickly when Ena folded her arms.
“Do that often, do you?” Ena asked sounding not the slightest bit convinced.
“What are you doing here?” Theo ignored her question, asking his own instead, throwing the ball back in her court and slamming the door shut on his own.
“I just wanted to tell you that the pizzas are here and if you didn’t get down there soon then there will be nothing left.”
“Ivan?” he asked thinking this would be the reason but Ena corrected him.
“No, that would be Zane who is
currently trying to eat his own body weight in pepperoni.” Theo laughed and ran a shaky hand through his hair as he was secretly still trying to make sense of what just happened.
“Then I guess I’d better get down there and try and beat him.”
“Oh great, that’s all I need to see, two alphas competing over sliced sausage…must be my lucky day.” Ena muttered as she walked out the room leaving Theo chuckling, but the second that door closed Theo’s smile dropped. He looked around the room once again needing to see that damn book or anything else that proved he wasn’t going as crazy as he thought he was. But it didn’t take him long to see that the room looked exactly as it had when he first stepped foot in there and there was nothing other than his shaky hands to indicate otherwise.
He decided he needed to splash some cold water on his face or in this case maybe just dunk his entire head in a bath full of ice water…either way he needed to get a grip back on reality because he felt like his sanity was running on quick sand.
So, he went in search of a bathroom and guessed he found the right place when he saw an old painted sign above a door that said, ‘Boys Locker Room’.
Inside he was yet again shocked at the level of thought that went into something as simple as a bathroom. One wall was all brick, painted with navy and white stripes and this matched the theme throughout. There was hand painted writing on another wall near a walk-in shower unit, that looked like a line from the dictionary, making Theo laugh when he read it…
‘Boy, meaning: A noise with dirt on it’
Oh, he would be thanking Pip for that one he thought wryly as he walked over to the vanity unit. It was a long wooden sideboard that had been dry brushed with grey chalk paint and had a large navy glass bowl sat upon it as the sink. A basic copper pipe was bent over the centre with two valve taps either side of it for hot and cold.
Theo loved the modern fixtures mixed with the basic raw materials that were used throughout the room. Like the copper pipes being used to hold the plush looking navy and white towels. Or the sleek glass shower wall, with its crude hammered copper shower head that would be like taking a shower under a metal rain cloud. Even his tooth brush holder and soap dish were made from glass and copper.
In fact, Theo would have appreciated the room more if the whole reason for him being in there now wasn’t to try and wash some of the madness he felt still lingered on his skin. He turned the valve wheel and filled up the sink after finding the small hidden button that worked the stopper for the plug hole. Then he placed his hands in the cool liquid and scooped up as much water as he could and just before he could splash it all over his face, he looked down. It was only for a split second but it was long enough to see what he had been hoping to see when back in the room…
Evidence.
It was back when Ena had just walked in the room and asked him what he was doing crouched on the floor. And back before he felt himself going mad looking for any evidence to prove that it had all happened. He didn’t know whether to laugh or scream but either reaction wouldn’t make a difference. Because right there, down in his hands was the diluting string of what looked like black smoke snaking away from one of his fingers and mixing with the water.
He looked up at himself in the mirror above the sink, saw all the colour drain from his face as he uttered the only two words that mattered right then,
The truth.
The…“Black Ink.”
19
And All Before First Class
That night Theo didn’t think he would sleep and for a long while he just stared at the ceiling above his bed flicking the reading light that was fixed to his bed frame on and off. He had it aimed at all the licence plates, reading all the names of places he wondered if he’d ever get to see. He had always wanted to travel but now, well he wasn’t sure what options for a future he had left. He had dreamed of the day he was old enough to get out of the system, shedding his ‘Lost Boy’ skin and making it out in the world, far from the streets of London.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like London, he just didn’t like that it was all he had ever known. But now he was here, across the pond in a place he didn’t know, with a future ahead of him he couldn’t foresee and more importantly, couldn’t control. And for someone who had mapped out his life once he had done his time and survived, making it to eighteen, he was finding not knowing wasn’t as easy as he had hoped.
He had tried talking to Zane about it when they were playing the latest Gears of War game on the Xbox One together, but one sceptical look told him Zane was not only not on the same page as him but they were obviously reading a completely different book! Zane’s would have been called, ‘How to make the most of your lottery win’. However, Theo’s would have been called, ‘Ten signs to tell you if your lottery win was real or not’.
“Dude, look around you, does it look like the type of place I would wanna leave anytime soon? For all I care they could tell me I was never allowed to leave again and I would still wanna do cartwheels, sing hallelujah and sign any cult joining contract they shoved under my nose.” And just like that Zane confirmed it.
“But what if it’s not what we think it is?” Theo asked hating that small amount of doubt inside him that the damn book had forced in there. Zane raised an eyebrow and instead of answering his question, he asked another.
“Is there something you’re not telling me, did something happen?” Theo didn’t know that Zane could be so perceptive.
“What, you mean other than becoming blood bound to some uptight, arrogant asshole named Carrick, who grants out death wishes for fun?” Theo said shooting a particularly ugly locust, making its whole body explode thanks to picking up a Boomshot.
“Nice.” Zane said complimenting him on his kill and walking around half of the reptilian torso.
“Yeah, but to be fair what did you all expect a grim reaper to be like, Mary Poppins?” Ena asked as she threw herself down onto a giant burger bean bag and then covered herself up with the cheese blanket that was attached.
“Streaks has gotta point,” Zane said making Ena scowl.
“Do you have to call me that?!” Zane’s only answer to her was to tip a fake hat her way and give her a wink. Theo looked side on at her knowing she was trying not to smile and instead faking a groan and eyeroll.
“I think if I had his job I would be just as uptight,” Janie said quietly coming to join them along with her towering shadow Ivan. It had been the first thing Janie had said since coming down to eat pizza and Theo couldn’t help wonder if something had happened to her too. He also couldn’t help but notice the way she kept looking down at her missing hand as if she was half expecting something to start growing from beneath her empty sleeve at any moment. Theo wanted to ask her about it but really, what right did he have prying like that. And besides, it wasn’t like he was preaching on about his own creepy literature experience.
“Frag out!” Zane shouted, warning Theo of the grenade he’d just thrown that had ricocheted back after hitting one of the buildings.
“Too late,” Zane added after Theo was too slow and was now crawling on the ground needing medical assistance. He took one look at the guy and almost felt his pain, but hell at least that guy knew who his enemies were, Theo thought dryly.
So, with all these doubts playing on Theo’s mind he was surprised to find the sound of an alarm waking him up from a deep, dreamless sleep. He rolled over groaning and looked down over the bed frame, trying to locate where in the room that annoying noise was coming from. He grabbed hold of one of the bars and let his body roll off the bed, swinging as he went before dropping to his bare feet.
He followed the sound and had to laugh when he found six sticks of dynamite and a timer flashing, telling him it was seven in the morning. He pressed the red button but this just started a countdown of ten seconds. He raised an eyebrow wondering what happened next but considering he didn’t have to wait long, he just folded his arms and leant back on his cool desk. He was just looking down at the le
gs that were made from extended guitar necks when his ten seconds were up and there was no way for him to miss it.
The alarm that had been blaring before was nothing compared to the ear-piercing sound that was screaming out now. It sounded like a banshee was giving birth to a Tasmanian devil! Theo grabbed the fake explosives and started pressing buttons but nothing worked. He dropped it back on the desk and covered his ears as he couldn’t take it any longer.
The next thing he knew his door was flung open and in skipped a happy looking Pip wearing a World War 2 military helmet, one that had an angry cartoon face with buck teeth painted on the front and pink glitter stars all around the sides. There was also a sticker on the back that said,
‘I fought in Hell and Won,
Boo Yeah, She Dogs!’
In other circumstances Theo would have asked about it but considering his ears felt like they were close to melting off, he decided it could wait…Oh and not forgetting the steampunk goggles she had resting on the rim, although Theo wasn’t sure that metallic pink was very steampunk, with or without the cogs and rusty nails she had glued to the sides.
Pip was also wearing a black T shirt with bold pink writing that said,
‘Do I feel lucky,
Well, do you,
PUNK?’
She turned to face the alarm clock and picked it up but Theo wasn’t looking at what she was doing because he was too busy reading the back of her T shirt. It had a picture of a fat Unicorn on it with writing underneath that read,
‘Hell, yeah I feel lucky,
Cause I’m a four-leaf clover
Pooping Unicorn!”
Theo grinned and shook his head thinking she was certainly quirky. And with her ripped tie-dye rainbow leggings and big heavy biker boots that were covered in flames, spikes and skull toe caps, then maybe quirky wasn’t a strong enough word for it.
The Glass Dagger (Afterlife Chronicles Book 1) Page 16
