‘Oooh, I could do with a tan.’ Malachi honked the horn and revved the engine. His chesty laugh built to a violent crescendo as I cursed him with every obscenity that came to mind. His deliberate irritation made me glad I didn’t have siblings.
I jutted my hand out to blast him with wind, but he anticipated it and sucker-punched me in the abdomen, sending me sprawling onto the concrete. He yawned and rose out of the car, stretching like a cat, his taut arms impossibly long, and shifted his weight onto my leg, trapping it under a heavy, steel-capped boot. With a bored sigh, he examined me, smirking as I tried to avoid eyeballing his crotch. This vampire enjoyed my humiliation.
‘Now I’ve ended it. The only person who’s allowed to threaten Lorenzo is me.’ He released my leg, and it took some will not to rub the sore spot as I stood, limping to the open car door, and flopping inside. The keys were still in the ignition. I watched him slink off to Lorenzo’s side, who to be fair, didn’t laugh at me when I was horizontal in a puddle. A small mercy.
Lorenzo was right, the storm was getting crazy again, and I could barely see through the windscreen even with the wipers on full blast. I switched on the seat-heaters and slammed the door.
I accelerated up Market Road, cursing all the way home, shivering, soaked, and miserable. Whenever I thought of Ava Wallace, I lost my breath and felt panicky as if I’d drunk too much coffee.
Somehow, I made it through the ornate iron gates of our driveway and past the ugly gargoyles. The circular journey struck me surer than any lightning bolt. I’d blasted out of this place, toying with not returning, and now I craved the fire in the library, a mug of hot cocoa, and the seclusion of my four-poster bed. What sort of man was I? What sort of warlock was I? I was the Gatekeeper and I had been temporarily bested.
I slammed on the brakes and jumped out of the car, the doors flying open with a flick of my finger. I shut off my vision and tugged on that magnetic field a second time. Soon, a hole opened in the black sky, spurting out the churned intestines of cloud, a funnel of wind sucking away all moisture from inside the Jag. When the intensity grew, I channelled it through me, controlling its flow; presenting a dry car was nothing if I tore off the steering wheel. Being a cosmic syphon had its advantages.
Gradually, the wind tapered out, and I stood in what seemed like silence. Using my powers had tamed the explosion of magic in the atmosphere, and the rain had abated for the moment.
After parking the car in the garage, I ventured towards the fortress of a front door, and knocked. I never had a key. Father’s rule: at least one Clemensen stayed in Hellingstead Hall at any time. We had too many valuable books and magical trinkets for them to fall into the hands of varmint or the Guardians. To ensure compliance, none of us had a key – that I knew about. Breaking in wouldn’t be much of an option, considering Father had the house buttoned down with wards that would keep out an alien invasion.
Uncle Nikolaj answered the door. I was glad to see him. Like an angel, he chucked me a towel and promised that hot tea awaited me in the library. ‘Your father wants to talk to you,’ he said.
‘By “talk” do you mean cross-examine?’
Nikolaj cleared his throat in a way that meant, ‘Best not to ask.’
‘Fine. I’ll get changed first.’ I made a show of slowly walking upstairs towards the west wing, trying to prove I was my own man with my own schedule. But I’d be in the library within half an hour. Despite how it annoyed me to be summoned, I’d decided I would be spending a great deal of time there, having a serious browse through all those dusty old books I’d ignored for so long. I had so much to learn, so much energy inside that threatened to bubble over and swallow me whole.
But first I needed that cup of tea.
3
The Book Of Gatekeepers
I found Father standing by the open fireplace at the back of the library, a few paces from his study. He often migrated towards the fire’s warm light during the long winters and frigid springs, instead of sitting at a cold desk.
He took his time to acknowledge me. When he turned, his cloak swayed over his wiry shoulders, and the clasp, Thor’s Hammer set in silver, caught the firelight. With a nonchalant swish of his hand, he motioned to the teapot on the side table. I sat in the ancient armchair, its tartan fabric long since faded, and poured myself a cup. ‘Uncle Nik said you wanted to talk?’
Father sat cross-legged on the rug and poked at the fire. He ran Hellingstead Hall. No question. But to his king, my mother had been queen, and life was less of a military campaign before she died. In the evenings, we’d all play Scrabble until the game disintegrated into a wrestling match between me and Father. Did he think about that?
Whenever I tried to empathise, I slid back from the attempt, scared to let his grief in to join my own. He had borne the gift and burden of being the Gatekeeper without her until I’d come of age. Now I had the control by all rights, just no experience to go with it. I still needed him to teach me the ropes – he’d made sure of that.
‘How was your evening?’
‘Is that all? Why summon me to ask me that?’
Father stretched his legs, picking at the worn patches of thread in the carpet. ‘Humour me.’
I considered how much I should lie. No way in any of the Nine Realms would I spill my guts about practically getting my guts spilled.
‘It rained a lot.’
Father sighed. ‘And?’
‘Okay!’ I raised my hands in mock surrender. ‘It was packed out, had to park by the alley. Music was good even if I had to fight my way to the bar—’
‘Do I need to fetch the breathalyser?’
Warlocks and alcohol don’t mix, so I’d been told since day zero. But my many tics and I needed loosening up. ‘Relax, I only had a couple.’
He waited, staring up at me as if I were regaling him with a fairy story. ‘Go on.’ Well, my story involved some monsters but that’s where the parallel ended.
‘There were some cute girls I guess. Quite a few Pneuma too.’
His back straightened. I swear if he were a dog, his ears would’ve pointed up. I chuckled; Nikolaj’s Elf-ear did that whenever he was excited about something. ‘Pneuma or varmint?’
‘Both I guess. Where one goes the other will follow, right?’
‘Indeed,’ he nodded, pleased that I’d rehashed one of his favourite sayings. ‘What kind?’
‘Why does it matter?’ I countered. What was his angle? Maybe a test designed to assess my general awareness. He loved that kind of thing. ‘Oh, whatever. Couple of witches, some vampires. Few of the regular types, you know.’
It stung a little that he didn’t give me the chance to talk about Ava, her crazy hair and sexy voice. Typical: business as usual. I was so busy being disappointed I almost missed his deathly cold stare.
‘Vampires?’
‘Yeah, two I think.’
‘Did you speak to them?’
‘Briefly.’
‘Did they know who you were?’
I sucked in my lower lip. My feet itched to River-Dance against the floor. ‘How should I know? I mean, it’s not like I’m in witness protection or anything.’
Father smirked, his attention on the fire, no doubt thinking how he’d love to hide me away like that, no one even knowing I existed. If the Praefecti didn’t insist that every Pneuma registered the birth of a child with them, maybe no one would have. Total shiver attack.
‘So, the reports are true. Vampires have returned to Hellingstead.’
Reports. That’s what he’d said. I was curious where his information came from, considering he hardly left the estate, and the last time I saw him using the internet was like, never. Heck, Uncle Nikolaj was more au fait with technology and it gave me a headache calculating how old he was. ‘Right, so why have they come back?’
‘Theodore…’ For once he wasn’t saying it to annoy me, but absent-mindedly. ‘There are many reasons. One is more troubling – and likely – than the rest.’
I
paused, about to suggest a reason, but choosing instead to listen, hoping my father was in a sharing mood. ‘The weather we’re experiencing isn’t natural. The birth of a Gatekeeper always happens during a cosmic alignment. Likewise, the transfer of power from one body to another requires a boost. We call this a “psychic shift”. The magnetism it generates interferes with natural weather patterns. If one knew what to look for, one could detect when, and where this happens.’ Father stared hard at me, the fire reflecting in his eyes. ‘It’s possible they have been attracted by it.’
‘By me, you mean.’
‘You must be careful, Theo. Leave no clues about your true identity as a Gatekeeper, otherwise there’ll be an unending line of Pneuma and sapiens ready to use you – at best.’
‘And at worst?’
‘Exterminate you and all magic from the face of the earth forever.’
I winced. Talk about the bottom line.
‘Why would anyone want to get rid of magic?’
Father laughed, the derisive edge echoing around the vaulted ceiling. ‘I hope that’s a rhetorical question! Why does one religious man aim to kill another? Humans are driven to obliterate whatever doesn’t fit within their stringent belief systems. For every person who rejoices in the idea of magic, and the DNA of Elves and Pneuma mixing with sapiens, there’s a thousand others who’d light the pyres with their own hands.’
‘Maybe I’m not as pessimistic about the human race as you are.’
‘It’s not only sapiens you need to worry about, Sønn. Both varmint and Pneuma are an equal threat. The varmint care for nothing but their own glory, and even the Guardians would be happy to exploit you, all the while believing in the nobility of their cause. The gods have helped us to mask our existence, but they cannot seal the cracks alone. The forces of chaos are everywhere. Don’t be foolish and trust the first girl who charms your heart, or the first person who claims to be your friend. The optimism of youth could get you killed quicker than a cyclone wipes out a village.’
Ouch. There he went again, seeing into my head as if I were one of his carefully preserved books.
‘Right, got it. Warning received loud and clear. The theatrics weren’t necessary, Father.’ Before he could reply, I added, ‘Next time, save the spiel about enjoying myself and get on with the lesson.’
Father stood and walked very close to my chair, resting his hand on my shoulder. His tone dropped low. ‘Theodore, I didn’t send you out for that.’
My shoulders sank under the grip of his palm, and I smiled, believing he’d really wanted me to have some fun. ‘I simply required an eyewitness to confirm the vampire epidemic. There was no need to alarm you if my source was mistaken, and both Nikolaj and I are familiar to the varmint. We’d attract too much attention. Put out the fire when you’re done.’
With that callous rendition of his un-fatherly motives, he ruffled my matting hair and strode off into the shadows of the library. I sat there in shock until I heard the door click shut. He actually used me. He used me as his lackey!
That. Was. It. I wasn’t going outside unarmed like that again. To Father’s Wikipedia, I was a chatroom of hearsay and speculation. The fire would rage on tonight – I had some rummaging and pilfering to do. Time to act instead of react. Make my powers work for me. I didn’t want to be the Sorcerer’s Apprentice anymore, relying on the knowledge of others.
I walked down the red carpet that ran towards the door, fine golden threads blossoming into branches of Yggdrasil under my feet. Since infancy, I’d roamed these bookshelves, chasing imaginary foes across the carpet, where I’d taken my first steps long before I could read. The library anchored the satellite wings of the house, a home within an estate. Easy to get lost in if you hadn’t grown up learning its secrets.
To my right, Father’s study, a ladder on castors to the catwalk and gallery above, where shelves burst with impenetrable reading material. We’re talking script in Elvish and Old Norse, pesky runic languages and ancient Greek and Latin, not to mention the Hieroglyphics.
The walls themselves bore their share of books too, and several of the bookcases slid aside like French doors, revealing secret shelving. To my left, in the centre, Uncle Nikolaj’s display of Elvish curios, irresistible since my father warned me not to tamper with them. Near the door were bookshelves that didn’t quite reach the corner.
Instead, the wall concealed a door, and a staircase spiralling down into the vaulted undercrofts. Until my birthday, I hadn’t known the undercrofts existed thanks to Father’s warding runes. ‘We didn’t tell you for your own protection,’ he’d said.
‘Why, what’s down there?’
He and Nikolaj had exchanged tumultuous looks, and once again, I felt barred from another larger conversation. They’d refused to answer.
The incident outside the Red Hawk had freaked me out, but compared to my suffocating and unfathomable destiny, it didn’t rank highly on my list of anxieties. My chest tightened with fear. Does anyone know who I am? Is anyone searching me out? What do they want from me?
The Gatekeeper of the Lífkelda. A big title. Father had told me that my body was like a beehive, the only source of magical sustenance in all the Nine Realms. I controlled the flow of energy from the life-spring of Yggdrasil into the world of flesh and bone. Without the Gatekeeper, he’d said, magic would wither. Then he’d spelt it out: if I died before having a child who reached the age of twenty-one, magic would die too. Forever.
My bare feet suddenly became fascinating. I wriggled my toes into the worn carpet, trying to disperse some pent-up energy.
The memory rocketed from my subconscious and exploded into fragments, showering the floor like fading stars.
There’s a book in the library, Theodore, which only one of us can touch.
Don’t tease him with your riddles, Nik. He’s not ready.
You can’t protect him forever. The Norns of Fate find us wherever we hide.
What does he mean, Daddy?
I’ll tell you when you’re twenty-one. Eat your breakfast.
I blinked, the glittery dust of the vision vanishing, but the recollection remaining, clear as the face of the full moon. Coiled energy tumbled in my gut; the innards of a Gatekeeper are reptilian: viper-fangs and flicking tail, hard and viscous, an alien warmed by Clemensen blood. This thing hissed and settled back down, giving itself away. Magic had triggered the flashback, and I’m talking Magic with a capital M, literally sparking the images to life.
Why? I asked the silence. Why that memory? I’d been five at most, young enough to call my father ‘Daddy’ without meaning to mock him.
Whispers filled my head. Ask and ye shall receive. It reminded me of Lorenzo and his fondness for quotes, and I imagined him reading, somehow making it cool as he lounged on a windowsill in the dead of night, waiting for quarry to pass beneath. Lorenzo: Literary Assassin. I chuckled, choking on the imagery as I let it spiral away, Lorenzo tossing his book aside and leaping onto his beautiful victim, the girl with soulful eyes and rainbow hair…
The Thing listened. The air hummed, saturated. I’d asked for an instruction, and it had replied. What if ask and ye shall receive meant your wish is my command? I axed Ava from my thoughts. A stray daydream could send a wordless spell into the cosmos, one I’d never want fulfilled.
My body isn’t my own anymore. I’d died. Something had slipped inside me, resurrecting me with it. Filling my marrow with a cancer that drew on my life force until I could provide it with a suitable replacement. Scary enough, let alone that it seemed to be sentient, my suddenly not-so-silent passenger, watching everything I did.
Only one of us can touch the book. I paced down the length of Yggdrasil, one foot in front of the other, walking over the golden trunk like a living Hieroglyph peeled from papyrus. Which means it’s special, connected to the Clemensen bloodline… Only one of us…
‘One Clemensen ever, or only one at a time?’ I whispered my musing into the book-stacks.
My secret passenger an
swered. Only a Gatekeeper.
I peered up to the second-floor gallery, considering the possibility that the book was one of the mind-boggling manuscripts stored beyond the ladders. No, Father had given up making me study those infernal languages – it was not my special talent – so I doubted such a book lingered up there. Then again, he hadn’t told me anything about this book as he’d promised in my memory.
A pinch of Sherlock Holmes deduction pointed to the aforementioned hidden room filled with locked drawers, and the undercroft below it, crammed with ancient ‘junk’. It hadn’t looked all that useful during the moments I’d spent down there, curious after my father and uncle had confessed to its existence.
Passing the curio display cabinet and rounding the bookcases towards the hidden room, I slipped through the semi-invisible door. Golden symbols flecked the panelled wood and vanished from view upon examination – Father had included a proviso within the wards, allowing me to enter.
The room, with its stained-wood lockers, imitated a tiny bank vault. Previously the old buttery, a staircase dropped into an undercroft that once stored barrels of beer.
My eyes flew to a little cabinet on my left; a mysterious key I’d only ever seen in the hands of my father hung out of it at a slant, indicating it didn’t belong there. To be accurate, the key didn’t belong in this century; it was a rough bronze cast, about three inches long, with a decorative handle reminiscent of a dream-catcher. Viking for sure.
The cabinet squeaked open, and a note, written in Nikolaj’s swirly Elven scrawl, read: I’d conceal this PDQ before Espen notices it’s missing. He wants to protect you too much sometimes.
Just perfect. Yes, Nik had passed on some rightful inheritance, but what the hell did it mean, and what was the key even for? Perhaps some weird ceremonial item?
I folded the paper, stuffing it into the pocket of my drawstrings, and for the hell of it tested the key in some of the other locks. No use; it wasn’t generic but designed for a specific mechanism.
Forged in Blood and Lightning: A New Adult Urban Fantasy Novel (Descendants of Thor Trilogy: Book One) Page 4
