by Matt Whyman
“Yuk!” she splutters, attempting to keep her hands from the stagnant drain-water. The twins crash in next, one after the other, which puts paid to Livia’s bid to stay clean. Then Yoshi surfaces, coughing and spluttering, and the three girls count themselves lucky.
“Well,” says Livia acidly. “That went well.” Her aura hangs high over her, as if unwilling to touch the surface of this swill. Even so, the misty light is enough for everyone to see that they’ve splashed into a narrow, brickwork channel. For a second, all four turn in the soup, and then a heavy sliding sound washes in from the mouth of the drain.
“He’s coming,” gasps Scarlett. “He’s actually coming down after us!”
“Another good reason to move on,” her sister adds, grimacing at the smell rising into their nostrils.
“This way!” shouts Yoshi. “Follow the current.”
It’s tough to wade at speed. Even so, this small band have good reason not to complain. Behind them, the mouth of the drain begins to groan under the weight of the incoming body.
“Let me go first,” insists Livia. “At least we can see where we’re heading.”
Yoshi moves to one side, glancing back as he does so. At the same time, the rushing noise cuts to silence, followed immediately by what sounds like a depth charge going off back there.
“We have company,” he mutters, and pushes on behind Livia and the twins.
With the aura illuminating the way ahead, it’s hard to see what’s happening under the mouth of the drain. The light behind them weakens with every step they take, and shadows begin to move in. Yoshi doesn’t like it one bit – the way this fog of darkness seems to merge over the water and reach out towards them.
“Look, up ahead!” This is Scarlett, pointing now. Yoshi turns to see what appears to be a sudden end to the channel. The gutter water just melts into the bed. At first it looks as if the high bank of silt behind it serves as some kind of dam. Coming closer, into the shallows, it becomes clear the flow is draining through yet another grille.
“Just how far down does this city go?” mutters Blaize, picking up her pace now, like everyone else. “Where does it end?”
“Unless we move faster,” pants Yoshi, turning one more time to see a black cloak filling the tunnel, “it ends right here for us all.”
Livia is first to leap the drain, her shoes sinking into the silt bank on the other side. Blaize follows with a look of grim determination, while both her sister and Yoshi pull a face when their bare feet meet what feels like cold porridge.
“Yeeeew!” complains Scarlett, but pushes on all the same.
Scrambling up beside her now, Yoshi wonders why the others have stopped dead. He takes one look at the river crossing their path, and punches the air.
“Yeeees!”
Resting her hands on her knees to catch her breath, Livia looks up at him and frowns. “We’re in the guts of the city. We’re wet, chilled to the bone and on the run. What’s to celebrate?”
The steady sloshing sound way back in the channel creates a sense of urgency in the situation. With no time to explain himself, Yoshi simply points out two deep tracks of footprints running beside the river.
“I know where we are,” he tells them, scanning the tracks to get his bearings. “We need to go this way!”
“How can you be sure?” asks Scarlett.
Somewhere downriver just then, close enough for all of them to hear it, something big and reptile-like makes its presence known. It’s the soft splash, and then the swishing noise through water that causes them all to catch their breath.
Blaize turns around smartly. “Did I just hear an alligator? There’s no such thing as an alligator in the sewers, is there? It’s an urban myth.”
Yoshi is more concerned that the sloshing behind the silt bank has turned to splashing footfalls. “This way,” he pleads with them, itching to keep moving now. “If Aleister wants to bring out the best in us, I know the very place that we can put on a surprise show for him.”
An old sheet of newspaper lies on the empty platform. The headlines report on another Blitz bombing raid. The picture shows London’s skyline ablaze, with searchlights reaching for the sky. The dome of St Paul’s can be seen in the middle distance. It’s unscathed and seemingly afloat upon a sea of smoke and flames. The paper stirs all of a sudden, and lifts into the air. When the train slams out from the tunnel and speeds through the ghost station, this old sheet loops gracefully, and then glides to rest once more. Time and again it has carried out this little display, but there’s never anyone here to witness it. Until now. Except on this occasion the boy who leads the way up the footbridge is more concerned about staging a display of his own.
“What is this place?” Livia stops to catch her breath. “It isn’t on the tube map, is it?”
“Not any more,” says the boy, surveying the length of this ghost station once again. Reaching up on tiptoe next, Yoshi brushes at the brick overhead with the seven-pointed star etched into it. Soot comes off on his fingers. He comes back down, makes sure the girls are watching, and rubs his hands together.
“Hey!” cries Scarlett as the black dust that falls away appears to transform into sparkling atoms. “How did you do that?”
“Try it out yourself,” Yoshi suggests, keeping one eye on the foot tunnel that just led them to this forgotten underground station. He steps back to let the girls give it a shot, but doesn’t share their sense of awe and wonder at the miraculous results.
For a shadow is spilling from the foot tunnel now, like ink from an unseen source.
Scarlett eyes the black mass nervously. “If we’re going to catch a train out of here,” she says to Yoshi, “shouldn’t we be on the platform?”
“Don’t even think about asking me to jump onto the roof and surf out of here,” Blaize tells him. “If I’m going to die I’d sooner do it with some dignity.”
“We’re not going to die,” says Livia. “Are we?”
Yoshi finds it hard to look her in the eyes.“There’s a church above us,” he says, drawing their attention upwards. “One of seven.”
The twins groan together. “Now you’re sounding like Aleister,” says Blaize. “Spare us the lecture. Just tell us what to do.”
The boy opens his mouth to explain about waypoints and ley lines, but Livia gasps and points along the platform. At the far end, they catch the shadow snake out onto the tracks, and there adopt both substance and shape. Black turns to white in a blink, and the bald brute in the mink who faces up to them grins like he’s heard every word.
“Go ahead and show them, little boy,” he hisses. “Seeing is believing, after all.”
Yoshi scowls, curling his fingers in and out of fists. Then, with his eyes fixed on the figure encircled by the tunnel’s dark mouth, he reaches for the stone and braces himself for the torrent of water. He tries to picture the other end of the ley line, another star shape in a stone under a stream, and relief flows over him as the sound of a deluge builds.
“Brace yourselves,” he tells the girls. “This is going to be big.”
30
HERE WE GO
Aleister folds his arms high across his chest. He looks totally unconcerned, even when Yoshi gives him one final warning. It’s only when the rushing water soars in volume and clarity that the brute turns to face the tunnel, and calmly snaps two fingers together.
Immediately, the noise tapers to a trickle. Instead of crashing white rapids a splash of water slaps between the tracks, and fizzes into the ballast bed. The boy is stunned. It’s as if someone had simply chucked a bucketful out from the blackness and switched off the sound effects.
“Now that,” says Aleister, stepping back to face them squarely, “is magick.”
“You stopped it!” cries Yoshi, as enraged as he is embarrassed.
“Maybe it’s just not the waypoint for you,”suggests Aleister, still playing with him. “Waypoint number five has your name all over it. Just like it says on your tag.”
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��Yoshi 5,” the boy mutters to himself, without even touching the nickel plate that had baffled Billy when he first dropped into the bunker. “So that explains it.”
“This waypoint is number three,” continues Aleister. “It was destined for one of the kids you turned on to the streets. You might be able to tap into a little energy from here, but a touch from the right key master would’ve caused havoc. Bummer, huh?”
Yoshi slams his palm on the stone one more time, but nothing happens. Sensing his helplessness, Aleister moves towards them. The amusement on his face is over, instantly. Now, his blue eyes harden, and the crease across his brow sinks sharply in the middle.
“Let me try!” Livia reaches for the stone, straining to touch it with her fingertips. On contact, her aura seems to concentrate around her, and travel up her arm. The closer it gets to the stone, the brighter it grows, as if something is about to blow. Yoshi steps back, as do the twins. Even Aleister stops on the track, forced now to shield his eyes as if staring into the sun . . .
“This may not be my number either!” she screams, upon which a molten ball of energy shoots at the figure on the tracks. “But I’m mad as hell with you!” The impact knocks the brute off his feet, carries him the length of the platform, and vanishes on smashing him into the track.
Livia dusts her hands, ignoring the look of sheer amazement fixed on the faces of her friends. At the tunnel mouth, Aleister stirs and tests his limbs. He coughs and groans as he picks himself up, and then shakes his head as if trying to clear his vision. “You’re stronger than I thought,” he informs the girl, and straightens himself out to his full height. “With my help,” he adds, glowering at them once again, “you could use the fire inside you all to grow stronger still.”
Yoshi turns to the twins. He doesn’t need to tell them what to do. They don’t even consult each other, just reach up as one and connect with the stone.
“Even if this ain’t our stone either,” Scarlett tells him, “you’re still faced with double trouble!”
With a sound like a sheet snapping open, two tongues of fire race out of the tunnel, setting the rails ablaze. The flames overtake Aleister, who stops and admires what they’ve done. Yoshi watches from the handrail, despairing at what he sees. By rights Aleister should be fleeing for his life, but not even this heat looks like it can touch him.
“My word, you’re all growing strong,” he tells them, with both paws clasped behind his back. “Just think of the fun we could have had with seven of us. With each of us tuned into a waypoint in the ring, this city could have been our playground.”
“That’s never going to happen!” yells Yoshi, and reaches for the stone the twins are still touching. Livia follows his lead, her aura encircling their hands. On the tracks, the flames rise up with a roar. Yoshi glances down, feeling the heat on the soles of his feet, and jumping back when it becomes too hot to handle. From the mouth of the tunnel, Aleister locks his gaze onto them, and once more begins to walk towards them.
“Just look what you can do when you put your minds together,” he tells them. “We really could be an unbeatable force. If you can’t open your eyes to the possibilities, I’ll just have to open them for you.”
As he speaks, Yoshi feels a wisp of air meet his face. He blinks in response, still watching the brute move towards them. The breeze picks up swiftly, disturbing a newspaper sheet on the platform. And then, way down the tunnel, two spots of light begin to grow. Yoshi focuses on the man once again, sees his shadow stretch slowly ahead of him as the lights in the tunnel grow bigger and brighter. A train . . . A train is coming. He whispers the words to himself, torn now by the predicament he’s facing. For a second he considers saying nothing, but it’s no good. He can’t stand by and watch this happen.
“Aleister,” he calls out. “Get off the line!”
“Nice try.” He curls his fat fingers like claws, hissing “It’s behind you!”, as if that’s what the boy should’ve said instead. “If this is your idea of a distraction technique,” he continues, oblivious to the way the flames begin to flicker and lick with the wind, “you really should try harder.”
“It isn’t going to stop!” cries Livia.
“That’s enough!” Aleister looks furious with them now, still blinkered to the fact that it isn’t just flames that are roaring down the tracks. “Now shut up,” he thunders, “and watch what I have to show you. What you’re about to see might seem incredible, unearthly, even diabolical—”
“No!” Yoshi screams from the bridge one final time, but even he knows it’s too late now. As the headlamps knife out of the blackness, the brute finally registers the horror barrelling towards him. He wheels around, twisting into his own shadow, it seems to the boy, who reels away with his eyes squeezed tight shut. The train thunders under the footbridge, rattling every nut and bolt. With his back turned, Yoshi dares to open his eyes, and watches the last carriage shrink into a dark, consuming gloom. It seems to blacken beyond shadow, he thinks, but senses somehow that nothing will come out of it to surprise them this time.
“He’s gone.” This is Livia, the first on her feet. She waits for Yoshi and the twins to collect themselves, and nods to the place where Aleister had been standing.
The tracks are no longer ablaze. They’re blackened and smoking, a sure sign they hadn’t imagined it, but the man in the mink is nowhere to be seen.
“But is he gone for good?” asks Yoshi, thinking that a true magician would have made the most of that crucial final moment when his audience could bear to look no longer.
“Right now,” sighs Blaize, “I don’t care if he’s dead or alive. All I want to do is freshen up, grab a smoothie to go, and lie down some place quiet.”
“She means it,” warns Scarlett. “If we don’t get going we’ll all feel the heat.”
Yoshi smiles, and then laughs when Blaize pulls a face at her sister. It feels good, enjoying a moment with friends. He might not recall all the times they’ve shared together in the past, but this is one he’ll never forget.
“Do you know how to get us out of here?” asks Livia, stepping up close as if to read his response.
“Sure I do,” he says, wondering if he really can find his way back to the bunker from here. All he can be certain about is the fact that there must be a thousand and one ways to get around the city without once coming up for fresh air.
“Guys!” This is Blaize. The note of alarm in her voice causes them all to face her, and then follow her line of sight to the shadow emerging from the foot tunnel.
“Oh no,” breathes Livia. “Here we go again.”
Yoshi steps in front of them all, prepared to do whatever it takes to protect his soul mates, and then promptly stands down with a private smile. “This is no threat,” he tells them, as an elderly figure shuffles out onto the platform, and stoops to inspect the headlines on the newspaper at his feet. “It’s our guide home!”
Julius Grimaldi looks up on hearing Yoshi’s voice. “Did I miss the performance?” he asks. “Oh well, I’m sure there’ll be another chance to see it some time.”
“Maybe so,” says Yoshi, leaning against the rail with the others.
The old man nods to himself, both eyes sparkling now. “Would your guests care to join us in the bunker?” he asks. “You look a little washed-out up there.”
Yoshi glances at Livia’s aura. The haze is certainly weaker than before, which is no surprise after what they’ve been through. He thinks about his own gift, and wonders if there’ll ever come a time when he can summon it at will just like the twins. “Let’s go,” he says, turning now to leave the bridge.
“I’m hoping the crew will be home by the time we get there,” says Julius, greeting them each in turn on the platform. Yoshi stands last in line, his memory intact but his mind elsewhere when the old man clasps his hand. “Even the galley was deserted when I popped in just now. I’m hoping that means they’ve stopped off on the way home to pick up some sushi . . .” Julius pauses there, wondering why the bo
y has not responded, and then smiles when he sees that flash go off inside his eyes. “What do you see?” he asks, abandoning what he’d planned to share with them about his passion for raw fish and rice.
Yoshi smiles, his focus slack. “I see a lot of young punks on a rooftop under the stars. It looks like they’ve been there a while. Like they’re stuck or something. Some are playing cards. Others are lying back checking out the constellations.”
“My kind of people,” murmurs Julius.
“Seems they might be waiting for something or someone,” Yoshi continues, and then blinks as if he’s just been struck by an urgent thought.
He turns to the Livia and the twins, clearly with them again. “I’ll catch you later,” he says, retreating from them now. “I really have to be some place.”
“Be careful!” warns Julius, as if he knows full well that Yoshi is about to take to the city’s upper levels.
Livia switches her attention from the old man to the boy. Yoshi is beginning to look pained, like this just can’t wait. “Where are you going?” she asks. “What’s the hurry?”
“There are some street magicians I’d like you to meet,” says Yoshi finally, and spreads his hands like there’ll be another time to share the whole story, “but first I need to teach them a few tricks from my book!”
This book is dedicated to Bluebell
PROLOGUE
Garlick Hill, London. 1666. Sundown
