by Matt Whyman
“A what?”
“A gateway, Yoshi. A rung on the ladder to God. As soon as I made this discovery, it was vital that I kept it to myself. I allowed Aleister to believe it was a force for good or evil, just as I would with you, because it suited my purposes. You see, like any ladder, there is only room for one at a time, and I fully intend to be first to climb it.” Julius closes the book in his lap, and rises to his feet. “Thank you, dear boy, for all your help. Now I really must be on my way.”
“To where?” What fury the boy felt on first seeing this man has been eclipsed by these revelations. Yoshi glances up and down the tunnel, sees nothing out of the ordinary. “I don’t see any portal.”
Julius winks and says, “Maybe you’ve spent too long below ground, dear boy. I recommend some fresh air!”
Puzzled, and still drained of psychic energy, Yoshi watches him turn to leave the way he came. He repeats what Julius has just said, but it still doesn’t make much sense.
“Wait!” Yoshi rushes to follow, determined not to be left like this after everything he has been through. He vaults the railings on the steps down from the footbridge, rolling expertly to absorb the impact of landing. Mae Lin observes him pick himself up, looking startled all of a sudden. “What are you doing here?” she asks, and looks around at this long-forgotten ghost station. “What am I doing here, for that matter?”
Yoshi looks up along the platform, sees Julius approaching the exit, only to pull up smartly. The boy peers beyond him, at the steps leading to the old ticket hall, and sees the reason for his sudden halt.
“Julius, don’t move! Everything will be fine, so long as you don’t show any fear.”
The jackals gaze at the old man hungrily. They could be demons waiting there for him, such are their pointed ears and the menace in their eyes. Some drop their muzzles to the ground, hoping to pick up his scent. Others prowl towards the platform as if to test his courage.
“Get away from here!” cries Julius, waving his arms. “Go on! Scram!”
Yoshi sees the jackals retreat, but it’s the old man who concerns him most, for he seems to have lost his nerve. Instead of striding forwards, expecting them to slink away, he takes one step back and then another. Through the boy’s eyes, he no longer looks like a figure who has twisted fate to suit his own end. He just looks like a confused and frightened old man.
“Julius, don’t run! Stand your ground!”
Either he fails to hear the boy, or ignores his advice entirely. For Julius turns at that moment, with panic in his expression, and makes a break for the passage he had arrived through. It’s the signal that the jackals have been waiting for. They race down the steps in pursuit, swarming past Yoshi when he attempts to stand in their way.
“The silly sausage!” cries Mae Lin. “Jackals are no better than thugs. They pick on the weak and the cowardly.”
“Which means Julius stands no chance,” replies Yoshi. “I have to help him.”
“How?” Mae Lin peers into the passage that has just swallowed the old man and the pack, and then faces Yoshi looking very lost indeed. “Do you know how to get around down here - because I have no idea whatsoever!”
Yoshi pushes a hand through his hair, struggling to think of way to prevent the worst from happening. Even if he was beginning to find his way around under the streets, there was no way he could keep up with an individual who has mapped so much of this subterranean world. He thinks back once more to what Julius had advised him about spending too long underground, and then locks his gaze on the steps to the exit.
“Let’s get some fresh air,” he suggests. “Follow me!”
32
Closer to God
At street level, the entrance to this ghost station has been boarded up long ago. It’s plastered in fly posters for rock concerts and club nights, with grilles over the windows. You wouldn’t even notice it existed. Then again, in an urban metropolis like London, most people prefer to keep their heads down. It’s quite possible, in fact, to walk among a million people and not even notice a single face.
At this moment in time, however, things are very different. Firstly, there’s a banging noise coming from inside the old station. There’s the sound again, behind the plywood sheets. Whatever it is really starts to hammer, until finally a bus conductor investigates. He’s standing on the pavement, along with the driver of the big old double decker, which idles at the roadside.
“Let us out!” a voice calls, sounding muffled through the panelling. The conductor obliges by heaving on a loose grille, upon which the whole section splinters and throws him onto his back.
First an oriental lady steps out, followed by a boy in a white mink coat. They help the conductor to his feet, thank him for his assistance, and then look for the reason as to why the streets have come to a standstill.
“Oh my!” coos Mae Lin. “That’s pretty!”
It’s a bright day with broken cloud, but what has drawn everyone’s attention is the pattern it appears to be forming. It’s as if there are several different wind currents at work up there, conspiring to create a giant star pattern with seven points. It could span the city itself, such is the scale of this spectacle. What’s more, the star is slowly rotating. Right there in front of his eyes, Yoshi sees the first wisp of a twister form at its heart. All around them, a debate is in progress about what’s behind such a sight. Most of these streetwise citizens agree it’s one hell of a sophisticated advertising stunt, but Yoshi knows better than that. Before it strengthens any further, he bids Mae Lin farewell.
“I’ll drop by for dim sum,” he tells her, backing through the awe-struck crowd.
“Where you going now, big boy? Don’t you ever stop?”
Yoshi grins, already scanning the drainpipes and fire escapes for a way to reach the rooftops. “I can’t rest just yet,” he tells her. “I think I might know where to find Julius. I just hope I can get to him before the jackals!”
Seven storeys. That’s how far Yoshi has to climb in order to gain a clear view over the city. At any other time, he wouldn’t stop to consider the significance of this number. Right now, it seems to control every aspect of his life and the world around him. He’s standing on the parapet of Africa House, a building rich in history like every structure in this city, looking out across the sea of sloping rooftops, balconies and balustrades. There’s Big Ben in the distance, and the Palace of Westminster, while flashes can be seen coming from every pod on the Big Wheel as the tourists find something truly spectacular to capture on film. Overhead, the vast star formation continues to rotate. It turns at a serene pace, feeding slowly into the twister at its heart. Yoshi narrows his gaze, straining now to see where this spiralling vortex drops between buildings and touches the ground. Even so, as he prepares to cross the city at this level, something tells him he’ll find one man underneath it all.
“Here we go,” he says to himself, on jogging the length of the parapet. The gulf between this building and the next yawns into view, as does the street far below, but Yoshi is in his element. He knows he can make his way there across the rooftops. So long as he can strike the right rhythm, this parkour won’t let any obstacle stand in his way. What troubles him is whether he can make it in time.
When the twister finally ranges fully into view, Yoshi’s heart is hammering. He’s come a long way in every sense, hopping, skipping and jumping across skylights, ledges and roof gardens. And with every step he takes it becomes clear where he’s heading. The giant corkscrew of wind is fading now. It funnels in the last cloud vapours and sends rubbish whirling where the tip hits the ground. Even so, when his feet finally reconnect with the pavement, it’s quite obvious to the boy where he’ll find what he’s been looking for.
Yoshi stands straight for a moment, waiting for his breath to catch up. The first time he faced this dead end alley, in the heart of London’s Chinatown, Aleister had been hot on his heels in pursuit. Now, he regarded the brute as a father figure, unlike the man who had given him shelter in
the bunker hidden under buckled bars up there . . .
Once inside, through the hatch built into the cellar wall, the boy heads straight for the Map Room. He sprints along the gangway, his footfalls ringing against the metal boiler plates. On passing The Bridge, he sights Billy No-Beard back in the big swivel chair.
“Follow me! I might need your help!”
“But I’ve only just sat down!” protests the Executive Deck Hand. “My feet are killing me . . . Yoshi? Wait up! What’s the big hurry?”
The boy races for the central stairwell, with Billy in tow now. He only pauses on the final flight on hearing something distinctly feral through the walls.
“The jackals!” he declares. “If they’re heading into the Map Room, then Julius must be there already.”
“I’m all out of tricks,” says Billy, as Yoshi spins the handle for the door to the Engine Room. “Is this wise?”
Yoshi glances over his shoulder and shrugs. “Julius has pulled off a masterful deception. He’s tricked me so completely that I don’t know what to make of him any more. All I can be sure of is that he’s in great danger. He needs our help, Billy. Let’s go!”
With that, and as the sound of the pack through the walls grows stronger, Yoshi hauls open the door to the Engine Room. At once, a blinding light and billowing mist spills out, forcing them to spin around and shield their eyes. “What’s happened?” This is Billy. “The energy generator in there has a nuclear core. If it’s melting down we’re in big trouble.”
Yoshi is the first to face around. “It isn’t melting down,” he assures him, aware that the barking and yelping still sounds somewhat muffled. “It isn’t what you think at all.”
As Billy joins him at his side, the pair peeping over their forearms, they hear the door on the other side of the core open up. The barking becomes crystal clear now. Despite this, the sound of laboured, desperate breathing is more immediate. This is quickly matched by footsteps on the gantry that rings this hulking tube of pumps and pressure gauges. It’s hard to see what’s creating such a din, for this incredible glare is shining up from the very depths into which the core descends. The footfalls slow just then, upon which a figure on the gantry appears through the mist before them.
“Julius!” Billy is shocked to see the old man in such a bedraggled state. He’s panting heavily, and the tail of his patchwork coat has been ripped into ribbons. He leans on the rail for support, seemingly unconcerned to find himself in company. It’s what’s behind him that draws his attention.
The first jackal prowls into view, its snout to the floor of the gantry as if savouring every step its quarry has just made. With the pack surging close behind, the leader shows the old man its teeth and prepares to pounce. In response, Julius clambers onto the rail, and swings his legs into the abyss.
“Please don’t!” Yoshi fears the worst. He rushes for the gantry, but Billy holds him back. “Whatever you’ve done in the past, it shouldn’t come to this!”
“It’s too late!” Billy struggled to stop him from breaking free. “Those dogs will get to him before you!”
“Billy is right!” Julius sounds tired. He is scratched and bleeding. Where his clothes have been ripped away, Yoshi sees a frail, bony body. It’s as if the end of his act has revealed not some scheming master magician but a deluded old man with nowhere to go. Despite the pack of jackals now closing in on him, he turns his attention to the light shining up from the abyss. “The time has come to meet my maker, Yoshi. Goodbye for now!”
“Julius!” The boy breaks away from Billy, but there’s no time left any more. With a sweep of his tattered jacket, the old man drops over the rail, through the sea of mist and into the void below. “No!”
Yoshi rushes to the point where Julius had been perched. It’s impossible to see anything beyond the glare, but there’s no sign of life down there. Then a wisp of vapour rises up from the mist, and unwraps into nothing. Yoshi is ready to slump, but a low growl brings him back to his senses. He turns, sees the first jackal snarling at him now. He faces it head on, only for Billy to push past with both arms wheeling.
“Get away from him you cowards! Go on! Shoo! Back to the zoo with you all!”
Sure enough, these natural born cowards slink from a show of aggression that Julius should’ve shown, and then turn tail to slip past the arrival of several figures from the Map Room.
“Aleister!” The shocked expression on Yoshi’s face tells the brute he’s arrived too late. “We’ve been deceived! The ring is not a force for good or evil. It’s a gateway of some sort. Julius tricked us into opening it for him, but those jackals just drove him over the edge!”
With Livia, Mikhail and the twins close behind, Aleister peers into the abyss, and then faces the boy with his lips pressed flat. At the same time, Yoshi senses the snake leave the pocket of his white mink coat. It spirals up his arm, before reaching out to his former guardian. Aleister takes My Pretty in his meaty paws, and allows it to nuzzle his neck as if to comfort him
“Lucky for him that he jumped before I reached him,” he growls eventually. “We have all been victims of his deception.”
“Too right,” Billy says. “I feel like I’ve been completely conned!”
Yoshi finds Livia watching him. Her aura reminds the boy of Jenks, and the sacrifice he made for them. Now, it seemed, his death has not saved the city at all. There is no city to save. It was still standing, same as it had for centuries, and would continue to do so for centuries to come.
“I’m sorry,” he says, addressing them all. “If it wasn’t for me, none of this would’ve happened.”
“As our friend Jenks said himself,” smiles Livia. “It’s been a grand adventure.”
“I wouldn’t change it for the world,” says Scarlett.
“Me neither,” her sister adds.
Mikhail ruffles his red spiked hair with one hand. “I might’ve asked Jenks if he could make my psychic powers last a bit longer.” He shows them his palms. The light that had glowed from them has gone. “Billy and I are all out of gas!”
Aleister is still gazing over the edge of the gantry. The light shimmers around them, throwing up vapour every now and then, but showing no sign of fading away. “Julius took his research much further than me, but I never stopped to think he could be hiding out here, at the very centre of the Faerie Ring.”
“We still don’t know what it is,” says Yoshi. “Julius was babbling about meeting his maker, but I can’t believe he’d take his life after having come this far.”
Aleister considers what Yoshi has just said. Finally, he faces him, and asks him one question, “What’s the number one rule of street magic?”
“Don’t believe everything you see.” This time, Yoshi pauses to think things through. He recalls what the old man had revealed to him back at the ghost station. At the time, it sounded like the ravings of a man whose obsession had got the better of him. All that talk of a rung on the ladder to become one with his creator seemed just too crazy for words. Reflecting on it now, his attention shifts to the core. A series of pipes stripe the riveted steel hull, disappearing into the lapping mist. He glances at Aleister, who nods approvingly.
“I agree with Yoshi,” the brute says. “There’s no way that Julius would take his own life after having cracked the Faerie Ring wide open.”
“There’s only one way to find out!” Without warning, Yoshi jumps onto the railing.
“Get down!” cries Livia. “Do you want to kill yourself?”
“We’ll see,” the boy says with a shrug, and steps out into the abyss. A gasp goes up behind him, and a shriek from one of the twins. The boy drops into the vapour, only to reach out and grab the pipes to save himself from disappearing completely. Facing up to them now, he beams at the party lining the railings, and promises he’ll be right back. “I may not be a great street magician just yet, but I am good at jump running. I know how to get from one place to another in ways you wouldn’t believe.”
“Don’t be long,”
warns Aleister. “Or else I’m coming down to get you.”
The party watch Yoshi take a deep breath, as if preparing for a dive. Then, without looking up again, he begins to descend into the light.
Mikhail leans over the rail, watching him vanish from sight. “What do you think is down there?” he asks.
“Who knows?” Billy replies. “Let’s just hope he hasn’t tricked us, too.”
“He’ll be back,” growls Aleister. “Don’t even dare to suggest he’s followed in the old man’s footsteps.”
“I’m going to count to one hundred,” Livia suggests. “If he isn’t back by then, we really should try to rescue him.”
“There’s no need for that!” Scarlett points so excitedly at the silhouette beginning to surface that a spark shoots from her fingertip. “He’s on his way back already!”
Yoshi surfaces through the vapour, and for a moment simply clings to the pipes. He doesn’t seem to register their presence, until Aleister leans over the rail to haul him back to safety.
“What did you find?” he asks. The boy stands on the gantry before them all, shivering from head to toe. A rim of frost has formed on his shoulders and hair and his lips have turned quite blue. “Tell us, Yoshi!”
Yoshi blinks into focus at last, and folds his arms tightly for warmth. “There are seven waypoints in this Faerie Ring, right?”
Aleister nods. “Yes. Seven Hawksmoor Churches, marking out seven points in the design.”
Yoshi smiles, as if enjoying a private joke. “Julius was right when he said that seven was everywhere.”
“From the days in the week to the colours in the rainbow,” says Livia.
“And the Wonders of the World.” Mikhail seems pleased with his suggestion. “Seven is also the number of notes in a musical scale,” he adds, and demonstrates it with a series of la la la’s.
“Well,” the boy replies, wiping the frost from his eyelids now. “I can tell you that seven figures large in the next step on the journey that Julius has just started.”
