Today would not be a good day. Today would be her first day at school in England.
Emily wished her holiday could go on forever. Schooling in the last six months had been limited to tutoring by air force officers back in the States and some online lessons from an educational website. Now that her mom had decided that England would be a good place to stay for the next year, Emily had been enrolled in the local primary school. She would be going into Year 6 and boy was she dreading it.
She wished Pete was still with them. Her mom’s boyfriend, and sometime soon to be her new dad had left a couple of days ago. He needed to be back home for business; his divorce actually, but mom and Pete tried to keep that from Emily.
As if they could, she smiled. I’m a psychic. I know about things.
The three of them lived in this house, one of about eight that had been built at various locations in the grounds of the Sheddlestone Hall. Emily missed living in the big house. It had its own swimming pool and gym. She could still use them, but it meant a half mile bike ride and her mom still freaked out about her being on her own.
Not that Emily could blame her. The events that brought them to England, and the days they’d spent in the village of Darlford, were enough to scar anyone for life.
Emily blinked back tears that threatened to spill onto her cheeks. She’d lost friends in the village. Connor especially. She wished she could see him again. It seemed so unfair that he would die and not get a chance to come back.
Emily looked to her left. The ghosts were there, like they’d been for some days now. Different ones today. It seemed to Emily that they were on some type of shift rota like the people who worked up at the Hall. The ghosts had first appeared when Emily, her mom and Pete took a three-day holiday to Rome. Emily had been hoping for Paris, but Pete put three city names into a cup and got her to pick out the winner. So off they went to Rome. The ghosts appeared first when they visited the Colosseum. Emily ignored them. They weren’t threatening as they followed her around.
Things changed when they visited St Peter’s Square. Emily’s mom, Jane, had been fiddling with a tour guide map as Pete took photos when an old nun came over and knelt next to Emily. The nun was alive, her gnarled hands cool as she stroked the shape of a cross into Emily’s forehead. She said something in Italian that had Emily looking at Jane and Pete for some kind of help. There was one of those long couple of minutes as people who couldn’t talk the same language tried to communicate with sign language that ended as a passer-by stopped and translated.
“The nun says she is blessed,” the man said in accented English. “She says the girl has guardian angels standing at her side.”
Jane looked at Emily. “Do you?” she asked.
Emily couldn’t help glancing in the direction of the ghosts. Guardian angels? They didn’t look angelic. They wore ordinary clothes, though some looked very old-fashioned. The ghosts – angels – were just normal. Just like Emily until the nun came over. The translator man saw Emily glance, and he guessed what she was looking at.
“There are angels here?” he asked in English. And then. “Ci sono angeli qui?”
“No,” Jane said.
“Si,” the nun said. “Angeli.”
The man took Emily’s hand. “You are blessed,” he said.
A crowd gathered. Italians, Poles, Americans, Germans. The word spread swiftly. A girl with guardian angels. Here. In St Peter’s Square.
The police had to rescue them. What started as people wanting to be near Emily became people wanting to touch her and the closer they got the tighter the crush became. Pete pushed and pulled, and they managed to find a clear space that a police officer created and then they were being rushed into a nearby building. The ghosts came with them, and at that moment Emily knew they were Guardian Angels because they had come close and given her strength as the crowd pressed in on her. She felt safe and comforted.
Emily sighed. She hoped they would give her strength at school. She had a feeling she would need it.
***
Two hours later Emily stood in front of a class of English school kids who stared at her like she was a specimen under a microscope. Her teacher, Mrs Lynch, stood next to Emily.
“Year Six, this is Emily. She will be joining us from today. Emily is from the United States of America, so I’m sure we’ll all have questions for her about her homeland but for now, let’s all give her a big Year Six welcome.”
“Good morning, Emily,” the class said in the dullest English accents that Emily had heard to date.
Mrs Lynch smiled as if a choir of angels had just finished singing. “Wonderful. Now, Emily isn’t the only new starter. We also have a new teaching assistant starting today. Miss Davis will need you all to help her learn where things are kept and also what your names are. So, let’s give Miss Davis a big Year Six welcome as well.”
Emily glanced up at the young blonde lady who stood next to her. The teaching assistant said a little bit about how lovely everyone looked before Mrs Lynch shuffled off to take the register.
Miss Davis knelt next to Emily. “You nervous?”
Emily nodded.
“Me too,” Miss Davis said. She gave Emily a secret smile. Emily almost giggled.
She knew Miss Davis as Hannah, and Emily had met Hannah a few times already because she worked at Sheddlestone Hall. Mr Congrave thought it best that Emily had someone nearby who could help her out if anything unusual happened.
A couple of hours later,Emily walked slowly around the perimeter of the school playground and felt disconnected from the kids who ran, shouted, played and talked. No-one spoke to her. A couple of girls had given her shy looks but ducked away as soon as Emily walked towards them. With a sigh, she moved on. Miss Davis was on playground duty, the male teacher with her looked like he’d fallen in love already. Emily smiled. She guessed most of the teaching staff were in their fifties or sixties so for Mr Munro to get a young, single and pretty colleague must have made him think all his Christmases had come at once.
She stopped walking and realised she had found her way to the ‘bus stop’. Mrs Lynch had told her that any child feeling lonely or looking for someone to play with would stand here and the other children were encouraged to invite them to join them. Emily waited. The throng continued to sweep around her with a noise like a jumbo jet taking off. To her left, a pair of her guardian angels waited patiently. These two were young men. Emily wondered how they had come to die so young. Sometimes it made her sad to see people who’d died too early and missed out on so much of their lives.
Two girls approached. Twins. Dark curly hair held back by red bows, blue eyes, thin lips. Emily didn’t like them in an instant.
“You’re American,” the one on the left said.
“Yes,” Emily said.
The other twin walked around Emily, looking her up and down.
“Those shoes are cheap,” she said.
Emily said nothing.
“And Americans think they’re so special,” the first twin said. “My dad says so.”
“But they’re not,” her sister said.
“Especially you.”
Emily blinked. She knew most schools had bullies, but these two had spent their whole lives working together so they could be doubly mean.
“We’ll call you Cheap Shoes from now on.”
“Cheapy is a better name.”
“Like a bird. Cheepy cheepy.” The girls laughed together. Cruelly.
But Emily had seen worse things than a couple of English girls with mean streaks. Like a resurrected paedophile who’d try to cut her throat and resurrected jihadists who wanted to shoot her. Not to mention a demon that had opened the Gates of Hell.
She looked Twin One up and down. Then did the same for Twin Two. Emily tried not to laugh as one of her angels came and stood right behind the girls.
“What?” Twin One asked.
The bell rang for the end of playtime.
“What?” Twin Two asked as Emily walked away
.
“I’ll tell you later if you still want to talk to me,” Emily said over her shoulder.
Hannah waited as Emily walked towards her.
“Trouble?” the undercover teaching assistant asked.
“Nothing I can’t handle,” Emily said with a smile.
Chapter Three
“Well this is a disappointment,” Geordie said as he kicked the dusty ground of the Anomaly about.
Kramer kept quiet but couldn’t help but agree with him. She’d heard the reports but hoped, somehow, that the witnesses missed something. It looked like they hadn’t. A grim, arid desert landscape that looked like the land they’d left without the buildings, walls, trees and hedgerows.
“Step outside, Macca,” Geordie said. “Have a good shout, and we’ll see if we can hear you.”
As the special forces soldier vanished from view Kramer said, “There’s no point to this.”
Geordie frowned. He listened but heard nothing as Macca reappeared. Then he turned to Kramer and asked, “What d’you mean by that?”
“I mean this Anomaly should mean something. It’s sitting here like a...”
“Spare prick at a wedding?” Tiny suggested.
Kramer looked at him. “A what?”
“Don’t say it,” Geordie warned Tiny. “He means out of place.”
“Totally useless,” Macca offered.
“Yeah.” Tiny grinned. “No point in being here.”
Kramer snapped her fingers. “Exactly. But it is here. It’s intriguing. We’re looking at this and studying it when maybe we should be looking somewhere else.”
“A distraction,” Geordie said. “What for?”
“For those folks who vanished last night?” Macca asked.
“Maybe not just them.” Kramer tightened her grip on the sub-machine gun that hung from her shoulder. “We need to get a proper take on the whole area. Not just the village but anything in a couple of miles radius that looks out of place.”
“We can hitch a ride on one of the choppers that are bringing in supplies,” Geordie said. “Get us a good overview of the terrain and pin down any likely spots for further checks. It’ll be a heck of a lot quicker than driving or walking.”
“I’ll let Stanton know,” Kramer said. “He’ll probably think it’s a wild goose chase and be happy we’re out of his hair.”
“I’d probably recommend not bothering,” Geordie said. “But we’ll sort the ride while you waste your time. Meet up at the village hall in an hour?”
“Sounds good to me.”
Kramer led them out of the Anomaly. A couple of researchers pushing a bit of kit on a trolley stopped and stared at them.
“What were you doing in there?” one of them asked.
“Having a picnic,” Macca said.
“You... you...” The scientist stared at them as they walked past.
“Just chill,” Geordie said. “It’s fucking boring in there anyway.”
Kramer laughed, and as they reached the road junction, said she would see them later. She walked down towards the harbour again. The army had set up their headquarters in a chandler’s, and Stanton had taken an office at the back where he sat now as Kramer knocked on the already open door.
“Yes, Captain?”
“A minute of your time, sir.”
“Go ahead.”
“I’d like to take my security team on a sweep of the surrounding area. We want to see if there are any clues to why this Anomaly came into existence.”
“Isn’t that why the scientists are here?” Stanton sat back.
“They are, but while they concentrate on one site we need to be getting an overview.”
“As if I can stop you after last night’s little show,” Stanton said, his voice hardening.
“That was a dangerous situation that needed a swift resolution.”
“And the attitude of your team could be better.”
“I’ll have a word with them.” Kramer smiled.
Stanton stared at her. “I hope you do. At any other time, that man would be on a charge.”
“We’ll start by doing an aerial survey by helicopter so we can narrow down any areas of interest.”
“Yes, yes.” Stanton looked down at his desk, dismissing her already.
Kramer turned away. She disliked Stanton a little more each time they met. She got halfway to the door when his voice reached out to her.
“I want a full written report of your survey on my desk by oh-eight-hundred tomorrow.”
Kramer continued walking, she reached the fresh air and took a breath to calm herself. Sometimes, in life, she came across people who really shouldn’t be in their job. Stanton fit that bill perfectly. Maybe a call to Congrave could see the jackass replaced. The thought cheered her up as she took the long, steep walk back up towards the village hall.
Geordie and his team were waiting outside, along with a familiar face.
“Hello, Reuben,” Kramer said as she got closer to him.
“Hi, Jo. How’re things.”
“Could be better after my little visit to Lieutenant-Colonel Stanton.”
“Told you,” Geordie said.
“Did you bring Scarrett with you?” Kramer ignored Geordie and directed her question at Reuben.
“No, I think I’m here to replace him. Last I saw of him he was heading north of the border.”
Kramer frowned. She knew enough of British geography to figure that one out for herself. “He’s gone to Scotland?” she asked.
“Yeah, but he’s not on holiday.”
“I should bloody hope not,” Kramer said.
“Woo,” Geordie laughed. “Getting the old English vernacular down to a tee then, Captain.”
Kramer glared at the soldier. “Did you fix us up a ride?”
“Yup. Once around the lighthouse and back in time for tea,” he said.
“What are you on?” Kramer asked Geordie.
“My fourth mug of tea for the day.” The soldier grinned. “Ready to go, ma’am, your carriage awaits.”
“Lead on,” Kramer said with a shake of her head. To Reuben, she added, “Coming along for the ride?”
“Sure,” Reuben said. He tagged behind them as they trotted out towards the school playing field that hosted the transport helicopters. An EH101 Merlin sat in the field. Geordie led them over. The aircrew had already made final checks for take-off. Geordie introduced them to Kramer, a swift rattle of names that she barely took in as the engines kicked into life with a high whine and the rotor blades began their first, ponderous turn.
They hustled up the loading ramp, grabbing helmets and letting the loadmaster point to where he wanted them to stand. The crewman got each of them into harnesses and linked the harness to a cable fixed to the bulkhead of the aircraft. The helmets had intercoms built in, and Kramer heard the loadmaster say,
“We’ll fly around the village out to two miles. Two of you on the ramp, two of you port side, and the last one can come with me starboard. If you see anything you want to take a closer look at give me a shout and I’ll get the pilot to take us around for another look. Any questions?”
No questions. The loadmaster smiled as if he liked that way the best. The Merlin lifted off. Kramer grasped a hand bar and let her body sway to the motion of the aircraft. She and Geordie were at the loading ramp, and she felt a swoop of vertigo as the land shrank rapidly below them. Kramer took the scene in as the village became a scattering of toy-town-sized houses flung across the sloping terrain as it fell towards a tempestuous sea.
The Merlin started south, crossing the village and its tiny harbour. The land surrounding it was a patchwork of greens. There wasn’t much farming done down here that wasn’t sheep or cattle, but the first thing Kramer noticed was that the fields were empty.
“Where are the farm animals?” she asked Geordie.
“Evacuated with everyone else. The bigwigs didn’t want animals suffering if the farmers weren’t around, so they had them transported to farm
s outside the exclusion zone.”
Kramer saw farm buildings, isolated cottages and tiny hamlets as they flew over the land. Narrow lanes linked them like capillaries, thin strips of tarmac trapped between high embankments and hedgerows. Further away, towards the horizon, Kramer could see a major road that still carried traffic. The world went on. Part of Kramer wanted to be out there, maybe hitting a few shops, checking out some decent restaurants. She still needed to find a dress to wear to Chrissie Scarrett’s wedding. Ben’s sister had fixed a date a couple of months away, and Kramer got one of those brain freeze moments whenever she thought about the kind of dress she should buy.
“Anyone for tennis?” Geordie’s voice brought her back to the moment.
Kramer leant forward and saw a big house appear beneath them. A tennis court lay to one side, as did stables and a paddock. The property itself looked old, at least the central part of it. Extensions looked newer, still made from local stone but without the weathering. Kramer’s eyes drifted to the stables. She’d liked riding back in her teenage years. She guessed a lot of girls at that age did. And tennis, she’d played tennis a lot as well at high school.
Kramer shook her head. Forget the past, concentrate on the present.
Her peripheral vision caught the movement. A shadow that flitted across the land, from stables to house. Kramer stared at the building. It seemed unchanged as it shrank into the distance as the helicopter flew on. She turned, signalling the loadmaster.
“Go back,” she touched her mike. “Big house with a tennis court. I want another look.”
The crewman changed channels and said something to the pilot. The Merlin canted, sweeping in a tight turn that left Kramer’s stomach half a mile behind.
“What did you see?” Geordie asked.
“It might be nothing.”
“It might be something,” Geordie said.
The Anomaly Page 5
