Creeping Shadow (The Rise of Isaac, Book One)

by Peckham, Caroline

  "Wait, how many children do you have?" May asked.

  "Four," Ely said airily.

  "Four? We have three aunts and uncles we've never even heard of?" Oliver asked incredulously.

  "Yes. There's your uncle Pilford, who I mentioned earlier, then your uncle Eugene. And, um, well, your mum's twin sister, Laura." Ely downed the remainder of his wine.

  "What?" Oliver blurted, sharing a shocked look with May.

  Ely continued to stuff food into his mouth so there was little opportunity for him to respond. Oliver narrowed his eyes at him. "Did Mum fall out with the family, then?" he pressed.

  "Something like that," Ely said, getting to his feet. "I better just see how everyone's getting along," he muttered as he walked away.

  Oliver raised his eyebrows at May.

  "Mum has a twin," she said disbelievingly.

  Oliver nodded, feeling dazed. He looked closer at the people standing around the room. The group they had bumped into in the kitchen were chatting animatedly at one end near the men in business suits, a cluster of teenagers were whispering together in one corner and a pale-faced lady was standing alone, hovering by the buffet.

  One of the teenagers noticed him watching them. She had long, black hair which she curled around a finger as she spoke to the red-haired girl beside her. They both glanced at Oliver and May then burst into a fit of giggles. The two of them moved away from their group and started talking excitedly.

  "We should speak to those girls," Oliver said suddenly.

  "Why? They were laughing at us," May said, gazing stubbornly away from them.

  He nudged her. "Which is exactly why we should talk to them. Find out what's so damn funny."

  May grinned and raised her eyebrows at him in challenge. "Okay, after you."

  Oliver placed his plate beside him on the sofa, stood up and walked over to the girls.

  They started as they spotted him approaching and he felt a distinct feeling of satisfaction at riling them.

  "Hi, I'm Oliver, this is my sister May," he said with an overly friendly smile.

  May stepped to his side and he almost wanted to laugh at the look of surprise on their faces.

  The girls shared a look then the one with long, black hair spoke. "I'm Dawn, this is Zara."

  Up close, Oliver noticed that Zara's hair was more copper than red. She had an upturned nose which gave her a permanently snooty expression. She smiled but didn't say anything.

  "So, what are you guys doing here?" Oliver asked, aiming his question at Dawn who seemed more approachable.

  "Oh, you know. Just visiting," Dawn said, throwing Zara another look.

  "Where are you guys from?" May pressed.

  The girls burst out laughing and Zara even snorted.

  Oliver scowled at them. "What's so funny?"

  "Nothing, nothing at all," Dawn said airily, trying to suppress her laughter.

  "Aww, it's like watching animals at the zoo," Zara said in a baby voice, making Dawn shriek with laughter.

  "What's that supposed to mean?" May snapped.

  "Well an animal bred in captivity doesn't know there's anything beyond its cage does it?" Zara continued, looking at them with feigned pity.

  "What's your point?" Oliver said, straining to understand her insult.

  "Don't bother Zara. I'm not sure their little brains could understand even if we did explain," Dawn said, her mouth curving up into a cruel smile.

  Oliver grimaced and turned away from the girls, anger bubbling under his skin.

  "What the hell was their problem?" he snapped as they walked away.

  "I dunno. Let's try talking to someone else," May suggested, glaring back at the girls.

  As they moved through the room, it seemed that everyone at the party was actively avoiding them. Backs turned as they walked and the odd glance they did receive was quickly withdrawn as Oliver tried to engage the onlooker.

  "I'm sick of this. Let's go upstairs," Oliver said eventually and May nodded, looking disgruntled.

  They returned to the entrance hall and climbed the staircase, heading for their rooms. When they reached the turning, Oliver was suddenly filled with the urge to do something defiant and decided to keep climbing.

  "Where are you going?" May asked as she hurried to keep pace with him.

  He didn't answer but continued to ascend the stairs, passing corridors where the walls were barely visible beneath masses of tangled vines. They reached the top and exited the stairwell.

  The room was a dark attic full of branches that fanned across the ceiling and escaped through holes in the roof. A window rattled loudly at one end as a cold wind whistled through the gaps; it let in a slither of moonlight, casting a silver sheen across the floor.

  There were wooden chests everywhere and papers that had been scattered chaotically around the room. Oliver reached down and picked one up, finding a more detailed spiral diagram than the one they had discovered in Ely's room.

  At the top of the spiral was the only word he recognised: Earth. Descending down it, at varying intervals, were the words: Aleva, Glacio, Brinatin, Theald, Arideen, and Vale. Beside each word were symbols and more diagrams that he couldn't make sense of.

  "What is this?" Oliver asked, holding it out to May in a frustrated gesture.

  She took it and squinted at the writing in the gloom, the moonlight making her pale skin gleam.

  "I don't know. Is that referring to planet Earth?" May asked, looking confounded.

  Oliver shrugged.

  May passed back the paper then started rummaging through a chest filled with various objects. As she extracted a wooden box, something small hit the floor, bounced twice then rolled towards Oliver's foot.

  He used his toe to stop it and picked it up between his finger and thumb. It was a pea-sized ball that was translucent and glistening as if it were emitting a tiny amount of light.

  "May, come and look at this," he said but she didn't answer. "May?"

  Oliver looked up.

  She had the small box in her hands and was staring down at the contents in puzzlement.

  "What's wrong?" Oliver asked.

  He tucked the tiny ball into his pocket and felt the scrap of paper there with a jolt as he realised he had forgotten about it.

  May took what appeared to be two large medallions from the box and hung them from her finger by their chains. They were shaped like a heptagon and made from a faded, silver metal with a hole on each point that had tiny clasps. Next to each hole, running around in a circle clockwise, were the words from the diagram: Earth, Aleva, Glacio, Brinatin, Theald, Arideen and Vale.

  One of the objects spun on its chain, caught by a sudden draft blowing through the attic so Oliver could see the back of it. There were four words engraved upon it in swirling, silver writing that made his heart jump up into his throat.

  Property of Oliver Knight

  4

  Deception

  "What the hell are these things?" Oliver gasped and took the pendant from her, staring at his name. May twisted the other one around to reveal her own name and confusion crossed her features.

  "I don't know. Maybe we should put them back?" she said uncertainly.

  Oliver frowned, turning the pendant over to look at the front. "What do those words mean? They're on the diagram too."

  A noise from downstairs made them jump.

  "Put them back. I want to get out of here," May whispered in a panic.

  He passed the pendant back to her and she returned them both to the box.

  They ran downstairs and paused in the corridor outside their rooms. The wind buffeted the floor-length window beside them, the darkness outside causing their reflections to show up on the pane.

  "Maybe they're gifts from Ely?" May suggested.

  Oliver shrugged. "Could be, or they could just be another one of Ely's secrets." He let out a weary sigh. "I'm gonna go to bed."

  May nodded then rubbed her arms, shivering from the cool air in the corridor. "Okay,
see you in the morning," she said.

  Oliver nodded and entered his room, feeling the welcome warmth of the fire wash over him. He stoked it with an iron poker and added a fresh log to encourage the embers back to life.

  He pulled the curtains across the balcony door and readied himself for bed, getting under the thick quilt and sinking into the soft mattress. Sleep tugged at him and, just before drifting off, he watched the scrap of paper fall out of his jeans that were draped over the back of the armchair.

  * * *

  Oliver awoke early the next morning to find the fire had died in the night so the air in the room was icy. He recalled the scrap of paper and threw his covers back, jumping out of bed and crossing the room in a few paces.

  He snatched the paper up from the floor and cast his eyes over the handwritten words upon it. He realised it was the torn edge of a letter and the blood drained from his face as he read it, forgetting about the cold in an instant.

  forget, that discretion is my middle name.

  situations are to be handled.

  Hawking.

  Oliver exited his room and crossed the hallway to May's door, feeling a wave of adrenalin surge through him. He knocked lightly, assuming she would still be asleep but was surprised to hear her answer promptly.

  "Come in."

  Oliver hurried inside and found May fully dressed sitting cross-legged on her bed with a book in her lap.

  "What's wrong?" May asked, frowning at the sight of him.

  Oliver dropped the torn piece of paper in front of her and anxiously ran a hand through his messy hair as he watched her read it.

  She looked up at him, her bright eyes widening to their furthest extent. "What is this?"

  "I found it in Ely's room. It looks like part of a letter." Oliver pointed at it accusingly.

  "Do you think Ely's been in contact with that Hawking guy?" May asked incredulously.

  Oliver nodded. "What else could it mean?" he stated rhetorically.

  She nodded and eyed the piece of paper in her hand like it was a bomb she had to diffuse.

  "We need to find the rest of it," Oliver said.

  May looked up at him. "What? You mean go back into his room?"

  "Yeah, why not? We need to see all of this letter."

  May nodded slowly. "Okay, we'll have to wait until he goes out. I don't wanna risk him finding us."

  "But May-"

  "No. I'm serious. If he's involved with that guy..." she trailed off and Oliver fell still.

  "You're right. He could be in on the whole thing," he said in a hushed voice as if Ely might be listening at the door. "We'll wait 'til he's out then search his room."

  * * *

  Weeks went by and Autumn was fully upon them. Most of the leaves had fallen from the enormous tree that grew through the house, leaving its branches bare.

  They had soon discovered that Ely neither seemed to work nor leave the house at all. Deliveries arrived at the door every so often, bringing supplies to the manor. Oliver wondered if their grandfather wasn't leaving them unattended on purpose.

  They had eventually faced starting at a new school in the village. The other children were welcoming but Oliver found it hard to bond with anyone. He still clung in hope to his old life and a small part of him expected to return to it one day soon.

  Oliver breathed heavily as he and May walked up through the estate to Oakway Manor on their way home from school on a Friday afternoon.

  "Does this place have to be on top of such a ridiculously huge hill?" May said, panting.

  Oliver laughed through deep breaths.

  They approached the porch and leaves crunched under their feet on the steps. Oliver reached for the door but it opened before he touched it. A tall man in snow boots and a thick, fur-lined coat bumped into them.

  "'Scuse me," he said, avoiding their eyes.

  He was halfway down the hill before they even considered trying to talk to him. They had become so accustomed to the many faces that came and went from the house that they rarely tried to engage anyone in conversation any more. And, if they did, they were only met with evasive answers.

  "I want to know why there's always strangers here," May said, leading the way inside.

  "Maybe Ely's more sociable than he seems?" Oliver said bitterly, shutting the cold out with a loud clunk as the door closed. "How long are we gonna be living here before he decides to be honest with us?" He kicked off his wet shoes in frustration.

  "There's more chance of Mum turning up than that ever happening," May said stoically, taking off her navy coat.

  Oliver felt his stomach constrict at the mention of their mum. They had avoided talking about her, neither of them wanting to upset the other. He decided not to dwell on it. "Yeah, you're probably right. Maybe we should phone Mr Greene?"

  "And say what? Our grandfather has lots of friends, please help." She cocked an eyebrow.

  Oliver laughed. "Maybe not."

  Mr Greene had only checked in on them once and brought no news of their mum's whereabouts. The little he did have to say was that the police were still looking for her but were exploring other options. Oliver had fretted about what that really meant ever since.

  They climbed the stairs and spent the rest of the afternoon discussing their options in Oliver's bedroom.

  "I think we'll have to go in Ely's room while he's still here. We managed before," Oliver said, getting up off his bed and pacing around the room.

  "But if he catches us-"

  "So what? I'll confront him and he'll have to explain everything," Oliver snapped.

  "And blow our chances of ever finding out the truth," May said, rolling her eyes.

  "Fine. Then what's the alternative?" Oliver asked.

  May breathed in deeply and released it through her nose. She glanced out of the window beside the door and raised her eyebrows as something peaked her interest.

  Oliver followed her line of sight and blinked as he spotted snowflakes floating down outside in a lazy descent. They began to form a thin sheet of white on the balcony railing as they started to fall in a flurry.

  "Maybe all we need is a distraction," May said thoughtfully.

  "Like what?"

  May turned her attention to him. "We could try and convince Ely to come on a walk with us so we can see the grounds."

  "Then what?" Oliver asked.

  "Then you say you need to go back to the house for something?" she suggested. "And search his room."

  Oliver nodded and hope ignited in his chest. "That could actually work."

  May grinned. "I know."

  * * *

  The next morning they walked into the kitchen where Ely was busying about. Oliver cleared his throat as he stepped into the room and their grandfather swung around. He was in the middle of preparing them breakfast, scrambling eggs in a frying pan.

  "Ah!" he said brightly as they entered. "I was about to call you two. Take a seat."

  Oliver perched on a stool beside May at the breakfast bar as Ely dished them out eggs and toast. His stomach grumbled loudly in response and Ely chuckled lightly.

  As they ate, Oliver kicked May under the table to prompt her.

  She took a sip of juice before speaking. "Um, Ely?" she said innocently.

  Ely looked up from his food with a pleasant smile. "Yes, my dear?"

  "I was wondering if you'd give us a tour of the grounds? It's so pretty here and we haven't spent much time in the countryside before, especially in the snow." May gave him her puppy-dog eyes which Oliver knew had worked on their mum a thousand times.

  Ely's shoulders straightened a little. "Yes, of course. I'd be happy to show you around. Perhaps after breakfast?"

  "That'd be great," Oliver said, giving him a warm smile.

  The snow had fallen heavily in the night, carpeting the world in a thick layer of white. They followed Ely out of the front door, down the aged steps and onto the steep driveway that disappeared into the woodland ahead. The snow sat atop the leaves like a
dusting of sugar.

  Ely turned on his heel and led them away from the drive around the back of the house towards an expansive snow-covered garden which was glaringly bright beneath the grey sky.

  "There used to be stables on the grounds but they were demolished by my great grandfather almost a century ago. It's a shame really," Ely said, pointing towards a flat area beyond a large pond. "I have drawings of them that a stableboy did. I keep them in the library."

  "There's a library here?" May asked curiously.

  Oliver glanced back at the house as they descended the hill towards the pond. Snow sat in the water, turning to an icy slush on the surface.

  Ely continued to describe the history of the house and grounds but Oliver grew increasingly preoccupied with getting back to the manor.

  "Um, Ely?" he interrupted.

  Ely raised his eyebrows at him.

  "Sorry, I just need the bathroom. I'll meet you back here," Oliver said, hurrying back towards the house before Ely could answer.

  Showers of snow were kicked up by the toes of his shoes as he ran. He glanced back as he headed around a corner of the house and relaxed as he spotted Ely and May still standing by the pond several hundred yards away.

  Oliver ran up the stone steps and pushed through the door into the entrance hall. He kicked off his wet boots and charged across the hallway to the stairs where his socks slipped on the polished floor. He hurried up the spiral staircase, feeling a flood of adrenalin fuelling his muscles as he ran down the corridor towards Ely's room.

  He reached for the handle and turned it, praying it wasn't locked. He let out a breath of relief as the door opened then crept across the floor toward the desk. It had been tidied since his last visit so he pulled open drawers one at a time, checking the contents. He was careful to leave everything where he found it.

  Oliver felt the minutes ticking by and his heartbeat began to increase.

  After searching every nook and cranny of the desk he stood back away from it, gazing around the room in frustration.

  He spotted a wastepaper basket tucked beneath the desk to one side, concealed in the shadows. He felt a swoop of excitement and dove toward it but, just as he grabbed hold of the wicker bin, the ker-clack of the front door shutting sounded.