Death & Co.

by D. J. McCune

  Hours later, as Adam put his vomit-spattered trainers in the washing machine, he wished that he had taken his father’s advice. He watched his battered shoes and slimy socks begin their resentful trundle through the wash cycle, still thinking about the three souls they had guided after a fatal house fire. It had been pretty horrific. He heard Nathanial approach the kitchen door, presumably to say something comforting, but the footsteps stopped, hesitated and finally retreated towards the study. Adam sighed. He couldn’t blame his father. He wouldn’t know what to say to him either.

  He mooched into the den. Auntie Jo was still up, crunching through a slice of toast and watching some kind of zombie film. She glanced at his bare feet and grinned. ‘I told you – you should have donated your pudding to me.’

  Adam scowled. ‘Yeah, OK, rub it in, why don’t you.’

  She stared at him not unkindly. ‘You gave us all a bit of a surprise tonight. Why the sudden change of heart?’

  Adam shrugged. He felt oppressed, as if a great weight was resting on him. ‘It’s my job. I’m going to have to do it for the next fifty years so I guess I better get used to it.’

  Auntie Jo snorted. ‘Fifty years is a long time. You’re a bit young to be thinking that far ahead. Anyway, who knows what might happen?’

  It was Adam’s turn to snort. ‘Yeah, who knows? Oh … wait a minute. I do know. I’ll come of age, be a Luman, get married, have kids, guide souls and then die. Hopefully someone will be good enough to guide me through my Light, although I guess it won’t really be necessary, what with me already knowing the directions. They’ll only want me for my Keystone.’

  Auntie Jo had a strange expression on her face. ‘Not everyone finds it easy being a Luman.’ She faltered and cleared her throat. ‘Don’t give up on school just yet.’ Her mouth opened and for a moment Adam thought she was going to say something else. Instead she sighed and shook her head, tugging fiercely at the locket round her neck. ‘Anyway, go away. You’re distracting me. I’ve missed the best bit, where the zombies eat that annoying girl with the blonde hair.’

  The next day after school he had to beg Nathanial to let him go on a call-out. He took quite a bit of convincing. For once Adam wasn’t sick, which was quite surprising given the fact that he almost choked to death on his own blood. His nose didn’t so much bleed as haemorrhage. The soul they were guiding was an elderly woman who had fallen off her bicycle. She was more concerned about Adam than she was about herself, much to Nathanial’s embarrassment. Adam was sent home to clean himself up and he was glad to escape. He fled upstairs and spent the night in his room, nauseous and mortified. No one came to bother him.

  Friday passed in a blur of misery. It was the last day of school before the break and everyone else was full of excitement. Adam avoided people as much as possible. At lunchtime he sat in the canteen alone, picking at a sandwich without appetite. His stomach had churned on and off all day, as if angry at missing out on the chance to throw up the night before.

  He felt exhausted and limp. All he wanted to do was put his head down on the table and have a little doze. Of course he would probably wake up to find his eyebrows missing, especially now that Michael Bulber was back in school. In fact with the Beast back he might find his whole head missing. He hadn’t seen him but people were talking about his two black eyes. By all accounts he looked like a raccoon. Thanks, Ripper.

  Dan appeared not long before the bell went. ‘You didn’t come over to the library!’

  Adam yawned. ‘Yeah, didn’t feel like it.’

  Dan grinned. ‘You missed out on hearing the good news. The Bulb has just emailed the teachers to confirm that the Japan trip is go!’

  Adam stared at him. He knew he should be happy. After all, this was everything they had worked for. So why was it that all he could think was who cares? He probably wouldn’t even be here by then. He’d be making a full-time career as the world’s worst Luman. He forced a smile. ‘Brilliant.’

  Dan was burbling away happily. ‘I know, it’s great! I emailed the role-play convention people in Japan and there are still places left.’ He wiped imaginary sweat from his brow. ‘I could probably get you a ticket if you’re interested.’

  Adam made a non-committal sound. ‘Yeah, I’ll wait and see.’ Because if I make it to Japan I can think of at least ten thousand more interesting things to do …

  ‘We’re going to meet up at Spike’s on Tuesday. He’s getting Zombie Nightlords 4 tomorrow and he reckons he’ll have it completed by then if he pulls a marathon session.’

  Adam sighed. ‘Look, mate, I’d love to but I’ll be busy. Loads of family stuff.’ He rolled his eyes in an attempt to convey his contempt for this state of affairs. It wasn’t entirely an act.

  Dan shrugged. ‘Well, never mind. There’s no such thing as a bad holiday. And in a week no one will even remember you chucking up on the fish.’ He scrabbled in his pocket and pulled out a tattered flyer. ‘This probably isn’t your thing but it’s on tomorrow. It’s like a flash gig. All these bands are just going to turn up all over the city and play. I’ll be around so just text me if you’re going.’

  Adam managed to keep a smile pasted on his face until Dan was out of sight. Only then did he finally slump onto the table and close his eyes. In a couple of hours he would be free.

  When the final bell went Adam felt nothing but relief. He ran for his bus and managed to get a seat, pressing his face against the window. The cold glass made his head hurt less. The chatter around him became a soothing backdrop and he hovered somewhere between sleep and wakefulness.

  Images flashed through his mind, dreams dancing around at the edges of his vision. It was a sunny day and people were swarming through the city. A band was playing on a temporary stage, against a backdrop of fountains and statues. A woman was laughing and holding a baby up in the air. The baby was laughing too. People were milling about with cameras. Then a great blast of heat and ferocious light blew Adam backwards and the scene disappeared into black smoke and screams.

  He jolted in his seat, head fuzzy and confused. It took a moment to remember where he was and only a mad scramble for the door got him off the bus at his stop. The walk home seemed to take twice as long as usual and he felt dizzy and weak. Maybe he had lost more blood the night before than he had realised …

  He limped through the iron gates and paused. All day long his only thought had been the need to make it home. Now that he was there he wasn’t sure what to do. If he went inside someone would be waiting for him with questions, demands, pity. He wasn’t ready to disappoint anyone just yet so he decided to go and hang out with the dogs.

  They were in their pen, awake and happy to see him. Sam wagged his tail enthusiastically as he approached and Morty gave a deep wuffle of welcome. He let them out and took them into the paddock behind the house. It was surrounded by a high hedge, which sheltered it from view.

  This probably explained why Luc was there, lurking behind an ancient yew tree. He leaped up, shoving something into his pocket out of sight as Adam rounded the corner. As soon as he realised it wasn’t Nathanial he cursed. ‘What are you doing?’

  Adam scowled. ‘What does it look like I’m doing?’ He kicked a soft football for the dogs and they tore off in pursuit. He was seething inside. All he had wanted was ten minutes of peace and quiet with no one else around. ‘More to the point, what are you doing?’

  Luc smirked. ‘Nothing for you to worry about. So, another job well done last night by all accounts.’ He laughed without malice when Adam unleashed a torrent of abuse on him. ‘I’ll give you one thing, you’re not a quitter.’

  ‘It’s not like I have any choice, is it?’

  Luc shrugged. ‘Not really. You might still grow into it. Maybe when you come of age everything will fall into place. Although let’s face it, you’re going to be about fifty before that ever happens. Anyway, how’s the girl?’

  Adam blinked at him. He was so used to people asking him how the fish was that he had to think about who
Luc meant. ‘Dunno. We’re not really talking.’ He gave the football an especially vicious kick, much to Sam and Morty’s delight.

  Luc raised an eyebrow. ‘I take it back. You are a quitter after all, at least with the ladies.’

  Adam was too exhausted to think of a fantastically witty retort. His head swam and for a second he thought he might collapse. He crouched down and gave Sam a rough hug to hide it. ‘Will you look after the dogs?’

  Luc was staring at him oddly. ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘Oh yeah,’ Adam muttered as he stumbled off towards the house. ‘I’m brilliant, me. King of the world.’

  Two hours later Adam staggered downstairs for dinner. It had taken Elise, Chloe and finally Aron’s booted foot against his bedroom door to rouse him from a thick, soupy sleep. His head was still buzzing with bizarre dreams. Faces, music, fountains, screams … It was like a haunted merry-go-round had been spinning the whole time he slept. It left him feeling shivery and weak.

  Elise had already served everyone else and he tried to sneak in unobserved. It didn’t work. ‘Are you well, Adam?’ Nathanial enquired.

  Adam swallowed hard, trying to keep the sick feeling at bay. What was he doing here? There was no way he was going to be able to eat. Elise dished up some kind of red meat with vegetables and tiny potato pieces. She always cooked the meat rare and the blood mingled horribly through the yellowish sauce at the side of the plate. Adam averted his eyes and nodded at Nathanial. He didn’t trust himself to open his mouth.

  Aron began to recount his adventures with Nathanial earlier in the day. Apparently they had swooped over to Germany for a massive Autobahn accident, then called on Heinrich for lunch. Adam watched Aron as he spoke. His eldest brother was Luman to the core. He had never wanted to be anything else. They had never been close but as they got older the distance between them grew ever greater. They were just too different. Aron found Adam an embarrassment now.

  In spite of this Adam felt a grudging admiration for his eldest brother. He was totally single-minded about being a Luman. He wasn’t as quick-witted as Luc but he was slow and steady and got the job done. Nathanial and Elise were proud of him. In fact Elise was positively beaming at him as she spooned a second helping of bloody meat onto his plate. Adam looked away and tried to turn his retching into a cough.

  It didn’t work. Auntie Jo was watching him from the end of the table. ‘What’s wrong, Adam? You’re not sick, are you?’

  The conversation came to a shocked halt and six pairs of eyes swivelled towards Adam. He cleared his throat. ‘I’m fine. Just … I think I must be getting a cold or something.’

  Elise raised one eyebrow. ‘Really?’

  Adam could understand her scepticism. There were lots of different theories about why Lumen didn’t really get sick. Some thought it was because of the frequent trips into the Hinterland; others that the keystones protected Lumen. Either way, as soon as children learned to swoop they were generally blessed with good health all their lives until the Fates cut their threads. He tried to shrug the whole thing off. ‘Look, half my friends in school are sick at the minute. I’ve probably just picked up a bug.’

  ‘It’s lucky you don’t have a girlfriend,’ Luc said, looking completely innocent. ‘I mean, just think of the germs people exchange kissing and stuff.’

  ‘Of course he does not have a girlfriend!’ Elise hissed, sounding more Gallic than ever in her wrath. ‘I will not have this kind of talk at our table! We are a respectable family!’

  ‘Sorry, Mother,’ Luc murmured with every appearance of humility. He ruined the effect by leering at Adam from behind his napkin.

  Nathanial was looking worried. ‘Maybe we should take you to see John. I hadn’t thought about the dangers you might face still being at school at your age.’ John Murphy was a doctor and one of the very few non-Lumen who knew a little about their world, though even he had only the sketchiest details.

  Adam resisted the urge to roll his eyes. ‘It’s just a little bug. I’ll probably throw up for a day or two and then it’ll be over.’

  ‘Hmmmm, throwing up. Nothing out of the ordinary then. Although you usually save it for when you’re working,’ Luc muttered. Adam kicked him beneath the table and had the satisfaction of seeing him wince.

  ‘You were such a sickly child,’ Elise said suddenly. ‘Every night I was changing your bed, washing your pyjamas.’ She shrugged in a manner that implied Adam had been sent to her as some kind of trial.

  Adam frowned. ‘I didn’t know that.’

  ‘Well, it stopped as you got older,’ Nathanial said kindly. ‘We think it was just when you were very young and still showing some promise as a Seer. Of course, when you grew out of it …’ He paused and tried to hide his disappointment. ‘Well, I suppose every cloud has a silver lining. At least your health improved.’

  Adam stared at him. He realised that his mouth was hanging open and quickly snapped it shut. This was new information. The beginnings of an awful suspicion were taking root …

  Auntie Jo confirmed his fears. ‘Do you remember that night when we had to call John out to the house?’ She turned to Adam. ‘You were only about four. We couldn’t understand what was wrong with you – it was like a scene from The Exorcist. You kept screaming about the train. Then the next day there was that railway crash. Sixty people killed. It was only a few miles away. We realised you’d been having a premonition – you were picking up on what was going to happen. It’s probably for the best that you aren’t a Seer. You’re sick enough when you’re swooping!’

  ‘Yeah,’ Adam whispered. His head was spinning. His stomach still churned and his mind was full of a kaleidoscope of images; the smoke, the sunshine, the baby’s face … He stood up so quickly that his chair fell over and clattered onto the flagstone floor. ‘Sorry. I feel really sick. I just need some fresh air.’

  ‘Adam … ?’ Nathanial began and Elise stood up, her face unusually concerned.

  He waved them off. ‘Seriously, I’m OK. It’s just a bug. You should probably stay away from me. I just need … some air.’

  He fled into the garden. It was a cold, starry night and a full moon was shining down on the trees and hedges, throwing long shadows onto the grass. Adam jogged a little way from the house, hoping no one would come out. He knew now what was wrong; the reason the sick feeling had been growing all week. Auntie Jo and his mother had given him the last missing piece of a jigsaw.

  All week he had been keeping something at bay without even meaning to. That’s why he’d been feeling sick. He knew now what he had to do. He needed to let down the barriers he had spent a lifetime building up – getting so good at it that he barely knew he was even defending himself. This premonition wasn’t just one death. It was something big.

  Adam took a deep breath and allowed the images to flood in. Within seconds he was on the ground.

  Chapter 20

  The square was full of people, most of them tourists. Adam recognised it immediately – the great column, the fountains, the statues. People of every colour and race were pointing cameras and chattering in an assortment of languages.

  It was sunny and unseasonably warm, with not a scarf or heavy coat in sight. There was a carnival atmosphere, not least because of the temporary stage assembled at one end of Trafalgar Square. Families were posing for photos and groups of people his own age were just hanging out and having fun. A dark-haired girl walked past in clumpy boots and a vintage dress. She looked a little bit like Melissa.

  Adam turned and surveyed the scene, half knowing that he wasn’t really there; knowing this was a moment that hadn’t happened yet. Some quality in the light reminded him of the Hinterland, a layer of something else laid over the ‘real’ world, ‘real’ time.

  Worlds within worlds and moments within moments. He knew he had seen this exact scene before. A faint memory of it lingered from his dreams, from his vision on the bus. He was trying to remember but there were just so many people. Something bad was going to happen. T
he music starting and the crowd cheering; the great flash and the screaming … He turned on the spot, chewing his lip. Something happened to change everything.

  He jogged towards the temporary stage. The band were getting ready to play, finishing their sound checks. The lead singer had spiky hair and lots of piercings. He was grinning at the gathered crowd and blowing kisses at a girl with long green hair. She was waving a homemade sign with ‘Septic Kisses’ and her mobile number scrawled across it. Adam paused and frowned. There was something familiar about that name.

  He had just turned his back on the band when a sudden cold shock of recognition ran down his spine. Without warning, directly ahead of him, he saw the woman with the baby, at the back of the crowd. She had dark hair, pulled back with a bright red scarf. Her baby was wearing tiny jeans. Adam’s stomach twisted. It was going to happen! Any second now she was going to lift the baby up and it was going to happen.

  He ran towards the woman, desperate to get past her. In his vision the light had come from behind her, obliterating everything around her in the sudden rush of flame and black smoke. Something had to cause it. His eyes danced along the ground, searching for a bag, a parcel, anything.

  As he reached her the woman lifted her baby. She was laughing. Everything slowed down. Adam wanted to scream a warning but no sound came out. The baby was staring at her with wondering eyes and then its mouth moved, opening in a joyful gurgle. At the same moment the crowd shifted and Adam saw him for just a second – a young man, pale face, eyes staring and intense, his mouth moving rapidly as he lifted his hand …

  Then the great light flashed and Adam fell back into nothing.

  Adam came to on the cold grass. The stars were bright against the night sky and he lay blinking, trying to get his bearings. He was lying in the shadow of one of the yew trees. Everything was still.