Mortiswood: Kaelia Awakening (Mortiswood Tales)

by Gina Dickerson

  Ice-blue light crackled from Kaelia’s palms as she forced Georgina over. Georgina shoved her blonde hair from her eyes and angrily jumped up, launching herself at Kaelia. She grabbed a fistful of Kaelia’s curls, yanking them and making Kaelia’s eyes smart.

  ‘Get off me!’ Kaelia grabbed Georgina’s hair, painfully pulling downwards. Hair pulling wasn’t her style but reciprocation was the language she thought Georgina would understand.

  Georgina yelped, releasing Kaelia’s hair. ‘If Bay had come with me, he wouldn’t have fallen over the cliff,’ she screamed. ‘Because he went with you, freak, he’s gone and it’s your fault. I bet you pushed him over the edge!’

  ‘I would never hurt Bay, I love him!’ Kaelia yelled back. ‘I’ve always loved him!’ Light glowed around her hands and she pushed Georgina again.

  Georgina clutched her chest, staggering backwards in fear. ‘You really are a freak. What’s wrong with your hands?’ She stumbled, tripping over in her haste to hurry away. ‘I’ll tell everyone about you!’

  Kaelia’s laughter was sharp. ‘Who will believe you?’

  Georgina cast a final, terrified, glance at Kaelia without answering the taunting question.

  With the light swirling around her hands, Kaelia strode after Georgina and followed her as far as the edge of the car park. Part of her longed to fire a bolt of light at Georgina’s back but, remembering her father’s words from years ago, she extinguished the light and sucked in her anger. It was the only thing keeping her warm inside. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, the scent of Bay’s aftershave lingered teasingly on her skin.

  Snapping her eyes open, she wrapped her arms across her chest, the anger returning and controlling her thoughts. Who were they? She was certain it was the unknown entity her dad had first referred to as “they” and “them” who had been behind the ferocious wind that had sucked Bay into its embrace. It was time she knew everything.

  Stars glimmered in the dismal, grey evening sky when Kaelia finally turned away from staring at the cliff top and began to look for her mother’s car. She was determined to interrogate her mother until she shared everything she knew about them.

  * * *

  The headlights were off when Kaelia located her mother’s car, parked in a far corner of the car park. A light from the dashboard glowed, indicating the radio was playing. Inside was empty. Nervously, Kaelia opened the passenger door and noticed her mother’s handbag in the footwell of the passenger side. Apprehension fluttered in her chest; her mother would never leave her handbag in an unlocked car. She reached over and turned the ignition key, drawing it out. Kaelia locked the car, slipped the key into her shorts pocket, and hurried to the building across the other side of the car park. First she tried the toilet, but it too was empty, before racing to the shop. The automatic doors swished open and she clattered breathlessly into the garishly lit room. Strip lights buzzed on the ceiling, the sound unusually loud. Panic pulled Kaelia’s eyes in different directions, darting from one spot to another while she frantically raced up and down each aisle only to find them empty.

  ‘Mum!’ Kaelia’s shout drew the shop assistant from behind the counter.

  ‘Are you okay?’ The shop assistant, who wasn’t much older than Kaelia, nervously edged towards her. ‘Are you lost? If you’re looking for the college coach, it left ages ago after that nutter jumped off the cliff.’

  Kaelia wanted to hit him. ‘I’m not lost.’ She clenched her fists to stop her hands from trembling. It was beginning, the light, she could feel it simmering beneath her skin much like the pricking of tears behind eyelids.

  ‘You’re looking for your mum?’ The young man’s face softened. ‘Has something happened, do you want me to call the police?’

  ‘No.’ Kaelia held out her palms. ‘I’m overreacting. She’s probably in the toilet.’

  The shop assistant didn’t look convinced. ‘Didn’t you check in there?’ His eyebrows dropped into a disbelieving point.

  Kaelia backed away, hands out.

  The young man’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline, his voice was strangulated, ‘What’s on your hands?’ He stumbled backwards, knocking packets of crisps off the shelves behind him. ‘You’re not normal!’

  Kaelia peered in horror at her hands. Without her realising, they now glowed orange-red from the palms with fingers tinged blue. ‘Nothing.’ She hastily hid them behind her back. What was the deal with the new, mixed colour? She needed her mother, where was she?

  ‘I’m calling the police!’ The shop assistant careened through the aisle, hurrying nervously to the till. ‘There’s something wrong with you!’

  Terrified, Kaelia watched him lift the phone. She didn’t want to talk to the police again, they really would label her crazy this time, especially after her outbursts over Bay. Pointing, she yelled, ‘Put it down!’ A bolt of ice-blue light shot from her finger and burned into the phone, the shop assistant yelped and dropped the phone.

  ‘Don’t hurt me!’ He trembled, falling to his knees and covering his face with his arms. ‘This is my first job and I still live with my parents, I’ve not even lived yet!’

  ‘I won’t hurt you,’ Kaelia promised. ‘As long as you promise not to call the police.’

  The young man’s worried eyes peered from between his arms. ‘Leave me alone.’

  Kaelia watched him as she edged out of the shop and back into the darkened car park. Picking up her feet, she sped back to her mother’s car and unlocked it. Her mother was still nowhere to be seen. It was strange to sit in the driver’s seat but Kaelia was thankful her mother had insisted on driving lessons for her eighteenth birthday because now she had to drive herself home. There was nowhere else to go.

  * * *

  The journey home was a struggle. It was difficult to see through the tears but Kaelia forced herself to suck them in. Falling to pieces was not an option. The muscles across the back of her neck and shoulders joined forces to knit a shawl of tension. A dull, throbbing pain crawled up from the knots and over the back of her head. Grief tapped her mind, taunting her with images of her mother having been captured by the unseen them.

  Kaelia was instantly more relaxed once she hit the road into Birchington and followed the route towards her home town. Rain plummeted from the skies by the time the route sailed into the coastal town of Margate. Multi-coloured lights from the arcades reflected on the damp pavements. To Kaelia’s right, a group of people who had been smoking outside one of the clubs, shot back into the establishment, the women shrieking as rain soaked their outfits and ruined their hair. Kaelia glanced at them as she drove along Marine Terrace, with its row of amusement arcades and pubs, to the traffic lights by the Clock Tower and joined the small queue of traffic.

  Although it was wet, the night was muggy and Kaelia buzzed her window down and took in the sight of the beach’s main sands shrouded in the veil of the night. Her eyes travelled across the sea to the harbour. Brightly coloured doors of the units on the Stone Pier were illuminated and boats bobbed in inky waters. It was a view she loved and a sudden rush of emotion overwhelmed her. The familiar smell of sand damped both by rain and seawater filled the car, reminding Kaelia of her mother and she gulped back nostalgic tears; many summers had been shared lounging on the golden sands under the shade of an umbrella, and licking ice-cream.

  The lights turned green and Kaelia followed the road around the coast, driving past the Old Town and up the hill past the police station. She recognised every building, knew every turn of the road, and each place held a memory. Memories slowed the last stretch of the journey home, especially as she reached the park where she and Bay had routinely played as children. She pulled the car into the small car park overlooking the play area and switched off the engine.

  The rain had slowed to a drizzle and Kaelia left the car, following memories to the deserted play area. Grass in need of a mow wetly licked her sandal encased feet, releasing a sodden, earthy smell with each step she took. In her mind she could see them all
; her mother, Bay, and her father. The rubberised flooring around the swing area squelched underfoot. She shook the seat of one of the swings, emptying the small pool of water which had accumulated in the dipped middle. Wrapping her hands around the cold metal of the swing’s chains, Kaelia forced it into motion. Tears mingled with tiny splatters of rain on her cheeks, as she swung back and forth, grief consuming her.

  * * *

  The house, expectedly, was in darkness when Kaelia eased the car onto the drive. She lifted her mother’s handbag from the passenger footwell and despondently plodded up the pathway to the front door. After keying in the alarm access code, she flipped the lock on the front door. Inside, the house smelt of her mother’s floral perfume, her feathered slippers lay neatly together by the stairs patiently awaiting their owner’s return. Kaelia’s heart cracked once more. Biting her lip to stop it from trembling, Kaelia knew she had to be strong but it wasn’t easy.

  She had never been alone before. Sure, she had spent a night alone in the house but this time it was different. This time she did not have a clue when, or even if, her mother would return. Tears stabbed her eyelids, clawing painfully against her skin.

  ‘Pull yourself together,’ she said sharply, the words echoing in the empty house.

  Her mother had warned her that this could happen. Kaelia slid to the cold floor of the hallway, remembering her mother’s words:

  “You must be prepared, Kaelia. One day you could end up alone. They will come for me.”

  Kaelia had not understood. “Why? Is this something to do with what happened to Dad?”

  Her mother’s eyes had been sad. “When they come for me, I will lead them away from you.”

  Kaelia had been afraid. “Maybe they won’t come for you. If I never, ever, use my power again then they won’t be able to find us and we’ll be safe!”

  “We will be safe for a while, my darling, but there will come a time when they will find us.” Her mother had gathered Kaelia into her arms. “I will do everything I can to make sure they never have you in their clutches.”

  “Who are they?” Kaelia had trembled, snuggling into her mother’s embrace.

  “I will tell you when you’re older,” her mother assured. “Concentrate on being a normal teenager and I will tell you everything when I know you’re grown enough to understand.”

  “But I want to know now!”

  “No,” her mother had been firm. “You will be even more frightened than you already are and I fear you are not yet able to control your powers. Not meaning to, you may lead them straight to us. Heightened emotion can unleash your light and until you can control both, I do not feel you are ready to know everything.

  “Know this; I love you more than you can ever know and do not, under any circumstance, use your power unless I have told you to. If you find yourself alone, your father and I have stored something for you in the safe in our bedroom behind the bed.”

  The memory faded and Kaelia rummaged in her mother’s handbag for a tissue. Now she was old enough to understand but they had taken her mother before she could tell Kaelia who they were. Blowing her nose, Kaelia headed for the lounge and tipped the contents of the handbag onto the coffee table. Her mother’s keys were easy to find, held together on a keychain. Snatching them up, Kaelia hurried to her mother’s bedroom.

  The door to the room was already open and fresh tears sprung up with the sight of her mother’s dressing table. Kaelia picked up the brush from the dressing table and stroked its soft bristles. One of her mother’s hairs had caught between the bristles and Kaelia plucked it free, running it between her fingers.

  ‘I will find you, Mum, I promise,’ she whispered fiercely. ‘I won’t let them win.’

  As she carefully replaced the hair on the brush, afraid to lose the tiny piece of her mother, Kaelia knew she had to take action. She had to find her mother and avenge both her father and Bay. There was much to be done and the safe was the place to start.

  The safe, hidden behind her mother’s bed, hadn’t been opened for years. The thought Kaelia’s father had stored something in there made her hands shake. Eight years ago his life had been stolen and for all of those years, Kaelia had missed him every single day.

  Kaelia pulled the bed away from the wall and unlocked the heavy safe door. Adrenaline coursed through her veins, her fingertips emitting tiny slivers of orange-red light she couldn’t control. Her mother was right; she needed to learn how to control her power. She drew in several long breaths and slowly, the slivers faded.

  Inside the safe was a single, plain cardboard, box. Kaelia carried it over to the bed and sat down to open it. There was an envelope bearing her father’s handwriting. Seeing the elegant scrawl of his hand brought fresh tears to Kaelia’s eyes. Refusing to cry, she peeled the envelope open, drew out a folded sheaf of paper and unfolded it.

  “To our darling Kaelia,

  If you are reading this, the worst has inevitably happened and neither I nor your mum are here. We are so sorry to leave you all alone, if we could have enjoyed a lifetime with you it would never have been enough, we love you so very much. Always remember the time we spent together, remember how much we love you and always will, but most of all remember how special you are.

  Not only are you special because you are our daughter but because it is written in your destiny. Be careful, Kaelia, “they” are everywhere. We should have warned you from the start and then we may have been around to help you recognise who “they” are.

  “They” or “them”, as your mum and I referred to them, are The Salloki. We’ve never seen them but from the moment you were born, we have been in fear of them. A priest, Father Peter, visited us when you were but one day old and told us it is written in our family’s destiny to help defeat The Salloki and the creatures they control

  Father Peter said if powers present to you then you are The Chosen One. You are to find the one he called Marrock. After the priest’s visit, The Salloki discovered he had met with us and came after us all. We fled our home and have been in hiding in this town until now.

  You must fulfil your destiny, Kaelia. This is all we know; you must discover the rest for yourself. There is a book the priest gave us and you must keep it with you as he swore it is of extreme importance. Go to Mortiswood, the priest told us you will be safest there until you see the way forward. Go now. We have left you what money we could.

  Remember, we love you. Always.

  Dad and Mum x”

  Kaelia gently refolded the paper and slipped the letter into her shorts pocket. The book was not what she had expected. Wrapped in a scrap of cloth, it was small, about the size of a reporter’s notepad, with a spine of barely half an inch and bound in a rough hessian. A musty smell clung to it, and the outside edges of the pages were yellowed with age. Kaelia flicked the pages open to find every single one was bare.

  A purse, one of her mother’s, was the only other item in the box. Unzipping it, a wad of twenty pound notes sprung out. Kaelia pulled a suitcase from the wardrobe and dropped the items into it before dragging the case to her own room.

  Tears welled in her eyes. The walls, hand-painted with trailing roses by her and her mother, and the shelves of much-loved books were achingly reassuring and made her not want to leave. How did she know what to take? It wouldn’t hurt if she stayed in the house for a little while longer, would it? She did not want to hide in the woods. She hated camping at the best of times, she shuddered, all those bugs and creepy-crawlies.

  Kaelia shook her head, reprimanding herself. She must follow her parents’ instructions as they had written them for a reason. Quickly, she selected several outfits from her wardrobes, picked up a favourite photograph of her parents, and tore the bedding from her bed. She stuffed the lot into the case, making it so full she had to bear down on it with all of her weight before it closed.

  Lugging the filled case down the stairs, she left it at the foot and raced into the kitchen. Grabbing a few strong, carrier bags she threw in several pla
stic bowls, a loaf of bread, a selection of tinned food, and a packet of six bottles of water. As a second thought she tossed in two towels from the airing cupboard along with an extra blanket.

  The car had three quarters of a tank of petrol, hopefully enough to take her all the way to Mortiswood. Kaelia had loaded the case and bags into the boot when leaves of the trees and shrubs surrounding the house, rustled. She froze, listening carefully. The noise stopped abruptly. Unnerved, she ran back to the house and hunted in the cupboard under the stairs until she found the pop-up tent her father had bought while he had still been alive, and a strong-beamed torch. Fearing the uninterrupted dark of the woods, she rifled through the kitchen drawer until she found a spare battery for the torch. On her way out she picked up her college bag and set the house alarm.

  Regret threatened to pull her back as she locked the front door and returned to the car. She flung the pop-up tent and torch onto the passenger seat and started the engine. Slowly edging the car from the driveway, Kaelia stamped on the brakes as the beam of the headlights caught amber eyes shining from within the foliage. For a second the eyes flickered, resembling candle flames, before blinking into nothing. With a thud, something landed on the bonnet of the car and Kaelia screamed.

  Amber eyes glared through the glass of the windscreen. A mouth curled in a snarl before a deeply furred head tipped back and a howl filled Kaelia’s frightened ears. Her brain told her it couldn’t be but her eyes weren’t lying. Atop the car was a grey and white creature and one that wasn’t supposed to live wild in England. A wolf. As suddenly as it had appeared, the huge creature leapt from the bonnet and disappeared with a flick of its tail, back into darkness.

  Shakily, Kaelia manoeuvred the car onto the street. What had the wolf wanted? Had The Salloki sent it the same way they had been responsible for the unmanned car that had killed her father all those years ago? Burning questions raced through her mind, the emotion overwhelming. She was forced to stop the car half way along the road as her palms glowed ice-blue and her grip on the steering wheel weakened. Clenching her fists, Kaelia’s eyes were drawn to the rear view mirror. Horrified, she twisted round in her seat. The house and garden were engulfed with raging yet silent, violet flames. Smoke wove into the sky snaking its way towards the moon.