But that naivety could get them both in trouble. ‘Please tell me you didn’t come here on a Watch launch,’ Albright said as Revelle walked into his small office.
‘I didn’t,’ Revelle said, evidently puzzled by the question.
‘Or sign in with the duty officer.’
‘There wasn’t one. The desk’s deserted. No one at the entrance at all.’
‘For once that’s a good thing. So no one knows you’re here?’
‘Only Officer Dowling.’
Albright nodded. ‘Cath won’t say anything.’ He settled back in his chair and gestured for Revelle to sit down opposite. ‘You’d better tell me what you’ve been up to. Then we can decide what I should do about it.’
Revelle gave a quick summary of the events of the last few days. Albright felt his mouth dropping slowly further and further open as he listened.
‘I don’t know whether to have you arrested or committed,’ he said when Revelle finally finished.
‘Mandrake can confirm what I’m telling you.’
‘You think he’ll do that?’
‘To save his own skin, maybe. I can arrest him for the murder anyway. I have a witness.’
‘If your witness is still alive,’ Albright pointed out. ‘You should have brought him here.’
‘I was trying to keep him safe.’
‘You really think arresting Mandrake is a good idea?’
‘It’s the only idea I’ve got.’
‘You’ll need backup. If half of what you say is true, he’s one hell of a dangerous bookseller.’
‘I’m taking Cath,’ Revelle said.
‘You leave her well out of this,’ Albright told him. ‘I’m coming with you.’
‘You?’ Revelle made no attempt to hide his surprise.
‘This, I have to see,’ Albright told him. ‘Now send Cath in here, I want a word with her before we go.’
‘I’ve got a boatman waiting. If he hasn’t got bored and decided to cut his losses.’
‘Unofficial? Untraceable?’
‘Probably. Why?’
‘Because if this goes wrong, you’re on your own, that’s why. And I don’t want any record that you were ever here. Or any record of where you went after you weren’t here. Now send Cath in.’
He reached for a sheet of paper as Revelle closed the office door behind him. He didn’t need to write much. As soon as he had finished, he folded it, and put it in an envelope. He sealed the envelope and wrote a name on the front.
‘You wanted to see me, sir?’ Cath Dowling was standing in the doorway.
‘Come in, sit down. Revelle’s probably told you I’m going to Mandrake’s with him.’ She nodded, and Albright handed her the envelope. ‘After we’ve gone, I want you to deliver this.’
She glanced at the name and one-line address on the envelope, then looked up sharply. ‘Sir?’
‘You will learn, Officer Dowling, that there are some battles you can’t win. You need to fight the ones you can.’
‘Yes, sir.’ She was staring intently at him, her eyes full of accusation.
‘And there are some battles, that you have to pick the right time to be sure of winning,’ Albright went on. ‘You follow me? You understand what I’m saying?’
‘That I have to pick the winning team,’ she said slowly.
‘You have to convince the winning team you’re on their side. That’s why you have to deliver this letter from me. To show which side we’re both on.’
‘Yes, sir.’ Her voice was flat and emotionless.
‘We can’t win this battle. Not now. Not yet. Maybe never.’ Albright leaned forward across his desk. ‘But if you don’t deliver that letter, the consequences will be worse than if you do. For all of us. Including Officer Revelle. Now, you have a decision to make.’
‘So it seems, sir.’
Albright stood up. ‘Well, if it makes it any easier, after you’ve delivered the letter you can take the rest of the night off. You don’t need to come back here. You don’t need to go anywhere else. Is that understood?’
Cath Dowling’s eyes narrowed for a second. Then she nodded. ‘Understood, sir.’
Albright nodded. ‘Good.’ Then he marched from his office, grabbing his coat from a stand by the door. ‘Revelle,’ he shouted. ‘Time to hit the water.’
Sarah’s face was lit with the flickering light from the oil lamps. She was pale and shaking with fear.
‘What is it?’ Jake said. ‘What’s Mandrake talking about? What were they going to do to you?’
But she didn’t answer. She pulled him back down the tunnel. ‘Come on.’
Mandrake’s laughter echoed round them as they ran.
‘We can’t hide in there,’ Jake said as they reached the door into the clandestine archives. ‘He’ll just open the door. We’ll be trapped.’
‘Keep going,’ Sarah told him. She was running, dragging Jake with her.
‘But there’s nowhere to go!’
‘I can’t let them catch me. I can’t go back there. I couldn’t go through that again. Not like – ’ Sarah’s words became sobs.
‘It’s all right.’ Jake glanced back over his shoulder. He could see the glistening wet shapes of Phibians coming after them. ‘I’ll keep you safe – I promise.’ But he had no idea how he could do it.
‘I’m sorry,’ Sarah sobbed. ‘Jake – I’m so sorry. I lied to you, and I’m sorry.’
‘Lied? What about?’
They hurried through the darkness, going as fast as they dared. But they both knew that soon they would reach the edge of the abyss – the drop into the water, and whatever was waiting for them there.
The only light was coming from behind. A wind-up torch, cutting through the darkness as Mandrake and the Phibians stalked after them. The faint light picked out the damp, crumbling brickwork of the tunnel walls; the shallow puddles of water at their feet; the tears running down Sarah’s pale cheeks.
And finally – the black emptiness where the tunnel floor fell away.
Jake and Sarah stopped on the edge.
‘You think we could jump it?’ Jake asked. But he knew it was impossible.
‘Jake, listen to me. Please understand.’ She held his shoulders, staring into his eyes. The faint yellow light from the torch left half her face in shadow.
‘What?’ Jake said. For the moment there was just the two them. Alone, together.
‘I said I swam to a building. I found air to breath, until I could get to the warehouse.’
Jake nodded. ‘What about it? You were lucky.’
‘I wasn’t lucky. I lied. There was no building. No air. I was in the water until I met you again. All that time, I was in the water.’
‘But that’s not possible.’
The light was getting stronger and brighter. Behind the torch, the indistinct shape of Mandrake was approaching. Either side of him Phibians glittered and glistened.
‘Don’t you understand?’ Sarah was saying. ‘That’s what they do. That’s what the experiment is. They tried controlling the Kraken, and that didn’t work, not really. They can hunt and kill, but nothing much more. They wanted people – people who could live in the water but who can think and act for themselves, who can follow instructions and obey orders. That’s how Miss Patterson thinks the human race can survive.’
‘What are you saying?’ Jake felt cold. Afraid. Mandrake was only a few paces away.
‘It was too late for Geoff. They’d already changed him.’ She turned towards the approaching Phibians. ‘Maybe he’s one of these.’ She turned to face them, raising her voice. ‘Because that’s what you do, isn’t it?’ she shouted at Mandrake.
‘What are you talking about?’ Jake said. He grabbed Sarah, turning her back to face him. ‘What do you mean? How can one of those things be Geoff?’
‘Oh she’s quite right,’ Mandrake said. He was watching them, just a few paces away now. ‘You’ll find out, soon enough. Once Miss Patterson gets to work on you. Doctor Stammers is wait
ing for us, shall we go?’ He reached out his hand, as if beckoning to a friend.
‘Jake – we have to jump.’ Sarah’s voice was calmer now. Quiet and determined. ‘I’ll look after you, I promise. We can make it through the water. We can get past the Kraken if it’s back down there.’
He shook his head. ‘No way. You know that’s crazy. We could never hold our breath long enough to find a way out – even if there is one.’
‘I could,’ she said, so quietly he could only just hear her. ‘Like I did before, when the Phibians rescued me from the diving bell.’
‘Rescued you?’
‘They realised who I was. That I was one of them.’
‘What do you mean?’
Sarah brushed her long hair back behind her ear. It was a simple, casual gesture. He’d seen her do it so often before. But now Jake was transfixed – unable to look away from the point below her ear where the skin of her cheek was folded back and layered. Scales glistened along the edges of the opening as it opened and closed – as it breathed, like the gills of a fish.
Mandrake was the other side of Sarah, so he couldn’t see what she was showing Jake. He couldn’t see, though perhaps he already knew, that she was part way to becoming a Phibian.
‘Go,’ Jake said. ‘Jump. Get out of here and find help. Find Revelle.’
‘Not without you,’ she said.
‘You have to. I can’t swim that far. I can’t get past the Kraken down there or out-swim these Phibians. But you can. You have to.’ He put his hand on her shoulder and stared deep into her eyes. ‘Please.’
Mandrake was only a pace away from them. ‘Time to go,’ he said. ‘We mustn’t keep the surgeons waiting.’
It was his smile that finally did it. His malevolent eyes glinting in the flickering light.
Jake still had his hand on her shoulder.
‘Good bye, Sarah,’ he said. And pushed her over the edge.
Chapter 21
Sarah’s cry ended with the distant splash as she hit the water. Jake hoped she was all right. It was almost worth doing it to see Mandrake’s face. Almost – so long as she was OK.
‘You’re not having her,’ Jake said.
Mandrake’s expression was changing from disbelief to anger. ‘Follow her,’ he told one of the three Phibians. ‘Follow her and kill her. If she doesn’t drown first.’
So Mandrake didn’t know Sarah’s secret. But Sarah had said the Phibians rescued her from the diving bell – as if they could tell she was like them now.
Maybe that was why the Phibian Mandrake had spoken to didn’t move. It turned to look at Mandrake, its expression unreadable. Gills vibrating as it drew in breath. It raised a hand to rub its scaly chin, like it was pulling at a beard it didn’t have.
‘You heard me!’ Mandrake roared. ‘Get after her! And you,’ he said to another, shoving it towards the edge of the abyss.
The first Phibian turned slowly. Then the two of them stepped past Jake to the very edge of the drop. They didn’t hesitate, just walked off the edge into the darkness.
Jake could see their dark shapes falling – an almost graceful motion as they curved through the air.
‘Hope she dies before they find her,’ Mandrake snarled. ‘There again, soon you will wish that you’d jumped too.’
Jake trembled, but he said nothing. He knew if he spoke his voice would be trembling, and he didn’t want to give the man the satisfaction of hearing that. He allowed the last Phibian to take his arm and pull him – surprisingly gently – after Mandrake down the tunnel.
He allowed himself to be led back to the lighted area, past Mandrake’s Clandestine Archives, to the floodgate at the end of the tunnel. Mandrake was talking, saying something about Miss Patterson and her experiments, about what she’d do to him. But Jake wasn’t listening. His mind was occupied only with Sarah. Would she be all right? Had he done the right thing? What if the Phibians caught her – or the Kraken was waiting for her?
Up the stone stairs into the back of Mandrake’s Rare Books and Manuscripts. Some of the candles had burned out, and the main room was illuminated with small puddles of guttering light. There were books and papers strewn across the central aisle where the Phibians had attacked Jake and Revelle earlier. Mandrake didn’t seem surprised, and Jake guessed this was how he’s known there were intruders. The papers were blowing across the floor in the breeze from the open door beyond.
Mandrake had a knife. Jake wasn’t sure when it had appeared or where he’d got it from. But now he held it close to Jake’s neck. The blade was long and thin and tarnished. But it flickered in the faltering light. The Phibian had let go of Jake, and disappeared into the darkness.
‘So what happens now?’ Jake demanded. He wanted to get the man talking. Wanted to keep him occupied, then maybe he wouldn’t kill Jake on a whim. And maybe he wouldn’t wonder – as Jake was wondering – why the door that had been locked tight shut was now open. Jake strained to keep away from the blade. But Mandrake held him tight.
‘I am expecting Miss Patterson or one of her technicians to return very soon. Then we’ll get you to the White Tower. I’d take you myself, but there are some papers I need to sort out and I really don’t think you are worth the effort of making two trips.’ He leaned closer, hissing: ‘You’re worthless. Trash. A cheap waterlark that no one will miss.’
‘Murder is still murder,’ a cold voice said from the shadows nearby. ‘Whether it’s a cheap waterlark, or a Revenue man on the make. Either way, you can still swing for it.’
Jake almost laughed out loud with relief as Officer Revelle stepped out into the light. There was another man behind him. Jake recognised Chief Inspector Albright from the Watch Tower. Albright was holding a pistol.
‘The resourceful Officer Revelle, I presume,’ Mandrake said. He still had the knife close to Jake’s throat. ‘Miss Patterson warned me about you.’
‘Well, it’s my turn to do the warning now,’ Revelle said. ‘You harm the boy and you’ll certainly hang for his murder. You might hang anyway for the murder of Revenue Officer Eric Moulson at Whispers on the evening of October 12th. Or you might be able to strike a bargain, if you testify against Marianna Patterson.’
Mandrake laughed. ‘And how long do you think I’d stay alive if I did that?’
‘Longer than if you don’t.’
Albright held the gun firmly as he spoke. ‘I really am very sorry about this.’
‘Jackson Albright,’ Mandrake said quietly. ‘And how, may I ask, is your lovely daughter? Ah, I see from your expression that she is no better.’ Mandrake sighed theatrically. ‘I’m so sorry too. Now, you’d better get on with it.’
‘Yes,’ Albright said sadly. ‘I’m afraid you’re under arrest.’ he hesitated slightly before moving the gun, turning towards the man with him, and adding: ‘Officer Revelle.’
It took Revelle several seconds to work it out. Jake realised what was happening at the same moment.
‘What?’ Revelle exclaimed. ‘You can’t be serious!’
‘You and the boy,’ Albright said. ‘I must ask you, Officer Thomas Revelle, and you, boy, to accompany me to the White Tower where you will be held until the time of your trial for crimes against the Council and the State. You are not obliged to say anything, but whatever you do say may be used in evidence at the appropriate juncture.’
*
It was a long drop. The water was icy cold and utterly dark. Despite her time underwater among the wrecks, Sarah was terrified. She struggled to breath, panicking and choking on the water – just as she had before. Until she realised she didn’t need to breath. Somehow the oxygen found its way into her lungs anyway. And when it did, it was exhilarating.
She could see nothing, but she sensed from the tiniest flow of the water which way to swim. She could feel the life in the water round her. She couldn’t detect the heavy, sprawling shape of a Kraken, but fishes and crustaceans. Then behind and above her the water shook with the arrival of something else. Something movin
g fast – two of them.
A scaly hand closed on her arm as she swam. Another was round her waist. Dragging her along.
For a moment she fought. The black water was alive with pale bubbles and thrashing foam. But the hands that held her tight were not fighting back. They were helping, guiding, pulling her rapidly through the depths.
She felt the water seem to expand round her. They were out in the open river. Then they were swimming upwards until Sarah’s head broke the surface and she found herself staring up at the distant dome of Whispers and beyond that the glittering, broken elegance of The Twisting.
Beside her, another head broke the water. A Phibian, glistening in the pale light of the moon. Moments later, a second of the creatures surfaced. Their expressions were impossible to read, but one of them nodded and made a satisfied crooning noise at the back of its throat.
‘Thank you,’ Sarah said. ‘I don’t know why you’re helping me, but thank you.’
There was something in the expression of one of the creatures. Something that seemed for a moment familiar, but out of context. Sarah stared into the Phibian’s eyes. She could see a depth of sadness within. She gasped with sudden recognition, but she said nothing. She reached out, treading water, and touched the Phibian’s cheek. It looked away.
When it looked back, it seemed to Sarah that the sadness was gone, and had been replaced with a determination, a resolve. The Phibian pointed to Whispers, then to The Twisting, and then swung its dripping arm in a circle. The meaning was clear. Where did she want to go?
She struggled to keep the tears out of her voice, hoping she was too wet for the Phibians to realise she was crying.
‘Take me home,’ Sarah said, sure that the creature knew where she lived. Sure that he had been there so many times, in another life.
*
The journey to the White Tower was almost silent. Mandrake came with them, exuding smugness. The boatman raised his eyebrows at Revelle, but said nothing.
Jake sat in the stern of the boat next to Revelle. Albright sat opposite, gun pointing at them the whole time. He sighed and shook his head sadly, but spoke not a word until the boat docked at the jetty below the White Tower. Then he motioned with the gun for Jake and Revelle to disembark.
The Skeleton Clock Page 19
