by David Gallie
My aunt grabs my head in her hands. She kisses me on the forehead and for the first time in a long time, I feel loved. I feel wanted. She peels a few strands of my hair behind my ears and studies me.
‘Such a beautiful girl, it breaks my heart to know what they did to you,’ she was the second person to comment on my looks and although her words sounded sincere I didn’t feel beautiful. I didn’t feel much of anything.
I can sense all of the eyes on us from the kitchen table as my aunt continues to inspect me. She takes me by surprise when she grabs my hips, I wasn’t expecting that. When she looks up at me her eyes are wide with shock, or maybe horror, it’s hard for me to tell.
‘You are skin and bones lady. Haven’t you been eating?’ she sounds mortified.
‘Only oats and milk. It’s about the only thing I can stomach most days without being sick ten minutes later.’
‘That’s no good young lady, you’re going to need your energy,’ says June.
‘Why did you stop coming to visit me?’
My aunt looks at me with sadness in her eyes. It’s the kind of sadness which has seeped deep into a person’s soul and no amount of chocolate or wine will make it go away.
‘I got a letter from the county court telling me I no longer had visitation rights to you about six months ago now. I’ve been fighting to have the decision overturned but so far no one has even bothered to acknowledge me. It’s like they want to make everyone think you don’t exist anymore,’ she explains, fixing herself a coffee. She offers me some but I refuse. I don’t like the smell of it and take some orange juice instead.
‘Has there been any radio bulletins or TV news stories about me escaping from the asylum?’ I ask, knowing that my aunt likes to spend a large portion of her day in front of that square box in the living room.
She shakes her head which confirms what I thought. The authorities have been alerted but the general public is still blissfully unaware that they have a crazy girl in their midst.
‘That can only be a good thing for now,’ chimes Derek and he blushes when my aunt levels her gaze at him. I have seen that stare many times before when I was a small child and she would catch me stealing cookies from the kitchen.
It was a look that told anyone who knew her that she would accept no excuses for the questions she was about to ask.
‘My niece is very obviously sick. Why are you and your Drulite’s here with her?’ she asks and that word takes me by surprise, Drulite’s, people who are condemned to hell no matter what they do.
It sticks with me but the conversation carries on before I get a chance to question her.
‘We’ve been over this before. Lynk isn’t sick in any way. She’s just different. Very different,’ There is almost a growling quality to the old man’s voice and I can see Steven and the other two men eye him warily. Obviously, it isn’t a good thing when he gets upset. The same can be said for my aunty.
‘But she killed all those people in school!’ cries my aunt, her face turning red with anger.
I feel hurt inside. I always had the sense that my aunt thought I was guilty of killing my classmates, just like everyone else. She always maintained that she believed in me, but it’s obvious that isn’t the case.
To try and keep the tears away I concentrate on finishing the glass of orange juice in my hand. It feels cold and tastes sweet as it fills my mouth and floods down my throat. I can sense Slendy shuffling behind me, but before I get to ask what’s bothering him there is a bright puff of smoke on either side of me.
‘Well, this is nice isn’t it,’ says Artemis taking in every inch of the small kitchen.
‘What’s nice?’ I ask, sighing. His energy was fun, to begin with, but at the moment I felt too tired to entertain him.
‘He means it’s nice that you’re catching up with your aunt,’ says Jerub and the three of us look in the direction of my aunt only to find she’s staring back with wide, fear-filled eyes.
‘H-how did you get in here?’ She asks, pointing a trembling finger at the younger men.
‘We’ve been sent to help Lynk,’ states Jerub and I find I like his directness. There is no high energy game playing with this soul, just the facts.
During the ten minutes, it takes my aunt to soak in the full story as told by Jerub, with a couple of interruptions from Artemis, I watch her expression go from horrified to terrified and then to stunned. Her eyes fill with tears as she looks at me again.
‘You weren’t lying when you said you saw those things in the school,’ she sighs.
I nod my head and smile at her. She wraps her skinny arms around me and hugs me a little too tightly. Before I knew that she thought like everyone else I would have welcome her embrace, but now there was a coldness there. A wall that I didn’t want her to get through.
She had stung and stung me hard. I’m sure I can forgive her for that. Not now anyway.
‘So is this like a party or something?’ Asks Artemis in his usual cheery way.
I’m beginning to like this boy again. He doesn’t take life too seriously.
‘Not the kind of party you would like,’ I say, offering him a smile.
‘Why’s that?’
‘Because, it’s a waiting party,’ I say and chuckle at his reaction of horror.
‘Wait!? Why do we have to wait?’ Demands Artemis.
‘Because the Harrington water supply hasn’t closed for the night yet, idiot,’ groans Jerub.
‘Why are you going there?’ Asks my aunt, dabbing away her tears with a napkin.
‘Because we’re on a dangerous mission to find the key that the bad guy will use to open the portal which will allow the party of shadows to escape back into this realm. Pretty simple stuff really,’ bounces Artemis, looking pleased with himself.
‘The party of shadows? I remember them,’ says my aunt and suddenly she has everyone’s attention.
CHAPTER 14
I let my imagination fill in the details as aunty June explains what she knows about the party of shadows. As it turns out she didn’t know them personally, but she did know about them.
Most of what she has to say is almost the same as the info I found on Wikipedia. No big surprise there since that page probably represented what was common knowledge about the group.
However, as I listen to her, I find myself being transported back to the field where the rituals took place. Not just mentally, but almost physically like I have stepped out of my body. It’s a weird sensation.
There is a full set of twinkling stars in a clear night sky when I look upwards. When my gaze returns to what is in front of me I find myself standing in a badly drawn chalk circle with strange symbols drawn by the same hand orbiting its outer edge.
There are at least six hooded figures standing around the circle while torches alight with flame provide most of the light. No one is saying anything. They just stand there looking at me. In the distance, I can see a farmhouse and I recognize it instantly. It’s the same one Bill and Joe had brought me to earlier in the day.
This doesn’t make sense because I thought all of the rituals took place on the land where the school now stands. But the torches, the house, and the figures all look very real. When I turn around I find myself staring at the small altar made of logs. It’s already stained with some poor animals’ blood from the previous rituals.
My head snaps back when I hear the sound of a woman screaming.
‘Please Ezikal, Please I beg you, don’t do this,’ the woman cries and for a few moments I can’t see her.
Then, in the distance, another figure appears. I assume he is Ezikal, the leader of the shadows. He’s dragging a young woman by her hair towards me and his followers.
‘Please, Ezikal, I am with child,’ the woman is virtually screaming at the top of her lungs.
The hooded figure stops suddenly but he doesn’t loosen his grip on her hair. He looks down at her and in the darkness, I swear I can see a tear drop from the darkness of his hood and land on the wo
man’s face.
She continues to beg for his mercy as he starts dragging her again. I’m so horrified by what I’m witnessing but I can’t seem to move. I look down at my feet, willing them to move, but nothing happens and when I look up, it’s just in time for Ezikal and the woman to walk through me.
I turn and watch, my horror rising with every passing second as he forces the woman down to the ground, her raw, tear stained eyes, looking up at him as he holds her neck across the alter.
Now the other figures join in. They chant strange words as Ezikal produces a knife from somewhere inside his robe. The blade looks razor sharp.
‘Santunis ba sevenum,’ I hear Ezikal say. His voice is deep and emotionless.
My heart begins to race as he prepares to use the knife. I jam my eyes closed as he swings the blade at the poor woman’s throat. I don’t want to see her end, but I can hear it. I can hear her gasping for air as she chokes on her own blood.
The chanting and all the other sounds quickly fade away.
‘Hey hot stuff, you in there,’ I hear Artemis ask as he waves a hand before my eyes.
I’m back in my aunts’ kitchen again. Trembling a little but I feel more horrified than anything else. I can’t believe what I witnessed.
‘What does Santunis ba Sevenum mean?’ I ask the question to everyone in the room, doubting I will get an answer.
‘It means goodbye my love,’ Jerub speaks first and I look at him, feeling the horror of the vision in my heart like a black choking cloud that won’t go away.
‘She said she was with child,’ I murmur, more to myself than the rest of them.
‘Who did,’ Asks Steven, checking his cup for coffee and looking disappointed when he sees it’s empty.
‘The woman Ezikal was dragging towards the altar,’ I say, remembering every detail in my mind’s eye.
‘Lynk, remember we can’t see what you see,’ chides Derek and I shoot him an annoyed look, ‘what did she look like?’
‘She was young, I’d say she was in her early twenties with blonde hair like mine only it’s in a bun at the back. She’s wearing an all-white gown, maybe a nightdress for that time period I don’t know,’ I feel a little light headed and ask my aunt for some more juice. I’m not sure if it’s the energy that gets eaten up by these visions or just my bodies way of telling me I was getting tired.
‘Sounds like it could be his wife Miriam,’ says Jerub looking at Artemis who has found a silver spoon highly amusing as he makes it bend and buckle under the heat of his hand.
‘It must have been,’ chimes my aunt as she hands me the cool drink, ‘Ezikal never had any children or farm hands to help him. It was just him and his wife.’
‘Damn, that’s grizzly,’ Artemis has discarded the warped spoon and re-joined the conversation.
‘Well that was enlightening,’ Jerub rolls his eyes at him.
‘Don’t you two start again! Please,’ I groan, hoping to nip their little cat fight in the bud before it goes any further.
‘Maybe he never knew his wife was pregnant at the time,’ says Jerub, looking at me to confirm or deny his question.
I shake my head. I very clearly heard the poor woman tell him she was pregnant and yet he still dragged her to the altar. The man was obviously out of his mind, and I knew a few folk just like that.
‘No he heard her,’ I say, my thoughts going back to the house itself, ‘and the ritual was taking place at the farmhouse where you brought me. Not on the fields where the school is built now.’
Derek looks at me surprised.
‘Are you absolutely sure?’ He asks.
‘Yep, it’s not hard to miss, even at night,’ I say, and take a sip of my drink. I feel all the eyes are on me. All the weight of the world is on me. And all I want to do is go to sleep.
But there was no time for that now.
June ushers everyone into the living room. I don’t remember it being so small, but all the guys, the human ones anyway, manage to find a seat with a fresh coffee in their hands while my aunt takes her throne in front of the TV.
‘Was there some kind of cemetery or graveyard on the ground where the school stands now?’ Steven speaks up for the first time in a while and his voice takes me by surprise. It’s soft and soothing.
Aunty June throws her head back, staring up at the ceiling as if that will somehow jog her memories. When she looks back at the rest of us she has a smile on her face and her eyes are wide.
‘You know boy, I believe there was. I was only a teen myself at the time, but I do remember the diggers lifting the coffins so they could be moved somewhere else,’ she says, her eyes sparkling and I feel like she’s hiding something.
I’ve known her all my life but after her remark in the kitchen I feel like there is a side of her that she has never shown to me and I don’t like it. She is the only other person on the planet who I would trust with my life, and now that trust was fading the longer I was in her presence.
‘The second ritual would need to be performed on hallowed ground. That’s where you’re most likely to find a portal between worlds,’ says Jerub.
‘Well, that means the school is a definite then,’ chimes in Bill from the far end of the couch. He looks uncomfortable being squashed in next to Joe and the others.
I feel happy to stand. At least I will have a chance to run if the law comes knocking.
‘Hey hot stuff,’ It’s Artemis and when I turn to face him I see he is looking at me with a broad smile, ‘when this is all over any chance I could get a date?’
What he says makes me giggle and blush. I honestly don’t know what to make of his offer. Neither does my aunt or the others who overheard him.
‘You idiot, you can’t date the guardian of the realms,’ Jerub shakes his head with exasperation and I remind myself that these two boys are at the very opposite ends of the spiritual scale.
‘Who says? I was never told such a thing,’ says Artemis and he looks a little offended.
‘No one needs to say anything numbskull. We’re here to help her, not date her. If we don’t do our jobs then we’re going to end up in a lot of trouble,’ I enjoy the sparkling effect on Jerub’s shirt as he talks.
‘Well, that sucks. She’s so pretty too,’ he mutters and I feel my face grow hotter.
The others are looking at me like I somehow have control over these two guiding spirits.
‘That’s just how it is and we need to respect that,’ says Jerub and his voice is soft, not harsh. He isn’t telling Artemis off anymore he’s simply stating a fact. The crazy girl who has never had a date can’t have one because of her pre-appointed position as guardian of the realms.
My life just keeps getting better and better.
I wonder if my aunt has a rock some place that I can crawl under.
CHAPTER 15
We spend the next couple of hours hanging out at my aunt’s house. I feel more uncomfortable with each passing minute as I sit on the floor, allowing my thoughts to take me wherever they might lead. Which seemed to be nowhere since I wasn’t trying to think of anything in particular.
June walks in from the kitchen holding a tray of freshly made sandwiches. It looks like she’s slapped some cold meat on them and my stomach instantly lurches at the thought of food. I know I need to eat something, but not now. I would easily puke it all back up again.
I wave her away and thank her for the offer before she gives me an admonishing look and offers the rest of the human’s something to eat. All the men happily accept and the air is filled with the sound of them munching.
‘Why are you not eating Lynk?’ I look up at Jerub as he stares down at me and shrugs my shoulders.
‘The thought of eating makes me feel sick. If I try to eat something now I’ll just puke it up again ten minutes later. And before you start I don’t need a lecture. I know I need to eat and I will as soon as my stomach feels ready for it,’ I say, hoping that by being a little harsh with him it will nip any further conversation in the bud.
My aunt is still watching me as she goes to take her seat again. When she puts her hand down on the armrest of her chair, something glints in the light and I realize it’s a wedding ring.
Not just any wedding ring. It’s the exact same one the hooded figure wore in my vision. My stomach twists and turns again making me feel sick. Surely it was just a coincidence?
I had lived with June since I was five years old. Not once could I recall her ever dating a man let alone being married to one. Had I been too young to understand how a relationship was supposed to work?
Maybe she was married before she took care of you? This time, the voice in my head is Slendy. He’s talking to me again, his voice trying to reason with me.
But a glance around the house showed no pictures of a man in her life, not a single one. And there never had been any while I lived with her. What was going on? This didn’t make any sense to me.
I ignore the ring, hoping it’s just a figment of my imagination, but the light keeps glinting off it, reminding me that it’s there. Had she been wearing it when we arrived or did she put it on while she was fixing the sandwiches?
So many questions and I know confronting her would only lead to more lies instead of answers. I don’t need to feel any more confused than I already do.
What I now understood was that my aunt was not to be trusted. But before I can warn the others Joe started talking.
‘So, when are we heading to the Water place?’ he asks, after gulping down the rest of his sandwich.
‘Why are you going to that place again?’ Asks June as we all get to our feet.
‘It’s where we think Ezikal’s key is,’ I hear Steven tell her.
‘What key?’ I hear June ask, her voice growing higher in pitch and tone.
I spin round to shoot Steven a warning glance not to tell her any more but it’s no use. His mouth is open and the words are spilling out. He explains about the key, what we think it is and why we think it’s needed for the final ritual.
‘You’re all crazy,’ my aunt states bluntly but her eyes are staring at me.
