by Lucy Banks
For a moment, Kester didn’t understand. Then, with horrible clarity, he realised what she meant. He peered, disbelievingly, into the mist and saw what Serena had spotted first: her own face, peering out like a perfect reflection.
“It’s going to hurt her!” Mike shouted. He reached out and yanked her behind him, then faced the spirit, glaring with a fury that Kester had never seen before. “Not on my watch, pal! You back off right now!”
Kester looked around desperately. The fetch opened its mouth and roared, instantly submerging Mike in a stagnant mist. Think! Kester told himself, looking desperately from Grace to his father, then to Pamela. Come on, think! What can I do?
In the distance, he saw a group of people walking towards them. He realised, with a relief that was almost painful, that it was the others. He waved, leaping on the spot to catch their attention.
“Get over here now!” he screamed, not caring how shrill or how scared his voice sounded. “We need your help!”
To his relief, the group broke into a run. He turned, ready to tell the others what had happened, but the words froze on his lips. News forgotten, he watched, helpless, as Mike buckled to his knees, then fell like a chopped tree in front of the vibrating mist.
Chapter 20: Promises to the Spirit
“Luke, help us, quickly!” Kester waved as frantically as he could, blocking Serena from the spirit whilst trying not to think too hard about what had happened to Mike. He knew if he dwelt on it for too long, he’d lose his nerve, and that was the last thing anyone needed right now. Two of our team down, he thought as he looked at the newcomers, who wore identical expressions of horror. How many more before this day is through?
Luke broke first from his trance and stepped forward. “Jeez,” he muttered, looking upwards. “I ain’t never seen anything like this before . . .”
“Enough about that,” Kester shouted. “Help us get rid of it! You’re the extinguisher!” The spirit weaved in front of him, hot, stinking wind pouring from its mouth. Kester retched, struggling to keep down the contents of his stomach. Now was not the time to cover everyone in vomit.
Recovering himself, Luke tugged his rucksack open and pulled out a rectangular, metal device, which looked unnervingly like a miniature coffin. He thrust it directly at the spirit’s shuddering form, and started to mutter strange words. Serena pushed Kester aside and started to chant too.
“Be careful!” Miss Wellbeloved shouted. She stared at Ribero’s unconscious body with horror. “Let me try to reason with it first!”
“Oh for goodness’ sake, woman!” Larry bellowed, holding her back. “We’re a long way past reasoning, aren’t we? It’s attacked two of your team!”
“I am a conversant, and it is my job to negotiate with spirits!” Miss Wellbeloved screamed and pushed past him. “It’s what my father would have done!”
“Balls to what your father would have done; I’m not letting you do something so spectacularly stupid!”
Luke squeezed his eyes shut. “Guys, please shut up, I’m losing focus.” The spirit howled, then grew in size again, looming above them like a black, shifting umbrella.
Staring from face to face, Kester tried to think rationally. What would Dad do? he wondered, looking at Ribero lying helpless on the ground. And more to the point, why can’t I see the spirit door? Why does it only appear at certain times and not when I bloody need it most? Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Miss Wellbeloved gazing at him hopefully and probably wondering the same thing. Feeling terrible, he shook his head in silent apology.
The fetch roared, then lurched down with astonishing speed, like a cobra striking. Luke stumbled, then bumped into Serena, who fell to the ground. At any other time, it would have been funny, but this close to the cliff, with a murderous spirit dancing about above their heads, it was terrifying.
“It’s not working!” Luke shouted as he staggered backwards. “I can’t get a grip on it, it’s way too strong!”
Ribero groaned again. He lifted his head and surveyed them all with confusion. “What is going on here?”
Great timing, Dad! Kester thought, shaking his head in disbelief. Without any further ado, he grasped his father under his armpits and dragged him away from the spirit. “No time to explain,” he hissed, keeping his eyes fixed on the fetch, who was beginning to shift and weave again, changing its form. Ribero moaned with pain, then saw the fetch and moaned even louder.
“Oh boy, you haven’t extinguished it yet,” he muttered and rubbed his head.
“That’s absolutely correct,” Kester confirmed with a glance up at the fetch, scarcely daring to look directly at it. Don’t let it be myself that I see next, he wished fervently. He was aware that it was a petty, selfish thought, but he was petrified at the prospect of being the next victim.
Ribero looked across at Grace, then grimaced. “Not going well, then?” he shouted back at the others.
“That’s a pretty accurate summary of the situation,” Serena said as she rose to her feet. She winced with pain, lifting her foot up quickly. “Damn it, I’ve twisted my ankle.”
“Oh no,” Luke breathed and took another step backwards. “Look at the fetch now. Can you see it, guys?”
Kester nodded. The spirit had shifted again, and at its centre was a perfect replica of Luke leaning out of the thrumming mist. Luke pulled his extinguishing device up again and pushed it into the spirit as hard as he could.
“Stop,” Miss Wellbeloved said as she grabbed his arm. “Luke, it’s doing more harm than good—”
“What do ya mean, stop?” Luke shook his head, trembling. “This fetch wants a victim, and I’m next on the menu by the looks of it. Ain’t no way I’m going to stop.”
“Please. Let me try.”
Without warning, the older woman shunted Luke to one side and faced the fetch squarely, without fear. It was a formidable sight: a giant twisting spirit writhing like a nest of eels in front of the bony figure of Miss Wellbeloved, standing with her hands on her hips like a warrior.
“Listen to me, fetch!” Her scream travelled across the cliff before losing itself to the whistle of the wind. “You don’t have to continue doing this! There is another way!”
“I don’t believe this,” Larry shouted. He lurched forward, hands extended. “Jennifer, stop it, this is dangerous—”
Ribero reached over and grasped one of Larry’s ankles. “Let her try,” he wheezed.
“Don’t be preposterous, she could get hurt—”
“Let her try.”
“You’re killing and killing because you’ve been imprisoned for so long, and you’re angry,” Miss Wellbeloved continued, chin upturned, meeting the fetch’s black gaze without flinching. “All you’ve ever known is how to fetch, but these are not your people down here! And they weren’t ready to die! Remember, spirit, you belong to Scotland. It’s a Scottish person you should be fetching, if anyone at all.”
Grace looked up. “Don’t you dare offer me as a sacrifice,” she snarled as she pulled herself to her feet. “I’d rather jump off this cliff now than volunteer myself as this fetch’s victim.”
What is it with her and her daughter wanting to leap off cliffs all the time? Kester wondered. A hysterical giggle bubbled up into his throat. It’s lucky no one’s out walking their dog this morning, he thought as he looked around in bewilderment. They’d get a rather nasty shock, to say the least.
“There doesn’t need to be a victim!” Miss Wellbeloved called out. The fetch froze and fixed her with a bleak, malevolent stare. “It’s true,” she continued. “There’s another way. You leave this world, and you return to the spirit world. I know you’ve been gone for thousands of years and it’s hard to readjust. But at least you’ll know peace in the spirit world. You won’t be tormented by the need to fetch humans to their deaths anymore.”
The spirit curled backwards, then arched over like a qu
estion mark. Without warning, it opened its mouth and roared, spewing hot, foul air over them all. Serena winced, leaning protectively over Mike’s unconscious body.
“It’s not working!” Larry shouted as he yanked free of Ribero’s grip. “Jennifer, I insist that you come back here, look at what this thing has already done to Mike!”
“Larry, be quiet!” Miss Wellbeloved snapped. “At university, you were just the same! You and Julio! Always telling me what I could and couldn’t do. I ask you to put some trust in me, just this once!” She turned once again to the fetch. “Listen to me. We’ll try to find a way to get you back to the spirit world.”
The spirit rolled through the air, then descended towards Grace, who screamed. “It’s saying that you’re a liar,” she called out and clutched her head in her hands. “It needs to fetch people to know peace. There is no way back to the spirit world unless it keeps on killing.”
“Tell the fetch that I understand,” Miss Wellbeloved said as she sank to the ground in front of the other woman. “I know it’s endured terrible torment, being imprisoned for so long. I know it’s in pain, and the only way to make the pain stop is to kill. But there is a way to get it back to its own kind. There’s another agency in London called Infinite Enterprises. They’ve got the facilities to transfer spirits back to their own world.”
The fetch howled again and flung itself over Grace in a shower of hot sparks and smoke. She screamed again. “No! It said not London! Not anywhere else! It’s sick of being in places where it doesn’t belong!”
Miss Wellbeloved looked around at the others and held her hands up in defeat. “I don’t know what to suggest, then,” she said with a helpless shrug.
Kester stepped forward without even realising what he was doing. “What if I can open the spirit door back in Scotland, where the fetch feels at home? Would that help?”
Grace shuddered. “He says he doesn’t believe you. Humans are all liars, they’ve just tricked him time and time again.”
Probably an improvement on murdering them, Kester thought, but chose to remain silent. He’d been working with the agency long enough to understand that spirits didn’t think in quite the same way as humans—that rational logic didn’t have much impact.
“I think I can do it,” he said. Actually, he was fairly positive that he couldn’t, but he felt that now wasn’t the time to voice that opinion. “Tell the fetch I’m a spirit door-opener like my mother before me. And if the fetch will enter our water bottle—”
“Storage device,” Ribero corrected automatically.
“Our water bottle,” Kester persisted, ignoring him, “then we’ll escort him back to Scotland, out in the land he loves, and open a spirit door to set him free. He’ll finally be with his own kind again, and he won’t need to fetch anyone anymore.”
There was a silence. Even the wind seemed to pause for a moment, hovering in stasis while the fetch pondered its decision. Kester waited and cast a quick glance at Mike, who was still out cold. His face was horribly pale and had a pinched, sickly look that worried Kester deeply.
Grace buckled to her knees, startling them all. Oh god, I take it that’s a no then, Kester thought with a sinking heart. He wondered what on earth to do next. They’d tried everything; what else was there that they could do?
“He agrees,” Grace mumbled and stared at the ground in disbelief.
“Excuse me?” Kester blinked. He tilted his head in a rather stupid manner, scarcely able to register her words.
The old woman raised her head. Her hair streamed out behind her like spectral ribbons. “The fetch agrees,” she repeated. “It has no other choice. It hates this place and says it can sense truth in you. But you mustn’t betray it! Do you understand? You mustn’t let it down. Otherwise the consequences will be terrible.”
Everyone gasped.
“Are you serious?” Kester spluttered. “It’ll actually co-operate?”
“Of course it’s serious!” Miss Wellbeloved snapped, and pushed Kester to one side. She looked elated. “Come on, Serena, Luke! Get on with it! We haven’t a moment to lose!”
Before it changes its mind, Kester added silently, mouth hanging open. He still couldn’t quite believe it. But what happens when you can’t open the spirit door when you get to Scotland? a nagging voice persisted deep inside. What happens when you have to tell the fetch that you’ve messed things up? Grace said the consequences would be terrible, which doesn’t sound good at all.
Serena and Luke clambered to their feet, clutching one another like two lost kittens.
“Are you ready?” Serena asked in a low voice.
“Come on then, get on with it!” Larry shouted.
“We don’t need telling twice,” Luke growled as he scooped up his extinguisher device. “Serena, are you okay using my equipment rather than your device?”
“It’s very nice of you to even pretend ours is a device and not a plastic bottle,” Serena replied. “Yes, of course. Let’s get on with it.”
They began to mutter under their breaths, both clutching the metal contraption and pointing it directly at the fetch. The air thrummed with their combined incantations, and, for a moment, the pair of them looked like ancient pagans presiding over a ritual. Kester had seen Serena at work before, but watching the two of them together was doubly impressive—Serena’s pale, tiny hand pressed next to Luke’s long, dark fingers. To Kester’s amazement, the fetch rose into the air, then slid into the contraption without a hint of resistance, shrinking to a tiny wisp and popping itself inside.
Luke slammed it shut, then closed his eyes. “Wow.”
“I know,” Serena agreed as she wiped her brow. “I’ve had some tricky jobs before, but I never experienced one like that.” She glanced down before crouching next to Mike and checking his throat for a pulse.
“Is he okay?” Kester knelt beside her. He’d never seen Mike looking so vulnerable. The blood had drained from his face, and his breathing was shallow.
Behind them, Dr Ribero sat up, clutching his forehead. “I have got a headache,” he declared to nobody in particular. No one responded. “Er, hello? Excuse me? I am damaged too, yes?”
“You’re fine for the moment,” Miss Wellbeloved snapped. She looked over Serena’s shoulder, her expression full of concern. “Is Mike breathing?”
Serena nodded. “Yes, but he doesn’t look healthy. Look at him.”
Grace got up and took a deep breath. “You really managed to get rid of it,” she said with a shake of her head. She looked at them in wonder. “I don’t believe it.”
“Yes, well. Next time, perhaps tell us that you’re harbouring a murderous spirit rather than making us go through the ordeal of trying to locate it,” Larry snapped as he thumped his hands on his hips and glowered in her direction.
The old woman slumped. “You don’t know what it was like,” she whispered.
Miss Wellbeloved nodded, glaring at Larry. “No, we understand,” she said. “It must have been terrifying. The whole situation has been dreadful, but it’s over now.”
“Well, not quite over,” Kester piped up. He looked at Luke’s extinguishing device with great reluctance, knowing full well what was nestled inside, waiting for him to make good on his promise.
Serena followed his eye and winced, guessing his thoughts. “Yes, you’ve got yourself in a bit of bother here, haven’t you? Given that you’ve not been able to open the spirit door since the Bloody Mary job four months ago.”
“Thanks for reminding me,” he retorted, biting his lip nervously.
“Perhaps we can worry about this later?” Dimitri stepped forward and gestured at Mike and Ribero. “We have other things to focus on.”
“Yes, I’m sure we’ll figure something out,” Larry barked. He studied Ribero on the ground as though he was a nasty stain on a carpet. “If the worst comes to the worst, we can simply drive over to I
nfinite Enterprises and get rid of the damned spirit there, can’t we?”
“No, we cannot!” Miss Wellbeloved blazed. “How disrespectful!”
Higgins puffed up like a bullfrog. “Jennifer, this nonsense needs to stop. The spirit killed five people and just tried to knock off a couple of your team for good measure!”
Serena nodded. “I know you’re all for good spirit relations, but this is ridiculous. I say don’t bother going up to Scotland, where Kester’s only going to fail anyway. Just dump the spirit with Infinite Enterprises. Job done.”
“And then what do you suppose happens next?” Miss Wellbeloved said, fighting to stay calm. “The spirit returns to its own world, finds out we’ve deceived it, and gets into a fury. Then it returns to Scotland at the first available opportunity, except this time, it will be doubly furious at humans—and probably go on an even bigger murderous rampage than before.” She sighed, then ran her hands through her hair. “Why can’t you see the bigger picture?”
“Hey, let’s discuss this later,” Ribero said as he stumbled to his feet, still clutching his head. “Grace, you must go home now. Be aware, the police will want to have words with you.”
“Hang on,” Kester interrupted. “You can’t go home yet.”
“Why not?” Grace muttered. “I need to sleep. I just want to sleep for days and days.”
“Because your daughter is sitting on a cliff-top, just past those trees. She was threatening to jump.”
Grace’s eyes widened. “Oh no,” she breathed, craning her neck to stare past Kester and into the distance. “It’s because of the fetch. She was frightened, and we had a fight. I thought she’d stormed off home.”
“Actually,” Dimitri said, pointing towards the woods. “Maybe that is her over there? There is a lady watching us, you see?”
They all looked instinctively in the direction of Dimitri’s finger. Sure enough, a messy-haired, pregnant figure was standing by the trees, watching them intently. Helen, Kester realised, and puffed his cheeks out with relief. Thank goodness. She came to help after all. He held up a hand, and she started to head over, jogging awkwardly and supporting her bump.
