by D. B. Green
A woman in a white lab coat stands in the open doorway. The bright floodlights from the crypt behind frame her pose. It’s not our teacher. “No. That’s her sister,” I say. “The woman from the coffee shop - Charlotte Slayter.”
Sniffing the cool air, Charlotte turns to the driver and sighs. “You were sloppy. Again!” She scans through the clearing. “I’ve got to clean up this mess.” She takes off her diamond gloves and slips her hand inside the coat, pulling out a small silver tube from her pocket. “Now I’ve got to waste my Sunburst on you.” She presses the tube against her neck. It hisses on contact, like air escaping from a tire.
The driver backs away, clattering into the van. “No, please. I’m sorry,” he says, his eyes full of panic. His arm traces along the side of the van as he grasps for the door handle.
“It’s too late,” Charlotte says, her voice trailing off. She advances slowly on the diver, mumbling fast under her breath, like she’s chanting. Her lips move too fast; I can’t make out what she’s saying.
With a sickening crunch, the driver bends in half. He hangs in the air, floating like the Desino Lapse next to him. His hands push against his boots as he tries to escape from the weird, yoga like pose. Then his back folds over, burying his head into his feet and hands. Blood pours from his mouth as his body convulses. Still chanting, Charlotte spins her hands around and the driver folds in half again. It’s like a sickening version of origami. The folded mess that was the driver continues to spin and fold, like a piece of paper being screwed up by invisible hands, getting smaller and smaller - until he disappears a flash of light.
Maz clamps her hand over her mouth, stopping a dry retch. Her other hand still grips Steve’s wrist, tight.
Steve slowly turns to me, his mouth wide open. “What the fuck!?”
Charlotte spins around. Her brown eyes sparkle like Penny’s - although hers look full of glistening brown jewels. Her lips still blur together as she recites the same chant. She turns back around and thrusts her hands out. The van suddenly flips up in the air and folds in half. It crunches together like the driver until there’s nothing left.
Charlotte’s eyes stop sparkling as she focuses on our hiding place. “I know you’re there,” she says. Her eyes suddenly light up again as she drops her hands down on the ground. The same chant flows from her lips and she tugs at the grass, but it’s like she’s pulling off a table cloth, like a kids’ party magician. My legs suddenly sweep out under me and I tumble backwards into the grass - but it’s not grass anymore. It’s twisted into rope, wrapping around my hands and feet, tying them tight together.
Maz screams. “I can’t move.” She’s caught in the same grass-like rope. Steve, too.
I struggle across to Maz, rolling across the ground, but the grass tightens around my wrists and feet. “It’s too strong!” I shout.
Steve suddenly flies forward into the clearing, like he’s on a grass conveyor belt. Maz jerks forward too, carving a channel through the grass. The grassy rope tightens around my feet and yanks me forward. I dig my heels into the ground, but they just carve into the earth like a snow plow. It’s like I’ve been lassoed by the grass. It drags me into the clearing next to Maz and Steve.
“It’s a shame you had to bring your friends here, Logan.” Charlotte stands over me, her eyes back to normal. “A real shame… for them.”
“Where’s Penny?” I shout. “What have you done to her?”
Charlotte smiles. “Ah, yes. Miss Summers.” Stepping back, she slips the diamond gloves back on and rotates her hand around. The Desino Lapse follows her movement turning around until it stands upright in front of me. Sunlight shines through the back of the Lapse, illuminating the figure inside. My stomach drops. Staring back, suspended in time, is Penny. My beautiful Penny.
“No! What have you done?”
Charlotte bends over me and presses a gloved finger to my lips. “Take a long look, Logan,” she says, glancing over her shoulder. “You won’t be seeing your beloved Penny again.” She spins her hands around and pushes them forward, sending Penny through the open white door into the crypt.
I focus through the doorway, keeping my eyes on Penny as the door closes. The door frame starts to crackle and burn. The white paint bubbles, fizzing with orange sparks. Still standing over me, Charlotte chants. I can hear the words now. ‘Fold.’ Repeated over and over, getting faster.
The white door, the object of my nightmares, gives up the fight and folds in on itself, showering the ground with orange sparks. Then, with a loud pop, it disappears.
“Time for your friends,” Charlotte says. “What would you like? Swans or airplanes?” She grins as her eyes sparkle again.
Suddenly, a bright point of light shoots out from the center of her chest, like a glowing sword. Wisps of light twirl around it like glowing tentacles blowing in the wind. Her brown eyes stop sparkling as shock spreads across her face. She stares down at the blade in disbelief. Deep wrinkles spread across her face like cracks in porcelain. She stoops over, trying to slide off the sword, but the tentacles of light hold her back. She reaches inside her coat and clutches a silver door handle in her shaking hand. Her hair turns white as she staggers towards us. She’s aging, getting old, like my hand did.
A tall woman leans out from behind Charlotte. Her long black hair seems to merge into her leather coat. She yanks her hand back and the blade slides out of Charlotte’s chest, leaving behind a glowing, red hole. Charlotte falls to the ground, exploding in a cloud of dust. The silver door handle bounces across the grass, stopping in front of my nose.
“I can move!” Steve shouts.
The rope-like grass weakens around me. I push it away and scramble to my feet as the woman advances. She holds the glowing blade of light in front of her. It’s full of moving images; an image of Charlotte slides down from the tip of the blade. The tentacles of light cling to it, dragging it down to the hilt. The woman staggers back, her black leather coat swaying in the wind.
Steve lunges forward with his crowbar - but the sword flashes down, slicing it in half. The woman shakes her head and turns to me. “Leave now, Logan,” she says, glancing over her shoulder. “Before more of them arrive.”
“Who are you?” I say.
“A friend.” She turns the sword around, driving the blade of light into her chest. Her black shirt glows, absorbing the blade, leaving just the elaborately carved, crystal handle in her hands. She lets out a long breath and clips the handle to her belt. “Take your friends and go.” She narrows her eyes and then turns, sprinting across the clearing into the trees, her black hair and coat flapping in the wind like a black panther at full speed.
Steve kicks at the pile of ash that was Charlotte and picks up the silver door handle. “What the hell just happened?”
“More importantly, who was that samurai woman?” Maz says, moving out from behind Steve. “She seemed to know you, Logan.”
Penny. I rush into the clearing, to the exact spot where the door stood. All that’s left is a rectangular impression in the grass. The door is gone, folded up into nothing. My mind feels numb. “We need to find another way into the crypt to rescue Penny,” I say, fighting back the rising darkness in my mind.
Steve sighs. “How the hell am I going to tell my dad about all this?” He picks up the sliced crowbar and then tosses both halves into the grass. A wisp of smoke twirls up and he quickly stamps it out. “This is some serious shit that’s going down.” He runs his finger over the spot on his arm where Maz grabbed him, rubbing at the skin like it’s sore.
My mind suddenly clears. “The cinema,” I say. “Penny had plans for the crypt. There has to be another way in.” I turn to run back to the truck. “They’re in her apartment. Come on!”
10:59 GMT-4
THE MERIDIAN CINEMA | MERIDIA FALLS
The front door is open, unlocked. I press my hand to my pocket, and Penny’s keys dig into my leg. “I’m sure I locked it when we left.”
“You did,” Maz says, “Maybe Pe
nny got away from the crypt and made it back here.” She glances at Steve, then toward the university.
My heartbeat races up to full speed at the thought. Did Penny escape? Has she come back?
I push past Steve and run through the lobby and into the restaurant. Penny could be upstairs right now. I sprint past the knocked-over tables to the staircase. Vanilla. My mind could be playing tricks on me, but I’m sure I can smell Penny’s perfume.
“Logan!” Maz shouts. “Wait for us.”
I sprint up the stairs past the bloody footprints. Thoughts of seeing Penny explode through my mind.
“Slow down, man.” Steve’s hand grips my shoulder. “It could be anyone up there. Maybe the people that took Penny.”
“Charlotte’s dead,” I say. “The van driver, too.”
Steve spins me around. “I mean the people they were working for.”
A loud bang comes from Penny’s apartment, followed by voices. Muffled voices. Not Penny’s. The faint smell of vanilla disappears with my fading hopes of seeing her.
Maz joins us at the top of the stairs. She clings tight to Steve’s arm as we walk slowly down the corridor of golden doors. They seem to go on forever, like doors in a fairground funhouse. Finally, we reach Penny’s open apartment door - and the voices stop.
I push open the door. A man sits on the sofa. He must be in his fifties, judging from his graying hair and matching, neatly trimmed beard. He stares straight ahead, his eyes hidden behind dark round glasses.
I make my way slowly into the living room. Someone has cleaned up the clutter. It all sits in neat piles under the windows.
A woman suddenly heads out of the small corridor from the kitchen. “We’ve been waiting for you, Mr. Collins.” Her accent is smooth and classy. British, like one of the doctors at Serenity Grove.
A girl, about my age, follows from the kitchen. A tray of cups rests against her long black coat. She carries it past us, making room for it on the coffee table. Her hair is almost as dark as the coat, contrasting her pale skin. She sits on the sofa next to the man, resting her hands on her lap.
The other woman extends her hand, waving us further into the apartment. “It’s cold with the door open.” She’s in her early thirties at the most. Her brown hair rests on the shoulders of her slender, gray business suit. She raises her left eyebrow and looks around at us all. “I should have made more coffee.”
The apartment door suddenly bangs shut. A man in a black suit stands behind us, his arms crossed. He slowly shakes his shaven head.
“Now, now, Four,” the woman says. “Let’s be polite.”
“Who the hell are you?” Steve says, forcing his way past me.
“We’re waiting for Miss Summers, too.” The woman indicates to the man on the sofa. She pauses until he nods. “We’ve just bought this place from her mother.”
“You’ll have a long wait,” Maz says. “Penny’s been kidnapped.”
“Kidnapped,” the woman says, her eyes opening wide. “When?”
“Just now,” I say.
The man on the sofa turns his head. “What do you know about Sunburst, Mr. Collins?” he says, staring straight at me. He too speaks with a British accent, but his voice is rougher, more reserved.
“Daaad,” the girl says, dragging out the word.
He turns his head sharply to the girl.
“I’ve not heard the name before,” I lie. Maz glances at me, her eyes open wide.
“Miss Summers was taken because she has Sunburst… Pure Sunburst.” The man stands and points his walking cane at me. “And so do you.”
Cross. “You’re Cross,” I say. “Penny’s contact.”
“Dad! You shouldn’t use Cross as your alias anymore,” the girl says, her accent delicate, almost melodic. “I’ve told you it’s too dangerous.”
“When was Miss Summers taken?” he says, glaring at his daughter.
“Just now. We followed the guy that kidnapped her to…” I pause. My eyes are drawn to the notice board. To the photos of the white doors. “We followed him to the white door in Hellgate Forest.”
Penny’s scream bursts through my mind on a wave of rage. Rage like I’ve not felt before. I lunge forward and grab Cross’s coat with both hands. “The door you sent us to.”
The burly man at the door dives between us, knocking me to the floor. My head bangs against the coffee table and the sharp rage fades away. Steve jumps forward, but the man swats him down like he’s an annoying fly. Steve looks up at Maz.
She holds up her hands. “I’m not that freakin’ stupid.”
“Sensible,” the woman says, holding out her hand. She helps Steve back to his feet, then holds out her hand to me, quickly drawing it back. A second of shock flashes across her face. She knows.
“It’s OK,” I say, slowly getting to my feet.
Cross nods at the door and the burly man retakes his position. “What happened to Miss Summers?”
“They put her in one of those time-block things,” Maz says. “And pushed her through the door.”
Cross’s eyes open wide. “Damn it. A Desino Lapse.” He nods at to the woman. “Stephanie.”
“I’m on it,” she says.
“Don’t bother,” I say. “The door is gone. Destroyed.”
“Destroyed?”
“There was this woman, Charlotte Slayter. After she pushed Penny through the door, she did some weird thing and the door screwed up like a piece of paper. She did the same to the guy that took Penny, too. It was like—”
“—Magic,” Cross says.
Maz lets out a long breath. “It was freakin’ disgusting. That’s what it was.” She reaches down to the table and takes a cup of coffee. “Do you mind?”
Stephanie waves her hand. “Help yourself.”
“There was another woman there,” I say. “She had a strange sword. The blade was pure light, made up of moving images.”
Stephanie gasps. “A Soul Chanter.”
“I was hoping to ease both of you into this world slowly.” Cross sighs and nods at Stephanie.
“I’m Stephanie Marcone,” she says. “And this is the new proprietor of the Meridian Cinema, Mr. Henry Church, and his daughter, Victoria Church.”
Church lets out a long breath. “Do you know what Sunburst is, Mr. Collins?” he says.
I shake my head.
“Sunburst is the codename for Affinity. The purest form of magic.” He points the cane at me again. “You, Mr. Collins, are an Enchanter.”
“Enchanter?” The people in the file. The word sounds foreign on my lips - but familiar at the same time.
He nods. “Like me, my daughter, and Stephanie.” He takes a long breath. “And, by proxy, almost everyone else in this godforsaken town.”
“Even me,” Maz says, her jaw dropping open.
“Yes, even you, Miss Moreau,” he says. “Look, you kids are mixed up in something very dark here in Meridia Falls.” He walks over the first window. “A colleague of mine disappeared last weekend. A teacher at your school. George Randall. He picked up the trail of a forbidden magical experiment.” Church turns back from the window. “Did any of you go through the door in Hellgate Forest?”
He suddenly jumps forward, grabbing my shirt, surprisingly agile for his age. He pushes his face up to mine. There’s a hint of whisky as his breath hits my nose. It reminds me of the guards at Serenity Grove. He lifts off his glasses, squinting his blue eyes. “Did you take anything?” Panic flashes for a second across his face.
“OK.” I back away from him, holding up my hands. “We did go through the door. It led to a crypt.” I pluck the empty crypt file from between the two boxes against the wall.
Church’s eyes open wide. He grabs the file and throws it in the air. “Stephanie!” he shouts.
She spins around, almost in slow motion. Her brown hair flicks across her face as she presses a silver tube against her neck. Her lips move fast, like she’s whispering, and her eyes sparkle green. She’s chanting. Just like Charlo
tte. The beige file erupts in flames, turning to cinders before it hits the floor.
Church kneels, poking his cane through the smoldering ash. “The triangular seal on the front of the file was a tracker.” He glances at his daughter, still sitting quietly on the sofa. “A magical tracker. Someone, somewhere has listened to everything we’ve just said.”
Something still burns. The smell gets stronger.
“Logan!” Maz shouts. “Your shirt’s on fire.” She dives forward, patting down my burning sleeve. Her fingers pass through a smoking hole, touching my skin underneath. The coffee cup falls from her grasp, hanging a foot above the floor as time freezes. Horror spreads across her face as her wide-open eyes sparkle blue for a brief second. I’m in her mind again, looking out of her eyes. I can feel the heat from my burning shirt on her fingertips… on my fingertips. A torrent of shock erupts inside her as she focuses over my shoulder. Behind me is the shimmering outline of a ghost in the corner of the room.
Penny’s ghost.
D.B. GREEN
COMING
1st AUGUST 2017
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Book one
THE SPARK
Out Now
Book Two
SUNBURST
Out Now
Book Three
ENCHANTERS
Coming 1st August 2017
Book
FOUR
Coming September 2017
Series One Finale
BOOK FIVE
Coming November 2017
AUTHOR’S NOTE
If you enjoyed this novella, I would be so grateful if you could spend a few minutes leaving a review on the page where you purchased it. Your help in spreading the word about my Meridia Falls series is much appreciated and your review will make a huge difference in helping new readers find these works.
