by M S C Barnes
deformed lines of silver within his skin and a flash of light flicked towards them. They jumped in different directions and Miss West gave a frustrated yell before the three regrouped and charged.
“Do not!” Heath called. “You know what I can do. Take one step further and the lovely Scarlet will be the first I condemn to the Soul Drop!”
The three Guardians stopped instantly, Miss West placing a restraining hand on Zach, whose face was like thunder.
Scarlet looked terrified but defiant.
“Don’t let him use me as a tool! Do what you need to do,” she called. “I can come back again. We all know that.”
Seb thought he saw a glint of red in Heath’s eyes as he threw his head back and laughed.
“Oh Scarlet, they have truly neglected your tutoring have they not?” She looked bemused. “The Soul Drop, the dark place. You have looked into it?” he asked her. She blinked, confused. “And what did you see?” She frowned and didn’t answer. “Well, they know!” Heath pointed to the teachers.
“Heath, enough.” Mr Duir pushed himself off the tower, glaring at him. “You know that whatever it takes we cannot permit Braddock to have the body of a Custodian.”
And now Heath roared with laughter, such a brutal, savage and unnatural laugh.
Nat gasped, “Oh no!”
“Oh yes!” Heath rounded on her. “Granted, Aelfric, Seb’s body would have been perfect, but you know, this one will do just as well for now!” He glowered at Mr Duir whose face turned ashen. “Heath is … most accommodating, as only a twin could be.”
“Heath!” Mr Duir sounded broken. “I said I could not protect you.”
Again that brutal laugh. “Aelfric, he needs no protection.” Through Heath’s eyes Braddock smiled out. “We were always close, and now? Well, draw your own conclusions.” He waved a hand languidly in the air and moved a pace closer to Seb.
Mr Duir stepped forward, groaning as his right arm moved. He grasped it with his left, trying to keep it still.
“You will not leave here!” he said, his voice cracking.
Braddock laughed again and, wearing the cloak of Heath’s body, took another step towards Seb.
Seb was confused. So Braddock had Heath’s body. Yet he still seemed set on getting to him. What for?
Another pace closer and Braddock was now an arm’s reach away.
Mr Duir bristled. “Braddock! Let him be!”
There was silence. The teachers and The Caretaker waited while Braddock seemed to weigh up his options. Eventually he spoke, carefully, as if testing the reaction to the words as he went.
“You are damaged, Aelfric. Look at you. You can barely stand.” He paused, studying Mr Duir’s face for a response. When none came he continued. “You certainly can’t fight. Broken is it, your arm? I should imagine that is excruciating …” There was a slight movement from Miss West. “And I know that Trudy believes she has the speed and agility necessary to reach me. But,” he turned smiling at her, “to reach me before I can take out two or three others, Trudy? Your brother, for example? Dominic? And of course, Aelfric himself …”
There was a tense, electric silence. His proximity to this corrupt Custodian body was causing Seb’s hand to throb painfully now. Around it the skin tingled but the throbbing was so bad Seb had to press his palm to try and numb it.
Nat shuffled her feet and Braddock laughed at her.
“Uncomfortable are you, Nat? I expect Greg feels the same. But then he never liked me … did you, Greg?” With Heath’s face he smiled nastily at Mr West who looked at him with such anger and outrage Seb thought he was going to fly at him.
Another shuffle from Nat and Seb realised what she was doing; she was inching forward, giving him a gap between her back and the tower for him to step past to Mr Duir.
Braddock continued, testing the water, trying to confirm his belief that the teachers would do nothing if he moved again towards Seb.
“Aelfric, you cannot risk it, can you? None of you can. The next generation? The new hope? The new group? To lose one? Well, it wouldn’t function at all well now, would it? Like Heath’s group! Not quite right since I left, eh Morgan? He grinned at The Caretaker. “Is that why you became simply The Caretaker? There was nothing else for you except the scraps Aelfric threw from his table?” The grin got bigger, malicious and spiteful. “So you hitch yourself to their wagon, trying to pretend that you really have a role to play,” he snorted.
The Caretaker remained stony-faced, but Seb saw a slight pursing of the lips. The words had hit home.
“And whatever became of Henry, Blake and Eleanor?” Braddock put up Heath’s hand. “No, no, don’t tell me … I know. You see, in that dark place, where you all were happy to leave me, I had nothing, nothing but my mind. But do you know what? You can do such a lot with a mind, given time. And I had bags of that, didn’t I?” There was so much vitriolic bitterness as Braddock spoke.
Suddenly his head jerked slightly and Seb saw his face freeze momentarily. The expression lasted only a fraction of a second and then he continued.
“Well I used that time to train my mind, and I have talents now you could not hope to match or understand.” His eyes turned onto Seb and Scarlet. “Did you enjoy your house fire, children? Was it thrilling? How nice of Aelfric to rescue you at the last minute.”
Seb’s jaw dropped.
“You?” he gasped, wide-eyed.
Again that nasty laugh. “Oh Seb, you are so funny. Yes, me. Has Aelfric not explained to you how feelings can be such powerful things?” Seb remembered the twirling spirals of mist rising from the school playground. “Well all I had was feelings,” Braddock shouted angrily. “Aelfric and his group saw to that!”
Seb stared around at the teachers. He didn’t know what exactly had happened to Braddock but knew now that they had played a hand in that Dryad soul being trapped in the Soul Drop.
Mr Duir was staring intently at Heath, listening to Braddock’s words.
“Well anyway, did you and Aiden like your experience at Waulud’s Bank too, Seb? That wind, the hound? Was it masterful, convincing? It certainly seems to have been.” He chuckled at his own cleverness, looking back at Seb. “And it worked! How else were we going to make sure that Aelfric brought you to the Sacred Place early? We couldn’t wait while your education continued, while your knowledge and awareness grew. We couldn’t wait for the Elder Ceremony of Confirmation which would put the seal on your soul in that host body. We needed you here. Oh,” he said as if a thought had just occurred, “and Aelfric.” He turned to Mr Duir who was again leaning against the tower, trying to stay on his feet, a look of sad realisation on his face as to how he had been played. “Aelfric, you did everything we needed you to do. You know that Heath can’t find the doors. Since Eleanor crossed over he has no way now, does he? Dom wouldn’t have helped …Would you, Dom?” He glared angrily at Mr White who stood motionless between the tower and the cracked standing stone. Seb thought he looked lost, isolated, halfway between them and the edge of the circle where the darkness encroached and from where more slight scratching and padding sounds came. Mr White lowered his eyes to the ground, an expression of hopeless melancholy on his craggy features. “No, you wouldn’t,” Braddock spoke more softly. His head jerked violently once more. “So we needed Seb at the Sacred Place where Heath had access to the Elder Door … so he could bring Seb here. And it was priceless!” He clapped, but seeing a quick movement from Trudy West again tilted his hand, threatening to direct it at any one of the bystanders listening to his monologue. She froze. “Calm down, Trudy.” He sounded anything but calm himself.
Seb looked around and noticed that Aiden was no longer nearby. He hadn’t seen him move and now cautiously cast his eyes around the circle. He found his friend on the opposite side of the circle to Mr White, standing at the point where the ground was swallowed by the darkness. He stood perfectly still.
“Where was I?” Braddock continued. “Ah yes, priceless indeed, Aelfric … when you followed Heath into
the Elder Tree and then … oh my, we couldn’t believe our luck when Seb came too! How fantastic was that? We had thought to simply disrupt the passage of the Elders so that Heath could take Seb through the door later, while you all slept. But goodness me if you didn’t deliver yourself to us, young Seb,” he beamed triumphantly at him. “But anyway, I digress. You don’t need to know any of this. All you need to do is make a decision – give Seb to me or kill him! Because I will not leave here without that host!”
Give up the Ghost
Seb felt a jab of fear.
… or kill him! Would they do that? Would Mr Duir be so determined to prevent this malignant and ambitious soul getting his way that he would kill Seb rather than let that happen?
Suddenly Heath lunged for him. Seb, adrenaline on his side, darted behind Nat and stepped over to stand with Mr Duir. Heath roared with annoyance and pushed Nat roughly out of the way. She fell to the ground. Scarlet, beside her, jumped sideways and stuck out a leg as Heath passed her. He stumbled but managed to regain his balance.
“You are a nuisance, child!” he yelled at Scarlet and, twisting his hand to catch moonlight, turned it towards her.
With a yell, Zach slammed into Heath feet first, landing on the ground beside Scarlet. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to the other side of the tower. As he did The Caretaker and Miss West took the opportunity and leapt
