A Stitch on Time 5 (12 page)

“Holy shit,” Gareth said, stepping in beside me. “Don’t touch anything, okay?”

I nodded, feeling the weight of my otherworldly companions shimmer along my hand. I forced myself to wander inside, puffing small breaths into my sleeve so I could focus on the sick scene in front of me. The councilors—Bronwyn, Jacques and Latisha—were sitting around the board table as if they were in one of their secretive meetings, but the trio was dead. The three sat back on their expensive leather chairs, their heads thrown back and pressed against the headrest with matching bullet holes between their eyes.

As I made my way around, I noticed a discarded gun on the floor near the multitude of hard drives and monitors stacked in the corner. “There’s a weapon over there,” I said, dropping my sleeve.

“Okay, don’t touch it.”

“They were killed the same way as Henry.”

“Someone executed these three and left them here to rot.” He stood over Bronwyn and leaned closer. “Looks like they’ve been dead for a while.”

I spotted a single monitor sitting at the end of the table and it flickered. At the same time, gooseflesh appeared on my arms.
Not again.

“I’m going to have to call this in.”

“Okay, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to be here.”

“You won’t be.” He stopped in front of me, blocking my view of the monitor. His breath misted between us. “It’s happening again, isn’t it? The temperature in this room just dropped.”

I nodded, stepping around him so I could face the monitor. “It’s coming from there,” I said, pointing a finger.

The flickering stopped, forming a picture—of Lee.

“Sierra, you made it!” She stood so close that only her face appeared on screen.

“What’re you doing inside a computer monitor?” A stupid thing to ask since I already knew the answer. The ghost in the machine is a rare phenomenon whereby a spirit can infiltrate electrical equipment—such as computers, radios and telephones. They can then use these devices as a way of communicating with the living, or as Lee was doing, to project themselves.

No wonder all of the monitors and hard drives had been disconnected and thrown in the boardroom. Whoever was responsible wanted to make sure this didn’t happen. I couldn’t help but think of Mace and Vixen working together. She must have shot the councilors while Mace took care of the catchers. Did he have them strapped into those awful chairs? But how? Surely they’d all been ruined after the explosion.

“It’s pretty nifty, right?” Lee said with a smile. “Took me long enough to sneak my way in, though.” She glanced at the dead councilors.

“What happened to them?” I asked.

She turned her attention back to me, and it felt weird to talk to someone as if they were in some freaky two-way TV show. “It’s too late for the councilors, and for me…but not for the other girls.”

“Where are they?” I hated to even consider not being able to help her when she’d worked so hard to contact me.

“If you spoke to Henry then you know that the Council hasn’t banished any of the malicious spooks we’ve captured for a long time. Their energy is stored deep beneath this building.” She looked over her shoulder. “It’s a secret dungeon that connects to some hellish dimension. Mace is responsible.” Lee grimaced. “You need to get rid of these spooks before it’s too late.”

“I’ll go down right now, I’ll—”

“No,” she cut in. “First you need to get the land spirits back to their rightful place.”

“But—”

“Sierra, please don’t argue with me, just get them out of this building. We need to balance the scales. I tried to move them, but wasn’t strong enough and ended up in this predicament.” Her face wavered. “Looks like I’m out of time. Make sure you take care of the spirits, and then come back as soon as you can. Not just for the girls, but to finish this.”

“And if I don’t come back?” The thought of letting the other catchers perish made my heart sink as much as having to return to this horrible place of death and destruction.

Lee shrugged. “The trapped energy is reaching capacity, so this place is going to blow one way or another. But if
you
cause the explosion, at least it will be controlled and the casualties won’t be as high. Think about the innocent people who don’t know anything about what’s really going on. We’re in the middle of the CBD.”

I nodded. “Leave it with me, I’ll come back to save you. All of you.”

“Listen, Sierra. When you do, don’t use the elevator or the stairs.”

“Why not?” How the hell was I going to get to them otherwise?

“If you do, you’ll never find us.” Lee’s image jumped and she kept looking over her shoulder. “Go to the secret doorway behind the reception desk—”

“I know where it is.” Mace had dragged me past the water wall the night he tied me to one of the chairs, hoping I would make the ghostly patch collapse into ours. I just hadn’t known the destination could be changed.

A rueful smile curved her lips. “I knew I could count on you.”

“Lee…” She was already gone, leaving a black monitor and taking the temperature drop with her so quickly the stench of rotting corpses rushed up my nostrils. A tugging on my left hand reminded me of the spirits I had with me, and how Lee mentioned they were important to balance things out.

Mace was doing everything he could to tip the scales in his favor, but I was about to change that
. I can do this.

A hand on my elbow made me jump.

“Sorry,” Gareth said, dropping his hand. “What happened?”

“We need to go.”

“
You
have to go,” he said, running a hand through his mussed-up hair. “I’m going to call you a cab and you’re going to go straight home, okay? No one knows you’re here and we’re going to keep it that way.”

“What about you?”

“I can take care of myself.”

“Yeah, but why were you inside the Spook Catcher Council Tower tonight?” I didn’t like the idea of abandoning him. Then again, he was a police officer.

“An anonymous call came in.” He slipped a disposable glove over his left hand and lifted the handset from the middle of the table, holding it near my face. He dialed his own mobile number and answered it with his injured side. “Hello, this is Constable Gareth Crewe.”

“Um…hello,” I said, squeaking up my voice. “You have to help me. They’re keeping me prisoner. Come, quick.”

“Miss, where are you? How did you get my number?”

“Please, just come to the Spook Catcher Council. Now!” He pulled the handset away, slammed it and disconnected his mobile before pocketing it.

“That was pretty convincing,” he said.

“How are you going to explain being shot, and the destruction outside?” This plan had too many holes. “Or the fact you were already here when the call came in?”

“I was in the area.”

“Your phone is going to give your location away—”

“Sierra, I’ll figure it out,” Gareth said with a mischievous smirk. “I think it’s about time some suspicion was pointed towards Mace Clamber.” He pulled his gun out of its holster. “Come on. Let’s take a quick look around before you have to go.”

I nodded. “Let’s go to the accommodation floor.”

“Lead the way.”

I forced my gaze away from the dead bodies as I stepped into the destroyed office area. The damage made it look like a giant had taken to playing with the furniture and fittings.

The elevator wasn’t supposed to work, since I didn’t live at the Council and my access to the accommodation levels had been revoked years ago. But when I gave it a try, the buttons lit up all the way to the top in response to my thumbprint. There were six floors to cover so we had to be quick. After checking every room, we didn’t find a single person or any signs of a struggle.

“Okay, that’s all the time we can spare.” Gareth pulled out his phone in the elevator. “I need to call this in.”

When we reached the ground floor, I hesitated. I could already feel the thumping in the back of my head. My insides quivered so much I thought they might be liquefying.

Gareth’s face darkened with concern. He hit the button to keep the doors open and said, “You wait here while I make the calls.”

I nodded and backed up until my spine was pressed against the far wall of the elevator. I wasn’t looking forward to stepping into the foyer, but how else was I going to leave this blasted building? The severity of the situation made me ill, but when I felt the weight pressing down on me, a tug on my palm reminded me of the earthbound spirits and I felt hopeful.

But being hopeful wasn’t enough to erase the reality. If I felt this sick while in the vicinity, how were the other catchers affected if they were right in the thick of things? A new wave of loss swept over me. Lee was already too far-gone, there was no denying it—even she knew it. But in spite of it all, she’d reached out.

“Okay,” Gareth said, returning to the elevator. “The cab will be waiting for you at the pub across the road.”

“Sure, thanks Gareth.” I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. “I mean it, thank you for doing this.” I frowned. “Sorry you got hurt.”

“It’s just a scratch.” He repeated his explanation of the injury. “Besides, you know I’m now a part of this war you and your friends are fighting.”

“We’re glad to have you on our side.” I looked him in the eye. “
I’m
glad that you’re on our side.”

A small smile teased the edges of his lips.

I dropped his hand and sucked in a deep breath, staring out into what awaited me.

“Are you ready to head out?”

“Yeah,” I whispered. “Let’s get this over and done with.”

As soon as I stepped outside the safety of the elevator walls, a wave of energy blasted my body with so much force I stumbled forward.

“Are you sure you can make it to the door?”

I nodded, but recoiled because the nausea made my stomach feel like it was about to squeeze out of my mouth.
Gross.

“Okay, I don’t want you to think this is some sexist action I’ve been waiting to try on you, but I think it’s the only way to get you outside.”

“What?” I had no idea what he meant.

Gareth wrapped his arms around my midsection and hoisted me over his shoulder. I didn’t want to play the role of damsel in distress, but he was doing me a favor. My head pounded so hard it felt close to splitting. Blood dribbled from my nose, ears and my eyes stung. It only took seconds for him to rush across the immaculate foyer, but it was enough for me to feel like I was falling apart.

Gareth raced past the automatic doors and the cool evening air felt good on my heated face and limbs. I was grateful when he put me down under the shelter of the overpass and I somehow managed to cast a cloaking spell over us.

“It’s worse than before,” I said, touching my nose and coming away with crimson droplets. It felt so good to get some fresh air into my lungs. Between the spook energy and the corpses, I couldn’t get out of that building fast enough. Even if I’d eventually have to return one last time.

Gareth pulled a single tissue from his pocket and dabbed my upper lip.

“Shit, I must look like a mess.”

“No, you look as good as always,” he said with a wink.

“Are you sure I look presentable?” I didn’t care for vanity’s sake, but I was about to cross the road back to civilization and into a cab.

“I’m positive.” He dabbed my nose a few more times and then nodded. “You look like you’re just out on the town.”

I flashed a quick smile and turned to leave. “Call me when you get a chance.”

“Sure, you got it.”

I turned back to the road but paused to peer over my shoulder and called, “Be careful!” Then I ran across the almost deserted street just as a cab stopped at the curb. I dropped the cloaking as I approached the taxi. Before climbing into the backseat, I waved at Gareth. He dipped his chin and headed for the building.

“You’re headed to West Serene Hills, right?” the cabbie called.

“Yeah,” I said, sitting back in the seat. “I mean, no.” Shit, I’d been so distracted I almost forgot about my personal passengers. “Actually, can you drop me off at North Serene Hills?”

“Lady, there’s nothing there,” the cabbie said in accented English.

“That’s where I need to go.”

“Okay, whatever you want!” He merged the taxi back into the dribs and drabs of traffic before giving me a quick glance in the rearview mirror.

As we passed the Spook Catcher Council Tower, I spotted Gareth standing in front of the gaping automatic doors. His gaze was focused on the police vehicles already speeding for the building. The sirens wailed loudly and their colors flashed inside the cab, but I looked the other way.

This wasn’t the first time I was fleeing the police from this wretched Tower.

“Looks like trouble tonight,” said the cabbie.

“Yeah, seems that way.”
For me, there’s trouble just about every night.

Chapter Seven

“Can you wait for me?”

“I don’t know, Miss.” The cab driver, whose name, according to the ID card on the dash, was Mohammed, looked uncomfortable as he scanned our deserted surroundings. “This place is…spooky.”

I tried not to laugh at his accurate assessment. “I know, but I’m not going to be long.”

“I need you to pay the fare now.”

“Sure, of course.” I handed him a fifty—which was thirty dollars more than I owed him according to the meter, but I had to make sure he stayed. He took the bill. “So, you’ll wait?”

He nodded, but there seemed to be too much white showing in his eyes. “Don’t be long.”

“Thanks.” I turned away and jogged towards the chain-link fence surrounding the area I’d visited way too often lately. I was about to duck under the hole already separating the metal links when the screeching of tires made me pause. The taxi was on full reverse. “Hey!”

I’d only taken two steps before the cabbie shouted a hasty, “Sorry,” from the driver’s side window and sped away, leaving me alone in the long forgotten part of Serene Hills. Well, I wasn’t completely alone. There were bulldozers, cranes and several other machines I couldn’t name parked on the other side, and I did have the spirits still attached.

A cool breeze swayed strands of my hair into my face, and I instantly felt the tugging on my left hand. I wasn’t sure if the spirits were eager to get home or if the area was responding to me. This was where I’d connected to Hecate.

An itching sensation raced up my arm and before I realized what I was doing, I stuck my hand into the back pocket of my jeans. I pulled a strip of paper out and struggled to read it in the near dark.

What the hell is going on with you?

Ugh. I didn’t want to deal with the psychic demon right now. Sure, since I didn’t have my phone—a stupid decision, in hindsight—and the cab driver had just dumped me, I might have to reach out to Saul and hope he could come and pick me up. But that was something to think about later.

I had a promise to keep first.

So I took a few deep breaths to calm myself and hoped it was enough to comfort the good demon into thinking everything was fine.

As soon as my feet hit the other side of the fence, the earth hummed beneath my boots. The farther I moved past the bulky construction equipment, the more the ground vibrated, as if it recognized me. I’d always felt an unexplainable pull towards this spot because of the overabundance of spook activity but being physically linked to the power grid via Hecate strengthened the affinity.

The imprints I’d seen so clearly only days ago, when I’d walked down this deserted street with Lavie, were now nothing more than see-through images. The people were almost faded out completely and none noticed me. Their imprints were caught in a loop, which would soon fade to nothing.

Goose bumps raced over my skin, not from fear but from sadness. The cracked asphalt wasn’t completely removed yet, but was lifting at the edges. The crumbling shops were mostly leveled, and the debris had been cleared away and dumped to the side. The man-made hill contained so much of what made this area special. North Serene Hills was losing all its ghostly history to make way for a mini concrete city.

I have to do whatever it takes to stop these apartment blocks from being built.

I passed 669 Wallace Street and almost expected Burr Okell to pop out from the doorway. The Tailor was part of the Patch Watchdog, a mysterious organization that maintained the peace within the patches of reality by keeping them apart. The fact I could now cross into other patches, destroy them and even control my own wasn’t lost on me. Or that Burr had referred to me as his neophyte.

My feet carried me across the road, absently kicking at the loose asphalt. Would building on this soil affect my newfound power? The realization hit me harder than I’d expected. Being connected to this magical power grid via the strongest part—Hecate’s three-pronged crossroads—would surely have some sort of side effect on me. How would I deal with it being buried beneath a ton of apartments, cars and people?

I definitely can’t let this happen.

The next time I looked up, I found myself standing in the middle of the crossroads I’d just been considering. In the same spot where Lavie and I had tried to locate the ley lines. This was the same place Burr constructed a kid’s bedroom out of nothing, and where the stolen children were torn from the shadows.

This spot was a place of comfort, power, and I felt an affinity towards it.

The
thump-thump
,
thump-thump
,
thump-thump
started beneath my feet, matching my heartbeat. I held out my left palm. The pink line had appeared without the need to shed any blood, but there was something else—the warmth of spirits wanting to return home.

Spending all those hours at Papan’s bedside had given me time to read over my grandmother’s journal. I’d found out a lot of things, and one of them happened to be what she hoped to achieve by performing the Hecate Ritual on her infant granddaughter. It wasn’t just about protection and potency—she’d also wanted to streamline the process of spook catching.

By performing the ritual and forging a blood tie with Seere, she’d opened my connection to Hecate. By the time the familial line reached Grandma, she’d known the power was already immense, and would only strengthen when it passed to me. And that once I received the full extent, I’d be able to draw spirits and other spooks into my aura and then expel them through my palm. I only needed
The Ecliptic
if I wanted to banish them.

Thank you, Grandma.

I drew my boline and cut three separate lines along my palm, making a triangle. The moonstone pommel glowed as much as the blade and small beads of blood dotted my now-scarred skin. I’d sliced the taut skin many times—the only way I could capture and dispel spooks via my left hand. All I had to do was cut three linked lines into my palm to mark Hecate.

The spirits I’d rescued from the Council slowly coalesced out of my palm and into the night. Their presence brightened the surroundings, highlighting the extent of change already marring the area. The dilapidated chapel the Church of the Goddess used no longer stood, having become a mountain of rubble ready to be carted away. Soon, the same would happen to the derelict building we used on a monthly basis for our hunter meetings.

The triangular cut healed as soon as the fifteen spooks were free. They swayed before me like a small, plump army ready for instructions. Their leader hovered at the front, examining me with those perfectly rounded eyes.

“You kept your promise,”
it said, turning all the way around as if to survey the vicinity.
“We are home.”

“Yes, you are.” I pointed down the street. “I’m sorry the chapel’s gone.”

“The building wasn’t as important as the ground beneath it.”
The apparition floated closer.
“Or as important as you, Sierra Fox.”

I shrugged, looking away so I wouldn’t have to see my reflection in its hollowed eyes. “I’m not that important.”

“Oh, but you are, especially now that I remember exactly who you are and what you mean to me.”
The spirit vibrated, making the air tremble. The tail end no longer hovered over the ground, turning into small feet covered in black, polished shoes. The rounded body morphed into dumpy legs supporting a big gut leading into chubby arms and hands. When the shape changed enough to reveal a very round head, I stepped back.

“
Burr
, is that you?” His waxy skin gave him away as soon as he solidified in front of me.

“It sure is,” he said with a genuine smile, even if it looked painted on. “Say hello to my fellow Tailors.”

Burr turned enough to encompass the other ghostly shapes. Right before my eyes, each one transformed into an array of varied guises—some taller, shorter, rounder, stretched, male and female. But all had the same glistening waxy, sweaty skin and the drawn-with-crayon features.

As freaky as these sideshow hosts were, it explained a lot about why Burr never looked quite put together. He was a construct, a spirit who moonlighted as a human to help others.

I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t. Instead, I concentrated on counting the simultaneous
thump-thumps
of both my heart and the earth. When I got to forty, Burr turned back to face me and the other Tailors evaporated, leaving behind a shimmer of magic that made my hair sway.

“Ah, Sierra, we have much to talk about tonight,” Burr said, rubbing his pudgy hands together.

“Yeah, we do.” I tried to get my chaotic thoughts into some sort of order. “How did you get to the Spook Catcher Council Tower?”

Burr looked thoughtful as he switched from rubbing his hands to scratching the back of his rounded head. “So
that’s
where we were! I had no idea. To be honest with you, I don’t have many coherent thoughts about what happened while we were lost inside that horrible metal construct.” His face contorted into a look of genuine disgust. “The only thing I do remember is the spectral current we were feeding from. As corrupt and artificial as the energy was, we could nevertheless draw from it.”

A memory flashed inside my mind—when Oren and I stood beneath the overpass near the Tower, months ago. We were trying to find a ley line to help locate my grandparents and had instead stumbled onto a whole lot more. This couldn’t be what Burr was referring to. “You’re not talking about ley lines, are you?”

“No. This was something else.” His beady eyes shone when he stared at me. “I suspect you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

I nodded. He had to be referring to the chaotic spooks trapped beneath the Tower. I wouldn’t let Lee down, and would do whatever I could to save the other girls without the rest of the CBD having to suffer. But none of this explained how the Tailors had ended up inside the building.

“When were you taken and then imprisoned? We only saw each other on Monday.”

“What day is it?”

“It’s Saturday,” I said.

Burr looked thoughtful. “It happened shortly after I returned from delivering the abducted children to their parents...”

“Who took you?”

“An ancient and very unethical being captured and imprisoned us within those metal confines.” Burr’s face darkened and he looked away. “It knows we are biological spirits unable to survive within such artificial constructions. Our place is always in the wilds, by the land and the in-between, but never within such human structures.” He regarded me. “If it wasn’t for you, we would have perished. As you saw when you found us, we were but mere specters of ourselves.”

“Is the rounded shape your true form?” I asked, feeling like an idiot for even bringing it up. But I had to know why such important spirits looked like
Casper the Friendly Ghost.

Burr smiled and his mouth stretched from ear to ear. “No, we don’t have any real shape. We are wisps, spirits with no form, but have the ability to construct ourselves in whatever way is needed at the time. The shape you saw was one we’ve taken from popular human culture—a configuration that doesn’t appear threatening. Did it work?”

“Yeah, your appearance works but you almost killed my friend with your strength.”

He frowned. “Oh, yes, I must apologize for that show of anger. We didn’t recognize him and he pointed a weapon, so we assumed he was foe. Good thing you were there.”

Yeah, I’ll have to tell Gareth that.
He’d been hesitant about taking me tonight, but who knows what would’ve happened if he had gone without me.

“So you know who imprisoned you?”

Burr looked around, his eyes glowing. “The ancient being is also responsible for thwarting our every effort of mending rifts and splits we have experienced of late.”

“Are you sure?” My hands were getting clammy because with each word, my subconscious put a wretched puzzle together.

“Yes, I’m certain. This creature is not something one forgets easily.”

I wanted to know the entity’s name, but couldn’t bring myself to ask.

“Would you like to see how it took us? Though, I suppose it’s a
he
right now.”

I hesitated for just a moment. “I would.”

Burr closed the distance between us until we stood together, facing the same direction. He raised both chubby arms above his head, waved his hands in the air and lowered them as if he were highlighting a section. When his hands met in the middle, he wrapped his fingers around the segment and ripped away the layer—like cropping. He’d peeled a layer of reality, so that the section of street directly in front of us now appeared the way it had before the demolition began.

We weren’t a part of it. We were spectators.

The chapel stood inside the slice. “When did this happen?”

“The night after you ventured into the shadow patch.” Burr swept a hand over the image and Mace materialized only a few feet away, morphing from static phantom to man in seconds. “Sierra, watch.”

It’s him. It’s always been him!
“Mace…”

“I believe that’s what he calls himself,” Burr said with a nod. “Now watch and listen.”

Mace nailed tall, dark and handsome with his lean body, penetrating come-hither eyes and shaggy haircut. I’d fallen for him the first time we met. My schoolgirl crush had been instant and when he showed an interest in me, I couldn’t believe my luck. He was the young and very good-looking scout for the Spook Catcher Council, and wanted to be with me. Too bad it turned out that he did the same with just about every girl he recruited, but I hadn’t known at the time. Not when he’d started taking me out to lavish dinners which led to midnight walks in Hyde Park and before long became my sexual awakening. Back then, I’d been a stupid, innocent girl. I’d thought Mace actually cared about me. How was I to know he wanted what I’d inherited?

In the end, he hadn’t been so different from the teenage boys I’d kept my distance from during high school. Thanks to Mace, I developed a commitment phobia that only recently faded.