A Vision of Green (Florence Vaine #2) (33 page)

“
What have you done!” Bill demands, glaring at Ingrid's mother.

“
I'm making sure I find out what's happened to my daughter,” Marla spits, and suddenly I can see where Ingrid gets her venom from.

“
You stupid woman,” Bill seethes, his face now shiny with perspiration.

“
Just get on with it, I'm paying you to talk to spirits, not sit there giving out to me,” Marla bites back.

Bill gives her a look that could kill. “Fine,” he says, reluctance lacing his voice. He turns back to the board. “Now Beatrice, the salt has been broken for you, please tell us what you know about Ingrid.”

For a minute the glass remains still, but then it starts to shift, tipping off letters and spelling out, “Not Beatrice.”

Bill sucks in a harsh breath. Lucinda audibly whimpers. Caroline isn't writing any more.

“
What do you mean? Where's Beatrice?” Bill questions frantically.

“
Was never Beatrice,” spells the glass.

“
W-w-who are you then?” Bill stammers.

“
Doesn't matter. We're free now.”

“
You need to tell us about Ingrid,” Bill demands, ignoring the ominous statement. Who's free?

The glass lands on the word “No”, then proceeds to spell out, “She belongs 2 him. Finders keepers.”

“
I think we should stop this now,” says Caroline. “Something's messing with us.”

“
No, we have to keep going, this spirit said it knows where my baby is. It said it would tell us if we broke the salt!” Marla's face is wrinkled with tension, and tears spill from her eyes, causing mascara to run down her cheeks.

Bill seems to pull himself together and says, “We gave you what you wanted, now tell us where the girl is.”

The glass doesn't move toward the alphabet this time, my fingers feel glued to it and my eyes become blurry with fear as it drifts toward the last spot on the board we want it to drift to, “Goodbye.”

A crack forms in the glass and we all pull our fingers away just as it disintegrates into a million tiny granules and wisps into the air, sailing out through the open living room window.

“
Oh my God,” Caroline breathes. Lucinda has her hands clasped over her mouth in shock. Bill's face is red enough to indicate he's on the verge of exploding. Marla sits on the floor sobbing weakly.

“
You should never have broken the salt, you silly, silly woman,” Bill cries, pointing a finger straight at Marla.

When I blink my vision goes weird, and for some reason I see the forest in my mind's eye. It's dark, night time like it is now, and there are black shadows moving around in the trees. But then I realise that they're not just moving around, they're leaving the woods, heading towards the town. There isn't enough light for me to make out what the shadows are, but their shapes are all different, some big and hulking, others small and frantic, and one or two tall and graceful as ancient oaks. It's weird that the last kind seems the most ominous.

That's when understanding hits me. By using the board to contact the spirit world we inadvertently gave the creatures in the forest a way of communing with us. Somehow, by talking to them and breaking the circle of salt that was supposed to keep bad things out, we've freed them from the forest. All of a sudden finding Ingrid is not such a massive priority. I need to get to Sam and tell him what's happened. I stand up from the floor, grabbing Caroline by the hand and dragging her up with me.

“
We're leaving, we n-never should have come here,” I say, staring down at Bill. He doesn't breathe a word, and Caroline and I get out of the house as quickly as we can. Once outside I pull my phone from my pocket and hit Sam's number, it rings out with no answer, so I try Frank instead.

He picks up immediately, “Flo, if you're still at Caroline's you need to stay there and lock all the doors and windows. I'm coming to get you,” he instructs, not even bothering to say hello.

“
W-why?” I ask, frightened. Does Frank already know what's happened? That the creatures who were supposed to stay trapped inside the forest are no longer trapped.

“
Something's happened in the woods. It seems that some
things
have gotten out, I'm just not sure how. None of us can get in touch with Sam because he was away today on Nephilim business.”

“
I'm not at Caroline's, I'm outside, but I know w-what's happening,” I tell him, all in a rush, and then proceed to detail Bill's séance and what went down at Ingrid's house. Caroline listens silently by my side, but I can see her eyes narrowing as she studies me.

She knows there's something I'm not telling her. Frank absorbs the information without saying a word, he doesn't give out to me and tell me I was stupid for going along with Bill. I guess he figures that Bill would have held his séance and the same thing would have happened with or without me taking part. He gets me to tell him what street we're on and says he and Alex are on their way, that we're to stay exactly where we are.

“
You all know something everyone else in this town doesn't, don't you?” Caroline whispers. “Josh was right when he had that hissy fit in Frank's house at the last group meeting before Ingrid disappeared.”

“
I haven't got the time to explain everything to you n-now, but once this is all over, I promise I will. For the moment, you just need to trust me,” I say, my heart beating a rapid rhythm.

“
How can I trust you if you've been lying to me Flo?” Caroline asks, hurt in her voice.

“
I haven't been lying, I just h-h-haven't been able to tell you s-some stuff,” I reply, as a bunch of dogs begin howling in the distance. I look around the road we're standing on, with only the street lamps lighting it up for us. A couple of dogs in the nearby houses rush out to their respective front gardens, barking and growling at nothing it seems.

“
I don't understand any of this, you need to give me something,” she pleads, holding herself in her arms.

“
It will make me s-sound crazy,” I say to her over the noise of the barking dogs.

“
I just saw a glass magically turn to powder and drift out a window, not to mention bared witness to something communicating with us through a wooden board. I'm not going to think you're crazy Flo, so just tell me.”

I glance at her, at the sincerity in her eyes and in her aura. “All right then,” I breathe. “For the past few weeks there have been strange things h-h-happening in the forest, you know that. The strange things were happening because there are magical creatures in the woods, monsters. Up until now they couldn't get out, but somehow by coming through on the ouija board tonight we've given them permission to leave, to enter the town.”

As I mutter my last word, Frank's van comes screeching around the corner and stops slant ways in the middle of the road. Frank and Alex jump out and run towards us. Alex nods hello to Caroline, while Frank picks me up in his arms and whispers in my ear, “Thank God you're okay.”

“
Where is that idiot Bill?” Alex demands. “I haven't given anyone a broken nose in a while.”

I look over at him. “It wasn't Bill's fault, not really. Ingrid's mum was the one who broke the circle of salt.”

“
He's still the dope who tried to do a séance in the first place,” Alex mutters.

Suddenly, the dogs get louder, their howling pleas more desperate. I stare down the street, where several owners are now coming out of their houses to investigate what all the fuss is about. They try to hush their animals to no avail. Then I hear something else, a light tinkling noise, like bells. It's getting closer, getting louder. The few people out in their front gardens go still, their dogs stop barking. The bells continue.

I can't see anything other than the dark, empty road ahead of us. Then the people start leaving their gardens and walking out onto the street, as though beckoned forward by the wonderful sound of the bells. The sweet music is affecting me too, it pleases and disgusts me at the same time. I can't seem to reconcile the two opposing feelings. The pleasing side is the only reason I'm glued to the spot, not knowing whether to run towards it or flee the scene.

I reach down and hold tight onto Frank's hand. At once my eyes show me a picture of the empty street, but then that image flickers and I see lots of small creatures, twenty or thirty of them, heading our way. They're short and human shaped, about three foot tall, with bodies covered in leaves and grass.

Caroline makes a move to follow the people who are entranced and walking mindlessly toward the creatures. Alex grabs a tight hold of her waist and pulls her back. She struggles to break free, but he's too strong. Frank, Alex and I seem to be the only ones with a certain amount of resistance to the thrall of the music. Perhaps because we're not completely human.

As the creatures get closer I can see more of them. They've got fiery red eyes, snout-like noses on their faces and clawed hands. When a man wearing jeans and a blue t-shirt gets to them, one of the creatures reaches out and pulls him to the ground. The man goes willingly, not an ounce of a struggle in him. The music has him hypnotised. The creature opens its mouth wide and begins eating the man from the head down, swallowing his entire body into its own like a snake from some tropical jungle. My stomach lurches at the sight.

“
What are they?” I ask Frank, knowing he has knowledge of the many different species of supernatural beings. Alex is still fighting against Caroline to keep her from going to them.

“
Elokos,” Frank breathes. “A type of forest dwarf, man eaters.”

“
I can see that. Do you f-f-feel like going to them? Because of the music? Because I d-do.”

“
Yes,” he replies. “I'd be halfway across town now in the van if I didn't. It's hard to leave, I want to and I don't want to at the same time.”

“
We need to try together,” I say, turning to Alex. “Can you get her into the van?”

“
I'll try my best,” he says, using his demon strength to lift her up and throw her over his shoulder. Then he begins running to the van. Frank and I nod to each other, hands still entwined, and follow suit. Once we're in the vehicle I look out the window, my heart in my throat at the sight of the Elokos savaging people right outside their own homes. I don't want to leave them at the mercy of such monsters, but I have no weapons or any power with which to fight them.

“
We have to find Sam,” says Frank as he starts the engine and pulls away from the street too fast. “Most of the things that came out of the forest tonight are either very hard or impossible to kill. The Nephilim are the only ones who can take them on.”

“
Let me out of the van now!” Caroline yells, while Alex holds her tight, his arms around her chest and his legs around her legs. Frank increases his speed, and once we're a good distance away from the Elokos she seems to settle down.

“
Oh God, what came over me?” she mutters, and then begins yammering. “Those things, oh my goodness, I can't believe...I have to call Mum.” Alex lets go of her so that she can rummage for her mobile phone in her pocket. She pulls it out and hits a few buttons. The rest of us remain silent as she speaks, making an effort to calm herself down.

“
Mum, are you in the house? Okay, that's good. Listen, I need you to stay there, don't leave no matter what. Something's happening. Something bad. Lock all the windows and doors. No it's not terrorists, something else. Just do as I say,” she continues in this way for a while, and I can hear her mother's high pitched questions down the line. She finally hangs up just as we reach the main street in town, and it's a terrible sight.

There are more Elokos here, calling people to them with their beautiful, ugly music. Caroline puts her hands over her ears and Alex puts his hands over her hands to help her block out the bells. Frank and I seem to be doing okay keeping ourselves restrained. That's when something massive and feathery flies past the front window of the van, chasing after two guys as they run down the road. It looks like a giant bird. Frank swerves to a stop.

“
I think it's an owlman,” he says in shaky awe. I don't bother asking him what an owlman is, because it seems fairly self-explanatory. An owl the size of a man, perhaps even bigger. It reaches out with black claws at one of the guys it's chasing and shreds through his chest. I want to close my eyes at the gory, bloody sight, but the horror of it has them glued open. It's a good thing they're open too, because I recognise Josh as the other guy being chased.