Talisman of El (10 page)

The trio searched for thirty minutes, but as the light rain turned into a downpour, they called it a day.

As soon as Charlie and Richmond arrived back at Jacob’s house, they changed out of their wet clothes and into dry ones.

‘What’s that mark on the back of your neck?’ Richmond asked.

‘Oh, it’s a birthmark.’

‘Kinda looks like a star. I thought it was a tattoo.’

Charlie laughed. ‘I don’t think I’m old enough for a tattoo. Besides, I hate needles.’

‘Me, too.’

Charlie flopped down onto his bed, exhausted from the battering rain.

‘Do you think Derkein will come back?’ Richmond asked.

A terrible thought entered Charlie’s mind:
If he lives through the night
. ‘Yeah, he’ll come back.’

‘Can I show you something?’

‘Uh-huh.’

‘You promise not to tell anyone?’

Charlie rose onto his elbows. ‘I promise.’

Richmond sat on the bed. Turning his back to Charlie, he pulled his shirt up.

Charlie gasped and sat up. Slashed across Richmond’s back were scars, overlapping like a noughts and crosses board. ‘Did your foster parents do this?’ he asked, aghast.

Richmond pulled his shirt back down. ‘Not the ones I have now.’

‘That’s why you ran away, isn’t it? You thought it was going to happen again.’

Richmond nodded. After a moment, he asked, ‘You’re afraid of Jacob, aren’t you?’

Charlie looked away. ‘A little,’ he admitted. In truth, Jacob’s violent outbursts and the sheer size of him was intimidating, and not to forget his promise to set aside a coffin for him.

‘But you didn’t run away.’

‘Trust me, I tried.’

‘I don’t want to go back,’ Richmond said. ‘They won’t find me this time.’

Charlie looked at him, wondering how many times he had run away. Two weeks on the run was a long time, especially when you had nowhere to go. He couldn’t imagine hiding Richmond under his bed much longer. Who knew what Jacob would do if he found out? He didn’t want Charlie there much less another kid.

A full minute passed before Charlie asked, ‘You hungry?’

Richmond jumped up. ‘Starving.’ Food was the one thing guaranteed to lift his mood.

They left the room in a hurry, returning with cereal and left over macaroni and cheese.

‘What happened to your parents?’ Charlie mumbled through his stuffed mouth. He and Richmond were sitting on the floor watching TV. ‘How did they … die?’

‘Car crash,’ Richmond replied. ‘I was in the car when it happened.’

‘How old were you?’

‘Five.’ Richmond ate a few spoonfuls of his cereal.

‘Were you an only child?’

Richmond shook his head. ‘I had a brother. He died in the crash, too.’

‘How old was he?’

‘Eight.’

‘Do you remember them?’

Richmond shook his head. Before he looked away, Charlie thought he saw his eyes glisten. He wanted to tell Richmond that it was better he didn’t remember, for it would save him the heartache of all those good memories of a life he could never get back. Then he thought of his mum; how much he wished he had met her. He realised that no amount of words would make Richmond feel better. ‘Don’t you have any relatives?’ Charlie asked.

‘My mum has a brother, but I don’t know him.’ There was a different tone in his voice when he said, ‘Guess he didn’t want me.’

Charlie nudged him. ‘No offence, but he’s an idiot.’

‘Yeah, who needs him?’ Richmond smiled, but Charlie saw the disappointment in his eyes. ‘Do you have any relatives?’ He couldn’t hide the disappointment in his voice, either.

‘No. My parents were only children, and my grandparents are dead – on both sides.’ Charlie lifted a spoonful of macaroni and cheese to his mouth and paused, his eyes flashing to the door. ‘Did you hear something?’ He glanced at Richmond, who shook his head.

Seconds later, they heard a door slam.

Panicked, Richmond handed the half-empty cereal bowl to Charlie and scuttled under the bed. Charlie started to clear away when his bedroom door opened. He froze, three dishes clasped in his hands.

Jacob looked at him with contempt, but it had nothing to do with the mess. He had adapted that expression ever since Charlie discovered his true nature. It was becoming a permanent fixture on his face. ‘Clean up and meet me downstairs,’ he said. ‘It’s time to meet the father-in-law.’

Perhaps it was because he was now so busy, what with having three new friends and rushing around trying to find the mysterious Mr. Wakeman, but Charlie couldn’t believe it when he realised he’d already been in Capeton two months. And in those months, his life had gone from one confusion to another. But one thing was certain: nothing would ever be the same again.

Situated in the town of Knotsbridge, a thirty-minute drive from Capeton, Willowdrop Care Home looked like something out of The Adams Family with its Victorian-style exterior, surrounded by its own woodland alongside the River Ern. The inside was enormous. A few people wearing the same blue uniform greeted Jacob with warm welcomes as he made his way to the reception desk.

‘Evening, Jacob,’ a woman behind the desk greeted him. Her glasses had such thick lenses it appeared as if her eyes were popping out of her head. She was either elated to see Jacob or on something. Either way, it put a smile on Charlie’s face.

‘Felicity my dear,’ Jacob said with a broad smile. ‘Always a pleasure.’

Felicity’s eyes fixed on Charlie. ‘This must be the famous Charlie you’ve been telling us about.’

‘Ah, yes, this here is my boy.’ Jacob gave Charlie a fake smile, which Charlie returned.

After the uncomfortable pretences, Felicity escorted them down a large, dimly lit hallway and along the left corridor with rooms on both sides. Apart from the unpleasant musty smell and the stains on the carpeted floor, the place was clean.

They came to a half-open brown door. Felicity knocked and pushed it open. ‘Tom,’ she said in a cheerful voice. ‘Look who’s here to see you.’

‘Send him away,’ a frail voice croaked. ‘He’s poison.’

Felicity stepped aside to let them in. Jacob entered, but Charlie lingered by the doorway, casting his gaze around the green room. It was plain but cosy; a toilet on the right, a wallmounted TV opposite a single bed, a dresser in the far corner and two fern green armchairs on either side of the bed. He spotted Tom sitting up in bed, his face turned towards the window.

‘Don’t let him scare you,’ Felicity whispered to Charlie. ‘He’s harmless.’ She winked at him and left the room.

‘Don’t linger all day,’ Jacob complained. He hauled Charlie into the room, closed the door, and then walked over to the nearest armchair and sat down.

Charlie walked around the bed, his gaze on the floor, and sat in the armchair by the window. When he looked behind him, he saw Tom’s long face staring at him and shuddered. A thick scar ran from his right temple into his wild beard.

‘I have a picture you can have.’ Tom smiled, but it was devoid of humour.

Charlie turned away.

‘Thomas, Charlie, Charlie, Thomas,’ Jacob said. ‘Now we’re one big happy family.’ He shot them a cold, lifeless grin and started flicking through the TV channels.

For the next few minutes, no one said a single word. The only sounds came from the flickering TV, the ticking clock on the wall, and the birds in the immaculate garden beyond the window.

Jacob got up. ‘I’ll be back in a moment. Don’t you two go whispering behind my back now,’ he said with sarcasm. Once he left the room, Charlie got up and looked out the window. He could feel Tom’s gaze burning into him.

‘I see how you avoid him,’ Tom said. ‘You don’t trust him one bit. Got you doing his dirty work, has he?’

Curious, Charlie looked at him.

‘Ah, there it is,’ Tom said. ‘Shame.’

Charlie’s stomach churned. ‘I’m not like him.’

Tom studied him a moment, his eyes filled with an expression of weariness and guard. He looked in his eighties with a receding hairline, high cheekbones over gaunt, hollow cheeks, and a full face of grey beard. ‘Then leave before you become him, or worse. You don’t want to end up like my daughter.’ His eyes flickered to the dresser where Charlie spotted a line of framed pictures of various sizes – the largest and most colourful one showing a young woman with long, wavy red locks wearing a yellow apron, surrounded by an array of flowers.

‘Beautiful, wasn’t she,’ Tom said. ‘She was all I had until he took her from me.’

Charlie looked back at him. ‘She fell down the stairs.’

Tom grunted. ‘She didn’t fall. He pushed her when she finally found out what he was up to sneaking out the house at night. He won’t even let the dead rest in peace. He’s evil. Anyone who tries to poison their stepfather and stepbrother has to be.’

A shiver ran down Charlie’s spine, and he stared at Tom, unblinking.

‘Oh, he hasn’t told you about that,’ Tom went on. ‘Lucky for them, they found out what he was up to and threw him out. You might not be so fortunate.’

Charlie knew how vicious Jacob was, but a murderer … He found it hard to believe. Still, he may now think twice before accepting food from the man. ‘Why would he poison them?’

‘Because he couldn’t stand the truth. He didn’t want to acknowledge that his precious mother was nothing more than a conniving con artist who made her living deceiving wealthy men. She was a thief. Like mother, like son. She got her punishment though, the little witch. Married a dying man and ended up dying herself. Ironic, isn’t it?’

Charlie shook his head in disbelief. ‘He wouldn’t do that.’

‘So he’d have you believe. He can be very convincing when he wants something. He had me fooled. I couldn’t have been more shocked when I found out what he really was. He stole from me …’ Tom’s voice trailed off, and he looked out the window. ‘I had me a beautiful set of jewels. The best kind – not something you can buy in a shop.’ He looked back at Charlie. ‘They were for my little girl.’ His expression turned hard. ‘After taking everything from me, he had the audacity to through me out of my own daughter’s house. He’ll get what’s coming to him. Mark my words.’

Charlie didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what to believe. Desperate to get away from Tom’s probing gaze, he turned round and headed across the room. Just as he was about to leave, he spotted the brass nameplate at the top of the door and stopped.

Perhaps because he couldn’t believe his eyes, he blinked twice. Suddenly, his trip to Willowdrop didn’t seem at all pointless anymore, and all because of two words: THOMAS WAKEMAN.

Charlie burst back into the room. ‘
You’re
Thomas Wakeman?’ he asked in shock.

Tom looked at him. ‘Last time I checked.’

Charlie laughed. ‘Oh my god!’ He started pacing in front of the bed. ‘This is not happening. Derkein isn’t going to believe this.’

‘What are you talking about?’

Charlie stopped pacing. ‘I’ve been looking for you – well, not me, a friend of mine. His name is Derkein Odessa.’ Although Tom’s wrinkled face revealed no emotion, there seemed the slightest change in his huge, piercing hazel eyes. Possibly some sort of recognition. ‘Do you know George Odessa?’

Tom sat up slowly. ‘What is this about?’

Charlie glanced at the open door then went over and closed it. Walking back to the bed, he said, ‘Derkein needs your help.’

‘Who’s Derkein?’

‘He’s George’s son.’

‘George has a son?’ Tom spoke more to himself than to Charlie. ‘What’s wrong with him?’

‘He’s old – well, he’s not actually old, he just looks it. He’s twenty-seven years old, but he looks like he’s going on sixty. He gets older every day.’

The first sign of emotion appeared on Tom’s face: confusion. ‘Why didn’t George come to me himself ?’ Tom’s tone sounded suspicious.

‘He’s missing.’

Tom sucked in a shocked breath. ‘Missing? What happened?’

‘Something attacked him and Derkein a few weeks ago, and then Derkein started ageing. George gave him a talisman he found in Brazil that we think saved Derkein’s life.’

‘What was George doing in Brazil?’

‘Something about a place called Arcadia.’

Tom’s eyes widened.

‘So it’s true,’ said Charlie. ‘You really think it exists.’

‘I don’t think it exists, I know it does.’ Tom watched Charlie with a thoughtful expression. ‘This talisman you claim saved Derkein’s life. Where is it?’

‘Derkein has it.’

‘I need to see it –’ Tom began.

The sound of the door opening cut him off. Charlie glanced around and saw Jacob, who had just entered the room. Scrutinising Tom and Charlie, Jacob smiled and said, ‘Someone’s been telling porkies again.’ He walked across the room and grabbed his coat off the armchair. ‘Well, Tom, as always, it’s been a pleasure.’ He headed past Charlie, who remained where he was.

‘Charlie,’ Tom whispered. Charlie went over to him. ‘The talisman –’

‘Charlie,’ said Jacob, who was standing in the doorway, a fierce look on his face.

Charlie turned back to Tom, and, in a low voice, he said, ‘Tomorrow.’

What Lies Beneath 

ALEX DIDN’T GET ON the bus the following day. Charlie wondered if she had gone back to find Derkein. He thought about bunking off, but the last thing he wanted was Jacob on his case, so, after school, he got off the bus at Brick Lane, a narrow road which led to a white house with many colourful flowers in the front garden.