The Awakening (27 page)

“The Eye of the Abyss,” answered Gabriella. It’s a marking that Rogues use to identify each other. All of them have one somewhere.”

“Oh right.”

It suddenly dawned on me that we were minus some of Orion. I remembered how Midnight had been limping.

“Wait, where are Midnight and Sophia - are they okay?” I fretted trying to sit up. Gabriella eased me back down. It was Rachel who answered my question. She flipped her phone shut and rotated to face the back.

“They’re fine. That was Midnight on the phone just then. He’s with Sophia back at the Warren. Apparently your dispatching of Rahuman has caused a bit of a stir.” She raised an eyebrow. “You appear to be somewhat of a celebrity Alexander.” And with that she turned back and fell silent.

Celebrity?
The word bounced about in my mind. It seemed like a word that didn’t fit when applied to me. Just like another word which until now had always been something other people had.
Popularity.

Gabriella squeezed my arm. “See everyone is okay. Well, everyone apart from the Golems, but they don’t count.” She shrugged, “Faru will just make more anyway.”

Silence descended in the car and I let my mind wander. Rahuman’s grizzly death kept replaying in my head. Now that I’d left survival mode and become me again, the thought of the fire singeing his flesh and his swollen eye made me feel sick. I thought of the last words he’d said. They had to mean something, but what?

I pulled myself off of Gabriella’s lap. “Rahuman did say he had been sent to find me. But why am I so important to the SOS? You’re a far greater threat to them than I am.”

*

It was gone midday when the car pulled up at my house. Gabriella came around to help me out. I noticed for the first time that she was back in normal clothes - probably so that it wouldn’t arouse suspicion.

As we headed up the driveway, I was surprised to see the Audi parked by the house.

Gabriella noticed me staring. “We got an agent to drop it off. All of your things are by the back door.”

I nodded and pressed the doorbell. As we waited, Gabriella unzipped her jacket and pulled out the handbook. She pressed it against my chest.

“Read it. All of it.”

“Okay,” I promised. I took the book and clutched it tightly in my hand.

After a minute or two there was the sound of movement in the hallway and the door swung open. Mikey stood in the doorway, hair dishevelled, wearing a tatty t-shirt and shorts.

“Bro you could have dropped a text, I haven’t heard from you all da-” he stopped when he noticed Gabriella standing next to me. A boyish grin appeared on his face. “Say no more. Hey Gabriella.”

“I can’t.” Gabriella gestured to the idling jeep. “I’ve got to get back home. Have a good evening you two.” She gave me a hug, letting her lips linger near my ear. “Don’t worry, the house is protected.” She kissed my cheek and walked to the car. Soon it had disappeared from sight.

I stepped through the door. The television in the lounge was blaring a scene from
Mean Girls.
Mikey only put that film on when he had female company. He grinned and I raised a hand before he had a chance to speak. “Not right now Mikey. I’m shattered. We can exchange details later.”

He laughed and padded into the lounge, closing the door behind him. I heard him talking with someone in excited whispers.

As promised, my things were in a waterproof bag outside the back door. Grabbing them, I dragged myself upstairs, flopped onto my bed and was asleep in seconds.

*

I was in the garden again, peering through the fence. Drifting tendrils of fog breezed around me, their ghostly touch leaving cold, damp patches on my exposed skin. My pulse was hammering in my ears. I stared into the swirling fog.

One by one, disgusting creatures started to materialise in the gloom. They looked like human experiments gone wrong. Their skin was the colour of mottled flesh and as smooth as pebbles. Lipless mouths filled most of their faces and exposed gums held hundreds of needle teeth. They had no noses and their eyes were slick pink orbs. They crawled forward on all fours, or leapt over each other like abhorrent frogs. Loud cricket style clicks escaped their throats as they jerked around each other. The sound grew louder and more intense as they neared. I was so busy watching the sickening creatures, I didn’t notice the armoured hand reach over the fence until it had grabbed me by the hair.

I screamed as the creature lifted me up. It pressed me close to its iron grey mask. Where its eyes should have been, there was nothing but blackness – an abyss that seemed to stare into my soul.

The creatures were so loud now, the noise was deafening. Then all of a sudden they stopped. There was nothing but silence.

The creature threw me away like a broken toy. I smashed through the wall of the house. It let out a pitiful groan and collapsed around me, smothering me in darkness.

In among the crushing, suffocating blackness, three words formed in my head. They weren’t thoughts, but more words that had been placed there by something else.

You are found.

I woke up gasping for air and fell out of bed, landing in a heap on the floor. Once again, the dream was fading from my memory, leaving me only with a terrible feeling of dread and panic. I ran for the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face, trying to wash away the feelings.
It’s just a dream Alex
, I told myself. But somewhere deep inside I knew it was more than that.

After a while, I started to feel better. A dull rumbling in my stomach reminded me that it had been a while since I’d eaten. I slipped downstairs and returned armed with a ham and cheese sandwich and a glass of orange juice. On the landing, I stopped for a brief second until I heard Mikey’s snoring. It was followed by the sound of a girl’s soft sigh. With a satisfied nod, I returned to bed. As I ravenously munched my way through my food, I noticed the handbook sitting on the computer desk.

Knowing there was no hope of me sleeping again, I flicked open its worn pages and thumbed through them as I ate, letting the wrinkled Bible paper slide across my fingers, being careful not to get any crumbs on it. I was aware that the last person to touch this had been the girl I couldn’t get out of my head.

I read each page in great detail, letting the information sink in. There didn’t appear to be an order to the book, but rather that the writer had added information as they found it out themselves. Still it was all beautifully and painstakingly written. Numerous updates and side notes had been added in the margins. I doubted that the new guides would have this kind of care.

I switched to geek mode and studied.

I learned about the different Alliance bases, the various Nexus tunnels and their relevant maps. I read about the Guild of the Arcane - the overseeing body for the numerous Covens. I discovered that Heterochromia - the condition that Sophia had – was fairly common among Witches. I learned about Apotropes, natural resources which could subdue or kill a Pandemonian. Oak wood or naked flame to kill a Vampire – which had already been put to the test. Iron or Diamond to take out most Luminar. Just Silver for Skinshifters. I discovered the five different types of gifts that a Chosen could have. I paused over those pages, wondering what mine could be with a flush of excitement.
Telekinesis, Teleportation, Levitation, Charm, Pyromancy?
Each one seemed so incredibly cool - like something from the pages of a comic book. I made a mental note to ask Gabriella about them when I next saw her.

I studied dozens of species, how they hunted and what their weaknesses were. I learned about Devils, fierce looking creatures related to Demons that walked on cloven hooves. I found out that you could tell if a Bloodling had fed recently by the colour of their eyes. Silver meant full, dull grey meant they were hungry. Dark grey meant it was time to leave.

I kept running through the pages, learning about creatures which a few weeks ago, I would have thought resided in the pages of pulp fiction and superstitious lore, not walking around ten odd miles from my house. My scan came to a stop at the heading ‘Skinshifter.’ I let the book fall open at the pages. An artist’s sketch of a monstrous dog stood over the passage, as if guarding the words. Its huge eyes had been shaded red. I remembered the blood-filled slits that had stared at me from the shadows of the forest. A shudder swept down my spine. I covered the picture with my palm and read on, slowing over the section on how to effectively kill one.

N.B. Only pure silver can be guaranteed to kill a Skinshifter. Even if decapitated by other means - such as a steel blade, in as little as an hour a new one will grow in its place.

The remaining half of my sandwich no longer looked appetising.

I kept reading, trying to soak in as much information as my brain could handle. By the time my alarm clock went off, I had less than a third of the book left. I knew I’d taken in a lot. I no longer felt totally clueless.

I counted the stumps - four. Scanning back through the pages, I figured that given the amount of information per section, it was likely that a singular creature had been removed. I frowned, rifling through the entire book to make sure the pages hadn’t been stuffed anywhere. They hadn’t.

Gabriella?
I wondered.
No - why would she?
Maybe it was a misentry. The meticulous nature of the writer made the removal of any incorrect information entirely plausible. But the roughness suggested they had been ripped out, not carefully removed. I shrugged.
If it’s been removed, it’s not important
. I lifted up the corner of my mattress and retrieved the worn picture of my father. I ran my thumb over his face and smiled down as he smiled back at me.

“Morning Dad. Sorry I’m a bit late, it’s been an interesting day.”

I opened the handbook and placed the picture in to mark the page I’d reached. It fit to the edges perfectly, as if it had been designed to go there. Still smiling, I leaned over and slipped the book into my schoolbag.

Heading for the shower, I was side-tracked by my phone ringing. I doubled back, hoping for Gabriella, but it was Mum, checking in. I spoke to her for a while, assuring her that yes, we were both alive and intact, and no, there hadn’t been any house destroying parties in their absence. I found out that just as I’d predicted, John had spent most of his time in Killarney propping up the bar at the local pub. Mum didn’t seem too bothered though, in fact she sounded quite relaxed.

It felt good to talk to someone who had no knowledge of what was going on. I could have been any normal boy talking to his Mother. She told me of her time spent visiting the markets in the town centre. How they had all walked the local hills and taken a jaunting car tour around Killarney Castle. Then I spoke to Connie and Edgar on loudspeaker, who asked about School and girlfriends. They made me promise to come and see them next year in-between arguing about where the discount vouchers for the supermarket had been left. By the time they rang off, my smile reached both ears.

Instantly an incredible force gripped me. My towel slipped from my waist, exposing my boxer shorts. Paralysed, I fell backwards, slamming into the cubicle as my body shook from head to toe. Flickers of light streaked across my vision and then I saw Faru standing by the sink as clear as day. My body freed up again.

“Good afternoon Alexander, I trust you are well.”

I tried to speak, but nothing came out. My mouth flapped open and closed like a fish. Finally I managed to get my voice box to respond. “Faru I was trying to have a shower!” Remembering my manners, I added “sir.”

“So I can see - my apologies. However, a mind link is the best way to communicate with you.”

“I have a mobile phone.”

The old man gave a short laugh. “I’m afraid I am somewhat of a traditionalist. Plus people lose their phones. Losing your mind is much more difficult.” He tapped two wrinkled fingers against his temple. “You see, now we have merged minds, your brain wave frequency is stored in my head. We can communicate with each other whenever we need to.” He gestured towards me whilst attempting to suppress a smile. “Although, as you can see, there is an initial effect when linking in.”