Authors: Jenna Grey
If it had been Minnie inside, Lily could have solved the problem easily by bending Minnie’s less than formidable will to her own, and simply ordering her to let Lily in, but she really wouldn’t want to try it with Crichter – she was far too strong willed for it to be an easy job. But she had to see Connor, she just had to.
As Critcher turned to face the door, Lily drew in a breath, thinking that she’d sensed Lily’s presence, but the evil little toad was staring right through her. Critcher shook her head as if she were trying to get rid of a nuisance fly, and Lily knew that she’d somehow sensed her standing at the door, but just dismissed it as her imagination when she saw that no-one was there. Then to Lily’s delight, Crichter moved away and into another room and little Minnie Crumb appeared. Lily closed her eyes and used every ounce of her will, urging Minnie to walk towards the door. The woman hesitated for a moment, then turned and began to walk towards Lily, a strange and vacant smile on her bird-like face. She raised her hand to the lock and pressed four keys. Lily saw them pictured in her mind. 2413. She made a mental note and breathed a sigh of relief as Minnie opened the door and let her in, walking back to the desk and carrying on as if nothing had happened. Crichter came back almost the second Minnie had got back behind the counter.
Lily cast the curse on Crichter as she walked by, bringing down her full wrath on her – and she knew it had worked, because she felt power drain out of her. She’d had to pay far more for this bit of mischief magic than she usually did, but even before Lily got to the stairs, the evil little toad of a woman was running for the loo. Lily allowed herself a little smile of satisfaction as she made her way up the stairs, following her feet and not really quite sure where she would end up.
She had no idea where Connor might be, but she sent out her thoughts to him, hoping he would hear her and lead her to him. And she realised that she didn’t need to make any conscious effort to find him. Just as Connor knew where she was yesterday, she knew where he was now. Her feet led her straight to him.
His room was in semi darkness, heavy blinds drawn, shutting out the evening sunlight. When she saw where he was, she was heart sick; it was plain and grey, a barren sterile room, the same as the rest of the place – built as storage boxes for those who needed to be tidied away, kept out of sight and out of mind. If she were being charitable she would say that they had only been open a few days and hadn’t had time to personalise the place... but she wasn’t feeling very charitable at the moment.
There were just a couple of hand drawn pictures tacked to the wall, which she supposed were Connor’s work. Even from a distance she could see that they were childlike impressions of trees and flowers, and what looked like a five legged cow. Connor was spread-eagled on the bed, wrists and ankles secured, so that he couldn’t move. His covers had fallen off, leaving him in just white tee-shirt and boxers, and these had slipped down his thighs where he had been struggling to free himself, leaving him exposed, and completing his humiliation. She had to wonder if Crichter had had anything to do with it. If Lily’s anger could have taken form it could have levelled cities. As Lily got closer she could see that there was a large bruise on his face and several scratches and bruises on his arms. She sat on the bed and gently tried to rouse him without alarming him too much. After a few moments he opened his eyes and focused on her, but he looked addled, his eyes glazed and vacant – they had pumped him full of something. Then he registered Lily’s presence and his face brightened into a smile.
“Lily,” he said, struggling against the restraints. She laid her hand on his chest to stop him from hurting himself.
“I told you I’d come,” she said, fumbling with the restraining straps and finally getting him free. He flung his arms around her and refused to let her go. He was cold, shivering; she pulled the duvet up around him and tucked it around his shoulders. “Did they hurt you? Did Crichter do this to you?” she asked, indicating the bruises. He reached across and took his iPad from the bedside table.
I had a fight with Tom... i did not mean to hurt him... he is nice... i was afraid for u... did smoke people hurt u
All of this took several minutes to write, stabbing the keypad with one hesitant finger, while Lily watched the door anxiously the whole time. She still couldn’t quite understand how it was that even though he had so much trouble communicating verbally, he could use the tablet with reasonable skill. She knew that many of those with autism had remarkable talents, but it still amazed her. Lily got a mental image of a well-built man, trying to restrain Connor as he tried to force his way through the door. The poor man was failing miserably, and it was only when another man joined in the fight that they were able to subdue him. And he had done all of this for her. She looked him straight in the face and gave him her brightest smile.
“No, I’m fine. really. They didn’t touch me, just scared me a bit, that’s all. I’m fine.”
It was obvious that he knew she was lying, not just from his expression, but from the waves of misery coming from him. She knew that she would never be able to lie to him, because he could feel her emotions, sense her thoughts, just as she could sense his. She saw the great black shadow dog leaping towards her, the spiders circling her ankles, and knew that he’d witnessed, felt every moment of it as it was happening. He must have been frantic that he couldn’t help her, couldn’t get out to stop them hurting her. She knew how she would have felt if she’d seen Connor being attacked and had been unable to do anything to stop it.
I know they hurt u... I saw black dog try to hurt u... they made you see bad things... they will come again they are stronger
He looked so desperate, and she could sense that desperation, knotting his insides, a dreadful feeling that she felt in her stomach as well. They will come again – are getting more strong. Lily tried to force away the panic, both his and hers.
“What they showed me, that terrible burning world... did you see it?” He gave a solemn nod. “Was it real, please tell me that wasn’t a vision of the future.”
He shook his head firmly.
Is only one future... it can be stopped
“I’ve got so much to tell you. I don’t know where to start.”
Is okay i already see
He hesitated for a moment the brightness came back into his face, as if he could suddenly think clearly.
“Crichter won’t be hurting you again any time soon – I’ve seen to that,” Lily said.
The black king is using her... he cannot hurt me the way he try to hurt you so he use her to hurt me... she is one of his now
“You mean he’s possessed her?”
Connor shook his head.
He whispers in peoples ears... touches the dark part of their souls
“And her soul is pretty bloody dark. It doesn’t excuse what she’s done, though. I don’t know why you didn’t curse her yourself. I would have blasted her to oblivion.”
Connor gave a wan smile.
I cannot make curses here... only charms and make shadow people go away
Lily understood what he was saying, whatever curse this was that had been laid upon him had limited his powers, in many ways he was more helpless than she was.
“Well, I’ve done it for you. She won’t be bothering you any more. I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again if it’s in my power to stop it.”
“I would... die for you,” he said.
He put his hand to her face and there was such a look of love in his eyes that Lily felt a lump come to her throat and she almost gave way to tears. As she gazed into his eyes and saw her own feelings reflected there. Wouldn’t she do the same for him? It was unreasonable, ridiculous, but she felt exactly the same. If it came to it, she would give her life for him. And the sudden feeling that washed over her took away every ounce of her resolve and she finally gave way to tears.
“Oh, Connor, I don’t know what I can do any more. Sooner or later he’s going to hurt me again, and I can’t drive him away the way you can. Nothing seems to work against him.”
“No,” Connor said, his face suddenly taking on a resolution that startled her. He reached under his mattress and pulled out what looked like a home made red and white gingham, cotton bag with a drawstring, handing it too her. He struggled for words and seemed to find none, so reached for his iPad again and typed:
I made this for u... it will keep u safe at night... put in on neck when you go to sleep
He pressed the small bag into her hands, closing her fingers around it and putting his other hand over the top, pressing it hard into her closed fist.
“It... will... keep you... safe,” he said, staring hard at her. He released his hand and pulled back and she stared down at the bag for a moment, feeling the energy pouring from it in a tingle that ran up her arm, and buzzed through her body. Whatever this charm was, it was powerful. She opened up the bag and tipped out a little charm – some herbs tied up with string, and a strange little symbol scrawled on a piece of paper; so much power coming from such a little thing.
“You made this for me?” He nodded frantically, pushing it at her again. “Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me. Thank you. Even if it doesn’t keep me safe from them all the time, it’s better than nothing.”
She put her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his cheek, like last time, he tried to move around to kiss her, but she had to ease him away, although she desperately wanted that kiss. He forced her face around again, gently but firmly, and pressed his lips to hers; it wasn’t a long kiss, but it was a real kiss, then he typed:
Lily and connor together for ever
Lily half laughed and half cried, pressing her lips to his again, and hugging his neck. She didn’t want to let go, but she knew she had to.
“I have to go, someone might come – and I have to strap you in again or they’ll know someone has been here. If you behave they’ll let you out of here, and we can finding a way to see each other.” She could hear a door opening somewhere along the corridor, and footsteps still some distance away, but coming closer. “Oh God, someone’s coming. Quick.”
Lily pushed the duvet from him and realised that his boxers were still around his thighs. She tried not to look down as she helped him pull them up, making him decent again and strapping him back in quickly with fumbling fingers. She gave him another quick peck on the cheek, moving away from him just as the door opened, hiding unseen in the shadows.
“It’s only me, love,” Minnie said, coming to the bed. “You look a lot better. Miss Crichter has gone off sick, and if you promise to behave, I’ll let you come back out. Will you be good?” She spoke very slowly, annunciating each word, and surprisingly enough Connor did seem to understand her almost instantly. Lily wondered how much of it was telepathy on his part.
Connor nodded vigorously as Minnie released the straps.
“Connor be good,” he said.
“I’m sorry we had to do this, sweetheart, but you could have hurt yourself...” She hesitated. “I didn’t want them to do it, but I don’t have much say around here.” Minnie stroked the sweat-damp hair from his face and smiled sweetly at him. “I thought you’d like to know, but that nice young lady from the library came here earlier, what was her name? Lily. Yes, Lily. She wanted to come and see you, but Miss Crichter said she couldn’t because you’d been acting up. If she comes back tomorrow, though and old Crichter’s not here, I’ll let her in to see you.” She said the last in a conspiratorial whisper as if she was well aware that she was committing high treason. “Come on, you’re just in time for dinner. Let's get you dressed.” Lily waited there as Minnie helped Connor dress, praying that he didn’t keep looking across at her. He did, a lot, but Minnie didn’t seem to notice. Taking his hand, Minnie led him to the door.
As he reached the door, Connor looked back over his shoulder at Lily and smiled.
Chapter Nine.
Lily stopped off in the village on the way back to pick up some sweets and more cereal bars for the kids. Claire had started watching Master Chef and they were going to need plenty of emergency rations – not to mention a good supply of indigestion tablets. The village only boasted one very small grocery shop, run by one of the large supermarket chains, which sold the basics, but mainly served as a forum for the local gossip mongers to congregate. They huddled in little clusters around the counter whispering their poison.
Lily caught odd snatches as she moved around the shelves, and grew more alarmed with every passing second.
Mother found him dead....
...heart attack they reckon
... not surprised with his weight...
always said he’d drop dead one day.…
they've cancelled the end of year dance.
My daughter’s bloody furious, she bought a new dress for it...
Lily grabbed a hold of someone as they passed and asked:
“What are you talking about? Who’s dead?”
“Hadn’t you heard? Gary Wilcox dropped dead last night. Heart attack they reckon. His mum heard him having a nightmare or something, rushed in and he just dropped dead in front of her, still screaming that something was trying to kill him. Weird.”
Lily’s knees gave way and she sank to the ground, trying desperately to force away the darkness that threatened to engulf her. Her head was full of red fireworks, flashing and sparking, making her feel sick. All she got were a few suspicious glances and not one hand offered to help her up. She sat for a moment, gathering her wits, resting back against the baked beans, and trying to quash the dreadful feeling of nausea.
It was her fault. Her fault.
Her first thought was that she had to find out what really happened, but then she realised that there was nothing to find out. How obvious did it need to be? She staggered to her feet, holding onto the shelving to stop herself keeling over again, and moved towards the counter.
“You okay?” the girl behind the counter asked, arms folded across her chest, lips pinched and eyeing Lily up and down as if she were something unfortunate she’d just stepped in. Lily straightened her glasses and picked up some cereal bars and other snacks from the display, slapping them down on the counter.
“Absolutely fucking brilliant,” Lily snapped, getting her money from her purse.
She crammed her shopping into her bag, ignoring the glare from the assistant and turned to leave.
As she did she noticed a card, pinned to the board at the front of the counter. It was a notice, written by the principal of the college. Gary Wilcox had died suddenly in the night, but as there was going to be an inquest the college were unable to give out any more details. If any student wished to pay their respects, cards could be left at the college office and they would be passed on to the family. No flowers, please, at the family’s request. There would be an announcement about the funeral when arrangements had been made if anyone wished to attend. Lily read the words, but they didn’t really register. Only three words kept ringing through her brain.
It’s my fault.
She kept thinking back to how happy he’d been when she’d asked him to help her move – even when she did look like a refugee from a horror movie. She would have to go and speak to his mother, have to find out what really happened, because if she didn’t she would never have another moment's peace as long as she lived. One part of her didn’t want to know, didn’t want to know because she would have to accept the terrible knowledge that she was responsible for his death, the other half of her couldn’t live without knowing. She got back home, desperately miserable, close to tears and went in to find Claire slumped on the sofa immersed in a daytime chat show; a teenager’s grannie had run off with his best friend and had set up home together. The offended teenager was on one side of the stage with the gangly spot-fest of a Romeo on the other, holding the hand of an octogenarian, and making goo-goo eyes at her. Claire was in there with them, totally oblivious to anything that was going on around her.
“There’s sausage and mash for dinner – you don’t mind doing it do you?” Claire asked, not taking her eyes from the screen. Kieran was sitting, crossed legged on the other sofa playing a game on his iPad; his part of the school had broken up a day earlier than hers and he’d probably been sitting on that sofa all day running from zombies or chasing Nazis. He glanced up as Lily came in and went back to killing things.
“I’ve got a lot to do this evening... I was going to move some of my stuff up to my new flat,” Lily said. “I can’t really stop to do dinner.” Her voice cracked as she fought back tears.
“You can leave it ’til tomorrow, can’t you? You aren’t supposed to be moving in until Friday.” Claire said, still not taking her eyes from the screen, only half listening to Lily.
“It’s going to take me longer than I thought. I’m going to have to make a few trips. The boy that was going to help me...” Lily broke off, choked up with tears. “The boy that was going to help me died suddenly in the night...”
She gave way to tears then, not able to hold it back any longer. There was a chorus of jeers from the audience on screen, almost a riot as Romeo moved in and gave granny a full on kiss. Claire made disgusted noises, groaning along with the audience, but laughing as well.
“I can’t spare you tonight. Sonya’s coming round and we’re going out for a bit...” she said, absently, still laughing. “I’ll run you up in the car tomorrow.”
That was it. Lily grabbed the remote control and clicked off the TV, flinging the remote across the room. Kieran looked up, startled, suddenly realising that everything was about to kick off.
“Now you listen to me, you selfish, malicious, insensitive bitch... I’ve just told you that one of my friends is dead – and you have not so much as expressed one shred of sympathy, not one kind word. I have never asked anything of you, never given you cause to feel that I’ve let you down, I’ve cooked and washed, taken care of the kids, been Cinderella to your wicked stepmother, done all the things you should have been doing all these years, and I’ve never asked you to do one little thing for me... well, you know what, fuck you! I only wish I didn’t have to leave Liam and Sarah here with you so that you can make their lives as much of a misery as you’ve made mine!”
Claire looked up at her, totally shocked at the sudden outburst, standing up on shaky legs to turn and face her.
“I can’t believe you just said that. I’ve only ever done my best for you.”
“You know every word of that is the truth,” Lily said, her voice like razor blades. At it was the truth, wasn’t it? Claire was never actually cruel to the kids she looked after – well, not physically, at least, although she had slapped all of them at some time or other, but she was a master at psychological torture, and never showed any of them any kind of affection. Lily couldn’t remember the last time Claire had praised any of them, or given them a hug – even little Liam. If he ever needed a hug, it was always Lily he came to. It was the truth, it was. Wasn’t it?
Claire just stood there, staring at her, her mouth hanging open slightly.
“I never realised you felt like that,” she said, and she did look very hurt.
When Lily saw the expression on Claire’s face she let out a sigh of regret and realised that as negligent and useless as Claire was, she hadn’t really deserved that outburst.
“I didn’t mean that – I was just angry that you didn’t say sorry that my friend was dead.” She didn’t want to leave on a bad note, it just wasn’t worth it.
“Who’s dead?” she asked, bewildered. She obviously hadn’t heard her the first time.
“A friend of mine from school – the boy that was going to help me move. He died suddenly in the night.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” Lily felt like saying, ‘Well perhaps you should pay more attention to your kids than watching fucking Jeremy Kyle...’, but kept her mouth shut.
“I’ll help you move,” Kieran suddenly said. “I don’t mind, I’ve got nothing else to do.”
Lily looked across at Kieran, surprised, but pleased. She felt her anger quietening.
“Thanks.” Lily said, managing a smile. “I suppose we can leave it until tomorrow. I’ll fix dinner.”
“I am sorry about your friend,” Claire said, her voice strangely muted.
Lily nodded a weak smile.
“He was a really nice person and didn’t deserve to die. Where are Liam and Sarah?”
“In the garden. I told them not to go out of the gate.”
Lily said nothing, but turned to leave. Kieran stopped her with a hand on her arm.
“Are you okay?” Kieran asked.
“No, but thanks for asking.”
Lily went out to the kitchen and started dinner. She could see Liam and Sarah playing out on the lawn and it was the perfect opportunity for her to collect some more herbs for Connor’s ointment. Some of it could be picked in daylight, without really suffering for it, and truthfully, she really didn’t want to go out into the garden again at night if she could possibly help it. Liam saw her through the window and came running in to her, pleased to see her. She bent down and gave him a hug, picked a stray worm out of his hair, wiping some mud from his face with a tea towel. He thrust something small and hard into her hand. It was a black pebble.
“Oh, lovely, thanks,” Lily said, giving him a wide smile. “Just what I’ve always wanted.”
“Smoke man give it to me,” he said, his voice hesitant. Lily looked down at the pebble and felt a terrible crawling emptiness inside her.
“What smoke man, sweetie?” The words came out as a broken whisper.
He pulled a face, concentrating, scrunching up his little nose.
“He come and sit on my bed.”
“What did he look like?” Lily asked, trying to keep back the terror that was struggling to creep back through her outward calmness.
More scrunching, his little brow furrowed with the effort.
“He was made of smoke... and he’s got blue... no... this colour eyes.” He picked up a green apple and held it up for her to see.
“And did he have sharp teeth?” Lily asked, still keeping the smile plastered on her face, like icing on a stale cake.
Liam nodded and growled at her, baring his teeth, to show her what he looked like. It was a scarily good imitation. Lily was grateful that she was kneeling, because if she hadn’t been she was quite sure she would have passed out. The room swam around her and she almost slipped into darkness.
“Weren’t you afraid?” she asked.
Liam thought some more, his little face screwing up.
“I didn’ like him,” he said, his lip trembling.
Lily had no idea how she managed it, but she said, with wonderful calmness:
“Tell you what – you really don’t want this old stone – what about I swap it for a bar of chocolate?”
There was an immediate nodded smile; he seemed relieved to get rid of it.
Lily put the stone in her pocket and gave him a Kit Kat.
“But share it with Sarah,” she said, as he ran back out into the garden. She watched out of the window as Liam ran up to Sarah and gave her the chocolate. She broke it in two and gave him half.
Lily was so numb that she had no idea what to think or feel. She heard the sausages sizzling under the grill and only barely caught them before they burnt. This was too much – those fuckers had to be stopped. They had killed Gary and now this...
...and soon she would be leaving the kids to their mercy. Had Sarah seen the creature as well? She turned off the sausages and went out into the garden, sitting down on the grass with the two children and helping them pile up their chunky plastic bricks, toys and bits of anything they could find into something resembling the Thames Barrier.
“What are we making exactly?” Lily asked, eyeing the very wonky wall.
“A big wall,” Sarah said, concentrating intently on her work.
“Well, you seem to have managed that all right,” Lily said.
“It’s to keep the smoke man away,” Sarah whispered, her face suddenly paling, her eyes bright with fear.
“He’s been to see you as well, has he?” Lily asked, still smiling, handing her another brick.
There was just a nod, Sarah totally consumed by her task. She wasn’t playing, she was in deadly earnest, building as if her life depended on it, her face screwed up in grim determination, as she clicked each block into place. “How many times has he been?”
Sarah lifted her hand and with great effort counted off four fingers, holding them up, her little face growing paler by the second. Lily felt pure ice cold terror prickling her scalp.
“Is that why you had your accident? Because you were afraid?” she asked.
There was another nod, eyes downcast.
“What did he do when he came to see you?”
Sarah's little lip quivered and huge tear drops rimmed her eyes.
“He comes up on the bed and scares me...”
'Does he do anything else? It’s okay, you’re not in any trouble. I just need to know,” Lily asked.
“He touches me...”