Dark Season: The Complete Box Set (85 page)

Todd

Suddenly there's light, as Patrick lights a set of candles on the wall. I turn to see that we're in a smaller room that seems to have been hollowed out of stone. It's a real contrast to the ornate room we were just in; whereas the large chamber looked like something out of an old country house, this one looks like little more than a cave. All around, there are human skulls. Some of them are on the floor, broken and smashed; others are on ledges set into the walls; and many more seem to be fixed into the walls. Most of them seem ancient, although one or two appear to have patches of skin and even hair still attached to them. As well as the skulls, there are countless broken bones, ribs and other body parts scattered around.

"Did you kill all these people?" I ask, unable to stop looking at the skulls. It's almost as if they're staring back at me. Could one of them be Sophie?

Patrick ignores me and walks over to a stone table at the other end of the room. He puts the book down and opens it to the section where the pages are missing, and then he takes the torn pages and straightens them out. He seems completely absorbed in what he's doing, as if he's almost forgotten that I'm here.

I turn to look at the door that leads back into the larger chamber. It seems to be the only way in or out of this little stone room, which means we're trapped in here for as long as the spiders are out there. And I can hear them still: crawling all over the room, each of them with eight scratchy little legs. The thought of going back out there fills me with dread. I lean down and look through the keyhole. For a moment, I can't see anything, but suddenly a spider scurries into the space and I have to blow through the keyhole to force it back. I turn back to look at Patrick, who still seems completely absorbed by the book.

"Where did all those spiders come from?" I ask. It feels almost as if every spider in the entire world must be here by now, crawling around and waiting for something to happen. I reach into my bag and pull out the notebook Sophie gave me a while ago; staring at the spot where she's written 'Be brave' over and over again, I try to imagine her saying the words. I can almost hear her voice now...

"Be brave," she whispers in my ear.

I turn to Patrick. He seems transfixed by the pages from the book, as if they've cast some kind of spell over him. It's like there's something he wants to do, but he can't do it.

"Why did you take those pages out?" I ask, walking over to join him at the table. Glancing down, I see that there's some strange writing carved into the stone, but I don't understand what it means; it uses letters I don't even recognize, and it looks ancient. I see a single, solitary spider crawling up the side of the table. Looking up, I expect to see more of them on the ceiling, but thankfully there aren't any more. The spider crawls up onto the top of the table and then it seems to just stop and stand there, watching the book.

I reach out to squash the spider with my notebook, but Patrick grabs my arm to stop me. I look up into his eyes and see that he's deadly serious, so I decide to let the spider live for now.

Taking the notebook from my hand, Patrick stares at the spot where Sophie wrote 'Be brave'. Slowly, he runs the tip of a finger against the lettering, tracing her words.

"That's Sophie's writing," I say. "She wanted me to remember to be brave at school." I pause, hoping that this - finally - might be enough to get him to say something, but he just stares at the writing. "Do you know where she is?" I ask. "Is she still alive?"

He turns to me, and he nods.

"She is?" I ask, my heart filling with hope for the first time since I set out. "Where is she?"

He pauses, and then he hands the notebook back to me. Turning back to the large old book, he starts putting the pages back into place, sliding them in one at a time. As he does so, they each seem to become properly reattached, as if they were never missing. Finally he gets to the last page and, after a brief pause, he adds that one as well before closing the book.

I wait for something to happen. There doesn't seem to be much point asking him what he's doing; it's not like he's going to sit down and explain everything to me, but after a moment I realize that something's different. At first, I can't work out what it is, but slowly I turn to look back at the door and I realize that I can't hear the spiders anymore. It's as if they're gone.

Patrick stands in silence.

I take the book and look through it. It's as if the final pages were never missing; they're all back in place, and you'd never be able to tell that they'd been ripped out. Looking up at Patrick, I see that he seems sadder than ever, as if something awful has just happened.

"Are the spiders gone?" I ask.

He doesn't answer.

I turn and head over to the door. Putting my ear to the wood, I listen: there's no sound coming from the larger chamber. Slowly I turn the handle and pull the door open, and I see that the spiders are almost entirely gone. A few are still crawling along the floor and the walls, but they don't seem to have the same intensity that they had before. It's as if whatever caused them to be building up to a frenzy has suddenly died down. Stepping out into the chamber, I look around, astonished that so many spiders could have completely vanished so quickly.

I turn to Patrick. He's still in the small stone room, staring at the book. He seems shocked, rooted to the spot as if something important has just happened. All I can do is stare at him and hope he'll eventually give me some kind of clue. I stare up at him, and finally he looks at me.

"Where is she?" I ask, hoping that this time he might answer me.

Jason Dunn

The pain builds and builds, overwhelming my body to the point where I don't even feel like I'm 'me' anymore. And then, gradually, it starts to subside. The pain falls away, and I'm left on my hands and knees with just one or two spiders crawling out of my mouth.

"It stopped," Max says.

I look over at him. He's staring at the giant spider, which looks different now. Whereas moments ago it was black and alive, now it looks to be like some kind of husk. All the smaller spiders around us seem to have started scurrying away. It's as if the whole moment built to a point of intensity and then just subsided.

"Everything's back to normal," Max says, turning to me with a look of shock on his face. "Do you know what that means?"

I slowly get to my feet, my stomach and throat still sore.

"The spiders were massing because the forces keeping them back were weakening. The forces were weakening because the prophecy was being challenged. And the prophecy was being challenged because..."

Still trying to get my breath back, and still feeling pretty awful, I steady myself against the wall. "What the hell just happened to me?" I ask. "I've got to see a doctor."

"Patrick," Max says.

"What?"

"Patrick," he repeats. "He must have accepted the prophecy. He must have realized that he has to carry it out."

"What does that mean?" I ask, starting to hobble toward the exit.

"It means he's killed Sophie," Max says, helping to support me as we walk past the spider husk. "Or it means he's going to. It means he's accepted that she has to die."

"Sounds great," I say, stopping next to the spider. "Is this thing still dangerous?"

"No," says Max. "As long as the prophecy stays on course, it'll remain trapped here like this." He reaches out a hand and touches one of the legs. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Are you kidding?" I say. "It's a fucking giant spider. It's hideous."

"No," Max continues, running his hand along the creature's leg. "It's stunning. The last of its kind. Ancient and old. These creatures once hoped to rule the world, until the vampires put a stop to it. All that power. All that ambition. Reduced to this." A small spider crawls onto Max's hand, and he holds it up for me to see. "A dumb little insect with no memory of how things used to be. But they have a race memory, you know."

"They do?" I ask, feeling a little nauseated by the site of the spider.

"Oh yes," Max says. "They each have this vague sensation that things aren't how they used to be. Quite remarkable creatures, really. Remnants of something truly huge and powerful." He puts the small spider back on the large spider's leg. "A sad way for a once great species to end up."

"Yeah," I say, as Max and I head for the exit. "I'll be sure to remember that next time I splat one with a rolled-up newspaper."

Todd

Patrick leads me back up to the forest, but then he stops. He clearly isn't going to come any further with me. He has this look in his eyes, as if something terrible is about to happen.

"What are you going to do?" I ask, turning to him.

He stares at me.

"Be brave," I hear Sophie's voice whisper again. I stare back at Patrick. "If you hurt my sister," I say, "I'll get you."

He frowns.

"I mean it," I say, swallowing hard. "If you hurt Sophie, I'll come after you."

There's a pause as he seems a little surprised by what I'm saying, and then he turns and heads back down the passageway toward the underground chamber. I watch him go. I might not be very old, not even a teenager yet, but if Patrick hurts my sister then I'll hurt him. I don't know how, but I'll find a way.

Checking my bag, I take a deep breath and start walking through the forest, heading back to town. My mission to find Sophie is still in progress, and I've got a few hours before I have to be home for dinner. I guess Sophie was right when she told me to be brave. I'm pretty sure I gave Patrick a little scare back then when I told him what I'd do if he hurt Sophie.

As I walk through the forest, I suddenly hear a noise nearby. Turning, I see two men walking nearby, coming from a different direction. One of them looks almost like a hobo, and the other's wearing a cheap suit. The one in the suit seems to be struggling as the hobo helps him along.

"Hey kid!" the guy in the cheap suit calls out. "Are you lost?"

I shake my head. I'm not supposed to talk to strangers.

"What are you doing out here?" he asks.

I pause, wondering what to say. "Nothing," I reply eventually. "What are you doing out here?"

The two men glance at each other. "Nothing," the guy in the cheap suit says eventually, and they keep walking. I stay where I am, watching as they leave, and finally I set off after them, making sure to keep a little way back. I don't want to walk with them, but it's useful to follow them so that I know I'm heading in the right direction to get back to town. There's still a little way to go, but I'm pretty sure Sophie isn't in the forest. I'm pretty certain she's somewhere in the town ahead.

Epilogue

"Come on come on come on," I say under my breath as I listen to the ringing of the cellphone. "Pick up," I add, starting to get really frustrated and, to be honest, a little worried. Glancing down, I see a spider crawling over the table. I grab a magazine and brush it away. I'm not scared of spiders, but I'm not a big fan either.

"Something wrong?" asks Nimrod, glancing up from the table where he's intently studying something on his laptop.

"No," I say, disconnecting the call, but the truth is: something's very wrong. I've been trying to call Shelley for over a week now, and she just doesn't pick up. Shelley's the kind of person who lives with her phone in her hand pretty much all the time. If she'd got a new number, she'd have let me know. If she was annoyed with me, she'd answer and scream at me. So this is something else. I turn to Nimrod. "It's my friend," I say. "She's missing."

"Which friend is this?" Nimrod asks. He seems distracted, as if he's more interested in what he's reading than in my problems.

"Which friend do you think?" I say, sitting on the sofa. "Shelley. My only friend."

"Perhaps she's busy," he says casually.

I pause. I don't want to think that she could be in trouble, but with everything that's been going on lately there's a distinct possibility that something's seriously wrong. Plus, Shelley's more than capable of getting herself into trouble without any help from me. "Would Patrick hurt her?" I ask eventually, giving voice to the fear that has been growing in the back of my mind for the past couple of days.

"Patrick's unpredictable," Nimrod replies. "He's temperamental and prone to making very bad decisions. He's not logical. He acts based on passion, sometimes even based on anger and rage." He pauses. "Yes. He's capable of hurting her. But that doesn't mean that he did anything. Are you sure she isn't just off doing something else?"

"Maybe," I mutter under my breath, but I can't help feeling that there's something else going on here. I can't even say why, but somewhere deep in the pit of my stomach I've got a feeling that something's terribly wrong. It's a feeling I can't shake. I don't think Shelley and I have ever gone a week without talking since we first met all those years ago. "Maybe I could go and look for her," I say.

"It's too dangerous," Nimrod shoots back, as if he's been expecting me to make the suggestion. "You can't set foot outside this apartment, Sophie. If you do, there's no telling what Patrick might do."

"Yeah, but -"

"I'm serious," he says, interrupting me. He sounds a little irritated now. "Do you really want to risk everything just because some scatty girl is too drunk to answer her phone?"

I sigh. I know Nimrod's right, and I have to make sure I keep well away from Patrick, but at the same time, I don't understand what the plan is here. I've been cooped up in Nimrod's apartment for so long, and I don't see that we're getting anywhere. In theory, I'm here to keep safe from Patrick while Nimrod works on finding Abigail, but in practice, Nimrod just seems to be popping in and out, never really achieving much.

"How's it going?" I ask. "I mean, with Abigail."

"Slowly," he says. He pauses, and then he turns to me. "But I'm getting there. I'm getting some leads. It just takes time."

"And you're sure Patrick hasn't got her?" I ask.

"As sure as I can be," he replies. He closes his laptop and stands up, stepping over to me and putting his hands on my shoulders. "It'll all work out," he says, "but it takes time to find out what's happening. You just have to stay here and trust me." He leans closer, looking deep into my eyes. "You do trust me, don't you?" he asks. "Because if you don't, you can walk out the door any time you like. I'm not holding you prisoner here, Sophie. I'm asking you to stay for your own good, and for Abigail's, but at the end of the day, it's your choice."

I sigh. "I know. I just feel so helpless."

"The time will come," Nimrod says. "When we find Abigail, you're going to have to run. Faster than you've ever run before."

"Will you come with me?" I ask.

He shakes his head. "I'm going to have to stay here and distract Patrick, to give you a head start. You probably won't ever see me again. You won't see any of your old friends and family again. I'm sorry it has to be that way, but you've seen what Patrick's like. He's relentless. Remorseless. He won't stop until he has that baby."

"But if he hasn't got Abigail," I say, "and we haven't got her, then where is she?"

"That's what I'm still working out," he replies. "There are forces that have the ability to protect her, but not forever. This is a very delicate operation and we have to be careful. We can't rush things. Just... relax for now, and try to forget all about Patrick." He pauses for a moment. "I have to go out for a little while."

"You always say that," I reply. "Where do you keep going?"

"Just out," he says. "I have to find answers."

"How long will you be?" I ask, as he grabs his briefcase from the desk.

"A couple of hours," he says. "The usual." He heads to the door. "Don't worry, Sophie," he says as he leaves, "everything's going to be okay. You just have to trust me."

Once I'm alone, I walk over to the window. I watch as Nimrod steps out into the bright Dedston morning. I always watch him leave. Although he's been very kind to me, and although I think I trust him, I kind of find it hard to relax when he's around. When he leaves, I feel like I have a moment of freedom, although I'm not sure that's really the case. After all, as he says, he's not holding me here against my will. I can step out the front door any time I like... except then I'll probably bump into Patrick. He's almost certainly watching the building, waiting for me to make a mistake. Then again, I don't understand why he doesn't just break into the apartment. If he wants me so badly, why doesn't he just come and take me? What kind of power does Nimrod have? Everything around me just seems to be frozen, as if the whole world has stopped.

I wander over to the laptop. I feel like I should try to find a way to break out of this place, to contact the outside world. Surely Patrick isn't watching me every second, is he? I could leave for a few hours and... I sigh. I can't think like that. Nimrod warned me that even a single moment of weakness could be enough for Patrick to exploit, and this is exactly the kind of weakness he was talking about. I decided a while ago that I was going to trust Nimrod, at least for now, and that means being strong, even at times like this.

Suddenly I hear the front door open. It can't be Nimrod, back so soon. But as I head through, I find that it
is
him, and he has a strange expression on his face, a look of fear but also excitement.

"What is it?" I ask.

"He's coming," Nimrod says, taking a deep breath. "I don't know what's happened, but something's changed. The prophecy has been invoked. It's too soon. Patrick's on the move, and he's coming for you."

"For
me
?" I ask, feeling a knot of fear tightening itself in my belly. "Why now? What's he going to do?"

"We have to get you out of here," Nimrod replies, rushing through to the bedroom and grabbing a small backpack. "Throw some essential items in here and be ready to leave in five minutes," he says. "Damn it, why didn't I see this coming? It's too soon. He wasn't supposed to be ready yet."

"Ready?" I ask. "What's going on?"

He opens his mouth to reply, and then he pauses, as if he's not quite sure what to say. "I wasn't going to tell you until I was able to bring her here," he says, a look of desperation in his eyes, "but last night I received word from a trusted friend. I've found Abigail."

I stare at him. "You've found her..." I say, almost unable to believe it's true. "Where?" I ask, grabbing his arms. "Where is she?"

"I was going to bring her here," he says. "To you. But now Patrick's coming, it's too late. We have to..." His voice trails off. It's as if Nimrod, who has always seemed to be in control, is suddenly caught without a plan.

"We have to go to her," I say.

He nods.

"We have to go to her right now," I continue. "There's no time to pack a bag. We have to go. Wherever she is, you have to take me there. It's like you said. I have to keep running and never stop."

"You'll be alone," Nimrod replies. "I can't come with you after you've found Abigail. I'll have to stop and try to delay Patrick."

"We're wasting time," I say. "Take me to her."

Nimrod leads me out of the apartment and out into the street. When I looked out of the window a few minutes ago, it looked like a sunny day; now there seem to be storm clouds gathering overhead, and a cold wind blowing. Without saying a word, we hurry along the street. I keep glancing around, in case I see Patrick. I can't explain it, but over the past few days I've kind of sensed that he's not around. Suddenly, everything's changed: I can feel him approaching. He wants me, and he wants Abigail. He won't get either of us.