Demon Storm (13 page)

Gemma pulled Rupam and Ben into a sobbing hug.

Sam watched from the shadows by the door, smiling. Over Gemma's shoulder, Ben smiled back.

Captain Morton and his men arrived just minutes later. They found a house filled with snuffed-out candles, laughing children and three adults with sore heads.

There were also three other people lying unconscious. One was in the alley beside the house. Another lay at the bottom of the main stairs. The third was lying half in and half out of a room with a steel door – just where Maria had left him.

But of Carstairs Endeavour – or his Grotesque – there was no sign.

‘He'll try again,' Knight said.

They were all sitting on stools or the work surfaces in the kitchen while Morton's men checked the area round the house. Morton was in one of the other rooms, on the phone to the police to organise roadblocks and a helicopter search. But everyone knew that Endeavour was long gone.

‘At least he failed,' Ben said. ‘He couldn't control Mortagula – it almost killed him.'

‘He needs all of Diablo's artefacts. He knows that now,' Growl said.

‘And he's already got the dagger,' Rupam told them.

‘Don't I know it,' Gemma said. ‘It was made of Hellstorm metal all right.'

Maria put her arm protectively round the girl's shoulders. ‘So what else is he after?'

‘The two volumes,' Knight said. ‘The amulet and the crystal. Then he'll try again, somewhere else.'

‘A place of power, like this,' Madam Sosostram said. She was still looking pale and weak. ‘We mustn't overlook how close he came to success.' She turned to Ben and Rupam. ‘We owe our young colleagues a great debt of thanks.'

‘Indeed we do,' Knight agreed. ‘All of you. Well done. This war isn't over yet, but we've won the first battle.'

Captain Morton came back into the kitchen. ‘Done what we can, but I'm not hopeful.'

‘Have you searched the house?' Growl asked. ‘I don't sense anything here, but it's as well to be sure.'

‘We'll search it again. Nothing so far. Oh, except this …' He pulled a folded sheet of paper from his pocket and handed it to Knight.

Knight opened the paper. He stared at it for several moments without comment. Then he put it down on the kitchen table for everyone to see.

‘What is it?' Rupam asked.

‘It's a page from one of the volumes. From
The
Book of Lost Souls
.'

‘He has the book?' Madam Sosostram said.

Knight shook his head. ‘This is a photocopy. The original page is quite safe. Or at least, I thought it was. I've not looked at it for years. I'd forgotten …' He glanced at Ben before going on: ‘As I said, the war is just beginning, and the battles ahead may not be so easy.'

‘You call that easy?' Rupam said. He nudged Ben. ‘Easy – yeah, right.'

But Ben didn't respond. He was still looking at the photocopied page on the table. There was faint writing down one side, but most of the page was taken up with a picture – a drawing. It was a portrait of a girl.

‘When was this book written?' he asked.

‘In the seventeenth century,' Knight said quietly. ‘It's one of Diablo's powerful volumes. But I think you recognise the girl in the picture, don't you? Which is more than I did a few weeks ago.'

Ben nodded. ‘It's my sister,' he said.

Alone in his room at the School of Night, Ben sat on his bed and stared into space.

‘Oh, Sam,' he murmured. ‘I know what happened to you now. I don't understand much of it, but at least I
know
. You were never here, not really. And now I guess you're at peace.'

He drew in a deep, ragged breath, trying to hold back his tears. ‘Endeavour's got away and we have to stop him. The world's so dangerous. There's so much going on. And I didn't know about any of it. And now I'm stuck here, on my own.'

‘You don't get rid of me that easily,' Sam said.

Suddenly Sam was sitting beside him on the bed. She put her arm round her brother and held him tight as he cried quietly into her shoulder.

‘We're in this together,' she told him. ‘I promised.'

Justin Richards has written over forty novels as well as non-fiction books. He has also written audio scripts, television and stage plays, edited anthologies of short stories, been a technical writer, and founded and edited a media journal. Justin is the author of three novels about The Department of Unclassified Artefacts,
The Death Collector
,
The
Parliament of Blood
and
The Chamber of Secrets
, as well as
The Chaos Code
and
The Invisible Detective
series. He is also Creative Consultant to the BBC’s bestselling range of Doctor Who books. He lives in Warwick with his wife and two children, and a lovely view of the castle.

www.justinrichards.co.uk

The Death Collector

The Parliament of Blood

The Chamber of Shadows

The Chaos Code

coming soon

The School of Night: Creeping Terror