Skinned (10 page)

Callum switched off the food processor and heard an agitated voice coming from the other room.

‘Callum!' Gran shouted, her voice lowering as the machine fell silent. ‘Finally! I thought my eardrums were going to burst. I never saw what was wrong with a good boiling and a potato masher,' she said, coming to the kitchen doorway with a smile. Callum didn't return it. The food processor was one of the few modern appliances that his mother had left behind when she died – Callum wasn't about to stop using it.

‘It's quicker this way,' he muttered. It had been Gran's turn to cook, but her session teaching Melissa had still been going strong when Callum arrived home, and he was starving. Gran raised an eyebrow at Callum's obvious bad mood, but they were interrupted by Melissa's excited squeal.

‘Mrs Scott, I did it! Come and look!'

Gran turned back towards the living room and
Callum grimaced. Melissa was clearly still taking to her magic lessons like a duck to water. He rolled his eyes as another shout came a moment later.

‘Callum! Come and see my floating spell!'

‘In a minute,' he shouted, but he doubted that Melissa would register his annoyance. Sighing, he put down the knife and wiped his hands on a dishcloth slowly before going into the living room.

‘Go on then,' he said.

There was a yellow pencil lying on the table in front of Melissa. Squinting hard, she concentrated on it until the pencil began to wobble a little. She took a breath and refocused, and Callum noticed that her brow was shining with sweat. It was clearly taking some effort, but then finally the pencil began to float into the air as if pulled by an invisible string. It stayed suspended a little distance in front of her face for about ten seconds, before clattering back on to the table.

‘How cool is that?' she exclaimed. Even Gran couldn't suppress a smile. But Callum just felt his mood getting even worse.

‘Yeah,' he muttered. ‘Nice one. I'm going to finish the soup.'

Callum turned back to the kitchen and went over to the chopping board. OK, making a pencil float wasn't as impressive as blasting supernatural energy from your hands, but it was just irritating how quickly Melissa was getting the hang of what was expected of her. He began to dice some more onions. As he angrily sliced into a vegetable the blade slipped, slashing a deep gash across the thumb of his left hand. He stifled a cry, taking in a sharp breath as the pain flashed through him. He was about to call out to his gran for a bandage when he had an idea.

This was exactly what he needed: an opportunity to practise his healing power.

Blood was seeping between his fingers as he pressed at the wound trying to stop the flow. Callum swallowed and moved over to the sink quickly. Concentrating hard, he tried to bring on the prickling sensation in his hands. But try as he might, nothing was happening. The blood now dripped in big, rapid splashes into the old enamel sink, vivid red splattering against its
off-white surface. The vase of wilting peonies that Gran had placed on the windowsill to catch the afternoon light began to double in his vision.

He had to do something fast.

Come on . . . heal!
Callum thought, taking a deep breath. Closing his eyes, he tried to concentrate on that single thought. Slowly, he felt a slight tingling begin in his fingertips. Was it just the pain in his thumb, or was his power really beginning to work? Callum edged his eyelids open and, to his relief, he saw the strange shimmering energy starting to flow over his left hand from his right. Trying to hold his concentration, he urged more power towards the wound. Before his eyes, the line of blood began to disappear as the skin of his thumb sealed itself once more. Callum waited until the blood had definitely stopped dripping before he took his hand away. Sure enough, his hand was still chapped and rough from the cold, but there was now only a small incision where the deep cut had been. It wasn't totally healed like Melissa's wound had been, but it was a start.

‘Not bad,' he whispered to himself, and flicked on the tap to wash away the blood that had stained his fingers.

‘Did you cut yourself?'

Gran's voice behind him made Callum jump. ‘Goodness, that's a lot of blood. Are you OK? Let me have a look.'

‘Uh . . . no, it's fine, it looks worse than it is,' he said, glancing at the splashes on the countertop and chopping board. ‘I'll clean that up.'

Callum swiftly proffered his hand for Gran to inspect and then grabbed some plasters from the cupboard. ‘Dinner's almost ready,' he said with a smile. For once it felt genuine. He'd actually used a power at will; thought about doing something and made it happen.

‘Gosh, a spell in the sun has done these flowers a world of good!' Gran was saying. Callum turned around and, to his surprise, the peonies – which only moments ago had looked bedraggled and limp – were now standing proudly in the vase, their petals vivid as the day they were cut.

‘Uh, yeah, looks like it,' Callum replied, frowning a little. Perhaps some of his power had spilled out on to the flowers? That could be why the cut hadn't fully healed. Jacob had said it's all about focus . . . Still, even if he hadn't used his power perfectly, it was a start.

‘Well, I'm glad to see your mood has improved,' Gran said. ‘Melissa's nearly finished for today.'

Callum waited, expecting Gran to go back into the living room, but she hesitated. ‘Callum . . .' she began, then sighed. ‘I know things have been a bit difficult between us lately, but I want you to know you can talk to me.'

Callum felt his smile fading – he had a feeling he knew where this was leading. He really didn't want to have a heavy conversation right now.

‘Yeah, I know that,' he said quickly. He turned back to pour the soup from the processor into a pot on the stove and began to stir emphatically, hoping it would put Gran off. But it didn't work.

‘Have you . . . have you come up against anything yet? I mean, anything strange? Have you discovered anything new yet? I mean in terms of you being . . .'

Callum huffed – he wouldn't even know where to begin. ‘You mean in terms of me being a chime child? Look, Gran, I'm not trying to be awkward, but I think it's better if we
don't
talk about that. Don't worry, OK? I'll be fine.'

‘Have you been going over the books?'

Callum shrugged. ‘Melissa was meant to help me with it again this evening, but I guess you both lost track of time.'

Just then, he saw Melissa emerge behind his grandmother in the small sitting room with an apologetic look on her face. ‘Callum, I'm so sorry – I'm meant to be babysitting tonight otherwise I'd stay. Maybe at school tomorrow we can go over some stuff?'

Gran turned around to give Melissa a warning stare, but Melissa held up her hands in protest.

‘Well, obviously I won't have the books with me or anything, Mrs Scott! I'll be careful. Nobody will know . . .' She tailed off as she glanced over and Callum gave her a glare of his own. All he needed was another reason for Gran to fret over their every move.

‘I'll see you on Saturday, Melissa,' was Gran's only
reply, though her look still bore a warning.

‘Hang on,' Callum called as Melissa made her way to the door, then he turned to his grandmother. ‘Uh, Gran, I don't suppose you could finish off the soup? The bread's in the oven.' He hadn't had a chance to speak to Melissa alone about what Jacob had told him the previous day. Gran nodded mutely and pursed her lips. Callum pulled on a jacket and followed Melissa outside.

‘I'll just be a sec,' he called over his shoulder before shutting the front door. He hunched his shoulders against the cold and turned to Melissa who was standing expectantly on the porch. Her feathered scarf threw abstract shadows on the floor behind her under the light of the bulb above them.

‘So what did our Born Dead friend have to say about what happened in Leicester?' she asked. Callum pressed a finger to his lips – he didn't want Gran overhearing anything.

‘It's bad,' he said quietly. ‘Not only do we have a demon on the loose who is going around eating kids, but Jacob thinks that my vision might mean these
humans – a coven, he called them – that they might be planning to sacrifice Black Annis as a way of widening one of the gaps in the Boundary.'

‘
Seriously?
'

Callum nodded. ‘They might be hoping to bring more dangerous . . . stuff . . . over from the Netherworld sooner than we thought.'

Melissa's eyes widened with shock. ‘Oh.'

‘There's another problem,' Callum said with a frown. ‘He said that my fight with Black Annis may have driven her into hiding. She'll be much harder to find, which means stopping these coven people might be even more difficult.'

Melissa sighed heavily. ‘Fabulous,' she said dejectedly. She looked up. ‘But you did what you had to, Callum. She could have killed me! And at least it might buy us some time while she's not out there hurting kids.'

Callum nodded, but remained silent.

‘I don't suppose you've had any more visions yet?' Melissa said. ‘If something as big as widening a gap in the Boundary was about to happen, and with these
new premonitions, I would have thought you'd get a warning?'

‘Nothing more, not yet anyway.'

‘Well, that's good, right?' Melissa said, though her face still looked worried.

‘Yeah, I just wish I felt better prepared,' Callum said, pressing his hands into his armpits. ‘You seem to be getting on well though.' He couldn't keep the hint of jealousy out of his voice, but once again Melissa seemed oblivious.

‘Callum, I bet you're doing better than you think. I mean, I can't believe how much Gran's already taught
me
. She told me I'm a natural, and that's high praise coming from her. And look, tomorrow I'll go over more chime child stuff with you. It'll be cool, we'll catch up. Sorry, I know I've been neglecting it a bit, but it's just so exciting learning some
real magic
, it's, like –'

‘Melissa!' Callum interrupted before steam began to come out of her ears. He'd never met anyone better at rambling. ‘Uh, it's kind of cold out here, in case you hadn't noticed,' he said with a grin. ‘We'll talk at school though.'

‘Oh, of course. Sorry! See you tomorrow, Callum.'

She waved and made her way down the steps. Callum shook his head. If only he had as much faith as Melissa did that this would all work out fine. Gratefully, he returned to the warmth of the cottage – and Gran's worried gaze.

‘Callum,' she said.

‘Yeah?'

‘What I meant to say to you earlier was – just be careful, OK?'

Callum was about to retort, but he stopped himself. He knew Gran was just concerned, and he didn't want to totally shut out the person who he knew deep down cared most about him. Especially when he was trying to prepare for an apocalypse.

He took a deep breath and tried for a smile. ‘I'll do my best.'

On all fronts
, he thought to himself grimly.

A few days passed, and nothing out of the ordinary happened. No more clues about Black Annis or the coven. Callum thought it was a bit ironic that he was so desperate to hear what would essentially be bad news, but all the waiting and not knowing was really starting to get to him.

School seemed even more mundane than usual, given what he was facing, other than teachers warning the students to be careful given the spate of young people going missing from Leicester. But as Callum was stuffing his maths book into his bag after class, he noticed the two boys near him had their
heads bent together while they gathered up pencils and paper.

‘Yeah, it was
dead weird
,' one said. ‘We were just coming along the Stockport Road, you know by the industrial estate, at the big roundabout? Well, Dad slowed up to wait for the traffic, and these two little girls in long grey dresses ran right across the road in front of us. They didn't look, just
ran
right across the road. Dad slammed on the brakes and honked his horn but they
still
didn't look. It was like they couldn't see or hear us at all. Like they didn't even know there were any cars around them.'

‘Travellers, maybe?'

‘Traveller kids don't dress like nuns! And the other weird thing was that when I looked up the drive they'd just
vanished
. There isn't really anywhere to hide there. It was like they'd completely disappeared.'

‘Ghosts!'

Both boys laughed nervously.

If only they knew
, Callum thought. So Melissa really wasn't the only ordinary person who was starting to see apparitions. The Shadowing was starting to affect
everybody. Even without the threat of the coven and Black Annis, things were stirring in the Netherworld, and Callum would need to fight them – not just in Marlock and Leicester but everywhere. Probably all over the world. Callum swallowed, trying not to let his thoughts overwhelm him. Pushing his seat back as the second bell went, he quickly made his way to his English class.

He was late anyway, and as he sat down next to Melissa, she mouthed, ‘You OK?'

Callum nodded, but was interrupted by Mrs Higgins at the front of the class.

‘Nice of you to join us, Mr Scott,' she said, raising an eyebrow. ‘Now, if you'd all like to open your textbooks to page fifteen. In fact, Mark, Richard, why don't you two come up here and act it out for us?'

The two boys made their way to the front of the classroom and began to struggle through the Shakespearean text. After a few minutes, Callum saw Melissa reach over and pass him a note.

You look knackered. Like that leathery demon thing from the chime child books yesterday!

She'd written with a smiley face, underneath five lines of notes on
Much Ado About Nothing
. Callum chuckled, but then tried to cover as the teacher looked over, pretending to be amused by the scene his classmates were enacting. He hoped it was meant to be from a comedy.