Skinned (14 page)

‘STOP!' Callum shouted and rushed forwards. All he wanted was to get away from this nightmarish image. He just wanted to be able to
do
something about it all.

Callum winced as he felt himself pass through an icy
pocket of air. When he turned his head to see what had happened, he realised that he'd run straight through the ghostly woman, who swirled like smoke and then reformed. She stopped following Callum, a crestfallen look on her face. She watched miserably as he hurried away, her head still at its woeful angle, the ghost-baby now cradled limply in her arms.

Callum didn't look back again until he was at the door to the cottage. At least he knew the ghost wouldn't be able to follow him into the house, with all the protective spells Gran kept the cottage cloaked in. Reluctantly, he glanced over his shoulder. The spirit was still looking sadly at him as she drifted backwards down the lane. Callum shivered. Things were getting darker and darker, like a gathering storm, with every day that passed.

But in some strange way the woman's sad, lonely face made Callum think again of his own mother. He missed her more and more each day; his sense of loss felt almost as vivid as it had three years ago. If only he could catch a glimpse of
her
ghost. He needed
something
, some sign that things were going to work out OK.
Maybe Gran's right
, Callum thought.
Maybe this was all a mistake and I'm in way over my head?

He glanced over his shoulder one last time before he stepped inside the cottage. The woman was still drifting slowly back up the path. She left a trail of soft grey mist in her wake. Callum exhaled a lungful of air and quickly opened the door to let himself inside.

He strode straight into the kitchen and poured a glass of water. He'd gulped half of it down before he realised that Gran was sitting in the living room, staring intently at a book on her lap.

‘Hey,' he said in surprise. She looked up, and Callum immediately knew something was wrong.

‘Callum, I'm glad you're back,' she said, her voice solemn. ‘I have a feeling this is something you're going to want to see.'

So much for an evening off
, Callum thought as he walked over to see what his grandmother was holding out to him. The book was small and leather-bound, with a worn red cover.

‘I remembered where I'd heard the phrase from your vision,' Gran said. ‘This is a book of poetry that
my own grandmother gave me when I was a young girl. They're poems by Robert Browning.'

Callum read the page that Gran was holding open, and frowned. There, in black and white, were the lines he had heard being whispered mysteriously in his vision:

Callum looked up in surprise. ‘It's about the Pied Piper?' he said.

Gran nodded.

‘This really doesn't sound good,' Callum said. ‘Luring children away? The kid in my vision was in a trance, being taken off somewhere. That's exactly the sort of thing Black Annis would do.'

Gran took the book back from Callum and stared at
the words again, her lips moving silently as she repeated them to herself.

‘Well, we know that even though it's a poem from our world, there must be some link with the Netherworld or the phrase wouldn't have cropped up in your vision.'

‘Yeah,' Callum agreed. ‘But what could it be?'

‘I have a feeling . . . Sometimes, magic can be woven into seemingly innocuous words,' Gran began cautiously. ‘I have a feeling that may be what has happened. Someone has worked an enchantment into the words of this poem, something that, if they use them in the right context, will make them into a potentially very powerful spell.'

Callum looked at his Gran, who was pacing back and forth in the small living room, her arms folded, her brow furrowed with shock and concern.

‘That could be it,' he said, his mind racing. ‘Black Annis could be using a spell to . . . Oh,
no
. Gran, I'd better go and –'

‘Callum, please.'

Gran's stern voice stopped Callum in his tracks.

‘Wait. Even if it is a spell, what exactly do you think you'll be able to do?
Where
are you going to go? Please, just give me some time to think about it a bit more. You shouldn't do anything rash tonight.'

Callum clenched his teeth. He knew she was right. There was no point trying to do anything right now. Grudgingly, he trudged upstairs and put down his school bag. He could hear Gran starting to make supper downstairs – her answer to most problems was some hearty comfort food. But Callum didn't think there was any food in the world that would comfort him right now. He was itching to get out there, to
do
something. Perhaps this scheme to lure children away had already begun, and here he was waiting for his
supper
?

Callum managed to make it through dinner without leaping up and out of the door. But as soon as Gran began to clear their plates away, he decided there was at least one thing she couldn't object to.

‘I'm going to give Melissa a ring,' he said, already stepping over to the old-fashioned telephone and placing one hand on the receiver. ‘She's been just as
worried about this as I have. I think I should let her know we've found something.'

Callum had already started to dial as Gran nodded and took the rest of the crockery through to the kitchen. He was grateful to hear Melissa's voice at the other end of the line. He hastily explained what Gran had found, and her theory about the words being used as an incantation.

‘Really? Blimey,' Melissa breathed. ‘But hold on a minute – does it make sense that Black Annis would use such a complicated spell to lure children? It doesn't sound like her style. She's more of a snatch-and-grab type, isn't she?'

‘Well, there'd been that kid who was taken from the supermarket, but I've been thinking – there's no way Annis would have been able to just wander in there in broad daylight,' Callum said, his shoulders sagging. ‘I know what you mean, a spell like this
is
too subtle for her.'

Then, all of a sudden, something occurred to him. He cupped the mouthpiece and glanced back to the kitchen where his gran was now splashing and
clattering as she washed up the dishes.

‘Wait a second,' Callum whispered down the phone. ‘Jacob said that Black Annis grows stronger the more she feeds, right?'

‘Yeah . . .'

‘And we know the coven have some purpose for her, from my vision?'

‘Mmm . . .'

‘Well, what if it's the
coven
? What if
they're
the ones luring children? What if they want to feed her up, make her as strong as possible before they sacrifice her?'

Callum heard Melissa gasp. ‘You're right, that would make sense – the more sophisticated magic? How many children are they planning to take? How many are they going to
kill
? Callum what are we going to do?'

‘The only thing I can think of right now is to go and speak to Jacob,' Callum said, his heart rate quickening as he heard his grandmother finishing up in the kitchen. ‘I'm going to have to sneak out though. Gran's getting really nervy,' he whispered, and then
straightened up as his grandmother came back into the room, eyeing him suspiciously.

‘Uh, look Melissa, I've got to go,' he said, his voice back to its normal volume.

‘OK, but Callum, wait,' she said. ‘If you're going to see Jacob, I'm coming with you. Half-past midnight. I'll see you there.'

The dial tone sounded before Callum could protest.

Later that night, Callum hurried through the gate to the churchyard, trying to ignore the gathering, agitated ghosts that watched him as he walked. He skirted round the iron railings of the Victorian graves and the tilting stone skulls of the older ones, finding a place to wait on a ledge where a chapel wall had collapsed. His breath pluming in the cold, he searched the darkness for any sign of Jacob, Doom or Melissa, but there were only the lingering ghosts and the distant hoot of an owl for company.

Then a voice behind him made Callum jump.

‘It is rather late for a lesson, is it not?' Jacob stood
with his hands behind his back, his face expectant.

Callum hastily explained how Gran and Melissa had triggered his vision, and what Gran had suggested about the enchanted words. When Callum had finished speaking, Jacob didn't respond immediately. He folded his arms, frowning.

‘I agree. It is entirely possible that the words you heard have been spun into some kind of spell,' Jacob said. ‘And that it is most likely the work of the coven.'

‘How long do you think we have?' Callum asked. ‘I mean, if they're luring children . . . How often do you think Black Annis would have to be fed to get to her strongest?' The very thought made him feel sick.

Jacob stood for a moment with one hand twisting the fur at the back of Doom's neck. It was hard to tell from the expression on his pale, faintly gleaming face what he might be thinking. Then he began to pace up and down, shaking his head. Doom stood up and followed.

‘I do not know how many –' he began, but then both he and Doom came to a halt as they heard something stirring outside the church gates.

‘It's only me,' came a familiar voice, and Callum saw Melissa picking her way towards them. ‘So, have we got a plan yet?'

Callum gave her a withering look. ‘We don't even really know what's happening, Melissa – or if it's already
happened
.'

‘I don't think anything has happened yet though,' Melissa said. ‘Surely lots more kids going missing around Leicester would have made the news, just like the others did before?'

Callum frowned. She had a point. ‘OK, but if the coven haven't been taking enough kids for the media to notice, then what are we meant to do? Just sit back and wait till more kids start disappearing?'

Melissa shook her head and looked to Jacob anxiously.

‘I fear there may be a reason why there have not been reports of many more missing children as yet,' Jacob said slowly. ‘If there have not been occasional,
individual
disappearances, then –'

‘Then they might be planning to take a whole group of kids all at
once
?' Callum finished. He, Melissa and
Jacob all looked at one another anxiously for a moment as the notion sunk in, then Callum finally spoke again.

‘We have to do something, we have to stop them,' he said, folding his arms.

‘Like what?' Melissa said. ‘We have no idea where they are. How do you expect to stop them?'

‘We go to the source. We need to find Black Annis' lair.'

‘Callum,' Jacob said. ‘I know that you have come on a good deal, but you must realise that this situation could be beyond your control.'

‘What choice do I have? It's my job to police the Boundary, isn't it? To keep the world safe? To stop children being skinned and eaten alive, and to stop some crazy group of magicians bringing goodness knows what over from the Netherworld for some premature hell-party.'

Callum raised his eyebrows, inviting a response. Jacob held his gaze for a moment and then sighed, wiping away a trickle of blood that seeped from his hairline like sweat. He beckoned to Doom, and the
enormous spectral dog came to lie at Jacob's feet. ‘But caution is certainly not folly in this instance. You cannot underestimate how dangerous this could be. And what little power I have myself grows weaker the farther I travel from this village, where I was born and where I lie buried. We must be careful. We are heading into the unknown.'

‘We?' Callum said hopefully. Jacob remained silent, his expression serious.

‘I do not think this is a good idea,' the ghost said again.

‘Why? It's the only place that we have even a remote chance of finding that hag, and it's the most likely place that the coven would go to find her too, if they haven't got her already. We might be able to head them off, or, I don't know . . .'

‘I wish there some other way,' Jacob said quietly.

‘But there isn't,' Callum said, cutting him short.

Jacob looked up at this. His black, depthless eyes met Callum's straight on. ‘At the day's end, chime child, it is only you who can decide which battles you face. Are you sure you want to do this?'

Callum tossed his untidy hair back out of his eyes, so that he could return Jacob's challenging gaze head on. He took a deep breath.

‘Yes.'

He may not have complete control of his powers, but he could not stand by while children were taken from their beds as snacks for a Netherworld demon.

‘Good,' Jacob said. ‘If your power is as strong as your resolve, then perhaps you
are
ready.'

Next to them, Melissa cleared her throat. ‘This is all very touching, but if we're going to find Black Annis then we should get going.'

‘Going
where
though?' Callum said. ‘We don't know where her lair is.'

‘Well, I read something,' Melissa said, her eyes narrowing. ‘It didn't make a lot of sense at the time, but I had a chance to look into it last night after we spoke. There was a fable in one of the chime child books that said there was a tunnel underneath Leicester Castle. One that lead to the den of a “beastly anthropophage”.'

‘Anthro-what?' Callum said, shaking his head in confusion.

‘Turns out it means “flesh-eater”. It makes sense, doesn't it? I think it's our best chance.'