Skinned (15 page)

‘OK,' Callum said, nodding quickly. ‘Then we have to try and get there before the coven does.'

‘But how exactly do you plan to get to Leicester in the middle of the night?' Melissa asked.

Callum's face fell – but Jacob interjected.

‘I think I may be able to assist with that . . .'

The streetlights that line the quiet suburban street begin to wink out, one by one, but the people asleep in their houses remain oblivious. In the middle of the road, three men and two women stand in a line. The shadows they cast are faint in the moonlight, which is now the only source of illumination. Their collective magic has seen to that.

‘Are they ready?' the man with the glowing ring asks.

‘They are, Varick,' Aradia replies. She brushes her long red hair back from her shoulders, closes her eyes and raises her slender hands out in front of her. She takes a breath and begins to whisper.

‘
When lo, as they reached the mountain's side . . .
'

The four others watch her as she works. The grey-haired woman folds her arms and eyes the younger woman; she is sceptical about the power of Aradia's magic.

But then there is movement.

Almost simultaneously, the doors of the houses on each side of the street begin to open. The red-headed woman keeps whispering, repeating her incantation over and over again. Soon, a dozen children are stepping out on to the street, their feet bare, their eyes glassy and unseeing. The children move slowly towards the five adults gathered in the middle of the street.

‘
Excellent
work, Aradia,' Varick says as the children gather in a line behind the coven. They shiver involuntarily, their pyjamas inadequate against the bitter chill, but it is no matter to the magic users who have summoned them.

Aradia opens her eyes and smiles. ‘Shall we?'

The coven begins to stride away down the darkened street, the lamps overhead switching on again one by one behind them as they leave. Their magic now
draws the line of children away from their homes, and they follow obediently behind the coven like an juvenile army.

*

Black Annis waits. The human magic users have left her alone, but their spells are strong enough to bind her still. The enchanted pentagram on the ground, in which they have confined her, is powerful – drawn by ritual and imbued with magic. She is confused as to what they have in store. She is certain that their intentions are not good, but their promise of more flesh makes Black Annis salivate in spite of herself.

She decides she must bide her time, allow them to feed her, allow them to facilitate her growing strength. Only then will she act against them, break free of their spell, these foolish, obstinate humans that seem to believe they can influence the tide of the Netherworld.

Black Annis freezes as she hears something overhead, above her in her lair that has now become her prison. Footsteps – so many, some heavy, some light. The scent
of the human children hits her like a landslide. Black Annis rises within the confines of the pentagram. Her pale eyes shine brightly. A moment later, the magicians file in, and behind them . . . yes! Black Annis has never seen so many children in one place. She lets out an involuntary growl of eager hunger, but the coven's leader quiets her.

‘Patience, crone,'
he says, his voice smooth and mocking. He turns to the gathered line of children now standing stiffly beside the other magicians. He walks over to them and places a hand on the head of a fair-haired boy and an oval-faced girl
.

‘Go to her,'
he intones
.

The children break out of line and stride towards Black Annis. With a gesture, the coven leader makes a brief passage through the magical barrier that surrounds Black Annis – too brief for her to seize an opportunity to break free. And besides, her hunger for the flesh of these two children is too distracting for her to think of anything else. The girl and boy come to a halt. Their impassive stares register nothing.

Black Annis' own eyes bulge with excitement. A string of blue-black dribble escapes her lips as she creeps
forward. Then, using one pointed talon on each of the young humans, Black Annis swiftly stops their hearts, then feverishly sets about removing their skin. She is so overcome with zeal that she allows their pelts to slump to the floor without pausing to spread them out to dry. Black Annis notices from the corner of her luminous eyes that some of the adult humans have turned away. She scoffs – they have not the stomach for their purpose. She will take advantage of their foolishness, and their provisions of food. They have weaknesses, while she grows stronger. Soon, though, they will realise their mistake. She will slay this coven, and the chime child too. Then no one will be able to prevent her from taking her pick of the fragile human children that walk this land.

With no further hesitation, Black Annis tears into each of the skinless bodies, and groans with pleasure as the flesh slides down her throat. And there are so many more to come before she reaches full strength.

‘OK, I know I said I wanted you to help, but I'm not sure this is what I had in mind,' Callum said, frowning as Jacob reached one blood-dripping hand towards his shoulder. He could feel the ghostly chill of the Born Dead's hand through his coat as they stood in the churchyard.

‘Trust me,' Jacob said, with a glimmer of a smile. Doom looked up at his master expectantly, his red eyes glowing. Jacob put his other hand on Doom's neck and then looked over to Melissa.

‘Put your hand on my shoulder,' he said. ‘I need to have contact with all of you if I am to attempt this.'

Callum raised his eyebrows. ‘Are you sure this is going to work? I don't want to end up a pile of molecules floating around space for the rest of my life. I mean, I know I was complaining about being a chime child, but I'll definitely take it over
that
,' he said, smiling nervously.

Melissa looked a little dubious herself as she placed both hands on Jacob's shoulders. ‘Go for it,' she said, squeezing her eyes closed. Callum was about to do the same, when he realised that the world around him had already begun to blur.

It was an unpleasant sensation, like being spun on a turbo-charged fairground ride. Everything was rushing by so dizzyingly that Callum felt sick. He closed his eyes for a moment, hoping to combat the nausea.

When he opened them again, everything was still a dark blur. Slowly he realised that there beside him, in sharp relief among the swirl of dark mist, were Melissa, Jacob and Doom.

And after a moment, all three of them seemed to dissolve into the ether . . .

Then, just as suddenly as the whirling had begun,
Callum felt firm ground underneath his feet. The journey had only lasted seconds, but as the air around him cleared, Callum realised that Jacob really had transported them. Where moments ago they had all been standing in Nether Marlock Churchyard, Callum saw that, although the moon still glowed in night sky above, they were now on what must be the site of Leicester Castle.

‘Blimey,' he breathed, rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn't imagining things. They'd travelled
miles
. He looked over at Jacob, who had stepped away from them and was leaning against a nearby tree to steady himself.

‘Jacob, are you OK?' Callum asked. The ghost nodded.

‘As I said, my power diminishes the further I get from the churchyard – I feel somewhat drained, that is all.'

‘I'm not surprised,' Melissa chimed in. Her face was almost as pale as Jacob's. ‘That was
mad
.'

Callum was already looking around at the castle grounds, trying to see if he could locate the entrance that would lead to Black Annis' lair. All that existed of
the original eleventh-century castle was the mound upon which it once stood. The soft grass underfoot was crisp with frost, but there was no sign of an entry point for a cave or tunnel. Soon Melissa joined him, scouring the ground and the surrounding areas.

Callum's heart began to pound. What if they were too late? What if his instinct to try and find Annis' lair had been wrong and they were just wasting time? He took a deep breath. There was no time for doubts now – he needed to think.

‘I can't see anything,' Melissa called. ‘We should have brought torches or something. I guess we'll just have to hope we get lucky.'

As she finished, Callum realised they had something better than a torch.

‘Hang on,' he said. ‘I have an idea.'

Closing his eyes, Callum held his hands out before him, facing down towards the ground. He turned slowly in a circle and, to his relief, he felt the skin of his hands begin to prickle.

His
Luck
was exactly what they needed. His ability to sense evil . . .

Callum moved his hands back and forth.

Suddenly, as he turned, his fingertips began to tingle madly. He moved to the right a fraction and the feeling faded. Back and to the left – sure enough, the pins and needles intensified. Callum slowly began to move in the direction his hands were driving him.

‘Have you found something?' Melissa asked, coming up next to him.

‘I might have,' Callum mumbled, concentrating hard.

Melissa turned back to where they had first materialised a short distance away.

‘Jacob, do you – Hey, where are Jacob and Doom?' she said suddenly. ‘They were there a second ago, now they've vanished.' She turned to Callum with a worried smile. ‘You don't think they've abandoned us do you?'

Callum was about to answer her when he heard a shout behind them.

‘Excuse me, you two. Just what exactly do you think you're doing here?'

Callum and Melissa both froze, then turned slowly. Callum raised a hand to shield his eyes from the
torchlight now being flashed into both their faces.

‘Damn,' he whispered.

Melissa glanced at Callum and then raised her voice in the direction of the bright light. ‘Uh, we were just, um . . . we're on a dare. Crazy story, but anyway this turned out to be the forfeit for –'

‘Spare us, love,' the voice with the torch interrupted. Coming a bit closer, he lowered the light from Callum and Melissa's faces. Callum could see a stocky man in a security guard's uniform and a football scarf striding towards them. A taller, thinner guard walked along next to him. Callum swore silently again under his breath – of all the problems he'd tried to predict, he certainly hadn't counted on a pair of jobsworth patrol men ruining their plans.

But then Callum noticed something was wrong. The two guards were still moving towards them, but their expressions seemed to be changing. From a look of bored sarcasm, the stocky guard's features fell into confusion and concern – and his companion's did the same. Then both men suddenly stopped walking. They seemed rooted to the spot, unable to move, and even
in the pale moonlight, Callum could see their faces straining and turning red.

‘What are they doing?' Melissa whispered.

Callum shook his head wordlessly. The two men were now visibly quivering in the eerie light of their torches, and their eyes became unfocused. At exactly the same moment, each of the men's eyes rolled up into their sockets so that only the whites showed. Callum stumbled backwards as the shorter, stockier guard raised his hands, still rooted to the spot, his fingers clawing at the air desperately as if imploring Callum and Melissa for help. Callum soon noticed that the other guard was doing the same – and that there were oozing blisters forming all over the men's skin. He reached out instinctively for Melissa's hand and she grabbed it desperately.

‘M-Melissa, we should –'

But before Callum could even finish his sentence, his breath was snatched by a gasp of horror. Before their eyes, the stocky man's face split apart in an explosion of blood and grey matter that ripped down the length of his body. Melissa screamed as the body
of the second man exploded and a spatter of gore came flying at her. The blasted torsos of the guards stood before them, the remains of their clothing hanging limply in shreds.

Then, to Callum's disbelief, out through the cracked bones and throbbing vital organs of each man clambered a demon the size of a small dog. The monsters' sticklike, hairy arms and legs were cloaked in red flame and, as they escaped the prison of their hosts' ribcages, the demons began to grow. Within seconds they were almost as tall as Callum. The guards' discarded bodies fell to the ground, blood pooling around them on the frost-covered grass.

Callum felt as though everything around him was moving in slow motion. He turned his head and saw Melissa's body crumple to the ground, fainting from shock. In the next instant, he saw one of the hellish demons leap towards Melissa. Red flame illuminated the sky as her body suddenly ignited . . .

Callum reacted instinctively. Launching himself at Melissa's prone body, he rolled her down the mound they had been standing on and, to his relief, the action smothered the fire. She came to a stop at the bottom, several metres away, conscious again, and gasping with shock and fright.

‘Melissa! Are you OK?' Callum shouted, but then he felt the heat of the other demon coming up behind him. He turned to leap out of the way, but the creature's long, bony fingers grabbed him by the hair and hauled him up. Red flames from the demon's hellish hands licked at Callum's hair, igniting it
instantly. With a cry, he kicked out at the beast and it released him for a moment. Callum's hands flew up to his head and batted the fire away desperately, but the demon was rounding on him again.

He saw Melissa run for cover near a ruined wall, but his relief was short-lived, as the two fiery creatures stalked towards him, their eerie, orange glow lighting up the night sky. Callum stared at the demons in terror but then he felt something take over: an odd sense of calm . . . and a word beginning to form in his throat.