The Book of Beasts
Read The Book of Beasts Online
Authors: John Barrowman
    To Jim Higgins for taking a chance on a local writer
a
nd
To Finnegan Mathieson Murray, welcome to this crazy wonderful family
“Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
(see
Glossary
for definitions)
The events of the last couple of months for twins Matt and Emily Calder have been life-changing. Fleeing London with their mother Sandie for their grandfather Renard's protection on the Scottish isle of Auchinmurn, they learn that their mother is an
Animare
and their father Malcolm a
Guardian
, giving them an explosive combination of talents. Not only can Matt and Em bring drawings to life, they can communicate telepathically and have a talent for mind control.
Matt has caused a dangerous rift in time by unbinding his father from the painting in which he has been imprisoned for ten years, and taking him to the Middle Ages in a bid to rescue his mother and sister. But after a fiery struggle on the islands and a time-travelling rescue by Jeannie, the Abbey's housekeeper, Em and their mother Sandie are already safe in the present day. Matt can only watch in horror at the nightmare he has unleashed on the past: his own father.
Matt is trapped in the Middle Ages with just two allies: Solon, an apprentice at the monastery with Animare talents, and Carik, a Norse girl with Guardian abilities who trusts Matt no further than she can throw him. How can Matt return to his own time? And how can he prevent his father from taking control of the beasts trapped in Hollow Earth?
Turn to
Glossary
for more information
Scotland
September 1848
Duncan Fox stood on the craggy hillside of Era Mina, squinting against the late summer sun drenching the Isles of Bute and Arran in a golden light. He was waiting for his canvas to dry, but his mind was elsewhere. With his hands deep in the pockets of his tweed field jacket, he was thinking of the recent brief visit from Sandie Calder and her children, Emily and Matt.
My family
, Duncan thought.
From a future I can hardly imagine.
He wondered if the hauntings he had been experiencing recently were a consequence of their trip.
The first time he had seen the strange figure, Duncan thought what he was seeing was a lucid dream: a state where he had a solid awareness of his surroundings while he slept. He had experienced such dreams before, but never so vividly. One week ago, he had sat up in bed, drenched in sweat, a vague feeling of dread prickling the hairs on the back of his neck. A gust of wind from Largs Bay had swept open the curtains, carrying with it the smell of the seaside â salty kippers, crushed shells, briny sand. Reaching for the pitcher of water next to his bed, Duncan poured himself a glass, then promptly spilled it on to the floor. A shadowy figure had stepped from behind his wardrobe.
Duncan hurriedly lit his oil lamp and held it above his head as the figure morphed from a ghostly presence to a fully fleshed man dressed in a brocade robe with a thick collar plate woven in shimmering golden threads â a Druid, magnificent and majestic. The Druid's robes were white with a silver helix embroidered on the breast. The vision wore a crown of twisted antlers, a fur cloak draped around his shoulders, and he gripped a sceptre cut from a length of knotty white pine, a carved peryton perched on its tip. Duncan could see the man as clearly as he could see the portrait of his own grandfather hanging on the wall behind him.
The figure had remained at the bottom of the bed until the light of morning banished him, leaving Duncan Fox with a vague feeling of unfinished business.
He endured this for three nights. When day four broke, Fox had called for his carriage and ridden alone on the coast road to Ayr to seek advice from one of the oldest Guardians in Scotland.
Frances MacDonald's fingers were gnarled from arthritis, but her eyes were bright and her intellect keen as Duncan carefully described his vision. She pointed to the first volume of
The History of Religion and the Decline of Magic in Scotland
.
âThat was once required reading for our kind, son,' she said. âYou'd do well to read it now if you're looking for answers. Lift it down for me.'
Duncan took the volume from the shelf she indicated and set it on the table. He waited as her fingers slowly turned the thick pages, his hands clasped behind his back, patient and respectful.
âIs this whose comin' to ye in the dark?' she asked, stepping away from the table to reveal a full-page facsimile from an illustrated manuscript.
Duncan stared at the image. The white robe, the fur cloak, the wooden sceptre with its carved peryton. Every detail, from the twisted crown to the silver helix on the figure's breast, was identical to the man at the bottom of his bed.
âThat's him!' he said in astonishment. âWho is he?'
âHe is Albion. The Guardian of the Beasts in Hollow Earth.'