Robin Jarvis-Jax 02 Freax And Rejex (51 page)

Malinda inclined her head. “But of course. How else would such as he appear in the Dawn Prince’s Kingdom – the distorting prism of the Devil’s own playground?”

“Oh, she’s totally nuts,” Maggie broke in.

“The joy of it is,” Malinda continued, “by invading this Realm, and
assuming the role of the Bad Shepherd, the Nazarene has had to agree to… how shall I say? My terms and conditions. Therefore, if he dies here, he has to die in every other world also. His power and influence will perish out of existence entirely. Only the Creeper can bring this about. That is what I want you to do for me. This is what you
must
do.”

Lee struggled to find what to say. “You is aksin’ me to kill Jesus? Seriously? You want me to do that? You expect I’d even think about it for a second?”

“That is why I have waited so long to meet you. Why you are so important. This mighty victory is in your gift alone. So much pain and unpleasantness could have been avoided if you had declared yourself sooner.”

Maggie had heard enough. “Let’s get out of here,” she said in disgust.

The girl reached for the door, but Malinda twirled a forefinger and the lock snicked into place.

“You cannot leave,” she said. “I am not done. The deal is not yet made.”

“Stuff you!” Maggie snorted. “We don’t need to use the door. Lee can take us back to our world from in here.”

“Tsk, tsk, he can only return if he’s outside. It doesn’t work indoors, does it, my dear?”

Lee didn’t answer. He’d had enough too and was revolted by what he had heard. She wasn’t keeping them here. Striding to the nearest leaded window, he smashed it with the skull. Malinda tapped her fingers and the wooden shutters outside came slamming to. He pushed and beat his fist against them, but they were like iron.

“You’ll never get out, without my permission,” Malinda said and now her voice was different. It was deeper, crueller – almost masculine. A speck of black mould bloomed on her cheek.

“And I’m not about to let you return to the camp to murder my devoted Lockpick. His family have served me faithfully for three generations and he’s done such a thorough job of keeping you so abjectly miserable in that
place. I’ve found it far more amusing than I anticipated. Watching your little arguments, the backbiting, the budding romances – most diverting. But here we are at last.”

The teenagers turned to her.

“How’d you know about the camp?” Maggie asked. “And how do you know so much about us? Who are you really?”

The Fairy Godmother rolled her eyes. “Haven’t you worked it out yet, you cretinous lard depository?”

With a rustle of taffeta, she turned slowly on the stool, wheeling around in a circle. By the time it was complete, her face had changed and the gown no longer fitted. The aged back was straight and the rounded shoulders were broader and defined. Sinewy forearms protruded from the sleeves and the legs had stretched. The eyes weren’t blue any more, but immeasurably dark. The features were gaunt and the spun-sugar hair was now sleek and black. Empty bandages fell to the floor.

The old woman was gone. Sitting in her place, but wearing the same clothes, was the Ismus.

The trademark crooked smile appeared.

“That’s much better,” he said, unlacing the cuffs and rolling them back. “Speaking through a pensioner’s mouth, long distance, isn’t exactly high up on my list of pleasures. This is much more comfortable… well, apart from the frock. Not really my colour. Now then, isn’t this nice? I feel I know you so well, apart from you, Spencer – you’re a bit of a repressed oddball and keep to yourself far too much. It isn’t healthy. But Garrugaska has taken a real shine to you, it’s rather adorable really. When a Punchinello wants to kill you, it’s practically a declaration of love. So, in a way, all three of you have had a romance in the camp. Isn’t that splendid?”

The teenagers were too taken aback to respond.

“Now I can finally stop house-sitting inside the head of one of your fellow aberrants. Another grave for someone to dig there, when I vacate possession, I’m afraid. You really did take an inordinately long time to
show yourself, Creeper. It’s been months since your last visit to these shores. What kept you? I’d have thought you’d be making regular raiding trips to selflessly steal food for your chums. How thin did you want them to get? Even the body I was hiding in was starving and it’s been dead for two months!”

Lee recovered from the shock and took an angry step forward. “This is Christmas and birthdays rolled in one,” he said with a dangerous grin on his face. “You, me, here, on our own – with no blacked-up minders watchin’ your back. Couldn’t be sweeter. First, I’m gonna make sure you know real hurt, then I’m gonna cut off your head and burn it. Let’s see what that does to this ‘playground’ you got goin’ here. I’m bettin’ it’ll fizzle to nuthin’.”

“But you haven’t even heard my offer yet,” the Ismus said calmly. “You know what I want you to do; let me tell you what I’ll do for you.”

“Ain’t nuthin’ you got I want, Dead-meat.”

The Ismus laced his mittened fingers together and leaned back on the stool.

“Charm was such a lovely girl, wasn’t she?” he said appreciatively.

“You do not get to say her name!” Lee bawled.

“Oh, wouldn’t you like to see her again?”

“What?”

“This, my dear Creeper, is the bargain. It’s very simple. You dispose of the Bad Shepherd for me, and you get to live happy ever after, here, with the pretty Miss Benedict – and all her whimsy.”

“She’s gone – you stinkin’ pile of crap!”

The Ismus raised his eyebrows. “Come now,” he said. “You of all people realise that doesn’t matter here. Tell me, did your previous random explorations ever take you to Battle Wood, atop the southernmost hill?”

Doubt and uncertainty swamped Lee’s anger.

“Probably not,” the man continued. “No one ever goes there now and there’s not a great deal to see. It’s almost impassable anyway. Thorns and ivy and brambles have taken over, but once, long ago, there was an
ancient stronghold on that lofty summit. I imagine it’s crumbing into ruin now, but there is an old tale of a fair maiden who lies in enchanted sleep within its topmost chamber. Only her true love can break the spell, with a kiss.”

Lee stepped back, breathing hard.

“You shut up,” he said.

“That maiden could so easily be Charm,” the Ismus tempted him. “I could make that happen. This world is my creation. You could be the valiant prince who rescues her. Think of it, the life together you wanted – better even. I will give you a princedom. You will be equal to the Jacks and Jills.”

Lee’s stocky frame sagged. The unicorn club slid through his fingers. He stumbled back against the doorway, his heart and mind whirling.

“Don’t listen to him,” Maggie cried. “It wouldn’t be real. You know she’s dead. You know what Jangler did to her! It wouldn’t be Charm! It would be a lie – like everything else here!”

“This is no lie, far from it – just a different reality. Imagine, a whole lifetime with her – and one day, if you so desire, children too. Could you truly abandon that? Did she mean so little to you?”

“Stop it!” Spencer shouted suddenly. “Open this door and let us out!”

“Don’t interrupt me, boy,” the Ismus growled at him. “This is between the Creeper and me.”

“Oh, really?” Spencer said, stooping quickly to pluck something from the floor. “You sure about that? Cos I think you need to do what I say right now – or else…”

In his hand he held the glass rabbit that had come snuffling by. Its legs paddled the air and its ears were waggling.

“Put that down,” the man ordered. “I said, put it down!”

“Not a chance! I’m going to count up to three and if that door doesn’t open, this Easter refugee gets smashed to bits and out pops that plague.”

“You’d never do it,” the Ismus scoffed. “You’d never condemn everyone here to such an agonising death. You’re no mass-murderer.
You’d be killing everyone you know, everyone who is currently under the spell of
Dancing Jax
. If they die here, they die back in your world too – including yourself and Lee and Maggie of course. That takes a certain amount of abandon and backbone you simply do not have.”

Spencer’s mouth was dry. “Maybe
I
wouldn’t,” he muttered timidly. Then he gave an insolent wink. “But Herr Spenzer can.”

The Ismus looked startled, almost impressed.

“And what of you, Gilly?” he asked the rabbit. “Have you nothing to say?”

The glass animal squirmed in the boy’s grasp and its little mouth quivered open.

“Please don’t shatter me!” it pleaded. “I may be reckless and clumsy, but that isn’t my fault. I don’t want to die. I didn’t want this badness inside me. I can’t help it. Eating the forbidden sweetmeat made me this way. Please don’t!”

“Oh, God!” Maggie spluttered, recognising the rabbit’s plaintive voice and staring at it in horror. “It’s Jody!”

Spencer almost dropped it in alarm and Lee raised his eyes, surfacing from the conflict boiling inside him.

The Ismus grinned. “Yes, poor mad Jody. This is what she became in Mooncaster. Her conversion was a complete surprise to me. What a rotten old time of it she’s had. Jangler really broke her in the camp. Would you do the same to her here?”

Spencer lifted the rabbit higher, as if to hurl it down. Her piteous wails were heartbreaking. The boy wavered. Then he began to shake and knew he couldn’t do it.

The Holy Enchanter relaxed. The boy was weak.

“You see,” Lee said abruptly as he snatched the glass animal from Spencer, “I never actually liked the girl. She were a royal pain in the ass from day one. So I got me no guilt about crushing her blue bunny head under my Nikes. Don’t care ’bout no plague neither, cos I’ve sworn I’m gonna take out Jangler and as many of them guards as I can, even if it kills
me. This won’t be as up close an’ personal as I’d like, but it’d get the job done. It’s win-win for me – how about you?”

He held the whimpering glass rabbit out in front of him and met the Holy Enchanter’s hostile glare, and matched it. They both knew he wasn’t bluffing and he was grimly amused to see the smirk wiped from the Ismus’s face.

“One…” he began counting.

“Two…”

“Thr—”

“All right!” the Ismus shouted, mould breaking out across his pale, perspiring skin. “But when you reawaken at the camp, you’ll be dead within minutes. I’ll see to that.”

Lee laughed bleakly. “Them minutes is gonna be glorious an’ messy though,” he promised. “You’re gonna have to audition you a new Lockpick, cos that one’s just reached his expiry date. Now open the goddamn door.”

The Ismus raised a finger and the lock clicked back. Maggie wrenched the door open and she and Spencer dashed outside.

“A life with Charm,” the Ismus reminded Lee as the lad retrieved the unicorn club and backed out. “That’s what you’re throwing away.”

“As you so rightly called it, my life is gonna consist of minutes back there – an’ real busy ones at that. Guess I can deal with any regret in whatever time I get spare. Now go put some guy clothes on, you dumb-ass!”

With that, he threw the glass rabbit into the cottage and slammed the door behind him.

The calico cat above the knocker jiggled madly on its nail. “Call again soon!” it warbled dizzily.

“Gimme your hands,” Lee told the others. “Keep tight hold of that wand, Spence.”

“But he just said it’ll be useless there!”

“Maybe – but do the guards and Jangler know that?”

The cottage door was torn open and the Ismus stood there, clasping
the glass rabbit he had barely managed to catch safely.

The teenagers had already gone and the frog on the bucket fell into the wishing well in wide-eyed surprise.

Back at the camp, all hell was about to break loose.

I
T WAS ALMOST
ten o’clock and the light of the July day was finally failing. The ambulance bearing Jody away had departed almost an hour ago, her blue glass eyes still staring upwards. Not knowing what to do for the best, with the help of the other kids, Alasdair had the three unconscious bodies of Lee, Maggie and Spencer brought inside his cabin as it was the nearest to where they fell. Jangler had been too preoccupied to fuss about a girl remaining in there after lights out and the guards were making a night of it, celebrating the acquittal of the Jill of Spades.

Punch-drunk again
, the Scot thought.
Any excuse to get bladdered. They’re worse than I was
.

Christina had begged to stay, but he didn’t want to risk getting her into trouble. Once Jangler realised his precious rules were being broken, there was no knowing what he’d do. Alasdair passed her into the care of the other girls in her cabin and the seven-year-old shuffled away unhappily.

The cacophonous din of the guards in the hut next door was worse than usual. Two TVs were turned up full, one showing a violent Western, the other blasting out hip hop. Yikker was on duty in the skelter tower, guzzling red wine, otherwise the other TV in there would have been showing a slasher flick.

Nicholas and Drew had to sleep on the mezzanine because their beds downstairs were being occupied. Alasdair sat on his own. He couldn’t understand what had caused Maggie, Lee and Spencer to pass out like that – and simultaneously. It was well weird, but then what wasn’t here? He had checked under their eyelids and was relieved to see they were human, but the pupils were unnaturally large. That happened when the book took you over. Had they become Jaxers now too? What would happen if they didn’t come round? They couldn’t lie there indefinitely.

The questions and the stress were giving him a headache. He bowed his head and rested it in his hands. This place was killing them, one by one. Who was going to be next? He thought of the first young lad. It was two months since Jim Parker had been murdered. Alasdair blamed himself for not doing more to help him. If he had only spared the time, that first weekend, to sit him down and talk. Could that have prevented his death? Alasdair reproached himself bitterly, because he was certain it would have.

Suddenly the three figures on the beds around him kicked their legs as though they were running and let out wild yells. The Scot raised his face in astonishment and saw them sit up sharply, panting and gasping. Spencer put his arms out as if to save himself from falling and Alasdair did a double-take when he saw the thing he clutched in his hand. It looked for all the world like a magic wand and had not been there a few seconds ago. Then he saw the stick Lee was holding – and what was fixed to one end of that.

“What?” he cried, jumping up and staring – a hundred questions firing in his mind and getting tangled on his tongue. “What the… how… what? Just what?”

The others swayed on the beds, disoriented. Lee gazed around blankly, until he recognised the familiar shape of the cabin. Then he sprang up and ran to the door.

“What are you doing?” Alasdair asked, dragging his eyes off the unicorn club left behind on the bed. “It’s ten o’clock. You cannae go oot there! You’ve been dead to the world for hours.”

“Ain’t goin’ out,” the boy answered. “Anyone gone by here just now? You see anyone? One of the other kids?”

“No – I didnae – I wasnae looking. Where the hell have you been? Cos you were no just flaked oot, I ken that noo! What is…?”

Lee hissed at him to be quiet. Further along the row, a cabin door had opened, just as he knew it would. He put a finger to his lips and waited, pulling as far back into the dim shadows as he could whilst remaining
close to the door. Stealthy footsteps were approaching. Someone was walking this way, heading for Jangler’s chalet at the end – to alert him.

Lee held his breath as the figure passed by and he stole a wary glance up at the tower. Yikker had slumped down, out of sight, and was gargling vulgar songs. Perfect. Then Lee moved with a speed and agility greater than Alasdair ever thought he was capable of. He yanked the door open and darted out. An instant later, he returned, dragging someone with him, his hand clamped firmly over their mouth.

Maggie and Spencer were still feeling groggy, but they understood what was happening. Alasdair didn’t.

“Hey!” he shouted in outrage. “What you doing? Let go o’ her!”

Lee didn’t answer. He swung the person he had caught, like a sack of potatoes, and slammed her against the wall violently. With his other hand, he grabbed the girl by the throat and lifted her off the ground.

“Christina!” Alasdair bawled, leaping forward to pull the insane Lee off her with his good hand. “What are ye doing? Get off! Let her go – you lunatic!”

Lee shook his head fiercely and the little girl choked in his strong grip. Pleadingly, she looked over to Alasdair and stretched a feeble arm towards him. The Scot charged at Lee and threw his weight against the boy. They went crashing to the carpet and Christina fell to her hands and knees, coughing.

“You madman!” the Scot yelled as he struggled and fought, one-handed. “What do ye think you’re doin’? She’s but seven years old! You out of your mind?”

Lee tried to push him off, but Alasdair’s fury gave him strength and he punched Lee in the face. The two of them vied with one another and Christina picked herself up. Not looking back, she hurried to the door again.

“Stop her!” Lee shouted.

Christina opened the door, but was snatched back by Maggie, who hauled her further inside. The young girl clawed and screamed like a wild
animal. By now Drew and Nicholas had heard the commotion and were running down the stairs. Spencer ran at them with the wand and the skull club.

“Stay there!” he told them.

“What’s going on?” Nicholas cried. “What’s she doing to Christina?”

Maggie shoved the girl on to a bed and tried to hold her down. Christina pushed back her head and screamed at the top of her voice.

“Jangler! Jangler! Help me!”

The noise of the Punchinellos’ TVs drowned out her screeching. Nobody outside the cabin heard her.

Lee finally managed to overpower Alasdair and came lurching to help Maggie.

“You goin’ no place!” he told Christina.

The child glared at him. Then she called out to Nicholas and Drew, sobbing in anguish.

“I’m scared. They’re hurting – save me! I don’t understand! What have I done wrong?”

The boys on the stairs tried to push past Spencer to help her, but he struck one against the head with the skull and kicked the other in the stomach. Both of them stumbled to their knees. Spencer took a deep breath. He didn’t know he could do this sort of thing. He kind of enjoyed that. But he hoped they weren’t badly hurt.

Alasdair was back on his feet and came running. Spencer pointed the unicorn’s horn at him and the Scot skidded to a stop before it.

“You’re all mental!” he raged. “You’ve woke up crazy. Let her go, for heaven’s sake! She’s only a wee lass!”

“Alasdair!” Christina wept. “Make them stop.”

“In God’s name!” he begged.

Lee stared down at her, revulsion contorting his face.

“This ain’t Christina,” he said. “That little girl ain’t been around for a long time. What we got here is a spycam.”

“What?”

“You always thought we had an informer in here with us. You was right, but you was lookin’ in the wrong places.”

“Dinnae be absurd, man. You’re no makin’ sense! Listen to yourself! That’s Christina there. Can ye no see that?”

Maggie shook her head. “Christina’s dead,” she told him.

“You’re out of your minds! She’s right there!”

“That’s just her body,” Lee insisted. “He’s been inside it all along!”

“What? Who?”

“The Ismus! Watching and laughing at us. Makin’ us fight ourselves, telling tales to Jangler, grassing on Jody, making her do stuff – pushing her over the edge.”

“Christina wouldnae ever do that!”

“Oh, open your eyes! Look at her!”

Alasdair gazed down. The seven-year-old had stopped struggling, her energies spent. He wanted to rescue her from these mad people, but with only one good hand it was impossible. He felt such a failure. He failed everyone – Jim, then Jody, now her – as he had failed to save his parents, that night in Edinburgh.

The boy caught his breath.

A change had come over Christina’s face. The eyes were darkening and her trembling chin set hard. Her mouth became cruel and severe. She turned her head and those black, glittering eyes regarded Alasdair with scorn.

The Scot swore and retreated fearfully.

“Och, no…” he breathed.

Christina’s lip curled and she opened her mouth to speak. But the voice was not her own, it was that of the Ismus. Christina’s voice was gone forever.

“You and Jody were so easy to delude,” the man snarled. “It was too easy really, there was no challenge there. You got boring very quickly. What a dreary pairing you made. Is it any wonder I spiced it up a little? At least Fatty and Muscleboy had comedy value. A shame he got digested
by one of my Lord’s pets. I used to enjoy pretending to faint so he could carry me. Do you realise what a chore it is, making these dead legs walk?”

Alasdair staggered away. “Make it stop!” he said. “Shut its filthy mouth afore I do.”

“This body had served its purpose anyway,” the Ismus continued as inky spots peppered across the forehead and the mould came sprouting out. “You won’t be able to stop me when I leave it. I might even pounce on one of you and take you over, for a laugh.”

The pitiless eyes fixed on Maggie. “I wonder what it feels like, being a walrus in a dress?” he sniggered. “I might crawl inside you. Mmmm… nice and roomy – I could throw a party.”

The head lifted to stare at Spencer. “Or how about you, Cowpoke? I’d make you run outside and give Garrugaska a rootin’-tootin’ treat by letting him gun you down like an outlaw – or maybe he could hang you. It’d be the first dance you were ever good at. Aww, don’t look so nervous. It’s what you wanted a while ago.”

Then the Ismus’s attention rested on Lee. “And what of you, Creeper? Shall I invade your head and see what makes the tocks go tick? Not quite the nice boy your proud mummy thought you were, are you? See, I did my research very thoroughly. A gang member – tut tut, blud. And that night, when you were going to mete out some hard justice to those other lost youths… who was it really had the gun? It was yours, wasn’t it? I’d like to know if you fired it before you were dragged to Mooncaster that first time. If I rummage around in your stubborn head, will I discover what truly happened in that underground car park? How many did you shoot as they read my sacred words to you and your bruvs?”

“You won’t climb inside my head,” Lee stated coldly. “You need me alive. I’m the only one can kill your Bad Shepherd and that’s way too juicy a peach for you to chuck. You daren’t get rid of me – case I change my mind and do it.”

“Lee!” Maggie cried.

The Ismus laughed.

“I knew my offer didn’t fall on closed ears!” he chuckled foully. “What I said can still be yours – you and the delectable Charm, together…”

Lee lifted the girl’s body from the bed.

“Yeah, but like I told you, next few minutes of my life gonna be real busy.”

“I won’t allow you to kill Jangler!” the Ismus warned.

Lee carried Christina to the bathroom and thrust her inside, pulling the door shut.

“Time to advertise for a new gaoler,” he muttered.

“You can’t keep me in here!” the Ismus yelled, heaving on the handle. Black mould foamed from Christina’s eyes and ears.

On the other side, Lee told the others to grab the duvets and force as much of them under the door as they could to seal the gap.

“He can’t get through there, surely?” Spencer said.

“You better be glad there ain’t no keyhole in this,” Lee replied. “Now find somethin’ to keep this door shut with! And if you see any stuff crawling through, jump the hell away from it. Don’t let it touch you.”

There wasn’t much time. He told Drew to hold the handle then claimed the unicorn stick and Malinda’s wand from Spencer.

“You can’t just go kill the old man,” the boy told him.

“Come watch me.”

“But it’s quarter past ten now. There’ll be a lorry waiting for us at the top of the road at eleven. We can get out. It doesn’t have to end here!”

“Ended for me when he butchered her. No going back from that. And he needs to pay.”

“Stop feeling so sorry for yourself! You’ve got this amazing gift that no one else has and you’re the only one who can stand up against that devil in there! How dare you think of throwing it away!”

Maggie left Drew stuffing a duvet under the door and barricading it with pillows.

“Spencer’s right,” she said. “We’ve got a chance to escape from this place. The only one we’ll ever get. What do you think is going to happen
to us? Me and Spence are good as dead if we stop here after what we’ve done. And what about Charm’s girls? She’d give them this. She gave them everything she had.”

Lee hated it when other people were right. Even so, there might be a way to accomplish both… He glanced out of the door. Yikker was still singing up in the tower. But Captain Swazzle was making a drunken patrol of the perimeter, armed with the machine gun.

“How we gettin’ past that?” he asked.

“Marcus worked that out,” Spencer remembered. “He knew how long it took one of them to walk the fence. The speed Swazzle’s going, it’ll take a bit longer tonight. There’s plenty of time to dodge him completely.”

“Not long enough to get eighteen kids outta here,” Lee stated. “We wouldn’t make it.”

Alasdair stirred. “If we could cut the wire,” he spoke up, in a stilted, grief-cracked voice, “I’ve got an idea.”

Lee reached into his pocket and fished out the cutters.

Two minutes later, one end of a sheet had been tied to the handle of the bathroom door and the other to a railing of the banister. It wasn’t going to open any time soon.

Inside, the splinter of Austerly Fellows had evacuated Christina’s body and she was lying on the floor, finally at peace. The bubbling mass of mould sat on top of her. It gave a frothing chuckle when the edges of duvet came squeezing under the door. It didn’t even need to get out of here. There was a far simpler, faster way of warning Jangler.