The Lost Soul (6 page)

Lilly wandered in and out of the different sections of the store, eyeing up the stacks of CDs containing Celtic music to meditation sounds and music for relaxation. There were headphones where you could sample the different sounds. Lilly put them on and listened for a few moments to the sounds of dolphins and whales in the wild. She clicked the button to change the CD to hear the sounds of gentle running water and the rainforest. It almost gave her the urge to go to the toilet. With a smile, she clicked the button a second time and almost jumped as the sound of a woman's voice began to tell her to 'relax, breathe, let the negative energy exhale from your bones with a long sigh....'

Lilly took off the headphones and looked around for December. Her attention was interrupted by the sight of a woman who looked remarkably like the singer from Fleetwood Mac. What was her name? She jumped as someone put a hand on her shoulder, "Have you seen her? She looks exactly like Stevie Nicks," said December's voice in her ear.

"I was just thinking the same thing... even her clothes are identical."

Lilly was only familiar with the band since December had arrived from England. Moira was such a big fan that she had all their albums and listened to them frequently.

Suddenly the woman turned to the girls and grinned. Even though she hadn't been in hearing distance, the woman nodded. "Thanks girls... I get that a lot," she said with a wink before turning her attention back to the book she was so interested in.

Both girls blushed crimson and turned to walk in the opposite direction where they were faced by a huge owl, making them jump.

"Don't worry girls. It's actually stuffed. It's kinda sad, I know, but he belonged to my grandmother and she was so sad after he died that she decided to have him preserved. Oh hi, by the way. I'm Melina! You must be December... and you must be Lilly?" the pretty young woman with the cropped blonde hair asked.

Wendy's Wonders had been there for years, having been opened by Melina's grandmother in the 60s. Her daughter, Shannon, had joined Wendy to work in the shop as soon as she was old enough and she had loved it. She never missed a day, not even when she was heavily pregnant with Melina twenty years ago.

"Hi, yes, how did you know?" asked December, before realising she knew the answer already as Melina laughed and pointed to her hair.

"You are most definitely your mother's daughter. And she's told me a little about you and your best friend. Welcome to Wendy's Wonders."

The girls laughed.

"Thanks. It's an awesome shop. I've never seen anything like it. I could spend hours in here."

"Most people say that. Thank you. My Mom and grandmother were very proud of it. And so am I," she said.

"We're very sorry about your family, Melina."

Melina just smiled. "I feel like they're still here with me in this shop."

"I see you met my girls, Melina," interrupted Moira who had appeared from the back of the shop with a large basket filled with goodies, "Thanks for letting me into the back. I know a lot of this stuff isn't available to regular customers," she smiled.

Ever since Wendy's Wonders had opened to the public, Wendy had kept a separate room in the back for serious witches, where all kinds of weird and wonderful things were for sale for the more unusual spells. Perhaps not 'eyes of newt' or 'puppy dogs tails' but close.

"If you girls have finished browsing, we ought to head back home."

CHAPTER EIGHT

As Gwynethea took Jack's hands in hers, Zalea sat quietly to his side by the softly glowing orange flames of the fire in the centre of the room.

"It's dark, there is nothing but blackness all around you. You can see nothing. You can hear nothing. Just the sounds of your breathing. Your breath is quick and short. You are afraid. You try to stand

but you are being held against your will. There are chains around your ankles and wrists. You cannot move. The pain. There is pain all around you. Oh," Gwynethea recoiled from Jack, temporarily dropping his hands. When she opened her eyes, they are not her eyes that Jack and Zalea saw. Her eyes were no longer blue but bright green, like a cat's eyes. Jack jumped and Zalea screamed.

"Gwynethea!"

Suddenly, she closed her eyes once more and when she re-opened them, the old lady's blue eyes had returned.

"I am fine, young one. This is nothing but a memory. It might flash in my eyes, but fear not, it is just a memory. Come, we must return. Jack must remember."

Taking his hands, she reverted back into the trance.

"You are not alone. There are others chained like you. You can hear them but you cannot see them. There is a light in the distance, it is coming closer and closer. It is a torch. It is being carried by someone. Wait, you gulp back the fear. It feels like it's stuck in the back of your throat. It comes closer and closer. It is not human. It is... Nephilim."

Suddenly, Jack let out a low groan and a sob, "I remember the beast," he whispered," I remember. No.....no," he sobs.

"That's enough, Gwynethea!" yelled Zalea, jumping up and trying to unlock their hands.

When Gwynethea opened her eyes and looked around, she released Jack's hands.

"You were with the Nephilim, Jack. I am amazed you survived."

"But who are they?" asked Zalea, rubbing away a falling tear from her cheek. "Who are the Nephilim? Did they take my sister?"

"My dear, Sheharazalea. We are here to recall Jack's memories. I cannot tell you if they have your sister. But for now, we need to concentrate on what he has blocked from his mind, okay?" she said soothingly as Zalea nodded and returned to her seat by the side of the fire.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"It's all right, my dear. You are clearly anguished. We will get to the bottom of this. Now we must speak of the Nephilim."

"Nephilim," whispered Jack quietly, "who are they?"

"They are demons, my dear, demons. And they live not far from Argentumalea."

"There are demons close to us? Why do we not know about this? We cannot live near to demons," screeched Zalea.

"Shhh child. The Nephilim and the Faeries have lived close to each other for thousands of years. It is just the way it is. No doubt you have all been told not to venture far from home. Well, the Nephilim are one reason why. But they can never come close to your home. They are trapped, you see."

"But how did they get Jack?" she whispered.

"I'm not sure. To discover that, we will need to go back to the trance, to remember."

"Then we must. I need to remember everything," said Jack.

"Then take my hands and we will return. We will try to go further back in time."

As Jack took hold of the old woman's hands once again, a shiver went down his spine as he recalled that awful dark, damp place where he had almost perished.

"The beast is close. He is looking for something, someone. He makes his choice and releases the chains of someone close to you. It is a man, an old man. He yells for help. All you can hear are his sobs as the Nephilim carries him out of the cave in which you are trapped. Your face feels wet. You are crying. Another memory is coming through. You are in a dark place. You are alone. There are no chains but you are trapped in a dark room, a black room. There is no way out. You are drained, so drained and so weak. Suddenly you see a light in the room, it's like water, no... a....a vortex. You step into it. You know it's the only way you can escape this room. Then there is nothing, just a whirling and you fall right into the hands of the Nephilim. You try to run, you are surrounded by the beasts. You are too weak. You fall to the ground. You feel like you are falling to sleep."

Zalea watched the rapid eye movement of Jack's eyeballs beneath his closed lids, but she knew she must let them continue, knowing it was the only way for him to remember himself and what happened to him. How he came to be in Argentumalea in the first place. She wondered if he might have any memory of her lost sister, Tiffanimelicomelea.

"You wake up. You are in a small cage surrounded by many others trapped in similar cages. When you turn your head to look around, you find a female Nephilim watching you. She hungers for you, you can tell by her eyes. You ask her what she wants. She says nothing. You shout and she stands, laughing at you. She moves closer to you, so close you can feel her breath on your face through the bars. You yell obscenities at her. You feel disgusted. But she does nothing but laughs a cruel, evil laugh. But wait, that laugh, it reminds you of something. You remember someone. A beautiful woman who has harmed you in some way. Who is she, Jack? Remember her. Focus on this beautiful woman."

Jack winces and speaks, "Vivian. I remember now. I know who I am."

CHAPTER NINE

The spell worked. December, Moira, Ruby and Lilly looked on in utter shock as Millicent appeared to them in earnest. Not just a floating spirit but a woman with a body.

"Oh, get the woman some clothes, already. She'll freeze to death in here standing there naked like that. And after all of this, we certainly wouldn't want to lose her to the cold would we?" said Ruby, floating around her ancestor in shock.

"Yes, yes, of course. I'll run upstairs and get something for her to wear," muttered Moira, who was having some difficulty believing the spell had actually worked.

"I'm human again... after all these years. I can barely believe it," whispered Millicent, pinching her arms and jumping up and down.

"Woah there. Can you wait 'til you've got some clothes on before you start doing all those gymnastics" sniggered December with a grin.

"Oh, sorry... I'm just excited. It's been a long time since I felt like this. Well, since I actually felt at all."

After Moira had hurriedly returned with an outfit, Millicent struggled to put on the jeans. But when she did, she looked just like one of the family.

Finally, December hugged her ancestor and squealed, "I can't believe it. I just can't believe it."

Lilly remained seated on the bed, not quite sure what to do or say.

"Let's all go upstairs and get something to eat and drink. This calls for a celebration, don't you think?" said Moira, leading Millicent up the steps and out into the bright light of the hallway and into the kitchen.

"You sit yourself down and I'll just go to the garden to tell Monty about our guest and then we'll have something for lunch."

Millicent couldn't stop touching things. The kitchen worktop, the toaster, the sink, the tap (the feel of the running water particularly excited her), the fluffy towels... it was as if she was feeling everything for the first time. But then, she probably was considering she was originally from the 1200s.

Just as the excitement was building for them all, December fell from the stool to the ground, clutching her head in pain.

"Call for Moira please Lilly," said Millicent, deftly picking December up from the floor and helping her into the living room where she placed her carefully on the sofa.

"Now this is what you called me here for, December. You must trust me when I tell you I know exactly what you are going through. I need you to focus. I know it is not easy but you must focus on the pain. The pain is trying to tell you something. Can you focus on it? It will eventually go away but you must find out where it's coming from. Who it's coming from."

The others rushed into the room and watched as Millicent calmed December down, calmly talking to her and getting her to focus all she could on the pain.

"Now close your eyes. Do you see anything?"

December gently shook her head and winced.

"It's all right, December. You can talk. Don't move your head, just talk to me. What do you see?"

After a few moments, December spoke, "I see a man."

"That's good. Can you describe him?"

"No, it's too dark. I can just see his outline."

"Can you see where he is?"

"It's so dark."

"Can you hear anything?"

December focussed hard on the vision behind the head-ache while everyone in the room was silent.

"I can hear something, it sounds like, like chains. And sobbing. He is sobbing. I think he's being kept prisoner."

"That's good, December. Is there anything else you can tell us?"

"It's warm... I don't know how I can tell, but it just feels warm, really warm."

"That's good, December. That's enough for now. Open your eyes and focus on me. Look at me and breathe slowly. Just look at me. Is the pain fading?

December nods, "Yes, it's going, it's going."

"Excellent. Now close your eyes and rest for a while. We'll be right here."

Millicent took December's hand and held it tightly. She turned to Moira and said, "Well, I can tell you this. December is going through the exact same thing I did. She has somehow developed a connection with this man."

"Do you know who or where he is?"

"Well, I can't really answer that."

"What about when it happened to you? Who was it? And where were they?" asked Lilly eagerly.

Millicent closed her eyes for a second before turning to look out the window.

"It was very unusual. He was a man who was from our world but he had somehow become lost on another," she tried to explain.

"You mean he was on another planet?"

"I don't believe so."

"Well then, what do you believe?" asked Monty.

"I think you'd all better sit down..."

After they'd all made themselves comfortable, Millicent began to tell them the story about how she began communicating with a man called Badrick.

"The headaches began when I was quite young, but I didn't learn to control them until I was 20. It was then that I began to have the visions of the young man. He too was trapped in chains in a dark place surrounded by evil. It took a while but eventually we managed to actually converse, strangely enough through space and time. He told me his name was Badrick and he was just a normal man. I didn't quite believe that, of course. I think he had a secret of some kind. But that secret he took to his grave. But anyway, he had been born, grew up and lived in England with his young wife, two daughters and a son. One day he was working the fields when he saw a strange light. When he walked towards it, he was sucked into it and when he woke up he was chained to the wall of a dark cave. He told me he felt like he was deep underground. There were others chained there too and every now and again, the beasts would come and take one away. I never found out what the beasts were doing to them, whether they feasted upon those poor souls or killed for entertainment. Badrick did not know until... until they took him and once they did, I never heard from him again. I know deep down they killed him."