Werewolf Parallel (10 page)

“It’s no use – I can’t get round it!”

“Can you jump?” Cameron encouraged her.

A mouth with chalky teeth puckered open. “Excellent suggestion, sir. This lump has dined too long on table. I hunger for something with a bit more fight.”

Cameron roared. He grabbed instrument after dusty instrument from the wall pegboards and shelves and threw them at the lump. A trumpet, piano accordion, and banjo were swiftly and noisily swallowed.

The lump gurgled contentedly and continued to swell. Morgan grabbed Cameron’s arm. “It’s no good. You’re feeding it – just making it stronger.”

“You got a better idea? What else can I do?”

Eve pointed to the kitchen door, and the spiral stair beyond. “I’m going down – it’s my only chance.”

“No!” Cameron yelled. “There’s no way out. It’s a
dead end!”

“I’ve got to risk it! There’s the steel door over the sub-basement. Maybe that’ll stop it!” She turned and ran for the kitchen as the pulsing, growing grey blob rolled after her.

The grey mass pushed against the bowed window of the shop. As Cameron watched, the panes began to buckle and crack. There was nothing they could do to stop the lump’s progress. He and Morgan had been beaten back; forced out onto the outside stairs that led up to pavement level. Montmorency’s netbook – still displaying Dr Black’s hawk-like features – was all he’d managed to salvage.

“Woah! How did it get so big?” said Morgan. “Where does it all come from?”

“The other blobs must’ve done their work, so he’s got energy to spare…” Cameron shot a savage glance at Morgan. “You know what? I’m not interested how the Amazing Expanding Man does his tricks. All I know is he’s got Eve, and there’s nothing I can do.” He slammed the railings, which thrummed in protest.

“She’ll be ok. That’s a big old door down there.”

Shards of glass clinked as another pane popped. Metres away on the street, people were walking about but none of them reacted. They just kept their heads down and moved on.

“Hey! Does nobody want to help?” Cameron shouted. “My friend’s about to be swallowed by a huge
fungus monster, and no one cares.”

A schoolgirl pushed her headphones deeper into her ears, and an old man became very interested in his phone.

“Sheep! That’s what you lot are. Dumb sheep. Baa! BAAAA!”

“Mate, remember where you are, eh?” Morgan wrapped his arms round Cameron’s chest and dragged him back down the shop’s stairs. He hissed urgently in his friend’s ear. “If you’re gonna wolf out, the middle of the Human city is the worst place to do it. Those dafties might zone out on something grey and stinky glooping against a basement window, but a full-on boy-to-wolf transformation? Not so much!
Now get a hold of yourself!
”

“Get off! I’m not gonna shift!” Cameron struggled.

“How do you know? Because right now your control is kind of lacking –”

“I just do! My head…” Cameron frowned and suddenly went still. “It’s gone quiet. It’s not howling anymore…”

“Then you’re calming down. That’s a good sign.”

“I don’t know. It’s different.” Cameron’s brow furrowed. “Morgan, I can’t sense it at all…”

“I’d like a hug too, if there’s one going,” said an amused voice from above them.

“Eve!”

The two boys broke apart and Cameron bounded up the stairs to embrace Eve. “You’re all right. I thought it had got you!”

“Not this time.” Eve smiled and then gave Morgan a quick hug as well. She was looking more than a little bedraggled, her clothes streaked with dirt and powdery
dust threaded through her black hair. “Turns out there’s a hidden passageway. It’s pretty dank and crumbly, and comes out in the back garden of a tenement round the corner. I had to climb over a wall to get out.”

Morgan scratched his chin. “I’ve scoped that basement properly. There’s no exit.”

Eve shook her head. “I don’t know if it’s leftover from Janus’s portal magic, or if Cam’s sneaky gran had it built it as an escape route, but it’s definitely there. He showed me.”

“Who are you talking about?”

She raised her hand and pointed.

Pressed against the side of a building, out of the yellow glare of the street lamps, lurked the silhouette of a wolf.

Morgan thrust his chin forward and sniffed the air. “I must be going mad, but that’s…”

“You’re not,” Eve said quietly. “I felt that too. That’s why I trusted him.”

The shape moved and raised its snout. Brilliant green eyes flared, looking first to Eve, then Morgan and finally to Cameron.

A shudder ran through him – a queasy ripple that was part alarm and part recognition. The only thing he could compare it to was stumbling to the bathroom in the middle of the night and catching a glimpse of a sleep-blurred face in the mirror and, just for a second, not knowing it was your own.

“Cameron, he looks just like the Other You,” said Eve.

Cameron moved toward the black furred shape. It seemed to be more shadow than wolf. In response it turned and darted away, quick as a thought.

“We’ve got to follow him,” said Cameron.

“Oh great. Must we?” Eve groaned and pulled cobwebs from her hair. “Because I’ve already had a trying day –”

But Cameron had started running, and Morgan was close behind.

Cameron powered through the streets. The wolf seemed to flicker as it ran, gaining solidity then fading back into night. There were moments when the track went cold, then he would catch a flash of green eyes – and that sudden stab of recognition. Contact re-established, the wolf would turn and run once more.

The crowds thickened as he neared the top of Leith Walk. The wolf raced across the busy road, weaving through four lanes of traffic.

A car slammed on its brakes.

“Control your dog!” someone shouted.

“Love to,” Cameron threw over his shoulder, and pressed on.

The wolf disappeared down a steep road by the side of the Playhouse Theatre. At the bottom, a neglected courtyard gave onto a drying green with bins and lines of frosted washing.

“Where’s he gone?” Eve searched, black hair flying out behind her.

“It’s ok, I’ve got the scent.” Morgan’s head was held high. “Nose is never wrong.” There was a hint of a movement at the corner of the green. “
There!
”

Cameron pounded onwards, trainers scrunching on cold gravel, following a winding path that led past an old church and up the side of Calton Hill. His heart thumped as the gradient increased, the wolf ahead loping between
patches of darkness. All at once, the path levelled out. The city was revealed spread below them: all grey stone and bristling with wintery light.

“Lost him. Gah!” Morgan skidded to a halt and spat in disgust.

“So much for Super Nose.” Eve bent over, breathing heavily.

“He can’t have just vanished!”

“Why not? Ghost Wolf just
appeared
, after all.”

“Scent is
historic
, right? I can track across time as well as place. Even if he’d shifted to the Parallel there’d be something left behind.” Morgan rubbed the back of his neck. “Must’ve gone somewhere I can’t track.”

“Back to where he came from?” Eve huffed out chilly air and turned to Cameron. “Wherever that was. What do you reckon?”

“Not sure… I just knew he wanted me to follow him.” Cameron looked vague for a second. He rubbed the side of his head. “I think we’re here for a reason.”

Morgan exchanged glances with Eve. “Ok, mate. You’re in charge, because I haven’t got a clue right now. Where next?”

Cameron scanned his surroundings. The hilltop was a strange cold place, scattered with statues and old buildings. There was a tower shaped like an up-turned telescope, a huge domed monument sheltering an urn, and a green-roofed observatory. Further away, on a flattish plain, a row of giant stone columns was lit up against the night sky. Arranged around three sides of an otherwise empty space, they gave the startling impression someone had randomly dropped half a Greek temple onto the hill.

At the base of the columns, a group of men in tattered bird costumes seemed to be practising some sort of play. They moved back and forth in a ritualised dance, the feathers on their clothes fluttering in the wind.

After a year living in Edinburgh, Cameron was used to seeing performers in unusual outfits wandering the streets, promoting their shows. But this was months before the Festival started.

He beckoned his friends and pointed. “I’ve got a feeling we should start over there.”

They made their way across the grass. As they approached the performers, one of them broke away, walking with a stiff-legged gait. Shiny black and white feathers were stitched into the weave of his business suit and the top of his bowler hat. His face was lacquered with greasepaint and a pointed cardboard beak had been tied around his head with string.

“Looks like a magpie,” Eve said tentatively. “Is that what you are?”

The performer’s head jerked back in indignation. His gloved hand indicated the full length of his body from clawed boot to beak. His chest puffed out. He made no sound, but the meaning of his dumb show was obvious: Meant to be a magpie? I
am
a magpie.

“Ok, Magpie-Banker,” said Eve. “Maybe you can help. We’re looking for a wolf.”

The bird-man blinked for a second. He pointed at Morgan then Cameron and cocked his head. He covered his mouth and shook convulsively.

“The four-legged kind,” Morgan growled. “You bird-brained –”

“Morgan! Be nice. I’m sure Mr Magpie would help if
he could. Perhaps if we traded something?” Eve reached to her wrist and unclasped a shiny bracelet. She dangled it in the air. “Bet you’d like this?”

The performer opened his mouth and let loose a deafening, rattling squawk right in Eve’s face. Startled, she dropped the bracelet. He snatched it and strutted away.

“Now hold on…” Morgan was instantly on the warpath. His chest swelled belligerently and he stalked after the thief.

The magpie-man’s eyes went wide. He gestured towards the three-sided monument and squawked again. His hand foraged inside his suit and he produced a business card, which he handed to Eve with a flourish. The typewritten message said:

COME TO THE AUGURY

Diverse Questions Answered via The Medium of Birds

AAARK!

“I’ve heard of the Augur of Calton Hill,” said Cameron. “Gran told me about him once. It’s how she discovered where to go for her resurrection magic.”

The bird-man made a rolling gesture with his glove. Eve turned the card and read the reverse. In smaller type it said:

And then, in a smaller font still:

Eve sighed. “Oh brilliant. Why couldn’t it be an ordeal by hot chocolate? Or puppies?”

“It augurs well for your future,”
Morgan said slowly. Cameron and Eve looked at him. “That two-faced god must’ve known we’d come here… That’s what he said when he gave us the Omniclavis. It got stuck inside my head.”

“Where it no doubt had loads of space to roam about freely,” Eve said brightly. She bit her lip. “Sorry, I joke when I’m nervous. Haven’t you noticed?”

“We don’t have to go,” said Cameron, watching her with concern. “They can’t make us. We can head back down the hill and go home –”

“To the shop filled with Grey, or the house with no wards? Great options, mate. And with the Parallel shutting up, my favourite bolt-holes are all out of commission.”

“Morgan –” said Cameron warningly.

“No, he’s right,” said Eve. “We’ve got
loads
of questions, like how do we beat Grey and Black, and stop them destroying the Parallel? And what’s up with you changing into a wolf all the time?” She took a deep breath. “We’ve got to go through with it.”

“Ordeal of fear it is, then.” Cameron gave a determined grin. “Let’s world-shift and get on with it.” He closed his eyes and let the song of the Parallel wash over him.

On the hillside, the monument began to grow. Pillar after pillar sprouted, rising up from the earth like colossal 
stone palm trees. Laurel-decorated lintels faded into being, joining together with the building’s fast-emerging fourth side. The newly formed quadrangle was open to the sky and every surface teemed with avian life. On the ground, small birds like starlings, pigeons and robins congregated, while high on the tops of the columns owls hooted, gulls screeched and sharp-beaked raptors scanned for prey with robotic precision.

As the Parallel settled and stabilised, Cameron once more heard the low call of a wolf – so close it was as if a whiskery muzzle was pressed tight to his face, a cold nose touching his cheek. This time he had no doubt where the howl was coming from: the wolf presence that had vanished earlier had returned.

So you’re back with me, are you?
he whispered, feeling strangely reassured.
Good. Let’s see what trouble you’ve got us into
.

Morgan was studying the many-pillared monument. He whistled. “Bit squawky now it’s gone auto-complete, but standing strong. You’ve got to respect that. No Greys here!”

“No,” said Cameron. “Not yet.”

The magpie-daemon had transformed too, becoming more bird than costumed man. His feathers protruded directly from his skin, their lustrous sheen glinting in the torchlight that burned at the corners of the Parthenon-style temple. He clacked his beak. “Travellers three, if you wish to enter the Augur’s cave, you must show me some
spine
.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Morgan gave him a baleful look. “Trial by fear. We get it. When do we start?”

The magpie-daemon chittered and jabbed at Morgan.

“Hey, what’s that for?” Morgan took a step backwards, raising an arm to protect his face. No longer tawdry painted cardboard, the daemon’s bill was razor sharp.

Another bird-man left the group that had been dancing together. His feathers were thick and white, his eyes disturbingly large and gold. “Make a pen to unlock a mind,” it cawed at Cameron, “from a tool of flight left behind – what is it?”

“How do you mean?”

The owl-daemon hooted, and swiped at him. Cameron yelped and ducked.

“There’s more coming.” Eve pointed. “Look out!”

Obsidian-black crows the size of burly wrestlers strutted forward, chanting, “Sturdy stem and jagged edge, often lost behind the hedge; collect a set, put ’em by; pick the one that lets you fly.”

“It’s a riddle!” shouted Cameron. As the yammering, chattering crowd of bird-daemons clustered closer, pushing and shoving, he tried to remember everything that had been said.
Spine… lost behind the hedge…a tool of flight that could be made into a pen… a quill!
“Feathers! They’re all descriptions of feathers!”