Into the darkness

  “That wasn’t your fault.” He yanked his t-shirt over his head and began speaking again when his head re-appeared. “Even you can’t be expected to do everything. You didn’t do anything wrong, so there’s no reason for you to feel bad.”

  “But, there is a reason, Alex.” Amber sat up, slightly uncomfortable at what she was about to say, but she felt as if she might explode if she didn’t say something. “Part of me wanted to stay there when I left. I was an ordinary girl, I wasn’t special. I was… content just to stay there and live.”

  “What’re you seeing? That you wanna go back to be kept like a caged animal?”

  “Forget it. Forget I said anything.”

  “So, why did you?”

  I’m keeping stuff from you and I hate it so much. But I’m doing this to protect you – you have to believe me. She stuffed her feet into a pair of slingback trainers and ran a brush through her light copper hair, tying it back in a tight ponytail. “Come on, go take a quick shower. We need to go north and look for one of them – on their own.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m in a chatty mood.”

  Chapter 6

  It was midday and time for lunch. He worked from home so, really, he could eat any time he wished but 12 o’clock had always been lunchtime in this house. The computer could be a cruel task-master when you were working to a deadline. It used to be common-place for him to pull all-nighters before he had got round to buying himself a computer. As with all electrical equipment, Richard was very careful not to spill anything on it and ate on the sofa, although someone used to leave the keys sticky with jam. No prizes for guessing who!

  There were people milling about and chattering, or for want of a better word, loitering. He glanced out of the window, then went straight back to his waiting laptop. The sounds outside the house, and all along the street, no longer interested him or piqued his curiosity – he’d heard it all before. That was until he heard two quite loud thumps at the back of the house and what may have been footsteps on the roof. Suddenly, Richard felt much less safe. It wasn’t because he didn’t take care; he spent virtually all of the daylight hours behind thick curtains. He just didn’t know what was going to happen any more.

  The screen glared at him accusingly, and Richard made a feeble attempt to gather his thoughts enough to do some work. But it was worse than impossible to concentrate on anything so mundane when his little girl was in danger. Richard Tully was no fool. He knew what was going on. It was as if Amber-Louise didn’t understand the danger she was putting herself in by being outside all the time.

  Sometimes he really worried about her, but he knew that she was more than capable of taking care of herself. It was hard for a girl to grow up without a mother figure around. Maybe that’s why she was she was so independent at such a young age – because she had learnt to fend for herself. Maybe that was why she visited her aunt every fortnight – a womans’ influence. He had done the best he could for her, but there were certain things she could only talk about with another woman.

  So if he knew that his daughter was as safe as she could be, and that he was doing everything he could why am I so scared?

  “If any one of you makes another attempt on my life, I’m gonna make one on yours – and I won’t fail! Got it?” Amber-Louise was pinning one of the Masses to the wall by the neck.

  “Got it,” he choked.

  “Maybe you ought to let up a bit,” Alex suggested. He was standing at the side, watching the exchange, perfectly happy to let the girl do the work. Oh, yeah. That’s real macho. “This puppet’s a real boy. You might have more luck if you let him breathe.” Reluctantly, Amber loosened her grip just enough to let him breathe.

  “Yeah. And I’m also kinda hungry too.” A trade - food for information.

  “Hungry? You don’t start talking pronto and I’ll force feed you my fist!” At that moment she meant it too. So, the trade thing wouldn’t work. “I bet you think you’re pretty clever by wearing dark glasses to hide your eyes –“

  “But one look at your clothes says different,” Alex finished for her. “I mean, who in their right minds would wear thick, black clothes in this weather?”

  “We serve Liatruz, our master. He is our leader,” the puppet recited in his monotone. “We wear and do whatever he tells us to.”

  “Oh, save me the speech! Liatruz is our creator, Liatruz is the best – I’m fed up of damn Liatruz! Next, you’ll be telling me he’s God.” She sucked on her knuckles as she debated what to say next. The guy at the end of her arm was a dead weight but seemed to weigh very little to the witch. “So, erm, what exactly does he want? Besides that whole world domination thing? Because, you know, I’ve heard stories.”

  “He wants you.” Puppet took off his shades and stared down at her with cold, unfeeling eyes. “You are a good witch.”

  “That’s such shocking news,” she replied, boredly.

  “You can destroy his work – him.” So it was possible. “We can’t allow that.”

  “So, why did he capture me instead of just killing me right off?”

  “Because you have power - power that he wants.”

  Amber-Louise tightened her grip and shoved him against the wall again. “Explain yourself.”

  If he could stop you from stopping him making everyone into us, you would have nothing left to fight for.” Puppet stopped, knowing that he had said too much, even in one sentence. Amber just raised a clenched fist to his face and punched him in the head. With the right… motivation, people would sing like canaries.

  “You were saying?” she prodded.

  “When your defences were down, he was planning to turn you into one of us.”

  “What’s in it for him?”

  “You would still have your magickal powers. But, instead of using them for your good, you would use them for whatever Master commands.”

  “Right hand man to pure evil. Hmm – a tempting offer but I think I’ll pass.”

  “We can all see your potential for our cause.”

  “This isn’t a cause,” she spat, disgusted. “It’s mindless destruction. You don’t even know what you’re doing, or that it’s wrong. He tells you that what you’re doing is right, then screws you up so bad that you end up believing him.”

  Puppet tried to ignore the blood trickling down his face from a broken nose. “Liatruz has not screwed us up.”

  “Yes, he has. And then he screwed you over. And how –“

  “Heads up!” called Alex from lookout post on the corner. “More on th way!”

  “Think you can hold them off for a few minutes? Until I’m done with this moron.”

  “Not likely. There’s too many of them.” He did a quick head count. “About half a dozen, I reckon.”

  Amber let go of the guy and immediately regretted not putting a holding spell on him. “Stay! I’m not through with you yet.” He scarpered, as she had known he would. Doesn’t matter, I got most of what I wanted anyway, she thought as she palmed her fist menacingly. “You know what, Alex, I feel like breaking a few more bones.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  “How could you let this happen?” he demanded. Liatruz was standing in a large, cavernous room, fascinated with the way his voice echoed off the walls. He was surrounded by a hundred of his minions and the walls were decorated with terrified people in chains, waiting to be changed. It wasn’t nearly so sinister as people thought; he fed them and gave them straw mattresses to sleep on at night – it felt like home. Though Liatruz had had many homes over the past few months and couldn’t really compare them. “How could you let her escape in the first place?”

  “She’s just too strong for us to be much of a problem. When we go to her, she just knocks us down like toy soldiers.”

  “I don’t want your excuses. I want that girl.”

  “She still believes that she has something to fight for, Master.”
r />   “Does she not see that we are in control now. I am in control now.” The warlock sat on the throne-like, stone structure that his minions had carved for him. “Her very existence is pointless, so why does she insist on fighting me?”

  “B-because you’re evil,” cried a woman from her chains. Liatruz squinted his eyes at her and a black spark killed her instantly.

  “Never start a sentence with because,” he advised. “She has escaped me once and that must never happen again.” He had a reputation to think about, after all. “You should have brought her back to me by now. One little witch is that so much to ask for?”

  “She’s too strong for any of us to even slow her down. And now she’s got a friend to help her. Together, they have depleted our numbers quite noticeably.”

  “I don’t want to kill her, or anything,” he lied, grinning to himself. “Well, not all the way. I just want her power – that’s not so wrong, is it? Of course it is, but where would the fun be if it was right.” When the witch had first been captured, she had been headstrong and had tried everything she knew to get free. He had, foolishly, thought that she was being worn down and was giving up the fight when she stopped trying to get free. But she had proved herself to be cleverer and more powerful than he’d thought when she had escaped, made it home, and started taking out his subjects left, right and centre. “I don’t care how you do it, I want that witch.”

  Murmurs of confusion rippled through the crowd. “But we have tried to recapture her, Master. You yourself have been following her every move since she got out.”

  “That is true,” he mused, thinking about something and nothing. The something being the beginnings of a plan. “I don’t give a damn how you get her – just bring her here.”

  “We will get her for you Master, but it may take time.”

  “Just do it!” growled Liatruz, frustrated that his brain wasn’t working more quickly. The similarly dressed Black Masses dispersed, intent on finding a way to fetch the girl to him.

  It was true that the warlock had wanted his plan of gaining complete control to be completed by the time the witch got out. He’d been planning to let her out when everyone had fallen under his control, anyway, so she would get a nice surprise when she got home. Most people within a 25 mile of here were in his control in one way or another, including many other towns and cities up and down the country. But, one of his Masses or not, while they were still alive, she still had something to fight for.

  Her cause. To protect the innocent.

  “Here.” Amber-Louise handed Alex a mug of thick, brownish liquid. “Drink this.”

  He sniffed at it and wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Erm, what exactly is it? Poison? ‘Cos that’d be pretty good right now.”

  “Not even close. It’s a healing potion. Your arms a bit broken so this should sort it out. It’s quite strong so it shouldn’t take too long.” They were at his house which meant she could make, and give him, the potion without any awkward questions. Alex was sitting on the worktop, swinging his feet against the cupboard and nursing his fractured arm. “It’s kinda gross but it won’t last long.”

  Alex took a sip and grimaced. It was the worst concoction he had ever had the misfortune of drinking – and being Amber’s best friend he had tasted a lot. “Yuck! What’s in that stuff?” Then he shrugged and tilted the offending mug to his open lips.

  “That’s it – all of it.” She looked on with mild amusement. Then, when he had finished and wiped his mouth clean of the goo, she went on. “Man, you’re good! I wouldn’t drink that stuff if I was on my deathbed.”

  “Why? What did you put in it?” he asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

  “How does your arm feel?” she asked, gleefully avoiding the question.

  “Painful! I’ll give you first hand experience if you don’t tell me what you put in that gunk.”

  “Oh, nothing too bad,” she replied, eyes wide with mischief and fake innocence.

  “What was in it, Amber?”

  Um… dandelion root, blood, milk, salt, and a few other things you really don’t need to know about.” There were actually a lot of things in the mixture that she wouldn’t tell him about. She knew that the Sisterhood would frown upon what she had just done for her friend – it wasn’t strictly part of her mission. But, if she didn’t help Alex, who was going to help her?

  “You waited until I was done to tell me that, didn’t you?”

  “Yup! Well, you wouldn’t have drunk it if I told you before.” There’s something tp be said for this deception thing, after all.

  “Got that right. I think I need to wash my mouth out with bleach.” He just sat there while Amber-Louise found a clean dishtowel and whipped his arm up into a makeshift sling. “And I don’t even wanna think about the bits you didn’t tell me. Okay, what are the unmentionables?”

  “Unmentionable. ‘Cos I’m not telling you.” She tied the towel in a knot behind his neck and patted his arm. “Is that okay?”

  “Ye-ow! But safe to say that they’re all gross, right?”

  “No. There were some not-so-vomit-inducing things.”

  “You are such a bad liar, Amber-Lou.” That wasn’t quite true though. He could tell that she was keeping a painful secret from him, although she kept denying it. If he didn’t know her as well as he did, he might even have believed her when she said everything was okay. And if she didn’t talk to him about it soon, she would end up hurting herself. And the people who cared about her.

  She hopped up on the counter beside him and cupped his face in her hands. “Hey, what’re you worried about? You’re wearing your stressed out face.”

  “I’m worried about you, Amber.”

  “Me? What are you worried about me for? I can take care of myself.”

  “I know you can.” How could he tell her that that’s why he worried? Because she felt she had to do everything on her own. Because if she carried on like this, she would get herself in big trouble. How do I tell her that she doesn’t have to be alone?

  They sat together in quiet contemplation. Amber picked up the phone and punched in her home number; it rang a few times before there was a click on the other end. “Hey D –“

  “Hello. You have reached…”

  “It’s the machine,” she explained to Alex. “It’ll be sore for a day ir so, but it should be workable soon. Your arm, I mean.”

  “…after the tone.”

  “Dad, it’s just me. Are you okay? You usually answer straight away but you’re probably too busy. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I won’t be home for a while yet. Alex had a bit of an accident so I’m staying with him until he’s sorted.” That wasn’t too far from the truth – there had been an accident. He just wasn’t getting patched up in the hospital. “Be careful, and don’t even think of going outside yet. I’ll probably be late but I’ll be okay. See you later.”

  “Sounds like you two have made up.”

  “Not really. He’s just another problem to keep out of the way at the moment. I hate this – not being able to tell him about myself; having to keep all these secrets. It’s like I’m living a double life, or something. I’m trying to be an ordinary girl for Dad, and a witch who fights evil for me.” She uncapped her trusty water bottle and took a drink. “I’m trying to do this right but I don’t know how much longer I can keep it up.”

  Now it was Alex’s turn to hold her chin in his free hand. He gazed into her deep, determined green eyes. The saying’s true – the eyes really are the window to the soul. “Amber-Louise, you’re doing your best. That’s all anyone can do.”

  “But what if my best isn’t good enough, Alex?” Her eyes glazed over with tears she wouldn’t cry. “I feel like something’s gotta give.”

  “You’ll work it out,” he said, confidently. “You’ll figure out what you need to do. You always do.” As they slid off the counter and went through to the other
room, Alex opened his mouth to ask the question that had been on the tip of his tongue all day. “You know you said you’d kill any of the zombie people who tried to get you. What would you do if nit was one of my parents who attacked you?” That had been bugging him all day, and he was glad he’d finally got it off his chest.

  “Don’t know. Guess I hadn’t really thought about it.” She curled up on the sofa next to Alex and they curled up together, just like they used to. “Run away?” she tried.

  “Will you talk to me about whatever’s happened? I want to help you if I can.”

  Please, Alex, I’m trying to protect you. “If you how I felt, what I’ve been through, what I’m going through right now, you’d hate me.” She truly believed that. How can you tell your best friend that you hate it here? “I wish I could tell you that everything’s gonna go back to normal when this is done, but I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore.”

  “Sure you know stuff. You know what you’re fighting for. You know who you are. And, you know you’re gonna win.”

  “No, I don’t. I used to.” It was wrong to let him feel even a tiny bit of the darkness she was feeling inside. She wasn’t sure of anything but the fact that she would die in this fight. So, what did it matter if she kept all this to herself? Nothing mattered anymore. She caused enough pain alive; it wasn’t fair to carry on when she was gone.

  How was she supposed to tell him that she had been happy in her cell – a girl, not a witch? How could she say that she didn’t feel like a person; that she didn’t feel any of the things that made her human?

  “You’re not happy, are you?” he whispered, wishing that the small girl would relax. Alex hugged her to him and felt her shaking against his chest. She was trying not to cry. “I wish I could help. I’ll be right here with you all the way, you know that.”

  “I know.” Amber nodded her head and looked up at him through long, fallen locks of hair. Even sitting down, scrunched up as he was. Alex towered a good few inches above her. She closed her eyelids and shuddered at the images printed on the insides of her eyelids.