Patience (The Patience Trilogy Book 1)

the stripy rug, and moving closer.

  More knocks, couldn’t they tell she was busy – or in serious need of help.

  She screamed as Thin Man kicked her to the floor and climbed on top of her, wrapping his hands around her throat. Her eyes widened with the shock of things. Everything had happened so fast, and now she was lying there as the world began to spin and her vision blurred. She was going to die.

  A crash sounded to her side as she saw the door flying across the room and colliding with the back wall. In strolled a man, casually stepping into the living room and looking at the events in front of him.

  Thin Man slackened his grip slightly allowing Patience a desperate gulp of air.

  “Grim?” said Thin Man.

  “You know me?” replied Grim, his dark hair lay neatly over his forehead, along with impressive sideburns. “I’m touched.”

  “We was warned about you,” he said, a slight snarl to his voice, “he saids you were dangerous.”

  Grim leaned against the door frame, not even glancing down at Patience. “And who is this ‘he’ that you’re speaking of? Is he as ugly as you?” Thin man clambered off Patience and rushed forwards, striking out with a right handed punch towards Grim’s sternum. Grim knocked it aside with his forearm, and then drove his elbow into Thin Man’s joint, causing a disgusting sound as his arm bent in an unnatural way.

  Thin Man grimaced and jumped back. “You ain’t gonna get away with this.” His face contorted from a look of pain into that of absolute fury.

  Grim rotated his hand, palm exposed upwards. Then with a flick of his fingers, a flame rose from his skin. It hovered there for a few seconds, curling into a small ball which he seemed to manipulate with his other hand. Then as Thin Man rushed forwards, he reared back and tossed the flame like a cricket bowler.

  Thin Man fell to the ground, writhing in pain as his coat caught alight and began to spread to the rest of his body. He rolled around on the floor, though by the time the flames had died, he was only wearing a few slabs of blackened cloth.

  Grim approached the man who was cowering on the floor, holding him by the collar and pulling his face close. “Tell me,” he said, “what did you do with Bernard? And under who’s orders?” Patience glowered slightly. It wasn’t by chance that this man, Grim, passed by. He knew her uncle and had probably known something was going to happen to him.

  Thin man coughed up blood. “I ain’t gonna tell you nuthin.” Grim clicked his fingers, once again producing that strange flame. Patience could feel the heat even from that distance. It wasn’t fake, so how was he doing it?

  “Alright, fine, just don’ torch me again.”

  “Keep talking.” He extinguished the flame by closing his hand into a fist.

  “It was a man.”

  “Called?”

  “He had a name.”

  “Which was?”

  “His name was B....” The words seemed to catch in his throat, and it took Patience a moment to realise why. Thin Man had been wearing a gold chain around his neck. Before, it had dangled loosely, but now it acted as if it had a mind of its own. It pulled tightly against his neck, and no matter how much he tried, it wouldn’t come off. Thin Man collapsed onto the ground, his head hanging loosely to the side and his cruel eyes softening as they stared at a patch on the roof. He had been strangled to death by his own jewellery.

  “You killed him,” cried Patience, resisting the urge to cup a hand to her mouth.

  “Technically, it was this small contraption,” said Grim, now able to easily slip the necklace from Thin (Dead) Man’s neck. “It’s a handy device that is designed to stop people from talking, fairly common unfortunately. The moment someone starts to give away details that the creator would rather keep a secret, it activates. And you can see the results for yourself.”

  She took the necklace in her own hands, rolling it over as she examined all sides. “How does it work?”

  “I assume from that look of denial on your face when you saw the flame that you know about the existence of it, but refuse to fully accept it.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Magic.”

  2

  A SECRET SOCIETY

  Patience felt herself becoming dizzy, so she leaned back against the sofa and let herself fall across its length. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, taking in a deep breath, and then opened once again. Grim was still standing over her with confused eyes as though he was wondering what exactly she was doing.

  “I am real,” he said, almost answering what she was thinking, “I know you’ll be feeling slightly strange right now, a beating will do that to you.”

  “That’s not it.”

  “Well what else could it be?”

  Patience sighed. “You just told me that magic is real,” she said, “which might I just add is crazy. I just don’t appreciate this cruel joke that’s being played on me.”

  He created a flame in his hand, and then lowered himself next to her. Patience had a look, searching for anything to disprove it. But there was no denying, it was magic.

  It took a few moments to get over the realisation. Everything seemed to spin around her head, she was unable to comprehend any of it. It was impossible.

  Pull yourself together, she thought, none of this is important. Well, of course it is, but right now she should be worrying about other things, like where her uncle had been taken off to. Maybe this, Grim, would be able to help her.

  “Okay,” she said, taking deep breaths and allowing her words to flow slowly while she gathered her thoughts, “let’s just say that everything you say is true. You are obviously the good guy, or not hostile at least.”

  “That’s a positive way to look at it.”

  “Which means that you can help me. My uncle’s blood is all across the hall so he is obviously hurt, but there was no body. He could still be alive.”

  Grim nodded. “I agree that the possibility still remains.”

  “You talk strange. But in that case, we have to do something.”

  “Harsh, but yes the assumption could be made that we should probably deal with the situation.” So it was decided, together they would find her uncle and save him from whatever fate awaited him, probably not a nice one.

  She elected to take the lead. This guy might know more about the secret world her uncle had been hiding, or about detective work in general, but there wasn’t a damn chance that she was going to hand this over to someone else and go on like nothing ever happened. Which is exactly what she told Grim.

  “Okay.”

  “Wait…. what?”

  “That’s fine,” he said, “I could use your help.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Is this some kind of joke, because I’ve just discovered that magic is real. I’m ready to believe just about anything right now. And I’ve watched the movies, the savvy, old fella always ‘reluctantly’ takes on the apprentice. They learn to love each other despite their differences. But you’re supposed to be reluctant.”

  “First, who’re you calling old? Second, I hate to say it, but life is not like the movies. Sure, there is magic and awesome stuff that you would only normally find on the big screen, but things don’t work in the same way. Here there is a real chance of being killed, these men won’t hesitate to kill you.”

  “So you want to take me with you?”

  “Want doesn’t come into it. It’s likely there are more people out there. It would be far too dangerous leaving you here on your own. You might hurt someone.” She laughed, then, satisfied with his answer, she led him up the stairs to show him the hallway.

  “I saw this, and then went into the study over there. On the table was a piece of paper explaining that magic was real and that he was in danger.” Impulse caused her to leave out the fact that the ring was left as well, she had a strange feeling that Grim would take it away if he found out. She clenched her fist to better hide it. “Then a man, I guess that guy who attacked me,
came up the stairs. I hid behind the desk and then he went away.”

  “Are you telling me he didn’t even check behind the desk?” he asked, “it’s like the most cliché hiding place in the history of hiding places – and oh, do they have a history.”

  “I know, that’s what I thought. He just kinda walked up to the edge of the door and stopped.” Grim stepped forwards, moving towards the study. When he reached the door frame, Patience heard a sound like clanging metal as he fell backwards onto the floor.

  He climbed back to his feet, tracing the space between the door with his hands. “There is a protective barrier here,” he said, “stopping anyone from getting through. This is probably what stopped him.”

  Patience stepped forward and slipped underneath his arm into the study.

  “You were saying,” she said, holding out her arms arrogantly.

  “These protective barriers don’t affect people of the same bloodline as the creator. So, Bernard must have made it.”

  “Obviously, it’s his house.”

  “True, but for what purpose?” Patience stepped out of the barrier and stood by Grim. “Can I take a look at that note he left?”

  “Sure.” She handed it to him, his eyes scanning down the page in a matter of seconds. She pointed out the writing on the back.

  “What does it mean?” he said, “it makes no sense. It seems like some kind of clue, but it is taking cryptic to a completely new level.”

  “Yeah, I know,” she said, “Scooby-doo never got any hard clues like that.”

  “Well his adversaries are always men in costumes.