Chapter 12
The alchemist's return
It had been four days since I opened the door that I was banned from opening, nothing untoward has happened as yet. Maybe it was nothing, maybe it had been trapped air escaping. Just maybe I was letting my imagination run away with itself, that must be it I thought to myself, I have never been alone before and it was hard to get used to it.
I had decided it was time to visit my mother in Renworth at my aunt’s house, I wondered how she was settling in as there was no form of communication in Godwin's home to find out. I would leave soon I thought. I felt really good this morning, it was like there was a big weight lifted off my shoulders, I put it down to the great sleeps I have had for the past few nights, not a single bad dream entered my slumber. A thought struck me then, I had been sleeping well ever since I opened that door, I wondered for a second if the two were related, I shrugged to myself and put it to the back of my mind. I packed up my clothes from my room and headed down stairs to load my pockets up with some of Godwin's potions and powders, you never know when they would come in useful. As I passed the door at the bottom of the steps a shiver ran down my spine, I still had a slightly bad feeling about what Godwin would say.
I was just filling my pockets when a quiet knock at the door got my attention. "What is it now?" I said grumpily. I sounded just like Godwin and I chuckled to myself, then someone knocked again. If I was in the greenhouse I wouldn't have heard it because it was so gentile, I stopped in my tracks. What if it's Beth I thought with a fright? Slowly I went to the window and peeked out. I couldn't quite see, the door was just out of view. They knocked again this time it was hard and loud making me jump.
"Get a grip!" I said to myself and then went to answer the door. I took a breath then swung it open.
"I am Lem, how can..." I began to say before being rudely shoved out of the way.
"Get the pot on Lemon, I need some tea." Godwin was back!
"What... How..." I was a bit speechless.
"Where are my ingredients? Is the water on yet?" He shouted from the kitchen.
I followed him in. "You're back!" I said.
"That’s very observant of you." He replied searching through a drawer.
"What happened to you in Woodridge?" I asked.
"Well, it was all a total mess, those people don't know anything," his face went red with annoyance. "If it wasn't for Drayton I would still be there now!" He looked a little puzzled. "Didn't I have some tea in here somewhere?"
"No you didn't and you haven't told me what the ingredients are so I couldn't make you any for when you got back."
Godwin froze and stared at me with wide eyes. "Are you telling me you haven't had any tea all the while you have been here?"
"I've been alright," I said. "I've managed to survive on water and fruit juice, don't panic I'm not going to drop down dead of dehydration." I laughed.
Godwin charged at me and held me up against the wall. "No tea at all!" He looked angry now and was frightening me.
"No... None." I shakily replied.
He let me go and rushed out of the room. I stood there shocked for a second. "Lem, come here!" He called from the room at the front of the house. I cautiously entered; he was standing at the far wall with his back towards me. "Sit." He said quite calmly.
I lowered myself slowly into the comfortable chair. Godwin turned around rubbing his head with his fore finger and thumb. "I apologize for my reaction in there." He said quietly.
"That's ok." I was worried now.
"I am going to ask you a couple of questions now." He moved to stand in front of me. I nodded.
"Have you been sleeping alright?" He asked.
"Yes I have, especially the last few days."
"And how were you sleeping before that?"
"Well, not great I was having a few bad dreams but nothing major."
Godwin started pacing back and forth. "Anything out of the ordinary happen while I was gone?"
He knew what I had done, I could tell, he knows I opened the door. "Err, I heard a knock on the door but no one was there when I answered it."
"Carry on." He said while still pacing.
I cleared my throat, it was suddenly very dry. "I sort of found a key when I knocked a couple of books off the shelf."
He stopped in front of me; his face looked very serious now. "What book was you looking for? And why were you looking for it?"
"Well, I noticed you were low on night fever ointment so I was going to make some up, then I think I misplaced the book. I must have put it back on the shelf but don't remember doing it."
Godwin's head sagged. "You have been played." He said.
"What do you mean?" I was confused.
Godwin looked me directly in the eyes. "Tell me the truth Lem, did you open the door?"
I sat there quiet for a moment; I couldn't keep eye contact with him. I slowly nodded. "There was nothing there, I just looked in and it was open for less than a minute." I had done something very bad I could feel it.
Godwin stood up straight and moved over to the other chair and slumped down. "You were well and truly played."
"Played by what?"
As he looked over at me the anger had gone and the Godwin I knew was back. "Well what's done is done, we will deal with it. I suppose it's partly my fault, if I told you it might not have happened."
Now I know what I had done was bad. "Told me what?"
"Behind that door you opened was something horrible, something evil."
I wish he would get to the point. "But what was it?"
"It is called a Night Terror, and is a very clever and despicable demon. It took me five years of my life before I finally managed to trap it," he looked forlornly at me. "It's the tea you see, as well as making me feel fifty years younger it also blocks it from getting into my mind. You had no tea, it got in your head, in your dreams and it manipulated you to set it free."
I put my head in my hands. "I am so sorry." I said.
"As I said we will deal with it. For now it will go into hiding for a month or two until it thinks it’s forgotten and then it will be very hungry and have to feed. That's when we can find it."
"Can't we go look for it now? While it’s weak." I said all upset.
"I am afraid not, it could be anywhere and I guarantee it will be impossible to find, at the moment it will be very weak and it needs to hide for a while before it has regained enough strength to take on a solid form."
He wiped the sweat off his head. "When it feeds we will know about it."
"How will we know?" I said fearing what he was going to say.
"It gets in your head when you sleep and piece by piece it drains your life away. What is left is a hollow carcass that is undoubtedly the remains of his feast.”
What he had said was now sinking in; people were going to die due to my curiosity. It was a thought that made me want to weep.