I leaned forward. “Why don’t you just say no?”
Justin’s long fingers weaved in and out of his fists. “You don’t understand. When you’re there, with everyone watching, you follow the rules. You just do.”
“So take truth. After all this time there can’t be much they don’t know about you.”
Justin fidgeted. “The rules are a bit more complicated than that, mostly it’s easier to take the dare.” He twisted his tie between his fingers. “Anyway, what’s important is what happened Friday night, right?”
He dropped his tie and his hands lay on his lap like poisoned spiders.
I nodded. “Tell me.”
His fingers twitched, but didn’t rise. “You can probably guess, I was doing something for the club.”
“A dare.”
“I was hoping it was my last one.”
“It was.”
His hands curled into fists. “I had a plan. It should have got me out. But I had to do this one last big thing. I had to climb to the top of the scaffolding and walk along one of the pipes. It was only maybe fifty centimetres or so without a handhold.”
“If this is what the dares are like, I’m surprised no one’s died earlier.”
“The stuff we’ve been doing, it’s only been getting really dangerous recently.” He groaned. “I know how it sounds. It’s one reason I didn’t want to talk about it.” Justin looked away from me. “So now you know.”
“I need to know more. Did you go to the building site alone?”
“Dares have to be witnessed by at least three other people, and videoed. I went with–”
“James, Harley, Pete and Tamsin.”
“Right.” He hunched his back. “You saw us on the bus after we checked it out the first time.”
“Well, what happened when you went back?”
“We got to the building site, there was a bit of banter and then I went up.”
“You didn’t see anyone else?”
“It was deserted, I wouldn’t have done it otherwise.”
“So… you went up,” I prompted him.
His shoulders tensed as if he was still climbing. “I must’ve reached the top. I-I remember stepping out onto the scaffolding. It hadn’t looked so high from down on the ground. The others waved to me. Tamsin blew me a kiss. I waved back.”
“And you fell?”
“No. I was holding on tight.” His hands closed around a bar that wasn’t there. “I gripped the best I could with my trainers and edged towards the bit without the handhold. Maybe I should have taken my trainers off.” He glanced at his feet.
“Maybe.” I rubbed my eyes. “Then what?”
“I-I reached the bit with no handhold.”
“And you let go.”
“No! I could hear the wind below me. I could barely see Tammy. I stretched out as far as I could, so I wouldn’t have to be too long without holding on. But I didn’t let go of the bar behind me. I edged forward and my foot just slipped. It flew out from under me and I-I swung out. I was only holding on with one hand. I think I heard Tammy shout, but I’m not sure. Then I f-fell.”
I was silent for a moment. Justin’s cheeks were colourless and his hair was a black wing against his face.
I inhaled. “No one pushed you. No one distracted you.”
“No.” His voice was as colourless as his face. “See, I wasn’t murdered.”
I looked at my hand and then across at the barely twitching shadows. Across the park the old man had shifted position. I turned back to Justin. “You were murdered. I wonder if…”
“Hey, do you know that guy?” Justin pointed. The old man had levered himself up and was ambling across the garden towards us.
“No,” I dismissed him. “He’s just leaving the park. You need to focus.”
“It’s just that he keeps looking at you and there’s something about him.”
I lifted my spine from the tree trunk. “He keeps looking at me?” I frowned. “It looks like I’m talking to myself, Hargreaves, I’m going to get odd looks.” Still, I shifted onto my heels. “How long’s he been looking at me?”
“I haven’t been paying him much attention, Oh.”
As the old man drew near I studied him. His trousers were frayed at the bottom and his great coat was warm for the weather. But he was old. Old people liked to keep warm, didn’t they?
He kept his eyes cast down. When he reached the tree nearest me his head rose. Our eyes met. He touched the brim of his hat with twisted fingers, nodded and went as if to walk on. “Kids.”
Hope lit Justin’s eyes like a sunrise. “You can see me?”
“Crap.” The old man’s face twisted and he lunged at me.
I dove sideways and his arm hissed through the tree trunk where I’d been sitting.
“Geezer, what’re you doing?” Justin scrambled to his feet. The ghost ignored him, focused completely on me.
“I can’t take another Mark right now,” I cried. The Darkness was already moving and if he touched me I’d be carrying two Marks, with no idea who had killed Justin.
The ghost lurched towards me, grinning hugely. “You can help me. It won’t take long.”
I tried to get to my feet but slipped on the grass. “Leave me alone.”
The old man bent over me. His hooked nose had a bead of moisture on it. It trembled above my face as he reached for my cheek with cracked fingers. I scrabbled backwards but he was faster than he looked.
Suddenly he grunted and flew sideways.
I blinked. Justin had tackled him and now he had both arms round his waist. “Run,” he shouted.
I leaped to my feet. “Justin–”
“Go.”
The old man was wriggling and swearing viciously.
“Meet me at my house. Do you know where it is?”
“Pete pointed it out once.” He renewed his grip on the great brown coat. “Go.”
I looked back once. The old guy had removed his hat. He was hitting Justin with it and tears were streaming down his face.
Bloody dead people.
16
THE HOUSE IS CURSED
When I got home the study was shut tight. The Book of Oh-Fa however, was sitting on the dining room table. I bit my lip, but the temptation was too strong to ignore. Swiftly I grabbed it, stuffed it under my top and, with the pressure of the ancient leather on my skin, I tiptoed upstairs.
Once in my room I leaned against the door. There I stuck my tingling hand behind my back. It was too tempting to just keep looking at it, like picking a scab.
Under the bed the shadows pulsed. I slammed the lights on, all of them. A long time ago Mum had installed a bulb under my bed. Now there was no part of my room that wasn’t brightly lit.
I exhaled heavily. I had less than two weeks before the Darkness came for me and I had no idea what had really happened to Justin and who I should be Marking.
Swearing under my breath I crossed to the window. As I passed the dresser I automatically stroked my picture-board of Mum. My fingertips caressed a snippet of her favourite jumper, her old hair band, a silky piece of the skirt I had most liked her in. My fingers bumped over her turquoise beads and lingered on the three photos: one of her smiling over her shoulder, one where she looked sad and serious and hid her gloved hand behind her back, one of her holding a baby – me. In that one her eyes were half-closed and her expression unreadable, but her bare hands were curled around my back as if I was the most precious thing in the whole world and might break.
Her book pressed against my stomach. I tugged it free of my waistband and opened it with reverent fingers. I closed my eyes to bring her voice to mind then started to read.
Entry the fifth
My hand shakes as I write this, trembling so hard that I can barely make sense. The Professor paces outside and his demands have become increasingly urgent. Perhaps his gun is trained on me even now. Still, I cannot move without finishing this, my family needs to know what happened.