“I guess.” I frowned as I remembered all the dead I’d seen move on. The way the light fractured them into small pieces, or dissolved them away like chemicals on a photo negative.
“Well, I haven’t seen a light. I don’t remember any light when I died and I haven’t seen one since.” He looked at his fingers. “I think it means if I move on I…” he stopped.
“You think you’re going somewhere bad?” I sat up, legs crossed under me. My face felt tight, like I was wearing a clay mask. Surely not? Justin hadn’t been nice to me at school, but I must have tracked down killers for worse people over the years. Everyone went into the light.
He pulled his arm from me and I shivered. “All I know is, there hasn’t been a light. So maybe you’re not the only one the Darkness is coming for.”
I reached for his hand but he moved away. “Do you think you can get back to sleep now?”
I snorted. “Yeah. Nice bedtime story, Hargreaves.”
His lips twisted into a smile. “You want a bedtime story?”
“Guess not.” I scrambled back under my knotted sheet, straightened it out and lay back down. But my eyes stayed open, restlessly darting around the room, looking for shadows, movement, anything out of place.
Justin shook his head, detangled his arm from my hair and moved to my dresser. “What about this?” He was standing over Mum’s book.
I caught my breath. “Actually, yes, please. You could read that.” I padded over to the dresser and brought the book back with me, glad I hadn’t returned it to the dining room.
I settled back down and Justin stood at my side. I opened the book and his eyes scanned the page. He looked at me, surprised. “Are you sure you want me to read this? It doesn’t look very calming.”
“It reminds me of Mum.”
“Well, alright then. From here?”
I nodded and Justin started to read. At first his voice blended into my memory of Mum’s but soon his own tones took over and were all I heard.
Enchantments opened a hole a hand’s span from my outstretched arm. In it my eyes perceived the glimmer of gold. To my shame I could not drag my gaze away.
“Yours if you pledge yourself to me. In return I will ensure that your line cannot die. Each of your descendents that belongs to me will find… love.” The beast offered a throaty snort. “I am offering you both treasure and immortality, of a kind.” I bowed my head.
“So, do you agree?”
“I agree.”
As the words left my lips the beast caught my face. Claws dug into my cheeks and I gagged as liquid dripped into my mouth.
“Swallow and it is done.”
As soon as I had been allowed to collapse onto the floor, the Lord of Death vanished. Almost in a dream state I scooped the promised treasure into a sack, caught up a lantern and began to seek the exit.
Stumbling towards the sunlight, I stopped only when I heard the voice of the Sunbird. Slowly I raised my lantern, eyes straining, but the flame barely touched the glutinous darkness and I was not sure where to look until a gurgling cough drew me.
Although it seemed impossible that my fear could grow, it was with a shudder that I saw the Sunbird crawling towards me.
“Don’t go.” His voice cracked and foolishly I stopped. Immediately his hand closed around my ankle. His grip was iron, unbreakably strong and I pulled backwards to no avail. Like a determined child the overseer climbed my leg, broken limbs jiggling as they dragged across the floor. Then he gripped my hand.
Pain racked me and cold drove into my skin as if hammered there by a pick. Then the Sunbird rose to his knees, no longer forcing his hold on me. I stumbled back as he released my hand. “You must avenge us,” he said.
Finally I saw the extent of his injuries. “How did you survive?” My words dropped from numb lips.
The sunbird stared through a clotted-crimson mask. “What makes you think I did?”
Justin stopped. “Are you sure you want me to carry on?”
I nodded, sleepily.
“If this doesn't give you nightmares ...” Justin frowned. “Well, I warned you.” He rubbed his head as I turned the page.
Almost insensible with terror, I still remembered to tighten my hand around the sack of treasure before I ran. As I reached the border of dark and light I threw the lantern and hurled myself up the final steps, blinking and half blind.
The smells of the dig site assaulted my nose: sweat, food and camel dung. On my knees I gratefully dug my hands into the shifting sand, celebrating the feel of the hot grains pouring through my fingers after the cold dark below.
I forced my eyes to open. The invading sunshine forced tears onto my cheeks, but I vowed never again to allow full darkness to wrap me in its embrace.
Then my precious sunlight was blocked and I looked up. The Professor stood over me, hands on hips. Titus crouched at his feet; a tiny warped reflection of the beast in the tomb. I struggled to my feet. No hand was offered in aid.
“What the devil happened? Where are the others?” The Professor clenched his fists with wild impatience but I had to clear my throat before I could speak.
“All gone.” I looked at the sack in my shaking hand then frowned. In the centre of my right palm, where the Sunbird had clutched me, there was a stain, like an ink blot. The hand tingled as if I had been stung.
“Look at me, man. What do you mean, gone?”
“Dead,” I responded in a low voice. “All dead.”
“But you survived? How? Is it still in there?”
Slowly I raised my head. “It?” The Professor had known about the beast.
He responded to the accusation in my eyes with measured deliberation. “I assume some sort of wild animal was living down there.”
“You knew.”
The Professor removed his glasses and his face assumed an expression both cynical and sly. “I assumed one of the overseers would deal with the tomb’s protection. Now you’ll have to do the job. Take my gun and get back down there.”
With a laugh of disbelief, I tucked my hands beneath my arms, as staunch a refusal as I could make. As I pulled back I saw the Professor’s eyes light on the sack. Immediately he pulled the gun from its holster and directed the muzzle at my chest. “With the treasure in that tomb I will be master of the most powerful society in England. Return, or I will shoot.”
That was when I ran for my tent. I don’t know how much time I have before the man forces me back into the dark. I do know my sanity will not bear it. I have condemned my children’s children to lives of servitude to a foreign god, I have sold my own soul. I have seen the Lord of Death and lived.
I would rather die than face him again.
Justin’s voice faded and his palm landed on my forehead. Slowly he stroked my eyes closed. “There’s more, but you need to rest. I’ll watch over you, OK? I’ll keep the Darkness at bay, just for tonight.”
I yawned. “You can’t keep the Darkness at bay.”
“Watch me,” he growled.
And I did. I opened my eyes and watched him guard me until lead filled my lids and I fell into a dreamless sleep.
23
YOU’RE IN THE CLUB NOW