Auchinmurn Isle
Present Day
Outside the Abbey, the perimeter lights came on. Simon’s animation shield criss-crossed the top of the wall like a laser game of cat’s cradle. Vaughn stood at the windows and watched the light show for a few minutes.
‘What if Henrietta stole the tapestry because of what it showed?’ he said.
‘What makes you say that?’ asked Renard.
‘When Sir Charles finally broke into the Council room, he said he could still sense Henrietta’s presence. Her emotions were so strong that they lingered.’ Vaughn paused. ‘He sensed joy and an overwhelming wave of triumph. I think we have to ask ourselves what happened in that room with the tapestry that could have caused such heightened emotions in Henrietta.’
Renard shook his head. ‘Only one thing would elicit a response like that. A different outcome to the battle of Era Mina.’
Em tried not to absorb too much of the fear and tension in the room; it was giving her a headache. ‘What was the battle of Era Mina?’
‘We’ve always believed it depicted the story of the Grendel attacking the monastery,’ said Renard. He looked older than Em had ever seen him. ‘But like so many of the stories about Hollow Earth, separating myth from reality is difficult.’
The room grew cold. Em shivered.
Stay calm, Em. Zach reached his hand across to soothe her.
‘Is the Grendel… really bad?’ she managed.
‘He is a sin-eater, a beast that sucks out your soul and devours your body,’ said Vaughn grimly. ‘The original tapestry was woven by the monks in the mid-thirteenth century. It showed an army fighting the Grendel, led by a shadowy figure in a cowled robe.’
Simon jumped in. ‘The story we learned in school was that the Grendel was finally stopped by a powerful monk who lured it back to the centre of the earth—’
‘To Hollow Earth?’ Em interrupted.
‘Yes,’ answered Simon.
‘I think whatever else changed in the tapestry,’ said Vaughn, ‘the figure might now be Malcolm.’
Sandie gave a disbelieving laugh. ‘How is that possible? That tapestry has hung in the Chamber of the Council of Guardians for centuries.’
‘Henrietta believes the figure is Malcolm, whether that’s possible or not,’ said Vaughn. ‘In her mind, Malcolm has changed history, which has changed the story of the tapestry.’
‘But why would she steal it?’ Simon asked.
‘This is only a guess,’ said Vaughn, ‘but I think that when she was waiting for her meeting with Sir Charles in the Council Chamber, she saw the tapestry alter in some way. Maybe the face under the cowl became visible. Maybe the whole battle scene changed. She didn’t want anyone else to see what had taken place, so she took the tapestry. There’s your motivation.’
Simon rubbed his hands over his face. ‘If Malcolm takes control of Hollow Earth, he will reset the Dark Ages. The monsters of old will return. This world has enough monsters of its own. It doesn’t need any more.’
‘We will have no way of knowing whether Malcolm has succeeded in unlocking the beasts until it happens,’ said Vaughn. ‘We’ll simply wake up in a world we no longer recognize.’
‘If that happens,’ signed Zach to his dad, ‘what will become us? Will we even remember that things were once different?’
‘I wouldn’t think so. But it’s likely that at the very least, Animare would be exposed to the public,’ said Simon. ‘Because they may be the only ones with the power to battle whatever is released upon the earth.’
An eerie light flooded the kitchen.
‘What the—’ began Simon, startled.
Vaughn was already out of his chair and dashing through the French doors. The others followed, running down the wide back lawn towards the jetty and the bay, staring in disbelief at Era Mina across the water.
Thick bands of light were spiralling round the peak of the small island. Inside each of the rings could be seen a series of translucent orbs, like tiny moons. And inside each of the orbs was a twitching, writhing, scratching, screaming beast.
These were not holograms projected from somewhere on Era Mina. These were real animations. Em recognized a griffin, a gorgon and hellhounds spinning next to a basilisk, a wraith and a monstrous kraken.
The rings looked like an immense gyroscope, the orbs rotating faster and faster on their own axes. They were creating a chilling wind, flecking white caps on the bay until Em could no longer distinguish any single creature inside the orbs.
‘It looks like Era Mina is going to be pulled right out of the water!’ she gasped.
‘Is this it?’ Sandie asked breathlessly. ‘Are we too late?’
As if someone switched off gravity, the bands suddenly slowed their rotation and fell away, the orbs dropping back into the island like falling stars.
‘What the hell just happened, Renard?’ Vaughn demanded.
‘I have never seen anything like it before,’ said Renard, sounding shocked. ‘But I have heard of it. For as long as The Book of Beasts remains incomplete, the island and the creatures it protects is unstable. When the protectors of Hollow Earth are in mortal danger, the island reacts. Shifts. Threatens to break apart.’
Simon looked ashen-faced. ‘I think it’s safe to say that Jeannie is in trouble.’
And not just Jeannie, Em thought numbly. Matt as well.
‘How did we get here?’ she heard her mother sob against Vaughn’s jacket. ‘How did the promise of our future become such a curse? Jeannie… and Matt! How can he fight his dad by himself? He’s thirteen years old!’
Renard and Simon slowly made their way back up the garden to the kitchen as Vaughn murmured soothing words and stroked Sandie’s hair. She looked up at Vaughn, tears streaking her cheeks.
‘Vaughn, I regret with all my heart that the children and I didn’t come to you right away when we arrived in London…’
Catching Em’s eye, Sandie faltered to a guilty halt. Em could feel her mother’s anguish. It was almost unbearable.
‘It’s OK, Mum,’ Em said as normally as she could. ‘I think about it all the time. What if you’d married Vaughn when we were little? Would any of this have happened?’
Vaughn pulled Em next to him and her mum, embracing them both.
‘When we bring Matt and Jeannie home,’ he said, ‘we can make up for the lost time together.’