‘So,’ said Fadil, walking in with Dominic’s border terrier, Dave. He passed Dave’s lead to me, then removed his giant coat. Fadil looked well. It was still weird, seeing him wearing Dominic’s skin and not as a mummy. Sort-of mummy.
Tobias had done a good job of swapping their skin, careful to take several layers so that it included the collagen and other stuff that would make Fadil look more like he was from this century. He looked like a cross between the old him and Dominic, now. It confused me, sometimes. If I caught him out of the corner of my eye I’d have to do a double take to remind myself that Dominic wasn’t back.
Thankfully, his voice was different to Dominic’s. It was an English accent, since he’d learnt English from three Englishfolk, but it was deeper and gruffer than Dominic’s voice. People’s voices often got deeper as they got older, even beyond puberty, so I supposed it made sense.
His skin was healing pretty fast from the surgery he’d had a week ago. I think the healthy eating regime, teamed with some extra vitamins that Doc had put him on to, was really boosting his immune system. And OK, there was probably some magic involved, too. That was the only way the so-called surgery could’ve been done, really.
Ever since we’d mummified and cursed Dominic, Ben and Fadil had been looking after Dave. It was a temporary measure before we gave him to Tobias, but before we did that we wanted to make sure Tobias hadn’t tricked or double crossed us somehow.
Mum had wanted to look after Dave, since Dave knew me and we already had a dog-friendly house. But he didn’t like other dogs so he and Tilly clashed. Meaning he’d ended up with Ben and Fadil instead. I think Fadil was growing quite fond of him.
‘I’ve been reading online about what people think happened to Tessa,’ said Fadil. He unfastened Dave’s lead. Dave trotted into the living room. When he saw Tilly, his back arched.
‘Dave, no,’ I said in my best dog training voice. Dave looked at me, glared, then trotted over to the far side of the room and lay down. Other dogs aside, he was a pretty apathetic and low maintenance dog. It also helped he knew me and apparently respected me enough to listen.
‘What did you find?’ I asked Fadil.
Mum waved from the kitchen then returned to whatever she was doing. Tilly danced around Fadil, demanding his attention. She ignored Dave, likely remembering their previous interaction where he’d tried to pick a fight with her, and not wanting to repeat it. Smart dog. Fadil picked her up and hugged her, then put her back down again.
‘Since it was a closed crime scene, not a lot. There’s a rumour she was dismembered. Some people are suggesting she was beheaded. But no one really knows anything,’ said Fadil. ‘Do you think she remembers what happened?’
‘Dunno. Either way, it’s not my problem,’ I said. ‘I don’t care so long as the police get answers ASAP so that she can cross over.’
Fadil opened his mouth to reply. Before he could utter a syllable, Spectre jumped through the wall.
‘Argh!’ Fadil jumped so high I thought he was going to headbutt the ceiling.
‘What?’
Fadil stared at the large, grey ghost cat, blinking rapidly as if that would make him disappear. ‘Is that…your cat?
‘Wait. You can see Spectre?’ I said, looking between them. Since when could Fadil see ghosts? That was new. And completely terrifying for him when he wasn’t used to seeing them.
Fadil nodded slowly. He rubbed his face. ‘Apparently.’ He turned to me, his eyes wide in terror. ‘What is going on?’
I guided him to the armchair by the window.
‘I’ll get you a drink,’ I said, going into the kitchen.
Mum turned around when I walked in. ‘What’s up?’
I walked over to Mum, and whispered: ‘Fadil just saw Spectre.’ I didn’t want Fadil to overhear; he seemed freaked out enough already. Hearing it might freak him out even more.
‘Fiddlesticks.’ She shook her head in frustration. ‘You go keep an eye on him, I’ll bring him a drink.’
‘Thanks.’
When I went back into the lounge, it looked like Fadil was trying not to hyperventilate. His life was just getting back to normal – or as normal as it could be for someone who was four millennia old – and now everything was changing again. No wonder he looked freaked out.
Tilly sat at his feet, staring up at him. There wasn’t much she could do, but she’d probably keep an eye on him until he left now. That was the Nurse Tilly way.
Fadil turned around to see if Spectre was still there. The cat remained on his perch on the top of the sofa, oblivious to the chaos he’d just caused. Like any other cat, probably.
Mum came in and put a cup of tea and a plate of biscoff biscuits in front of Fadil.
‘Biscuits?’ said Fadil.
‘Comfort food. Maggie and Abigail made too many so gave us the leftovers,’ said Mum with a shrug.
Fadil took a biscuit from the plate, dipped it in his tea, then munched on it. The caramel and tea flavours seemed to soothe him a little. I didn’t blame him. They were good biscuits.
‘Much as it pains me, there are only two people who might be able to answer our questions about what’s going on,’ said Mum.
‘Who?’ I said.
‘Since Fadil couldn’t see ghosts prior to the transplant, Tobias, as he’s the one who did it, and my mother.’ She sighed. ‘Mum!’
‘Yes?’ said Gran, appearing instantaneously.
Fadil jumped again, almost dropping his biscuit and spilling tea all over his lap. ‘Dammit.’
‘I’ll go get a cloth,’ said Mum, going back into the kitchen and coming back with a tea towel and some kitchen roll. She passed it to Fadil and helped him clean up the mess.
Gran approached Fadil, her eyes narrowed. ‘You jumped when I appeared.’
Fadil’s back stiffened. He refused to look at Gran.
‘Are you making yourself visible to him?’ I asked, trying to deflect the attention away from him.
‘No,’ said Gran. ‘Do I know you?’ she asked Fadil, still not looking at me. Charming.
‘It’s Fadil, Gran.’
‘The mummy?’
‘I am not a mummy,’ said Fadil, looking into his lap as he continued to pat at his damp jeans with some kitchen roll. Mum wiped the armchair with the tea towel.
‘You can see me?’ said Gran.
‘Yes,’ Fadil confirmed through gritted teeth.
‘What did you do?’ she said to Mum accusingly.
Mum turned and glared at Gran. ‘What makes you think I did something?’
Gran raised an eyebrow. ‘You’re usually at the centre of things.’
‘Actually, I don’t mean to sound bigheaded, but it’s usually me,’ I said. I really hated how Gran blamed Mum and made out like things were her fault all the time. If she wanted someone to blame, she really should’ve looked in the mirror – assuming they were a thing on the Other Side – since she was the one who’d kept all the secrets that had caused a lot of the chaos over the last few months. Anyway. ‘It was my idea. The reason he can see ghosts, I mean. We didn’t know it would be a side effect.’
‘Explain,’ said Gran.
‘Fadil and Dominic swapped skins,’ said Mum. She flipped the towel over her shoulder then looked out through the window. There was no one there, and it was pretty dark out anyway. While our lights were on, nobody outside would know we were talking to a ghost. To most people, we’d look like a perfectly normal family sitting in their lounge, talking. Sometimes I missed being normal.
Gran didn’t know much about Dominic, but she knew he was a necromancer. I was too embarrassed to tell her that he’d tried to use the very tools she’d given me against me. If she didn’t know, I wasn’t going to fill her in. She nodded in a kind of ‘I see’ sort of way to what I did tell her. ‘I’m impressed. High quality of work.’
Fadil shook his head, still squeezing his eyes open and shut but refusing to look anywhere but straight ahead, at the wall or switched off TV.
‘Could it be a side effect of the, um, surgery?’ I suggested.
Gran tilted her head. ‘Well, the skin is the largest organ in the body. I’ve heard more ridiculous theories that have been proven to be true.’
Fadil’s jaw dropped. We’d never considered that as a side effect, nor had Tobias mentioned it. Did he know it would happen?
‘Is it permanent?’ Fadil squeezed the bundle of kitchen roll in his hand into a tight ball. ‘Why wasn’t it instant?’
Gran shrugged. ‘The best person to ask is the person who did your surgery.’
Fadil sighed, as if accepted he wouldn’t get any more answers.
‘Do you think he could experience any other side effects?’ I asked, refusing to accept Gran’s answer. It was something we hadn’t explored enough at the time because it’d all happened so fast and our options to help Fadil had been limited.
‘Of the donor skin or the powers?’
‘Both.’
Gran pursed her lips. ‘How long has it been?’
‘A week,’ said Mum. It felt like longer.
Gran pursed her lips, crossing her arms over her brown cardigan. ‘Have you experienced any side effects so far?’
‘Other than being able to see you and the cat?’
‘Yes,’ said Gran.
‘Not that I’m aware of.’
‘Very curious.’ She narrowed her eyes, taking a moment to study Fadil. ‘I would’ve thought you’d have experienced them by now if you were going to. But I can’t be sure. I think monitoring the situation is best.’