‘OK, I know I said I wanted you to help, but I’m not sure this is what I had in mind,’ Callum said, frowning as Jacob reached one blood-dripping hand towards his shoulder. He could feel the ghostly chill of the Born Dead’s hand through his coat as they stood in the churchyard.
‘Trust me,’ Jacob said, with a glimmer of a smile. Doom looked up at his master expectantly, his red eyes glowing. Jacob put his other hand on Doom’s neck and then looked over to Melissa.
‘Put your hand on my shoulder,’ he said. ‘I need to have contact with all of you if I am to attempt this.’
Callum raised his eyebrows. ‘Are you sure this is going to work? I don’t want to end up a pile of molecules floating around space for the rest of my life. I mean, I know I was complaining about being a chime child, but I’ll definitely take it over that,’ he said, smiling nervously.
Melissa looked a little dubious herself as she placed both hands on Jacob’s shoulders. ‘Go for it,’ she said, squeezing her eyes closed. Callum was about to do the same, when he realised that the world around him had already begun to blur.
It was an unpleasant sensation, like being spun on a turbo-charged fairground ride. Everything was rushing by so dizzyingly that Callum felt sick. He closed his eyes for a moment, hoping to combat the nausea.
When he opened them again, everything was still a dark blur. Slowly he realised that there beside him, in sharp relief among the swirl of dark mist, were Melissa, Jacob and Doom.
And after a moment, all three of them seemed to dissolve into the ether . . .
Then, just as suddenly as the whirling had begun, Callum felt firm ground underneath his feet. The journey had only lasted seconds, but as the air around him cleared, Callum realised that Jacob really had transported them. Where moments ago they had all been standing in Nether Marlock Churchyard, Callum saw that, although the moon still glowed in night sky above, they were now on what must be the site of Leicester Castle.
‘Blimey,’ he breathed, rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn’t imagining things. They’d travelled miles. He looked over at Jacob, who had stepped away from them and was leaning against a nearby tree to steady himself.
‘Jacob, are you OK?’ Callum asked. The ghost nodded.
‘As I said, my power diminishes the further I get from the churchyard – I feel somewhat drained, that is all.’
‘I’m not surprised,’ Melissa chimed in. Her face was almost as pale as Jacob’s. ‘That was mad.’
Callum was already looking around at the castle grounds, trying to see if he could locate the entrance that would lead to Black Annis’ lair. All that existed of the original eleventh-century castle was the mound upon which it once stood. The soft grass underfoot was crisp with frost, but there was no sign of an entry point for a cave or tunnel. Soon Melissa joined him, scouring the ground and the surrounding areas.
Callum’s heart began to pound. What if they were too late? What if his instinct to try and find Annis’ lair had been wrong and they were just wasting time? He took a deep breath. There was no time for doubts now – he needed to think.
‘I can’t see anything,’ Melissa called. ‘We should have brought torches or something. I guess we’ll just have to hope we get lucky.’
As she finished, Callum realised they had something better than a torch.
‘Hang on,’ he said. ‘I have an idea.’
Closing his eyes, Callum held his hands out before him, facing down towards the ground. He turned slowly in a circle and, to his relief, he felt the skin of his hands begin to prickle.
His Luck was exactly what they needed. His ability to sense evil . . .
Callum moved his hands back and forth.
Suddenly, as he turned, his fingertips began to tingle madly. He moved to the right a fraction and the feeling faded. Back and to the left – sure enough, the pins and needles intensified. Callum slowly began to move in the direction his hands were driving him.
‘Have you found something?’ Melissa asked, coming up next to him.
‘I might have,’ Callum mumbled, concentrating hard.
Melissa turned back to where they had first materialised a short distance away.
‘Jacob, do you – Hey, where are Jacob and Doom?’ she said suddenly. ‘They were there a second ago, now they’ve vanished.’ She turned to Callum with a worried smile. ‘You don’t think they’ve abandoned us do you?’
Callum was about to answer her when he heard a shout behind them.
‘Excuse me, you two. Just what exactly do you think you’re doing here?’
Callum and Melissa both froze, then turned slowly. Callum raised a hand to shield his eyes from the torchlight now being flashed into both their faces.
‘Damn,’ he whispered.
Melissa glanced at Callum and then raised her voice in the direction of the bright light. ‘Uh, we were just, um . . . we’re on a dare. Crazy story, but anyway this turned out to be the forfeit for –’
‘Spare us, love,’ the voice with the torch interrupted. Coming a bit closer, he lowered the light from Callum and Melissa’s faces. Callum could see a stocky man in a security guard’s uniform and a football scarf striding towards them. A taller, thinner guard walked along next to him. Callum swore silently again under his breath – of all the problems he’d tried to predict, he certainly hadn’t counted on a pair of jobsworth patrol men ruining their plans.
But then Callum noticed something was wrong. The two guards were still moving towards them, but their expressions seemed to be changing. From a look of bored sarcasm, the stocky guard’s features fell into confusion and concern – and his companion’s did the same. Then both men suddenly stopped walking. They seemed rooted to the spot, unable to move, and even in the pale moonlight, Callum could see their faces straining and turning red.
‘What are they doing?’ Melissa whispered.
Callum shook his head wordlessly. The two men were now visibly quivering in the eerie light of their torches, and their eyes became unfocused. At exactly the same moment, each of the men’s eyes rolled up into their sockets so that only the whites showed. Callum stumbled backwards as the shorter, stockier guard raised his hands, still rooted to the spot, his fingers clawing at the air desperately as if imploring Callum and Melissa for help. Callum soon noticed that the other guard was doing the same – and that there were oozing blisters forming all over the men’s skin. He reached out instinctively for Melissa’s hand and she grabbed it desperately.
‘M-Melissa, we should –’
But before Callum could even finish his sentence, his breath was snatched by a gasp of horror. Before their eyes, the stocky man’s face split apart in an explosion of blood and grey matter that ripped down the length of his body. Melissa screamed as the body of the second man exploded and a spatter of gore came flying at her. The blasted torsos of the guards stood before them, the remains of their clothing hanging limply in shreds.
Then, to Callum’s disbelief, out through the cracked bones and throbbing vital organs of each man clambered a demon the size of a small dog. The monsters’ sticklike, hairy arms and legs were cloaked in red flame and, as they escaped the prison of their hosts’ ribcages, the demons began to grow. Within seconds they were almost as tall as Callum. The guards’ discarded bodies fell to the ground, blood pooling around them on the frost-covered grass.
Callum felt as though everything around him was moving in slow motion. He turned his head and saw Melissa’s body crumple to the ground, fainting from shock. In the next instant, he saw one of the hellish demons leap towards Melissa. Red flame illuminated the sky as her body suddenly ignited . . .