Chapter 4

 

The next morning, after dinner, Alice, Toby and Carla returned to Professor Abbacus’ office. Only this time they were accompanied by Professor Bukarev from the Russian Academy. He still looked grey and lined, but considerably less flustered than before. He also reeked of vodka, and kept stealing gulps from a flask he was carrying in one pocket of his black velvet suit.

Great, another alcoholic teacher, Toby sent disdainfully to Alice and Carla.

Alice remembered the discussion she’d had with Professor Abbacus after Toby and Carla left. Did dead teachers need booze? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

Anyway, didn’t he tell Longenfang that he preferred red wine to vodka? Toby continued.

Bukarev noticed the children were staring at him and quickly shoved the flask back into his pocket.

“Ah, they’re here,” Professor Abbacus declared from his computer. He got up and crossed the room to his door, opening it just as a pair of tall, blonde figures appeared, still looking a little dishevelled from travelling through the enchanted portals that linked the Nocturnal University to the Nocturnal Council, and the Nocturnal Council to all the Academies.

“I’ll never get used to that, sir,” declared a youth in faded cargo pants and a hoodie.

“As far as I’m concerned it’s the only way to travel between the schools,” Abbacus declared as he waved them into the room. “What, you’d prefer a cramped cattle-class aeroplane seat stuck in between a fat sweaty guy and a wailing baby, eating stomach-churning food and watching bad movies for sixteen hours?”

“Ah, no,” quickly answered a young woman in black skinny jeans and pink jumper. She was chewing on a piece of gum.

When they spotted Bukarev, they both smiled and waved to him.

“Good to see you two again,” the Russian principal told them.

“Alice, Toby and Carla, allow me to introduce two of Professor Bukarev’s old students, siblings Boris and Danika Cherenko. These are my best students Alice Dibble, Toby Thompson and Carla Hightower.” Abbacus gestured to them.

Boris and Danika stepped forward to shake hands with the Aussie kids. Boris appeared happy to see everyone, but when Danika’s pale blue eyes fell on Alice, the strangest look of disgust passed across her pretty face. Alice had her hand out, ready to take Danika’s, but the tall, slender Russian woman declined to take it and quickly turned to grab Toby’s stubby digits.

Alice could only stare. What the heck was that all about? she wondered in confusion. I’ve never met the girl before now and she’s already snubbing me! Don’t tell me my reputation as Unlucky Alice has stretched beyond this school?

“Now we’re all here we can begin,” Abbacus declared, rubbing his hands together.

“Surely for a job this big this isn’t it?” Carla asked dubiously.

“Of course this isn’t it. Technically we’re the forward scouting party. Bukarev has a whole army of celestials standing by. But they won’t be able to attack until we reach the school and open a portal for them. Celestials might have a natural ability to cross dimensions, but the Immaterium isn’t one of them.”

Bukarev nodded. “Best for our group to be small and fast. A large party would attract far too much Immaterial attention.”

Alice remembered the time she and Professor Abbacus had dashed from the Supernatural Circus to the Nocturnal Academy through the Immaterium – a trip that hadn’t taken long at all. But it had seemed to her that every imp in the immediate vicinity had honed in on them. “Are we travelling the entire way through the Immaterium?”

“Of course not!” Abbacus snapped. “We will be journeying as far as we can through the Astral Plane, only breaking through into the Immaterium at the very last minute. But even that journey will be a long and dangerous one, fraught with peril. However I’m sure all of you are up to the challenge.”

Toby blew a raspberry and flipped a hand. “Been there, done that.”

“Not the Middle and Outer planes, Thompson. None of you have been across them. The Inner plane is a piece of cake in comparison.”

“A piece of cake?” scoffed Toby. “Come on sir - you didn’t see the absolutely humungous metal cockroach we had to fight during that spirit quest we did last year! It nearly managed to suck us straight into hell! If Longenfang hadn’t discovered his new werebeardog form and saved us, we’d have been toast!”

Professor Abbacus lifted a hand. “It is my understanding that giant cockroach was an unnatural intrusion sent directly from the Lonely House. Normally the Inner Astral plane isn’t quite so dangerous. But we’re getting off the point. Oleg, I’d like you to give my students a brief run-down on how you managed to locate the lost Siberian Academy.”

Bukarev inclined his head. “Of course.” He favoured the children with a smile. “Would you like to take a seat?”

Alice, Toby and Carla pulled up rickety lab stools. Boris and Danika joined them. The gum-chewing Russian woman made sure she didn’t sit anywhere Alice. Alice rolled her eyes in exasperation. From this angle they could all see Abbacus’ screens, and the image spread across them changed as the Russian Principal told his story.

“I have always been interested in the fate of the old school, which happened when I was teaching at the Nocturnal University,” Bukarev began. On the screens an image of a bleak Siberian wilderness appeared. Slowly it changed to a grainy, but colour image of the old Russian school, rising up above the pines. It looked like an ancient castle with its many towers and spires. “I was most shocked when it happened – I lost many friends that day. But the demon god Abraxas had always been focussed on that particular school, ever since its creation. Possibly because it was located on a particularly large convergence of leylines.” A lurid image of Abraxas appeared on the screen. He had the head of a rooster and the torso and arms of a human male, dressed in ancient Roman armour, but the lower part of his body was a writhing mass of tentacles. He was armed with a massive spear. Against a background of flames he looked terrifying.

“Anyway Abraxas had tried insidious methods to break in, using small imps and tentacles, but was thwarted each time,” Bukarev continued. His musical accent made his story a pleasure to listen to. “Unfortunately the school’s mages did not realise they were actually dealing with the self-styled “god” of the Immaterium. They thought the attacks were unrelated. Which suited Abraxas fine. He was able to formulate his master plan by actually spreading his massive, ancient form out across the Immaterium so in that alternate realm he was actually encircling the entire school. He attacked from all directions at once, utilising every weak point he could find.” Another image appeared, of Abraxas doing just that – surrounding the entire school with his tentacles until it was completely enclosed.

Everyone shuddered, even Boris and Danika.

“Again the Russians thought they were being attacked by individual creatures. Still, they had never faced off against such a massive horde and sent for reinforcements.” Bukarev paused, realising that Professor Abbacus had wandered off. He had pulled out his battered old trolley and was selecting various compression cubes from a shelf and dropping them in.

“Ah, Icarus,” Bukarev began nervously.

Abbacus waved a hand. “Don’t mind me. I’m just preparing for the trip. The images on my computer will continue, responding to various points of your story.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about!” Bukarev cried. “That trolley of yours is trans-dimensional, isn’t it?”

“Bigger on the inside? Of course. How else will we be able to take all the supplies we need?”

“But you’re putting compression cubes inside! They’ve already been dimensionally altered! Are you trying to get us all killed?”

Abbacus heaved an exasperated sigh. “Tesseract spell. I could create a whole Russian Doll effect with it if I so wished.” He snickered at the unexpected joke he’d made. “In fact,” he picked up one box covered with runes, “This one has three different cubes contained within it.”

Bukarev actually went pale. “Dimension alteration spells never work the way you expect on the alternate planes!”

“They’ll work exactly how I bloody well want them to work. I’ve recently modified Tesseract to work across all realms. I certainly don’t want to be inconvenienced by lugging all the equipment I’ll need at full size! I’d need an entire locomotive to carry it all. Hardly subtle.” He went back to his shelf of compressed articles.

Bukarev still looked worried. But then he sighed and directed his attention back to the five students. Danika blew a huge pink bubble. “I guess he knows what he’s doing. But I’ve never met anyone with such a blatant disregard for the laws of physics or Magick.”

“You got that right,” Alice declared. On the other side of Toby, Danika gave a disdainful sniff.

“Now where was I? Oh yes. Before help could arrive, Abraxas swallowed the entire Russian Academy, tearing it from the Materium and into his own bleak, lifeless world.” The image on the screens depicted this too. “On the Materium there was a massive implosion and flash of light that killed and flattened trees for kilometres around. This incident became known as the Tunguska explosion of 1908.” The picture changed again to depict a circle of charred, blackened trees, many miles across, marring the desolate Siberian wilderness. Only a few trees at the centre were still standing. “That’s how it looked from the outside,” Bukarev explained. “When the supernaturals from other academies arrived, the Russian Academy was gone as though it had never been. Everyone thought it had been destroyed, all the lives within lost forever. The new Russian Academy was established a few kilometres from the site of the old one, and some years later I was assigned to be its principal.” The screens shifted again to reveal the new school, a far plainer, more modern construction.

“I was curious about why no traces of the old school were never found, and began to wonder if it might have been pulled into the Immaterium whole. Could any of its inhabitants still be alive? If they were, I wanted to try and help them. I approached the Nocturnal Council but they scoffed at my idea and said there was no possible way anyone could still exist. They refused to give me any funding, so I had to pay for my own research. Fortunately one of my teachers, a celestial named Andreyev who’d lost family in the Tunguska explosion agreed to help, and rounded up other celestials to form scout groups deep into the Outer Astral Plane where the membrane between realms is thinnest. So thin in places that if you concentrate you can actually see through it. That’s how the celestials spotted it – and the beings there who were still alive.” He gestured to the screen, once again depicting the strange Immaterial map with all the lines on it, and the shadowy, indistinct school in one corner.

Boris drew in a shocked breath. Alice glanced at him, noticing the hope in his eyes. Had he lost someone too?

“What did they actually see?” asked Carla.

“Brief outlines only – nothing substantial. But enough to make them realise that they had found the school. They also realised Abraxas was in residence.”

“How?” asked Toby.

“From his outline.”

“His outline?” Alice gasped, recalling the image Bukarev had put up earlier.

“Yes. The school was infused with his tentacles. Abraxas fills rooms and corridors. He has ... literally taken over the whole school. This should make things very interesting for us.”

All five students gulped, very loudly at the thought of a creature so insidious it could fill an entire building like that. Oh I’m definitely not sleeping well tonight, Alice thought darkly.

Professor Abbacus appeared beside Bukarev. “That’s enough for now, Oleg. We can discuss this further tomorrow morning. You youngsters all need your rest.”

Boris and Danika exchanged glances, but nodded. Everyone began to head out of the room, mulling over what they’d been told. Everyone that is, except Alice who hung back so she could talk to Abbacus.

“I’ll show you two to your room,” Bukarev told Boris and Danika.

“You too, Dribble.” Abbacus gestured for her to follow.

“Um – I need to talk to you.”

He sighed. “Alright.”

She waited until the big steel door had banged closed behind the Russians, and then she turned to him. “Alright sir – what’s wrong with Danika?”

“What?”

“Come on sir – you can’t tell me you didn’t notice the massive stink-eye she gave me as soon as she walked into the room?”

Abbacus managed to look completely baffled. “Er … no.”

Alice rolled her eyes at him. “Sir, I wasn’t imagining it. Danika took one look at me and developed an instant dislike towards me! Now I need to find out why or I don’t think this mission will go particularly well for us!”

The Professor lifted his hands. “I’m sorry Alice, but I didn’t notice anything. I was too busy preparing the presentation, and then getting some things ready for the mission. I can’t think of any logical reason why Danika would have any issue with you. Before today she has never even met you.”

Since when have people ever been logical, Alice wondered darkly. She tried to convince herself that she was just being paranoid – that she had simply imagined Danika’s hostility. But then she recalled the distasteful look the tall Russian girl had given her and her refusal to take her hand.

No, she hadn’t imagined that at all. “I’m sorry sir – she was rude to me as soon as she walked in. She has some problem with me, but I have no idea what. If … if you could talk to her, find out what her issue is, I’d be very grateful. Because I’m sure you don’t want any stupid childish issues getting in the way of this mission, do you?”

Dribble certainly knew how to hit a bullseye. Abbacus winced at her accuracy. “Fine,” he grumbled. “I’ll see what I can do.” Teenagers, he thought in exasperation.

 

But the next few days passed without incident, and although Professor Abbacus couldn’t actually forget about the incident, he hoped that Alice could. He assumed that whatever was bugging both girls was only tiny and would resolve itself. During their next mission briefing he stated very plainly that if everyone didn’t cooperate things could start falling apart very quickly, He assumed that would serve to quash whatever the silly little issue was, and promptly shoved it to the back of his mind.

Alice, however, wasn’t quite so sure Abbacus’ order would be enough. It seemed whenever she looked in Danika’s direction she received a stare in return so sour it could have curdled milk. Even Toby and Carla noticed.

“What was that all about?” Toby hissed. “Talk about if looks could kill!”

“You saw it too? Thank goodness! I was starting to think I was going a little nuts from paranoia!” Alice mopped some of her long black hair from her face.

“You’re relieved?” Carla exclaimed. “That gum-chewing Russian chick looks like she wants to plant a knife in your back!”

“Yeah, what’s with the gum, anyway? She trying to give up smoking or something?” wondered Toby.

“I asked Abbacus about her attitude and he said he would look into it, but I don’t think he has.” Alice shivered at the thought of travelling with such an angry woman. She didn’t want to have to fight enemies from within the group as well. “He probably thought I was making a mountain out of a mole-hill.”

“Don’t worry Alice –we’ve got your back. We’ll make sure that creepy Russian doesn’t shiv you while you’re sleeping.” Toby patted Alice’s shoulder reassuringly.

“Thanks!” Alice thought about approaching Abbacus again, but since he had fobbed her off last time and was so preoccupied with mission preparations now, she decided against it.

Instead she decided to spend the weekend at home with her mother, stepfather Harry, stepbrother Nick and baby half-sister Flo Flo. Maybe they would help her to relax.

She always enjoyed returning home, even though her childhood home no longer held the security it once did. But playing with her baby sister, who could now crawl and get into absolutely everything, always served to take her mind off the Nocturnal Academy and all the bizarre adventures she got into because of it.

Flo Flo already loved her big sister just as much as Alice loved her. She squealed with delight whenever Alice walked into the room, and excitedly waved her arms to be scooped up. If the baby girl was ever upset for some reason, she always stopped crying when Alice held her. She never cried in her big sister’s arms. It was like Alice had a Magick touch.

Not that Alice minded. She just wished she could be with Flo Flo more often. When Flo Flo turned one on Alice’s own birthday, Marlene would have to return to work. For three days a week Flo Flo would have to go into a daycare centre. Marlene had managed to get her into the best one Appleton, but still – Alice didn’t like the idea of her sister being looked after by strangers.

“Flo Flo, if anyone does anything to hurt you, I’ll hunt them down and destroy them,” Alice promised her baby sister solemnly.

Flo Flo gave Alice a huge grin and blew a raspberry in Alice’s face. Then she squealed and waved her hands in delight.

Alice smiled back.

“You’ll do what?’ exclaimed a voice from behind her. “’Hunt them down and destroy them’? That’s pretty dark!”

Alice turned to see Nick standing behind her, looking a little uncertainly at her. He was taller than her but at least starting to grow into his enormous hands and feet. He no longer tripped over everything and could walk down a hall without sounding like a buffalo stampede. No wonder he’d managed to sneak up on her!

Alice grinned at him. “I can be dark if I want to. Especially if anyone does anything to my gorgeous baby sister!”

“Brrrrrr!” said Flo Flo.

Nick put his hands on his hips. “Anyway, isn’t it the big brother’s job to beat up anyone who bullies her?”

“It’s a modern world. We can take turns,” Alice continued, still trying to make light out of her extremely serious comment.

Nick conceded and smiled back. “Fair enough. Coz you’re right, Alice – if anyone hurts my little puddin’ here they’re gonna get it!” He pinched Flo Flo’s enormous fat cheeks.

She blew a raspberry at him. Alice took her over to the play area that had been set up in one corner of the lounge room and set her down in amongst the blocks and toys. Flo Flo pouted at being put down, but instantly spotted her favourite stuffed Tiny Horsey and excitedly scuttled over to it. “So, anything going on in town?” Alice asked Nick as they sat down on the lounge to watch Flo Flo. She relied on him to provide her with Appleton gossip from the other side.

For a moment Nick looked blank, and then his brown eyes lit up. “Yeah, actually! I ran into that obnoxious kid Stanley the other day. You remember him, don’t you? He once told the principal to eff off and dropped out not long after.”

“How could I forget him? He used to pick on me in primary school!” Alice retorted.

“He’s living on the streets now, but reckons he has it made. He and a whole bunch of Appleton delinquents and dropouts have made a home for themselves up near that Old Cider Factory.”

“Really? But it’s all fenced off, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but they’ve set up a tent city near by. Reckon the place is just full of ‘cool vibes’.”

Alice shuddered at the thought.

“It’s a real commune. Stanley was hanging around the shopping centre barefoot, ragged T-shirt and jeans with the knees out, trying to get kids to join the group. He approached me, but the stink from his unwashed body nearly killed me. It was all I could do to escape.”

“Gross,” said Alice.

“I was curious, but I really didn’t want to go down there.” He lowered his voice. “I remember visiting that Old Cider Factory as a little kid in primary school, when it was still open. You’re gonna think I’m a big wuss, but the sight of that old black factory up on the hill, with its pointy roof and tall chimneys against the afternoon sun … really creeped me out. I felt like something really bad happened there.”

Alice gulped. She really wanted to tell him the truth. Instead she said; “but something bad did happen there, didn’t it? William Edgar Holloway, a demon-worshipper, killed himself inside.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know the story. But it was more than that, Alice. Like the nasty stuff is continuing.” He pulled his fingers through his scruffy hair. “I can’t explain it. Some of my mates went down there to check out the commune and one or two said they could feel the badness in the air, but others actually wanted to run down and join in. We hadda talk ‘em out of it.”

Alice patted his shoulder, and wondered if any of the other work experience groups would be checking out the mysterious new Cider Factory commune. “I’m sure they’re not allowed to be up there. Someone will move them along soon.”

“They’re on the common ground near the Factory, Alice. So long as they don’t trash the place the cops can’t do anything about them. Mum reckons the cops are happy they’re all up there in one place, instead of loitering around the middle of town mugging people, starting fights and vandalising public property.”

“What do they do for money?” Alice asked.

“Some are on the dole, others do odd jobs, a few steal. But they share everything so it all evens out. When my mates were watching them they saw them hand stuff out. No fights or hoarding or anything. It was freaky to see everyone so happy.” He tailed off into a moody silence. But then he snapped his fingers. “I just remembered another interesting thing. You know the Stigmata church? The one that was burnt down and then mysteriously repaired?”

“I think I remember it.”

“Well it’s back open for business. There’s a new priest inside and everything!”

Alice tried not to let her excitement show. “Really? Have you been?”

“Not yet. My Mum has, but so far I’ve managed to get out of going. Keep telling her I have too much homework! Well, I do!” he protested when Alice didn’t look convinced.

“So you haven’t seen the new priest?”

“Nah, but Mum’s talked about him often enough.” Nick pulled a face. “Another one of those old, charismatic grey-haired blokes she can’t stop raving about. Not quite as full of fire and brimstone as the other guy, but he still seems to think the town’s full of weird, evil supernatural stuff.” Nick pulled another face. “After what I felt up near the Old Cider Factory, I’m inclined to believe him!”

“Oh,” said Alice, who wished she could ask more without coming across as too curious.

“There is one odd thing about this new priest though. His name.”

“His name?”

“Yeah … it stuck in my head. It’s Father Lost. How weird is that, eh?”

“That is a weird name,” Alice agreed. “I wonder what it means?” It could be important, she thought to herself. I’ll have to let Madam Nocturna and Professor Abbacus know.

 

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