Chapter 10

 

Professor Abbacus led his group into the school kitchen. More supernaturals worked in here; a mix of plant spirits, weres and a couple of vampires. Only a few looked up from their chores as the group entered. They had luminous eyes, too big for their pinched faces. They were all skinny, pale and beaten down by their years of Immaterial imprisonment. Shockingly, some were still dressed in their school uniforms; torn, patched, faded and frayed. And looking quite creepy on these ancient beings. Under normal circumstances these supernaturals would still have appeared young and healthy after only a hundred years, but here they had grown old and stunted well before their time.

Bukarev, Boris and Cherenko looked for people they recognised, but these beings appeared almost alien, like those little grey fellows famous for abducting people. They realised that Professor Abbacus was right; they would have a hard time locating their lost relatives within this desolate group.

Since the school had been taken in 1908 the kitchens resembled rooms from that time; made from bricks that had been whitewashed, with thick smoke-blackened beams running across the ceiling. The supernaturals worked at long wooden benches cutting up the mutant vegetables and preparing them with numerous herbs. A huge iron pot, like something witches would use to brew their potions in, hung above a large fire fuelled by something that stank and smoked a lot as it burned. In one corner some enterprising soul had set up a formidable-looking still of pipes and drums, fermenting the evil vegetables into something far more palatable that would help the interminable hours pass more easily.

The only thing out of place was a Magick globe illuminating the room. It sputtered occasionally, its enchantment almost worn out after so many years. Even permanent items didn’t always last forever.

Professor Abbacus pushed his way through the benches to a door at the far end of the room. It opened into a gloomy, narrow corridor with mould-stained walls. Cobwebs containing ugly mutant spiders with far too many limbs dangled from the ceiling.

Abbacus stopped dead in the doorway and Bukarev ran into his back.

Watch it! Abbacus sent.

What’s wrong? asked the Russian Principal, peering around Abbacus’ shoulder. Oh.

Stretching along the damp, wooden floorboards was a long green tentacle. It disappeared around a bend in the passage up ahead. It was about fifty centimetres in diameter.

What are we going to do?

Step over it, of course. But be careful! Don’t touch it! We don’t want Abraxas to become aware of our presence just yet! Professor Abbacus took a huge step over the thing and ended up on the far side of the passage. He pressed himself against the wall. The others followed him, but as Carla, at the very back of the group, stepped over the pseudopod it started to ripple and move.

Carla clapped a hand over her mouth and threw herself against the wall as the end of the tentacle whipped back and rose into the air, tip almost dragging some of the webs from the ceiling. She thought it was going to whip around her. But then it dropped and slithered into the kitchen, from where they had come.

“Oh no, he’s not back again, is he?” someone groaned from within.

“Looks like it.”

“But he was here just a couple of days ago! What’s he thinking? It never changes in here!”

“It never changes anywhere, but this is his domain. He can go wherever he wants.”

There was a clatter as the tentacle knocked something to the floor, and then a dull thump.

“Ouch! Dammit!” someone cursed.

Alice wanted to see what was going on in there, but Professor Abbacus was already heading up the passage the tentacle had vacated. He assumed now it was gone it wouldn’t be returning any time soon. The ancient floorboards creaked beneath his boots, and occasionally a fat mutant spider swung down to check them out. He paused at the first door he came to and carefully pushed it open with a mournful creak of warped, ancient hinges. Inside lay a janitor’s closet, full of ragged mops, frayed brooms, cracked buckets and bottles that had long since been emptied of their contents. Abbacus motioned for everyone to join him and closed the door. It was a bit cosy but at least everyone fitted.

“So far so good,” he whispered. “Abraxas doesn’t realise we’re here and no-one is even remotely interested in us.”

“Except for that old wolf. He looked pretty cranky,” Toby declared. “And call me nuts, but I think he could smell us.”

“Nonsense. The spell I cast over you hides your scent as well as everything else,” Abbacus growled. “Now I’ve brought you in here to discuss the next stage of our plan. From this point on we need to separate.”

Alice’s stomach flip-flopped. She didn’t want to leave Abbacus’ side. So long as he was with them they would all be safe. She gulped. “Are you sure we have to split up?”

“As I explained earlier, Bukarev and I are going to confront Abraxas. You, Toby, Carla and the Cherenkos are going to look for survivors. Or, since there appear to be quite a few supernaturals still alive here, you are going to look for people willing to escape with us. You can tell them both Bukarev and I can return everyone here to the Materium.”

Alice gulped again. “Okay.” I really wish I had one of those Fortitude spells cast over me, she thought miserably.

But Abbacus seemed to sense her reluctance and looked down at her. “Are you alright with this, Alice?” he asked gently.

“Y-yes.”

“I can’t take you with us. We are going to fight the biggest Demon Lord in the Immaterium. Some very dangerous spells will fly thick and fast. That’s why everyone needs to get out. But Bukarev and I are Seventh Circle mages, and I have a lot of equipment in my bag that will help. We stand a good chance of surviving. But Alice, even though you are talented, you do not. Best for you to stay with Toby, Carla and the Cherenkos.” He placed a hand on her shoulder.

No, I will not cry! she willed herself. “Yes sir.”

“Good girl. Now Bukarev and I are going to follow that tentacle out there. It will lead us directly to Abraxas. I suggest you lot stay away from his tentacles for as long as you can. I’m sure if one even just brushes any of you invisible people Abraxas will sense you instantly.”

Alice, Toby and Carla shuddered at the thought. “Yes sir!”

“Good. Are you ready, Oleg?”

Bukarev pulled a face. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Wait sir!” Alice caught Abbacus’ arm. “How long will Toby, Carla and I stay invisible?”

“Indefinitely, but Abraxas would have the power to cancel it. Also you can dispel it yourselves if you want to be seen.”

“Like that’s going to happen!” Toby declared.

Professor Abbacus pushed the closet door open and stepped out into the mouldy corridor. Bukarev followed him out and shut the door behind him.

The five students exchanged glances. “Now what?” asked Toby.

“Any ideas?” Carla asked the Cherenkos.

“Some of those people in the kitchen seemed interested in us.”

“Yeah, but we shouldn’t go back while Abraxas’ tentacle is thrashing about in there.”

“Good point,” agreed Boris. He went to the door and looked out. The passage was deserted. “I suggest we start exploring, see what we can find out.” He popped a piece of chocolate into his mouth and Danika unwrapped some gun. Then Boris stepped out and Danika followed close behind. Carla closed the door behind Alice and Toby. Abraxas’ tentacle was still blocking the way they’d come, so they continued further along the corridor, checking each door along the way. But they all led to various storerooms, crammed with ancient, mouldering paperwork, old school supplies and long forgotten files. At the end of the passage, a small, dusty window looked out at the bleak Immaterial world. A few vines trailed across it, and as Boris looked out a blue imp with six legs scuttled across. It paused to peer in and pulled the most disgusting face with its four eyes and two mouths.

Boris shuddered. Looks like we need to go back. The Russian turned and headed back towards the kitchen, and the tentacle that was still exploring the room. People cursed as they tried to avoid it while still doing their work. Boris carefully skirted around the slimy green snake, forcing Danika, Alice, Toby and Carla to perform similar acrobatic feats.

Fortunately, just up ahead lay a T-junction, considerably wider than the side passage, and one side was free of tentacle. This looked like a main corridor, its dark stained walls hung with old paintings. The canvases had since faded and cracked, and of the original artwork only a few discoloured splodges remained. More cobwebs criss-crossed the ceiling, hanging in shreds in places. The only wildlife living in the rafters were those fat spiders. Magick globes dangled from the ceiling, but only half were still working. A few flickered uneasily, about to spark out and die. Doors led off the various rooms unknown, although Boris suspected this was where the principal and professors had had their offices. He pushed open one door to reveal a dark, deserted set of chambers; tall shelves and a large desk in the middle. The shelves used to be filled with mouldering books, but something – no doubt a tentacle – had scattered them all over the floor. Some had had pages ripped from them. Behind the desk was an old-fashioned wing chair, and slumped in it was a skeleton, still dressed in a set of academic robes.

Boris quickly shut the door and shuddered. He might have been dead himself, but that had been too creepy.

What was that? asked Alice.

Believe me, you don’t want to know. Boris walked up to the next door, dreading what he would find. Knowing this place, nothing nice. He nudged the door open and it creaked inwards to reveal another office just like the first. There were even books and papers strewn all over the floor.

But instead of a skeleton in the chair behind the desk, there sat a large grey werewolf. It was the one from the garden, only this time it was in half-human form, his massive clawed paws folded in the desk in front of him. “If you just follow the tentacles, you’ll find Lord Abraxas soon enough,” he growled, “but you two aren’t after him, are you? If you were you wouldn’t have separated from your masters and started snooping around the place!” He pushed himself up into a standing position, towering over the two undead vampires. He placed his enormous clawed hands on the table in front of him.

Boris and Danika exchanged glances. Perhaps they could at least explain their specific part of the mission. “We are Boris and Danika Cherenko,” he explained softly. “We’ve come here looking for some of our relatives. Our great-aunt – Milena Cherenko, was attending this school when it was … taken.”

The werewolf was so surprised by their answer he actually gaped at them. “Milena Cherenko…”

“You know her?” Boris asked excitedly.

The wolf’s expression grew grave. “Yes … she was here. But she died. Not very long ago, actually. She gave up, you see. She walked to the wall outside and let the plants take her.”

Boris and Danika were horrified. “She … she’s one of the skeletons we saw outside?”

“Yes. I don’t know why she gave up. I don’t know why anyone gives up. Do you know what happens to the souls of people who die here on the Immaterium?”

The Cherenkos exchanged glances. “No!” Danika gasped.

“They are changed into imps.”

“Our great-aunt is an imp?”

“Probably. Only you would never know which one. And she wouldn’t remember you either. That’s why so many of us are still hanging on here. We don’t want to end up as those awful little monsters.” Suddenly he stuck out a huge paw. “I am Vasily Kerchek. Professor of History. I believe your story, little dead creatures, but I don’t think you have told me all of it. I may not be a mage … Abraxas made sure he killed off everyone with even a modicum of Magick ability so no-one could escape – but I have an exceptional sense of smell.” He tapped his enormous nose. “I can smell the spells around you … and behind you. You have come here with others.”

Danika opened her mouth to speak but Boris lifted a hand. “Yes. We have friends, but if they voluntarily reveal themselves their protection will be cancelled. They’re not undead like us, but living supernaturals. Two weres and a vampire, here to help us.”

“Ah.” Professor Kerchek lumbered out from behind his desk and sniffed around where Alice, Toby and Carla were standing. “Yes, very powerful spells. I shall leave your invisible friends for now, but you must continue your story.” He went back to his chair.

“Can you change back into your human form, sir?” requested Danika. “It’s a bit disconcerting, talking to you like that. You’re rather big and intimidating.”

“My human form is old and completely blind,” growled the wolf. “At least in this shape I can see a little. I will not return to that form again.”

Danika gulped. “I’m sorry sir – I didn’t mean any offense.”

The gruff old wolf flipped his paw. “Finish your tale and I may forgive your impudence.”

“Of course sir.” Together, Boris and Danika explained about their grandparents, who’d both journeyed into the Immaterium in search of Great-Aunt Milena, and their father who’d gone looking for them. “Did any of them make it here?” asked Boris when he’d finished.

Professor Kerchek frowned. “Possibly. Lost supernaturals do make it here eventually. This is the very edge of the Immaterium, the furthest, darkest part of the realm. Some just decide to walk until they can walk no further.” He rubbed his bristly chin. “I do remember a Yuri Cherenko – your grandfather. He did make it here. He enjoyed a very brief, tearful reunion with his aunt Milena, but then he was taken.”

“T-taken?” Danika lifted a shaking hand to her lips.

“Abraxas is very disciplined. He doesn’t kill us indiscriminately because he needs us to maintain this school and serve him as slaves. But occasionally he will treat himself to a meal of human flesh. He will choose a victim to devour. Because Yuri was a fit, healthy newcomer, he was picked.”

Boris swore. Danika looked sick. “He was the only one?”

“Yes.” Professor Kerchek opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a very large, old ledger. He flipped it open on his desk and a large cloud of dust puffed into the air. “I keep notes on who turns up and who disappears, but unfortunately they are somewhat erratic.” He flipped through a few pages and dropped his head low, squinting at the lines through one eye. He ran a long claw down a list of names under the letter “C”. “Ah yes, here. Cherenko, Milena – deceased, and Cherenko, Yuri, deceased.” He looked up. “I am sorry.” He hunted around in the draw for a pencil and carefully wrote their names down in the book. “Can you also give me the names of your friends?”

“Won’t Abraxas find out?” Boris gestured towards all the books scattered around on the floor.

“He’s not interested in anything I have here anymore. He took or destroyed everything Magickal years ago.”

Boris supplied the three names and Kerchek wrote them down. “Now, the name of your undead leader, who said you were going to see Lord Abraxas and called me a peasant.”

“Ah, yes. That pleasant fellow was Professor Abbacus, and with him was Professor Bukarev … the principal of the new Russian Academy.”

“Professor Abbacus….” Kerchek mused. “That name is familiar to me.”

“What was Abbacus doing back in 1908?” Boris asked Danika. She shrugged.

He was still with the Circus Infinitus, Alice sent to him.

“Er – apparently he was with a circus back then – the Circus Infinitus.”

Professor Kerchek snapped his fingers. “That’s where I remember him from! That circus came to Russia not long before this school was taken. I saw a show! Professor Abbacus was the one who blasted lightning from his hands. I remember thinking ‘that’s not much of a trick for a mage’. But since most of the audience were daydwellers they were very easily impressed.”

“Why didn’t you recognise him?” asked Danika.

“When he appeared on stage he was wrapped in bandages. The Ringmaster said he’d been injured in a horrible lab accident. But I also didn’t recognise him because I can’t see very well anymore,” he added pointedly.

“Ah, yes, sorry,” Danika said quickly. Boris shot her a look.

“So why is he here to see Abraxas?” asked the massive werewolf history professor.

“Because he and Bukarev are going to kill him,” Boris answered.

Professor Kerchek stared at Boris and Danika, and the siblings thought he was about to erupt in a fury at the stupidity of such a plan. But then he beamed a huge toothy smile and clapped his enormous paws together. “It’s about time someone arrived to take that brute on! I do hope Abbacus and this Bukarev are strong enough though.”

“Oh yes. They’re both experienced Seventh Circle mages. They both have the power to open a portal back to the Materium.”

“Abraxas has killed Seventh Circle mages before. But a chance is a chance. We have been stuck here so long we will cling to even the tiniest hope of freedom from this unholy place.” The big werewolf rose to his feet. “Come with me. But be careful and be quiet. We can’t afford to alert the demon lord.” He dropped onto all fours, shifting into full wolf form, and padded across the mouldy carpet to the door of his office. He nudged it open with a front paw and stepped out into the hall.

Boris and Danika followed, with the three invisible children hot on their heels. The werewolf professor paused, looking right and left for Abraxas, then darted across the passage to another office door. He pushed it in with his nose and disappeared inside. The others followed him into yet another musty office, littered with torn, shredded books and other detritus that hadn’t been cleaned for years. Fortunately this one did not contain a skeleton. “Close the door,” Kerchek growled.

At the back of the group, Carla did as he’d asked.

Kerchek shifted back into half-human form and easily moved one of the large, empty bookshelves away from the wall. Behind lay the entrance to a tunnel. Kerchek shifted back into full wolf form so he could enter with bumping his head. “Could the last person please replace the bookshelf? Abraxas doesn’t know about our secret passages and I’d like to keep it that way.”

Once everyone was inside the close, dank space, Carla pulled the bookshelf across.

“Follow me, keep quiet and stay close.” Kerchek padded off across rough, damp stone. The tunnel looked like it had been made from a mixture of bricks, stones and earth – construction materials from the school itself, since there wasn’t a lot of dirt beneath to use. It was quite narrow – everyone had to travel single file. Every now and then a small peep hole had been drilled into the wall and the newcomers paused to look out.

One hole revealed a section of corridor containing one of Abraxas’ tentacles. It disappeared into an open door, through which part of a classroom could be seen. Another looked out upon a deserted laboratory. Although everything useful had long since been pillaged or destroyed, someone had made an effort to clean up. The room was still being used, although for what was anyone’s guess. A third peephole looked out into a stairwell, and then suddenly Kerchek started crawling up a narrow set of steep, uneven steps.

We have been making these secret passages for years, Kerchek sent telepathically to Boris and Danika, trusting them to reveal his words to those he hadn’t met yet. Our earth elementals work on shifting the back walls of rooms, a few inches every few weeks or so, shrinking a room so imperceptibly that Abraxas doesn’t suspect. Thus we have managed to create tunnels and secret rooms through this entire building, places we can go for peace and quiet. We have managed to salvage some valuables, but unfortunately nothing that will help us to defeat the demon king.

Boris related the story to Alice, Toby and Carla. Then Kerchek nosed his way along an upper floor corridor that looked occasionally out on private rooms. None were occupied. Then the passage widened out into a rough chamber – the back of one of these dorms that had been absorbed and reclaimed for Abraxas’ prisoners.

About half a dozen of the old, withered supernaturals sat inside on makeshift chairs and beds. Some were catching up on sleep, since Abraxas’ constantly exploring tentacles always seemed to disturb their rest. A few were eating meals made from those monstrous vegetables. A couple were roaring drunk from a brew made from the same produce, and trying to outdo each other with black jokes. Everyone perked up as the werewolf professor appeared, with apparently only two newcomers in tow.

“We have some visitors,” Kerchek proclaimed, gesturing to the pair behind him. “Seven have come, claiming they can actually help us.”

“Seven?” slurred one of the jokers, a were of some description. “I can only see two, and I’ve lost count of how many drinks of this fetid vegetable brew I’ve had!” he burped loudly.

His companion, a vampire, lifted a bony finger to his lips. “Shhhh! I think old Kerchie’s finally lost his mind!” he declared in a stage-whisper.

“I have five with me now. Three are invisible, concealed beneath powerful spells that they do not wish dispelled lest they lose their advantage,” growled the old teacher menacingly.

“That still doesn’t add up,” declared another supernatural, a thickset earth elemental, with his mouth full. “Where are the last two?”

“They are powerful mages, gone to confront Abraxas and kill him,” declared Kerchek.

That got everyone’s attention. Everyone was on their feet in excitement. Eyes that had been dull from hopelessness for so many years suddenly glittered with life. The group surrounded Kerchek and the newcomers. “I’d say a fight is likely to ensue very soon. Everyone needs to get out of this building, but quietly, so Abraxas and his imps are not alerted! All of you – spread the word!”

“You don’t need to tell me twice!” The earth elemental melted into the floor. The were shifted into the form of a rat and scuttled off into a small side-passage that sloped back down towards the ground floor. The vampire shifted into mist and wafted off. The remaining three also departed, leaving Kerchek alone with the newcomers. “They will make sure everyone who is loyal to me leaves this place.”

“Everyone who is loyal to you?” asked Boris worriedly. “Who wouldn’t be?”

“There are some here who think if they curry favour with Abraxas he will not decide to eat them when the craving for fresh meat hits him.” Kerchek snorted. “But we are all meat to him, in some form or another.”

Suddenly, somewhere not that distant, there was an explosion that vibrated through the thick stone surrounding them. Large chunks of earth started to patter from the ceiling. “I think that is our cue to leave also. Come on.” Kerchek turned tail and started running back the way he’d come.

 

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