Talisman of El

CHAPTER EIGHT



Black Hole

THE MORRIS MINOR SPED through empty streets, Georgian architecture crafted from limestone flashing by. Street was an old market town situated in a valley eleven miles from Capeton, though Derkein made it seem nearer. Charlie had no idea the car could move so fast.

The rain had stopped, but the sky remained shrouded in dark clouds. They had just driven through the main square where the town clock displayed 7:10 a.m. The two times Charlie had visited Street it had been a vibrant place. Now the deserted silence had that eerie feeling, like walking through a graveyard, which brought back memories of the dream he’d had a few hours ago.

Derkein turned on to Orange Row, a narrow cobbled street behind the square – made for walking, not for driving – lined with shops and medieval style buildings, four, five storeys high that overhung the street so much one could barely see the sky.

‘We’re here,’ Richmond announced from the passenger seat.

The car tires squealed against the wet ground as it veered to the right, back on to the main street, and stopped in front of a two-storey, brown brick building, asymmetrical design with a dome topped with bronze statuette. The library façade had attractive bay windows on the right and a triple-arched porch in front of the main entrance on the left.

They exited the car and headed for the porch.

‘It just had to rain today, didn’t it,’ Alex complained through trembling lips. ‘One little cough and I’ll be on house arrest.’

A sharp gust of wind, blowing the smell of wet earth and sea air – a reminder the beach was close by – brushed against Charlie’s skin, and he shivered. He dipped his hand inside his bag and withdrew the compass. The others leaned in for a peek. They saw what they had hoped they would: the compass needle spinning like crazy.

‘How do we get in?’ Alex asked.

They had expected to see the closed sign on the stained glass door panel, and much to Charlie’s dismay, he knew he would have to use the breaking and entering skills Jacob had taught him. Fortunately, when he proceeded towards the door, he realised he didn’t need the assistance of his alter ego, the Artful Dodger, for the door was open.

It was as if the library had been waiting for them. The first thought that came to Charlie’s mind was that Candra had opened it, just as she had led him to the letter. All this time when he’d thought she wanted to harm him, she had in fact been helping him. He just didn’t know why. His second thought was that if the gateway did happen to be inside the library, something could have wandered out.

‘A letter, a map, an open door,’ Derkein mused. ‘I feel like I’m playing Cluedo.’ He pushed the door wide open.

‘Here.’ Charlie handed him a head torch.

Derkein eyed Charlie’s bag. ‘You don’t happen to have an age reversal potion in there, do you?’ he said with a smile. Charlie appreciated that neither Derkein nor the others had treated him any differently since it had come to realisation that he may or may not be psychic. ‘Maybe you three should wait in the car.’

Richmond said, ‘But I want to see the gateway.’

‘Me, too,’ Charlie and Alex said together.

Derkein glanced back inside the dark building, deliberating. He looked down at the trio, his expression anxious. ‘It is probably for the best we stick together. Once we’re inside I need you to listen to me, okay. If I tell you to do something, you do it.’

The trio nodded.

Heading to the right of the building, Derkein led the way past the reception desk and down the central aisle, parted by bookshelves with a row of table and chairs in the middle.

It was silent except for the squishing sound of wet shoes. Everyone was quiet and alone in their thoughts. Charlie scanned the side aisles and the upper balcony, his head torch illuminating anything within a six-metre range. All was clear, but he sensed that his visitor was there, hiding in the shadows, and for the first time, he didn’t feel afraid.

They came to double doors, which opened up to a large space at the rear of the building where they spotted a computer area to the right.

‘It’s down there,’ Richmond said, pointing to the left, down a narrow corridor parted by a staircase leading to the first floor and a reading area bordered by bookshelves.

Derkein drew in a deep breath and took the lead, Alex behind him, followed by Richmond.

Charlie was about to pursue them but paused when he felt a tingling sensation course through his body, sending goose bumps along his arms. ‘Whoa!’

The others stopped and turned to him.

‘What –?’ Derkein began.

The lights above them started blinking.

The gang exchanged nervous glances.

‘Someone’s here,’ Alex hissed, alarmed.

Charlie looked back towards the direction they had come and saw the main area still shrouded in darkness.

‘I thought the library didn’t open till nine,’ Alex went on. ‘Charlie, what time is it?’

Charlie looked at his watch and frowned. The minute and the hour hands were spinning in opposite directions. He tapped the screen twice then paused as the realisation sank in. Dipping his hand inside his pocket, he pulled out the compass and opened it. His eyes shifted from the compass to the watch, and his heart skipped a beat.

The lights stopped flickering.

‘That was weird,’ Alex remarked.

‘It’s here,’ Charlie said under his breath. He looked at the others. ‘The gateway is here.’ He started down the corridor, moving around Alex and Richmond, and stopped in front of Derkein. Glancing at the door behind the staircase, he caught sight of the logo above it. ‘I want to come.’

Derkein sighed. ‘We’re not having this discussion again.’

‘But the letter –’

‘I know what the letter said, Charlie,’ Derkein interrupted, ‘but we don’t know anything about Arcadia. I know you want answers, but this is not the way.’

‘But you can’t go alone,’ Richmond said, appearing beside Charlie.

‘This is not a negotiation,’ Derkein said, his voice firm.

‘But she led me here for a reason,’ Charlie interjected.

Derkein paused, a strange expression, half-apprehensive, half-curious, gracing his features. ‘She?’

Charlie gulped. ‘I meant the, um – the logo.’ He walked around Derkein, clenching his jaw. He could feel their stares boring into the back of his head. It took much willpower for him to turn back to them. ‘Okay, just don’t freak out.’

Derkein lifted his head back. ‘Oh Lord help us.’ He placed his hands on his head as he regarded Charlie. ‘You had another dream.’ His voice wavered on the edge of panic.

‘No,’ Charlie said.

Derkein lowered his hands, relaxing his shoulders.

Charlie went on, ‘Someone’s following me.’

‘What!’ Alex exclaimed, and then she slapped her hand over her mouth as her voice echoed around them. Lowering her hands, she whispered, ‘Sorry.’

‘Who’s following you?’ Derkein asked Charlie.

‘I don’t know,’ he replied, ‘but she knew who I was.’

Alex rolled her eyes. ‘It’s not Carla, is it?’

‘No. She’s not even human.’

Silence.

For a moment, Derkein, Alex and Richmond seemed frozen.

‘Not that I know for sure,’ Charlie resumed. ‘I’m just guessing since she can control the wind and teleport. You should have seen it. One minute she was there and the next, poof! You see what I’m saying, don’t you?’

They knew exactly what he was saying. Their stunned expression and silence said it all.

‘Would someone say something?’ said Charlie.

‘This isn’t good,’ Alex said.

‘Would someone else say something?’

‘Thomas said they were evil. They kidnap people …’ Alex stopped, her eyes widening. She glanced around the surrounding, and her voice dropped to a whisper. ‘What if this is a trap? She could have lured us in here to kill us.’

‘She’s not evil,’ Charlie said, and then he thought back to the time in the woods, how she had attacked him and knocked him unconscious. He shook his head, as if to shake off the negative thought. ‘If she wanted to kill us she would have done it already.’ He looked at Derkein. ‘Right?’

‘He does have a point,’ Derkein agreed.

‘Then what does she want?’ Alex asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Charlie cried. ‘She said …’ He paused and looked away, deliberating. He heard footsteps approaching.

‘Go on,’ Derkein said.

Charlie looked up at him. ‘She said she’s known me my whole life – but I swear I’ve never seen her before. She knew about my dream … and the talisman.’

Alex huffed. ‘See. She wants the talisman.’

‘You don’t know that. Besides, it doesn’t have the black diamond, so it’s probably broken.’

‘What black diamond?’ Derkein asked.

Charlie lowered his head, wishing he had never opened his mouth. ‘I saw it when I touched the talisman.’

‘You liar!’ Alex exclaimed. Charlie looked up as she advanced on him. ‘You said you didn’t see anything.’ She smacked him across the arm.

‘I didn’t know how to explain it,’ Charlie said. Alex crossed her arms and turned her back to him. He glanced at Derkein, who was staring at him, dumbfounded. ‘You think I’m a freak, don’t you?’

Derkein and Alex exchanged a long glance, perhaps trying to read each other’s minds. Charlie felt a sense of despair expanding inside him as he watched them.

‘I think it’s awesome,’ Richmond interjected. ‘I’d love to be psychic. It’d be so cool to read people’s minds and see things before it happens.’ He gasped with excitement. ‘I’d never have to miss another episode of The Simpsons.’

The others laughed.

‘Not how it works, Rich,’ Charlie informed him.

The laughter died down, and Charlie’s gaze shifted back to Derkein, who was now staring at him with anxious eyes.

‘You’re different, I’ll give you that,’ Derkein said. ‘You’re not a freak. Something is happening to you, and I think you feel lost and scared, but that’s okay. Sometimes, to find our true self, we have to let go of our past. I know that from experience.’ He looked towards the door with the logo, and for a moment, it seemed as if his mind was elsewhere, then he looked back at Charlie. ‘Change is sometimes hard to accept, and fighting it only makes it that much harder.’ Although Derkein smiled, Charlie thought he looked troubled.

Cold air brushed across Charlie’s face, and the tingling sensation hit him again. He shuddered a little. ‘What is that?’

‘What’s what?’ Alex asked.

‘Can you not feel that?’

‘You know what I feel?’ Alex said. ‘I feel as if we’re wasting time.’ She approached the door. ‘Twenty quid says it’s open,’ she challenged.

Charlie glanced at Derkein, who dipped his hand inside his trouser pocket and pulled out the pocketknife that belonged to his dad. ‘Stand back.’ The trio stepped aside, as he advanced towards the door. He grabbed hold of the doorknob, twisted it, and pushed it open.

He glanced over his shoulder at the trio then looked back at the dark room and flicked the light switch on.

Glancing over Alex’s shoulder, Charlie caught a glimpse of a compact, windowless space compiled with bookshelves and boxes. He looked down at the compass in his hand, which was still spinning at an accelerating speed –

A loud racket startled him, and he jumped. Taking two steps to the side, he looked past the staircase, down the dark corridor towards the computer area. He felt his pulse quicken.

‘What was that?’ Alex asked, panicked.

‘Get inside,’ Derkein demanded. ‘Stay here until I get –’

Hearing a gasping sound, Charlie’s eye flickered to the room. Derkein and Richmond were nowhere in sight. He froze, listening to Alex’s frantic voice as he stared at the large black hole in the floor on the other side of the door. ‘The gateway,’ he muttered under his breath.

‘Where did they go?’ Alex asked.

The realisation of what had just happened hit Charlie like a ton of bricks. ‘They’re inside!’

‘Where?’

With sudden panic, Charlie realised what Alex was about to do and lunged after her. ‘Alex, no!’

He was too late. She vanished inside the black hole.

‘Alex!’ he yelled, staring down into the hole. He gripped a lock of his hair and stepped back from the door, his heart racing. Glancing down the dark corridor, he said in a low voice, ‘Please be there.’ Pocketing the compass, he looked back at the storage room and charged ahead, jumping feet first into the black hole.

It happened so fast that Charlie didn’t realise it was over until he landed face down in a patch of pebbles. Ow!

‘Charlie!’ Alex’s voice said.

Hearing movement around him, Charlie glanced up and saw the others approaching. They helped him to his feet.

The gang gawped at their surrounding in amazement. Apart from the small shaft of light shining through a gap in the concave ceiling made of stone high above them, it was dark. They were standing in a tunnel about twenty feet wide, stretching a long way in both directions. Charlie’s nose caught a whiff of a foul, unpleasant odour with a tinge of burning incense.

A few seconds passed before anyone spoke.

‘Are we in Arcadia?’ Richmond enquired.

‘We must be,’ Derkein replied.

‘But I didn’t see the gateway,’ Alex said.

Derkein said, ‘That makes the two of us.’

‘Wait,’ Charlie said. ‘Didn’t you guys see the black hole?’

‘What black hole?’ Alex asked.

‘It was kinda hard to miss.’ Seeing the perplexed look on their faces, Charlie added, ‘There was a huge hole in the floor. You really didn’t see it?’

‘I wonder if it’s a psychic thing,’ Richmond mused.

‘Okay, let’s focus here,’ Derkein said. ‘Regardless of whether we saw it or not, we stepped through the gateway, and now we’re on the other side. That much we’re certain about.’

‘But what is this place?’ Alex asked.

Derkein’s gaze drifted around the surrounding. ‘My guess is we’re inside a cave.’

Charlie and Alex locked eyes. Seeing the anxious look on her face, he took hold of her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

‘According to Thomas,’ Derkein continued, ‘a day in Arcadia is approximately seventeen days on the surface. The gateway closes in one day surface time, which in Arcadia is …’ He tilted his head as he did the calculations.

‘One and a half hours,’ Charlie chimed in.

Alex regarded him with surprise. ‘I thought you hated maths.’

‘I do. I didn’t say I wasn’t good at it.’

‘This is really happening,’ Derkein muttered to himself. He took a few deep breaths. ‘Okay.’ He turned to the wall they had just fallen out of, his head torch running over the lumpy surface. ‘Charlie, I need you to locate the gateway. The three of you have to get back before it closes.’

‘You want us to go back?’ Richmond asked.

‘You have to.’

‘Oh please,’ Richmond pleaded. ‘Let us come.’

Derkein turned to him. ‘Hey, I want no complaints, okay.’ His eyes locked on Charlie, who let go of Alex’s hand and moved towards Derkein.

‘I can’t go back,’ Charlie said.

Derkein lowered his head. ‘Don’t do this to me.’ Charlie heard the desperate plea in his voice.

‘We’re here now,’ Alex said, ‘so why not just let us come. The gateway opens again in five days.’

‘You don’t get it.’ Derkein’s voice sounded strained. ‘You’re just kids. Five days is three months on the surface. We don’t know what’s down here. Anything could happen.’

‘That’s why we should stick together,’ Charlie urged.

‘You could die. Do you understand that?’

The trio glanced at one another. Charlie could tell from Richmond and Alex’s expressions that Derkein’s words had disturbed them.

‘Please,’ Derkein said.

Charlie glanced back at him and saw the worry on his face. His eyes shifted, and he scanned the wall, using his head torch as a guide. To his right, about ten feet above the ground, he saw the black hole, the only part of the wall void of lumps. ‘It’s there,’ he said, pointing towards the hole. He crouched down and picked up a pebble. Inching back from the wall, he tossed the pebble at the hole, and it vanished.

‘It’s a bit high,’ Richmond acknowledged.

‘It’s like a suction tube,’ Charlie explained. ‘Once you make contact, it will take you to the other side.’ No sooner had the words escaped his mouth than he caught his breath.

‘Where did that come from?’ Alex asked.

Charlie shrugged. He honestly had no idea. It was as if someone had forced his mouth, for he felt as if he’d had no control over what words came out –

‘Ow!’ Charlie winced as something made contact with the side of his head. It bounced away, and he followed its course as it tumbled towards the wall. When it came to a stop, he saw a pebble. Rubbing his head, he looked up at the black hole.

‘The pebble came back through,’ Richmond said.

Charlie lowered his gaze and caught sight of Derkein’s expression. The colour had drained from Derkein’s face. Charlie knew what he was thinking, because he was thinking the exact same thing. He had known the truth the moment the pebble had hit him.

Derkein’s gaze flitted between the three of them. He looked as if he was about to faint.

‘What’s wrong?’ Alex asked, concerned.

‘This is not happening.’ Derkein’s low voice was almost inaudible. He walked around them and stopped, staring towards the black hole, his fingers massaging his temples. ‘This can’t be happening. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.’

‘What’s wrong?’ Alex repeated.

Derkein dropped his hands and turned to them, his expression pained. ‘I’m so sorry.’

‘Sorry for what?’ Richmond asked.

Charlie glanced at Richmond and Alex, the look of utter incomprehension on both their faces. ‘We’re stuck,’ he said.

‘What do you mean we’re stuck?’ Alex asked.

‘We can’t go back,’ Derkein answered.

‘Yes we can. The gateway will suck us back up to the surface.’

‘Yes, but because the gateway opened in the floor, there is no platform to land on, so we’ll come right back down again.’ Derkein glanced down both ends of the dark tunnel. ‘This is not good.’ After a moment, he looked back at the trio. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, when a menacing snarl echoed in the distance.

‘Please tell me that was someone’s stomach,’ Alex hissed.

‘We have to get out of here,’ said Derkein, his voice panicked. ‘Now.’

Charlie shrugged his backpack off his shoulder and took out two glow sticks, which he handed to Richmond and Alex. With Derkein in the lead, the four of them took off in the opposite direction of the sound.

The tunnel was a straight course, about fifty feet long from where they had started, and it smelled horrible. Charlie’s nose twitched. He had an inkling the faint smell of incense had been to cover up a more sinister scent … a smell of death, perhaps.

All they could hear apart from their footsteps was the gentle patter of water. When they reached the end of the tunnel, they stepped onto a platform that mounted four feet out of a lake inside a vast chamber with sharp icicle-like stalactites hanging from the roof. On the opposite side of the water, at a far distance beyond a steep, rocky path, they saw a smoky yellow light. They looked at one another with hope-filled eyes.

‘Um, just so you know,’ Richmond said. ‘I can’t swim.’

‘How deep do you think it is?’ Alex asked.

‘Let’s find out.’ Derkein took the glow stick from Alex and dropped it into the water. They followed its course until it stopped what seemed a few feet down.

‘That’s not bad,’ Alex remarked.

‘Yes, but that’s just this end,’ Derkein said.

At that moment, Charlie had an idea. He opened his bag, took out the rope, and tied one end around a boulder. Taking the rope, Derkein descended the platform and entered the water, which came up to his waist. Alex took hold of the rope and joined Derkein, Richmond behind her, and Charlie behind him.

‘I can’t believe we’re actually in Arcadia.’ Alex’s voice rose with excitement. ‘This will be the greatest discovery since the extinction of dinosaurs.’

‘Assuming dinosaurs did exist, that is,’ Derkein said.

Alex shook her head. ‘Couldn’t just let me have this moment, could you?’

They had travelled two-thirds of a way across the lake, a good twenty metres, when a splashing sound reached their ears, and they stopped.

They looked to the right but saw nothing. Another sound reached them from the left, and they shifted their gaze.

‘Keep moving,’ Derkein instructed.

As soon as they took off, Richmond screamed and jumped back, colliding with Charlie. ‘Something touched my leg,’ he cried.

‘That’s not funny,’ Alex said in a strained voice.

‘I’m not joking,’ he said, his expression serious and scared.

A flicker of movement at the edge of Charlie’s vision caught his attention, and he looked to his right. He saw the dark silhouette of a figure rising out of the water. Its top half was huge and hunched over with spikes arched around its head. ‘There’s something in the water,’ he whispered.

‘That’s what I said,’ Richmond muttered.

‘No, look.’ From the frozen silence and the gasps he heard, Charlie supposed he wasn’t the only one who could see the creature.

‘I want you to move towards me slowly,’ Derkein whispered.

The trio began to move. At that same moment, the creature plunged into the lake, and all they saw were water ripples heading towards them.

‘Run!’ Derkein shouted.

They dropped the rope and made a run for it, Derkein and Charlie both holding onto Richmond. Water splashed everywhere as they powered through it. They were drawing closer to the rocks when another creature, identical to the one they had just seen, sprang out of the water in front of them, and they stopped.

Towering over them, its pupil-less eyes, which glowed with a cold blue light, glared hungrily at them. A terrible wail escaped its throat, and it bared pointed fangs with four tentacles dangling from its chin. The creature stood upright like a human and had black, leathery skin. Spreading its webbed fingers, it took a swing at them with its long, sharp claws.

‘Get back,’ Derkein yelled, but the first creature sprang out of the water behind them.

The four of them huddled together as the two creatures circled them. Derkein put his hand inside his trouser pocket and withdrew his pocketknife. Pulling out both blades so it resembled a spear, he held the knife out, ready to do some damage with the steel blades.

Charlie looked towards the smoky light far up the rocky path. So close … Just when he thought all hope was lost, something unexpected happened. The creatures started snarling at each other, as if arguing over their food.

‘When I say go,’ Derkein whispered to the others, ‘run towards the rocks.’

Like Charlie, he had guessed what was coming. When the creatures went for each other, they made a run for it.

Charlie was the first out of the water. He pulled Richmond up onto the rocks then Alex. He looked at Derkein, who was a few feet away, and noticed the creatures had vanished. Charlie extended his arm out towards him, but then a yelp escaped Derkein’s throat, and he stumbled forward, disappearing beneath the water.

The trio screamed.

Charlie jumped back into the water. ‘Derkein!’ he shouted. A piercing cry reached his ears, and his body went rigid. Seconds later, about three metres away from him, Derkein resurfaced. Charlie hurried over to him. Derkein was coughing and sputtering but otherwise fine. He had his back to Charlie, holding the knife out in front of him.

Just then, one of the creatures sprang out of the water at them, but it rebounded, its arms flailing everywhere. Charlie spotted the rope fastened around the creature’s neck, and he and Derkein made haste towards the rocks.

As the others helped them out of the water, another tortured cry reached their ears, and they looked back. They saw no sign of either of the creatures. Wasting no time, they headed up the rocky path towards the light.

It took the gang over thirty minutes to make it to the top of the path. They headed across a stone bridge with a body of water beneath it. Immersed in a bright, warm light that streamed through the arched doorway ahead of them, they emerged out of the cave.

The four of them stared in silent awe at the sight before them. They were standing at the edge of a forest with giant trees surrounding them. Crisp, clean air filled their lungs. Majestic mountains in the far distance glistened like crystals, but even more magnificent was the brilliant sun that hovered high in the sky.