The Darkest Corners. Barry Hutchison
starting to come through.’
‘So what do we do, Billy? Just wait here to die?’
‘What’s it matter to you?’ Billy asked her, and I could see his old wicked streak shining through. ‘It’s not like you were ever alive to begin with.’
‘Ladder,’ I said, pushing between them. A metal ladder was attached to one of the walls. It led straight up to a hatch in the high ceiling. ‘It must lead to the tower. We can hide there.’
‘For how long?’ Ameena asked. ‘Up there we’ll have nowhere to run to.’
A clawed hand punched a hole through the back door. There was no more time to make plans.
‘Go,’ I said, gesturing for Ameena to lead the way up the ladder. She hesitated, but then set off at a breakneck rate. By the time Billy was halfway up, she was already at the top, pushing open the hatch and clambering through.
I went last. When I got to the top, Billy reached down and helped pull me up into the tower. The hatch closed over just as the back door came down, and we heard the screecher howl in confusion.
‘We’re safe,’ I whispered.
‘Maybe for now,’ Ameena added quietly.
The inside of the tower was dark and gloomy. There had once been a bell up there, but it had long since been removed. The rectangular openings in each wall that would once have allowed the chimes to ring out across the village were boarded over, letting only scraps of light seep through. The floor was thick with dust. Mousetraps were dotted here and there around the little square room. Billy kicked one to the side and it snapped shut with a clack.
‘Sssh!’ I hissed. I pointed down at the floor, and to the screecher that lurked below.
‘That’s our plan then, is it?’ Ameena asked. ‘We stay up here and keep quiet?’
‘You got any better ideas?’ I asked.
‘What happened to finding your dad? When did that plan stop?’
Billy answered for me. ‘When he realised he was playing right into his dad’s hands.’
‘We don’t know that’s true,’ Ameena protested. ‘Kyle, if you want to get him for what he did, you’re going to have to use your abilities. That’s just how it is.’
Billy looked Ameena up and down. ‘Why are you so determined he should go all Harry Potter all of a sudden? How come you’re acting so weird?’
Ameena bit her lip. ‘What can I say?’ she muttered. ‘It’s been a weird day.’
Weird day? That was an understatement if ever I’d heard one. It had been a weird month. The weirdest, worst month of my life. Possibly of anyone’s life ever. And even that wasn’t doing it justice.
‘I don’t know what to do,’ I admitted. ‘Everything’s broken. I’ve… I’ve ruined everything. ’
Ameena rolled her eyes. ‘And I thought I was being a drama queen! You haven’t ruined anything, kiddo. Your dad has. All you’ve done is try to stay alive and try to protect people.’
I looked her in the eye. ‘That’s not working out too well, is it?’
My lip wobbled and I looked away again. My mum: dead. My nan: dead. My mum’s cousin Marion: dead. So much for protecting people.
And then there was Joseph, the mystery man. He’d popped up all over the place with his cryptic clues, helping me when I didn’t even know it. I’d watched him die too, right before my eyes, and I still didn’t know who he was.
‘We sit tight,’ Billy said. ‘That’s the plan. We sit here and wait for help to arrive.’
‘Help isn’t going to arrive, Billy. Grow up,’ Ameena said.
‘How do you know?’
‘Because this isn’t a bedtime story. There’s no knight in shining armour climbing up this tower. There’s no fairy godmother about to come swooping in. There’s just us.’ She pointed to the boarded-up window. ‘And there’s just them. If we want to live we have to fight. That’s how it is.’
Ameena turned to me. ‘And you’re the best fighter we’ve got. Much as I hate to admit it.’
Billy shook his head. ‘You’re not buying this, are you? You saw what was happening down there. I don’t want more monsters coming through.’
‘What’s the matter, Billy? Scared?’
‘Of course I’m scared!’ Billy yelped. ‘I’m terrified. I’ve never been more scared in my whole life, and if he starts doing his, his thing, then it’s all just going to get worse.’
Ameena spun to face him. ‘You don’t get it, do you? This is it. This is the end. It can’t get any worse.’
‘Don’t say that,’ I groaned. ‘As soon as anyone says “It can’t get any worse,” it always gets worse.’
‘Not this time,’ Ameena said, turning back to face me. ‘Everyone in this village has been turned into a monster, and they’re going to spread like a virus all over the planet. Your mum is dead. Your dad is out there somewhere, waiting to unleash God knows what on the world, and we’re stuck in an attic with a screecher downstairs and Billy No-Dates for company.’
‘Maybe… maybe someone will come,’ I said weakly.
‘No one’s coming!’ Ameena said. ‘There’s no one to fix this but us. But you.’
‘Why are you doing this?’ Billy snapped. ‘Why do you keep egging him on? It’s like you want him to break down this big barrier thing.’ He looked to me. ‘She’s pushing you into it.’
‘Don’t be stupid, Billy,’ I said. ‘Of course she isn’t.’
‘How can you be so sure?’ Billy asked. ‘You said yourself you don’t know anything about her. How do you know she’s not working with your dad?’
Ameena drove her elbow into Billy’s face. He staggered back, his hands over his nose, a sharp yelp of pain bursting on his lips.
‘Whoa! What did you do that for?’ I asked. I was used to sudden bouts of violence from Ameena, but never like that.
‘You heard him.’ Ameena sounded defensive. ‘He was starting to rant. Ranting’s noisy, and the last thing we want right now is someone getting noisy.’ She smiled in that way that made her nose wrinkle up. ‘Am I right, kiddo? Course I am; I’m always right.’
I began to smile, then stopped. That word replayed in my head.
‘Kiddo,’ I said, my face fixed in a half-smile. ‘You called me “kiddo”.’
‘Yeah? So? I always call you “kiddo”, kiddo. It’s one of the things that makes me so adorable.’
A sickening stirring began in my gut. I glanced at Billy, who was still clutching his nose. He watched us in silence through eyes filled with tears.
‘He calls me “kiddo”,’ I mumbled, and I saw the smile fade from her face. ‘My dad calls me “kiddo”.’
She shrugged, but it looked forced and not at all natural. ‘Does he?’ she said. ‘What are the chances?’
I stared into her eyes, and in that moment I realised that I didn’t really know her at all.
Shadows moved behind her and the sound of in-rushing air filled the tower. The shadows became a man and the man became my dad. He wrapped his arms round Ameena and flashed me a wide grin.
‘Whoops,’ he sniggered, and then they were gone. I looked blankly at the spot where Ameena had stood. I was still looking at it when Billy spoke.
‘She’s gone.’
‘He