Thirty minutes later he was convinced his room was empty of any living thing other than himself and he remembered that he was expected to take the washing downstairs so he loaded up the plastic laundry basket and took it down.
“I’m sorry Mum.” He said as he swung the basket through the living room and into the kitchen.
“Thank you.” She replied. “I’ll sort it out; just leave the basket by the machine.”
“I’m tired; I think I’ll go to bed.” Rhys came back from the kitchen wanting to get upstairs in case the strange voice came back.
“Bath first young man and wash your hair.” Lou’s voice showed she was still annoyed but she looked up at him and almost smiled. “Make sure you get all that paint off too.” The vampire face paint was smeared and had run in strange patterns and Rhys had forgotten he was even wearing it.
“Yes Mum.” He grinned sheepishly and ran up the stairs to run his bath in but instead of undressing in his room like he normally did he felt somehow uncomfortable doing that and got undressed in the bathroom instead. He soaked in the hot water and listened for any noise, any small sign that the thing with the very small hand might be back and he wondered what it wanted and what the map might mean. He hadn’t had a chance to look at it properly yet but he was almost sure it was a map to show how to find something, perhaps some sort of treasure. He rubbed shampoo into his hair and giggled at the streaks of red and white that came out when he rinsed off where his face paint had got into his the edges of his hair. Then he set to washing his face and it took several tries before he was convinced he’d got it all off. He scrubbed the rest of the paint off his hands and was getting out of the water all wrinkled but warm and sleepy when he heard his mum coming up the stairs.
“Mum?” He called, just making sure.
“Just coming to check you’ve not drowned.” Lou stuck her head round the door and grinned at him. “Wrap a towel round yourself young man. I know I’ve seen it all many times before but you want to start covering it up a bit now.”
Rhys blushed a deep red and grabbed a towel to wrap tightly round his waist. “Aw, Mum. You shouldn’t be looking, it’s private.” He rubbed at his legs to dry them off and Lou handed him another towel for his hair and shoulders.
“Coming back down for a good night hug when you’re in your pyjamas?” She asked him hopefully.
“If you want.” He shrugged but he grinned inside as he slipped his pyjama trousers on and then slid the top on over his head and followed her downstairs.
“Come here.” She said, opening her arms and he sat on her lap like he had since he was just big enough to climb up by himself but now his head rested on her shoulder and his body was big enough to be awkward and heavy and he didn’t fit as well as he used to. Lou wrapped her arms round him. “You’re getting so big.” She murmured into his hair. “Rhys.” She said and she sounded serious so he lifted his head to look at her. “You have to understand that your room was a mess and there’s no-one else in the house. How can I believe it wasn’t you? No-one else has been here. But that noise we heard was strange. It didn’t sound like things falling over, not washing anyway. So let’s just leave it and forget it shall we?”
“OK Mum.” Rhys agreed. It would be easier to do that than try to get her to believe that there was something living in his room and that he was seeing things. He shivered at that thought. He’d been told about Great Great Grandma who had told stories of travelling through a white light to a magical world and meeting strange creatures and people and Rhys didn’t want to be mad like her.
“You shivered, are you cold?”
“I think it’s just after getting out of the bath Mum, I’ll be fine once I’m in bed.” Rhys lied.
“I’m sure you will.” She stuck a cold hand up his pyjama top and onto his back, making him shriek. “You’re nice and warm; I think I might just warm my hands up.” She laughed as he wriggled. “Go and get into bed. Sleep well and I’ll see you in the morning.”
When he reached his bedroom Rhys pulled the envelope from the book he’d tucked it into and then he got into bed. He lay in his bed and stared at the envelope in his hands, slid his fingers into the open flap and pulled out the small map. It was about half the size of an A4 sheet of paper but square with ragged edges and it had the feel and smell of age and dirt as he eased it fully open and flattened it against his knees. There were no buildings on it, but there were paths and lines in between trees and lumps that might be hills and something that looked like writing but Rhys couldn’t read it or recognise any of the letters. There was also a picture of someone in a dress with fire bursting from their hands and pale hair flowing round down to their shoulders. Rhys decided it was a woman, and then he remembered. “She has banished us from our home.” Perhaps this was her in the picture. Rhys looked more closely and he wondered if the woman was a witch or if that fire was real and she used magic. He smiled to himself. More likely this was a child’s drawing and the fire was imaginary. After all, there’s no such thing as real magic.
He lay awake in the dark, waiting for the small creature to come back and he kept the map under his pillow but nothing moved and nothing spoke. Finally Rhys fell asleep and he stayed asleep until his alarm went off at eight o’clock the next morning and it was time to get up and get ready for school far too soon and it was far too dark and cold to be morning.
“Rhys!” Lou called, banging on his bedroom door. “Up and dressed and do you want me to make porridge for breakfast?”
“Yes please Mum.” He called sleepily and he fished under his pillow for the envelope and map. He climbed out of bed with a shiver and pulled on clothes as fast as he could to stop feeling cold and then he started looking for his school shoes, which weren’t where he’d left them.
“Oh come on, what have you done with my shoes?” He muttered and the shoes slid out from underneath his desk. “That’s cool.” He picked them up and felt something move inside one shoe. He put the other shoe down and tipped up the one with something in it, to tip whatever it was into the heel. It was wrapped in a large leaf that was golden yellow but not hard and crispy yet. The stalk of the leaf was pushed through the main part to close the little parcel and it was heavier than Rhys expected it to be when he tipped it into his hand.
“Do you want me to be your friend?” He asked as he held the leaf wrapped parcel in one hand and a shoe in the other. He carefully unhooked the stalk and unfolded the leaf so it lay on his palm with the shining object nestled there. It seemed to glow with the early sun just breaking through his curtains and it was opaque, smooth but not exactly round. The stone was a sort of milky white but streaked with what looked like smoke and it was warmer than it should have been even though it had been held in his hand for a while.
“Rhys, breakfast, hurry up.”
He sighed and sat on his chair to pull on his shoes. As he bent to lace them a voice whispered in his ear. “It will bring you the gift of the Darkling.” But as soon as he turned, banging his head on the side of the bed, there was no-one there to see.
“The gift of the Darkling?” He finished tying his shoe laces and shoved the crystal onto his bookshelf, beside the book where the map now lived and he hoped his mum wouldn’t take it into her head to tidy in his room while he was in school.
“RHYS!” She bellowed up the stairs.
“Coming Mum.” He called back as he ran down the stairs.
In school Rhys was told off more than once for being distracted, staring out of the windows looking for the dark creatures, for any sort of movement but the wind that blew leaves round the school field meant that so much was moving that he couldn’t tell what was normal and what might not be. The rest of his class was just as bad so his behaviour wasn’t seen as unusual in the chaos of a bad day for everyone.
“I want a better day tomorrow.” Mrs Cooper told them all as she let them out at the end of the last class of the day. She shook her head at them as they filed out to collect coats and bags and go home. “Rhys?” She stopped him at the door.
“Miss?” He tensed.
“You forgot your book bag and homework.” She smiled and pointed at the slim blue bag still lying on his table.
Rhys breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks Miss.” He grabbed it, pulled his coat off his peg and ran across the playground to catch up with Craig so they could walk home together. The wind was fierce and snatched at their coats and bags making it hard to walk and their feet slid on the piles of wet leaves until eventually they reached Craig’s house first, just as the rain started. It began as a few spots, large drops that went splat on the pavement by Rhys’ feet and the sky darkened in that ominous way that meant it was going to get worse fast and it did. Rhys began to run for home but before he’d got more than half a dozen steps the rain was torrential and more like a hosepipe being turned on him.
Tags: 2009, Nano, NaNoWriMo, November, portal series