21 Cemetery Road Read online

  Fix what’s broke,

  And fake the rest.

  That got me through the tests, including one memorable day where the words in the notepad of the examiner changed to Sanskrit and then evaporated. I thought back to other workings I had managed to do successfully in the past and smiled. It had been fun and …

  “Mr Greenwood,” she snapped, “please pay attention.”

  “Sorry I was thinking of ways to counteract their influence.”

  “Well and good, but please let me know what you are going to do and when you do it.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  Maybe, I thought, perhaps, but I’m playing this with my cards close to my chest, or looking at it another way, I didn’t have the foggiest idea. Something would occur to me that worked. The other three had sets of conditionals that underpinned their works. Me? I just sort of did it, and it worked; the intent is all. Ms Black rose in one elegant movement and smoothed down her long black dress.

  “Very well, because you all called up the power, you will attend its questioning with me. Please go to your studies, put up your guards of choice and join me in the kitchen.”

  We all looked at one another, and I knew none of us wanted this, but we had to see it through to the end. Each of us went to our rooms and did what was needed to protect ourselves. I heard drumming from Gordon’s room and shouting from Thor’s. I picked up my lucky horseshoe charm, slipped the small applewood wand up my sleeve and put the powerful sigil of protection I was planning to sell to Willykins in my back pocket. Like I said before, I work with what is to hand. We met in the kitchen, Thor arriving a few minutes later in his working day grey robe, Liz with a posy of aromatic herbs and Gordon with a small drum about the size of a teacup hanging from his belt. I held up my lucky horseshoe to show her, but again, Ms Black didn’t seem too impressed.

  “Ready?” asked Ms Black. My inner voice said ‘probably’, the others nodded and we followed her down into the cellar.

  QUESTIONS AND SOME ANSWERS

  Thor’s circle was still on the stone flags, and the triangle of art still fresh and unmarked.

  “Thor, I must commend you on your circle of protection,” said Ms Black as she checked the still glowing lines. “Now if we all get well into the centre, good, Thor, light the candles, recast and seal, then I can question this,” she paused. “What did you call it?”

  “Trevor,” said Gordon. Ms Black gave a deep sigh.

  “That shows little respect for an emerging power, don’t you think?” I felt then that what had seemed a good idea at the time was now un-cool and rather embarrassing. “Very well, Thor, you may begin.”

  I watched Thor as he started the ritual with Ms Black nodding her approval. When he'd finished chanting the names of power, both circles burned with a low, pure blue flame.

  "Thank you, Thor – your teachers would be proud of you. Now I will call and question... Trevor."

  From her sleeve, Ms Black produced a short, black wand. I knew from everyone's expressions we were all feeling the same thing – raw power. She held it almost casually and pointed it at the mouth of the pit. I think she called out something harsh and grating, but I immediately forgot what she said.

  “Classic Masking,” whispered Liz, obviously impressed.

  “Be quiet,” snapped Miss Black. “The creature that is called Trevor, I command you to appear in the Triangle of Art, Now." The word ’now’ bolstered with magick, resonated and echoed around the cellar and made me feel queasy. I thought that this was overkill. Thor had conjured it into the holding triangle quite quickly, and I knew there was no need for the heavy guns; she was showing off.

  The faint, pink glowing shape appeared in the holding pen of the triangle.

  “Trevor,” intoned Ms Black,” you know the rules?”

  “Yes,” came the faint reply.

  “Then tell me how you came to be in the pit with the bones.” Trevor repeated everything that he had told us, which seemed to satisfy her. “What was the name of your master?”

  “Albertus Grammaticus.”

  I watched her eyes blink rapidly, and a flicker of emotion crossed the perfect face as her mask slipped for a second.

  “Albertus Grammaticus. So it was he who called you from the void?" Ms Black asked.

  “Yes.”

  “What was his magical name?”

  “I cannot tell you.”

  “You will.” Ms Black pointed her wand at the triangle and shouted a command. Trevor cried out in pain, making us jump.

  “You know the rules,” whimpered Trevor, his colours dimming to a dirty, rusty colour. “I am bound not to reveal the name.”

  “You will,” Ms Black shouted, and again she pointed her wand at the triangle, shouting a twisted word. Trevor cried out, and as all colour vanished from his form, he floated to the floor, a puddle of black mist inside the Triangle of Art.

  “Did you have to do that?” asked Liz in a cold, angry voice. Tiny silver sparks began to freckle her skin.

  Ms Black looked indignant.

  “Yes. Do you question me, Morgan?”

  Liz pinched in her lips and said:

  “Yes.”

  Ms Black looked at Liz as one might look at an annoying child.

  “It was necessary, he's no demon and as a small power would make a weak and useless familiar. The Dark Council will be informed, and it,” she pointed at the still form, “will be removed and destroyed. You cannot leave powers lying around.”

  Liz looked ready to explode. Gordon started growling, and Thor was glaring at Ms Black; his eyes were glowing blood red. You can't have so much magic and magicians bottled up inside a protecting circle before things get out of hand, magically speaking. An idea rolled into my mind that I hoped would sort out the problem before things got too heated.

  “Dear Ms Black, if he is not firing on all cylinders, could we use him as a familiar? As you know, we've just graduated under your guidance and, to be frank, couldn't afford a familiar. It would give us something to practice on.”

  “A good idea, Greenwood, but Trevor is bound to the bones of his master, Grammaticus.”

  “Well,” I said airily, “we’ll just have to get the bones out then, won’t we?”

  Thor, Liz and Angus stared at me. I knew our mentor would consider it and hoped she couldn’t read my mind. A faint smile quirked her ruby lips.

  “That's dangerous, Greenwood, very dangerous.”

  “True, but we live in dangerous times, and I’m sure the Dark Council would appreciate us doing their dirty work; as you taught us, being a magician is always a precarious way of life.”

  She thought for a moment and then gave the quickest banishing command I ever heard in all my training. What was left of Trevor vanished immediately.

  “Wow,” said Thor under his breath. “Respect.”

  “You may leave the circle now,” said Ms Black.

  We all went up to the kitchen, Ms Black the last to leave the cellar. She appeared deep in thought as she entered the kitchen, then asked us to show her around. This is not usually done or granted as a magician's personal space is part of who they are and very private. As it was our mentor, though, and we had asked her for help, we all agreed. Ms Black toured the house and murmured encouraging things, but annoyed Liz by running her fingers along the walls and examining them for dust, frowning. Liz said nothing but glared at her. I got the feeling Ms Black wasn’t interested in our accommodation but the house itself.

  “I will think about your offer, Greenwood, and come back to you on this. Thank you for your hospitality.”

  We waved her goodbye, and Gordon closed the door, then turned on me.

  “In Hern’s name, what are you playing at?” he shouted. “You know that anything you do down in that pit will probably kill you or worse."

  “We don’t want any more bones down there,” said Thor.

  “Will,” said Liz, “I’m not stupid ‒ there's a method in your madness, isn’t there?”

  M
ORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS

  “Yes, I think there is.” I hope, I thought. “Look, guys, hear me out; let's get back to the kitchen, and I’ll try to explain.”

  We all sat around the table. I stood and gathered in my thoughts, recalling what I'd done and seen.

  “First, we're in danger. The Necromancers show up and do an overseeing at the same time we find Trevor. How did they know ‒ we told no one.”

  “Apart from Ms Black,” said Thor thoughtfully, stroking his beard. “Could be only a coincidence, though?”

  “Maybe,” I said, “but I saw her face when Albertus Grammaticus was mentioned while she was whacking Trevor.”

  “That was not called for,” said Liz tightly.

  “True, but I thought that if she acted straight with us, she would tell the Dark Council immediately and place the whole thing in their hands. That’s the law.”

  “What did you see in her face, Will?”

  “Greed.”

  “So?” said Thor.

  "But if she were in it for her own power or in league with the Necromancers and wanted the bones, she wouldn't want the Dark Council to find out. By alerting the Dark Council, she would lose the bones of Albertus Grammaticus as a source of great necromantic power, and they would be destroyed along with Trevor. Getting me to do the dirty and dangerous job would suit her ‒ if I survived. She'd collect the bones and get the magical name from him with some unbinding spell. Trevor, as a power for her is a small side issue, apart from his knowing the magical name of Albertus."

  If he really did know, I thought.

  “Couldn’t Trevor help, I mean he must have learned a lot from his master?” asked Gordon.

  Thor gave a deep sigh.

  “No, as a Power, he's just a source of magical energy, with enough intelligence to speak and understand English and channel earth’s energy to Albertus. If he had been a familiar, Ms Black would have jumped at the chance of keeping him alive for what he could tell her, but she didn’t.”

  “So she isn’t contacting the Dark Council?” said Gordon.

  “She should, but she ain't,” said Thor.

  “And we’ve just given her a tour of our house, our working space,” said Liz.

  “The problem is, she knows our strength and weaknesses,” said Thor, “and how we will protect the house.”

  “Bugger,” said Gordon growling under his breath. “We’re stuffed.”

  “Hell,” said Thor.

  “Look, I may be wrong,” I said. “Don’t let magical paranoia start ‒ you know what happens to groups that think they are under attack, magic gets sprayed all over the place, and they eventually shake themselves to pieces. Maybe it’s just overheated imagination but, one: we did just discover a power in the cellar: two we’re overlooked by Necromancers soon after: three, the only person who knew about Trevor before the Necromancers turned up was Ms Black.”

  There was silence as the facts sank in.

  “What do we do,” asked Gordon looking around at us. “She has power and inside information of us on her side.”

  “We tell the Dark Council, she won’t expect that,” I said.

  “No,” said Liz, “that would be the end of Trevor.”

  “Is Trevor worth the danger?” asked Thor. Liz glared at him. “No seriously,” he said, “Trevor is a small power pulled from the earth. He would be returned to the earth from whence he came.”

  “So will you when you die,” said Gordon.

  “And he is a living thing,“said Liz, “and abused and imprisoned in a deep pit for many years, we called him up; therefore, we are responsible.”

  “There is a small problem, everyone,” I said. “Okay, we adopt Trevor as a familiar, but I don’t know the process of giving him a form. Second ‒ there's the small problem of first getting the bones of Albertus out of a very deep pit. And worst of all, we have to deal with Ms Black. Consider this, we'd know about how she came into such power and a dark necromantic power at that. It would show what side she's on; we'd be a liability, and if the Dark Council found out we had helped her and not reported our discovery, guess what would happen next?”

  Gordon gave a small moan and put his head in his hands.

  “We're between a rock and a hard place.”

  “Um,” said Thor, “and not to worry you more or anything, I have just remembered from my history class who Albertus Grammaticus was. “He looked pale and worried. “He was a sorcerer and a powerful one as well.”

  “A sorcerer?” said Gordon and me together.

  “Ms Black never mentioned that, did she?” said Liz. "No wonder you saw the greed on Black’s face Will; with those bones and the magical name of Albertus, she would be one of the most powerful magicians in Britain.”

  “Yeah,” said Gordon, “and she knew it.”

  Thor slumped in his seat.

  “Hell.”

  “Will,” said Liz, “did you really think you could get the bones out?”

  “No, not really. I just wanted to see which side she was on. Now I know.”

  "A powerful sorcerer just can’t vanish like that,” said Thor. “The Dark Council would investigate and ‘interested parties’ would be sure to come snooping around. I’m guessing they found no trace of him in this house, not even Trevor down in the pit, and the Dark Council are professionals.”

  “Trevor said Albertus did live and die here and he had to tell the truth,” said Thor.

  “So how come we found it, and they didn’t?” asked Gordon,” and so quickly?”

  “With the Ouija board Thor found in the attic?” said Liz. We sat silently and let the idea sink in. We’re not stupid, if you're a Magical, the pathways of logic and intuition are twisted around one another as ivy to a tree.

  “We were meant to,” said Thor.

  “Why us?” said Liz looking around the kitchen as if seeing it for the first time.

  “That,” I said, "is for us to find out.”

  COUNCIL OF WAR

  “I’m hungry,” rumbled Gordon.

  “You’re always hungry when you’re worried,” said Liz. I looked at the clock over the shelves.

  “He’s right though, it’s nearly one, and I think we could all do with something to eat.”

  “I’ll do lunch if someone else washes up,” said Thor. “How about Spaggy Boll?

  “Again?” said Liz wearily, “I’m getting you a cookbook for Christmas.”

  “Look, if you don’t want me to make lunch, I won’t.”

  I could see the general banter was a cover for our group’s real worry. I thought if we hadn’t mucked about with the Ouija Board, if we hadn’t called up Trevor, if we hadn’t informed Ms Black, if, if, if... The words and thoughts spun around in my mind like a hamster on a wheel. We needed information and quickly.

  I got up and walked around the kitchen table a few times. Liz raised a questioning eyebrow as I passed but knew me well enough to know when I was thinking hard and not to say anything. I let my feet take me out and into the hall then back and fro on the battered threadbare hall carpet.

  That was when I trod on a brightly coloured card, recently pushed through the letterbox.

  I stooped and picked it up. In my hand, I held a gaudy purple and orange flyer advertising The Golden Raj Take Away. Under the title, a phone number and under that a list of tasty fare, mostly Indian with several variations of curry and a wide selection ranging from chips to pizzas and surprisingly, fried bananas. At the bottom ran a little line with the usual blurb. What interested me, though, was at the bottom of the card was written in italics, ‘Established in 1985’. I raised my eyes and thanked the powers. It was a way to break the tension and maybe get some information about the history of this house as it was in the neighbourhood. I walked back into the kitchen, feeling a lot brighter.

  “Lady and Gentlemen,” I called out, “lunch is on me; deliverance is at hand.” I waved the card. “An Indian takeaway for four at a special reduced price because we’re ordering it before one-thirty.
”

  “I haven’t had a takeaway for yonks,” said Gordon.

  “Your paying, Will? I hope you have the money,” said Thor.

  “I did okay with my sigils at D’Light last week.”

  “Great,” said Liz, nimbly removing it from my fingers in a flash. "Poppadums, yes.”

  We all chose, and I phoned the order through; I was informed it would be about twenty-five minutes by a man speaking in a very English accent. While we waited, we gathered around the table and made suggestions of what to do about the discovery in the cellar.

  “Whatever we do, we have Ms Black in the equation,” said Thor.

  “We didn’t say we wouldn’t tell the Dark Council,” said Liz, "and that is the thing we should have done before we called Ms Black.”

  “We haven’t done anything wrong,” said Gordon.

  “Yet,” I said, “but there are a lot of ways we can go, most of them with us ending up with us in deep shit. Okay, what do you think is the most important thing that has to be done? Liz?"

  “Saving Trevor and giving him form as a familiar to train him up ‒ then after a year and a day, he is free to do what he wants.”

  “Thor?”

  “Get rid of those bones; until we do, there will be no peace in this house. We’ll be the target of every dark and not so dark magician wanting to get their grubby mitts on them.”

  “Gordon?”

  “I use bones of animals, okay, but this gives me the creeps, so, what Thor said.”

  “What about Ms Black, now she knows?” I asked.

  A depressing silence fell over us, and as if on cue, there was a rumble of thunder and rain began drumming on the kitchen window.

  “Okay,” I said, trying to instil a positive vibe. “We have a few days grace with her as she’s hoping that I'll get the bones. If she's in league with the Necromancers, they'll lay off their attacks. If not we’ll know she's acting on her own.

  “The problem is, whatever we do, she or her friends will kill us,” said Gordon.

  “Or worse,” said Thor gloomily.

  “You just had to go and say that Thor,” snapped Liz.