Interlude Part Six

Brittany picks up her notebook and pen. “Let's try something tricksy,” she says to Linda as she writes I want to tell you a secret x. She rips the page from the book, folds it twice then walks to the dining room door and pushes it under.

“That should do the trick,” she says, returning to the kitchen.

“What will that achieve?” Linda asks.

“We're teasing it. Coaxing it out with a little curiosity. They can't resist a secret.”

“They...? What do you mean...”

“Shush” retorts Brittany, as they hear the sound of a dragging chair and the click of the dining room door opening. Linda starts to get to her feet but finds Brittany's hand on her knee.

“Better if it's just me,” she tells her. “Don't worry, everything will be back to normal soon enough.”

With that, she stands, smooths the wrinkles from her coat, takes a deep breath and walks into the dining room, closing the door behind her.

Interlude Part Five

“Not enough...” Brittany ponders this for a moment before asking “What kind of phone does he have?”

“I'm sorry?” The question confuses Linda for a moment.

“His phone? What kind is it? Is it a smart phone?”

“My son is having a breakdown, has locked himself in a room with his nieces and a knife and you want to know about his phone?”

“It may be the most important question you're asked today.” Brittany's tone is suddenly sharp, accusatory. “Is it a smart phone?”

Linda nods. “Is there something wrong with that?”

“Could be. People don't update the phone's security like they would a computer. Makes them much more vulnerable to little nasties getting in.”

“Little nasties?”

“Viruses. Spyware. Charmbots. Things that don't even have names yet. You'd be amazed at what's out there.”

Interlude Part Four

“Different....?” Brittany inquires.

“I'm not a fool, I knew he'd have changed when he came back, be more grown up. But I wasn't ready for this.”

“Came back?”

“From University. He's just finished his first year.”

“How has he changed?”

“When he first got back, it wasn't too much. A little more opinionated, a lot more independent. It was good to see him like that.”

“So he's changed since he got back?”

“I'll say. He's just become so, I don't know, so moody.”

“So what's he been doing with himself, since he returned?”

“Well at first he was out most of the time, catching up with friends and whatnot. These last two weeks mind, he hasn't been out at all. Just mopes around tapping that bloody phone of his. He doesn't talk much, he barely eats, I just don't know what to do. And now he's started mumbling that phrase, over and over....” Linda trails off as her anxiety threatens.

“What phrase? What does he say?”

“There's just not enough. That's what he keeps saying, there's just not enough!”

Interlude Part Three

“Well he seems to be quiet for now,” says Brittany. “Could I trouble you for a drink of something? Long journey and all that.”

“Would you like a cup of tea?” Linda asks her guest leading her into the kitchen.

“That would be lovely,” her guest replies, “Then you can fill in some details.”

Linda busies herself making tea, unsure of where to start or what to say, but reassured by the mundane familiarity of what she's doing. Her guest takes a notebook and pen from her bag, then sits patiently waiting.

Once the tea is ready, they sit in silence until Linda can bear it no longer. “Why is he doing this?” she blurts.

“Not sure at the moment,” her guest replies. “Not even sure what it is he's doing yet. But I'm sure there's an explanation.”

“He's just so different.” Linda tells her.

Interlude Part Two

“I'd have been here sooner,” Brittany says as she makes her way through the hall, “Only I ran into a spot of bother near Canterbury.” She pauses from time to time, touching the walls, examining ornaments, scrutinising pictures, idly flicking through leaflets and mail on the hall table, sniffing all the time. “Or was it Coventry?”

Linda's head is almost spinning at this point. “Coventry?” she asks.

“You'll have to excuse me, geography isn't my strongest subject. It all looks like much of a muchness from my perspective.” Brittany touches the dining room door and gasps. “Your trouble's in there, isn't it?”

“It's my son, Nathan” Linda replies. “He's barricaded himself in there with the twins.”

Brittany steps in close to the door, so close that her nose is touching it, while her hand turns the knob.

“The thing is,” Linda continues, panic creeping into her voice, “I think he's got a knife.”

Interlude Part One

Linda is at her wits end when the doorbell chimes. She's of a mind to ignore it, there's too much going on and she doesn't know what to do, but the caller is insistent. Once it chimes, then a second time, then a third. “If you're a bloody hawker...” Linda mutters, before banging on the dining room door once more. “Nathan?” she shouts, turning the handle. It moves, but the door is blocked from within. “Nathan,” she shouts again. “Don't do anything stupid.”

She listens for a moment, but there's no sound from the dining room. The doorbell chimes a fourth time.

Answering it, Linda finds a young woman in a red mac with short brown hair and a big smile.

“Oh, hello,” the woman says, “I've come about the trouble.” Her eyes flick meaningfully towards the dining room, before returning to Linda.

“Oh, of course,” Linda replies, unsure. “How did you know?”

“Oh, you know,” the woman replies, this time her eyes scan the neighbours houses. “Can I come in?” She asks, pushing past Linda before she can answer, sniffing the air as she does.

“Are you from social services?” Linda asks.

“Something like that,” the woman replies. “Call me Brittany.”

Episode 1 - Chapter 100

This is some place, this is any place, this is no place. This is a bridge of rumours, a palace of bad oaths, an alley of dark tales. This is everywhere you've ever been and nowhere you've ever seen.

Voices that cannot be heard speak in broken whispers of victories that never happen, battles that were never fought.

A peacock angel struts and preens, biding its time, scheming its schemes. A black bird caged in a dream of thorns, watching and waiting a thousand dawns, while a child born of smoke and mirrors and dust wanders freely in the forest.

You have been reading

Tomorrow we'll start a short interlude before coming back to Raven, Fiona et al at the start of October.

You didn't want it to be over, did you?

Episode 1 - Chapter 99

Robert reached out to his wife but she flinched, and stepping back.

“I'm sorry,” she said, her face filling with sadness. “I don't know if any decision I ever made was my own. All my life its been there, whispering away. I don't know if I married you because I wanted to, or it wanted me to. I need some time, Robert, time to find answers.”

She nipped into the study, returning with Raven's block, now shorn of leaves and branches.

“I must find the Forest,” she said. “I think I might be able to help.”

   

Episode 1 - Chapter 98

“You what?” exclaimed Dad.

“All my life, its had me collecting trinkets. Last week, it had me hide them in the cellar. You remember digging it up because its been messing with your dreams. Look.” She handed Dad the jigsaw photograph.

“This isn't...” The picture showed a happy couple, but it wasn't us.

“You saw what it wanted you to see, because its been showing you what to see in your dreams.”

“But why?” I asked.

“Everything it did here, my whole life and generations before I was born, was to draw Corvus here.”

Episode 1 - Chapter 97

“Does anyone understand what's just happened here?” I asked.

“I do, I think” said Fiona. “Not all of it, but some.”

“Then please,” I said, “Explain it to me, because I'm baffled.”

“It starts with this place,” she replied. “Not the house itself, but the area. Long ago, the Angel found a way to manipulate the imaginations of people who live here. So when I was born here, it had me from my beginning.”

“So you buried the box?” I asked.

“The box was never buried, you only dreamed it was.”

Episode 1 - Chapter 96

“I must apologise to you and your family,” Raven said to me. “You have been used, and I have failed. The least I can do now is ensure your safe return to the Warp.”

“But...” I began.

“No 'buts'” he said. “This is how it ends for you.” He smiled and headed towards the door, pausing for a moment before opening it. “Cheerio” he shouted, and was gone.

As the door closed behind him, the house jumped like a needle jumps on a record.

“Mroaw!” said a house cat, now in feline form.

Episode 1 - Chapter 95

“No!” cried Mum. “I wont allow it.”

“Mary...” Dad started, but Mum cut in.

“All this craziness started, and he came to help. He's done all he can to help. I wont allow us to abandon him now.”

“You'll do as I say,” commanded Raven, “Remember what I told you!” Turning to Fiona, gently touching her arm. “Has it always been inside you?” he asked softly.

She looked like a little girl when she answered. “All my life.”

“I am truly sorry. Tell the Angel that I agree to its terms.”

Episode 1 - Chapter 94

“Hang on,” demanded Robert, “Why didn't it work? Why aren't we back?”

“Because there is more to this than you've been told,” Fiona answered, “More even than he grasps.” She gestured at Raven.

“Let's have it then,” demanded Raven. “Deliver your message.” He looked very old, like weathered granite, and suddenly very dangerous.

“The Angel is willing to return this house and these people to the Warp, never to be disturbed by the Weave again, should they choose.”

“And in return?”

“You, Corvus, must agree to remain as the Angel's guest!”

Episode 1 - Chapter 93

Raven eyes narrowed sharply. “What message? From who?” He picked himself up, suddenly seeming much older than I'd realised.

“It says it is the Angel,” Fiona replied. She didn't seem herself, somehow. A sharp gust of wind and she'd vanish, I thought.

“Who's Corvus?” I asked.

“He is” said Fiona.

“I was,” corrected Raven. “And that was long, long ago.”

“Not that long, not for the Angel” Fiona said.

A cold light seemed to dawn in Raven's eyes when he heard that. “Oh Raven,” he said, “You stupid, stupid old bird!”

Episode 1 - Chapter 92

Outside the world looked normal. “I think he did it,” I said, “I think he's brought us back.” A heady mixture of relief and adrenaline was rushing through my body.

I headed for the door, desperate for the golden touch of that warm sun. But As I approached I heard Raven bellow “STOP!”

“We're still in the Weave,” he sighed.

“How do you know?” Dad asked.

Raven gestured at the cats, who were still human.

I noticed then that Fiona had sat up. She looked at Raven. “I have a message for you, Corvus!”

Episode 1 - Chapter 91

We were all about to crumble, stretched beyond breaking point. The noise alone made me feel I was being sliced into the thinnest slivers of myself.

And then the moment snapped, the air rushing back into the room as if the whole world were a giant elastic band, pulled as taut as possible then released, returning to its original form. Raven slumped to the floor with a heavy thud, a marionette with cut strings.

“Did we make it?” cried Robert, racing to the window and drawing back the curtains. Outside, a beautiful late afternoon sun was in full bloom.

Episode 1 - Chapter 90

I couldn't help noticing how strange Raven's hand felt in mine. There was something different about his skin, almost like soft down. A foolish thing to be thinking about, but somehow it helped me believe he'd get us home.

Raven kept talking, his voice deep and resonant, like the holiest of holies in the oldest cathedral, painting a picture in our minds, a picture of our home. A home we could believe in.

A high pitched keening noise began, vibrating in my brain. I desperately wanted to cover my ears, block it out, but I forced myself to hold on.

Episode 1 - Chapter 89

The four of us, standing in a circle, holding hands, listening to Raven, desperately believing it would work.

“Slowly, the Weave is shrinking away,” Raven intoned. “The Warp is gaining ground, all around this place, and then we'll be free of this madness.”

Moments stretched, elongated and throbbed. It felt like the house was doing the same, but I didn't want to open my eyes for fear of breaking the moment. The air itself felt taught, pulled to its absolute breaking point and our whole world was holding its breath.

“Any minute now, and we'll snap free.”

Episode 1 - Chapter 88

“You believed that resetting the clocks would halt the attack, and it did. You believed that Robert could bring Fiona back, and he did. Now you must believe that we can slide in to the Warp, and we will.”

He made us join hands. “Close your eyes, picture the house, and hold on tight. Things might get bumpy.”

I felt such a fool, holding hands, eyes closed, but Raven's voice was strangely comforting. He told us to picture the house painting such a lovely picture with his lilting, mesmeric voice, I began to believe we could do it.

Episode 1 - Chapter 87

The nomads withdrew, leaving the walls of our living room once more featureless.

Raven looked at us, but before he could speak I had a question. “You say that people can be masters of the Weave, and that those creatures were once human. Why aren't they masters?”

“That is a long story, and not easily summarised. In short, they didn't know what they believed when they entered the Weave, which put them in a vulnerable position. Now we must hurry, for time is short.”

He gathered us around the settee.

“I want you to concentrate,” he said.

Episode 1 - Chapter 86

“What?” I asked. “What does that mean? How is that possible?”

Raven sighed, frustrated at more questions. “Long before your kind were walking upright, the whales roamed the planet and sang of its beauty. If what's out there knows that song, it's been out there a very long time.”

The nomad blinked once. “We have set traps, but will wait on your lead, as protocol dictates.”

“Your position is noted, and appreciated.” Something was exchanged in the look they shared, but I couldn't say what. “You'll know what to do when the time comes.”