A Death Displaced (18 page)

‘I’ll drive home to get Tom now,’ said Nick. ‘Why wasn’t he at college anyway? You’re on the same course, aren’t you?’ he asked, twisting to face his brother.

‘I dunno. I think he don’t like it nowadays. Always skips classes and stuff. Should do summin like art or whatever, not construction.’ 

Juliet hated Tommy’s manner of speaking, and also marked how different his voice was to Nick’s. Tommy had a deep, sonorous sound, but Nick’s voice was softer, gentler. Nick’s was rich in tone and he spoke clearly, but in comparison to Tommy’s voice it was effeminate. At least he spoke
clearly
though.

No one talked on the drive to get Tom. Feeling her hands getting colder, Juliet became annoyed at herself for forgetting her gloves.

Is this madness?
She contemplated what she was getting herself into. They were going back to a place linked to someone’s death. What if they went back and
they
disappeared? Their lives could end there, just like that.

But Juliet couldn’t deny all the coincidences, and it seemed that Tamara was right about fate. If Juliet’s fate had been changed, then did she have a new one now?
I can’t believe I’m having these thoughts.
She shook her head, and hoped Nick and Tommy didn’t notice her distress.
If I have a new destiny, what could it be? Maybe if I go back, I’ll find out more about my ability. Maybe Aldrich knows how I can get rid of it and I’ll be normal again.

Another thing urging her to stay was Nicolas. He believed she could see spirits, he’d saved her twice now, and also he never suspected her of being in league with Aldrich. If Nick had been the one to attack her, she would sooner have accused him of having a part in it than believe that Aldrich had put him under a spell.

Now she’d had time to process it, she assumed these were the reasons she’d kissed him. He’d put so much faith in her, even though they barely knew each other. And now she wished she’d enjoyed the kiss more, and she began to hope there would be another chance. Next time, she would completely
want
to kiss him.

Nick pulled into the drive of a house. It was a detached home, plain, nothing distinctive about it. The front garden was tidy, and Juliet thought it was ‘nice enough’. She wasn’t sure if Nick lived there with his brothers, if he had his own house, lived with his dad, or whatever combination, but she kind of hoped he had his own place.

‘I’ll ring him, tell him we are here,’ Nick said, searching his phone contacts. ‘We’re outside.’

A slender brown-haired guy hurried out to the car. He was dressed sensibly for the cold weather and he looked nervous. He had the same face as Tommy, minus a bit of stock. Figure-wise, he resembled Nick more than the brother in the back, but Juliet could plainly see he was Tommy’s identical twin. Nick let him in his side of the car, and Tommy shuffled over to make room.

‘Hi. I’m Tom,’ the latest addition said and smiled at Juliet.

‘Hello.’ She smiled back. ‘Juliet Maystone.’   

Everyone fell silent while Nick adjusted back into his seat. When turned to address his brothers, he told them about the morning’s events. Juliet felt uncomfortable; she avoided eye contact throughout, and when Nick spoke about the way Aldrich had controlled her mind and body, she turned away completely. Holding back tears, she listened to the twins’ reactions.

Tommy outright laughed at some of it, but Tom seemed to at least consider what he’d been told.

‘I knew yuh were into weird stuff, Nick, but is this supposed to be a joke or summin?’ Tommy asked, with a face of boredom.

‘It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe me,’ said Nick. ‘I’m just warning you that Aldrich could be dangerous. He knows something about our mum’s disappearance. Surely you want to know about that?’

‘Howdyuh know that?’ Tommy asked incredulously.

‘Someone found Juliet, told her where to find me, and to take me to Grendel Manor. They said it was about Mum,’ he lied.

The twins didn’t need to know about Juliet’s ability, or Nick’s.

‘Whatever. This better not be a joke. And why aren’t yuh tellin’ Dad about it?’

‘You know how he is about Mum. I don’t want to tell him anything until we know more.’

Juliet respected Nick’s decision not to involve his dad yet. But her opinion of Tommy sunk lower and lower. She took a moment to observe the slimmer twin; he looked preoccupied.

‘If it’s about Mum, I’m happy to come with you,’ Tom spoke suddenly. He smiled again and leaned back, apparently ready to get the show on the road. Juliet gathered that he was a smiley kind of guy, which she liked because his smile was as handsome as Nick’s.

‘Let’s just leave already,’ Tommy capitulated.

It took almost half an hour to return to the manor. On the way, Juliet thought she heard Tommy mutter something to his twin along the lines of: ‘Looks like Nick is gettin’ some then.’ Although pretty sure it was an inappropriate reference about her, she didn’t retaliate; she felt too uncomfortable.

Nick parked on the gravel area as before, and all four got out of the car. It was late morning and the wind from the sea was harsh and bitterly cold. Earlier on the sun had peered through the clouds in places, but now it was glum and mostly overcast. The wind stung Juliet’s face.

Letting Nicolas and the twins take the lead, Juliet followed them through the foliage archway and towards the manor. She’d seen beautiful houses such as this before and admired them, but all she could feel now was deep dread. The front door was still open as Nick said it would be.

‘Wait outside, Juliet,’ said Nick. ‘Just in case.’

He cautiously stepped through the large doorway, his brothers following in the same manner. Juliet couldn’t see inside and didn’t exactly want to. She waited. No sounds came from the manor. She waited some more. Her intuition screamed that something wasn’t right.

What’s taking them so long?

The wind howled in her ears, growing persistently louder. It was unnatural, like it was trying to communicate with her. After building to an almost deafening level, it stopped.

Everything fell silent, and Samantha Crystan appeared.

She materialised so quickly that the empty space she now filled had seemed to swirl and implode. Ripples swam through the fabric of the air surrounding her.

‘Save my boys!’ She reached both arms out to Juliet. ‘SAVE THEM!’ the spirit roared, then fizzled out of sight as swiftly as she had appeared.

Juliet pelted up the chalky path and shoved the large door wide open.

Aldrich wasn’t on the floor as Nick had foreseen; there was only the blood, the cane, and the statue parts. The twins were facing another direction and seemed to be peering into a room, searching. Juliet stopped still when she spotted Nicolas. His expression turned alert when he saw the panic in Juliet’s face.

‘Get down!’ she shrieked, and pointed behind him.

She vaulted to one side and slid across the floor. The twins twisted around to see what was happening, and Juliet covered her ears. She squeezed her eyes shut, stayed low.

There was a thunderous bang that rattled her body. She heard something fall and land beside her, making a clamorous cracking sound, but she remained still, too afraid to open her eyes yet.

She whimpered involuntarily and slowly lifted her eyelids, expecting to see Nick’s brains all over the floor and blood everywhere. But that’s not what she saw.

Nick was struggling to seize a shotgun from Aldrich’s grip, and Tom ran over to help. Tommy was stood with a hand covering part of his left arm, and then he charged towards Aldrich and kneed him in the thigh.

Aldrich lost his grip on the gun, and the twins secured his arms behind his back. Juliet looked around and discovered it was a painting that had fallen and split on the floor beside her. The banister of the staircase was splintered. Marks and dark holes were splattered across the floor and walls.

When she gazed over at Tommy again, she noticed a tear in his jacket and a bloody patch where he’d been holding his left arm. ‘Are you okay?’ she asked, struggling to find the supporting breath.

‘What? My ears are ringin’,’ he shouted. Juliet repeated the question, nodding towards his left arm. ‘I’m alright. It’s just a graze I think.’ He held firmly to Aldrich.

At that moment, Aldrich fixed his eyes on Juliet.

Her mind went dark. There was nothing.

Then she was a step away from Nicolas, her hands held up aggressively. The twins stared at her and both of them looked horrified. Aldrich’s eyes were closed and his head drooped on his neck.

‘What happened?’ asked Juliet, letting her arms fall back to her side.

‘He did it again, he controlled you. You came towards us in a rage, but I hit him with the butt of the gun.’ Nick answered.

‘You were tellin’ the truth.’ Tommy’s voice shot up an octave in astonishment. ‘How the hell does he do it? He’s like a Jedi.’

‘More like a Sith,’ said Tom.

Juliet recognised the word ‘Jedi’ as something to do with the
Star Wars
films, but she had no idea what a ‘Sith’ was. Now wasn’t the time for jokes though. She clenched her fists and performed a violent shake of her body at the thought of being violated
again
. She cringed, trying to quell a surge of anger.

‘I think I know how he does it,’ Nick said. ‘Well, not exactly
how,
but I think he uses his eyes. He has to
see
the person he is controlling. We should cover his eyes before he comes back around …
if
he comes back around. I’ve knocked him unconscious twice now. He’s lost a lot of blood.’ He peered over at the pool on the floor.

‘Good idea,’ Juliet replied wearily.

Tommy said, ‘Come hold him up would yuh, Nick?’

Nick passed the shotgun to Juliet and then took hold of Aldrich. Tom was still supporting the man’s weight and restraining one of his arms behind his back.

Although Juliet appreciated the level of trust in being handed the shotgun, she was disgusted to hold such a thing. It was smooth, heavy, and had the same squirming effect on her that she imagined holding a dead and gored bird in her hands would have. She placed it on a step out of the way, and noticed her mobile phone on the floor as she did. She picked it up and put it in her pocket.

Tommy ripped at the jacket sleeve where the fresh bullet-hole was. The bottom half tore off completely and he used it to blindfold Aldrich.

Juliet suddenly felt wrong about all of this. ‘Wait. What are we doing? Shouldn’t we call the police?’

‘Yeah, we can’t hold him hostage like this,’ Tom chimed in. ‘He tried to shoot you, Nick. The police should deal with this.’

Nick shook his head. ‘We can’t call them. We can’t tell them about his ability. They won’t believe us, and they will take the blindfold off of him. Then he will be able to control them, and no offence Juliet, but he could do more damage with a police officer than he did with you. He’d kill all of us.’

Juliet could see his point and wasn’t offended, but she hated the situation. Pacing back and forth, she didn’t respond to what Nick had said. She caught his eyes and he looked at her compassionately. ‘We’ll figure it out as we go along,’ he said to her, ‘but we’re not calling the police or anyone until he tells us what he knows about my mum, and why he tried to kill me.’

‘Okay.’ She mustered up what courage she could.

‘Nick, we should close the front door,’ said Tom. ‘And if we are going to question him, we should tie his arms behind his back. I don’t want to hold him like this all day … He’s creepy; I don’t want to touch him.’

Tommy scurried off into another room, and after a while he came back with a black wire. Nick and Tom laid Aldrich face down on the floor while Tommy tied his hands together behind his back.
This is so wrong
, Juliet thought,
but what can I do?

‘We should take him outside, away from the front of the Manor.’ Tom was on a roll. ‘If a visitor comes, he might try to alert them. I saw from the hill as we drove here that he has loads of land behind the manor. It stretches right out to the cliff. We should lock the front door and take him far outside. Because it’s so windy, I doubt anyone would hear us from out there.’

‘Have you done this before, Tom? Is there something you’re not telling us?’ Nick asked and laughed.

‘No. I just don’t want to be caught with a tied up and bloodied man. If we are going to interrogate him, let’s do it properly and not get caught in the process.’

‘I was only joking, Tom.’

‘Well you’re about as funny as a log,’ Tom said bitterly, then smiled and laughed with Nick.

Must be a personal joke.

Nick asked, ‘What should we do about the pool of blood?’

‘Just leave it. If someone comes to the door, they wouldn’t be able to see it through the windows. There are bullet holes everywhere anyway. I just hope he lives here alone.’ Tom began to frown, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but here. He wasn’t the only one.

‘We should try to wake him,’ said Juliet, ‘unless you want to drag him outside. I’ll fetch a glass of water.’ She walked through a hallway to the left, and assumed the kitchen (or
a
kitchen) would be at the rear of the manor.

The hallway echoed with the sound of her wedge boots clip-clopping on the floor. She could hear Nick and the twins mumbling about something back in the entry hall. The utter silence dwelling in the rest of the manor was disconcerting and kept her on edge.

Every room she passed was decorated in the same style as the entrance. There were statues of winged angels, naked men and women, and bodiless heads. There were bronze platters and ornaments, and the Greek meander pattern trailing the hallway. Most things resembled ancient Greece, but then she passed one distinctly Egyptian style room with hieroglyphics, scarabs, and various gods.

At the end of the hall she was greeted by a disturbing statue that stood taller than her. The figure was of a man with the head of a bull. His arms were up at his sides, positioned the way you’d show a police man that you were unarmed. Its upper body was broad and muscular, but its lower was non-existent; where its legs were meant to be had been converted into a sort of wood burner, a miniature furnace. Its wrists and neck were spiked, adding to the beast’s hostile appearance.