Beautiful Freaks (11 page)

“Ah, well you know what they say, boy,
‘Cold weather,
cold
hearts
.’
”

“No, Sir, I haven’t heard that before.” Kaspian
walked over to the smaller of the two desks, the one that
he’d adopted
as his own from his first day at school
. In contrast to Heartlock
’
s, Kaspian’s desk was a disorganised
world
of pamphlets, books
,
and half
-
written letters. He’d left the lid off
his ink
well and
the residue
had
dried into a small, cracked lake
bed. His gold wire spectacles lay on top of a sheet of paper charting the lunar cycle. One of the arms was too bent for him to wear them comfortably. Being as he secretly hated them, he hadn’t made the effort to replace them.

Kaspian
spoke with a tone of feigned
disinterest, “Sir, I have heard some talk in town of the coming Blood Moon. It’s raising some superstitious talk. The bookseller, Foxglove
,
told me that his busi
ness was on the up because of it. A lot of customers have been coming in to enquire about rituals and … other stuff.
”

“
It’s always
a str
ange time when the Blood Moon waxes
.”

“What do you mean?” Kaspian knew that he had asked the question too keenly, given away the level of his curiosity and Heartlock had noted it; enough to put down his pen and turn his wheelchair so that he could look at the boy as he spoke.

“The Blood Moon is a bad omen.
It always
has been, and it’
s been proven to take note of its coming
. I say
this from personal experience.” Heartlock removed his glasses, and folded them on his lap. Kaspian felt the intensity of Heartlock’s emotions and it made him anxious.

Heartlock took a rattling deep breath and continued,
“It’s a sign of a coming violence
,
but it’s also a sign of strengthening; of renewal. Some say, and I
am
one of them, that the Blood Moon is a time of t
he D
evil. It’s the
time when his seed bears fruit
and his children are born into the world of man. Werewolves, Vampires, Hags, all manner of un-natural beings feed off of the power of the Blood Moon,” he paused, fixed Kaspian with a hard stare, lining up pupil to pupil before adding, “…even phantoms.”

Kaspian blinked rapidly. It was no surprise that Heartlock knew his secret. In fact Kaspian’s true identity had been Heartlock’s secret long before it had been his own. What was surprising was the way in which his guardian had chosen to break the taboo. It was almost
as if he was
accusing Kaspian
of a crime he was yet to commit.

A thick and heavy silence fell between them
. O
nly the ticking of the clock could be heard. Heartlock refused to stop looking at him
,
and Kaspian felt a sudden surge of energy that could have been anger or grief – it was hard to tell the difference.
He knew he needed to leave, get
out before something terrible
and irrecoverable
happened between them. Heartlock had broken the bonds of their relationship in two simple words and now Kaspian could not be sure if his guardian was friend or foe.

Kaspian’s body faded on the spot
,
and within less than a blink of Heartlock
’
s elderly eye, the boy vanished.

Left alone,
Heartlock’s broke into a sad smile
of regret.
He loved the bo
y, just as he had loved his mother,
and he’d handled
this
all wrong.
But then, h
e never had been very good at emotions.

*

By the time the first guests arrived, Kaspian had recovered himself as
much as he could. He had bathed,
dressed
,
and now wore the mask of a happy birthday boy. When he walked into the drawing room, Heartlock made an extra
,
and slightly unnatural
,
effort to compliment Kaspian on his evening dress. It was
the offer of
an olive branch and
he
loved the old man far too much to reject it.

Heartlock’s friends and associates were an eccentric bunch who
appeared
to be friends
mainly
because of their common love of lunatic facial hair. They were mostly bachelor men who spent the sunlight hours in the dusty shade of their studies or laboratories. There were a few more interesting specimens amongst the group
;
Professor Melfant for example
,
who was an archaeologist. He had been working out in Egypt for the last ten years, and had gone, as Heartlock would say in a low voice, ‘somewhat native
.’
By this he meant that Professor Melfant had taken to smoking cigarettes and wore a flamboyant amount of jewellery. He also insisted on attending every social engagement with his pet monkey who would often cause a
great
amount of humorous cha
os. Heartlock hated the monkey because he believed it was the vessel of an Egyptian demon-
spirit. Kaspian thought it was just behaving like a monkey.

Professor Melfant had a young male companion
, Hugh Denvers,
who was ridiculously pretty for a man.
Hugh would always be found in the corner of the room, sitting languidly and
smoking his
Egyptian-
blue cigarettes. He had heavy eyelids, the sort that might be
found on
a reptile
,
and they were laced with long dark lashes that swep
t
his cheekbone. Even in the colder climates of an autumnal London,
he dressed in his alopecia suit, a navy polka-
dot handkerchief stuffed in
to
the pocket. It was incredibly mo
dern and Kaspian envied Hugh
in
his elegance and taste. But there was
something else about Hugh De
nvers that Kaspian couldn’t quite put his finger
on. Maybe it was the way that Hugh
’s eyes would roll up from under his lashes and gaze at Kaspian when
he thought no one was looking that made Kaspian feel uncomfortable.

Kaspian was an exquisitely beautiful boy, but he had no idea just how enchanting he was.
There was something that certain,
unique
, people saw in Kaspian th
at he didn’t see in himself: i
t was sorrow, which he wore like a rich and intoxicating perfume. Not a sorrow for what had been, but for what was to
come.
He was wa
lking poetry, a
beauty
that was almost painful.
Like Wilde’s Nightingale, Kaspian Blackthorne
had been
made to die for love.

Hugh De
nvers understood this. So did Evangeline.

And they were watching him.

*

Supper was a pleasant affair
,
and the collection of friends Heartlock had assembled came with gifts of fabulous richness, not in the terms of money but in the currency of ideas; beautiful books, a typewriter, cigarettes, Egyptian relics,
a
photograph of a flock of birds, a box of paperclips, a flask to keep ho
t drinks warm when out on walks.
R
elics of the ancient world
,
and promises of the future.

The supper was exceptional, all of Kaspia
n’s favourite dishes
;
Scottish s
almon, oyster and beef wellington
,
and a blancmange in the shape of a sailing ship. And when all the eating was done, Kaspian was invited as a man, no longer a child, to remain and take port and cigars. Befo
re Kaspian could agree, Hugh
cut in
,

“Maybe Kaspian and I could play chess out on the terrace. Leav
e the old men to their memories.
We have a brave new world to discuss.” He let out a charming, silken laugh and the company joined
in
.

“Splendid idea, Hughie,” Professor Melfant bellowed whilst slapping Kaspian on the back a little over
-
enthusiastically.
“Let the young get on with it is what I say.”

Kaspian didn’t really want to exchange the warm comfort of the house for the cool autumn
garden but Hugh
was determined
,
and Kaspian didn’t want to kick up a scene. Besides
,
Kaspian knew he was safe in any company. He could always just simply slip away if things got too awkward.

By the time they
both made it to the garden,
Letterton had set out the lamp-lit table with a bottle of whisky, a chess set
,
and an ashtray. He’d also kindly put out a bundle of woollen blankets should they get cold. The night was clear. Stars hung like a dusting of icing sugar. It was a beautiful night to turn eighteen.

Hugh
took a seat, poured a large double shot of whisky into each of their glasses and lit two cigarettes at once. He handed one to Kaspian who looked at it suspiciously before he brought it to his lips and drew on it. It filled his mouth with the heady, toxic taste of tobacco and nicotine. As the smoke hit his lungs
,
he coughe
d and
tears
filled his eyes, causing Hugh
to laugh.

“First cigarette, Kaspian? It gets better with practice. I find that the case with most things.”

“God it’s awful!” Kaspian said through laughter.

“So you are capable of laughing then? I was beginning to think maybe you couldn’t – like you had an affliction or something.”

Kaspian smiled, “Oh, yes, I can laugh. I’m in training for becoming a wit.”

At th
is both young men laughed again and
Kaspian relaxed in his chair having decided that
although Hugh
couldn’t be trusted, he could be liked.

“Good, then let’s play. You can make
the first move,” said Hugh.

*

In the study, where the port was flowing and the exhaled smoke of tobacco pipes was quickly replacing the oxygen,
the
discussion was taking an interesting turn.

Chester and Steptree had introduced the topic of the two strange murders that had taken place over the last week. Immediately the whole company had been captivated, quizzing the police chief and detective as if they were the arrested suspects. Much
chatter
burst out at once as each of the men brought in their own areas of expertise. There were many different theories put forward
,
and some heated disagreement about the science behind such crimes
,
but on one thing they seemed pretty unanimous
about
– there was definitely something supernatural going on.

“No amount of scientific rationalism or enquiry is going to offer an answer to how a tree can swallow a man,” said Doctor Flint, a physics
expert
and member of the Royal Society.

“And the boy, you said he was completely frozen? Could it have been done after death?” asked Professor Melfant.

“It
s possible
,
but the way he was standing, as if he were in the middle of an embrace with his lover, would suggest that this w
as highly unlikely. E
ven if his cadaver had been posed after death, the murderer wouldn’t have been able to manipulate his face to look like it did,” Steptree replied.

“What do you mean? How did the boy look exactly?”
Heartlock asked.

“Ecstatic,” added Chester. “He looked
full of love!
”

“These crimes are very strange indeed,” said Heartlock
,
with a twinkle in his eye. “They would certainly suggest some form of paranormal activity. Where are the bodies now?”

“At the morgue down
in
Cheapside,” replied Chester.

“The boy is still frozen?” asked Heartlock as he reached out for the decanter to pour another
port
.

“Yes.”

“The man in the tree, what state is he?”
Professor Melfant asked.