Rachel Golden and the Retriever of Sin (13 page)

The old man opened the stove and threw on some twisted pieces of driftwood. The flames crackled blue around their edges from the salt. Rachel supposed she should say something. ‘Um, Mr. Crabtree?’ she said.

‘Crabs,’ the old man replied. ‘Ain’t been called Crabtree for a long time, and never “mister”.’

Ros mouthed the word ‘crabs’ to Rachel with a grin as the old man’s back was turned, and AC clamped a hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing. Rachel shot them a warning look. ‘Right, sorry, Crabs,’ she said. ‘Were you expecting us? It seems like you kind of were.’

‘Aye,’ the old man said, straightening up with difficulty. ‘I seen you were on your way. Wasn’t sure if you’d get here before the Dark Ones caught up with you though.’

Rachel’s eyes opened wide. ‘How did you—’

But the old man waved her into silence. ‘After dinner, girl. Reckon you must be starving.’ A big metal pot was boiling on the stove, and Crabs held up a couple of large lobsters. They were still very much alive and flapping their tails angrily. ‘Got some clams and corn as well,’ he said, ‘and there’s some bread in the oven.’ Rachel’s stomach growled in anticipation. It had been a long time since lunch.

‘Oh
hell
yeah,’ Ros said, drooling at the thought of lobster. ‘Uh, you don’t happen to have any butter that doesn’t come from a walrus, do you?’

ASSORTED COLORS WAS STILL SUCKING ON LOBSTER LEGS, which in his small hands looked like king crab. Everyone else was full and sleepy in the heat of the little shack. Crabs filled his pipe, lit it, and leaned back on his creaky old chair. ‘So, you’ll be heading to the castle then, eh?’ he asked, looking around the table.

‘Well, that’s what we
were
going to be doing,’ Rachel said. ‘But now we don’t really have a plan. ‘Apparently there are “Dark Ones” after us now.’ She tried to sound nonchalant, but wasn’t sure it was working.

‘Aye, girl, there are,’ the old fisherman said. ‘And if I were you, I’d be a little more concerned about it. The Dark Ones are a bad lot. You know the thing about a Dark One, he’s got… lifeless eyes. Red eyes. Like a doll’s eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn’t seem to be livin’. Until he bites ya and those red eyes roll over white.’ Rachel shivered.

‘Wait a second,’ Kel said, ‘that’s from Jaws. Are you quoting Jaws at us?’

Crabs looked panicky for a second. ‘Uh, what? I’ve never heard of this “Jaws” ye be talkin’ about, lad.’ Then he coughed and seemed to lose a little of his old sailor accent. ‘I’m just saying they won’t stop until they’ve got you, that’s all. One way or another.’

Kel decided to let the Jaws thing go. ‘How did you know they were after us anyway? Or that we were coming here?’ He looked over at Rachel, and could see from her eyes that she was thinking the same thing: Could this man be the spy? The unicorn had said that Crabs ‘wasn’t of this world’. Was he possibly a retired Guide, like Sinbad? That would certainly explain some things.

‘The same way the Overlords knew where you were,’ he said, and looked over at a rope net filled with ancient glass buoys that was hanging on the wall. One of the buoys was not a buoy, but a milky-white globe that seemed to glow faintly from within. It was a lot like the one in the Overlords’ castle, but smaller; about the size of a grapefruit.

Ros nodded sagely, and explained to the others about globes. ‘Oh,’ Rachel said. ‘So you
are
a retired Guide then?’

‘Aye, lass,’ the old man said, ‘retired is one word for it.’ He grunted and puffed on his pipe, looking sideways at Rachel. ‘Knew your father as well. Was wondering if I’d still be around when you took up the Hero-ing.’

Rachel dropped the fork she had been toying with, her heart pounding. This man had known her dad?? ‘What?’ she said, a million questions all coming into her head at the same time. ‘When? What happened to him? Were you his guide?’

Crabs shook his head sadly and looked away. ‘I only met him a couple of times, girl. And as for what happened to him, you’ll have to ask the Council about that. But I doubt that they’ll tell you anything. It was a long time ago. Not many people who were involved are still on active duty.’

Rachel looked heartbroken. She opened her mouth to argue but closed it again, eyes shimmering with tears. Why had he even brought it up then, if there was nothing he could tell her? What was the point? ‘But surely you must have heard
something
?’ she asked, pleading.

The old man shook his head again, his mouth a tight line. ‘Even if I knew lass, I couldn’t tell you. And who’s to say if I heard anything it would be true? Lots of stories go around when something like that happens.’

Rachel looked up sharply. ‘What do you mean, “something like that”? So you
do
know something!’

Crabs got to his feet, mumbling curses through his gray beard. ‘Forget I said anything. I’m an old man. I don’t know what I’m talking about.’ He hobbled over to the window and stared out into the blackness.

Rachel opened her mouth to speak again, but Kel put his hand on her arm. ‘Leave it, Rach,’ he said softly. ‘He can’t tell you anything. When this mission is over we’ll go before the Council, together, and
make
them give us answers.’ She didn’t know what to do. She had just found out that this man had actually known her father when he was alive, and now he was saying he couldn’t tell her anything. She knew he knew more than he was letting on.

She looked at Ros and the old dog nodded encouragingly. ‘I’ll go too,’ he said. She felt her eyes getting hot with tears again and tried to smile. But how can you smile when your whole life’s been turned upside down?

‘Wait a second,’ the old man said. ‘I may have something…’ He crossed the room to an old sea chest in the corner and began rummaging through it. Rachel wondered what he may have thought of, but refused to get her hopes up.

‘Here,’ Crabs said, straightening up, ‘it’s not a great picture, but it’s something.’ He brought over an old photograph and handed it to Rachel. It was a little crackly and faded from the sun, but it was a picture of her dad. She recognized him from the few photos her mom had of him back at home. Home, she thought. It seemed like a million miles away, and might as well be since it was in another dimension.

In the photograph her dad was standing on a beach next a younger version of Crabs. He had his arm around the man’s shoulder and they were both smiling for the camera. He looked to be in his late 20s at the time. The picture must have been taken shortly before he… went missing. She couldn’t even bring herself to think the word ‘died’. Tears made the picture blur as she stared at it and she wiped her eyes, embarrassed.

‘That was taken just ashore of here, at the spit,’ Crabs said. ‘We were—’

Before he could tell her what they were, a sharp tapping at the window made everyone jump. Crabs strode over to the window and opened it wide. The largest seabird Rachel had ever seen hopped into the shack, shaking ocean droplets from its pristine white feathers. She gasped at the size of the creature. It must have been three feet tall. It hopped over to the stove and spread its wings, warming itself. Its wingspan was at least ten feet.

Assorted Colors dropped the lobster leg he was gnawing and jumped back. He grabbed his prison shank. ‘What,’ he asked, eyes wide with fear, ‘is
that
?’

Rachel had taken a step back too. The bird was way too big not to be magical. ‘It must be some Altworld creature,’ she said.

The bird cawed loudly, and Crabs chuckled. ‘He says to tell you he’s a wandering albatross, and that you have birds like him in your dimension too.’ Rachel was pretty sure that couldn’t be right, but made a mental note to Google it if she ever got home.

Crabs had gone over to the bird and was deep in whispered (and cawed) conversation. He nodded to the bird and turned back to the others. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘looks like your Dark friends have found you.’ Rachel shared a worried look with Kel. ‘I was hoping they’d follow the feral unicorns’ scent, at least for a while.’ He saw the look of panic on Rachel’s face, and gave her a grim smile. ‘No need to worry just yet, lass,’ he said. ‘They won’t dare try to come out to the shack. For one thing unicorns can’t climb ladders. And for another I’d say there’s even worse things than Dark Ones in the water at night. We’ll be safe until the morning.’

‘How did they find us?’ Kel asked, then looked at Rachel’s red hand. ‘Oh right.’

‘Aye, lad,’ Crabs said, pulling curtains across the windows of the shack. ‘But I reckon they’d have found you anyway. Keen sense of smell, Dark Ones. Best not to think about it. And besides, globes don’t work in the dark.’

‘They don’t?’ Ros asked, surprised.

‘Not unless there’s a moon,’ the old man said. ‘It’s not like your fancy night-vision infra-red doohickeys. They need light to see by.’ Ros was slightly offended at this. He was pretty sure he’d never owned a doohickey in his life.

Crabs threw a fat fish to the albatross, who settled down in front of the stove, and they all took their seats around the table again. Rachel remembered the photograph in her hand and looked into the smiling face of her dad again. What had happened to him? He’d been on this Altworld. Had he been killed by Dark Ones? She screwed her eyes shut tight at the thought and forced herself not to think about it. Crabs looked at her sadly over his cup of tea and walrus milk. ‘You can keep that, lassie,’ he said quietly, kindly. She smiled in thanks and slipped it into her pocket.

Kel coughed, nervously. ‘Uh, sorry, Mr.—sorry, Crabs—you said we’ll be safe until the morning? I was just wondering what will happen in the morning. I mean, we’re kind of in a corner here on this shack. Do you think they’ll try something when it’s light? What are we supposed to do?’ Everyone’s eyes turned to Crabs.

The man slurped his tea thoughtfully, and Rachel suspected he may be enjoying drawing out the suspense. ‘Well, I did have one thought,’ he said. ‘We have a boat. Unicorns—Dark or otherwise—can’t track scent over water. And if we leave before sunrise, the Overlords won’t be able to find you until it gets light.’

Kel brightened. It had looked for a while that they were kind of trapped, but now this crafty old seadog seemingly had a way out for them. Oh but… how far could they possibly get on a rowboat, before it got light? Not very, he imagined. ‘And then?’ he asked hopefully. ‘What about after it gets light?’

‘Well, we’ll have to make you invisible, won’t we?’ the old man grinned. Everyone looked a little confused at that. If this man could
really
make them invisible, that would be great. But they had a feeling he didn’t mean it literally. His eyes twinkled with amusement at the looks on their faces. ‘But anyway, it’s getting late,’ he said. ‘One more thing, before I turn in.’ He looked at Rachel, then at the globe that was hidden in his net of buoys.

‘I saw you when you came through the portal,’ he said, ‘and—’

‘Wait a second,’ Ros cut in, ‘how did you see us then? Rachel only got served today. How could you have been watching us a couple of days ago?’ All heads turned to Crabs again. Yes, that was a very good point. How
had
he been watching them? The Overlords could only find them with their globe after the lawyers had served Rachel. There was suddenly something a little sinister about this man, and the hair on Rachel’s forearms stood on end. Was she only one thinking about the spy on the Council?

‘Oh,’ Crabs said, dismissively. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an iPhone. ‘I still get kept in the loop if a Hero party is coming to this Altworld,’ he said. Rachel scowled, not entirely convinced. Crabs saw the look on her face, and misinterpreted it. ‘Yeah, I know,’ he said, ‘it’s just an iPhone 4. Kinda hard to get upgrades on this world. But anyway, I saw you looking at a pocket watch a couple of times. That wouldn’t by any chance be the Retriever of Sin, would it?’ He leaned forward, licking his lips, and there was a hungry look in his eyes. Rachel felt her hairs rising again. She instinctively put her hand on the pocket where the watch was… and froze.

It was gone.

She jumped to her feet, startling everyone at the table. ‘The watch!’ she cried, desperately patting each of her pockets. But she knew it wouldn’t be there. She only ever kept it in the right front pocket of her jeans. And now that she thought about it, it had been a long time since she had heard it ding pointlessly. ‘Kel, check the backpack,’ she ordered, going through the same pockets she’d already checked.

Crabs had risen to his feet. ‘You’ve…
lost
it?’ he hissed. He looked furious, but Rachel ignored him.

‘When did you last have it?’ Ros asked, as Kel upended the bag and dumped everything out onto the floor.

‘I… I don’t know,’ she said, struggling to think. ‘The last time it ding-ed was right before… oh no,’ she groaned. The last time it ding-ed was right before they were captured by Toby and his gang. He had taken the watch from her. But surely she had taken it back after they’d escaped. Hadn’t she? The awful, creeping, cold feeling in her stomach told her she hadn’t. She had completely forgotten about in the excitement. And now everyone was staring at her. ‘Toby,’ was all she said, and they knew what she meant.

Crabs had gone to bed shortly after that, and Rachel hadn’t at all liked his reaction to the news about the watch. He looked like he was barely controlling his anger, and after he had climbed into his little cot and even started snoring, she felt sure he wasn’t really sleeping. The way he had asked about it, and then the way he had acted when he found out it was lost scared Rachel. For the second time she suspected that the fisherman was not all he seemed.

After Crabs had gone to bed, Kel spread out some rugs and blankets in the corner of the shack. Rachel was feeling terrible. Granted, she didn’t know what the watch did, and to be honest it had annoyed the hell out of her, but she had a feeling that it was something important. And that she’d screwed up bad. No one else said anything, but she could feel their eyes on her when she wasn’t looking. She wasn’t sure she knew how or why, but she had let them down badly. Especially Ros. It had been Sinbad’s watch after all.