***
The moment my digital clock flashed 12.00, Isabel appeared in my room. I threw off the blankets and stopped myself from complaining about needing sleep. I slipped on my trainers, while Isabel checked out my complete set of Alex Rider books.
'Ready?' she whispered as she stepped behind me.
I closed my eyes. 'Not really.'
Of course it didn't matter what I said, we teleported anyway. When I opened my eyes, we were both sitting on the branch of a huge old tree opposite a school. I looked around, but couldn't see anything unusual. Other than one of the streetlights flickering, the street was quiet as well as empty.
I gave Isabel a puzzled look and she replied by pointing to the pedestrian crossing that led to the school's front gate. At first I couldn't see what she could be talking about. But then I noticed a movement. I stared at the crossing and tried to make out what was moving.
'An Earthbound Spirit? A young boy?'
Isabel nodded. 'Jamie. He's trapped in time. It's awful.'
'What happened?'
As she watched him, she told me, 'Every school day, Jamie's mother parked and took him across the pedestrian crossing and into school. This day she was in a hurry to get to work, so she dropped him and said she'd watch him cross at the crossing. He saw his friend at the school gate and he ignored the crossing guard and ran across in front of a truck. He died as soon as he was hit.'
'And he didn't go into the Light.'
'He's trapped himself in time. Every night about midnight, he appears and crosses and recrosses the crossing for about three hours. He's moves super-fast, so his energy gets all used up quickly. We think he lives at the school and gets his energy from the kids.'
Grandpa George had never told me that could happen. Either he didn't know or he'd decided it was too sad to talk about. 'What's this got to do with Eddie?'
Just as I said that, Eddie appeared on the sidewalk next to the crossing. I watched as Jamie slowed down, and then stopped to talk to him. Jamie looked familiar. His photo had been shown on TV a couple of weeks ago, after the accident.
'Edward is talking to him, gaining his trust. Eventually he'll try to get Jamie to go into the Light. At the moment, Jamie can't stop himself crossing the pedestrian crossing. Some part of him is making him do it over and over, as if he has to prove he can now cross without getting hit by a truck.'
I watched as Jamie returned to zooming across the crossing. Eddie watched him for a bit longer and then disappeared.
Isabel said, 'Edward is very good with Earthbound Spirits like Jamie. He'll spend as long as it takes to get him to go into the Light.'
I held on to the branch with both hands. The height was getting to me. 'So, you wanted me to see that Eddie is a good guy?'
'I want you to see why Sir John is making an exception for him. Our community needs Earthbound Spirits like Edward. Ancient peoples regarded the job of helping troubled Earthbound Spirits go into the Light as important. Few members of the Living do that now, so it's up to the Earthbound Spirits themselves to help one another.'
'Isabel, nothing you say will stop me from trying to get Eddie out of our home.'
She laughed at me. 'I only want you to understand the whole picture. You've got the ability to see and talk to us; you should understand us as well.'
'Can we go home now?'
'No.' She slipped off the branch and hovered behind me. 'Next stop.'
I knew we were at the next place, because my stomach felt like it'd moved into my throat. Material brushed against my face. It took me a few moments to work out we were behind a curtain. I peered through the slit in between the curtains. A cold shiver went down my back. There was a ghost of a very old woman sitting on a rocking chair. She was knitting while she gently rocked. Her aura told me that she was afraid.
I turned to Isabel. 'What's the problem?'
She pointed to the bed in a corner of the room. Eddie was sitting on the end of the bed. He said to the ghost of the old woman, 'And how is the sweater coming along, Pearl? Looks to me as though you're almost finished.'
'Not today,' she replied.
Isabel whispered to me, 'Pearl tells Edward that she'll go into the Light once she has finished knitting the sweater for her husband. He crossed into the Light over fifteen years ago. Except she never finishes the sweater. She undoes the stitches when she gets close to finishing and then she starts again.'
'Why?'
Isabel said sadly, 'When Pearl died, she saw her husband in the Light. He looked like he did when they first got married. Edward hasn't been able to convince her that she'll also look like she did when they first got married once she crosses over.'
'Is that true?'
'Yes, every adult who goes into the Light returns to the time when they were at their best.'
'So she's afraid that her husband will be young and good looking at the same time she's old and wrinkly?'
Isabel nodded. 'Edward has only been visiting her for a few weeks. It shouldn't take him long to convince her to cross over.'
This tour was depressing.
'You're lucky,' she continued. 'Imagine if the Earthbound Spirit in your house was really bad. I'm going to show you a bad one, and you might get to see some Warrior Spirits too.' Again she positioned herself behind me. 'Ready?'
'No.' Before I opened my eyes, I knew we were next to the sea. The smell of salt water and the stench of seaweed were overpowering. I jumped when I realized I was standing on a slimy patch of dark green seaweed. Looking around, I saw that we were on a rocky headland. Waves crashed over the rocks and the ocean spray covered me.
'It's cold,' I said, hugging myself.
'You'll live,' she said with a laugh. 'Oh, there they are! Crouch behind that rock, so they can't see us.'
I followed her and did as she said. At least the moonlight allowed me to see. There wasn't an Earthbound Spirit in sight. 'Who's "they"?' I asked.
'Two Warrior Spirits. I wish you could see them — they're dead scary. One of their special abilities is to be almost invisible. You have to know what you're looking for.' She pointed to a bunch of seagulls. 'See, the birds keep looking at them, and if you look closely you can see a shimmer.'
It was frustrating not to be able to see them. 'Why are we here?'
Isabel pointed out to sea. 'There's an Earthbound Spirit out there. Can you see him going up and down on the waves?'
It took me a while, but eventually I saw him. He was fully clothed. It was the strangest thing I'd ever seen. 'I didn't know Earthbound Spirits could swim.'
'Of course we can, but usually we don't. The Council thinks he has caused the deaths of two fishermen, but they can't prove it. That Earthbound Spirit drowned a few months ago when he got washed off these rocks. He isn't happy about dying so young and Sir John thinks his way of dealing with it is to cause the deaths of others.'
So Grandpa George was wrong. Earthbound Spirits could do more than play on our fear. 'Why can't the Council just deal with him?'
'They need proof and that's why the Warrior Spirits are watching him. The two fishermen lost their footing, got swept out and were bashed against the rocks. The Living aren't suspicious, because both deaths seemed like accidents. Sir John thinks the Earthbound Spirit scared them right when a wave came crashing down.'
'And why do I need to see this?'
'So you know Earthbound Spirits can be dangerous. I bet your Grandpa George didn't tell you that.'
'No, he never told me anything like that.' We both watched the Earthbound Spirit for a while. He seemed to be enjoying going up and down with the unbroken waves. It was so cold and I was drenched from the sea spray. My knees were sore from crouching, so I stood for a moment to stretch.
I was about to tell Isabel she should get me home when from nowhere, a strong gust of wind hit me. I stumbled back, and then slipped on seaweed. At the same time an enormous wave appeared above me. I screamed into the wind.
Before the wave crashed down on top of me, time slowed. I re
alized I was gone ... there were no people to help me and no one even knew I was here.
Sadness overwhelmed me as I realized how much pain I was about to inflict on Emily, Mom and Dad. I promised myself I'd go straight into the Light. Watching my own funeral would be way too sad.
Isabel's screams entered my awareness the moment before the wave hit me. It felt like a truck crashed on top of me from a great height. My body felt lifeless, and then I realized I was being sucked out to sea. Water filled my mouth and I coughed hard. I was alive but I couldn't move ... all my strength had gone from being pounded by that wave.
I must've been on my back, because I could see a big glowing white disc against the black sky. The moon ... it was so beautiful ... I wished I'd taken more notice of it ...
6
I became aware of a familiar sound. I couldn't feel anything, but warmth on my face. Fire ... that sound ... the same sound that came from Grandpa George's fireplace when it blazed in winter. Crackling ... the sound of the wood burning ...
My eyelids couldn't open ... sleep, said a voice inside my head ...
I moved toward a bright tunnel of white light. Grandma was there, but she was much younger than before she'd died. She put her hand up to stop me from coming closer and said, 'Adam, it's not your time. Go back. Go back now.' Then she was gone. I tried to cling on to the sight of her ...
Sometime later I came out of nothingness and heard Isabel's voice. 'He's waking.' She sounded excited.
'You'll have to take him home. The sun will soon rise.'
I knew that voice. It was a kind voice, but for some reason I didn't trust it. An image of a man with a beard and old-fashioned clothes flashed in to my head. Sir John?
Suddenly, I wanted to know exactly what was going on. My eyes opened. Yes, I was next to a fireplace and I had a tartan blanket over me. It smelt of mothballs.
When I raised myself onto my elbow, my whole body cried out in pain.
'Slowly,' said Sir John, who knelt beside me. 'You'll be very sore.'
'What happened?'
'Can't you remember?' Isabel had knelt on the other side of me. 'We were watching the Earthbound Spirit who drowned in the ocean and then—'
Sir John interrupted her. 'Adam, thanks to you we got the proof we needed to deal with him. He was able to create a strong gust of wind to make you stumble, and then he was able to create a very large wave. You didn't have a chance.'
'I'm sorry,' said Isabel. 'It's all my fault.'
'How did you save me?'
'One of the Warrior Spirits helped me to pull you out of the ocean, then I teleported you here. The other Warrior Spirit extinguished the Earthbound Spirit that tried to kill you; he didn't know what hit him.'
'Isabel,' said Sir John. 'That Earthbound Spirit was evil. Your idea of showing Adam things about the Earthbound Spirit world that he wasn't aware of might have been well intentioned; however, that is never to happen again.'
'It won't,' she said.
'You can teleport Adam home, and then you are not to see him until this business with Edward and the possession of his house has been sorted out.' Sir John turned to me. 'Adam, I'm sorry, but I have to put the interests of Edward above your interests. My advice to you is to use your initiative. You and your family need to vacate Edward's house as soon as possible. Once the Warrior Spirits have been ordered to remove you and your family, the situation will be more than unpleasant.'
For the first time since waking, I felt my body. It felt like it was encased in ice. I wanted to explain how even if my parents could see and communicate with Edward, they'd never be bossed round by a ghost. To them, they'd paid for the perfect house and only they had the right to live in it. But I didn't have the strength to argue.
Isabel murmured, 'I don't see why the Council can't sit them both down and force them to work things out.'
'The Council doesn't have the authority to do that,' Sir John replied. Then he said to me, 'Your body is badly bruised. The most important thing is to keep warm and get as much rest as possible. The bruises will heal, but you must be careful not to get pneumonia.'
Sir John might have helped save my life, but now he was threatening that I must move out of our home or else. How strange, was all I could think as Isabel removed the blankets, helped me to my feet and then teleported me back to my bedroom. Teleporting made my whole body tremble; I'd never felt so awful. I promised my body I'd never teleport again.
It was pitch black, so I found a flashlight in the top drawer of my desk and switched it on.
Before Isabel left me, she said, 'It'll take days, possibly a week for the Council to authorize the Warrior Spirits to remove you from the house. Just make sure you're all out before then.'
I grunted, wishing Grandpa George was here to fix things.
'Sorry for everything,' she whispered.
I could see in her face that she was really sorry, but I was too tired to reply.
When she was gone, I realized I'd just lost my only ally. I was alone.