dived out, slowing her descent with a gust of wind – also giving her momentum as she rushed forwards at the moment of her landing.
She saw a figure escaping into the distance, and gave chase.
Her legs were being re-energised. If it wasn’t for her adrenaline and desperation she might not have been able to move at all, but instead would have collapsed on the floor in a sunken heap.
As she ran, blood whipped across the side of her face and escaped into the air. She pressed the side of her wrist to the gash to try and control the bleeding, not doing much to stop it flowing out in frantic streams.
Her breath caught in her throat as she struggled to keep going. Sweat was covering her brow and stinging against the cut on her face. She grimaced but fought against it. The cold wind that blew hard against it acted as a slight healer, dulling the pain slightly as the cold caused her to lose sensation in her forehead.
The figure had stopped in the middle of the road ahead.
The street lamps flashed as though they were about to go out. She could hardly see even a few metres ahead.
Murum turned to her.
“Where’s your friend now?” he said. She looked around. Damn. Where was Grim? Never around when you needed him.
“I don’t need him,” she cried, not convincing anyone, “so, let’s make a deal. Gimme back that journal and I might consider letting you leave here alive.”
Murum chuckled. “I’d like to see you try.” Once again he stormed towards her, but this time she was ready. Her fist threw out in front of her. He didn’t stop. She closed her eyes and flinched as he ran literally straight threw her. Before she could realise that he’d phasewalked, he grabbed her from behind and smashed her into the ground. Pain shot through her, hopefully not another broken bone.
He went to kick her but she had already scrambled to her feet. She swung her leg backwards, catching him across the face, but he grabbed her and tossed her a metre to the side. Patience managed to land, albeit off balance. He laughed.
“Do you really think there’s any chance of beating me?” he said, “you know I was locked in the vault right? But do you know why? I’m betting you don’t. It started off with a simple bank robbery, but not everything went perfectly. My partner had betrayed me and the police were already alerted to me being there. There was a whole squad, must have been thirty in total. Not to mention a chopper hovering above us broadcasting the events live to the country. On camera, I let all the bullets phase through me as I killed each and every one of those police officers.”
“Then why don’t I know about this?” she asked, “I’m sure I would have heard about it on the news.”
“Not so,” he said, “Grim arrived just a little too late, and as he arrested me they organised clairvoyants to hack into the network and remove it from everyone’s mind who had witnessed it. I believe they called it ‘the largest memory surge in history’, and all because of me.”
“Technically it was Grim.”
“Yeah, but I caused it.” He made fists at his side, looking exceedingly angry. “The point I am trying to make is that I cannot be stopped by a mere child, such as yourself. I am legendary, I am terrifying, and I am immortal.” There was a flash of light to the side, and the sound of a roaring engine. A massive metal shell broke into her vision, went straight past her before crashing into Murum. He flew back and crashed into a wall.
Patience spoke before she could help herself. “Phase through that,” she snapped, happy to have finally pulled off a one liner, even if it was a little too late. She patted Bessy on the front as though it was an animal that had done something deserving of a reward.
Grim climbed out the car and walked over to Murum, who was groaning in pain and struggling to stand.
He pulled out a pair of handcuffs and slapped it on his wrist, dragging him over to Bessy and leaning him over the bonnet.
“Won’t he just be able to phase through the handcuffs?” she asked.
Grim shook his head. “Nah, don’t need to worry about that. These babies sap the magic away from whoever is wearing them. While he’s got these on, he won’t be going anywhere.” He took the journal from Murum’s pocket and threw him into the backseat, not even bothering with the seatbelt before they drove off.
Patience read the journal as they travelled to the Imperium, where Murum would be safely locked up.
She’d forgotten how sick reading in a car made her feel, which wasn’t helped by her Uncle Bernard’s surprisingly feminine, swirly writing, much different to the one used on the note. It took her a little while to actually be able to read it.
Finally, she came to her answer. “The Schism Complex,” she said, reading aloud, “that’s where it says the Lamina is being kept.”
Grim raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”
“That’s what it says. Do you know it?”
“I don’t need to explore the deep recesses of my magical databank for long before happening across this particular complex.”
“Can’t you just say you know what it is, like a normal person? Anyway, what is it?”
“It’s essentially a labyrinth. After the Great War there were many casualties, and not a lot of room to store them. I mean, how do you discretely bury hundreds of people to keep a secret war from becoming known to the mortal world. You build an underground maze to store them. They must have buried the Lamina down there with one of the generals, or as safekeeping to stop the future sorcerers getting hold of it.”
“Either way, we know where it is, so why don’t we just go for it?”
Grim held up his hand to calm her. “It could be dangerous. So, first we get Murum into a nice cosy cell, then we commune with the lovely Luminary to discuss any possible reinforcements or aid he could offer us on our gallant quest.”
“Then what?”
“We get a good night’s sleep.”
“Are you being serious?” she said, “why do we never get to act spontaneously? I’m pumped, let’s just go.”
“You may be ‘pumped’, but you also have a broken hand, bruised ribs and a nose that is spilling blood out all over the insides of my car. You may be a sorcerer, but it will still take the night for all that to heal.”
She sighed, leaning back in the chair as she laid her head against the side, almost falling asleep. There hadn’t been much of an opportunity for sleep lately. That’s for sure.
20
A GOOD NIGHT SLEEP
It was a strange sensation, trying to force herself to sleep despite the tiredness that she’d been building up.
Patience found that she had a hard time unwinding and forcing herself to relax. Her house was old and made lots of noise, and that was not taking into account the hooting owls sat just outside her window. She was on edge all night, until she finally managed to sink down into the world of dreams. Or as it should be described, nightmare.
She didn’t know exactly what to expect in the Schism Complex. Grim had told her little, but her mind filled in the blanks with weird imaginings. At one point she was climbing over an ocean of dead bodies, feeling their stench attack her nostrils as the decay latched to her hands, which she was using to steady herself. She felt the need to wretch, but forced it to remain inside.
Her eyes scanned the area ahead, green mist blocking her path through the wide open tunnels. She couldn’t remember why she was going this way, or why she was alone, only that it was important.
An eagle flew up above, only then realising how high the roof was. From this distance she couldn’t work out how big the eagle was, but it certainly wasn’t normal simply from the shadow it was casting on the ground.
As she walked on, Patience could feel the broken pieces of bones cracking under her feet. It didn’t seem to bother her, since the visualisation of severed limbs and pools of blood had been enough to de-sensitise herself from it all. Although, the gore wasn’t old and dried up, some of it was still very much wet and newly formed. Which made her wonder where it had a
ll come from.
In answer to her question, there was a terrifying squawk from above. Patience froze in fear, feeling sweat drip down her front as her eyes rose upwards. The eagle was diving through the air towards her, its wings cutting through the wind, giving it a majestic appearance.
She ducked and felt the massive creature – the size of a horse – soar over her hair into the tunnels in front of her. Then a moment later it was back, dropping to the ground so that its talons bit into the stone. It stepped forwards, spreading its beak and snapping towards her.
Patience woke up screaming, falling silent straight away, worried she would wake her parents. But as she looked up at her mum sat on the edge of her bed, she realised it was too late for that.
“I heard you talking in your sleep,” she said softly, “not sure I remember you having nightmares for a long time. You used to come in and sleep in our bed when you were seven, all alone and scared. Since then you grew out of it.”
“I’m sorry I woke you.” Her mouth was dry and the words were sharp against her throat.
Her mum brushed her maroon hair back over her ears and looked on with wide eyes. “That’s alright, it’s just nice having my little girl back again.”
“What do you mean? I’ll always be your little girl.”
“I know you will.” She seemed sad. Oh God. Had she realised that she’d been out all that time. “You’re growing up, I understand. I went through the same thing when I was your age.