Bryony Pearce - The Weight of Souls

With a gentle pressure he pushed me forward. I could have wriggled free and run back into the darkness. But I trusted him. I faced the front and let Justin propel me over the edge.

I opened my eyes and immediately had to close them again. Shards of light shattered my vision into a glittering mosaic.

I closed one hand over my chest to feel for my heartbeat. Once more my blood sprinted through my veins and rang rhythmically inside my ears. I inhaled and air flooded my lungs.

I’m alive .

I strained my ears to hear his voice – Retribution, vengeance, justice, death – but it was only a memory. The Lord of Death was gone.

“Justin?”

There was no answer.

I rolled onto my knees and sat back on my haunches. Then I shaded my eyes and squinted around. Familiar shapes, made strange by my odd vantage point, resolved out of the brightness. Dad’s huge microscope was lying on its side on the floor and his fridge was open, the samples scattered. The wheels of his wheelchair were motionless by his desk.

“Dad?” I squinted up at him. His mouth was opening and closing soundlessly.

Finally he rolled towards me and grapnels of light caught in his spokes as he advanced. “T-Taylor? I didn’t think you were coming back. I was… I didn’t know what to do.”

I rubbed the bright hooks from my eyes. “How long was I gone?”

“A-an hour, maybe.” He fumbled with his sleeve and looked at his watch, stared back at my face. “I don’t know, it seemed like forever.”

As I lowered my hands to my knees I checked my palm. The Mark had not returned. The Darkness was no longer coming for me. “Thank God.”

Dad’s chair bumped my legs and he caught my shoulders. I hesitated for a moment, then launched upward and, for the first time in three years, permitted myself the comfort of his embrace.

“Where’s the boy?” Dad peered behind me as though I was hiding Justin from him.

Cold flooded my chest. “I-I think he’s gone.” I swallowed and my throat felt as if it was filled with thorns. “He led us towards the light. He went into it with me. H-he must have moved on.”

My heart shrunk: I hadn’t even said goodbye.

Dad patted my shoulder and I decided not to look at his face as he did so.

Eventually I pulled back. Mum’s book was open on Dad’s desk, his glasses reflecting twin suns above the open pages. “You found Mum’s book?” I murmured.

He offered me a weak smile. “In your room. I was hoping for a clue…”

I gestured towards the mess. “What happened to your microscope?”

Dad’s jaw hardened. “I was wrong. All this time I should have been helping you. Escorting you.” He exhaled. “You really have been looking for murderers.” The thought made him whiten. “I thought there should be a rational scientific explanation for the Mark, t-the ghosts, but there isn’t.”

I frowned at the chaos. “You did this?”

He glared around the room. “Yes, I did.”

I felt something hard against my waist and inhaled. “The notebook.” I pulled it free. “Dad, The Tale of Oh-Fa is true. I found the Professor. This is his.”

“We’ll need to talk about this properly.” Dad took the book in trembling fingers. “I know.” I nodded and my head thumped with pain, I was dead tired. “Just not now.”

“No, you’re exhausted.” Dad’s fingers tightened on the book. “What should I do with this?” he muttered. “What use is it to us?”

“You said you’d be more likely to find a cure if you could find the vector. It could still be in the tomb, couldn't it? Nefertiti’s tomb? And there should be a map, some instructions, something.”

Dad dropped his eyes from mine. “Your mother was right, you can’t cure a curse.”

I grabbed his shoulders. “Since Mum’s death you've been driven by your need to defeat the Darkness. You can't give up now. You said my blood infected yours. Where there’s infection, there has to be a cure. So what if the Darkness is real? Now you have a real enemy.” I hesitated, the idea of an enemy made me think of the army I’d helped create, the army waiting silently for… what? I stamped on the thought. “So things are more complicated than you thought.” My eyes burned into his. “Who cares? It’s still a genetic disease. And now you’re even closer to curing it.”

Dad placed his palm on my cheek. “You have no idea how like your mother you are.”

I snorted gently and used his chair arm to get to my feet. “Do you mind if I…?”

He was already opening the Professor’s notebook. “Go.”

I hesitated at the stairs, then opened the front door and sat on the stoop instead. The sun had long departed and the air contained that breath of freshness that would be traded at dawn for the sunshine. I inhaled the scent of night blooming jasmine from next door and the tang of Mum’s ivy. It was full dark, but not a hunting Dark. I was safe until the next ghost Marked me. I wrapped my arms round my knees and stared down the street. Tomorrow maybe I’d go and find the old lady at the building site. I owed it to her.

My knuckles whitened. Did I really want to continue swelling the ranks of Anubis’ army?

Retribution, vengeance, justice, death.

The words were a distant whisper in the back of my mind, but I’d never forget them.

A dog barked in the distance and I groaned. I didn’t have any choice. As long as the ghosts came to me I’d have to keep Marking their killers, or risk returning to that place myself.

With mild surprise I realised my cheeks were wet. I felt my face; I was crying. I put my head on my knees and let myself sob.

For just a little while I hadn’t had to face the dead by myself.

Now I was alone again.

Suddenly my stomach cramped. My eyes widened at the pain and I cradled my gut with a whimper. The feeling grew in intensity until I thought I was going to burst.

I opened my mouth to call for Dad and the pain stopped as suddenly as it had started. I uncurled and wiped sweat from my forehead.

“Tay? Thank God.”

“J-Justin?”

He stood on the bottom step, his school uniform crumpled for the first time I could remember. His hair flopped into his brown eyes and his hands were clutched across his abdomen. His face shone with pain to match my own.

I lurched to my feet and he smiled wryly. “I'm sorry that hurt, I had to follow the life force to get back to you. It’s OK. I know where I’m going now. But the flow of life you gave me means I can’t go yet. I have to wait for it to dry up.”

I blinked. “How long will that take?”

Justin shrugged. “It could be any minute. I think it ran out before on the scaffolding. But you gave me a lot more last time. I don’t know.” He edged up the steps, his lips white. Was he nervous?

I held out a hand and he wrapped his fingers around mine. “So you could be sticking around for a while,” I murmured.

His head tilted and his hair cleared his eyes. “I don’t have to. I could go somewhere else, see the world.”

I inhaled sharply. “You want to see the world?”

“I won’t get another chance.”

“True.”

He sat beside me and together we listened to the distant hum of traffic.

Eventually I cleared my throat. “Still, London’s pretty nice.”

There was a grin in his voice when he replied. “You know, they say if you sit still long enough the whole world will come to you.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Do they?”

“I heard it somewhere.” His thumb started to trace patterns on the back of my hand and I shivered. Then I leaned against him.

“I’m going to speak to Mr Barnes and make sure the V Club is shut down.” Justin nodded against my head and I sighed. “I can’t believe I’ve got you back… at least for a little while.”