The tunnel wasn’t wide enough to stand, so we had to crawl, banging our knees and shoulders. A little way in the roof lifted from my head. Carefully I crouched then stood, all the time expecting a crack on the skull that never came.

Catching my hand in his, Justin took the lead. “You still can’t see the light?”

“No,” I gasped. As far as I was aware, we were standing in the pitch dark; this tunnel no different from the one I’d arrived through. “Keep going.”

Justin drew ahead and I followed the drag of his hand, sprinting full out to keep up with his longer stride.

Then I heard a growl. It shivered through my skin and my veins trembled with the tenor of it. Immediately Justin dived left and almost wrenched my arm out of its socket. My gasp of pain cancelled my cry of fear and I fell quickly silent.

But the silence was eerie. The only noise we made was the pounding of our feet against stone; my lungs weren’t heaving, no blood roared in my ears, I wasn’t even panting. Only the burning of my calves told me I couldn’t keep the pace up forever.

Then the silence broke inside my head.

Retribution, vengeance, justice, death.

I fingers tightened on Justin’s. “Can you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Oh God.” Inside my head the voice pounded, replacing my vanished heartbeat with its own rhythm.

Retribution, vengeance, justice, death.

“It wasn’t me, I didn’t kill him,” I cried out loud and Justin swiftly pulled me into a new passage. Almost before I could regain my balance, he turned again. Then he shoved me against a wall, pressed the length of his torso to mine and held his hand over my mouth. “What are you doing?” he hissed.

“He’s in my head.” I sobbed. “He thinks I’m one of his killers. He’s coming to make me part of his army.”

Retribution, vengeance, justice, death.

My body hummed with the beat and my legs weakened. “That’s how he does it. He gets in your head. You really can’t hear him?”

Justin shook his head. “Maybe it only works on the living.”

“But I’ve got no heartbeat.” I pushed Justin’s hand to my chest. “No breath.” I raised myself so he could feel the lack of air on his cheek.

Justin nodded against my head. “So you’re suspended – like them.” He nodded back towards the cavern. “Passage through the Darkness must have done it, maybe this is another dimension or something, a place where time moves differently. You’re still alive, but one heartbeat could take a hundred years.”

Retribution, vengeance, justice, death.

I wrapped my arms tightly around him. “That voice – I already feel like I can’t run any more. If he catches me, I’ll be just like James and the others.”

I fell silent and listened desperately for the sound of clawed feet on stone.

Eventually I pressed my lips to Justin’s ear. “Do you think he’s gone? Can it work out where we’re going?”

I felt him shake his head. “I don’t know.”

Retribution, vengeance, justice, death.

I leaned my head against his blazer. “Let’s keep going, before I can’t move at all.”

“Sure?”

I tried to smile through the darkness, believing that he could see me. “We must have lost him. We’ve got to have some luck.”

Justin touched my cheek then pulled away again. “This way.”

It felt like we had been walking into blackness forever and the voice had grown faint, allowing the strength back into my limbs. That was when it struck me. “Justin, do you realise what this means?” I felt rather than saw his head turn towards me; his eyes touch my flesh with the lightest caress. “I can’t see the light, but you can. You’re dead and you’re going towards the light. You said you didn’t see it. You were worried that it wouldn’t be there for you, but here it is.”

He said nothing in reply, but if he’d had a heartbeat I was sure it would have skipped.

My legs were aching when Justin pulled me to a stop one last time. “We’re at the end.”

I squinted. “I still can’t see anything.”

Justin squeezed my hand. “This is the exit.” He caught my fingers and held them up pulling my hand forward.

“There’s nothing there.” I frowned.

“Feel with your toes.”

I inched my feet forward and the ground disappeared. I leaped back. “I’m not stepping off that.”

“You’ll have to trust me.” Justin’s voice held a slight smile. “You did before.”

My knees quivered. “Are you sure about this?”

“Course I am.” He put his arm around my shoulders. “We’ll step off together. Ready?”

“You’re already dead.”

“You’ll be fine.” He kissed me and this time his lips weren’t cold. My fingers started to wind round his neck, but he ended the kiss before I could finish the embrace. “I-I think I might have loved you,” he murmured.

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.

32

Hungry for the world

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.”