Darkness Watching (Darkworld #1) (10 page)

y the time we got back to the flat, Sarah and Alex sat chatting in the kitchen. We all walked up to campus to meet the heads of the Literature department and to enrol in the course. This meant a lot of trailing around in the rain that surrounded us in a constant haze of fine drizzle. In the fog, the older part of campus looked more Gothic than ever; and it gave me a start of surprise when a troop of people dressed as medieval warriors walked past. For a second, I was half-convinced we’d jumped back to the fifteenth century.

“That’d be the RPG Society,” said Alex.

“What, they walk around campus like that?” said Sarah, sceptically. “With the swords and everything?”

“So I’ve heard,” said David. “You get all sorts here. They’re not the weirdest.”

“They’re not doing any harm,” said Alex. “I think it’s pretty cool, actually. Y’know, in a nerdy way.”

Gotta admire their nerve,
I thought, although using cardboard as the basis for their props might have been a mistake, given the weather. Their armour and weapons looked decidedly worse for wear.

“Not sure I’ll be joining,” said Sarah.

“Might be a laugh,” said Alex. “It’s Freshers’ Fair tomorrow, right? We can sign up to stuff then. I’m joining hiking. And maybe climbing and badminton. And―”

“Isn’t that a bit much?” I said. “You do have coursework as well, don’t forget.”

“We have only three years here,” said Alex. “I want to make the most of every second!”

And so we set off early for the Great Hall the following morning. Dark clouds smeared the sky, but nothing could dampen Alex’s spirit―not even the torrential rain that hit us when we neared the centre of campus. I half-expected her to start singing.

Sarah groaned and ran for shelter. I didn’t mind the rain so much; but the wind had kept me awake at night, rattling the windows and making me dream of shadowy figures trying to break in. It didn’t take much to set off my imagination.

We entered the Hall, now a riot of bright colours. People stood everywhere handing out everything from lollipops to bird whistles. Banners advertising the various societies adorned the walls, accompanied by demonstrations. The Role-Playing Society’s activities attracted a lot of attention. Two guys decked in cardboard armour duelled with plastic swords in the middle of the hall. Meanwhile, the Mountaineers set up a climbing wall; Alex ran in that direction and was soon enthusiastically swinging toward the ceiling. I saw David queuing next to a serious-looking group that advertised itself as the Politics Society. Nearby, the Cheerleading Club formed a human pyramid, and the Gaming Society demonstrated their various consoles. They looked more interested in kicking ass on Resident Evil than actually signing people up, though.

The noise and laughter were infectious. I decided to go all-out and signed up to the Literature Society, the Gaming Society, the student newspaper, and the Hiking Club. Alex joined no fewer than
seven
different societies, insisting she’d easily make time for hiking, climbing, backpacking, tae kwon do, swimming, kayaking, and badminton. Somehow, she also managed to talk Sarah and me into putting our names down for the first hike of the year, a day trip to Borrowdale in the Lake District.

“You’re a fan of the great outdoors, aren’t you?” I said, as we left the hall, laden down with freebies.

“Yeah, it’s awesome! Speaking of, are you guys up for a walk down to Blackstone? I’ve heard they have some neat little shops there.”

“Cool,” said Sarah.

“Sure, I’ll come,” I said. “I didn’t get to look at the shops when I went there with David.”

“Funny, that,” said Alex. “He doesn’t really speak to either of us, but he asked you to go with him to Blackstone! I think there’s something there.” She looked at me significantly.

I blinked. “I don’t know, we were both up early and he was going to go anyway.
Nothing
happened.” Honestly, it was just like talking to Cara. I hadn’t mentioned our little outing to her, either, to avoid exactly this.

“
Sure
. Oi, can I have a few more of those condoms? I’m planning a wild night.” She snatched another bag from the guy at the Safe Sex stand outside the hall.

“Alex, you’re terrible!” I said, laughing. “I think he thought you were being serious!”

“How d’you know I’m not?”

We all laughed. We’d established already that none of us was at university for the one-night-stands. Sarah actually had a boyfriend back home, where he was studying at the local college, and Alex was more interested in climbing mountains and joining every student society imaginable. As for me… well, I didn’t yet know what I wanted.

“I heard the person above me going at it last night,” said Sarah. “The walls in the flat are stupidly thin; you could hear
everything.
It was traumatising.”

“Fun,” said Alex. “I heard some weird-ass music coming from Terrence’s room.”

“Me, too!” I said. “Sounded like screaming. At first I thought he was torturing a small animal.”

“You never know,” said Alex. “That guy’s seriously weird. If we see him carrying a body bag out, then we’ll know for certain.”

“My best friend back home would say he’s planning to poison us all,” I said.

“Hope not,” said Alex.

“I think he’s given me the plague,” said Sarah, shivering. “I keep losing my voice.”

“That’d be Freshers’ Flu,” said Alex, knowledgeably. “Just keep your germs away from me!”

I decided not to mention that I’d been coughing all night, too. Since we’d still been tired, we’d watched a film in the common room then opted for an early night―albeit a restless one, punctuated by shrieks and yells from Terrence’s bizarre music collection. I kept shivering, even though I couldn’t
feel
any temperature change.

Wednesday was the day of the weekly market in Blackstone. Stalls selling everything from cupcakes to jewellery, from dog collars to DVDs, sprung up overnight along the street under white marquees. The cobblestones were slick with rainwater.

“Neat,” said Alex, examining a collection of precious stones.

“Lucky charm for you, love?” said the stall owner, a middle-aged woman adorned with layers of coloured shawls. “That amethyst there’ll ward off all evil.” She held up a stone like the one Aunt Eve had sent me.

“Um, no thanks,” said Alex, raising her eyebrows at the price tag. “We’re just looking.”

The stone winked at me as she put it back down, and I felt the hairs rise on my arms.

The strange feeling grew more pronounced as we moved farther into the market, nearing the town square. We hovered around a stall selling old books for a while, and I gave into temptation and purchased a book of Victorian vampire stories and a second-hand version of the poems of Lord Byron. After all, I reasoned, I’d probably need them at some point.

Last time I’d seen the town square, it was deserted, bare cobblestones circling the stone statue of the angel and the wooden benches empty. Now, stalls and crowds of chattering people filled every inch of space, and a large black tent obscured the entrance to the cathedral.

My skin prickled with uneasiness; I felt something slightly amiss. I walked toward the black tent to take a look, feeling the prickling intensify as I neared it.

My heart dropped.

All around the tent were dark spaces, tears in the universe, overlapping with reality like patches in a quilt. The untouched gaps between the dark spaces looked unreal, as flimsy as the fabric of the tent, like the world could collapse around us and send us spinning into a black void. I closed my eyes. I could feel myself trembling all over.

Someone stepped up behind me.

“A fortune-teller?”

I opened my eyes and saw the sign above the tent that read:
Madam Persephone: Fortune-Teller
.

“Not sure I want to waste my money on that,” said Alex. “Those things are usually hoaxes.”

“I think some are genuine,” said Sarah. “It’s just there are a lot of fakes out there.”

Ordinarily, I’d have agreed with Alex, but, after everything I’d seen recently, who was I to judge?

“Might as well get a free Tarot reading,” I found myself saying.

“Huh? Didn’t think you were into that stuff,” said Alex.

“I’m not. I think it’s a load of crap. I’m just interested to see what she says is all.”

Right now, I’d take any chance to find out the truth about me, why I saw the dark spaces, what the hell happened the other night. Questions bounced against my skull as I joined the line of people waiting outside the tent. I couldn’t see any demons…

The queue moved at an agonisingly slow pace. I couldn’t focus on anything except the dark gaps, scared that, if I looked away, something huge, black, and menacing would appear behind me.

“Hey, we’ll meet you later, okay?” said Alex as I reached the front of the queue. I nodded absently and ducked under the tent flap, emerging into what resembled the interior of a small shop.

It was very dark, lit by a few candles in bright holders on the table. The strong smell of incense filled the air. The table, draped in black cloth, showed an assortment of objects: glinting crystals, a deck of battered-looking cards, and, in the centre, a large crystal ball. A placard read:
Madam Persephone.
Charms hung from the ceiling, glittering moons and stars, and, behind the table sat a beautiful woman. A cascade of silver-fair hair fell past her shoulders, and she wore a long, black coat that covered her from head to toe. I couldn’t tell her age; in appearance, she could be as young as twenty-five, but her eyes assessed me with the sharp look of experience.

“Well now,” said the woman, “this is a surprise. I had no idea you’d come and find me of your own accord.”

I stood and gaped at her, all questions forgotten, as if my thoughts had been sucked into one of the black spaces. Her sharp silver-grey eyes pinned me to the spot, as though looking for symptoms of guilt over some crime I hadn’t committed.

“Are you incapable of speech?” she enquired.

“Um, no. No, I was just―I mean―have we met before?”

“Who knows? People meet in all kinds of extraordinary circumstances.”

Great. She’s going to screw with my head.

“Look, I came to ask―”

“I know you came to ask me to read your fortune. Forgive me, but I don’t think that will be necessary.”

“Huh?” The questions came flooding back. “I don’t understand. If you aren’t going to read my fortune, then why are you here?”

“I think you could do with advice that’s a little more direct than cryptic messages in tea leaves and lines on the palm of your hand.”

Something in her tone made me feel defensive. “Why? How do you know who I am?”

“Nobody knows who you
are,
save you yourself.”

I could just about wrap my mind around that, but it wasn’t particularly helpful.

“Fine. How do you know I need advice?”

“Let’s just say that I see things the way they really are. My first piece of advice is to avoid the Venantium.”

“The what?”

She gave me that assessing look again. I found myself unable to look away from her eyes.

“You haven’t spoken to Miss Delaney yet?” she asked.

“Who?” I said.

“Claudia Delaney and her companions have taken to finding people like you, and making sure you know not to do anything that attracts unwelcome attention.”

“Claudia,” I said. “I met her at Satan’s Pit, she fought off the…”

Something stopped the words. Could I really trust this strange woman? What if she’d somehow lured me inside and manipulated me in some way?

“Look,” I said. “Not to be rude, but who are you, anyway?”

“I’m known as Madam Persephone for the purposes of maintaining my position here in Blackstone. You do not need to know any more than that. Just trust that I can help you. I have your interests in mind, far more than the Venantium do.”

“Who are the Venantium?” I struggled to pronounce the word; it sounded like Latin to me.

“You haven’t met anyone else of your kind yet?”

“Kind?”

“Magic-users. Sorcerers. Those with a connection to the Darkworld.”

My breath caught in my throat. “Magic-users?”