Barrier Read online

  “Wait…Penny is doing this?” I frowned in surprise. “To the whole world?”

  “Right now, it might just be affecting the West Country,” Demitra admitted. “But watch how the cracks are spreading all over the window—before long, the damage will be spreading just as rapidly. There is only one barrier per layer and once it’s gone, it’s gone… This is why we tried to get Penny out before she started causing damage like this. If she was standing here instead of you, we wouldn’t be in this situation, since none of you lot had this kind of strength.”

  The window finally lost its battle and shattered. We both leapt backwards to avoid the shower of shimmering glass, staring for a few heartbeats at the shards and splinters scattered across the hardwood floor.

  So perhaps if Demitra and Deio’s plan had worked, and Penny had escaped Boundary, they would have prevented her from tampering with the barriers and we would have been stuck there forever. Now, because of Madon’s success at foiling this plan, everyone needed rescuing.

  “But…if we split Boundary…won’t that create more damage?” I asked, trying desperately to comprehend.

  “Remember the pin,” Demitra reminded me, crouching down and letting the sparkling shards of glass run over her hands. “I know what I’m doing, and hopefully, you will too.”

  She stood up suddenly, wiping a trickle of blood onto her skirt from where glass had sliced her finger.

  I watched numbly, cogs turning in my brain as I fought to understand. Demitra and Deio had figured out that only Penny was capable of such damage, so that was why they’d favoured her. Madon saw it differently; Penny had been powerful, and wouldn’t have stopped until she’d freed us. Once she had escaped, that is. Now, somehow, the twins thought I would be able to help them stop her before all hell broke loose.

  “You’re mistaken,” I stammered. “I can’t help you. I want my friends back more than anything, but…we tried back in Boundary. I’m completely ordinary.”

  Demitra didn’t seem worried by my admission. “Then tell me, why do you think you and the other five were in Boundary in the first place? Because you were all ordinary? Do you think Deio and I are risking our necks to interfere in the lives of six ordinaries? Do you think Madon killed his own mother to protect the interests of a group of ordinary children?”

  I froze at the mention of Beatrix. “Protect us? She didn’t—”

  “Don’t tell me what you think you know, Evelyn.” Demitra stood up with such force that I flinched. “You don’t know anything. You only know what we wanted you to, and that wasn’t necessarily the truth.”

  “Then what is the truth?”

  Demitra froze as if I’d reached out and grabbed her. For a moment, she almost looked confused, then that sickly smile returned. “I have something to show you.”

  Chapter Twelve

  The forest was larger than I remembered. After a bus ride, brief compared to yesterday, we lumbered down an overgrown miners’ track into the woods I had tried so desperately to forget. Now, it was impossible. It seemed like only yesterday I had been running around in complete panic, having only just escaped Boundary.

  The trees appeared enormous too, looming up all around us, branches whispering on a breeze as though complaining about our intrusion. We walked in silence, both handling the surroundings very differently. I had my coat pulled tightly around me, shrinking under the quiet disdain of the forest, whilst Demitra handled the challenge with an impervious arrogance, head held high and eyes focused firmly upon the track. Although it was my childhood home, I felt like a stranger here.

  By the time a deer happened across our path, I was so tense that the sight of her startled me into an involuntary shriek, muffled behind gloves. The doe’s head snapped upwards at my cry, ears flicking towards us and slender legs bent for retreat. For a moment, we stared at each other in frozen, mutual horror.

  Demitra broke the connection her words dripping with scorn. “Haven’t you ever seen a deer before?”

  I watched the doe bound away, shaking my head. In pictures, of course, but never in person had I much experience with wild things.

  Spotlights of dusky orange filtered through the canopy, as a weary sun spurted one last hour of light for our use. I could now recognize the abandoned mining pits, overgrown with shrubs now, but still prominent scars on the landscape.

  “I’m going to keep walking until you tell me to stop,” Demitra announced. “I want to see if you can remember exactly where the Boundary was.”

  I gulped. It all looked so different now, in a new season—plus before, I had been in far too much of a panic to take notice of where I was. Still, the gentle breeze seemed to whisper to me, sending me in the right direction, the leafless branches creaking like guiding arms…

  After a while, I stopped. “Here. Right?”

  Demitra said nothing, following me as I stepped off the road into the woods. Immersed in every detail, I navigated the steadily thickening carpet of ferns and trees

  Then I saw it.

  “Oh my…” I whispered, the blood draining from my face.

  The creek. Barely more than a trickle, the clear water dribbled over a line of pebbles that broke through the grass for as far as the eye could see in both directions. In another world, in another ‘layer’, this was the marker for the Boundary itself.

  “Remember yet?”

  “Of course.” I swallowed back tears. “Of course I remember.”

  “I haven’t been back in a while either,” Demitra remarked, almost conversationally, running her fingertips lightly over a bramble. “Quite the odd place, isn’t it? Even on this side of the barrier.”

  “Like you can feel something else is here.” I nodded, choking back another onslaught of tears.

  “Would you like to see Boundary, Evelyn?”

  “Is that possible?” I gasped. “Properly?”

  She stopped pacing, her head tilting up towards a particularly large tree with sprawling branches drooping right down to about four feet from the ground, and a hollow large enough to fit a medium-sized person or child inside. The cedar. It was here too, as it was in the Boundary. A favourite hiding place.

  “There are thousands of different worlds, layers, separated by thousands of barriers. We cannot see these worlds, and they cannot see us whilst the barriers are intact. Unless, of course, you have the right knowledge,” Demitra explained, and I hung on to every word. “You need to know exactly what you are looking at.”

  “I do,” I insisted, clearly seeing the manor in my mind.

  “No, you don’t. Or else you’d be seeing it right now. You have to know where it is, down to the last inch. You have to know what it looks like, down to the tiniest detail. You have to know everything, which is why we cannot see the other layers—and why we cannot see the things that are leaking through.”

  “But I do know it!” I repeated, whipping my head around, trying to find the telltale stone walls.

  “Not precise enough,” Demitra refuted firmly. “Besides, you can’t even see past the trees that are here now.”

  Think, Evelyn, I told myself. Here was the cedar, the same as it was in Boundary…the question was, after months away, how detailed was my memory? “Surely, you know?” I said.

  “Of course,” she snapped, stung by my doubt. “I’m not helping, though, so don’t even bother.”

  So, I decided to start small. I headed to where the land dipped into a clear depression, crouched down about two steps in, and closed my eyes.

  Glittering black granite, shaped into a rough arch, smooth and cold to the touch with those awful words edged about a hand length down, In Memory Of Beatrix Farrington.

  I opened my eyes. And there it was.

  “I did it!” I crowed, delighted. The bottom of the gravestone was transparent; clearly, I was a bit foggy on those details. Right after the ecstasy, a wave of sadness hit, so strong I wobbled onto my knees.

  “Impressive.” Demitra bent down beside me. I could tell from the focus in her
eyes that she could see it just as clearly, if not better than I could. “Try the house now.”

  Wiping my eyes again, I rose and went to the flattest, most solid piece of land in sight, and closed my eyes.

  “Oh dear.” Demitra smirked. “Looks like big things aren’t so easy, are they?”

  I chose to ignore her, taking another step forward and trying again. Nothing.

  Every detail…rough, reddish-brown bricks that were slightly cool to the touch…ivy creeping up one side, right up to the wrought iron railing of the French balcony…the double doors, carved out of a thick, stained wood above a set of seven worn cobble stairs…

  But every time I opened my eyes, certain that this time I had been accurate enough, I was rewarded only with the same tangled mess of forest.

  “You’re not in the right place,” Demitra said eventually, impatient at my failed attempts. “For goodness sake—think about where you are. You lived here for fifteen years! Penny was quicker than this when I taught her to Rip.”

  “You taught—” I began, falling silent at the warning look she flashed. Jaw set, I scanned the ground for something, anything to give away my exact position.

  Panic was rising. Come on Evelyn, you’re so close…

  Then I saw the rhododendron. It had no flowers left and only a few yellowed leaves, but I recognized it right away. Judging from the cedar, parts of Boundary were the same as this layer, which meant if this wasn’t just a coincidence…

  “Doors!” I gasped, surprised as the foggy, blurred image sprang up. About five feet around it was a wall, returning briskly to woods again where my memory slipped away. “Can we go in?”

  “No.”

  “What? Why not?”

  Her face set, she said, “Try sitting on the steps.”

  I tried, but ended up falling straight through as though they were made of nothing but air. The vision flickered.

  “To actually touch something from another layer, you have to Rip completely into it,” she explained. “At least, that’s the way it works with Boundary. You can see the shadows, but that is all. Unfortunately, after the trials, the barriers between our worlds were sealed off, making it impossible to go back and forth.”

  As I stared, mesmerized and anguished, one of the doors vanished. Somebody had moved it, changed its position. Then I was overcome with a strange feeling, as though something had passed straight through me…

  The thought of my friends—including Fred—being so close to me, yet not being able to see or talk to them, was torture. I understood what Demitra was trying to say, I understood what the stakes were, and I was absolutely petrified of the consequences. It was all my fault. If I had let anybody else win, they would have figured something out by now. I was an idiot then, and I certainly felt like an idiot now.

  It was bittersweet, leaving Boundary. As I glanced behind me, I could almost hear a child laughing as she darted through the trees, taunting, teasing, ‘You can’t find me!’

  “Bye, Penny,” I bid the memory.

  More silvery laugher, a strand of Tressa’s flaxen hair blowing in the breeze, Lucas’s tailcoat disappearing behind a bush.

  I turned, biting my lip. So busied with walking away that I almost didn’t notice Demitra glance back at something I couldn’t see, face contorted with a something like sadness.

  Faceless houses almost blocked out the overcast smoky sky, creating a dismal atmosphere, but Demitra seemed almost happy, sauntering along the street as if she owned the night. Andrew must’ve been panicking by now wondering where I was.

  “Do you not get scared, living here alone?” I asked, wincing as I stepped into a deep puddle. “It seems awfully sinister.”

  “I’m not alone, not usually.” She sniffed. “Don’t forget Deio. Besides, there isn’t much lurking around this town that’s a threat to me. I’ve taken care of myself for as long as I can remember; me and Deio both.”

  “Is it lonely, just the two of you?” I pushed, overcome with curiosity.

  “Nope.” Demitra laughed with what appeared to be real humour. “I despise regular people, and being alone is the only way I stay somewhat sane. Yes, I can act the part, but inside I’m hating it. What’s with all the questions?”

  “I only asked two,” I pointed out defensively. “I know nothing about you whatsoever, though I’m assuming you know more than I do about me.”

  “Reasonable assumption,” she agreed, pulling up her shawl to cover her head. “I don’t like questions, though. Penny was the same as you, except she did throw a rather amusing tantrum when we wound her up too much.”

  “You…” I bit my lip to hold back the tirade of questions I was dying to ask. “How old are you?”

  She didn’t hide her surprise at the inquiry, but clearly deemed it harmless enough to answer, “Seventeen.”

  Only a year older than I was. Odd. Deio, especially, seemed older.

  “It’s sad,” I observed, half to myself. “You must have had to grow up quickly.”

  “Don’t you dare feel sorry for us,” Demitra snapped with alarming ferocity. “The last thing I want is your sympathy! If you knew—”

  “I don’t want to know,” I interrupted quickly

  Shadows emphasized every hollow in her face, showing the deep sleep-deprived smudges under her eyes—eyes that had clearly seen too much in so few years. I didn’t doubt her guilt, but at that moment, I couldn’t hate her for it either.

  Nothing more was said as we turned down a narrow street of red-bricked terraces, our feet slapping the pavement.

  “Demitra?”

  “Evelyn?”

  “I was—”

  “Shut up. No more questions.”

  “Really!” I pivoted, hearing a sound from somewhere behind us. I thought I’d heard something earlier but wasn’t sure. “I think something is following us.”

  Someone else’s feet were pounding the path behind us, quicker, less rhythmic, as if it were multiple people who were trying to run without making much sound.

  Demitra froze. Her hand moved under her shawl, her breath coming faster as the footsteps grew louder.

  “Whatever you do,” she instructed through clenched teeth, “keep out of it. It might be nothing, but if not, just let me handle it, all right?”

  Eyes wide, backed against an alley wall, I managed to nod whilst biting back a squeak of nerves.

  Three figures appeared through the falling mist.

  I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. They were all women, so less intimidating; minds that could be understood and reasoned with I deducted. They could have been any age, all rail thin and dressed in rag-like clothes, and their hair greasy rattails. One was holding a knife in her fist, which was shaking with barely contained emotion.

  “Farthing,” the clear leader spat. “Where’s your brother?”

  “I feel I should know you.” Demitra ignored the question. “But I don’t remember. Enlighten me?”

  The woman curled her lips back into a primal snarl, shifting agitatedly on her bare feet. I flattened myself harder against the wall, not so sure now if these feral creatures could be reasoned with. Demitra didn’t seem too fazed, however, and that brought some strange comfort.

  “Who’s the doll?” The smaller one sneered in a scratchy voice that made me wince.

  Demitra still wasn’t listening, pretending to check off possible names on her fingers before shaking her head and saying, “Nope. Sorry. Don’t know you. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m tired.”

  She tried to force her way past them, with me clinging nervously to her heels, but the leader quickly blocked her, waving the knife in her face. “No, not this time,” she hissed. “You don’t get to escape again.”

  I backed away again as Demitra snapped her fingers with sudden apparent realization. “You’re Whatley’s daughters, aren’t you? I didn’t recognize you without Joe—he’s at war, I’m guessing? Heavens, Bella, you really let yourself go.”

  Bella’s eyes narrowed, one arm
outstretched to restrain a sister.

  “Then you know why we’re here.”

  “I do. And I think it’s stupid, considering you’ve tried this twice already and it never ends well for you. Look, I’ve been nice, I let you live—”

  “This isn’t living!” Bella cried.

  “Well, it isn’t much else,” Demitra wrinkled her nose as she surveyed their filthy appearance. “What I’m interested in is how you knew I’d be in Gloucester. Don’t you lot live in London?”

  “He told us,” another sister replied reverently.

  Demitra cursed, backing up so fast she nearly tripped over me.

  “Evelyn,” she whispered, eyes not moving from Bella’s weapon. “Go back down the alley, and you’ll find a general store. The sign says closed, but they’re home, and they’ll let you in. Wait there for me.”

  I didn’t wait for more.

  I ran so fast back down the alley that I skidded around the corner, all the while seething at my cowardice. Demitra would be fine I convinced myself; she didn’t seem too worried. As for who had assisted Bella Whatley, it wasn’t hard to guess: Madon, the only person who had ever successfully foiled the Farthing twins before and got away with it.

  I was afraid of him.

  Just as Demitra had described, when I rounded the street corner it was possible to see the darkened outline of the general store, lights all extinguished because of the blackout. Rain started to drizzle down as I ducked out of the shelter of overhanging shop roofs, causing my hands to fly to my hair, which I knew would frizz. After quickly checking for cars on the road, I took a deep breath and darted across.

  A Rip shuddered through the night air, rippling from its source in the alleyway. A scream echoed, raising goose bumps on my arms, then everything went deathly silent.

  Heart in my mouth, I wrenched my terrified gaze from that direction and pivoted towards the grocers…and found myself face-to-face with Madon himself, looking sinister in a hat and trench coat.

  “Ah,” he raised a finger as I opened my mouth to scream. “Shouting won’t be necessary. Besides, nobody will hear.”

  “Demitra will,” I choked.