Really Weird Removals.com (19 page)

We fly for a long time, or that’s how it feels. Maybe it’s just a few minutes, but it’s so cold and I’m so scared that it seems like all night. Valentina has fainted; she’s lying limply under the baobhan’s arm, her blonde hair floating behind us.

Flying above the woods in the velvety night is the loveliest dream and the most awful nightmare, all mixed together. The moon is white, the sky is full 
of stars and the woods below are incredibly beautiful. Shame that I’m about to die, and I’ll never see all this again. I see my whole life leading to this point, and my heart lurches for my parents, who have no idea how much danger we’re in.

Suddenly, we head down at breathtaking speed. For a second I’m sure we’ll crash on the trees – I close my eyes in terror, and I scream…

At the last instant, we land on a soft patch of grass. The baobhan is still holding us under her arms, and her grip is merciless. I try to break free, but I might as well not bother. She’s too strong.

If I want to save our lives I’ve got to think of another way. Right now, I don’t see any. Even if I could break free and run away – I’m a very fast runner – I couldn’t leave Valentina there. And she can’t run half as fast as me.

We both escape, or neither of us does.

The baobhan drags us towards a grassy mound with a black opening right in the middle. It looks like the entrance to a cave. A figure takes shape against its darkness… it’s a woman, a woman with a long green dress and a beautiful face. And another one, and another one, all lovely and tall and wearing green dresses.

They all come out of the cave, and run towards us. The baobhan who kidnapped us throws us both on the ground. Valentina yelps – she’s revived from her faint.

I scramble to my feet and then realise the chalky black-clad monster that has taken us has turned into a beautiful woman too, like the others. They’re all breathtakingly, perfectly lovely, all with the same red 
hair, all wearing these long, long dresses…

I help Valentina stand up, and hold her tight. She’s as white as the moon.

“
How are we going to get out of this
?” she whispers.

“I have no idea. Run?”

“They can fly! They’d catch us in a second!”

“Then let’s hope Uncle Alistair finds us, or this is the last night of our lives,” I whisper, shaking.

The women surround us, and they seem to be conferring in some weird language. It sounds a bit like the Gaelic we speak on Eilean, but it’s not Gaelic. It’s a melodious, singsong language that borrows something from the wind in the trees – it seems very ancient, like the language of the woods itself. If it weren’t so horrifying, I would say it was beautiful.

One of the vampires moves towards us. I catch a flash of her foot, peeping out below the green dress: it’s a hoof. A deer hoof. I shiver.

She raises a hand, and her long fingernails are sharp and curved like claws. She touches my face, then Valentina’s. Her hand is as cold as ice, and her nails scrape my skin ever so slightly…

She’s smiling. Thinking of dinner, no doubt. The other baobhans imitate her: they move towards us, touch our faces, our hair… They’re all over us. I’m wondering if these are our last moments…

Then one of them says some kind of instruction in that melodious language, and they all get busy. They disappear into the woods, all except for one who’s keeping guard. She’s sitting right in front of us, looking at us longingly, like you’d look at a nice warm 
bag of chips on the way home from school.

Valentina and I hold onto each other. It’s really cold, and we’re in our pyjamas. We’re both shivering, with cold and with fear.

“Can you call Camilla?”

“No, no….”

“Is it not working? Your telepathic thing.”

“It’s not that. I don’t want to bring her here! What if they hurt her?”

“But she’s a ghost…”

“So are they, in a way! What if they vanquish her, or something?”

“You’re right. Better not risk it.”

“We have to try something, Luca.”

I nod. “We need to make a run for it. There’s nothing else we can do.”

She nods. “Ok. At my three. One, two, three… RUN!”

We jump up, and take a step. Just one step. No more.

Because all the baobhans are back, their arms full of kindling, standing in a row in front of us. Smiling at us, indulgently, as if we were naughty children trying to skip class.

“
That didn’t work
.” I whisper. “What is all that wood for?”

“Luca, this is bad. They’re going to light a fire!”

“Oh, no… They’re going to cook us!”

“They’re not going to cook us, Luca! They’re getting ready to bleed us dry! I read it in one of Uncle Alistair’s books. It’s like a ceremony. They light a fire and do a sort of dance and sing a special song and then they 
bleed their victims…”

I swallow. Where is Uncle Alistair? We need him to find us. We must try to delay the baobhans, to give him time. But what can he do, even if he gets here while we’re still alive?

The baobhans make a little smouldering fire. They keep putting more wood on it and then some
foul-smelling
things that look like furs, or maybe little animals they hunted, and it grows bigger and bigger. It gets as big as a bonfire, its flames dancing red and yellow against the black, black sky.

“Luca, we have our pouches! Maybe that will work! It worked with the kelpie.”

“Worth a try!” I take out the little pouch hanging from my neck, and thrust it up to the baobhans.

“Look! You don’t want to drink our blood! We’re poisonous! Look!”

The vampires stop throwing things on the fire for a second. They all turn towards me. And they laugh, a horrible barking laugh that sounds like a pack of hyenas, in contrast with the melodious voices they have when they speak.

I wince, and Valentina has her hands on her ears.

“That didn’t work.”

“UNCLE ALISTAAAAAAAAAIR! SORLEEEEEEEEY! MAAAAAAIRI! LORD MACTIIIIIIIIIRE!” screams Valentina suddenly. I join her; we shout at the top of our voices.

The baobhans ignore us, as if we were background noise, some night bird, or the wind in the trees.

After a while, we stop. There’s no point. 

“Uncle Alistair will be in big trouble with Mum and Dad,” I say to Valentina.

“How is he going to explain this one? Vampires killed your children?”

“Poor Mum and Dad…”

“And poor us!”

We huddle together. At least the fire is warming us, though the smell of those burning furs is horrendous.

When the fire is big enough, the baobhans decide that it’s time for the party. A dinner party, probably, with our blood as the main course. They start singing an ancient, echoing, terrifying song, while circling the fire. Their red manes look on fire, and the light of the flames is reflected in their white faces.

Valentina bursts into tears, and I hold her in my arms. This is not like her – she’s always fearless. There’s nothing else I can do to comfort her. We huddle together on the grass.

One of the vampires breaks the circle, and comes towards us. She kneels in front of us, and raises a clawed hand to my neck.

I wince, then scream, as her nails break my skin and draw the first blood.

She screams too! A lot louder than me. She jumps back, recoiling in horror, and I see her lovely face turning, melting, until it’s the chalky empty-eyed horror that kidnapped us. The other vampires all scream and transform from women into monsters. They lift off the ground to float in mid-air.

“What is it?
Why did they stop bleeding us
?” whispers 
Valentina.

“I have no idea!” I press my hand against my bloodied cheek.

The baobhans hiss and scream and float about, until they form some kind of circle over our heads, hovering, like birds of prey over a rabbit.

We wait for them to strike. They don’t. They keep circling slowly, slowly, occasionally crying out to each other in their ancient language. It’s like they want us, but something is repulsing them. What is it? What’s keeping them at bay? It can’t be our pouches – they had ignored mine completely when I’d thrust it at their faces.

“Let’s try again.
Let’s run
. We have nothing to lose.” I whisper. “One, two, three… RUN!”

And they let us! We’re getting away!

For a few yards. Then one of them comes down on me, and throws me to the ground. Her clawed hands are all over me, my face, my chest, my legs… Until they close around the velvet treasure bag hanging from my belt, the one with the troll’s medallion and Mary’s pearl in it. The baobhan pulls violently, and I hear the bag ripping… She’s managed to yank it off.

It’s too late. She has it.

But the bag has torn. It’s flailing open, empty. Something’s shining in the grass, just beside me… I scramble quickly, manage to close my hand around the pearl and the medallion, and push them both deep into my jeans pocket.

“WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NOW? YOU UGLY MONSTER!”

Valentina is on her feet, and she’s waving her little 
fist at them. She’s herself again, at last! I know that what she’s doing is crazy, but she’s so brave.

“YOU AWFUL, SMELLY THING! JUST GO AWAY AND LEAVE US ALONE!”

I grab her hand tightly.

The baobhans are furious. They’re circling, circling, whispering in their strange language. It must be either the pearl or the medallion, keeping them away. There’s no other explanation. Otherwise, why would they have tried to take them from me?

Wait a minute. From
me
. I have them in my pocket. Valentina doesn’t.

And then it hits me: I know what they’ll do next, they’ll try and separate us!

I hold Valentina tighter, with all my strength.

Right at that moment, the whole circle of them flies down at us, dragging us in two separate directions. I’ll be protected by the treasure, but they’ll kill my sister!

“LET ME GO! LET ME GO!” Valentina is screaming, but it’s no use. We’re wrenched apart. She’s on the ground, and they cover her, like hungry crows…

And then, I hear howling, and again!

Two wolves, howling not far from us.

The baobhans hear it too. They float up and away from Valentina at once, and I can get to her. She has blood on her hands, but she’s fine. I hold her tight.

The wood opens and the wolves arrive, pouncing into the clearing, eyes flashing, teeth bared. One of them is carrying Uncle Alistair on his back.

“Uncle Alistair!” I cry out. He runs to us and holds 
us tight.

“I thought I’d lost you!
I thought you were dead
!
” he whispers.

“They didn’t bleed us! It was the pearl, Mary’s pearl! Or the medallion, or both!”

Uncle Alistair puts a hand on my mouth, to silence me.

Lord McTire is speaking, in the baobhans’ language. I have no idea what he’s saying, but it sounds menacing.

The vampires listen, hissing and whispering viciously. When Lord McTire is finally quiet, they fly swiftly away, and disappear into the fairy mound, dissolving into the darkness as if they were made of darkness too.

We’re saved.

Sorley howls, a howl of victory.

Uncle Alistair takes my face in his hands. “It was the medallion. It’s iron. Baobhans hate iron.”

“And I hate baobhans,” says Valentina fiercely. Uncle Alistair hugs us both, very tight and for a long time.

Lord McTire carries Valentina and me on his back, and Sorley carries Uncle Alistair. We travel silently among the trees, back from the horror, towards the safety of McTire house.

Not long later, we’re in bed, exhausted like we’ve never been before.

“Luca…” says Valentina in a small voice. 

“Yes?”

“If you had killed the troll, he wouldn’t have given you the medallion. If he hadn’t given you the medallion, we’d be dead.”

It’s true. I remember the moment I looked into the troll’s pale, almost white eyes, and I saw such fear in them, and resignation. I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t kill him.

And that act of mercy had saved my own life.

“
I know…
” I whisper in the darkness.

But there’s no reply. Valentina is already asleep.

The next morning, at the McTire breakfast table, we're quiet. We're very much in the doghouse. Or in the wolfhouse, actually.

“I'm sorry, Uncle Alistair. When we saw the wolves…” I hesitate. Werewolves? Wolves? What do they prefer to be called? Lord McTire doesn't say anything, so I continue. “We thought you were in trouble. We thought you were being attacked.”

“I know.”

“It was incredibly foolish of you to come out…” says Lord McTire. We bow our heads. “…and brave. Both of you. The way you tried to save your uncle when you thought he was in danger…”

“The way you didn't run from the baobhan who had Valentina, you let her take you too…” intervenes Sorley, looking at me. 

“You're easily two of the bravest children I've ever met. This is for you.”

Lord McTire stands up, walks around the dinner table – it goes on for miles, so it takes a good few minutes to circumnavigate it – and hands us a velvet case, one each.

We open them in silence. Inside, a dagger. A silver dagger, decorated with spirals and lovely intricate designs. The handle is carved in the shape of a wolf's head.

We're speechless. Even Valentina. I can feel Mairi's eyes on me. Lord McTire speaks to us solemnly.

“They've been in our family for generations. They were supposed to go to Sorley and Mairi, but we talked about it. They want you to have them.”

“You're now part of the clan McTire, as well as Grant. That is, if you want to be,” says Sorley.

“Do we have to be werewolves?” asks Valentina, matter-of-factly. I elbow her.

“It's not compulsory,” laughs Sorley.

“You'll need these daggers. They're made of silver – a metal of great use against many creatures. Though we're not in the habit of harming anything, you might need to defend yourselves.”

“Lord McTire, Sorley, Mairi…” I'm caught in the solemnity of the moment. “Thank you.”

“Yes, thank you so much!” Valentina gets up and gives each of them a big hug, and then she hugs Margaret as well, who's looking on with shiny eyes.

Before we leave, the McTire family accompany us to the loch shore. Lord McTire calls the mermaids with 
his special whistle and, after a wee while, they appear, swimming towards us. I kneel down, to get as close to them as possible.

I recognise the one who saved me from her eyes. She puts her blue-green arms out to me, and I hug her. I don't care about getting wet. I look into her black eyes, and she makes a deep singsong sound, like a whale.

“I'm so glad to see you too.” My voice sounds just like hers.

She puts out her webbed hand, and I put mine against it, like we did on the glass when she was in the aquarium.

“See you again, soon,” she whispers.

“Soon,” I answer, and it sounds like water lapping on the shore.

They sing for me, a beautiful haunting goodbye song, and then they swim away, towards the heart of the loch. I watch the waters until they disappear. We're walking towards the black truck when I hear a lovely sweet sound coming from the loch.

It's a tiny tender
yeeeeeeey
. It's Finlay, saying goodbye.

I can still hear Finlay's small voice as I step into the truck. Right at that moment, Camilla materialises on the back seat between us.

“Hi! I'm back. Did I miss anything?”

“Camilla! Wait till I tell you what happened to us! We got kidnapped!” exclaims Valentina.

I let Valentina tell her about our terrible night, 
while Camilla aaahs and ooohs and floats upwards in excitement, while I drift away, lost in thought, reflecting on all that happened to us in Loch Glas.

The trees are golden and red and brown as we travel back to our van at Loch Brue, and then towards home. I have my rucksack in my lap, and I notice for the first time that it feels very light.

I rummage in it. No diary. Have I forgotten to bring it from Loch Glas? I can't have. I never took it out while I was there. Or at Loch Brue. I must have left it at home. A chill travels down my spine, a terrible doubt – but I push it to the back of my head. It'll be fine. I'm sure it's safe.

“About the McTire family…”

“One of the few wolf families left in Scotland,” explains Uncle Alistair.

“There are others?”

“Yes. I know a couple.”

“Have they always been like this… I mean, was Lord McTire the first, or…”

“Or. They've been wolves since forever. You see, thousands of years ago, Scotland had three clans, the Wolf, the Bear and the Cat. Many people could turn into their clan animal at will. This gift has nearly been lost through the generations, but some families still retain it…”

“Right… so are there werebears? And werecats?”

“They don't call themselves that, but yes, there are a few that can turn into bears and wildcats.”

“I wish I was one,” sighs Valentina.

“A werepoquito, Valentina?” I laugh. 

“Very funny. And what about Mairi? Is she a werewolf too?”

“No, only the males in the family inherit the gene. She's quite remarkable, though, I can assure you. I think you'll find that out one day.”

We drive on. It's beautiful here as autumn turns to winter, and my mind wanders, lost in a dream. I think of all that's ahead of us, all the adventures we'll have, the discoveries we'll make. One day I was a normal boy from a remote island nobody ever heard of, the next day I'm doing all this.

I feel brave, I feel strong. I feel like I'm doing what I should be doing.

Since Uncle Alistair appeared in our lives, we've freed the village of Hag from the stone fairies, and given baby Ella back to her people; we've saved Mr and Mrs Nicol from becoming troll food, and given the troll a new home; we've helped save the stranded mermaids; we've given Mary her ring back, and we're giving her a taste of life on land; and we saved the zeuglodon from becoming a science experiment, or ending up in some weird creature zoo. And, we've survived being attacked by a bunch of vampires.

Loch Glas is just the best place I've ever seen in my life. I'd like to go back there soon, and ask Sorley to tell me every single story of every creature they've rescued. I'll never forget the dinosaur's long neck rising from the water, its back like an ancient moss-covered hill… Like centuries past looking at me in the face, in a single magical moment.

I don't need anyone to know about what we do, 
about the RWR. I don't need the glory. It's enough to know that I'm doing something special, that I'm part of something necessary and unique.

And then, one day, maybe when I show him my diary, my dad will see that I'm just like him. He'll speak to me, ask me things about my life, and we'll chat for hours and do things together. I'll be his best friend. Better than boring old Reilly, who doesn't even exist.

Yes, it's all going to go the way I planned.

I look at my sister, her blonde hair falling on her face, immersed in the latest issue of
Reptiles of the Americas
. Then at Camilla, sitting between us, transparent and pretty in her white dress. And finally, at my uncle's profile as he drives, the straight nose, the determined blue eyes, the stripy blue and green scarf wrapped many times around his neck. We're a good team. I never, never want to be apart from them.

As we drive into Eilean, the brightly coloured houses seem to shine against the dark grey sky, and the sea is announcing a storm. It's good to hear the soft sound of the sea lapping against the shore, like a welcome home. We stop at Weird HQ to leave our bags and equipment, then walk on. Alistair is taking us home. We're chatting and laughing as we come through the alley at the side of our house and turn into the wee courtyard.

My mum is standing in front of the back door, her arms crossed, her lips pressed together. It looks like she's been crying. Something has happened.

Uncle Alistair stops in his tracks, frozen. 

“You know,” he says, in a blank voice.

“Yes.”

“Listen, Isabella… I never meant…” His face is full of horror.

“What happened to you?” Mum shouts out suddenly, taking my face in her hands. The scratch from the baobhan's nails.

“It was… brambles…” I mutter.

“Oh, I don't even want to know!” Out of the corner of my eye, I see Valentina hiding her scratched hands behind her back.

“Isabella, I'm sorry…” Uncle Alistair takes a step towards us.

She raises a hand to stop him.

“I don't want to listen, Alistair. You put my children in danger. Terrible danger…” Her voice breaks. “Duncan explained to me what you used to do. It wasn't an accident, with your parents.” She shakes her head in horror. “It wasn't an accident. It was an experiment.”

“That's not true… It was meant to be a party trick… They asked me to… to… And I'm putting it right! I'm nearly there!” He puts his arms forward as if he's trying to reach out. Isabella takes a step back.

I realise I'm shaking.

I take a step towards Valentina. Our hands meet and we cling to each other.

“Duncan showed me the diary. Luca's diary.”

“You weren't supposed to read that! Dad wasn't supposed to read that… Not yet!” I blurt out.

“Children, come inside and go upstairs. Your 
dad wants to see you. Alistair, just go.” My mum interrupts me. “Duncan doesn't want you in our house and, to be honest, neither do I.”

Alistair goes, back hunched, eyes downcast. Alone.

I feel something wet fall on my hands, on my forehead, on my cheeks. I look up, and there's a million little white flakes twirling in the darkening sky, falling and falling silently on us, and on the sea

Valentina has been sent to bed. Camilla has gone to Alistair's house, because, she said, we're together and he's on his own again. I'm upstairs in my dad's study.

“I can't believe you deceived us like this. I can't believe you lied to us,” my dad is saying.

“I'm sorry. I didn't want to lie to you. But if I told you, you would have made us stop…”

“Too right we would have, Luca!” booms my dad. His eyes are shining with a black, angry light.

Strangely, I'm not afraid. I'm angry too.

“What we do is important, Dad! I'm doing something valuable for the first time in my life, something that matters!”

“Everything you do is important to me,” says my mum quietly.

“To you, yes. But not to Dad! He doesn't even speak to me!”

They both look at me, horrified. My dad's eyes are wide with upset.

“You're making stupid excuses now,” he says in a 
small voice. My dad, a small voice?

“No, he isn't. He's right,” says my mum. She looks steely, determined. “You don't speak to him, in fact. Or to Valentina. You barely speak to me, actually. All you do is… write.”

My mum and dad fighting. This is not really happening. This is not supposed to happen.

“Isabella, this is not the moment…” starts my dad.

“It's never the moment, with you,” I burst out angrily.

“Don't speak to your father like that!” retorts my mum, instinctively.

Phew. My mum and dad are allies again. Things are back to normal.

My dad turns his back at us. He's gazing out of the window. The day is turning into night, and the sea is getting angrier as the wind picks up. The snow keeps falling, falling.

“Luca.” Dad takes a deep breath. He's not looking at me. I instinctively feel that what he's about to say hurts him deeply. “My parents… your grandparents… disappeared. They went, just like that…” The music. St Anne's Reel. It's starting again. “…Your Uncle Alistair did something thoughtless and stupid; he used them as guinea pigs for some crazy experiment of his, and they were
gone
. Forever. We don't know where. We'll never know.”

The melody is twirling, full force inside my head, the fiddle and the piano, over and over again.

“He says that they asked him…” I protest feebly. I hate to see the pain etched in my father's face.

“They were dazzled by him, Luca! The prodigious 
boy, the boy with the Sight! The boy with powers! They would have done anything to allow him to shine! And he loved it!” My mum gets up and puts a hand on Dad's back, her head on his shoulder, her soft brown hair covering him like a shelter. Part of me want to go and cuddle them both, but I'm so angry, and the music is so loud…

“Uncle Alistair is trying to put it right!” I blurt out, above the din in my head. “Will you let me do this? Will you let me be part of the RWR?”

“Never. I won't let anything happen to you, Luca.”

“You can't stop me!”

“What are you going to do, run away? You're only twelve!”

I'm about to say, “Yes, I will!” when I look into my mum's grey eyes.

I can't do this to her.

I bow my head. The music keeps playing, full blast, and my thoughts are all over the place.

“I'm going to my room.”

“I'll bring you some dinner,
tesoro
…” My mum tries to stroke my hair, but I recoil. I'm leaving, too furious to speak. Dad is looking at the floor.

“Luca?”

I stop in the doorway.

“Your diary. You write very well,” he says quietly.