Scattering Like Light (30 page)

“I’m doing my best,” he mouthed back.

Half the gallery was now a curtain of sparks, falling like never-ending rain. The effect was stunning but I was too worried to appreciate the beauty of it. The crack in the amulet was fractionally bigger, and I was trying to measure its progress against that of the wave. Which was going to end first?

I was so caught up in the drama of the process that it took me a few moments to register that someone was calling me.

“What
are
you doing up there? You look remarkably silly!”

I leaned forward and peered over the railing, not quite believing what I heard. A familiar face was peering up at me from the middle of the star on the floor.

“Catherine?
Catherine!
You came after all!”

“Oh, did you start without me? That’s a shame. How far have you got? Are they all dead?”

“There’s still time. Come up here quickly and take Veronica’s
place. We’re only about halfway; you can still help!” I couldn’t believe that she was actually in the cathedral, that she had turned up after everything she said. If only I hadn’t insisted on starting the process so quickly I might have been able to save them all. But it was too late now; I couldn’t slow it down. All I could do was get her up to the gallery as quickly as possible. “Come on, Catherine, please. You know where the stairs are.”

“It’s an awfully long way up there though. It’ll take me ages.”

“You can use the lift. Let me throw down Veronica’s pass.”

Veronica was still standing in a trance-like state. I moved my right hand next to hers, forcing Callum to stretch, and, making sure I didn’t lose contact with her, slowly moved my free hand to the pocket of her cassock. Grabbing the keycard I flicked it over the side before clasping Veronica’s hand again. I leaned over the edge and watched Catherine retrieve the small piece of plastic from the floor. “Hurry, Catherine, please!”

From wanting the wave to speed up I was now desperate to slow it down, to make sure that she arrived before it was too late for all of them, before they all died.

“Did you say
Catherine
’s down there?” whispered Callum incredulously. “What the hell does she want? Has she come to crow?”

“I think she’s come to help. Maybe her conscience got the better of her.”

Callum’s answering snort told me everything I needed to know about his opinion of his sister.

I strained my ears, trying to listen for the sounds of the lift arriving, but the walls were too thick. Any second, though, she would walk through the little wooden door. Any second…

I was so focused on waiting for Catherine that the
commotion beside me took a few seconds to register. Olivia was trying to break free from the line. The sparks were well past halfway round and the tension had become unbearable. But she didn’t realise that with Catherine in the line she was guaranteed a very different outcome. I could see her sobbing, head thrashing back and forth, her shoulders heaving. And suddenly she was free. The Dirge on her far side was no longer able to hold her and she pulled hard against Callum, catching him off guard. He looked around in a panic as she disappeared. The shimmering line of sparks suddenly faltered as the line broke, so Callum quickly grabbed the hand of the Dirge on the other side, pulling her towards me. I could hear him shouting.

“Quick, Jessie, shuffle round and grab Alex’s hand. You’ll be fine, I have to go and get Olivia.”

Before I could object he had put the other Dirge’s hand in mine. It felt horribly insubstantial after Callum’s. “Don’t worry, I’ll get her back, and you can always do the two of us afterwards.”

“No, don’t go, I don’t think…” But it was too late; he had shot through the wall after Olivia. I stole another glance at the amulet, which was almost unbearably hot against my skin. The crack was continuing to creep across its surface. I had no idea where they had gone and no way of chasing them, even if I could have got out of the line. “Callum!” I hollered at the top of my voice, causing the remaining Dirges to momentarily stop watching the progress of the wave and peer round at me. They were soon drawn back to it though; that miraculous force, which was going to set them free.

The voice behind me made me jump.

“Oh dear, have you lost him? Such inconvenient timing!” I whipped round as far as I could without letting go of either the
Dirge or Veronica. Catherine was standing behind me, leaning casually on the door frame. “Thanks for the card. Much easier than having to take that very dull walk up the stairs.” She flicked it carelessly into the void in front of us and it skittered down to the floor. I opened my mouth to object when she laughed. “Well,
she’s
not going to need it again, is she?” Catherine pointed at Veronica, who had been entirely unresponsive since the process started.

“What … what do you mean?”

“Didn’t she tell you? No wonder you’ve been so enthusiastic about this whole circus.”

“Didn’t tell me what?”

“This is a one-way trip for her, sweetie.”

“No!” I cried. “That can’t be true.”

“Get real. You have to sacrifice yourself. It’s the only way to get the power that the amulet needs. It’s why I really wasn’t keen to volunteer. And that’s not all. It takes two, you know. She didn’t tell you that, did she?”

“What? I don’t understand. Do you mean…” But as I thought about the conversations I had had with Veronica, I knew with a chilling certainty that Catherine was right. It all suddenly made sense: Veronica had to die and so did I. The amulet was demanding its final sacrifice.

Veronica knew that and was prepared to give up everything, but was I? Just how much did I love Callum? Was it enough? Could I let him live and die myself? My blood ran cold and for a moment I hesitated. As I did so the light circling the gallery suddenly dimmed. I had to decide, and decide quickly.

My mind raced through the last few months, reliving the moment when I first saw Callum, falling in love with him and thinking he was lost to me forever when the amulet was smashed.
And overlying all those memories was the one that Callum had given to me as a gift, of the moment when he realised that I loved him too, and my decision was made. I knew how much he loved me: he had sacrificed everything to keep me safe and now it was my turn to do the same for him. I could save Callum’s life at the price of my own, and it was right that I should. Everything else was irrelevant. As I had that thought the gallery suddenly brightened, and the wave continued its all-consuming path. But, I realised, there was no point in keeping it going unless Callum was actually saved, and right now he was nowhere to be seen. I looked around wildly but there was no sign.

“That doesn’t look too healthy either,” Catherine said, stepping forward and peering at the amulet. “‘I’m not sure it’s going to last the course. How far have you got?” She waved her arm around. I had momentarily forgotten that she couldn’t see the spectacle that was unfolding in front of me. The shining gold curtain was nearly three-quarters of the way around the gallery, the number of Dirges reducing every moment.

“There’s only about a quarter of them left to go,” I gasped. “Please, now you’re here, get in the line and let’s help the last of them. Some of them could still live!” I turned away quickly. “CALLUM!” I bellowed again into the empty space, the noise reverberating off the far wall.

“Is he still not back? Dear dear, that is going to make life difficult.”

“Catherine, please, if you’re going to get into the line, now would be a really good time to do it!”

She gave me one of her more enigmatic smiles. “Ah, I’m not disappointed. Optimistic to the last, eh, Alex?”

“What? What are you talking about?” The pain in my wrist
was becoming harder to ignore, but I didn’t want her to know that.

“My reasons for being here are surprisingly similar to yours,” she said, stepping towards the railing on the other side of Veronica, out of my reach.

“What do you mean?” My voice rose in horror as she nimbly lifted herself up so that she was sitting on the railing, balanced precariously over the vast drop. “What are you doing?”

“I’m not living like this, and I can’t think of a more poetic place to die, can you? Especially when I could have done you such a lot of good. You lose, Alex. You lose!” She gave me one last smile and suddenly leaned back, falling into the void below.

Everything became a blur. I tried to move, to react, but Veronica’s grip was suddenly vice-like. Her other hand had shot out towards Catherine at the same time as Callum and Olivia had run back on to the balcony. I couldn’t be sure what was going on. Veronica had grabbed one of Catherine’s feet as she tumbled backwards over the balcony, and was holding her there, with her knee hooked over the railing. Catherine was hanging head down over the two-hundred-foot drop, cursing wildly. “Let me go, you stupid old woman;
let me go!
” She punctuated each word with a kick of her free leg, but she couldn’t get the angle right. Veronica showed no emotion, just gripped her tighter. But Catherine was working out what she needed to do. She grabbed hold of the metalwork of the railing and started to haul herself round. Any moment she was going to be able to kick Veronica in the face, and I didn’t think she’d be able to ignore that.

My wrist was now alive with pain. I could smell the singeing of my skin beneath the red-hot amulet, but I couldn’t let go. The wave was nearly round to me; the circle of sparks falling like a curtain was nearly complete.

I could see Callum grappling with Olivia behind Veronica. “Please!” I shouted as loudly as I could manage. “Get into the line. I’m not sure how much longer the amulet is going to last!”

Callum’s head snapped up and he looked at me in horror.
But the second he was distracted Olivia made another break for it. This time she didn’t go for the door; she went for Catherine. As Catherine pulled her foot back to take the final kick at Veronica, Olivia fell upon her. Callum also leapt forward just as the wave of sparks started to consume Jessie, the Dirge on my right.

“Now!” I screamed. “Now, or it’ll be too late!”

Whatever Olivia was doing to Catherine was working: she suddenly went limp. But that made her heavy, and Veronica began to sway under the strain. She still hadn’t acknowledged what was going on, but she was definitely weakening. Catherine began to slip through her hand. The other was still pinning me in place. The Dirge next to me imploded under the net of sparks and joined the puddle on the floor. As she disappeared the sparks leapt up my hand, towards the amulet. Callum was still fighting Olivia, trying to get her back to the balcony. As the sparks began to consume me I slid my hand along the railing and touched Veronica’s rigid fingers. The sparks leapt to her too.

“Callum, I’m sorry, I tried. I love you.” I wanted to say it in a calm and collected way, but panic was overtaking me and it came out in a screech. He looked towards me again, his face a picture of dismay as he took in the rising tide of sparks that were racing up my arms. There was one last chance, one final opportunity to free Callum and Olivia. I pushed with my mind as hard as I could, directing the wave of energy from the amulet towards them. It leapt like an animal from me, but the amulet made a hideous groaning noise and the pain shot up my arm like a knife. The sparks no longer rolled as if they were a wave; they shot like lightning through me to Veronica and on to Olivia and Catherine, who were still locked together, and finally Callum. Almost in one movement the sparks consumed them all and I was left with an image of
Callum’s face, the face I loved, writhing in agony as the sparks became an incandescent wall. The shape that had been Veronica fell backwards, and the sparkling figure of Catherine plummeted towards the floor far below, trailing Olivia in her wake. Callum seemed to stretch out towards me before he too was nothing but light. As he disappeared his cloak fell to the ground with a noisy whump in the suddenly silent church.

“Callum! No! Please don’t go!” I screamed into the soft light being cast by the endless sparks. My hands were still aflame, my wrist in agony. I tried to take a step towards where he had been, to find his sparks, but as I moved my legs collapsed beneath me. As I fell I reached forward as far as I could, catching some of his pool of light in my hand. For a second I held it as it rolled around in my palm as if it were mercury. All around me the glittering sparks fell silently into the empty cathedral, the circle finally complete. It was as if someone had hung thousands of strings of fairy lights, each twinkling and glittering as they twisted in slow motion to the floor below. It was shockingly silent, and the gentle falling of the lights was the only movement to be seen. Suddenly the brightness was overwhelming but I didn’t want to let go of the last trace of Callum; I wanted some small part of him to stay with me while I died but the light in my hand was trying to get me, to drag me down. However hard I tried I couldn’t contain it; it slipped through my fingers and joined the shimmering puddle on the floor. As the last drip fell everything suddenly pulsed and a wave of energy shot around the gallery. The amulet made a hideous noise, as if metal was being torn, and the beautiful stone was ripped in two. For the briefest second the glittering sparks turned blue and green before everything burned too brightly to watch. I didn’t see, only felt, the sudden explosion. Everything went from pure light
to pitch-black in an instant and I realised I was howling with pain as a very different wave engulfed me.