*What are you doing here?" I asked him.
He rocked on his heels and smoothed out his thick moustache. The glow of the lamp reflected off his balding head. *Why wouldn"t I be?" he asked, gesturing around at the peeling wallpaper and the tatty furniture. *It"s my house, after all."
I frowned. *No it isn"t," I said. *It"s Mr Keller"s house."
Mr Keller was an old neighbour who had once saved me from drowning in his swimming pool. I"d been five years old and had just discovered Mr Mumbles" dark side for the first time. Technically, I"d been dead, but Mr Keller had dragged me out of the water and performed CPR until I wasn"t dead any more. He"d walked out of his house the next day, and had never returned.
Until now.
*You... You"re him," I realised. *You"re Mr Keller."
Joseph smiled. *And at last the penny drops. Yes, that"s right. I"m Mr Keller."
*But... I don"t... Why didn"t you tell me?" I asked, still taking it all in.
*You didn"t ask."
I held my hands out, palm upwards. *Well, why would I?" I said. *I don"t go round randomly asking people if they"re my old next door neighbour."
He shrugged. *Well, if you had done, I"d have said "yes". I did tell you I go by lots of names."
*Yes, but you didn"t tell me Mr Keller was one of them."
*I guess I thought maybe you"d recognise me," he said. *Although I suppose I had more hair back in them days. Or was it less?" He shook his head. *I lose track."
*You were in the Darkest Corners," I said. *You left me clues. How?"
*I just wrote them on the skirting board in pencil," he explained. *It wasn"t difficult."
*I meant, how did you get there? What were you doing in the Darkest Corners?"
His eyes sparkled with mischief. *Leaving clues for you," he said.
*Look, can we drop the mystery man act?" I snapped. *I"m really not in the mood. Why can"t you just give me straight answers for once?"
Joseph walked over to a floral-patterned armchair and sat down in it. He brushed some dust off the arms, then turned back to me. *Honestly? I"m worried I might give too much away."
*No, that"d be a good thing," I said. *Give too much away. Give everything away. Whatever you know, tell me!"
He smiled, but there were pools of sadness in his eyes. *I wish I could," he said. *But I can"t risk changing anything."
*What?" I asked. *"Changing anything"? What"s that supposed to mean?"
He looked at me in silence for a long time. Then, just as I was about to say something, he beat me to it. *I see the future."
Normally, I"d have laughed, but the way he said it, and all the things I"d seen in the past few weeks made me pay attention. *The future?" I said.
*Not all of it," he replied, standing up. *Just flashes, really. Moments in time. That"s how I"ve known where to find you, and how I knew where to hide the cure in the hospital. I"d seen those moments before. All of them."
*What else have you seen?" I asked.
He gave his head a shake. *Sorry, I can"t tell you that. If I tell you, you might do something differently, and that would change everything."
*Good!" I cried. *I want everything to change!"
*You don"t know that, Kyle," Joseph replied. *You don"t know what"s going to happen."
*Well tell me then. Tell me what"s going to happen."
*I"m afraid it doesn"t work like that. I can"t tell you. You have to find out for yourself."
*At least tell me about Nan," I demanded. *Do I find her?"
*I can"t. I"m sorry."
*Come on, Joseph. Please," I begged. *Just tell me if I find her. Please."
Joseph looked down at the swirly-patterned carpet at his feet. He gave a deep sigh, then met my gaze again. *Yes," he said. *You find her."
*I do? Well, that"s... Is she alive?"
*Look, this really isn"t a good idea," he began, but I cut him off before he could go any further.
*Please, Joseph. When I find her, is she alive?"
He gave a single nod of his head. *Yes," he said. *She is."
Everything inside me suddenly felt light. Despite everything, I wanted to leap into the air and cheer. Nan was OK. She was OK!
*When?" I asked. *When do I find her?"
*Soon," he said quietly. *Not long now."
*Well, where is she?" I asked. I was babbling now, excited at the prospect of finding Nan. *Is she close by?"
*Closer than you realise," Joseph replied. He pulled on a grey suit jacket, and I realised for the first time that he was wearing a shirt and tie. *But I"ve already said too much."
*You can"t go yet," I told him. *It"s too dangerous. And I need your help."
He began to b.u.t.ton up the jacket. *You"ll figure it out, Kyle. You always do. You"re becoming quite the hero, if I do say so myself."
*What about my mum?" I asked, trying to get as much information from him as possible before he did his usual disappearing trick. *Will she be OK?"
*Again, I can"t tell you that," he said. *And anyway, even I don"t have all the answers. I don"t know everything that"s going to happen. I just know what"s going to happen at certain moments. Moments like when we met in the police station, and at your school." He cleared his throat, and for the first time ever he sounded afraid. *And moments like this one. Moments like now."
He walked over to the window. The gla.s.s was still in the pane, but a wooden board covered it from the outside. Joseph ran his fingers over the gla.s.s, then turned his back on it. He adjusted his tie, then looked over at me.
*I don"t know everything that"s going to happen," he repeated. *But I know, if you"re going to have any chance of winning and doing what you need to do, the things I have seen need to play out exactly as I saw them. No matter what the cost might be."
*Doing what I need to do? What do I need to do?"
He smiled at me shakily. *Save the world."
I took a step towards him. *What? What do you mean?"
*Stay there, Kyle," he said. *Don"t come any closer."
I stopped walking, but kept staring at him, waiting for an answer. *What do you mean?"
*The only way I can know you"re going to save everyone, is if everything I saw happens exactly the way I saw it. It"s my job to make sure it happens the way I saw it. I daren"t change anything, or who knows what the cost might be?"
*Change anything? Like what? I don"t understand," I told him.
*You"re a fine boy, Kyle," he said. He had a watch in the pocket of his jacket. He took it out, looked at it, then put it away again. His voice suddenly sounded raw with emotion. *One day, I hope, you"ll be thought of as a fine man."
*Um... thanks, buta""
*Goodbye, Kyle," he said. He touched his forehead just above his right eyebrow and fired off an informal salute. *And good luck."
Before I could ask him anything else, something tore through the wooden board that covered the window. I ducked and stumbled back as the room was filled with flying fragments of shattered gla.s.s.
A monstrous shape, all teeth and claws and wide, flared nostrils filled the broken window frame. Joseph closed his eyes. A split-second later, a long, bone-like spike burst through his chest, and then he was gone, dragged out into the darkness by the Beast.
My abilities flared. I felt the electrical tingle across my skin as I rushed to the hole in the wall and looked out into the gloom.
A spray of blood covered the snow just outside the house, but that was the only clue that anything had happened here. The darkening night was quiet, and neither Joseph nor the Beast were anywhere in sight.
was slumped on the floor ten minutes later when the door opened and Ameena stepped through. Other footsteps hurried into the house behind her. Billy and Rosie. All three of them were safe. In my head, I knew this was good news, but the hollowness in my chest wouldn"t let me feel relief, or happiness, or anything else for that matter.
He had known what was coming. He had known what was going to happen to him, and he had let it happen. And why? So he didn"t mess things up for me. So he didn"t ruin my chances of "winning", as he put it.
He had died. He had died protecting me. And I didn"t even know who he really was.
*Hi honey, we"re home," Ameena said, closing the front door. She looked down at me, slumped on the carpet. *Don"t get too excited, will you?"
*Sorry," I said, doing my best to hide the tremble in my voice, *I"m glad you"re OK."
Her eyes narrowed. *What happened?" she asked.
I swallowed, fighting back tears. *I... I don"t know," I admitted. *I mean... I just don"t know."
*I thought this place was supposed to be barricaded?" Billy asked. *That window"s broken. The screechers can get in."
*He"s right," Ameena nodded. *What happened?"
I shrugged. The broken window felt like one problem too many. I was already dangerously close to breaking point. If something else came up, there was a good chance I"d lose the plot completely.
*Right, then," Ameena said. She pointed to a door that led off from the living room. *Stairs are that way. Billy, take Goldilocks and wait up there. We"ll be up in a minute."
*Don"t be long," Billy said below his breath. *Rosie"s scared."
*Yeah. Rosie"s scared," Ameena snorted. *Relax, Billy, we"ll be up to look after you in a minute."
Without saying any more, Billy led Rosie out through the door. We listened to the creaking of their footsteps on the stairs until they made it all the way to the top.
Ameena sat down on the floor beside me. She ducked her head, trying to meet my eye, but I didn"t look up. *So," she began. *What"s up?"
*Joseph"s dead."
From the corner of my eye I saw the shock cross her face. *What? How? When?"
*Few minutes ago," I said. *He was... He was standing there at the window and the Beast came through. It took him."
*Good grief," Ameena muttered. She looked at the window, as if trying to imagine the scene I"d witnessed. *And are you sure he"s dead?"
I remembered the bony spike through Joseph"s chest. *Pretty sure."
Ameena fell silent. She looked at the splintered wood and broken gla.s.s of the window. *That"s terrible," she said. *And I know this is going to sound harsh, what with the poor guy having just been killed, but did he tell you anything useful?"
*Not really," I said, after a pause. I decided not to tell her about the Mr Keller connection. Not at the moment, anyway. She"d ask too many questions, and I didn"t feel like answering any right at that moment. In fact, I didn"t feel like doing anything. *I"m sick of this," I told her.
She didn"t reply, just gave me a sympathetic smile.
*I"m sick of running all the time. Sick of everyone getting hurt, or worse. I wish... I wish it would all just end."
*It can, if you like," Ameena shrugged. *You can step outside and wait for the screechers to get you. Might sting a bit, but it"d be over in no time."
I thought about this for a moment. *Nah."
*No, didn"t think so," Ameena nodded. *So quit complaining. Superheroes don"t complain."
*I"m not a superhero," I replied. *And I can"t use my abilities either. Everything the Crowmaster told me was true. Every time I use my power, I"m bringing the world closer to disaster. I"m playing right into my dad"s hands."
*Ah. Right. That"s... a shame," Ameena sighed. *That"s going to hamper the monster fighting a bit."
*A bit, yeah. How"s your arm?" I asked her.
Her body language became defensive. *Fine," she said. *Kind of hurts, but that"s no surprise."
I looked at her for the first time since she"d sat down. *Any... side effects?"
She shook her head. *Nope. Right as rain. I guess getting bitten doesn"t change you, after all."
*That"s a relief," I said.
*Yeah, although it won"t do you much good if they"re eating you alive."
*Fair point," I conceded. *If it isn"t the bites, then, what is it? What"s changing people?"