Steadying herself with a hand against the freezing wall, Tanya"s fear was momentarily quashed by her desire to see the child. She took a slow, quiet step towards the bed. The girl didn"t notice. Emboldened, she took another.
"If he"s ill then why isn"t he in a hospital?"
"He was," the girl muttered. "But it wasn"t safe."
"Is he yours?"
The girl did not reply. Tanya took another step. The baby continued to writhe in the girl"s arms, tiny limbs flailing beneath the fabric it was wrapped in. Still she could see nothing of it, except for that weak little hand.
"What do you mean it wasn"t safe? How can a hospital not be safe compared to this . . . an underground . . . underground dungeon with no warmth, no light, no fresh air-"
"Shut up," the girl whispered. "And get back where you were."
Tanya retreated. But she could not shut up. Something was wrong here, something was niggling at her. "Why would you take a sick baby out of a hospital?"
"I said shut up! Shut up!" The girl"s face crumpled and for a second it seemed she had been about to sob, but then she composed herself.
From the depths of Tanya"s memory something was stirring, hovering just on the edge of recognition. As she willed it, the memory began to materialise, slowly at first, and then without warning it cascaded upon her with such force she felt as if she"d been punched in the stomach.
"I remember. I heard it on the radio. A baby, stolen from the hospital . . ." Her voice was shaking. "It was you. You did it."
The girl"s eyes were wild with anger.
"You took that baby away," Tanya whispered, horrified. "And now you"re holding him here when he"s sick and needs medical attention . . ."
The nausea that had been threatening finally took hold. Tanya bent double, gripped by pain, and vomited. Yet even when her stomach was empty she was still retching out of sheer fear. She knew then that she would have to outwit or fight this girl to escape. At that moment, neither seemed likely.
Minutes pa.s.sed and along with them so did Tanya"s nausea. Still she bent over, pretending to gag and spit. She was buying time while her mind raced and wrangled with ideas of escape. She glanced at the girl out of the corner of her eye. She had risen from the bed and was now stuffing clothes into her bag. By now the child had exhausted himself and was lying quietly in his blankets. Tanya watched as the girl zipped up the bag and then collected a plastic bottle about a quarter full of water from the table. Uns.c.r.e.w.i.n.g the lid she walked over to Tanya and offered it. Tanya eyed it warily.
"Take it," the girl said impatiently. "Unless you like the taste of your own vomit."
Tanya took the bottle and swilled a large mouthful of water around before spitting. Then she took another smaller mouthful and swallowed.
"I know what you"re thinking," the girl said suddenly.
Tanya put the bottle down and regarded her. "What am I thinking?"
"That I"m a bad person. And you"re probably trying to think of a way to escape. Correct?"
Tanya nodded.
The girl was silent for a moment.
"What if I told you I"m not a bad person? That I"ve just done some bad things in the name of trying to do something else, something good. Would that make a difference?"
"I don"t know," Tanya answered. "Why don"t you tell me? Tell me why you stole the baby. Then maybe I"ll understand."
"You wouldn"t. You"d just think I"m even madder than you do already." She gave Tanya a long, hard look. "You"re just trying to keep me talking so you can distract me and try to escape. I don"t blame you. I"ll do whatever else I have to in order to get away from here with that child and not you, nor anyone else will stop me. So go ahead. Draw your conclusions."
"If you"re so convinced what you"re doing is right then why not tell me?"
"Because you wouldn"t believe me," the girl replied simply. "And because I have to leave, now. Before it gets light."
"So where do I fit in with this?"
"You don"t. When I"m a safe distance away, I will send a message of your whereabouts to the house."
"You can"t leave me down here!" Tanya gasped. "How do I know you"ll keep your word? Or that you won"t get caught by the police? Or . . . or run over and killed? Anything could happen! And then no one would find me!"
"No," the girl said. "I don"t suppose they would. But maybe this will teach you a valuable lesson about minding your own business in the future. After all, you know what they say about curiosity. And if you"re thinking of following me, or attempting to find your own way out of these tunnels, don"t. If you follow me I"ll hear you and I"ll make sure you can"t follow any further. As for finding your own way out, there"s not a chance. These tunnels are an intricate maze and parts of them have caved in. Of those that remain, only a few actually lead somewhere." She paused and looked Tanya straight in the eye. "The rest are decoys, looping back on themselves to prevent being followed. It"s what they were designed for when the property was built. Pretty ingenious, really."
Tanya bit back tears and a torrent of abuse.
"What are you going to do with the baby . . . sell him? Hold him to ransom?"
"Neither. He was abandoned in the first place, so who"d pay the ransom? And selling him would be impossible being as it"s probably been all over the news."
The baby began to howl again. Tanya jumped at the sudden noise. It was a horrible, gurgling wail. "Can"t you stop him from crying?"
"We"ll be gone in a minute."
The child screamed even louder. This time even the red-headed girl flinched. For a moment she paused, then reluctantly stopped what she was doing and looked up. She gave a small cry and flew to the bed. From between the folds of the blanket the child"s hand was visible. Blood ran in rivulets from minute crescents in the baby"s palm: he had pierced his own skin with his fingernails. At the girl"s touch, the shrieks subsided as he was comforted. The girl wrapped him up tightly and gathered him in the crook of her arm. On her other shoulder she hoisted the bag. She strode over to Tanya.
"I"ll need a couple of hours before I notify anyone of your whereabouts. I"m warning you again don"t try to follow me. If you get lost down here you will die." She tossed a blanket on the floor. "Here. You"ll need this to keep warm."
Tanya did not answer her. She was staring at the child, lying quietly in the girl"s arms. It was the moment that changed everything. The moment when she saw the child for what it truly was.
The child stared back at her, unblinking. What happened next turned her stomach with fear. As the baby watched her its features warped and then morphed. The tips of the ears elongated and pointed and the skin took on a greenish hue. The eyes in their entirety flooded black, as if with ink, sparkling eerily. All this in the briefest of moments before the ghoulish vision was gone but Tanya knew what she had seen.
And so did the red-headed intruder.
"You saw." Her voice was a throaty whisper.
Tanya lowered her eyes to the thing in the girl"s arms and swallowed a scream.
"I don"t believe it," the girl murmured, eyes fixed on Tanya. "You saw. You can see them too."
Tanya stared back. A moment of clarity and quiet understanding pa.s.sed between them as the girl whispered something softly.
"You have the second sight."
Tanya recoiled. "Who are you?"
There was a short pause.
"You can call me Red."
Tanya nodded towards the fairy child. "What are you doing with that baby?"
"Good question," Red replied. "Sit. I"ll tell you my story. I"m sure it"s one you"ll find interesting."
PART TWO.
12.
ED LEANED ACROSS THE TABLE, her eyes fixed on the candle. Light and shadow flickered across her face as she held her hands to the warmth of the flame. Numbly, Tanya watched her pale, slender fingers moving up and down, absorbing the heat as gracefully as a b.u.t.terfly would dance in the sunlight. They looked like they should belong to a pianist. Or an artist or a musician. The reality now seemed quite different.
She did not trust the girl an inch.
"How did you get past Oberon?" Tanya whispered tentatively. "I . . . I don"t get it. He would"ve barked."
"The dog? That was easy. He did start to growl the first time I got into the kitchen but after a few sc.r.a.ps of food we were practically best friends."
Tanya"s eyes widened in fear. "You"d better not have . . . have-"
"What? Drugged him? Poisoned him?" Red finished. "No. I"m not lying. I bribed him with food. Simple. And anyway, I happen to like animals. A lot more than I like people, that"s for sure."
Tanya did not react.
"So," said Red. "You"ve never met anyone else with the second sight before. That much is obvious."
Tanya dared to look up. It did not feel as if what was happening was reality.
"I always thought . . . hoped there must be others," she said at last. "But I don"t think I ever allowed myself to believe it, not fully."
"There are plenty of others," said Red. "Just like I was. Just like you. All thinking they"re alone, abnormal. A freak. It takes time to recognise the signs, but you"ll pick up on them eventually. You"ll learn to see when someone shares your ability."
"But why?" Tanya asked shakily.
Red narrowed her eyes. "Why what?"
"Why can we see them? Who are we? What are we?"
"Do you know what a changeling is?"
A feeling of dread engulfed Tanya as she recalled the pa.s.sage from the book in the library. "It"s a child that"s been stolen by fairies."
Red nodded. "The stolen human child is replaced by a fairy child, often with similar characteristics. Usually, the children are too young to be told apart. It probably wouldn"t be recognised by anyone other than the mother, and even then it"s not always noticed." Red cast her eyes upon the baby, now sleeping peacefully. "They like to take the ones that won"t be easily missed. Orphans, or babies that are abandoned, just like he was. By the time he was found, the switch had most likely taken place already." Red got up and began to pace the cavern, clearly agitated.
"The human child will be long gone by now; vanished into the fairy realm. Sometimes they get brought back, sometimes not. It all depends on the reason they were taken in the first place. Sometimes they"re replacements for fairy children that are born sick, or ugly. A healthy fairy child may be traded in for an exceptional human child; one that will grow up to be beautiful, or possess a rare gift or talent. Sometimes they"re taken for no reason other than to cause havoc and misery." She spat the last three words and Tanya flinched. "Whatever the motive, the more time that pa.s.ses after the switch, the less likely it is that either child will ever find their way back. It will be obvious early on whether they can adapt or not."
"What happens if they don"t adapt?"
"A human child will usually be returned, more often than not to the same place it was taken from. But with a fairy child it"s not quite so simple." Red closed her eyes tightly for a long moment. "Again, it depends on the circ.u.mstances. Mainly on whether the glamour lasts or not. In this case I"m guessing it probably won"t." She paused again. "Do you know what glamour is, or do I have to explain that as well?" she said sarcastically.
"No . . . I mean yes," Tanya stuttered. "I know what glamour is."
Red nodded towards the child. "What you see there is what appears to be a human child. Yet you glimpsed the same way I could what really lies beneath. And the only reason you and I could see that is purely because we have the second sight and because the glamour is not one of the child"s own creation. An ordinary person wouldn"t know any different unless it wears off. Then they"d see exactly what we saw. The child would be exposed for what it really is, as it doesn"t have the knowledge or ability to protect itself. And I can"t let that happen."
"What . . . what would happen to it?"
"What do you think?" Red hissed. "If people saw him for what he really is? He"d be taken away! Put under observation in a laboratory somewhere a.n.a.lysed, poked, prodded and experimented on. Just like they all are." Her voice weakened. "It"s what humans do. If something"s different. If we don"t understand it. Once they go in those labs . . . Well, they never come out. And it"s all hushed up by people high up."
"You mean . . . you mean he"d probably die in a laboratory somewhere, being experimented on?" Tanya choked.
"More than likely." Red"s face was as hard as her voice. "So now you know why I did what I did. Why I do what I do."
Tanya closed her eyes. "This isn"t the first time you"ve done this."
Red shook her head slowly, her catlike eyes unblinking as she studied Tanya. "It won"t be the last either."
"It . . . it happened to you, didn"t it?" Tanya said quietly. "They took someone close to you. Someone you loved."
Red nodded. "James," she whispered. "My little brother."
Tanya averted her gaze as Red"s eyes clouded. "So what happens now?"
"I wait."
"For what?"
"To see if the glamour on this child is one that"s intended to last."
"How soon will you know?" Tanya asked.
"If it"s only a superficial glamour not intended to last it"ll weaken and show signs of the child"s true nature very quickly. It could be anything from a couple of hours to a few days. A week at the most."
"What sort of signs?"
"The eyes will be the first to change," said Red. "They start to go dull until eventually they"re completely black. The ears will be next, lengthening and pointing. Then finally the skin will take on a greenish hue. These are the changelings that take priority. It"s essential that they"re returned to the fairy realm as soon as possible."
"And if the glamour isn"t superficial?"
"Then the illusion will have been created to last a lifetime. Although the fairy child may look every part human, there will be certain . . . unusual qualities about them. Despite their best attempts to mimic human behaviour, they"ll be seen as different. In addition to this, the lifespan of changelings in either instance will vastly vary from the norm. A human living in the fairy realm will surpa.s.s the average life expectancy by many years, whereas a fairy living in the mortal world will have a much shorter life."
"How much shorter?"
Red smiled a wry little smile.
"They are lucky to live much beyond their thirties. Just old enough to have settled down, started a family perhaps." She paused before adding, "A family with a human. Which brings me to your question: What are we?"
At this Tanya"s heart began to thump.