Talisman of El

CHAPTER FIVE



Finding Wakeman

CHARLIE HADN’T REALISED HE had passed out until he woke up and found himself staring at a wooden ceiling.

‘The ironic thing is that my father always lectured me about growing up,’ he heard Derkein say. ‘Now I can’t seem to stop.’

Charlie raised himself up and saw that he was lying on the cardboard bed, the others sitting around him. He leaned his back against the wall. With the door now closed, the room was warmer.

‘You all right?’ Derkein asked him. Charlie stared at him in shock. ‘The truth was a little too much for you, huh?’

Charlie looked away. ‘You have no idea.’ He still couldn’t fathom how or why he had dreamt about Derkein. Another thing he couldn’t get his mind around was why of all the cities in the entire world, Derkein had turned up in Capeton.

‘Hey.’ It was Alex. He blinked several times before meeting her eyes. ‘What is it?’

‘I think I’m crazy,’ he confessed. He stood up and ambled across the room. After a few deep breaths, he turned round and looked at Derkein. ‘This can’t be happening.’

‘I’ve told myself that every day for the last month,’ Derkein said. ‘It’s hard to accept something so … bizarre. If it wasn’t happening to me, I wouldn’t believe it, either.’

‘No, you don’t get it. You can’t be here …’ Charlie paused. ‘Why are you here?’

‘I’m looking for someone.’

Charlie thought back to the dream, trying to remember what Derkein’s father had said. Then it came to him. ‘Thomas,’ he muttered.

A tentative look crossed Derkein’s face as he weighed up what Charlie had said. He got to his feet and shot a nervous glance out the window. Charlie noticed him clutching something inside his coat, and he couldn’t help but wonder if it was the talisman.

‘What’s going on?’ Alex asked.

‘How do you know about Thomas?’ Derkein growled.

Alarmed, Alex and Richmond jumped up and scuttled over to Charlie.

‘Who are you?’ Derkein’s suspicious eyes flickered between the window and Charlie. ‘You’re one of them, aren’t you?’ He put his hand inside his trouser pocket and pulled out a twoblade pocketknife.

The trio pulled back, their frightened eyes fixed on the sharp blades.

‘Charlie.’ Alex grabbed his arm. Charlie didn’t shift his gaze from Derkein. He saw something in the man’s eyes that made him look less threatening. He realised it was fear.

‘How do you know about Thomas?’ Derkein demanded, the hand with the pocketknife trembling.

‘You wouldn’t believe me,’ Charlie said.

Derkein studied him, his expression curious. ‘Try me.’

Charlie gulped. ‘Okay. This is going to sound strange, but just don’t freak out. A few weeks ago, I had a dream … about you.’

Derkein’s brow wrinkled in confusion. ‘I don’t know what game you’re playing here –’

‘It’s the truth. I saw you die.’

Alex tightened her grip on Charlie’s arm. ‘What are you doing?’

‘I know it sounds crazy,’ Charlie said, ‘but it is the truth.’ Alex gave him a sympathetic look. ‘You have to believe me.’

‘Charlie.’ It was Derkein. Charlie turned to him and saw that he looked less tense. The hand with the pocketknife had lowered. ‘This dream …. What was it about?’

Charlie paused as he tried to remember the details, and then he said, ‘You were in an office with your dad. He gave you some sort of talisman and told you to find Thomas. Then something attacked you, and he … vanished.’

Derkein looked horror-stricken. ‘That’s not possible. There’s no way you can know that.’

Charlie didn’t know what to say. It made no sense to him, either.

‘Maybe you’re psychic,’ said Richmond, who was standing by the door, holding it open.

‘I’m not psychic,’ Charlie disagreed; but a small part of him did wonder.

It was nearing six in the evening, and darkness had fallen over the forest. The trio were sitting on the floor with Derkein, who had told them about his arrival in West Sussex a week ago in search of a man named Thomas Wakeman.

‘My father met him thirty years ago,’ Derkein was saying. ‘He’d lodged with him for a while as he helped renovate his house. Dad always said it was his first step towards becoming an architect.’

Charlie saw a glimmer in Derkein’s eyes at the mention of his dad, who had been missing since the day of the attack back in January. ‘We’ll find your dad,’ he assured Derkein. ‘He’ll be fine. He always is, remember.’

Derkein stared at him, half surprised, half amazed. ‘Have you had any other dreams about me?’

Charlie shook his head.

‘Have you had dreams like this before?’ Derkein enquired.

All eyes fixed on Charlie. As his temperature rose, his palms started to sweat. ‘No,’ he finally said, rubbing his hands on his trousers. He looked away. ‘So how’s this Wakeman guy supposed to help you?’

‘Yeah, is he a magician?’ Richmond asked.

‘No,’ Derkein said. ‘From what my father told me, he was an explorer. I only heard about Thomas a few years ago, after my mother passed away. Dad had this crazy idea that he could somehow revive her.’

‘Revive her?’ said Charlie. ‘Like, bring her back from the dead?’

‘Yes.’ Derkein laughed to himself. ‘Of course, I thought he’d finally cracked, but then he mentioned Thomas. You see, Thomas had told him about a place called Arcadia …’ His voice trailed off, and he exhaled. ‘Arcadia is a world at the centre of the earth.’

Silence.

‘Come again?’ Alex said.

‘I don’t know why I told you that,’ Derkein said in an almost relieved tone. ‘I’ve never mentioned Arcadia to anyone before.’

‘Are you messing with us?’ Charlie asked.

‘Trust me,’ Derkein replied. ‘This is not something I would joke about.’

‘So, you’re saying there’s an actual world inside the earth?’

‘That is what I’m saying.’

‘Like a real world?’ Alex asked. ‘Where people live?’

‘Believe me, I know how it sounds,’ said Derkein. ‘I didn’t take my father seriously at first. He’s been searching for an entrance to Arcadia for years now. On the night of the attack, he gave me this.’ Slipping his hand inside his coat, he pulled out the talisman Charlie had seen in his dream.

Candra’s face flashed in Charlie’s mind, and that’s when it hit him: the reason he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. It was the talisman. She had mentioned something about a talisman. But there was no way she could have been talking about this talisman, he decided. It wasn’t possible.

Derkein removed the object from around his neck and held it in his hand. ‘Whatever it was that attacked me had intended to kill me. The pain I felt was like no other. I should be dead, but for some reason, I’m not.’

‘You think that saved your life?’ Alex asked.

‘It’s the only explanation that makes sense.’ Derkein handed the talisman to Alex, who examined it with curiosity. Charlie leaned into her to get a better look.

Engraved around the steel band were four triangular symbols:



‘What do they mean?’ Alex asked.

‘Earth, Air, Fire, and Water,’ Derkein replied. ‘They’re symbols of the four elements. It’s my guess someone used the talisman in a ritual of some sort.’

‘You mean like witchcraft?’

‘Possibly.’

Alex handed the talisman to Charlie, and immediately, a wave of emotions hit him. A series of images flashed through his mind like an old newsreel: a white-haired, shimmering being with large golden wings of a thousand feathers, the talisman with a black diamond in the centre, a blinding light, and fragments of sparkling dust.

Charlie sat as still as a rock, his eyes wide open in shock.

‘What is it?’ Alex asked.

Charlie didn’t answer right away. He looked down at the talisman then back at the others. ‘Nothing,’ he finally answered. Handing the talisman to Derkein, he sat back, keeping his eyes averted from Alex’s perceptive scrutiny.

‘I can’t believe the nerve of Mrs. Blackman,’ Alex complained. It was nearing four in the afternoon, and she and Charlie were walking through the forest, heading for the shack. ‘What’s the point of being a librarian if you don’t want people asking questions?’

‘Can you blame her for throwing us out?’ Charlie said. ‘We’ve been asking the same question three days in a row. She probably thinks we’re playing a game. We’re lucky she didn’t ban us.’

‘It’s a school library. She can’t ban us.’ Alex sighed and kicked at the air. ‘This Wakeman guy probably doesn’t even exist.’

‘He has to exist. Someone must have heard of him. We just have to keep asking around.’

After a short silence, Alex asked, ‘So, Jacob still doesn’t know about Rich, right?’

Charlie shook his head. ‘He’s too busy to notice.’

‘What if he finds out? What would you do?’

Charlie shrugged. ‘Guess I’ll be on the run, too.’

A shadow of sadness crossed Alex’s face. ‘You’re not going to leave, are you?’

‘I don’t want to, but …’ He exhaled. ‘I don’t know.’

‘I still think you should tell your social worker.’

‘I can’t. I promised Rich I wouldn’t.’

Alex grabbed his shoulder, pulling him to a stop. ‘Look, I get it. I feel sorry for him, too, but he’s only twelve. You can’t look after him.’

‘Guys!’ a familiar voice called.

They glanced in the direction of the shack and spotted Richmond standing in the doorway. Charlie and Alex locked eyes for a moment.

‘Just think about it,’ Alex said, and she went ahead, Charlie following behind her.

‘How did it go?’ Derkein asked, as they entered the shack. He was sitting on the cardboard bed.

‘Sorry,’ Alex said. ‘We’ve still got nothing.’

Charlie glanced at the talisman dangling around Derkein’s neck and shuddered. He still didn’t know what to make of the images he had seen when he’d touched it a few days ago, but since then, he hadn’t gone within two feet of it. ‘How’d it go with you?’ he asked Richmond.

Richmond sighed. ‘No one’s heard of him.’

‘We have to face it,’ said Derkein. ‘He must have moved on. It has been a while since my father last saw him.’

‘Are you sure there was nothing else your dad said to you?’ Charlie asked.

‘Trust me, if my father had said anything else to me, I would have remembered.’ There was sadness in Derkein’s voice along with another emotion Charlie could not grasp: anger? regret? ‘I didn’t know my father as well as I would have liked to. He was there, and I was there. We were just never there at the same time.’ He got up and tucked the talisman inside his shirt. ‘I appreciate all your help.’ He headed towards the door.

‘Where’re you going?’ Charlie asked.

‘I need to clear my head. I’ll be back.’ He gave them a reassuring smile and left.

‘He’s getting older,’ Alex observed. ‘It’s as if he ages a year every day.’

‘We’ll find Thomas,’ Charlie assured her. ‘He’s here. He has to be.’

‘Guys,’ Richmond said. ‘You don’t think Derkein’s gone, do you?’

‘No. He just needs some time alone.’ Alex and Richmond didn’t look convinced. After a moment’s pause, Charlie said, ‘Then again, it is a big forest, so he could get lost.’ With that in mind, they left the shack.

A few minutes later, they came across a shallow stream.

‘How long have you been living in the shack?’ Alex asked Richmond.

‘Two weeks.’

‘Weren’t you afraid?’

Richmond shrugged. ‘Sometimes. At night it’s a bit scary ’cause of all the noise and stuff, but when it’s light out it’s okay, I guess.’

‘Your foster parents must be going crazy,’ Charlie said.

‘I doubt they’ve even noticed I’m not there.’

Charlie heard the anger in Richmond’s voice. ‘They move you around a lot, huh?’

Richmond nodded.

Alex put her arm around Richmond’s shoulder. ‘I think you’re brave,’ she said. ‘I’d be terrified staying out here alone.’

Richmond smiled, but then his face turned serious. ‘You don’t think Derkein’s going to die, do you?’

Charlie locked eyes with Alex; he could tell from the look on her face that she was thinking the same as him, but he couldn’t share his thoughts with Richmond. ‘He’ll be fine.’

They crossed the stream, stepping on the line of rocks that protruded out of the water. They called out Derkein’s name but each time got no reply. As the clouds gathered overhead, the forest became darker, and it started to drizzle.

The trio searched for thirty minutes, but as the light rain turned into a downpour, they called it a day.

As soon as Charlie and Richmond arrived back at Jacob’s house, they changed out of their wet clothes and into dry ones.

‘What’s that mark on the back of your neck?’ Richmond asked.

‘Oh, it’s a birthmark.’

‘Kinda looks like a star. I thought it was a tattoo.’

Charlie laughed. ‘I don’t think I’m old enough for a tattoo. Besides, I hate needles.’

‘Me, too.’

Charlie flopped down onto his bed, exhausted from the battering rain.

‘Do you think Derkein will come back?’ Richmond asked.

A terrible thought entered Charlie’s mind: If he lives through the night. ‘Yeah, he’ll come back.’

‘Can I show you something?’

‘Uh-huh.’

‘You promise not to tell anyone?’

Charlie rose onto his elbows. ‘I promise.’

Richmond sat on the bed. Turning his back to Charlie, he pulled his shirt up.

Charlie gasped and sat up. Slashed across Richmond’s back were scars, overlapping like a noughts and crosses board. ‘Did your foster parents do this?’ he asked, aghast.

Richmond pulled his shirt back down. ‘Not the ones I have now.’

‘That’s why you ran away, isn’t it? You thought it was going to happen again.’

Richmond nodded. After a moment, he asked, ‘You’re afraid of Jacob, aren’t you?’

Charlie looked away. ‘A little,’ he admitted. In truth, Jacob’s violent outbursts and the sheer size of him was intimidating, and not to forget his promise to set aside a coffin for him.

‘But you didn’t run away.’

‘Trust me, I tried.’

‘I don’t want to go back,’ Richmond said. ‘They won’t find me this time.’

Charlie looked at him, wondering how many times he had run away. Two weeks on the run was a long time, especially when you had nowhere to go. He couldn’t imagine hiding Richmond under his bed much longer. Who knew what Jacob would do if he found out? He didn’t want Charlie there much less another kid.

A full minute passed before Charlie asked, ‘You hungry?’

Richmond jumped up. ‘Starving.’ Food was the one thing guaranteed to lift his mood.

They left the room in a hurry, returning with cereal and left over macaroni and cheese.

‘What happened to your parents?’ Charlie mumbled through his stuffed mouth. He and Richmond were sitting on the floor watching TV. ‘How did they … die?’

‘Car crash,’ Richmond replied. ‘I was in the car when it happened.’

‘How old were you?’

‘Five.’ Richmond ate a few spoonfuls of his cereal.

‘Were you an only child?’

Richmond shook his head. ‘I had a brother. He died in the crash, too.’

‘How old was he?’

‘Eight.’

‘Do you remember them?’

Richmond shook his head. Before he looked away, Charlie thought he saw his eyes glisten. He wanted to tell Richmond that it was better he didn’t remember, for it would save him the heartache of all those good memories of a life he could never get back. Then he thought of his mum; how much he wished he had met her. He realised that no amount of words would make Richmond feel better. ‘Don’t you have any relatives?’ Charlie asked.

‘My mum has a brother, but I don’t know him.’ There was a different tone in his voice when he said, ‘Guess he didn’t want me.’

Charlie nudged him. ‘No offence, but he’s an idiot.’

‘Yeah, who needs him?’ Richmond smiled, but Charlie saw the disappointment in his eyes. ‘Do you have any relatives?’ He couldn’t hide the disappointment in his voice, either.

‘No. My parents were only children, and my grandparents are dead – on both sides.’ Charlie lifted a spoonful of macaroni and cheese to his mouth and paused, his eyes flashing to the door. ‘Did you hear something?’ He glanced at Richmond, who shook his head.

Seconds later, they heard a door slam.

Panicked, Richmond handed the half-empty cereal bowl to Charlie and scuttled under the bed. Charlie started to clear away when his bedroom door opened. He froze, three dishes clasped in his hands.

Jacob looked at him with contempt, but it had nothing to do with the mess. He had adapted that expression ever since Charlie discovered his true nature. It was becoming a permanent fixture on his face. ‘Clean up and meet me downstairs,’ he said. ‘It’s time to meet the father-in-law.’

Perhaps it was because he was now so busy, what with having three new friends and rushing around trying to find the mysterious Mr. Wakeman, but Charlie couldn’t believe it when he realised he’d already been in Capeton two months. And in those months, his life had gone from one confusion to another. But one thing was certain: nothing would ever be the same again.

Situated in the town of Knotsbridge, a thirty-minute drive from Capeton, Willowdrop Care Home looked like something out of The Adams Family with its Victorian-style exterior, surrounded by its own woodland alongside the River Ern. The inside was enormous. A few people wearing the same blue uniform greeted Jacob with warm welcomes as he made his way to the reception desk.

‘Evening, Jacob,’ a woman behind the desk greeted him. Her glasses had such thick lenses it appeared as if her eyes were popping out of her head. She was either elated to see Jacob or on something. Either way, it put a smile on Charlie’s face.

‘Felicity my dear,’ Jacob said with a broad smile. ‘Always a pleasure.’

Felicity’s eyes fixed on Charlie. ‘This must be the famous Charlie you’ve been telling us about.’

‘Ah, yes, this here is my boy.’ Jacob gave Charlie a fake smile, which Charlie returned.

After the uncomfortable pretences, Felicity escorted them down a large, dimly lit hallway and along the left corridor with rooms on both sides. Apart from the unpleasant musty smell and the stains on the carpeted floor, the place was clean.

They came to a half-open brown door. Felicity knocked and pushed it open. ‘Tom,’ she said in a cheerful voice. ‘Look who’s here to see you.’

‘Send him away,’ a frail voice croaked. ‘He’s poison.’

Felicity stepped aside to let them in. Jacob entered, but Charlie lingered by the doorway, casting his gaze around the green room. It was plain but cosy; a toilet on the right, a wallmounted TV opposite a single bed, a dresser in the far corner and two fern green armchairs on either side of the bed. He spotted Tom sitting up in bed, his face turned towards the window.

‘Don’t let him scare you,’ Felicity whispered to Charlie. ‘He’s harmless.’ She winked at him and left the room.

‘Don’t linger all day,’ Jacob complained. He hauled Charlie into the room, closed the door, and then walked over to the nearest armchair and sat down.

Charlie walked around the bed, his gaze on the floor, and sat in the armchair by the window. When he looked behind him, he saw Tom’s long face staring at him and shuddered. A thick scar ran from his right temple into his wild beard.

‘I have a picture you can have.’ Tom smiled, but it was devoid of humour.

Charlie turned away.

‘Thomas, Charlie, Charlie, Thomas,’ Jacob said. ‘Now we’re one big happy family.’ He shot them a cold, lifeless grin and started flicking through the TV channels.

For the next few minutes, no one said a single word. The only sounds came from the flickering TV, the ticking clock on the wall, and the birds in the immaculate garden beyond the window.

Jacob got up. ‘I’ll be back in a moment. Don’t you two go whispering behind my back now,’ he said with sarcasm. Once he left the room, Charlie got up and looked out the window. He could feel Tom’s gaze burning into him.

‘I see how you avoid him,’ Tom said. ‘You don’t trust him one bit. Got you doing his dirty work, has he?’

Curious, Charlie looked at him.

‘Ah, there it is,’ Tom said. ‘Shame.’

Charlie’s stomach churned. ‘I’m not like him.’

Tom studied him a moment, his eyes filled with an expression of weariness and guard. He looked in his eighties with a receding hairline, high cheekbones over gaunt, hollow cheeks, and a full face of grey beard. ‘Then leave before you become him, or worse. You don’t want to end up like my daughter.’ His eyes flickered to the dresser where Charlie spotted a line of framed pictures of various sizes – the largest and most colourful one showing a young woman with long, wavy red locks wearing a yellow apron, surrounded by an array of flowers.

‘Beautiful, wasn’t she,’ Tom said. ‘She was all I had until he took her from me.’

Charlie looked back at him. ‘She fell down the stairs.’

Tom grunted. ‘She didn’t fall. He pushed her when she finally found out what he was up to sneaking out the house at night. He won’t even let the dead rest in peace. He’s evil. Anyone who tries to poison their stepfather and stepbrother has to be.’

A shiver ran down Charlie’s spine, and he stared at Tom, unblinking.

‘Oh, he hasn’t told you about that,’ Tom went on. ‘Lucky for them, they found out what he was up to and threw him out. You might not be so fortunate.’

Charlie knew how vicious Jacob was, but a murderer … He found it hard to believe. Still, he may now think twice before accepting food from the man. ‘Why would he poison them?’

‘Because he couldn’t stand the truth. He didn’t want to acknowledge that his precious mother was nothing more than a conniving con artist who made her living deceiving wealthy men. She was a thief. Like mother, like son. She got her punishment though, the little witch. Married a dying man and ended up dying herself. Ironic, isn’t it?’

Charlie shook his head in disbelief. ‘He wouldn’t do that.’

‘So he’d have you believe. He can be very convincing when he wants something. He had me fooled. I couldn’t have been more shocked when I found out what he really was. He stole from me …’ Tom’s voice trailed off, and he looked out the window. ‘I had me a beautiful set of jewels. The best kind – not something you can buy in a shop.’ He looked back at Charlie. ‘They were for my little girl.’ His expression turned hard. ‘After taking everything from me, he had the audacity to through me out of my own daughter’s house. He’ll get what’s coming to him. Mark my words.’

Charlie didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what to believe. Desperate to get away from Tom’s probing gaze, he turned round and headed across the room. Just as he was about to leave, he spotted the brass nameplate at the top of the door and stopped.

Perhaps because he couldn’t believe his eyes, he blinked twice. Suddenly, his trip to Willowdrop didn’t seem at all pointless anymore, and all because of two words: THOMAS WAKEMAN.

Charlie burst back into the room. ‘You’re Thomas Wakeman?’ he asked in shock.

Tom looked at him. ‘Last time I checked.’

Charlie laughed. ‘Oh my god!’ He started pacing in front of the bed. ‘This is not happening. Derkein isn’t going to believe this.’

‘What are you talking about?’

Charlie stopped pacing. ‘I’ve been looking for you – well, not me, a friend of mine. His name is Derkein Odessa.’ Although Tom’s wrinkled face revealed no emotion, there seemed the slightest change in his huge, piercing hazel eyes. Possibly some sort of recognition. ‘Do you know George Odessa?’

Tom sat up slowly. ‘What is this about?’

Charlie glanced at the open door then went over and closed it. Walking back to the bed, he said, ‘Derkein needs your help.’

‘Who’s Derkein?’

‘He’s George’s son.’

‘George has a son?’ Tom spoke more to himself than to Charlie. ‘What’s wrong with him?’

‘He’s old – well, he’s not actually old, he just looks it. He’s twenty-seven years old, but he looks like he’s going on sixty. He gets older every day.’

The first sign of emotion appeared on Tom’s face: confusion. ‘Why didn’t George come to me himself ?’ Tom’s tone sounded suspicious.

‘He’s missing.’

Tom sucked in a shocked breath. ‘Missing? What happened?’

‘Something attacked him and Derkein a few weeks ago, and then Derkein started ageing. George gave him a talisman he found in Brazil that we think saved Derkein’s life.’

‘What was George doing in Brazil?’

‘Something about a place called Arcadia.’

Tom’s eyes widened.

‘So it’s true,’ said Charlie. ‘You really think it exists.’

‘I don’t think it exists, I know it does.’ Tom watched Charlie with a thoughtful expression. ‘This talisman you claim saved Derkein’s life. Where is it?’

‘Derkein has it.’

‘I need to see it –’ Tom began.

The sound of the door opening cut him off. Charlie glanced around and saw Jacob, who had just entered the room. Scrutinising Tom and Charlie, Jacob smiled and said, ‘Someone’s been telling porkies again.’ He walked across the room and grabbed his coat off the armchair. ‘Well, Tom, as always, it’s been a pleasure.’ He headed past Charlie, who remained where he was.

‘Charlie,’ Tom whispered. Charlie went over to him. ‘The talisman –’

‘Charlie,’ said Jacob, who was standing in the doorway, a fierce look on his face.

Charlie turned back to Tom, and, in a low voice, he said, ‘Tomorrow.’