Doctor Who_ Warlock - Andrew Cartmel [76]
Nonetheless, she kept testing them, pressing against each strap in turn. The one running across her wrists was the most crucial. If she could slip out of that one it would be possible to –
‘Escape,’ said Shell. It was as if she had read Ace’s mind and for a moment it gave her a nasty shock. But then the girl moaned. ‘Escape,’ she said again. ‘Warlock. Please help us. We must escape. We need your help. Walk among us, spirit of warlock.’
She was rambling. It was obviously just a coincidence. But sweat was prickling all over Ace’s body. Perhaps because of Shell’s increasingly oddball behaviour, she’d begun to feel a bit strange herself. The smell of liquorice was heavy in the room and her scalp was crawling. It wasn’t an unpleasant sensation. It was as though a warm electric current was running across her head, like slow‐motion excitement, gently stirring her hair. Ace wriggled her fingers, stretching them, trying to slip her hands out from under the strap.
‘I tried that.’ Jack was watching her. ‘But the bastard things are on too tight.’
‘Keep trying,’ said Ace.
‘Okay, but it won’t do any good.’ Jack began squirming around in the chair, flexing his big fingers. ‘You might be able to slip out, though. You’re thinner than me.’ Jack winked. ‘Better looking, too.’
Ace couldn’t help smiling. ‘You’re taking this really well.’ She couldn’t believe the difference between the reactions of this fat bearded guy and his spacey girlfriend. Speaking of which… Shell had now lapsed into a low singsong murmur, like a child reciting a bedtime prayer. Ace didn’t think she even sounded sane.
‘I’m always good in extreme situations,’ said Jack. ‘When there’s an emergency I’m just fine. It’s everyday life I can’t seem to handle.’
‘Amen,’ said Ace, smiling.
At that exact instant Shell stopped muttering her child’s prayer and spoke a single word, loud and clear.
‘Amen,’ she said.
She had spoken the word in perfect synchronization with Ace. She opened her eyes and turned and looked at Ace, smiling.
‘Warlock is coming,’ she said. Ace found herself riveted by the girl’s gaze. Shell’s face was as pale as milk, giving strange emphasis to her dark eyes, wide open and stoned, and the vivid shapes of her tattoos.
Ace’s attention focused on the bright splash of red in the centre of Shell’s forehead, the tattooed flames with the tiny black bird rising from them. Shell’s dark eyes regarded her steadily. The tiny crimson flame blazed. The black bird flew up her skin. Rising up, launching itself off into space. Flapping its –
Wings exploded in Ace’s face, flapping frantically. Ace shouted as the tiny tattooed black bird came alive, wrenched itself from Shell’s forehead and threw itself into Ace’s eyes, alive and growing –
No, that wasn’t what happened. Ace frantically tried to control her racing heartbeat. It was all right. Everything was all right. Shell’s tattoos were not coming to life.
‘Are you okay?’ called Jack. Suddenly the bar was as cold as a meat locker.
‘Yes. It’s just this damned bird.’ The tiny bird had left its perch on the animal cages and was fluttering busily around Ace’s head. ‘It startled me, that’s all.’ Her heart was still hammering in her chest, so hard that she imagined she could see her body shaking.
‘It’s probably the warlock, as well. It’s starting to take hold.’
‘Do you feel it too?’
‘Yeah. Our voices are starting to get kind of echoey. That always happens to me with this stuff.’
The bird was out of sight now, somewhere behind Ace’s head. It annoyed her that she couldn’t turn around far enough to keep an eye on it.
‘Warlock is here,’ announced Shell, her voice a mixture of awe and satisfaction. ‘The spirit of warlock is here among us.’ Suddenly she shouted at the top of her lungs. ‘Welcome!’
‘For Christ’s sake,’ said Ace.
‘Take it easy, Shell,’ said Jack.
But Shell had fallen silent again, her breathing heavy and fast in the quiet room. The sudden violence of her shout had set Ace’s heart pounding. She found herself breathing quickly and shallowly, in near perfect unison with the tattooed girl. On the other side