Untitled

CHAPTER TWELVE.

October.

October ninth 2008

He watched as Peter Steele left and sighed deeply. Because of his disobedience all this had happened. All the deaths were directly due to his stupid interference. He was forced to live and remember a baby who had taught him to laugh and to cry. A wife who had taught him how to love, yet, to others they had never existed.

�� Vass, oh, Vass, how I made you suffer,� a deep voice said.

�� Nutty?� Sukoloff said trying to focus on the man standing in front of him.

�� You don�t know me, just of me. Woods told you about the African Guardian of History, that is me.�

�� Damn you, you must have known we were sent back. I know I did wrong but what harm did Nutty do. Damn you,� he said with surprising force.

�� Vass, poor, Baby Spirit. We have been busy and will be busy until this horror is over. There are holes appearing in every part of history and we must try to mend them. We knew you were back in history. But history must not be altered.�

�� Then how come you found me now. It�s too late for a man who was braver than you will ever be,� he snapped, then coughed so violently that it was a while before he caught his breath.

�� When you were sent back as a mortal we began to worry. Then we realized that both of you are written in history. Nutt had to play the game he was destined for...�

�� And die?�

�� It was his destiny. It�s your destiny to find the one who calls herself Bast. The future is changing because she is changing the past. Now, one more journey, Baby Spirit.�

�� Just leave me alone. I want death and you can�t prevent that.�

�� No, I can�t prevent inevitable death. But I must show you why you were left for so long.�

Kenya, 2011

With death sitting on his shoulder, Sukoloff barely made the supersonic flight. During his captivity he had dreamed of taking one more flight, but this was not as he remembered.

�� Drink this. No, it is not a cure, it will help you stay conscious while I talk to you.�

�� He drank the foul tasting liquid and looked around the cave that seemed to belong to a witch-doctor.

�� Woods might have told you my name is Ojo. This is only a name given to me by men like him. This is my name,� he placed a worn stone on Sukoloff�s legs and smiled.

�� What�s this?�

�� I will read it to you. �Vass, Baby Spirit, with Nutt gave life to the child of Rarl. They are freed. Until eternity, brothers of Rarl.��

�� I don�t understand.�

�� You gave your life to save a child. Nutt gave his life so that the child would be born. The child was Rarl�s and my great grandmother. Without you I would never have been born and Bast would have been free a long time ago. Once, I was one of the oldest spirits together with Bast and an Egyptian priest. Before his death, the priest wrote about two men who wore strange clothes and the things they did. He wrote of a young man who tried to read the chart of life and died doing it. An old man who gave the slaves guidance into the other world and saved the child of Rarl. The priest was killed when the chart was stolen, he became one of the Guardians of history. You are the oldest spirit and because of it you and your team must fight Bast whilst we repair the damage,� said Ojo.

�� I still don�t understand. I am not a spirit, I am mortal. To save the future can�t you go back and save the priest and prevent the chart being stolen?�

�� Vass, have you not learnt? Deaths must not be prevented. The chart must be found. Once it is then you can go back to the priest and he will tell you where to hide it. It was written with the chart that a spirit named Ibis will give the priest a replica. The priest will still die but the chart will be forever hidden. The replica will never work.�

�� He mentioned this to Nutty, he asked for his name and family name. Is Ibis my name?�

�� He will know you by Ibis. Your family name is mine. The name Rarl�s child was given the day you saved her, that is, Rarl-Vasnut.�

�� Nutty would like that. Did he make it through the light?�

�� You know what the young man was like. He had a brain-wave and thought that if you were a ghost and traveled back in time, he could become one and take you forward to prevent your death. Then you could both go home,� Ojo said laughing loudly.

�� He�s a ghost?� asked Sukoloff hopefully.

�� A breeze, a small puff of smoke that�s all. You can�t become a Class One unless you die.�

�� He is dead, I buried him.�

�� He wasn�t in his time. I said it was his destiny to die, I didn�t say it was his time to die. With him it is easy. We go back to the time he is caught in the Priest�s house. The priest already wrote about the spirit who helped the slaves, examined the chart and vanished into thin air. I will pull him out of there and tell him to forget. Now for you.�

New York, July seventeenth.

He sprinted towards the terrified crowd with yards looking like miles. His legs leaden � heart pounding and every breath agony as the sickening dizziness struck again. He felt a moment of panic until he heard Ojo�s voice, �Face them, Vacily.�

�� I ain�t touching you this time, Vass,� whispered a breeze.

�� A noise � like the peal of a thunderclap close by stopped him and was followed by a woman�s screams ringing in his ears. He smiled as pain ripped through his chest and his vision began to blur. The grip loosened on his gun and slowly it slipped from his hand. Coldness was starting to edge its way through him and he looked up towards the sun to gain some warmth, yet even its light seemed cold. As he continued to search the sun for a flicker of heat, it seemed to grow. Not warmer, but bigger and whiter, until its light filled the whole sky. He wanted to go closer as its immense pull welcomed him but a voice whispered, �Remember, Vacily," and he turned away from the light.

�� You�re dead, Vacily. Go home.� said Ojo.

Anytime, anyplace.

Ojo�s strong arms prevented more damage to the carnation growers prize greenhouses located in a place that was not America.

�� Steady, boy. Where are you going?� asked Ojo giving another deep belly laugh.

�� Home?� said Sukoloff staring back at the trail of disruption his flying had caused. �I think I�ve forgotten how to fly.�

�� You deserve a speeding ticket. You overshot the runway by several hundred miles and fifty years,� said Ojo picking feathers out of Sukoloff�s hair. �Not to mention three bird strikes,� he added his laughter thundering across the sky.

�� Funny, very funny, you should try it after having your wings clipped for nine years. Look at those flowers! Hang on I�ll go and nick some.�

�� Vass!� said a shocked Ojo. �You were in Nutt�s company too long.�

�� Just testing,� he said with a hint of a smile. �It feels so good to want to play a prank and Alex isn�t here to play jokes on.�

�� Running his hand through the delicate, gossamer seed heads of thistles, he only half listened as Ojo told how Nutt would be placed in his correct time but a different place and so avoiding the Changer who had sent them on their terrible journey.

�� The one who calls itself Bast is a high level Changer. It can be anything or anyone... Vacily! Are you listening?� he asked smiling as he saw Sukoloff charging a small cloud with electricity. He had learnt one lesson, yet, like all young people of character he would try many more experiments on his road to becoming an expert Class One.

�� I�m listening,� he said flying backwards as the tiny cloud exploded into one large flash of lightening and began raining onto one very confused farmer.

�� A high level Changer,� Ojo continued after preventing Sukoloff�s cloud from continually following the farmer. �Is the top of its class. They are as old as me and have learnt every trick in our world. They can kill a human without leaving any trace, if they wish. Their power is so great that they can replicate that human, including the most valuable thing, the memory.�

�� So the real Tanen is dead?� asked Sukoloff no longer interested in playing games.

�� Maybe, maybe not. All that needs to be done is to remove the human from those who know it well. Bast could have sent him anywhere in time or space. We don�t know if Tanen is Bast or the things that King brought through with his dreadful machine. They are low level Changers and the carrion of the spirit world. When a human is on the point of death a Changer enters the body and forces the soul to leave too soon. The human body is confused. One minute it knows it is about to die, the next, it feels healthy, so, it�s fooled into believing it is alive. The body can stay in this way for a long time until the invading soul leaves, then the body remembers it is dead. This was why when you went forward people were decaying seconds after death. They had been dead for years but didn�t know it.�

�� The one I saw was a mirror image of Steele.�

�� That was Bast, she replicated him by just looking at him, very clever. Watch out for the low levels though, if a human is weak they can take over a human without waiting for it to die. The only way of knowing is that the memory can�t be accessed fully so the human acts different. Also in any Changer the eyes become green.�

�� How do we stop them?�

�� Not we, you! I must go with the other Guardians and repair the holes which are already affecting this time. You must find and remove Bast then with your team�s help find the people responsible for causing all this horror,� said Ojo sadly.

�� How do you kill a ghost?� asked Sukoloff nervously.

�� Only one who is dead can kill the dead. Remember they have only one religion, that of evil. Now to begin. Home, Vacily.�

October ninth, seven ten PM. Present day.

�Nutty! Where are you going?� shouted Sukoloff as he saw Nutt trying to get into a small cupboard.

�� Leave me alone,� the young man said crouching into a corner. �You see, they�re right in what they say. For a start, where�s me shoes? And I ain�t never been this scared before. I�m a yellow bellied coward.�

�� I haven�t got time for all this,� Sukoloff said wishing his first task after nine years away would be with his wife and baby. But, men�s lives were at stake and his pleasure would have to wait a little longer. �You told me you get premonitions,� he said trying to ignore the nagging doubts he felt as he looked into Nutt�s emerald eyes. �So do I. You�re the only one I know who will understand. I have this feeling that Tzavros and Alment are about to be killed,� he said smiling as he remembered the bravery this young man had shown during their captivity. Nutt was a green eyed human, a very scrawny, underfed human, but definitely a human.

�� Nutt did not have time to ask questions. He ran quickly down the corridors, knocking into fellow agents and sliding on polished floors. His faced flushed with pleasure as he ran behind the great Sukoloff. It wasn�t the prospect of saving lives or the possibility of danger, this sullen Russian had chosen him above premium agents to fight at his side.

�� Zav, Stop!� Sukoloff shouted as he saw Tzavros leaving the small decoding room. �This isn�t a job for you.�

�� Tanen is Ptah! I don�t know what he up to, but he will stop!� the young Russian said cracking his knuckles.

�� Catline, get me the scroll,� snapped Sukoloff taken aback by her incredible beauty and worried by the green of her eyes.

�We must call the Sepias,� he whispered as soon as Catline left. �We have at least two Changers in our mist. Tanen is one.�

�And Nutt is other!�

�No, Zav, take Alment and Nutt to the office with you but don�t, I repeat don�t even look at Tanen. I will get him out of this building, then deal with him. I will make sure Catline gets the scroll safely to the office.�

�Where�s Peter?� Tzavros asked as soon as he entered the office, then answering his own question he said. �Wasn�t him you know? Wasn�t this Nutty chap either.� He found himself looking at Brian Tanen and felt a chill run through his bones. Something in those eyes reminded him, Steele had said something � someone else had � he knew those eyes. His brain span with the questions, but the answers remained secret as Tanen�s icy fingers tightened on his throat. He forgot how to fight as the cold numbed his bones. All he could see was the green eyes and the black slit of the pupil. Are they cats or snakes he thought, as his body screamed for oxygen.

�� For what we are about to receive may the Lord make us truly grateful... No, not that one... In the name of God, I tell you to drop that man,� someone was saying.

�� Sounds began to filter through Tzavros� brain, the sizzle of flesh and a howl of pain from Tanen � the joyful laughter of Nutt and someone�s harsh coughing.

�� Zav! Come on, take another deep breath. Catline, get something cold for him to drink. His throat is very bruised,� a voice was shouting.

�� His fight came back as the sparkling colors within the room began to take on the forms of faces staring at him and he began to lash out.

�� Come on, Zav, one more deep breath and stop hitting me!� said Sukoloff, then turning towards the grinning Nutt he asked, �How did you do that? How did you know what to do?�

�� Me Ma�s Irish and she says anything what turns green and has pointed ears and flames comin out of it fingers ain�t human so has to be a leprechaun. When it grabbed Mr. Tzavros I grab the cross he always wears around his neck... Sorry about the cut what you got, but the chain didn�t snap that easy... I put the cross on Tanen... They don�t like that, you know? It sort of sizzles their skin. Then I said a prayer cause they don�t like that...�

�� Will someone tell me what is going on? Where did Tanen go?� Henn�s question brought everyone to attention. In all the chaos, Tanen had vanished. Helping the recovering Tzavros to a chair Sukoloff explained the best he could.

�� Tanen must have slipped out, but he won�t get far. Nutty, alert the base while Catline reads the scroll. It turns out that it�s some kind of ancient premonition. One part has come true, perhaps the other will. Catline, if you please,� he said signaling her to begin.

�� I haven�t done that much. Zav and Alment have decoded some but I still think it�s a fake. The first line reads, �I have traveled backwards to Egypt. I am captive.� Then I can read, �My name is� something. Alment and Zav did, �I know the name of the spy, he is Tanen.� But I still think it�s a hoax because... Well, Sir, look at that! It�s an eyeball as seen through a magnifying glass. It�s stupid.�

�� You finished it? Did you, Vassy?�

�� Mr Nutt! Since when has Mister Sukoloff been call... What was it? Well something disrespectful and what did he finish?�

�� I can�t remember, Sir,� replied the trembling young man.

�� Alex, I want a Sepia meeting. I want Steele here and this relayed to Bayfield and Tretow.�

�� Most of the team are on some mission or other, but you can have those who are in this building. Relay to England only if you think it important. Alment, Nutt and Catline, I�m afraid you must leave,� Henn said coldly.

�� When Peter Steele arrived, unshaven, from his trip to debriefing, Sukoloff picked up the scroll and carefully spread it over the table.

�� Gather round, I am about to read this to you...�

�� Don�t be silly,� chortled Henn. �Since when did you know Hieroglyphics?�

�� Since I studied it,� Sukoloff smugly replied, then without waiting for any more retaliations he read the scroll.

�� I have traveled backwards to Egypt. I am captive.

�� My name is Baby Ghost. I am Pia.�

�� Stop! Where does it say that? That�s what Woods calls you! Where does it say Pia?� asked Henn in one breath and Sukoloff proudly pointed to the drawings.

�� There will be flames, many around the white house.�

�I thought it say that!� yelled Tzavros in triumph.

�Believe me, you must get a team over there, call out the bomb squad, now!�

�� Vacily, I don�t understand!� said Henn reaching for the red phone.

�� Just wait before you dial. I know the name of the spy, he is Tanen.

�� The enemy, Kijac, have done evil secretly in their work against thee all. It shall happen.�

�� I knew it say this thing.�

�� This was Nutty�s idea. I am the fighter. I am one of you. I am Pia. And this was mine, for you, Alex and Nutty. Until eternity brother. Life, strength, health. Autumn 10. The slayers come at dawn.

�� I signed it, in Nutty�s absence, Baby Spirit and Nutt.�

�Knew that, we thought it was something about Goddess Nut, but had extra tee. So then I thought��

�Later, Zav, Alex, now you can phone,� he said grinning.

�� As Henn brought his teams to readiness the office filled with whispers and questions. When had they written it? Did Nutt remember? What was it like? If Nutt had died was he a ghost? Was the stone Nutt�s grave stone? Each question was answered, every doubt cast out. Sukoloff edged his way to the door, longing to go to his family, telling that all questions would be answered in the next few days.

�Jodie!� he gasped as he walked into the computer room. He was angry with himself for letting her memory fade during the last few years of captivity. It had been hard for him to recall how her hair fell about her slight shoulders or how her voice rang out so sweetly as she spoke.

�� Vacily, what�s wrong?� she asked panic-struck at the tears in his eyes. �Is it Angel?�

�� I missed you. You will never know how much I missed you. Do you know how much I love you?� He held her so close and tight that he nearly suffocated her. �Don�t ever leave me again. I can�t stand it. Stay here while I go get the Angel, then we�ll go home,� he said finally releasing his grip and walking out of the room backwards, fearful of letting her out of his sight.

�� Crickey, Jodie! How long has he been away?� one of the girls asked.

�� He hasn�t,� she chuckled. �I saw him about an hour ago.�

Back to what's new.