The Skeleton Clock Read online

  ‘Can’t say I did. I was looking at the carvings on the sides. Soldiers and knights and stuff. Like a battle between chess pieces, I suppose.’

  ‘Anyway, I didn’t recognise the symbols, but they’re obviously a notation so you can record the game. Coordinates for the squares.’

  ‘Knight to Queen’s Bishop 3,’ Revelle said. ‘That sort of thing?’

  ‘Yes. There are lots of different systems that keep track of chess moves and identify squares.’

  ‘How would you know that?’ Revelle asked.

  ‘She lives in a toy shop,’ Jake pointed out.

  Sarah ignored them, and went on: ‘I just thought, what if the Head isn’t talking nonsense and rubbish. What if it’s a sequence. A progression or a list of some sort. Like a game of chess.’

  ‘But why chess?’ Jake said. ‘I mean, it could be an alphabet, or times tables, or anything.’

  ‘It could. I just thought I’d read something similar somewhere, in a book about chess. And I thought of it while I was looking at a chess table. Maybe there’s a connection.’

  ‘Maybe there is,’ Jake said slowly. ‘Those pictures, those carvings, on the side of Mandrake’s chess table. I just realised, the knight reminded me of my toy knight.’

  ‘And Atherton had an armoured elephant. That was often the way the Castle, the Rook, was done,’ Sarah remembered.

  ‘They’re not toys, they’re chess pieces,’ Revelle said.

  ‘They could be,’ Jake agreed.

  ‘No, I’m not speculating,’ Revelle told him. ‘They are chess pieces. Artherton told me when I went to see him. That’s what I was there for. A man was killed for some similar pieces. Your father told me Atherton would know about them, and that he had some.’

  ‘But they got stolen. Just like the ones at Whispers disappeared,’ Jake said.

  ‘You were at Whispers?’ Revelle asked.

  ‘The monster was at Whispers too. That’s where it first came after us, after me and Geoff.’ He looked at Sarah. ‘You said Geoff was at the White Tower.’

  She turned away. ‘He was,’ she said quietly. ‘But it’s too late to help him now.’

  ‘But we could have found him, got him out!’

  ‘No.’ Sarah turned to look straight at Jake, and he could see the deep sadness in here eyes. ‘No, we couldn’t. It was too late. Geoff’s… gone.’

  ‘Well,’ Revelle said slowly, ‘one thing’s for sure. We’ve got too many connections here for coincidence. Everything is related. And with luck we’re about to find out how and why.’

  The light had been steadily growing as they slowly descended. Now it washed the inside of the metal chamber with a yellow glow. There was little to see through the floor of the diving bell. But out of the portholes in one side, they could easily make out a line of lights stretching away into the distance.

  ‘It’s like a path,’ Sarah said as they crowded round.

  ‘All the way from the White Tower,’ Revelle agreed.

  ‘To lead the Phibians to this place,’ Jake said in a hushed voice. Like the others, he was staring out over an incredible sight, illuminated by the suffused yellow glow of the lamps set into the muddy ground.

  Scattered across the riverbed all around them were the carcasses of wrecked ships and boats. Metal hulls had been ripped open, wooden ships were bent and broken. Masts lay snapped, and fragments of sails were rotting tatters undulating in the water.

  The decaying remains of what looked like a once-magnificent galleon lay on its side next to a rusting motor launch. Wooden planking, barnacled metal plates, and all manner of debris lay across the whole area.

  A broken ship’s wheel was sticking out of the muddy floor, sea weed threaded through it. A huge propeller lay close by, blades chipped and rusting. The empty cannon sockets of a man of war pointed harmlessly up at the diving bell suspended high above the scene.

  Shoals of small fish darted back and forth. A large grey shape that might have been a shark weaved its way between two of the wrecks. And through it all, the Phibians moved with an almost hypnotic grace and elegance. They swam easily and quickly across the bizarre landscape. They pulled themselves inside the wrecks and picked at the river’s floor, sending up sprays of silt and mud.

  ‘There’s dozens of them,’ Sarah breathed. ‘I guess they brought the lamps here.’

  ‘Definitely searching,’ Jake said.

  ‘But for something specific, or just anything they think Marianna Patterson would like?’ Revelle wondered.

  ‘Look!’ Sarah pointed into the distance.

  A dark shape was moving over the more distant wrecks. A writhing mass of tentacles was slowly picked out by the lights as it approached. A single dark eye stared out of the pale flesh as the creature drifted effortlessly through the water.

  ‘A Kraken,’ Revelle said. ‘That’s what she called it. As good a name as any.’

  Jake turned to check the view from another of the portholes. ‘There’s one here too,’ he warned.

  If anything the second Kraken was even larger. Its tentacles swung and probed as it moved through the water. Heading straight for them.

  ‘You think it can see us?’ Sarah asked nervously.

  ‘It can’t know who we are, or even that there’s anyone in here,’ Revelle said.

  ‘You sure?’

  ‘It knew I was in the tunnels. Or one of them did,’ Jake said. Instinctively he stepped back from the porthole as the Kraken approached.

  ‘Can it hear us?’ Sarah whispered. ‘Through the water?’

  ‘No,’ Revelle said confidently. But he was speaking in a hushed tone.

  ‘Still heading right for us,’ Jake told them.

  But when the impact came, it was from the other side of the chamber. The whole diving bell lurched sideways, hurling all three of its occupants to the floor.

  ‘There’s another one!’ Sarah gasped.

  A massive tentacle slapped across the porthole beneath them. The suckers pressed hard against the thick glass.

  ‘It’s trying to get in,’ Jake realised.

  Revelle dragged himself to his feet. He reached for the intercom button. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

  Before his hand reached the button, the chamber lurched violently sideways again, and he was thrown back from it. He crashed into the wall. A huge eye stared unblinkingly through the porthole beside him.

  The sound of tentacles thumping against the outside echoed round the metal interior. Another eye appeared at one of the other portholes. The floor beneath them was covered with tentacles, sliding over each other like snakes.

  Jake managed to stand up. As the diving bell continued to sway and lurch, he threw himself at the intercom by the door. His thumb found the button and he pressed it hard.

  ‘Is it working?’ Sarah shouted.

  ‘How would I know?’ He pressed the button again, hard as he could.

  Then the floor seemed to drop away beneath him and he crashed down. The whole thing was falling fast.

  Something whipped against the only clear porthole. Like a tentacle, but thinner, darker.

  ‘What was that?’ Jake said, though he had a terrible feeling he knew.

  ‘The cable,’ Revelle said.

  ‘How will we get back up to the surface?’ Jake demanded.

  The tentacles were drawing away from the underside of the diving bell. The ancient, broken hull of a wrecked sailing ship was heading slowly but inexorably towards them. Or rather, Jake realised, they were falling slowly through the bubbling water towards it.

  Bubbling? He could see the end of the cable falling past them. That was where the bubbles were coming from.

  ‘We’re losing air!’ he yelled.

  But his shout was lost in the sound of breaking glass. The porthole opposite the door smashed. Sharp fragments hurtled past Jake and clanged against the metal wall. A rush of water swept through. A tentacle thrashed inside the chamber, then withdrew. Another shape blotted out the light for a moment – le
aning in through the broken window.

  It wasn’t a tentacle. It was the top half of a Phibian. It’s gills swelled and opened. Small, triangular teeth clicked together as it hissed in anger and reached down into the diving bell. Webbed fingers closed on Sarah’s arm, dragging her upwards. Towards the broken window.

  Water was spraying in round the Phibian as it dragged Sarah out. She was screaming, shouting, fighting desperately. But the creature held her tight. Water flooded in around them. Jake struggled to get close, but the weight and pressure of the water threw him backwards. He saw Revelle hurled to the floor, unable to get up again as water crashed down on him, pressing him to the glass.

  ‘Sarah!’ he screamed.

  But she was gone. He caught a confused glimpse through an intact porthole of Sarah being dragged away through the water outside. Bubbles were erupting round her, hiding her face. Then a tentacle curled over the porthole blocking his view.

  There was a scraping wrenching screech of breaking wood as the diving bell hit the rotting hull of the ship below. It twisted sideways, throwing Jake across the chamber. His head collided with a protruding strut.

  The side of the diving bell was now the floor. Water bubbled upwards through the broken porthole as it continued to fall through the wreckage of the ship.

  Jake tried to stand, tried to force his head out of the cascading water and get at whatever was left of the air. But the world was darkening. The roar of water in his ears was increasing. His arms and legs were numb with the cold of the freezing water.

  Everything went utterly black.

  Chapter 16

  Someone was hitting him. Jake coughed and spluttered his way back to consciousness. A hand slapped hard across his face and he retched up cold, gritty water.

  ‘You’re still with us then?’ Revelle said.

  ‘Us?’ Jake looked round frantically. The chamber was half full of water, and more was bubbling slowly in through the bottom. But there was just Revelle, his face shadowed in the gloom as he supported Jake.

  ‘Me,’ Revelle corrected himself. ‘I’m sorry. She’s gone.’

  Jake struggled to pull himself further out of the slowly-rising water. ‘We have to get after her. We can’t just abandon her.’

  Revelle grabbed his shoulders, holding him tight and looking right into Jake’s eyes. ‘She’s gone,’ he said again. ‘One of the Phibians dragged her out, remember? There was nothing we could do. You’ve been unconscious for several minutes. It’s too late. I’m sorry.’ He sighed, and looked away. ‘I really am sorry.’

  ‘Minutes?’ Jake looked round. ‘Why haven’t we drowned.’

  Revelle smiled thinly. ‘We will. The diving bell landed on the broken porthole, and so the hole is tight against the riverbed. But the water’s seeping in, and the air won’t last for long. We’re lucky it didn’t all escape when the pipe broke. There must be a non-return valve or something.’

  ‘What can we do?’ The water was creeping up Jake’s chest and he couldn’t climb much higher.

  ‘Well, we can wait here to drown or suffocate.’

  ‘Is that it?’

  ‘I hope not.’ Revelle dragged Jake through the water to one of the portholes. ‘Look, there’s the line of lights leading back to the White Tower. There’s an air lock where the Phibians get in and out.’

  ‘But it’s so far away. I mean, we can’t even see it from here. The lights go on forever.’

  ‘I was afraid you’d say that. The only other way is up, back to the surface.’ Revelle leaned his head against the porthole, peering upwards. ‘It’s not so far, and if we get there Captain Denson may still be waiting.’

  ‘So let’s do it!’ It seemed the obvious escape route. ‘We can open the hatch, swim out and up. It’s a long way, but that’s got to be quicker.’

  Revelle pointed up out of the porthole. ‘Take a look.’

  Jake swapped places with Revelle and stared up out of the window. Circling above them, picked out in the glow of the lights of the riverbed, were a dozen Phibians. And in amongst them – but ignoring them – were the Kraken. There were three of the huge creatures, tentacles splayed out, probing, searching… Waiting.

  ‘I think the side with the hatch is under the wreck. We might stay hidden against the riverbed if we make for the White Tower. But they’d see us coming as soon as we start for the surface. We’d never get past them.’

  ‘Got to be better than drowning,’ Jake said. But even as he said it, he wondered if that were actually true. Would he rather drown here, or be ripped apart by the massive tentacles? The water was almost up to his neck and he was struggling to draw breath. ‘Whatever we’re doing,’ Jake said, ‘we need to decide fast.’

  He pushed off with his feet from the curving wall and crossed to the other side of the small metal chamber. He had to tread water now to keep his head above the rising surface. The porthole on this side was spattered with mud. A piece of broken wood from the wreck was leaning against it, the splintered end like a dark claw.

  There wasn’t much light. But through the broken remains of the ship, Jake could make out dark shapes. Huge and solid.

  ‘What’s that?’ he gasped.

  Revelle joined him, staring out into the water. ‘Could be the bottom of a building,’ he said. ‘Not sure where we are exactly. It’s not the White Tower, that’s over the other way.’

  ‘We could have drifted across as we fell, back towards the docks.’

  ‘More likely the other way. There are old warehouses, abandoned town houses.’

  ‘But do you think we can get inside? Is that the foundations or the old lower floors?’ Jake could hardly speak now. He was breathing hard but it didn’t seem to help. The air was running out. And the water continued to rise.

  Revelle nodded. ‘There might be a way up…’ He had to pause to take a deep breath. ‘… Through the building.’

  ‘Yes.’ Jake was beginning to believe it might be possible.

  ‘Or we might be trapped inside with no way out and no air.’ Revelle gave a short laugh. ‘Which would make a change, wouldn’t it?’ His words became splutters as he struggled to draw breath.

  *

  The hatch opened outwards – so that the weight of the water would keep it closed rather than burst it open. Jake had to duck under the rising water to release the clamps, and it took both of them to force the hatch open.

  Immediately, water poured in over the top. Jake and Revelle took deep lungfuls of the air that was left, and shoved at the door. It opened more easily as the water came in and the pressure equalised. The gap was almost wide enough for Jake to squeeze through when the hatch stopped.

  He put his shoulder to it and heaved. Revelle was pushing beside him. But the hatch was jammed against something on the other side. The chamber was full of water now, the last of the air escaping in huge bubbles. Jake reached his arm through the opening, felt the metal frame cold and hard against his chest as he groped and stretched, trying to reach whatever was blocking the hatch.

  His fingers brushed against rough wood. He pushed, felt it move slightly. But the open hatch was jamming the wood in place. He had to pull the hatch slightly shut before he could push the wood out of the way. Jake’s muscles were straining, his chest bruised and his shirt ripped. But he could reach – just.

  The wood moved slightly. Just enough for Jake and Revelle to be able to force the hatch open. They swam out into the ruins of the wreck. Several broken planks from the ship’s deck lay beside the diving bell. One of them had the faint impression of part of the ship’s name where it had been carved – Azuras. The wreck itself was a dark shadow stretching up over them.

  Bubbles were escaping from Revelle’s mouth. He wasn’t used to being underwater. Jake could see panic and desperation in the man’s eyes. How long could he hold his breath? How long before he drowned? Jake grabbed Revelle’s hand and pulled him along as he swam through the broken remains of the wreck towards what he thought was a building. Where he hoped there would be
an entrance – a door, a broken window, anything.

  Behind them the glow from the lights silhouetted black shapes swimming through the remains of the wrecked ships. A black mass loomed above Jake, and he realised with surprise that it was the wing of a small aircraft. The fuselage was broken in half, a mangled propeller hung from the rusting nose… It must have been there for decades – maybe longer. From when there was enough fuel to fly the things.

  His lungs were burning. Jake could hold his breath longer than this. But he’d had precious little air in them when he started. Revelle was getting heavier, his movements weakening as they swam desperately onwards.

  A dark mass loomed. A wall – the bricks cratered and chipped. Jake swam along it, but there seemed to be no way in. The surface was crumbling, but unbroken.

  Then, finally – movement. Something was sticking out from the wall, high above them. Was there a way in? Revelle was a dead weight now, and Jake struck out as hard as he could, dragging the man up with him.

  The shape resolved itself into a dark opening. But Jake’s sense of relief was short-lived. Tentacles stretched out and along the brickwork. The nightmare shape of a Kraken was pulling itself out of what had been a window. The stone frame was broken and torn so the window was ragged-edged where it had been ripped away.

  Lightheaded and near exhaustion, Jake had to wait while the creature made its unhurried way out of the building. He pressed himself and Revelle back against the wall, hoping the Kraken hadn’t seen them. A tentacle slapped against the wall close by, but it curled away again, the suckers compressing and opening as if they were breathing.

  If he went up the outside of the wall, they’d soon reach the surface now. But the creature was above the window. Jake would have to swim right through the mass of tentacles. Into the building, then – it was the only choice.

  As soon as the window was clear, Jake dragged Revelle through. He didn’t care if the Kraken saw them now. He almost hoped it would. Then he could stop. Then he could just give up and know he’d done all he could. Let the creatures of the water take him.

  Like they’d taken Sarah.