The Chronicles of Brendan Earle, Apprentice Mage.

Of Fires, Gates, Wolves and Grandmothers.

Day Eight

Memory Accession: Sample 229

Accession justification:

So much better. I could end all of this for them.

Metastasis. Know the word, know the context. Hear it in the past tense and you have heard a death sentence. Of a kind. It occurs that a baby’s first cry is the same, since we all go someday. But the baby has so much to look forward to.

It does concentrate the mind, the knowledge of fairly certain death. That’s why I did it. The thought was in my mind that this represented something like survival of the soul. Some part of me would still be here, after the body had gone.

With me, that is true.

Phoebe

I was in the middle of a very nice dream when Adam burst through the door of my room and woke me up.

“What do you think you’re playing at?”

 “Someone’s just set the house on fire, get dressed.”

He had a sheet with him and was tearing it into strips, very quickly. I could smell smoke and see flames through the door.

“Can we get out?”

“Not that way, the hall’s on fire. We’re going to have to climb down from here.”

He kicked the door closed behind him and started plaiting the strips together, I could see he was making a rope. He was really quick.

“What can I do?”

“We’re going to run through the streets of Newcastle soon and you will attract attention looking like that, get dressed.”

I was wearing Malaika’s nightdress and it… well, let’s just say he was right, running through the streets dressed like that I would have attracted attention. I pulled on my jeans and stuff over the top of it and pushed my feet into a pair of trainers. He was already dressed.

“Okay, can you pull the bed over towards the window?”

It wasn’t very heavy, so I lugged it nearer and he tied the rope he was making to the leg. Then he opened the window and threw out the plaited rope. It didn’t quite reach the ground, but it wasn’t too far off. Downstairs I could hear the sound of glass breaking and small popping noises. I didn’t know what they were, but I didn’t want to find out either. There was smoke coming under the door and it would have been hard to breathe if we hadn’t had the window open.

“Follow me down, “Adam told me and went out the window with the rope wrapped around his back. So much for ladies first, I thought. He slid down very quickly and then called for me to hurry. I wrapped the rope around my back the way I’d seen him do it and sort of walked down the wall. I had to drop a little at the bottom, but I thought I’d done it very pro.

“Right,” he said, “Phone box.” He set off at a run towards the corner, so I followed him. I thought I should have banged on the doors to wake the neighbours up, but suddenly there was a monster explosion that blew all the windows out and woke every dog for miles. No need to worry now, I thought, they know.

After he’d called the fire brigade we stood on the side of the road for a few seconds. Adam chewed his lip while he thought, then said, “Okay, we’re going back to the Gate.”

“Why?

“I don’t want to be around here when the police turn up to ask questions about this, is one. We don’t have anywhere else to go, is another.”