Tamsin smacked him as he snickered. “Way to call attention to us.”
Harley just grinned and James gestured towards the fence.
Justin gave my fingers a quick squeeze, then phased through the chain link right beneath the “No Access” sign. I shivered as I watched him go. It was so easy to forget what he was.
Suddenly he reappeared. “Start climbing here, there’s some stuff piled up on the other side. You can jump down.”
I nodded and moved to the spot he indicated. Then I took one last look around. It was almost dark and the streetlights cast orange circles onto the grey pavement.
We were overlooked only by the rears of buildings. Bulging rubbish bags sat outside one scratched door; probably the back of a bar. A rustling sound made me jump and my eyes jerked back to the bins. A sudden glittering made me inhale as a fox raised its muzzle from the rubbish. It regarded us coldly then gave a short yip and disappeared down the street, slipping from light pool to light pool, then melting into an abandoned lot.
I licked dry lips and turned back to the fence.
Time to climb.
We were all inside.
Tamsin had made a bit of a production about it, but even she had managed to scale the fence. And I judged by Justin’s disgusted expression that she would have been fine even without the help James had given her.
I looked away from her drama. I had to focus.
The scaffolding rose into the sky in front of me, like the skeleton of a decomposed building. Long metal bones, held together with bolts like sinews, were boarded with wood that looked black in the dim light.
I stepped forward and a light blazed white. It picked me out like a prisoner and threw my shadow against the fence.
I yipped as loudly as the fox and took a jump back.
“Freeze.” Harley gripped my arm. “It’s movement sensitive.”
After a moment the light went out. There was no sign of the security guard; Pete must still have him talking.
“Now what?” I shook my arm free.
Harley shook his head. “There’s no way you’ll be able to do this, China. Time to leave.”
Justin nodded agreement, but I ignored him and bit my lip. “Where’s the light? Can we cover it with something?”
James draped his arm over Tamsin and pointed. The spotlight was fixed to a pole at the edge of the scaffold. “Cover it with what?”
“My hoodie. I could try and throw it over.”
“Throw it?” Tamsin sneered and her nails peeped out from the sleeves of her sweatshirt as she stretched. “Who do you think you are?”
“I can’t think of anything else, can you?” I looked meaningfully at Justin and pulled my jumper off. It tugged at my hair which fell back against my shoulders in a heavy curtain as I whipped it in front of me.
I made a show of judging the direction and distance to the light; then I threw. It shouldn’t have made it, but Justin snagged the sleeve and ran. For the others it must have looked as though it had been caught by the wind. Finally Justin tossed the shirt over the spotlight. It caught by the hood.
“Wow.” James stared at me, his lips pursed in surprise.
“Awright, China.” Harley punched the air.
Under her own hood Tamsin’s perfect eyebrows were raised. “Lucky,” she muttered.
“Yeah.” I checked on Justin, but he wasn’t looking at me. Instead his eyes were trained on the far side of the site. At first I thought the guard was coming; then I saw the old woman. She was wearing a hospital gown and leaning on a crutch. No way had she just climbed the fence.
Justin whipped round to face me as the old lady started to limp forward. He could either help me climb the scaffold or keep the other ghost from giving me a Mark.
“Oh no,” I whispered. “Not now.”
“‘Not now’ what?” Tamsin leaned forward, her face feral in the dim light.
“Just a headache coming on.”
“I don’t want to hear excuses.” James slicked a stray hair beneath his hood with the palm of one hand. “Are you doing this, Oh? I’m expecting great things.”
I wrapped my arms around my chest. The ghost was still coming. Justin looked from me to the scaffold to the old lady, his eyes darting from one to the other. Finally I pointed at the ghost. Like a beacon my white glove shone with the message:
Miserably, Justin moved towards the spectre while I strode towards the scaffolding. Immediately the floodlight came on, but it was shining through my black top and the light was muted.
At the bottom of the structure I looked up. Justin had said it didn’t look that bad from the bottom; that it was much higher looking down from the top. From where I stood, it seemed to tower above me so how high would it seem when I got up there?
I shivered and closed my bare hand around the first pole.
It was chilly; not as bitter as the touch of the hounding dead, but cold. Flakes peeled off and jabbed at my bare skin. I inhaled and smelled rust, like blood, on the shaft.
I looked back. Tamsin relaxed in James’ embrace, watching me with her cat-like eyes. Harley held his phone in front of his face, recording me with impersonal precision.
I hadn’t intended to do this climb alone. Automatically I tortured myself by looking for Justin. He was holding his arms wide in front of the intruding ghost, talking intently and making himself into a barrier.
My back straightened. I would take this in stages; the first thing to do was get to the top of the scaffolding.
It was just like a climbing frame, only higher. I forced my limbs to stop shaking and started my journey.
Six feet up, I looked down and gasped. Beneath me, lit by the muted spotlight, tendrils of blackness were tangling together. They gathered like snakes to form an abyss that dragged at my feet like a black hole inhaling the air.
My heart thudded and my trainer slipped as my focus shifted from the scaffolding to the ground. I yelped breathlessly and threw my arms around a timber crosspiece.
“You’re hardly off the ground, Oh, you’re never going to make it.” James and Tamsin were laughing.
I pressed my lips together, twined my legs around a brace and forced my shaking arms to unclench. Then I looked up. I hadn’t even reached the top of the first floor.
Quickly I checked on the new ghost. One more Mark and the Darkness would ascend for sure. As my eyes met hers she grimaced at me toothlessly. Without having to think about it, I had a good idea what her story would be. An old woman in a hospital gown; she’d have me looking for her own Doctor Death. I frowned, feeling an unfamiliar wave of sympathy and reached for the spar above my head. I had to concentrate on the climb.
I was glad I was wearing Mum’s glove because my hands were sweating furiously. It wasn’t so bad walking along the girders, but every so often I had to swing myself from floor to floor and my palms were as slippery as if I’d soaped them.
The white glove glowed red in the dim light, stained with rust and oil. The odour of sweaty metal hung about my other palm as I climbed higher and higher above the street. Soon I was over the level of the fence and able to look out on the road below. The alley remained quiet, but I could hear the bars starting to fill.
A loud creak made me freeze and a pole shifted under my hand. Once my heart had started up again I gripped the crosspiece with my legs and gave the pillar a shake. A bolt rattled. It was loose, but should bear my weight.
I had to keep going. Unable to stop myself I looked down. Now Tamsin’s face was only a white circle, her features erased by darkness and distance. I let my eyes shift further. The void below my feet remained, pulsating, waiting, but no longer moving.
