The Fallen Parler: Part One (A supernatural mystery thriller) (13 page)

‘
Chapter One
,’ said Charlotte, in an automatic reading voice,
‘The existence of Parlers.’

Charlotte glanced about the room, waiting for Ma Joelle’s final approving nod.

‘Carry on,’ croaked the old woman.

‘In the beginning, there was a prosperous king who governed over a far off land. Every night, the king would climb to the highest point of his palace and gaze, admirably, over his kingdom, which was as far and as wide as his eyes could stretch. Every night, the king, who had yet to bear a child, would sing miserably ‘What use is the entire kingdom, when I cannot have an heir to the throne.’ Then one night, the king had an idea. He would search the entire land until he found a young man worthy enough to assume the position as heir to the throne.

‘Where is this going -’

‘Hush!’ ordered Ma Joelle, ‘dis is where it all starts.’

Slightly annoyed by the distraction, Charlotte continued,
‘At this time, there were no worthy young men, in whom the king was sufficiently pleased, apart from a set of twin brothers. The first brother, named Cato, weaved robes, and the second, named Atticus, melted and moulded gold and silver. Cato and Atticus were the most revered men in all of the land, so the king assigned them a task to determine the most superior brother. The king told the brothers to each present him with their most prized gifts. Cato, being a robe weaver, gathered any linen he could find, but Atticus moulded the king a striking golden medallion. The king looked with favour on Atticus’s gift, but did not favour Cato’s gift.

Now, at this time, the king guarded, amongst his treasures, a golden urn, which was known to possess dark ashes of powerful sorcery. No person, including the king, could ever touch the urn, lest the dark ashes be unsettled. However, Cato, fuming in jealousy over his brother’s victory, snuck into Atticus’s chamber by night and killed him. Still enraged, Cato set his sights to avenge the king. He invaded the king’s treasury and robbed the golden urn, along with other gems and treasures. Ignorant of the dark magic that the urn possessed, Cato unsealed the urns cover, discharging the dark ashes over all the land. The dark ashes fell upon Cato, and many others in the land. When the king learned of Cato’s doings, he was deeply distressed.’

‘All because he was jealous of his brother?’ sniggered Junior.

‘All – from – jealousy,’ the old Haitian woman muttered. Gazing at Charlotte, Ma Joelle murmured, ‘proceed, dear.’

‘Then the king said to Cato, ‘look at what you have done! You have spread a dark curse around my kingdom. All the heads on whom the dark ashes fall will become estranged from the human race. They will have silver blood and frozen hearts… barren of love. They will be restless wanderers over the earth, seeking death but it will not come. Cato and all those who are cursed are hereby banished from the land.’ When Cato heard this, he was troubled. He said to the king ‘Sire, surely I will be killed in a foreign land.’ The king replied ‘the curse has marked you and your progeny. You will possess abilities superior to that of human beings. They will not kill you. You will trek the earth like a restless wanderer, frozen in time, and be plucked from the earth after many hundreds of years.’ Cato begged for the king to strike him dead, for the curse was too great for him to bear.’

‘Awarding a murderer with powers doesn’t sound much like a punishment to me,’ said Charlotte.

Ma Joelle’s eyes widened gravely, ‘you don’t understand de magnitude of dis curse dear child!’ she cried.

‘Are we really supposed to believe this?’ chortled Junior, ‘if this is the
‘Cato’
that Dr. Willow was tal
king about. He’s a psychopath. He k
illed his own brother for –’

‘Hold on!’ cried Charlotte, ‘I missed out this last bit.’

She ran her finger along the page attentively and read aloud
, ‘
the curse was too great for him to bear. When the King saw that Cato was truly repentant, he restated the prophecy, ‘In many hundreds of years, another set of twins will be born. They will break this dark curse of silver blood and frozen hearts, you and your broods will finally be free.’

Wary glares bounced between Charlotte, Junior and Sasha.

‘It’s you… you are the twins who’ll break the curse,’ murmured Sasha, ‘at least that’s what the mayor and the doctor think.’

‘That’s impossible,’ snorted Junior.

‘Yesterday I saw a man materialize out of thin air…I think anything is possible after that.’

Climbing in her seat excitedly, Sasha shot, ‘think back to when you first arrived in Shorebridge, was there any strange occurrence…an event that you could not explain?’

‘All of this!’ cried Junior, tossing an arm at the bronze book.

‘Look deeper!’ Ma Joelle urged, clenching the edge of her pushchair.

Sasha circled the room, deep in thought, ‘predictions!’ she gasped, finally, ‘Charlotte is exceptionally good at predicting things ahead of time… that could be your power!’

‘I can only predict irrelevant things like the weather,’ shrugged Charlotte, ‘or what we’ll get for homework…that’s quite a rubbish power if you ask me.’

Gawking at the sapphire necklace, which was still weaved around her arm, Sasha exclaimed, ‘Felix said that sapphire dust could dampen the powers of any
powerful parler! Maybe
you’ve only been able to predict irrelevant things be
cause of this necklace!’

On catching sight of Sasha’s bracelet, Ma Joelle gasped hysterically, ‘sapphire dust!’

The old woman dug into her garment and removed a similar charm. Ma Joelle’s sea-blue charm rotated on a woven piece of cork, casting shafts of glistening light about the dark room.

‘Dis contains sapphire dust,’ Ma Joelle whispered, ‘tis’ how I recognise parlers.’

‘Dis is dark, dark stuff me dear,’ the old woman muttered.

‘How did you get this, Ma!’ exclaimed Sasha, gawking at the glittering charm, ‘and how do you know so much about parlers?’

Ma Joelle turned to the window once more; her thoughts were miles away, ‘evil parlers,’ she muttered.

‘Evil?’ said Charlotte, ‘surely, parlers aren’t all evil.’

‘Not all,’ the old woman spewed.

Glancing at both Junior and Charlotte, Ma Joelle whispered, ‘somting is wrong.’

‘What?’ shot Sasha.

The old woman gazed at her dim blue charm worriedly and croaked, ‘when parlers are nearby, de charm glistens a bright blue. It has never failed…unless nobody here is a tru parler.’

‘What if we’re not parlers yet?’ blurted Junior, ‘down in the chamber, Willow said that we had not
transitioned
. What if we need to somehow undergo a change to assume these powers?’

‘De transition!’ exclaimed Ma Joelle, ‘de book…look in de book!’

Charlotte opened the heavy, bronze hardcover automatically and flicked to the contents page.
‘The transition – Chapter 6, page 101.’

She glanced about the room once more, before beginning a new narration.

‘The transition is the period in which a juvenile parler assumes a power and becomes a mature parler. In the transition, a parler’s power may manifest in many different forms, but usually the form which they will specialise. Every parler’s power is unique, though there may be variations of the same skill, no two parlers will possess the same ability. The age of transition is different for each parler, however, parlers of the same bloodline usually transition at the same age. The transition age is the age that most parlers retain for the first 100 years.’

‘Repeat that last sentence!’ mouthed Sasha.

‘The transition age is the age that most parlers retain for the first 100 years.’

‘That’s it!’ shot Junior, ‘that’s how Mr. Williamson hasn’t aged a day since 1920.’

‘If parlers can live longer than 100 years without ageing, then they are virtually immortal!’ cried Sasha.

‘Nat exactly, Dear,’ croaked Ma Joelle, ‘dere is a way dat they can be
killed … but I don’t know it.’

Gulping hesitantly, the old woman whispered, ‘it involves very powerful enchantments.’

Junior exhaled a despondent sigh; though Ma Joelle’s book had given an insight into the origins of parlery, there was little more he could do with the information. It certainly could not help track down the Shorebridge Ripper. If Cato was, truly, one of the first parlers to ever exist, he must have been several hundreds of years old by now. Moreover, if the aging principal applied to him, he would look merely a few years older than the young man he’d been in the tale. Down in the chamber, Dr. Willow spoke of Cato’s death, but Mr. Brown staunchly believed that Cato was alive. If Mr. Brown was right, and Cato was alive – what was driving his intense craving to kill? Either he was a raving, ageless sociopath who had an insalubrious appetite for murder - or, his killings had some deeper purpose.

‘Notorious parlers,’
said Charlotte’s, back in reading mode.

Pointing at a freakishly life-like illustration, she whispered, ‘here he is again.’ The sketch was of a tall, dark haired man with the name,
Cato
, etched beneath it.

‘Cato, known better amongst parlers as ‘the originator,’ is the oldest parler to walk the earth. He has seen 3000 years. When Cato was banished from the far off kingdom, with others whom the dark ashes had touched, he travelled to a new land. After Cato had transitioned, the people of the new land discovered his unique ability - scorching inanimate objects. Over time, his popularity grew, and his skill was put to use in the military. After 50 years, other sorceresses of the new land saw that Cato and the ‘cursed ones’ were well preserved for their ages. They became jealous of Cato and encouraged the people to turn against him. Cato, with many other parlers, went into hiding (in fear that the humans might kill them). After that time, parlers began to keep their abilities secret from humans. Following many years of hiding, Cato resurfaced under a new identity…Gaius Julius Caesar. His unparalleled abilities, alongside his enchanting charisma, spurred his to rise to power again. He soon became the unrivalled leader of an entire empire.’

‘Cato – was – Julius – Caesar!’ cried Sasha, spilling each word with tenor.

‘This just can’t be true!’

‘If it is, I’m never going to another one of Mr. McGlean’s history lessons again,’ muttered Charlotte.

Sasha snatched the heavy bronze book from Charlotte’s lap and continued,
‘Soon after, the demise of the Roman empire meant that Cato would go into hiding again, and resurface only when anyone old enough to recognize him had died. Centuries passed and Cato resurfaced as several prominent figures throughout history, including Napoleon’s most talented general and right-hand man, Jean Lannes. After many years, Cato’s silver blood slowly began to turn his heart cold. Soon, Cato developed an unquenchable thirst for power and a hatred for all meres. He committed the unspeakable crime of bauchery (killing other parlers to steal their power). At this time, Cato began to kill all meres and parlers that crossed his path. Cato amassed a collection of powers as well as devoted followers, who did his bidding. His followers included notorious parlers, such as Diana Drusus. Diana is rumoured to have been in a romantic relationship with Cato. She has up to 900 years and is almost as deadly as Cato, himself.’

There was a detailed illustration of the fiery eyed woman beneath her name. She was the devil in a dress…unsuspecting but irrefutably dangerous. Two other sets of serpentine eyes shot out of the page beneath Diana Drusus. Two men with dark features, hooded cloaks and flame-filled eyes. Underneath them was the caption,
‘
The Bukhari Brothers are two of Cato’s most devoted comrades. The dynamic duo have infamously skinned meres alive. Semal (right) is able to hear the thoughts of others, whilst his brother, Damien, can draw balls of fire in his bare palms. Another of Cato’s notorious protégés-’

Her throat suddenly dry, and her eyes filling with horror, Sasha breathed,
‘
Felix Corneli
’

‘It can’t be!’ cried Charlotte, ‘Felix is with Cato!’

Silently confirming Charlotte’s fear, Sasha tilted the bronze book, revealing to everyone, the face of the Aryan man, Felix Corneli. The sketch was exceptionally accurate; it had even captured Felix Corneli’s freakish, uneven smile.

Burying her head in the book, Sasha gasped, ‘to think that Cato’s accomplice was down there in the chamber with us…listening to everything!’

‘Keep reading,’ urged Junior, still
wallowing in shock.

‘Felix Corneli (200), has the unassuming ability of invisibility. Do not underestimate him. Like his master, he has slaughtered many meres and staunchly believes the earth should be cleansed of them.’

‘He deceived us!’

‘He’s probably long gone by now,’ grunted Junior, ‘
back to report to Cato.’

Sasha lifted her head from the book and grinned at the Roterbee twins.

‘What is it?’

‘What if I knew a way we could find Felix?’

‘And how on earth would we do that?’ hissed Charlotte, ‘he’s invisible for goodness sakes!’

‘Down in the chamber, I had a feeling he would disappear,’ said Sasha, ‘so I put my iPod in his cloak pocket whilst we were hiding.’

‘And why would you…Oh!’

Suddenly realising the brilliance of Sasha’s plan, Junior cried, ‘we’ll track him!’

‘That’s right!’ shot Sasha, ‘as long as he hasn’t removed the cloak, he’ll be right where my iPod is.’

Sasha slid her phone from her back pocket, ‘this GPS app should do the job,’ she grinned.

‘You’re forgetting something,’ whispered Charlotte.

‘And what’s that?’

‘The part where Felix is a notorious serial killer!’ barked Charlotte, ‘I’m not sure whether we should be tracking him down… or running away from him.’

‘He can’t do a thing,’ gloated Junior, ‘did you see how afraid he was of my cricket bat down in the chamber? I assure you that if he was half as deadly as this book paints him, we would not have lived to tell the story.’

‘And, he thinks that you both have magical powers so he probably doesn’t want to mess with you,’ Sasha concurred.