Ghostcatcher Read online

  Nedly gulped and raised his eyebrows hopefully.

  Lil tried unsuccessfully to kick him under the table to break the spell Yossarian was casting but he didn’t notice. ‘Why should we trust you?’

  ‘Because I can help you.’ Yossarian let his brow crease up with sympathy. ‘You’re just a kid – you should be having fun. Hanging out at the shops, drinking milkshakes …’ He paused as he had obviously started running out of child-friendly material. ‘Like … normal kids do. Not being chased all over Peligan City, trying to keep your friend out of danger.’ Lil squinted at him. ‘Aren’t you tired of running?’ he asked her.

  He was right about one thing, Lil thought. She was tired, suddenly and extremely tired. She took another sip of tea.

  ‘So, I asked myself, what could the Final Ghost be bound to, what links him to this mortal world? The answer was staring me in the face …’

  Lil started to interrupt. ‘He’s not bound –’

  But Yossarian cut her dead. ‘All the ghosts created by Cornelius Gallows were bound – all of them – that’s the difference between them and anyone else who dies and their spirit, or what have you, drifts away, or is reabsorbed into the universe or whatever you think happens. For a ghost to exist as a being, even an ethereal one, they must be anchored.’

  ‘But –’

  Yossarian held his finger up to quiet her. ‘Even Ned Stubbs is bound to something … I’ll prove it to you.’

  ‘Lil?’ whispered Nedly, as if he had finally noticed she was there. ‘I have a bad feeling.’

  Lil raised her eyebrow cynically at Yossarian, over the rim of her cup, took another sip of the tea and then tried to rest the cup on her knee, but she missed it. The tea sloshed over the floor.

  ‘Whoops! Sorry!’ Lil began, stumbling onto her feet. She stared at the liquid that laid there on the white canvas like a golden starfish, then her head began to spin and she let herself flump back onto the chair.

  Yossarian gave her an appraising look, turned back to the machine and typed something into the keyboard. The pulse continued to zigzag and Yossarian gazed at it, his face bathed in the green light.

  ‘Lil?’ Nedly lurched to his feet and the chair he had been sitting on tipped over with the force of the movement.

  Lil peered up at him blearily. There were two Nedlys standing there, both drifting apart. Lil blinked and they came back together again.

  ‘That tea is very warming – isn’t it?’ Yossarian smiled at her. ‘And you’ve had such a busy night. How are you feeling?’

  ‘A bit woozy,’ she replied honestly.

  Yossarian smiled again without looking at her. The green light on his face was fading. ‘That will be the sedative I slipped you – don’t panic.’

  Lil attempted to throw the cup away but her finger was stuck in the handle, so she just swiped with it and then let it hang from her impossibly heavy arm. She looked towards Yossarian, and tried to give him the Squint but her eyes crossed over.

  ‘You mustn’t be frightened. It’s just a very strong dose,’ she heard him say. ‘It will slow your heart right down but it shouldn’t stop it entirely, all being well.’

  Lil blinked. She saw Nedly stumble to his knees. His skin looked mottled, with a bluish tinge and the corners of his lips had turned black. The dials and switches of EGON emerged through the grey of his sweatshirt. He held up a hand and his eyes widened as he stared through it; he was fading. Lil’s eyelids shut.

  ‘Wake up!’ she yelled to herself and forced them open again.

  Nedly’s outline smudged and flickered – it looked as though he was being rubbed out somehow. Panic rose in her chest as she watched him merge with his surroundings and she realised that either Nedly was becoming invisible to her too, or he was actually disappearing.

  She shook her head to try to clear it. The darkness around her seemed to be growing, like someone was turning out the lights one by one.

  ‘WAKE UP!’ she shouted again, but she wasn’t listening to herself; she was floating on a soft feather bed, while the tent spun away beneath her.

  Chapter 21

  The Dead Connection

  Lil felt someone give her cheek a firm pinch. She levered her eyelids up a fraction and peered through the lashes. She was still in the tent. Shadowy blobs sharpened before her until she could make out Yossarian sitting in front of EGON’s screen, tapping his keyboard. He looked up, slid over on his wheelie chair and pulled Lil’s eyelid up, shone a pen torch at her and then slid back to EGON again.

  Lil blinked. Where was Nedly? She sat bolt upright suddenly and whipped her head around, desperately searching the tent. Then she saw him, swimming back into focus.

  ‘Are you OK?’ she croaked. She tried to stand but her knees buckled.

  Yossarian didn’t take his eyes off the screen; the green light struck his face like a troll. ‘Better take it slowly, give your body time to adjust. You were out cold for a minute there.’

  ‘What did you do to me, you … you …?’ Lil’s befuddled brain reached for the insult that was evading it and settled for an accusing glare. He knew what he was: someone who pretends to be a friend and then turns out to be an enemy. What was that called, a werewolf? Something about a wolf …

  ‘LIL!’ Nedly yelled to snap her out of it.

  Yossarian turned away from his typing to give her a friendly smile. ‘Just a little experiment. Nothing to worry about, but I needed to be sure.’

  ‘Why, you …’ Lil lurched to her feet again, swayed as though she was punch-drunk and nosedived the floor. She lay there face down until Yossarian yanked her up by one arm and propped her in the chair.

  ‘Sit down, make yourself comfortable.’ He gave her a quick shake. ‘You too, Nedly.’

  He grinned at Lil. ‘That’s what you said, when you were coming round. You called him Nedly. I like it. Deadly Nedly, the most powerful ghost in Peligan City.’

  ‘I never called him that.’

  ‘I’m just joking around,’ Yossarian chuckled. ‘Relax, the worst is over. I mean you no harm; I’m very pleased you’re here, that’s why I arranged all this. After that dear old fool Starkey bumbled upon our set-up here I took the opportunity to feed him enough info about EGON that I knew he would have to tell you, and then you would have to come in and try to sabotage it.

  ‘I slipped the plans of the alarm system to a colleague at City Hall and he passed them to your friend the hot dog seller. You’re a great team, really very cute, especially the little bald orphan and the dog. They weren’t very good at deactivating the alarm system, but that’s OK – I disabled it for them.

  ‘You see, I wanted you to come. And so, here you are.’ When he grinned there was a maniacal glint in his eye.

  ‘I just needed to do one small experiment to prove a point.’ He interlaced his fingers round one knee and hugged it tightly.

  Lil couldn’t feel the bones in her arms or legs; they just felt like pieces of rubber cut into limb shapes. She tried moving them about to get the blood flowing.

  Yossarian humoured her with a cosy grin. ‘My hypothesis was that all of the ghosts weaponised by Gallows’ machine were bound to an object.’

  ‘Nedly wasn’t weaponised,’ Lil persisted through gritted teeth. Her neck felt too weak to hold her head up so she let it drop.

  ‘Agreed. He slipped through the net. Gallows left him to wander off in the ether, which he did for a long time, until he found something to be bound to.’

  ‘But he didn’t,’ Lil interrupted.

  ‘He did,’ said Yossarian firmly. ‘Except Nedly didn’t choose an object; he chose a person.’ He pushed Lil’s head up until she was looking blearily at him. ‘He chose you.’

  Lil snorted. She opened her mouth to contradict him again but then looked at Nedly. Nedly looked back at her anxiously. She shook her head to free it of Yossarian’s hand. ‘It doesn’t work like that,’ she said uncertainly.

  ‘Nedly’s EMF signal –’ Yossarian pointed to the green pulse on the s
creen – ‘almost disappeared as you began to lose consciousness. He’s linked to you, Lil Potkin. You’re the object that Nedly is bound to. That’s why you can see him, when no one else can. That’s why he has to do whatever you say.’

  Lil snorted. ‘He never does what I say.’ But then a memory poked its head round the corner of her mind, back in the doll hospital when they were fighting Grip. He had begged her not to make him go, but she had insisted that he leave, and so he did.

  Lil looked up at Nedly and he looked back at her. Yossarian was still talking but they were both ignoring him until Lil suddenly interrupted. ‘Hang on a minute, that doesn’t make any sense; who would have bound us? There was no one there who could have done that when we met.’ She folded her rubbery arms semi-successfully.

  ‘Nedly bound himself to you.’

  Lil tried to give Yossarian a disbelieving look but then she saw Nedly’s face.

  ‘I didn’t mean to –’ he began.

  ‘He chose you,’ said Yossarian at the same time. ‘I don’t know why but he did.’

  ‘I’m sorry –’ Nedly tried again.

  ‘But why me?’ Lil asked.

  ‘I did it without thinking. I had been there in the bus station for so long I forgot why I was there, I forgot who I was, and then I saw you take the flyer. Do you remember? Babyface’s flyer about losing Wool? No one else gave it a second glance. I couldn’t even remember why it was important any more, only that it was. You were going to help him, even though he was just a kid and it was only a toy.’

  ‘Not just a toy to him,’ whispered Lil.

  ‘That’s right – it was important to him. And it turned out it was important to everything.’

  ‘Is that why you were at the bus station, because of the flyer?’

  Nedly shrugged. ‘I don’t know how I ended up there. It just seemed like the right place to go …’

  Yossarian interrupted. ‘It’s fascinating to see you commune with him, just like a regular conversation between two ordinary people.’ He smiled. ‘But I’m feeling a bit left out.’ His smile widened. He had a lot of teeth and they were large and square like a horse’s.

  ‘Now, we need to have a serious grown-up talk,’ he said to Lil. ‘Being the only person who can see or hear a ghost is a big responsibility, too big for a child. But it’s something we can look at and if I could find out how it happened, then maybe we can bind Nedly to someone else instead.’

  ‘Someone else?’

  ‘Sure, I mean, he has to be bound to something otherwise he would just disappear.’ He sprang his fingers out into star shapes. ‘Nedly, you don’t want to be haunting Lil here all her life, do you? I mean it’s all right now while you’re still the same age but eventually she’s going to grow up. And you won’t.’ His voice was gentle now. ‘She’s not going to want you hanging around for ever.’ His expression grew pained. ‘Can’t you see how you would be holding her back?’

  Nedly looked at Lil and then to his feet. His shoulders curled in and his head hung low, so that he shrank a little bit and the space he took up became smaller.

  ‘Wait,’ said Lil quickly. ‘You don’t speak for me. I don’t think any of those things. Nedly, don’t listen.’

  ‘I can see she enjoys telling you what to do.’ Yossarian gave a knowing nod.

  ‘What?’ Lil scowled at him. ‘I mean, please don’t listen, Nedly. He’s twisting things. He doesn’t know either of us. He’s just trying to get you to …’

  Yossarian raised his voice over hers. ‘If he could be bound to someone old enough to really understand what they were taking on, someone who could work with him to grow his skills, a mentor.’

  ‘Abe?’ said Nedly.

  Lil’s eyes were narrowed and her jaw set. ‘You mean someone like you,’ she said to Yossarian.

  ‘Who else?’ Yossarian’s own eyes gleamed greedily. ‘You have your whole life ahead of you. You don’t want to be stuck with a ghost, do you? Giving everyone the creeps …’

  ‘I’m not stuck with him.’ Lil glared at Yossarian. ‘He’s my friend.’ She tried to talk to Nedly inside her head. ‘We have to get out of here. He’s dangerous, Nedly.’ She tried to stand up but her rubbery legs wouldn’t hold her. ‘He just wants to control you.’

  ‘The other thing worth keeping in mind …’ Yossarian’s voice was low and reasonable. ‘Is that I can persuade the others to drop the whole Ghostcatching thing, or if not, I could just take him out of the city. I’m a grown up. I can do things like that.’

  ‘Take him out of the city?’ Lil murmured.

  ‘To keep him safe.’

  ‘No.’ Lil’s eyes had suddenly filled with tears that were impossible to see through. ‘No!’ she said more clearly, squeezing them out of the way. ‘Nedly, don’t listen. You need to get out of here. Just run, don’t wait for me.’

  Nedly backed slowly towards the tent flap.

  ‘Telling him what to do again.’ Yossarian tutted and typed in some numbers.

  EGON’s screen changed: a green grid covered it, stretched to mimic the form of the tent and broken only by a boy shape. Yossarian smiled warmly. ‘Ah, there you are.’ He looked round to face the spot where Nedly was standing. ‘With this machine you’re not invisible; EGON can see exactly where you are, all of the time. Who knows, if we really work at it there might even be a way to make you visible.’

  Nedly stopped moving. His expression changed.

  ‘Would you like that?’ Yossarian rolled out a sympathetic bottom lip and nodded. ‘I’ll bet you would. Must be lonely being invisible.’

  ‘I can see him,’ said Lil.

  Yossarian ignored her.

  Lil stared at the tent flap. Abe was out there somewhere: she knew he was. It was only a matter of time before he burst into the tent and took care of Yossarian, and as soon as he did then Nedly could do the surge and take EGON out for good. They just had to wait a bit longer for him to find them.

  ‘You’re wondering where that sad sack old P.I. is?’ Yossarian wheeled his chair into her sightline. ‘I’m afraid he’s gone. He threw in the towel.’

  ‘No,’ said Lil firmly. ‘He would never do that.’

  ‘’Fraid so. You see, I needed some time alone with you, both of you, so I told a little lie. I told him you had gone back.’

  ‘He wouldn’t have believed you.’

  Yossarian shrugged gently. ‘So where is he?’

  Lil looked at Nedly. ‘Please, will you find him?’

  Nedly hesitated.

  ‘Not so fast!’ Yossarian hit a switch and the green laser net sprang up on the walls. ‘Don’t panic. I won’t use it unless you force me to. I just want you to stick around for long enough to have a proper chat. After that you can go whenever you like. I promise.’

  Lil looked at his hands. ‘You have your fingers crossed!’ she objected.

  Yossarian gave her a what can you do type shrug.

  ‘ABE!’ Lil shouted suddenly. ‘Abe!!! If you can hear me. Help! Help! Mel-murpmph-murh-urbe!’ Yossarian had whipped his orange cravat off and stuffed it into her mouth.

  Nedly ran forward but was sprung back instantly by the elastic mesh of the grid.

  ‘I don’t want to hurt you, Deadly Nedly,’ Yossarian said kindly. ‘I just need you to hear me out.’ He clamped his hand over Lil’s mouth, resisting her numb fingers trying to prise it away. ‘Noisy Lil here and that old has-been with the hat, they’re both good people; they don’t want to admit what a nuisance you are.’ Nedly’s eyes went to the floor. ‘But I know you’re so much more than that; you could have powers beyond your imagination. Work with me, Nedly Stubbs, and you’ll never be a nuisance again.’

  ‘URBE! URBE!’ Lil continued to shout through the silk and hand. With barely concealed irritation Yossarian pulled out his paisley sash and wrapped it twice round Lil’s mouth and then pulled the two ends tight. ‘There now.’ He knotted it and then fastened her hands behind her back with the ends. ‘That’s better.’

  Chapter 22<
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  Peace at Last

  The green lights of the Projected Entrapment Matrix chequered the walls of the tent. Nedly stood in the middle of it, immobilised by fear and the cheese-wire laser beams.

  ‘There,’ said Yossarian, patting Lil on the head. ‘I didn’t want to do that but you just can’t seem to keep your mouth shut, can you?’

  Lil scowled at him from over the tightly wound sash.

  Yossarian shrugged innocently. ‘You forced my hand, Lil Potkin. I’m one of the good guys. None of this was part of the plan but I underestimated how irritating you could be.’ He reclaimed his seat in the operator chair and turned to face Nedly, smiling like a cat with its paw on a mouse. ‘Now, where were we?’

  Lil knew that Yossarian could see Nedly now, just as they had seen Grip back in the doll hospital, as a black shadow that broke up the lines of the grid. And just like Grip, Nedly was trapped in them: one flick of the switch and the net would spring into reverse, taking him with it. She had seen it happen, remembered how quick it was.

  ‘The matrix is holding you fast, Deadly Nedly. There’s no escaping it, I’m afraid,’ said Yossarian. ‘And I won’t pretend that the means by which it would destroy you will be anything other than deeply unpleasant. BUT all is not lost – I could save you from that, no strings attached – ha! Well, some strings, obviously,’ he laughed. ‘But no bells.’ He laughed again.

  Lil’s eyes bulged angrily. There has to be a way out. It can’t end like this; I won’t let it – not without a fight. She tried to think hard, ignoring that the silk scarf had absorbed all the spit from her mouth and her fingers were growing numb.

  Yossarian’s eyes shone gleefully, reflecting the green lights. He held out his hand to where Nedly stood and beckoned him closer.

  Lil leant forward, letting her feet take the weight of the chair, raised it several centimetres with her body and then put it down again a little way to the left.

  Nedly! she thought as loudly as possible. He didn’t react. He doesn’t want to look at me, she thought. Doesn’t want me to see. Nedly! she thought again. Look at me, right now. Yossarian could only see Nedly as a shadow but Lil could see how pale he was, that he was trembling, and that his eyes were dark and full of tears. Rage boiled and she had to swallow hard to stop her own tears from blinding her. He glanced sideways at her. I know you can hear me, so listen: don’t you dare give up now. I’m going to fix this, OK, but I need you to help me. I need you to distract him. Just keep his eyes on you. She leant forward again, shifted herself left and gained another few centimetres of ground.