Chapter 4

"Sorry, sorry," she repeated numbly as she searched the area behind me.

"Alex!"

Her head snapped back around and saw that she had crashed into Sam.

"I knew something was up the moment you ran out the door." Sam said, "You should've told me."

"Sorry, I didn't want to take all your spare time," she mumbled quietly.

"What's more important, my spare time, or your life? Yeah I thought so," Sam said, exasperation evident in his voice. When was she going to learn, she had never got her priories right, "I don't think you should come into school tomorrow?"

"What why?" Alex asked alarmed at his sudden declaration.

"What if we have another episode of today?" he asked as he arched an eyebrow in his know-it-all attitude, "Your mums off tomorrow right get her to let you stay off, okay?"

"Fine then, but if anyone mistakes it for an ailment I swear I'll blame you if they don't let me play." she warned attempting at humor.

Sam gave her a lopsided grin at her attempt before depositing her at the front of her home and being forced into promising to make sure that the boys didn't take her off the team.

               *************

17:36

The moment Alex walked in through the door, her mum pounced on her. She gave Alex multiple checks and sent her to bed with a mug of hot chocolate, telling her- no forcing her- to sleep as late as she wanted because she wasn't letting her go back to school until she was certain that she was fit enough. Alex didn't complain because she didn't have to lie again. She hated lying to her mother, because they were so close and although she doesn't tell her all the time, she was not only Alex's mum but her best friend too.

The next day seemed to breeze through, there was hardly any sign of the kid, though Alex still felt tense, she could see no danger but she felt it. Her mum was constantly by her side so there was no chance that she would be left in a position where the kid could attack. By four O'clock Alex had finally managed to convince her mum that she was fine enough to go to the game on Saturday. Saturday, that brought up the subject of Paddington in her mind and she tried to find a way to approach the subject.

"Eh, mum?" Alex asked as she sat down at the kitchen table, "Do you think I could go to Paddington tomorrow after the game? I'll be back Sunday night probably."

"You want to go to Paddington for the weekend?" her mum asked, surprise poorly hidden in her voice. Alex had always been one who hated leaving home, she got terrible home sickness, but this was life or death, quite literally.

"Yeah," she said in what she hoped was a come-on-mum kind of voice that seemed to be natural to every other teen but her, "I am 15 you know."

Just then there was a knock on the door, she jumped up to get it. It was Sam, just the help she needed.

"Hey, thought I'd drop in to see how you were doing," He said as he followed her into the sitting room. "So how are you doing?"

"I'm fine, no sight of him at all, though I really didn't get a chance to see anyone but my mums face all day." Alex said cautiously, she knew her mum was eaves dropping from the way her body was positioned at the workstation, "I was just asking my mum about letting me go to Paddington with you, for the weekend I think I was winning."

As she predicted, her mum walked into the sitting room a minute later.

"So, Sam, do you know of this trip Alex is planning?" her mum asked even though they knew she knew he did.

"Eh, yeah, I'm also going, we had planned this when the tournament council had first refused to allow Alex to play just because she was a girl. I had thought it would help cheer her up," Sam lied. Alex was kind of impressed at his straight face as he told the bluff. He was so good at this it kind of scared her. "I had already saved up for it, and paid for the retreat, so why let it go to waste I thought."

"Is it just you two?" Her mum asked. What was this some kind of interrogation? Talk about over-protective, obsessive nosy mum Alex thought as she rolled her eyes but felt guilty straight after. She knew her mum was only trying to protect her.

"We were going to get Emma to come too, what with her terrible relationship record, but some of us are not in speaking terms," Sam said. It was half true. Alex didn't think Emma has forgiven him yet, though she hadn't told her that what he told her was true because Alex was certain that she would absolutely crack, and who knew where that would end.

"Well I trust you Sam only on the Bases that you and Alex have been friends for 7 years now and your mum is my best friend," Her mum said as she got up, "But if you come home and my daughter is pregnant, make sure to flee the country as fast as you can, because I will hunt you down."

Then her mum flounced out the room with purpose, leaving them feeling awkward for about a second.

"At least I know, never to try and make a move on you," Sam said as he lay on the sofa in his normal lazy demeanor trying to brush the awkwardness by making a joke of it. "Not that I could without getting killed."

"Yeah, then I'll bring you back to life and let her kill you again," She Laughed. Her phone went off then. It was a message from Emma. Correction they were several messages from Emma.

'Where were you today?"

'Are you okay, did something happen, are you ill?!!'

'OMG, Max just asked me to go with him to the party after the tournament?'

'Are you going somewhere? I just got told your leaving early at the tournament?'

'Answer me!'

Alex put her phone down and groaned. If Emma thought she was ill then so must the boys. She sent Sam a death glare.

"What?" he asked innocently before grabbing her phone and reading the messages. "Oh, I told them your mum wouldn't let you go to school until she thought you were fit."

"You better have, you know exactly what this tournament means to me," Alex said before lying down on the sofa opposite him.

"Yes, I know, you've told me a million times already," He muttered. She stuck her tongue out before throwing a plush cushion at him.

Saturday 08:00

Everyone was waiting for the coach to take them to the field. It was somewhere in the south of London, where there were several fields.

"We are so going to be late," Josh moaned as he sat down on the curb in front of Alex.

"We've got a reliable bus driver Dan, I think we'll make it," Sam said as he hoisted his rucksack with his clothes on to his shoulder. Alex took out the new phone Sam had chosen for her purely on the basis that I she broke every other phone she had got in like a month. Thankfully however it also looked decent.

"That your new phone?" Kieran asked as he grabbed it out of her hands and started pressing random buttons, checking out all its gadgets. She groaned as the rest of the team decided to use her phone for entertainment. She should've just brought her broken phone Alex thought bitterly. It could still receive texts even if that was all it could do; it would still have been enough, because she was almost certain that she would not need to use it for anything but receiving texts from her over protective mother.

There was a loud honk and a bright blue and red coach came into view. They all cheered and clambered into the back. They reached the field 20 minutes later; the games were just being announced. Their first team was Ordan high school. She was playing the first two games and the fourth game, so was Sam. Alex was so pumped she could barely keep still while the team got into position. The demon was put to the back burner of her mind for the first time in a while. They played game after game, constantly swapping people in the games to get rest. The first game they won by one point, the second game they tied by a stupid penalty the referee had given due to a supposed foul by Josh. During the third game, Alex sat in and watched the final ten minutes. Her stomach began to feel funny as it twisted in knots and she groaned in pain.

"You okay?" Sam asked. She considered bluffing but thought better of it and shook her head before pointing to her belly. "Did you have anything to eat today?"

The thought had never crossed her mind, she was way too excited to think about her stomach and now she was paying the price.

"It's okay, I'll get you something on the train," he smiled.

"Thanks'," She said gratefully. The third game they lost due to severe favoritism by the referee because he was supposedly 'looking away' when the other school started hacking, but on the fourth they managed to win by 3:1. Alex and Sam didn't even wait for the celebration or goodbyes. They were already running late. They ran to the nearest bus stop and were just able to reach the train station for the final calling. Sam quickly paid for the tickets while Alex went and reserved their seats. He ran on literally 30 seconds before the doors closed. He crashed down in the seat beside her. Alex felt uneasy on the train. She could feel everyone giving them weird looks, like they haven't seen a couple of kids in muddy football clothes before, though to be fair, they probably hadn't seen a girl wearing boys football kit covered in mud.

"I think we should get changed," Alex said as she got up, Sam swiftly following. Thankfully there were two cubicles though they were on the other side of the train. She pulled out her whitewashed denim shorts and her favorite I <3 NYC t-shirt. She was pulling it over her head when she heard the lights fizzle then go out .Alex yanked her T-shirt down before clicking the lights on and off. The lights wouldn't come on. Quickly she packed her bags, well, as fast she could in the dark and pulled at the door but it was locked. She tried the lock but it wouldn't budge. Then, she heard it.

Alison...Alexis...Alison...Alexis...come... you are mine....

The hoarse voice made her spin around in a full 360 circle looking for the speaker. Almost instantly her eyes fell on red eyes. There seemed to be no body, just eyes but it was just frightened her more thinking that it could be shapeless. She urgently started pulling at the doors but they wouldn't budge. Alex could feel him getting closer, and closer. She felt her body start to tremble. She saw his body begin to materialize and her eyes widened in fear. Pressing her body as far into the door as she could, she started mumbling a prayer, never once taking her eyes off the red one's that seemed to get nearer. The kid fully materialized in front of her and put out his hand to grab hers. Alex couldn't even fight back. She was half paralyzed half mesmerized by the eyes. Now that she looked closely at them, they were not just purely red. They had thin black slits down the middle and some sort of writing that kept going up and down in the outer part of the eye. It seemed so familiar. The kid stretched out his hand and grabbed her arm. She winced in pain. Alex could feel the heat surging up her arm. She started whimpering, it felt like the skin on her arm was getting ripped apart.

Just then there was a click and the door flung open and Alex tumbled backwards out of the suppressing dark and into someone's legs. Sam's legs.

"Alex! Are you okay?" Sam asked alarmed as he bent down and took her arm to help her up. She could barely walk. She opened her mouth then shut it again, no sound came out. Sam nodded his head in understanding and guided her towards their seats. He parked their bags down on her seat, sat down on his and pulled her onto his lap.

"You don't need to say anything just nod," Sam said, "Did you see him again?" she nodded.

"Was he with you?" she nodded again.

"Did he touch you?" This time Alex hesitated wondering whether to tell him. In the end she shook her head, just to give him peace. The announcement for their stop came into so they got ready to leave. Finding the house wasn't as hard as she had originally thought it would be. It was five minutes down from the train station. Alex was still unable to fully walk so Sam had to half carry her all the way.

"Sorry," she managed to whisper. It was meant for several things but for now Alex let him think what he wanted to think it was for.

They reached the door and before Sam's finger had even touched the knocker, the door swung open and a chubby smiling face popped out.

"Come on in, Alexis I presume," She said as she peered into Alex's face before bustling them into her house.

"Your Martha right?" she asked stupidly. Martha didn't reply instead sat them down on her sofa, going into a room across the living room door. Alex guessed it was the kitchen.

"I'm beginning to wonder about this," Sam muttered as she came back in with a silver tray loaded with cakes and tea. Alex's eyes light at the sight of cakes, and her stomach grumbled in agreement.

"I thought you might be hungry," Martha chuckled as she sat on the sofa chair next to her right. Alex waited for her to start eating so that she could dig in, secretly of course. She still had manners but when Martha just sat and stared at her, she couldn't take it anymore. Alex reached out her right arm and picked up a carrot cake slice, it was on the journey to her mouth when she heard a gasp. It was Martha. Reluctantly Alex lowered the cake.

"Sorry," she muttered embarrassed at her lack of control, "I know I should use a fork-"

She stopped short as she saw Martha's face. Plastered on her face was pure terror. It made her blood run cold. Alex looked around her trying to spot the kid or any kind of danger but came up with nothing.

"What is it?" Sam asked as he went round behind Martha and looked over her shoulder to see what she was staring at. His eyes landed on her and they froze.

"What is it," Alex cried, anxiety rushing over her, "Have I got something on my face or something?"

"Alexis dear," Martha said. Almost choking on her words, "Where did you get that mark?"

"What mark?" she asked. Alex was confused. They were behaving as if she had caught the bubonic plague.

"The one on your arm," Sam said, his eyes frozen on her right arm. Alex lifted it up and was startled at what she saw. It was the same mark on the wall in her nightmares.

"Have you ever seen that mark before?" Martha asked. Alex lifted her eyes to meet Martha's worried ones.

"Yes, I see it every night in the dreams," Alex said confused but intrigued by the mark at the same time, "I don't know how it got on my arm and I don't know why or what it means, so if you know anything, tell me already."

Alex was getting really agitated. Something was obviously worrying Martha about the mark which obviously meant it was dangerous. So why not share the information. The mark was on her arm so she kind of deserved to know if something was dangerous so that she could avoid it like the plague.

"The kid touched you didn't he?" she asked. She got up and walked out of the room not waiting for her reply. She probably already knew it.

"He touched you," Sam said, agitation in his voice as he realized what she had done, "You told me he didn't."

Alex bit her lips in guilt, she knew that she should've told him but she guessed that she was kind of scared, she didn't know why though. She opened her mouth to explain but Martha came back into the room with a giant book wrapped around in a big cloth. She dropped it on the wooden table making the silver tray shake with the aftershock of the impact.

"What is that," Sam said as his mouth dropped.

"This is the Book that Alexis here, will have to read," Martha said as she opened it and sat next to Alex leaving Sam to stand awkwardly beside her. Alex's mouth dropped open. It probably had like 2000 pages.

"Now, before I open this, I need to know a really important question," she said as she looked at them intensely, "Would you say you two are really close friends?"

There was an awkward silence that seemed to last an eternity but was in fact, only five seconds.

"Well, that was what I used to think," Sam muttered, "Now, I'm not so sure..."

"Oh come on," Alex cried, "I didn't tell you because I knew it would freak you out."

"And not telling me wouldn't," he challenged, "You are not a good liar so I was thinking of the worst."

"Oh, you know I would tell you if something was serious like that," she said.

"would you?" Sam said almost spitting the words out, Alex didn't miss the edge to his voice, it sent shivers down her spine. "Alex, you know I would do anything to help you, but you don't tell me these things."

"And that's exactly why," She said earnestly, she wanted Sam to believe her so badly. "You would instantly start worrying about me, and then I'd feel guilty of taking away your free time."

"Stop it, Damn it" Sam exclaimed as he put his hands up and ran it through his black hair, "try thinking straight for once, what's my free time compared to your life. Where's your logic. Besides, I don't do anything during my so called free-time. I just sleep."

Alex wasn't convinced but she wasn't about to call his bluff.

"Well, I'll take that as a yes," Martha beamed. She unfolded the big cloth and laid it flat on the coffee table before blowing on the cover. The dust that had managed to settle in the parts of the book that was not covered blew away. The first thing Alex saw was the symbol. The exact symbol that is on her arm, magnified. There were five words, which were written in the same ruins that were on the symbol. She looked at Martha for an explanation.

"This will tell you everything, As long as you can read it," She said, a hint of a smile creeping up her face.

"How am I supposed to read it?" Alex asked in bewilderment, "Is there some kind of dictionary I have to flick through?"

"Nope, it's all in there" she smiled as she tapped her forehead.

"I think you have a problem there, Martha, "Sam said, "Alex doesn't read, she doesn't do academics. Plus she's flunking modern languages."

"Does that look like any language you know then smart ass," Alex said as she arched her eyebrow as her temper flared. Although what he said was true, he didn't have to say it so rudely.

"Well, no, but you know what I mean," Sam said.

"Well, if you can't read it, don't bother commenting on my lack of understanding," she said, smile at her for how smart she sounded.

"Alex, you failed your Spanish writing test because you only wrote three words, soy un perro "Sam said. Alex gave him a blank look, "I am a dog."

Alex could feel her temperature rise in embarrassment.

"Okay, I get what you mean," she said in defeat, "I'm not very smart."

Martha gave a small chuckle just as the bell went.

"Oh that will be my son," she said as she got up, "He will be of great help to you."

Alex waited anxiously while Sam flopped down next to her, his legs sprawling out in his usual lazy fashion.

"Sam, seriously, get your act together," she said as she shoved him playfully. She never could stay angry at him for a long time, "I can't take you anywhere."

Sam put his arms around her waist and dragged her body towards him as she turned her body around to get away from his playful grip. They clashed in a bundle of giggles. Just then Martha walked into the room followed by Max.

"Alexis, I'd like you to meet my son," She said as she beamed at him then her, "Max."

What happened next seemed so cliché but by god, Alex's mouth dropped six feet to the floor.

"Max!" Sam cried for the both of them.

"Alex, what are you doing here?" Max asked in his usual frosty tone.

"Nice to meet you too," she muttered.

"Do you know each other?" Martha asked, seeming genuinely surprised.

"Aren't you supposed to be psychic?" Alex asked, "You should know this and not be asking questions all the time."

"Don't be rude to my mother, Alex," Max said taking a step forwards. He literally spat the words on her face.

"Don't treat her like that, you tool," Sam said defending her as she wiped the spit from her face

"Stop it boys, she has a fair point," Martha said laughing slightly before turning to Alex, "Yes I am, but I don't like using mines to read mines of people without permission."

"You read ours enough time," Alex muttered sourly before realizing how bitter and rude she sounded.

"Well yes, sorry about that," Martha said meekly.

"Don't apologize mum, not to her anyway," He said as he looked at Alex in disdain, "What is she doing here anyway?"

"Yes, we came here and we still don't know why apart from the big book," Sam said as he got back on topic although his jaw was still clenched.

"Well, that big book, like I've already told you is everything Alex needs to know in a cover," She said. Alex inwardly groaned to herself again. Here they go again...