‘Take it easy young man,’ said a voice.

Looking down the length of the bed, Zach could see a stranger sitting at the foot of it. The man had steel-white hair and a big handlebar shaped moustache to match. His eyes were an icy blue and framed with jet black eyebrows that were in complete contrast to his white hair and moustache. He looked like a photographic negative. Despite his hair colour, his face looked younger, as if in his early forties. It was tanned as if he had just traveled from a very hot climate. He wore an expensive looking suit with a matching tie.

‘Where am I?’ Zach croaked, his mouth feeling dry and his throat sore.

The stranger stood-up, he was tall about six foot and slender. He poured a glass of water and handed it to Zach.

‘You’re in hospital,’ the man said, propping up Zach’s pillows so he could take a sip.

‘In hospital?’ Zack asked confused.

‘Don’t you remember what happened?’ The man said, stroking his overgrown moustache with a set of thick fingers.

Ignoring his question, Zach said, ‘who are you?’

‘I’m a police officer. My name’s Declan Tanner. Dec to my friends.’

‘What do you want?’ Zach asked, taking another sip of the water.

Sitting on the edge of the bed and meeting him with his cold blue eyes, Tanner said, ‘first, I want to know how you got onto that plane? I’ve checked with U.S. customs and you didn’t board the flight in Orlando.’

Zach refused to meet his gaze. ‘And second?’

‘I want to know what the wolf and the bat-thing have to do with all of this?’

‘Shouldn’t I have a solicitor or something before I answer your questions?’ Zach asked, ‘isn’t that what happens on the T.V.?’

Tanner smiled. ‘Look I’m not treating you as a criminal. As far as I can see you’re the victim. I just want to know how you got onto that flight?’

Placing the cup of water on the bedside cabinet, Zach winced at the pain in the back of his head. Once he had made himself comfortable again, he said, ‘you wouldn’t believe me if I told you the truth.’

‘Try me?’ Tanner said, folding his stocky hands in his lap.

‘I came through a doorway.’

‘A doorway?’

This is where I get warned for wasting police time! Zach thought to himself.

‘Go on, you have my complete attention,’ Tanner told him.

Zach eyed him and then continued.

‘I came from a world called Endra. I’m not an alien or anything like that. I’m human. I come from Milton Keynes. Me and my sister, Anna, were sent to live with my uncle after my parents died in an air crash. But he’s like weird and he’s giving her these odd looking tablets. He says he’s a doctor but I’m not so sure.’

Zach paused and seeing that Tanner hadn’t taken his eyes from him, he said, ‘shouldn’t you be writing this all down or something.’

‘Go on with your story,’ Tanner said.

‘Ok. Where was I? Ah, yes. Anyway, I found this door sticking out of the sand on the beach near my uncle’s cottage. I opened it and stepped into this world called Endra. It’s kinda like a reflection of Earth but its being destroyed by this evil sorcerer called Throat. Throat is my uncle’s reflection.’

‘Reflection?’ Tanner asked, with a smile twitching beneath his droopy moustache.

‘Yeah, some of us have reflections in Endra. Anyway, I made friends with this… someone called William. He has a lot of hair. Then there was this beautiful girl called Neanna and she could move fast from one place to another. She called it blinking.’

‘Blinking?’ Tanner mused.

‘You don’t believe a word of this do you?’ Zach asked Tanner.

Tanner looked at him for what seemed like forever. When the silence became so unbearable that Zach felt like screaming, Tanner stood-up and said:

‘I think you need some rest. I would like to speak with your uncle before we chat again.’

‘My uncle is involved in all of this. I know you think I’m going insane, but he is trying to kill my sister and the Queen.’

Tanner raised his big black eyebrows. ‘The Queen, you say?’

‘Not our Queen – not Queen Elizabeth,’ Zach said. ‘He’s trying to kill the Queen of Endra.’

‘And why would he want to do a thing like that?’

‘Because the Queen of Endra and my sister are reflections,’ Zach said.

Turning, Tanner went to the door. Pulling it open, he looked back at Zach.

‘I’ll be back tomorrow with your uncle and we can all discuss it then.’

‘No wait!’ Zach said as Tanner left the room, closing the door behind him.

Outside Tanner turned to the police officer that was guarding the door to Zach’s room.

‘I’ll be back in the morning constable. Make sure the boy doesn’t leave.’ He then thrust his hands into his trouser pockets and walked away.

Chapter 22

William and Neanna had watched from the shadows of a nearby alleyway as Zach had been carried into the ambulance on a stretcher. A man and woman dressed in green coloured overalls slammed the doors closed and went to the front of the vehicle. With sirens screeching and lights pulsating, the ambulance rushed away up Victoria Street pursued by several police officers on motorbikes.

‘We’ll have to follow that flashing thing,’ Neanna said.

‘I’m fast but not that fast,’ William replied as he stared at her in the darkness with his bright red eyes.

‘I can fly after it and then come back for you,’ Neanna suggested.

‘No need,’ William told her as he began to sniff the air with his long white snout. ‘I have Zach’s scent. I can follow it.’

‘Are you sure?’ Neanna asked.

‘Yes,’ William said. ‘Now get going!’

Without another word, Neanna rolled her shoulders beneath her coat and unfurled her wings. Tilting her head back, she rocketed into the night sky like a firework.

William looked across the road at where the ambulance had been. He could see thin wispy tendrils of colour floating a few inches above the street. Just as he had seen Zach through his spectacles in Endra, he could now see his friends scent, and it glowed a warm orange. Keeping to the shadows of shop doorways and the overhangs of tall buildings, William followed the orange wisps of colour along Victoria Street, past Westminster Cathedral, New Scotland Yard, the Houses of Parliament and across Westminster Bridge until the tendrils of orange disappeared into a large building.

From a side alley, he heard his name being called and he looked to see Neanna peeking out from behind several tall industrial rubbish bins. William skulked into the alley and passed through hundreds of tendrils of mauve and black. These were bad scents; the smells of decaying waste and rotting food.

‘They’ve taken Zach into that big building. It’s a hospital,’ Neanna told him as he came to rest beside her.

‘Is he injured?’ William barked.

‘I don’t know. I couldn’t get too close, but he looked unconscious.’

‘Maybe one of those peace…I mean cops, shot him?’

‘No, I don’t think so,’ Neanna whispered in the darkness.

‘How can you be so sure?’

‘I would have been able to smell the blood. You don’t get shot without losing some blood and believe me I would have smelt it!’ She breathed in then exhaled, releasing a plume of breath which floated away like a tiny cloud.

William eyed her and said, ‘are you feeling ok?’

Neanna nodded. ‘Just thirsty.’

William had heard the tales of Slath that had been through the doorways into Earth. Most never returning as they had become addicts – addicted to the blood of humans. He knew that if Neanna stayed for too long, if her thirst became too strong and she tasted human blood – just one little drop – she may never want to return home. She might not be able to.

‘We’re gonna have to get Zach out of there and back to Endra as quick as possible,’ he said thinking aloud.

‘What’s the plan?’ Neanna asked.

‘Dunno yet, but I’ll think of something,’ William said, settling down and resting his snout on his giant paws.

‘Well think of something quick,’ Neanna said. ‘I don’t know what time sunrise is in Earth, but I don’t want to be here to find out!’

William lay silent for the next few hours in the darkness of the alleyway, while Neanna sat beside him, her eyes closed. The wolf knew she wasn’t sleeping. He could tell that she was meditating, trying to ignore her thirst which grew more intense with every moment they stayed in Earth.

‘How you doing?’ he asked her after a few hours had passed.

‘It feels like I’ve got an itch that I just can’t reach and it’s driving me mad,’ Neanna said through clenched teeth. ‘How you doing?’

‘What ya mean?’ William asked.

‘The plan! The plan!’ Neanna hissed.

Then standing on all fours and peering across the street, William said, ‘look who it is!’

Neanna opened her eyes and followed William’s stare.

‘I don’t believe it,’ she whispered, watching Fandel Black climb from his car and skulk into the main entrance of St Thomas’ hospital.

‘I have an idea. Follow me,’ William said, bounding across the street.

After being pointed in the right direction by the night porter, Fandel made his way through the labyrinth of corridors, passageways and stairwells until he found his nephew’s room. He knew he had found the right place because only his obnoxious nephew could command the presence of a police officer on guard outside his door.

Without making contact with the police officer, Fandel went to enter Zach’s room. Before he had even managed to push the door open an inch, the police officer blocked his way with one muscular arm.

‘Whoa! Hang on a minute. You can’t just go bowling in there. Who are you?’ the police officer asked, eyeballing Fandel.