Free The Black Tattoo by Sam Enthoven

said Charlie.   "That's what you're saying."
    "Yes," said Esme.
    "And that's what this demon wants to do:   to open the gateway to Hell."
    "That's what we think.   Yes," said Esme.
    "O- kay ," said Charlie.   "Now we're getting somewhere."
    Everyone fell silent.   Charlie rubbed a hand across his brow, back and forth.   His eyes were open, looking down.   No one spoke.
    "Well," said Charlie finally, looking up, "it's pretty obvious, isn't it?"
    He began to grin wildly.
    "What's obvious?" said Raymond.
    "What we do ," said Charlie.   "It's simple!   We wait at the Fracture for the Scourge to make its move, and then, when it comes, we kick its arse! "
    There was another pause.
    "You're going to kick its arse," echoed Raymond, looking hard at Charlie.   "You," he emphasized, even more heavily.
    "I said we're going to kick its arse, actually," Charlie replied, his smile vanishing as quickly as it had come, "but if it comes down to it, then yeah, that's exactly what I'm going to do.   I'm going to wait for it to come, I'm going to square up to it, and then I'm going to kick its—"
    And at that precise moment, a phone rang.
    It was a mobile phone.   For a dreadful second, Jack thought it might be his, but it was Charlie's.   Everyone watched as Charlie fished his mobile out of his pocket, looked at the screen, and scowled.   It was no use — the thing still kept ringing.   He pressed the button and held it up to his ear.
    "Mum," he said, "this really isn't a good time."
    Mrs. Farnsworth's voice was only audible as a sort of distant quacking.   Everyone was pretending not to listen, but of course, they all were.
    "Look, Mum, can I call you back in a minute?" tried Charlie.   "Me and Jack are sort of in the middle of something here."
    Listening, he frowned.
    "Well, no, I'm not at Jack's house .   And what do you think you're doing checking on me anyw—?"
    "Charlie sighed again and put a hand up to his brow.
    "I'm with some friends of ours," he said.   "Round their place.   I'm in the West End, if you must know—"
    Quack quack .
    "Friends from school.   Well, not school.   I—"
    Mrs. Farnsworth kept talking, and a horrible expression appeared on Charlie's face.
    "No!" he said.   "God!   No!   Look, I'm not with Dad .   All right?   Of course I'd tell you if I was with Dad!"
    The silence in the room became even more awkward.
    "What are you talking about, 'behind your back'?   I wouldn't —"
    Suddenly Charlie just looked dreadfully, horribly tired.
    "But Mum, I—"
    Still the voice kept going.
    "All right," said Charlie quietly.   "All right .   I'll be there as soon as I can.   Yeah.   You too.   Yeah.   See you later.   Bye."
    He pressed the button to end the call and looked up — just as everyone else looked away, pretending they hadn't been watching him.
    "Listen," he said, "Me and Jack've got to go."
    Jack was on the point of saying something about this, but the look on Charlie's face silenced him.
    "All right," said Raymond.   "On you go, then."
    "We don't know whether anything would've happened tonight anyway," said Esme.
    "But I want you here bright and early tomorrow!" called Raymond.   But on 'tomorrow' the double doors of the butterfly room had already slammed shut.   Charlie and Jack were gone.
    "Well!" said Raymond after a moment.   "A right little know-it-all, isn't he?   Anyone'd think he was the one who'd trained all his life, instead of—"
    "Yeah," said Esme glumly.
    Raymond bit his lip.
    "All right," she went on, once she'd had a moment to concentrate.   "I'll take first shift at the Fracture, I guess.   You go see if you can't track down Felix and Jessica."
    Hearing the uncertainty in her voice, Raymond lifted his eyebrows at her.
    "I know!" said Esme.   "I just..."   She paused, shaking her head to herself.   "I guess I always thought that when the time came it would all be clearer somehow.   This..."   She shrugged helplessly.   "This isn't happening at all how