Free The Beast by Barry Hutchison Page B

treating you?’
    ‘Sorry... are you mental ?’ I asked.
    ‘What? I’m just asking how you’ve been. What’s so bad about that? We’re bonding here.’
    ‘No,’ I growled. ‘We aren’t.’
    ‘Ah, suit yourself,’ he said, and he went back to looking out of the window.
    ‘What are you doing here?’ I asked him. ‘What do you want?’
    He shrugged. ‘Some father–son time, that’s all. Not too much to ask, is it?’
    ‘Yes,’ I replied, coldly, ‘it is. What, you think after everything you’ve done you can just drop in for a cosy chat whenever you feel like it? It doesn’t work that way.’
    ‘After everything I’ve done?’ he said, looking genuinely puzzled. ‘Why, what have I done?’
    I almost choked. ‘What do you...? What have you...?’ I began counting things off on my fingers. ‘You sent Mr Mumbles after me. You sent Caddie after me. You sent the Crowmaster, and because of that my mum is in hospital and Marion is dead.’
    ‘Whoa, back up. That’s not my fault,’ he said, holding up his hands. ‘You could’ve protected them if you’d wanted to.’
    ‘What? No I couldn’t!’
    ‘Of course you could, kiddo. With your abilities you can do anything you want.’ He gave a sad shake of his head. ‘Maybe deep down you just didn’t want to save them, after all.’
    ‘Shut up,’ I warned him.
    ‘What’s the point in being special if you don’t put your talents to use?’ he asked, breaking into a smile. ‘You could’ve saved them. You could’ve saved everyone . But no, you just flail around, too scared to realise your real potential. It’s a shame. It’s a damn shame.’
    ‘I know what you’re doing,’ I said. ‘The Crowmaster told me everything. He told me exactly why you want me to use my abilities, and he told me what would happen if I did.’
    The grin stayed fixed on my dad’s face, but his eyes told another story. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘You mentioned that.’ He pointed to the bruise on his face. ‘Just before you gave me this, remember? What exactly did he say?’
    ‘That you want to bring the Darkest Corners over here into this world. And you need me to do it. The more I use my powers, the weaker the barrier between the worlds becomes. That’s right, isn’t it? He was telling the truth.’
    To my surprise, he didn’t deny it. ‘Yes, son, the scarecrow was telling the truth,’ he said. ‘You might as well know. No harm in it. It’s not like you can stop it now, anyway. Every time you use your... gift , the doorway between this world and mine opens a little further. Use it enough, and we can all go free.’
    ‘You’re already free.’
    ‘Temporarily,’ he sighed. ‘Only temporarily. And, believe it or not, I’m not just thinking about me. I’m not the only one trapped over there, you know?’
    ‘Yeah, I know,’ I said. ‘You sent some to visit me, remember?’
    ‘I don’t mean those... things ,’ he spat. ‘I mean normal people. Good people. Kids, even, all doing their best to hide out and stay alive.’
    Immediately, I thought of I.C., the boy I’d found hiding in the hospital in the Darkest Corners. He had been scared and alone, but try as I might, I couldn’t bring him back with me to the real world. I’d had no choice but to leave him there, although I had – I hoped – arranged for him to be looked after.
    ‘You can help them, son. You can help all of them get out. They’d be safe.’
    ‘They’d bring all the monsters with them,’ I said. ‘They wouldn’t be safe. No one would be safe.’
    He threw back his head and laughed. ‘OK, you got me,’ he cackled. ‘I couldn’t give a damn about any of them. Let the freaks tear every last one of them to pieces, what do I care?’
    ‘Then why are you doing all this?’ I asked.
    His laughter stopped. ‘Everything I do, son – every single thing I’ve done for the past decade – I’ve done for one reason and one reason only.’ He looked me up and down, his face a mask of