 
# Death and the Schoolboy

By R.A. Gregory

Copyright 2017 Robin Alexander Gregory

Smashwords Edition

This is a work of fiction. None of the characters in this book are based on real people, alive or dead. Any resemblance to an actual person in name or otherwise is purely coincidental.

Also by the same author:

Death and the Atom Bomb (Book 2 in the DATS Trilogy)

Death and the End (Book 3 in the DATS Trilogy)

Drynwideon, The Sword Of Destiny – Yeah, Right

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favourite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Acknowledgements

To Ollie, who wasn't born when this book was begun, but who I hope grows up to enjoy it nonetheless. And to Ian, for his help with proofreading and improving an earlier version of this text.
Table of Contents

Title page

Chapter 1 – Johnny

Chapter 2 – Eddie

Chapter 3 – The Accident

Chapter 4 – Realisation

Chapter 5 - Waiting for the Ghost Train

Chapter 6 – All Aboard!

Chapter 7 – Mrs Death

Chapter 8 – Questions

Chapter 9 – Uncle Lucius

Chapter 10 – Problems and Solutions

Chapter 11 – Soul Searching

Chapter 12 – Something's Wrong

Chapter 13 – The Mission

Chapter 14 – Running Out of Time

Chapter 15 – The Mountain

Chapter 16 – The Fight

Chapter 17 – Lost Souls

Chapter 18 - Homecoming

Epilogue

Also by the same author

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#  Chapter 1 – Johnny

Johnny Jenkinson sniffed and wiped a tear away from his cheek. He hated his new school and most of all, Toby Brown and his gang. They were two years older than Johnny and loved nothing better than to tease and torment the younger children. And, of course, being a new pupil and small for his age, Johnny was the perfect target for their pranks. This time it had been a dunking in the school toilets. The time before that, a lunchtime 'wedgie' in the middle of the dining hall and the time before that, a sound beating behind the Gymnasium. Johnny had told his teachers, but they didn't understand. They just said it was nothing serious and told Toby not to play so rough, which just made things worse for poor Johnny.

His parents didn't understand either. Johnny's father, a computer salesman just patted him on the head when he came home from work and said: "Boys will be boys." His mother was more sympathetic, but she couldn't really understand what he was going through either. After all, she had been the prettiest and most popular girl at school in her day, so never suffered the unwanted attentions of the school bully and his gang. So, after a while, Johnny just stopped telling them and suffered in silence.

As he tucked his ripped shirt back into his trousers and started to comb his messed-up hair, Johnny shivered. The dunking in the toilet had been particularly frightening. A few more moments and he could have drowned. It was only when one of Toby's gang had got scared and shouted, "C'mon Toby, let him go or we'll be in real trouble," that he'd been released. Johnny didn't know why Toby disliked him so much, but there was something in his eyes which made Johnny feel very small indeed.

It hadn't always been like this. In Johnny's last school, in the country, he'd had lots of friends to play with and bullies were unknown. In fact, until he moved to the city he'd thought bullies were made-up things, like ghosts, werewolves and bogeymen. If only Dad hadn't got that new job, he'd still be in the countryside, where life was so much better.

As Johnny sat miserably against the wall of the cubicle, lost in thoughts of his old life and friends, the school bell rang, signalling the end of another awful day. Long after the sounds of the departing schoolchildren had died away, Johnny rose from his hiding place and slowly made his way home.

I need a friend, he thought.

# Chapter 2 – Eddie

Far away, in a place not marked on any map, sat a small, thin figure, dressed all in black. He was sitting on a hill, watching a small herd of sheep and lazily knotting a blade of grass between his fingers. His fingers were extremely bony, with large knuckles and pale skin stretched tightly over them. Both the hill he was sitting on and the blade of grass were a dull grey colour. In fact, everything around him was grey. The clouds were grey, the sky was grey, even the sheep were grey. As the sun broke briefly through the clouds, it too was grey and looked more like the moon than the sun.

This place is so dull. Nothing ever happens here, thought the figure to himself and standing up, moved over to the sheep, which were happily munching away on the grey grass. Although the sheep were munching it, they weren't actually eating the grass. Being skeletons, they couldn't. No matter how fast or how much they ate, the grass just kept falling out of them. Stretching out a bony hand, he gently stroked the nearest sheep.

"Hello Gretel," he said. "You're enjoying that aren't you?" The sheep looked up at him and gave a small, contented belch, even though she shouldn't have been able to. "Good girl," said the bony figure and sat down again with a sigh.

Being the youngest Death was no fun, thought Eddie. It was all work, work, work. Tend the sheep, tend the souls, tend the garden. There was no one his own age to play with. There wasn't even a school where he could learn new things. Instead, it was just the same, boring routine, day after day after day.

"Eddie Death, what you need is a friend," he said out loud, the emptiness around him echoing his voice over and over. No sooner were the words out of his mouth, than a bell began to ring mournfully in the distance. It came from the old railway station at the bottom of the hill.

"Come along Eddie," shouted a voice from further up the hill. "Time for work and don't forget your sickle this time."

"Yes, Mum," replied Eddie and standing up, he produced a small silver sickle from his inside pocket. Rubbing the handle thoughtfully, he suddenly had an idea. As he began walking down the hill towards the train station, he smiled to himself. Eddie, you're a genius! You need a friend and that's exactly what you're going to get.

# Chapter 3 – The Accident

"Bye love," came the call from Johnny's mother. "And try to have a good day at school, won't you?" She was upstairs doing her hair and didn't see Johnny walk glumly out of the front door.

Today was 'Road Safety Day', which always meant some particularly unpleasant humiliation from Toby Brown and his gang. PC Thompson would come around and make sure that everyone's bike was safe for the road. Of course, Toby would ensure that Johnny's bike had a buckled wheel, or loose handlebars, which would mean a telling off from PC Thompson in front of the entire school. That would be followed by a private lecture from the headmaster, for bringing the good name of the school into disrepute and usually finished up with a beating from Toby and his gang on the way home. As he buckled up his bike helmet, Johnny thought about not taking the bike, but sighed, as he realised that he would get into just as much trouble for not bringing it, as he would if he did.

As he cycled slowly towards the school, Johnny had a feeling of impending doom. Something about the day felt wrong. The sun was shining, and it wasn't windy, yet it felt cold, almost wintry. As he cycled along the pavement, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Something definitely wasn't right. Stopping his bike, Johnny got off and carefully checked the tyres, gears, brakes and handlebars. Nothing was wrong. Everything was tight and properly adjusted, just like when he'd checked the night before.

"Johnny, you're being silly," he said to himself, and after taking several deep breaths to calm his nerves, he jumped back in the saddle and set off again.

As he turned the corner, he stared in horror. There, waiting for him, was Toby Brown and his gang, all on brand-new mountain bikes.

"Get him!" yelled Toby and as one, the gang began to cycle towards him. Johnny rode his bike off the pavement and began to pedal furiously along the road, narrowly avoiding the oncoming bullies. He glanced behind him just in time to see Toby and the gang turn their bikes around and renew the chase. Johnny's breath came in short, sharp gasps, as he struggled to keep ahead of the gang. He'd never pedalled so fast before and his legs ached as they churned around and around and around. Another quick glance behind told him that Toby and his gang were gaining on him. It was only a matter of time before they caught Johnny and started hitting him. And this time, Johnny knew, there would be no mercy from the older boy. You didn't run away from Toby Brown and get away with it that was for sure.

With grim determination, he continued pedalling, knowing that his only chance was to reach the safety of the school gates before the gang caught him. One final glance behind showed that Toby was only six bike lengths behind him and catching up fast. With a last frantic effort, he rounded the corner by the school entrance, the edge of his pedal scraping the tarmac. Then, a loud bang, a sickening thump and Johnny knew no more.

# Chapter 4 – Realisation

When Johnny woke up, he saw that he was lying down next to his bike. A small crowd of people had gathered around him and there was a lot of hushed talking going on. Someone was crying, a strange strangled sound in amongst all of the mumbling. In the distance, he could hear an ambulance siren wailing.

"It's okay, I'm alright," he said picking himself up off the ground. "I just skidded, that's all," but no-one seemed to notice. "Hey! I'm not hurt," he said in a louder voice, but again no-one seemed to take any notice. "What's going on!" shouted Johnny. "Why aren't you listening to me? I'm okay!" But again, the crowd ignored him.

Johnny looked down at himself. That's odd, he thought, I don't seem to be hurt at all. I don't have any cuts or bruises. Not even my clothes are torn. With a growing sense of unease, Johnny glanced around again. What he saw made tears well up in his eyes and a lump appear in his throat. He gasped in shock.

On the ground was his bike, the frame almost completely bent in half and next to that lay a small, crumpled figure wearing the same clothes as him. There was blood on the ground and what looked like a bone sticking out from the trouser leg. His bike helmet was broken in two. A car was parked at an odd angle to the road. It had a big dent in the front. Steam was coming from the radiator and a man was being comforted by several of the passers-by.

"I didn't even see him," the man said. "He just came out of nowhere. I didn't have time to stop."

The man began sobbing and someone put an arm around him, saying "There, there. It wasn't your fault. It was just an awful accident, that's all."

With a growing sense of panic, Johnny stared again at the crowd of people. There, in the middle of the group, looking pale and frightened, were Toby Brown and his gang. They were just staring at the body on the ground and shaking. None of them seemed much like bullies anymore, just very small and very frightened children. Seeing them like this scared Johnny so much that he started yelling at them. "I'm not dead. Look at me, I'm not dead!"

"Oh yes you are," said a voice behind him. Turning around in surprise, Johnny noticed for the first time, a small, thin child, dressed in black jeans and wearing a long black coat. Johnny couldn't see his face because the hood of the coat was pulled up, but it was obvious that the child could see him.

"You can see me!" cried Johnny in relief.

"Yes," said the child, "but no-one else can. All they can see is your body lying down there on the road."

"But... but," said Johnny, trying to speak against the rising fear which now threatened to engulf him.

"No buts," said the child. "It's all over. There's nothing for you to be afraid of now. No bullies, no beatings, no nothing. Come on. Let's play!"

And with that, Eddie Death, for that was who he was, grabbed hold of Johnny's hand and pulled him clear of the crowd.

What was strange for Johnny was that as soon as Eddie touched his hand, all of his fear and anxiety left him. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. For the first time in ages, Johnny smiled, a wide and open smile of real happiness.

"Okay, let's play," he said and together they ran off, laughing down the road.

# Chapter 5 - Waiting for the Ghost Train

"So, what happens now?" said Johnny. They'd been running for what seemed like hours and had long since passed the edge of the town, running now in the glorious countryside of Johnny's upbringing.

"We go up," said Eddie, and with a mischievous grin, pulled Johnny's hand skyward. In a moment, they were off the ground and running in the air. Johnny couldn't believe it.

"This is amazing," he shouted above the roar of the rushing wind in his ears.

"Yes, it is, isn't it?" said Eddie, pulling them into an even steeper climb. Within minutes they were high above the clouds, running in the bluest of skies, with the sun beating down on their backs. "I always like this bit. It's so much fun," Eddie said. Then, pointing to a cloud far higher than the ones they'd already passed through, he shouted to Johnny, "What does that remind you of?"

Johnny stared at the cloud for a moment, then replied: "It looks a bit like a train station, I think. There's the clock tower and that long bit either side of it looks like it must be the platform."

"Spot on!" cried Eddie above the roar of the wind. "That's where we're going. To the Station in the Sky. We've got a Ghost Train to catch!"

As they neared the cloud, it became clear that it was indeed a train station. What any passing aircraft pilot would have made of it is anyone's guess, but they would have probably needed a strong cup of tea and a lie down once they'd landed. For hanging in the air before them, defying all of the laws of gravity and several others besides, was a huge train station, made entirely out of dark grey, almost black stone.

As Johnny and Eddie arrived on the platform, Johnny noticed that they were not alone. All around them were people. Most were old, some incredibly so, but among them were also children of varying ages. The one thing that everyone had in common was that they were all smiling. In one corner, a group of children were playing, laughing freely as they did handstands and told each other jokes. Further down the platform, a group of grown-ups were staring at themselves and each other, as if in disbelief.

One of them spotted Johnny and detached himself from the group. He waved as he wandered over and clapping Johnny on the back as if he were an old friend, said: "Do you know, I've been waiting seven years for this day? Back there I was so ill. I couldn't walk, and I couldn't talk. I couldn't do anything for myself but lie in that awful hospital bed and wait for the end. The doctors tried their best, but they couldn't cure me. The pain was terrible. And then today, a new doctor came to see me. Dressed all in black he was. I knew then that my time was up, and I thanked him for coming to take me. Now, look at me! I'm just like I was before the illness. All the pain has gone, and I know this is only the beginning. I'm going to keep on getting better and better. I just know it!" And with that, he slapped Johnny on the back again and strode cheerfully across the platform to rejoin his group.

"This is the best part of the day," said Eddie, smiling at Johnny. "All of their pain, suffering and confusion has gone. Now, they're just quietly waiting for the next part of their journey to begin."

"Talking of waiting, my legs ache from all that running. Why don't we sit down in the waiting room?" said Johnny, pointing towards a large, grey door, not far from where they were standing.

"No!" said Eddie with alarm. "You can't go in there. If you do, you'll never come back out again. You see those two figures in black by the door?"

Johnny peered closer and sure enough, the door was framed by two huge figures, dressed in jet-black robes darker than the darkest night. Johnny shivered, as he continued to watch them. There was something distinctly sinister about the way that they were standing, and they looked as if they could do very unpleasant things to a person without worrying about it in the slightest.

Eddie turned to Johnny and said in a hushed voice: "Everyone comes here when they die. It's the rules. Those people who know that they've led good lives, or at least think they have, stand outside and wait for the Ghost Train. But there are people who know that they've led very bad lives and they stay in the waiting room. For them, the Ghost Train is a terrifying thing. The figures by the door are Deaths like me. In fact, the one on the right is Uncle Fergus. Normally he breeds rabbits, but today he's on guard duty. While he'll quite happily let anyone in, and believe me, some good souls do go in, if they try to get out again, well, let's just say that it's better to look away."

All the time that Eddie had been talking, Johnny had the feeling that the train station was moving and as Eddie finished speaking, there was a small, but definite lurch, as if something had collided with it.

"Ah, we've arrived," said Eddie with a toothy grin. "Quick, there's something I want to show you."

And without waiting for a reply, he grabbed Johnny's sleeve and led him off the platform towards the station entrance.

# Chapter 6 – All Aboard!

As they passed through the huge, stone arch of the station entrance, Eddie glanced quickly around him. "This way. We don't have much time," he said and led Johnny out into the street.

"Where are we going?" asked Johnny.

"To my secret lookout," replied Eddie. "I want you to see the Ghost Train before anyone else does."

As they hurried down the winding cobblestone road, Johnny looked around him. The street was lined with small houses and shops, all made out of the same grey stone as the train station. Apart from the greyness, which coloured everything, including the grass, it was rather a pleasant place. It reminded Johnny of the village where he had been born.

After a few minutes, the houses and shops gave way to fields and pretty soon, Johnny and Eddie were running up a hill towards an old, grey farmhouse. Just before they reached it, Eddie stopped and turned around. Sitting on the ground with a light thump, he swept his arm round in a dramatic arc and said: "Welcome to my world."

Sitting down beside Eddie, Johnny gazed at the sight spread out before them.

Far below was the train station and village, which they had come from. The village was nestled at the bottom of a small valley. Gently sloping hills rose on either side, giving the place a quiet, almost sleepy feel to it. Beyond them, Johnny could see the cobblestone road, winding its way past remote farms and cottages, on its journey into the distance. Even further away, on the edge of the horizon, was a towering mountain range.

Unlike the gentle hills, the mountains were dark and foreboding. Their craggy peaks were covered with ice and snow, and Johnny couldn't help but think that there was something cruel about them. With a shudder, he thought it was just the sort of place where ghosts, werewolves and bogeymen might live. At the foot of the mountains, Johnny could just make out a crooked tower, standing alone in the wilderness. A solitary light shone from a window high in the tower and Johnny had the strangest feeling that he was being watched.

Before he could ask who lived there, Eddie pointed towards the edge of the village and shouted: "Look, here comes the Ghost Train!"

Johnny heard the Ghost Train before he actually saw it. A huge, heavy chugging sound filled the valley, growing louder every second. Then, from around a curve in the hill came the train.

Johnny had never seen anything like it. The front of the train was as sleek as a bullet and gave the suggestion that it could do a million miles an hour without even trying. As it moved, it glowed with a soft metallic white light, which lit up everything around it. And as it rounded the corner, Johnny could see that the leading carriages were also made of the same glowing material. It looked as though a huge diamond necklace was making its way slowly towards the village.

As it pulled into the station and came to a halt, Johnny noticed that the last few carriages were different from the others. Rather than having gracefully flowing lines and shining with that beautiful gossamer light, these carriages were completely dark, with no real windows and a sort of 'cobbled together' feel about them. They looked as if they had been designed to keep things from getting out and Johnny was in no doubt that they were intended for the people in the waiting room.

As Johnny watched, people started to board the train. Those on the platform went first; the grown-ups carefully checking to make sure that the children were safely on board, before they climbed on themselves.

"Shouldn't we get back down there, before it leaves?" asked Johnny, who didn't like to think about being mixed up with the people from the waiting room, in case he went into the wrong carriage.

Eddie turned to face Johnny and pulled back his hood, to reveal a sad, thin, bony young face.

"You could stay here," he said. "I get so lonely. I'm the youngest Death there is and there's no-one else to play with. I know that everything's grey and boring here, but I'm sure that with you around we could brighten things up."

"But, if you want to go, you can," continued Eddie. "All I have to do is cut your life-band and you'll be on the train."

He pointed to a narrow leather bracelet around Johnny's wrist and pulled out the silver sickle from his pocket. "And all I wanted was a friend," he said sadly.

Johnny stared down at the life-band and then back to Eddie. The figure before him looked so upset and there was something pleading in those deep-set eyes that made Johnny turn away again.

"All I wanted was a friend," he said to himself softly. Suddenly, the memory of a small schoolboy, crying in the toilets after yet another beating by Toby Brown and his gang came back to him and Johnny straightened up. Smiling warmly at the glum little figure before him, he said: "Okay Eddie, let's be friends!"

Below them, a ghostly whistle sounded, and a booming voice called out: "All aboard!"

A moment later, with a deep rumbling sound, the Ghost Train pulled slowly out of the station, on its journey to the afterlife.

Johnny grinned at Eddie and said: "After all, it's too late now."

# Chapter 7 – Mrs Death

As they turned and walked towards the farmhouse, Eddie regarded Johnny.

"We're going to have to disguise you," he said. "My mum will kill me if she finds out that you missed the train. She's very particular about things like that. Well, she won't really kill me, she can't, but you know what I mean," he said with a smirk.

Then, after a short pause, he added: "I know what we can do. You can borrow one of my old robes and we'll pretend that you're another young Death, like me."

And with that, Eddie ducked into the old wooden barn next to the farmhouse and returned carrying a moth-eaten, faded old robe. It was more grey than black, but that just meant it blended in well with the surroundings. Johnny tried the robe on. It had quite a few holes in it and was a bit on the small side, but Eddie wouldn't be put off.

"Perfect!" he said with an even wider grin, "Mum will never suspect a thing!"

Johnny wasn't so sure. Looking down, he could quite clearly see his feet sticking out from the bottom of the robe and he was pretty certain that Deaths' didn't walk around in trainers, or anything else resembling modern footwear for that matter.

As they approached the grey timber door of the farmhouse, Eddie said: "Okay, just leave the talking to me and everything will be fine."

Johnny shuddered as Eddie casually pushed open the door and shouted: "Hi Mum!" He had a very bad feeling about this.

The door opened onto a large kitchen. As Johnny had half-expected, everything in it was a dull grey. An enormous grey stove sat in one corner, throwing out a furious heat and grey light over the flagstones. A big, grey, wooden table occupied the middle of the room and it was behind this that a tall, black-robed figure sat, with its back to the door.

"Hi Eddie," said the figure. "You're late. Was it a busy day today?"

"Yes, Mum, you could say that," answered Eddie with just a hint of a giggle.

"Well, I'm glad that you're back. The sheep need seeing to and your dad needs a hand in the woolshed," she said, turning to address Eddie. She hadn't expected to see anyone else except Eddie and was momentarily surprised by the presence of another Death-like figure in the kitchen.

"Who's your friend?" she asked slowly, regarding Johnny with a cold, hard stare.

Unlike Eddie, who still looked like a boy, albeit a very thin and very pale one, Mrs Death was a skeleton. Not a scrap of flesh sat on the pearly white bones of her face. Among the other Deaths in the village, she was considered quite a beauty, however, Johnny's shivering went up a notch or two, as he found himself being glared at by two fiery red eyes, set in a brilliant white skull.

"Uh, he's an exchange student, from the other side of the Impassable Mountains," lied Eddie quickly. "I think he looks after the souls of German children."

Johnny cringed. The only German words he knew were from old war movies and a cross channel ferry he'd once been on with his parents and neither experience was going to help him now.

"Really?" said Mrs Death, an icy tone entering her voice. "What's his name?"

"Um, um ... Boris. Yes, that's it, Boris!" said Eddie a little too loudly, clutching at the first name that came into his mind.

"How interesting," said his mother, in a voice that could freeze stone. "You see, I just got a message from Uncle Fergus down at the station, saying that he'd seen you sneaking out of the railway station with a human boy. Your friend Boris wouldn't be a human child by any chance, would he?"

"No Mum, no, of course not. He's Boris, the exchange student, from um, um." Eddie's voice died away, as his brain went into overdrive, desperately trying to think of a plausible explanation for Johnny's presence. "Um, err, um..." he went on.

"Silence!" roared his mother.

She drew herself up to her full height and towering over the two boys shouted: "Edward Ravenswood Death, how dare you lie to me!"

Eddie hated it when his mother called him by his full name. It meant that he was in trouble for sure. And when she stood up to scold him, it meant double trouble. He'd be cleaning out the stables for months after this and that was only if he was lucky.

His mother continued in a terrifying voice. "Not only is it hard to believe that this young Death crossed the _Impassable_ Mountains alone, but he is also wearing jeans, trainers and a tatty old robe with your name embroidered on it! Furthermore, there's a patch of green outside where the pair of you were sitting and ever since he's been standing here, the kitchen has been growing more and more colourful! How do you explain that?"

Johnny and Eddie turned around and sure enough, behind them, the huge grey door was now a deep walnut brown. The flagstones, while still grey, were more lifelike than before. The stove was coal black and the light it threw out was now a deep, glorious orange. Neither boy could believe it. There was colour everywhere. What was going on?

Mrs Death sank back into her chair, shaking her head. All trace of her anger had gone, being replaced instead by a quiet sadness. "Eddie, Eddie, Eddie," she said softly. "What am I going to do with you? I've told you so many times before that you can't bring humans here. It's not their place. He's only been here a few hours and already things are starting to change. He can't stay, he'll upset the balance of things."

"But Mum, all I wanted was a friend to play with," said Eddie miserably. "It's so lonely here and I'm fed up with always being by myself."

"I know, but he can't stay," said his mother tenderly. "You know I don't make the rules. Now take him back to the station and make sure he gets on the train before it's too late."

Eddie paused. He knew then that he was in really big trouble. Very slowly and in a small, stammering voice, he said: "But Mum, the train's already left. We were sitting on the hill when it went."

Mrs Death sat bolt upright in her chair. "What did you say?" she spoke in an anxious voice. "You missed the train? You missed the only train for a week! Oh Eddie, what have you done? This is so much more serious than I thought."

Standing up, she ran her bony fingers over her skull. If she had had hair, she would have been tying it into knots, Johnny thought.

"What to do? What to do?" she muttered to herself as she strode around the kitchen table, now the same walnut brown colour as the door.

Eddie was strangely quiet and was standing with his head hung in shame. He'd never seen his mother like this before and it rather frightened him. Glancing sideways at Johnny, he whispered: "Say something, Johnny. Please, say something."

Gathering up all his courage, Johnny spoke in his best voice: "Please Mrs Death, Eddie didn't mean to do anything wrong. We were both lonely and I wanted to stay. If it's all right, I'd still like to stay."

Mrs Death looked at Johnny, her fiery eyes now just glowing softly.

"My poor boy," she said in that gentle way that most mothers have. "Don't you understand? You can't stay. Every moment that you're here in this place, you draw us closer to your world and if the two should meet, it will be the end for all of us. No, you have to either go back home or onto the afterlife. The trouble is that the next Ghost Train isn't due for a week and I don't know how to return you safely to your own world."

Suddenly, Eddie piped up. "What about Uncle Lucius? He'd know how to get Johnny back safely. If anyone would know, he would. I know it!"

"Eddie," his mother said sternly. "You're in enough trouble as it is, so I'd be quiet if I were you."

"Sorry, Mum," said Eddie sitting down on the floor in a heap.

Eddie's movement seemed to jolt Mrs Death from her thoughts. All of a sudden, she became a mother again. "Boys, you must be starving. Come here; sit at the table and I'll get you something to eat. Eddie, you're in big trouble and your father's going to hit the roof when he gets in. However, there's nothing we can do now to change what you've done, so for the time being, we're just going to have to make the best of it."

# Chapter 8 – Questions

Eddie's dad pleasantly surprised Johnny. After facing the full force of Mrs Death's anger earlier in the day, he'd expected Mr Death to be even worse. However, while he did scold Eddie for lying to his mum, he seemed quite relaxed about the whole affair and wasn't at all concerned by the presence of Johnny in the kitchen. Unlike Mrs Death, Johnny didn't think he was very frightening at all, even though he too was a skeleton. Instead, he seemed almost comical, especially when he aimed his toothy grin at Johnny.

"Well, my boy," he said. "You're a funny one, aren't you? Too fat to be a Death, too thin to be a Cherub and not punctual enough to catch a train from what I hear." He grinned again. "Not to worry though. I like a bit of colour around the place and I'm sure that we'll soon have this mess all tidied up."

After dinner, which was grey beans on toast for the boys and a bowl of fresh air for each of the grown-ups, the family sat around the table to discuss the day's events. Eddie's dad took out his pipe and stuffed it full of tobacco from a pouch inside his robe. As he started puffing away, Johnny couldn't help but laugh at the clouds of smoke that rose from deep inside the robe. It was like watching a small bonfire get going.

Mr Death noticed that Johnny was laughing at him and with a mumbled: "Force of habit, young fellow," he sheepishly put the pipe away. "I hope you never start."

"No, sir," said Johnny and he meant it.

"Right then," said Mr Death and fixing the boys with what he thought was his most serious stare, which only made him look even more comical, he continued: "I've given the matter some serious thought and have decided that there's only one person who can solve this problem. First thing tomorrow, you two are going to see Uncle Lucius."

Early the next morning, to the sound of a skeletal rooster crowing, the boys awoke. Eddie seemed particularly excited by the prospect of visiting Uncle Lucius and he scampered around his mum in the kitchen, getting in the way and generally making a mess of things, as he tried to hurry up breakfast. Johnny was less sure that he wanted to visit Uncle Lucius. He felt that he'd caused enough trouble already and the thought of having to explain himself to another, even older Death, filled him with dread.

It was mid-morning when the boys finally set off on their journey. Rather than head back into the village, as Johnny had expected, they followed the cobblestone road on its winding path around the village towards the hills and mountains. Sensing Johnny's unease, Eddie turned to him and said: "Don't worry about Uncle Lucius. He's fine. A bit old-fashioned, but that's all. He's really rather nice when you get to know him."

As they walked, Johnny gazed around. He was certainly having a wondrous effect on the landscape. Everywhere they walked, the countryside sprang into life. All around them the grass was green, where before it had been grey. Small shrubs and hedges took on familiar colours and whenever he spied a skeletal bird or rabbit, it too had a glimmer of colour about it. Even the sky above them had adopted a brilliant shade of blue.

Stopping for a moment, he turned to Eddie and said: "Ever since we arrived, I've been meaning to ask; what is this place?"

Eddie turned and with a strange look on his face, said: "Well, it's hard to say really. Although the valley and everything around you seems real enough, it doesn't actually exist as it would in your world. That's why it's all grey, a bit like a shadow. The whole place is a sort of link between your world and what lies beyond. You can't find this place when you're alive and you don't remember it once you've left, even though it's always here." "Anyway," he said brightly, setting off once more'. "It's home. Home to me and all the other Deaths. We call it Deathville."

"And that's another thing I've been meaning to ask," said Johnny, trudging along behind Eddie. "How come there are lots of you and how come you've got a mum and a dad? I thought there was only one Death."

Eddie smiled and replied: "They're not my real parents, they've just been appointed by the village to take care of me until I'm grown up. You see I wasn't born in the same way that you were. I simply appeared one day, in order to fill a need."

Johnny was confused. "What do you mean: 'To fill a need'?" he asked.

"For the same reason that there are lots of other Deaths," replied Eddie. "Each of us fills a specific need. At the moment, I look after the souls of children. Uncle Fergus looks after Scotsmen. Auntie Agnes looks after Germans..." Eddie paused, suddenly realising why trying to pass Johnny off as a German exchange student called Boris, was doomed to failure from the start.

"Anyway," he continued. "With so many people in the world today, there's far too much work for a single Death to do and so we specialise. Of course, I'm still growing. Once I've lost my skin and got my grown-up bones, another young Death will appear, and I'll go and help Dad with the comedians. Of course, that won't happen for ages yet. Us Deaths don't age anywhere near as fast as you humans. We'd never get anything done if we did!"

As they talked, Johnny noticed that the ground beneath them had been steadily rising. Shifting his gaze upward, he found that they were no longer in the gently rolling hills of the valley; they were rapidly approaching the foothills of the Impassable Mountains.

Remembering the solitary tower and single light that he had seen from the lookout the day before, he asked: "Where does Uncle Lucius live, Eddie?"

"In the tower," replied Eddie excitedly, pointing towards the mountains in front of him. "Come on, there's not far to go now," and so saying, he broke into a run.

Johnny followed, with considerably less enthusiasm. For there, rising out of the ground in front of them was the great, crooked tower, surrounded by the cruel, icy peaks of the Impassable Mountains.

# Chapter 9 – Uncle Lucius

The winding cobblestone road ended just before the entrance to Uncle Lucius' home. The tower was enormous, bigger than anything Johnny had ever seen before. Rising for hundreds of feet, it seemed as if it had been pulled straight up out of the solid rock surrounding it. Further up, just as the tower started to disappear into the clouds, Johnny could see huge stone blocks and a single window, from which came a deathly pale glow. The entrance itself was foreboding. Two large jet-black doors were set into the stone and carved into the lintel above them was a giant skull, glaring down menacingly at anyone who should be brave, or foolish enough, to approach.

Eddie walked up to the doors and pushing them apart without effort, called loudly into the gloom: "Uncle Lucius, we're here."

From somewhere far away in the tower, came a voice in reply. "Come in, come in. I've been expecting you." It was a deep, rich voice, not at all what Johnny had been expecting.

"Come on," said Eddie and grabbing Johnny by the hand, dragged him inside.

As they passed through the huge, black doorway, Johnny got his first good look at the place Uncle Lucius called home.

"Wow!" he gasped, spellbound by the sight before him. On every wall of the tower, going around and around, and rising up as far as the eye could see, were books. Thousands and thousands of books. Every book ever written must be here, thought Johnny. As his eyes became accustomed to the pale grey light, he noticed something else. Everything in the tower was made out of bones. All of the bookcases were carved out of bone, as were the stairs and walkways leading to the vast heights above.

In the middle of the room, Johnny could see a large table, surrounded by five high-backed chairs. These too were made out of bones. Before he could investigate any further, the rich, deep voice came again: "Make yourselves comfortable, I'll be down in a minute."

Eddie and Johnny walked over to the table and sat down next to each other in the bone chairs. It was a strange feeling, thought Johnny, to be sitting on something made out of someone else, but the chairs were surprisingly comfortable, and Johnny soon got over his initial unease. Then, from out of the darkness above them came the sound of footsteps, followed closely by Uncle Lucius himself.

If the tower was impressive, then Uncle Lucius was even more so. He stood taller than anyone Johnny had ever met before. Dressed in an ancient black robe, there was no doubt that he was indeed very, very old. While Eddie's mum and dad's skulls were still pearly white, Uncle Lucius' skull was almost yellow with age. The same was true of his bony hands. They were so old that they looked like fossils.

Uncle Lucius looked at Johnny and Johnny gazed back. Uncle Lucius' eyes, if you could call them that, were like two tiny stars, blazing white-hot from sockets that seemed infinitely deep. As he stared into them, Johnny felt himself being drawn helplessly down into their depths. They were at the same time the most fabulous and terrifying things he had ever seen.

Uncle Lucius turned his gaze away and Johnny breathed a small sigh of relief. Turning to Eddie and with a grand bow of his head, Uncle Lucius said: "Edward Ravenswood Death. Edward my dear boy; it is so very good to see you."

Eddie didn't mind it at all when Uncle Lucius called him by his full name. Actually, it made him feel rather important.

"And I'm delighted to see that you've brought your young friend too," Uncle Lucius continued, the rich, deep tones of his voice ringing out across the tower, making it sound as if he were addressing a large crowd, rather than two rather small boys.

Walking around the huge bone table, Uncle Lucius took a seat opposite Johnny and Eddie. Rearranging his robe, he leant forward until his elbows rested on the table in front of him. Clasping his bony fingers together, he looked again at the two of them and said slowly: "Let us get down to business, shall we?"

# Chapter 10 – Problems and Solutions

"Edward, my young friend. It would seem that we have a bit of a problem on our hands," said Uncle Lucius, addressing Eddie. "No doubt your mother has already told you what will happen if your young friend remains here and no doubt you have seen with your own eyes the effect he is already having upon our beautiful little world," he continued.

"However, all is not lost. After I spied you sneaking out of the railway station yesterday, I knew what might happen with a human soul present here and spent the night consulting some of the oldest books in my collection for a solution. Finally, early this morning, in the very oldest book of all, I believe that I have found a way to return your young friend to his body and in doing so, to save both of our worlds from destruction."

Before the boys could say anything in response, Uncle Lucius leant in close towards them and said: "But it won't be easy." Straightening up, his ancient bones creaking with the effort, Uncle Lucius went on: "As our two worlds start to collide, the lines between them will begin to blur. At just the right moment, it should be possible to follow the railway tracks from the train station in our world, back into your young friend's world. But the timing must be perfect. Too soon and you'll end up in the void; too late and both our worlds will certainly be destroyed."

Eddie shuddered. He'd occasionally heard his parents talking about the void and the lost souls that lived there, and from what they'd discussed, he didn't like the thought of being stuck there until the end of time.

"Presuming you make it back safely into your young friend's world, Eddie, you will have only a few minutes to return his soul to his body," said Uncle Lucius.

Then turning to Johnny, he continued in a low voice: "When you reach your body, you must hold onto it as tightly as possible and Edward here will cut your life-band. When he does that, you will feel yourself being pulled back towards the void. Whatever happens, you must not let go of your body. If you do, you will be forever doomed to walk the skies as a lost soul. If you do manage to hold on, the pull of the void will gradually lessen, and our worlds will separate. Eventually, when all is as it should be, the pulling will disappear, and you will be returned to your body."

"Right!" said Eddie, jumping up from the table. "We'd better get started then. The sooner we're finished, the sooner everything will be back to normal."

"Not so fast my dear fellow," replied Uncle Lucius with a mild reprimand in his voice. "Did you hear nothing that I just said? The time is not yet right. You must wait at least one more day before you make your attempt. If you followed the railway tracks now, you would certainly end up in the void and we wouldn't want that, would we?"

"No, sir," replied both boys at the same time. "However, that leaves us with the problem of what to do with you in the meantime," said Uncle Lucius deep in thought.

"Aha!" he exclaimed, as an idea suddenly came to him. "Edward, I'm going to make your young friend here a trainee Soul Searcher. That way you can still keep an eye on him and continue with your other duties uninterrupted."

Uncle Lucius turned to look at Johnny again. Regarding the boy with an odd stare, he muttered to himself: "If I'm going to send you back while you're still wearing your life-band, you're going to need some protection against the void."

Reaching deep into his robe, Uncle Lucius pulled out a worn, brown leather wristband. Dropping it into Johnny's hand, he said mysteriously: "Here, take this. As long as you wear it, you'll be protected from the void. It's magic you see."

Then, rather abruptly, he stood up, saying: "Right boys, you must be on your way. I have some very important work to do."

"But, Uncle Lucius," said Eddie, slightly taken aback by the sudden change that had come over his Uncle. "Aren't you going to tell us your tales of the 'good old days', when you were younger? You always used to when I visited before."

"Sorry Edward, I don't have the time today," said Uncle Lucius curtly, stepping away from the table. "There are some very important things that I must complete before tomorrow morning. And besides, you've got work to do. There are always souls to collect, you know." And with that, he left them and strode up the bone staircase, disappearing once more into the gloomy heights of the tower.

# Chapter 11 – Soul Searching

"Well, that was odd," said Eddie, as they left the tower and began the journey back to the village. "Normally Uncle Lucius can't wait to talk about the days when he was collecting souls. He usually goes on and on about all the magnificent battles he watched over and how he protected many a great King and Queen on their journey to the afterlife. I don't know what's wrong with him. It's not as if he ever goes out collecting anymore. All he does is just sit in that tower and read his books." Eddie sighed in obvious disappointment and walked on in silence.

Johnny also walked in silence, but something else entirely was bothering him. During the time that he and Eddie had been in Uncle Lucius' tower, not a single thing had changed colour. Outside everything was a riot of greens, browns, yellows and blues, as a result of Johnny's presence. However, the tower and everything inside it remained cold, grey and unfriendly. The same was true of the Impassable Mountains. Like the tower in front of them, they remained bleak and colourless. It was almost as if they weren't really a part of Deathville at all.

As the sun began to set in front of them, turning the sky a faint pinkish colour, Johnny turned to Eddie and asked: "What did Uncle Lucius mean by the void and lost souls?"

Eddie slowed his pace a little and replied in a hushed voice: "The void surrounds all our worlds and separates us from the afterlife. The Ghost Train is able to travel the vast distance from here to the afterlife in what seems like the blink of an eye, but to go by foot would take forever. Yet that is exactly what some poor souls have to do."

Gazing off towards the setting sun, Eddie continued: "Some souls refuse to believe that they have died, while others choose not to follow the Death that has been sent for them. In doing so, they don't make it to the train station on time. They miss the Ghost Train and are condemned to wander the void for the rest of time. They are the lost souls that Uncle Lucius was referring to."

Johnny shivered. Even though he'd ended up missing the Ghost Train, he was glad that he'd followed Eddie to the station when he did. He could so easily have become a lost soul otherwise.

When the boys arrived home that evening, rather than mention Uncle Lucius' dangerous plan, they simply told Eddie's parents that he was working on a way to get Johnny home and that in the meantime Johnny was to accompany Eddie on his rounds as a trainee Soul Searcher. Eddie's mum was delighted at the thought of things getting back to normal, while his dad remained strangely quiet. Occasionally he would glance up from his paper and stare quizzically at the boys, but he said nothing of Uncle Lucius' decision.

The next day, Eddie and Johnny got up extra-specially early and after completing the morning's chores, which consisted of weeding the vegetable garden behind the kitchen and putting Gretel and the other skeleton sheep out to graze, they found themselves sitting at the lookout point, waiting for the bell of the railway station to ring. Johnny had borrowed some of Eddie's clothes and was dressed in a black hooded jacket and black jeans. Eddie's dad had very thoughtfully painted Johnny's trainers black for the occasion, although the paint was already starting to peel off as it dried.

As the boys sat in silence, the deep mournful ringing of the bell came from the railway station. Standing up, Eddie thrust a hand inside his robe, pulling out his sickle. "Mustn't forget this," he said to Johnny with a cheerful wink and together the pair of them started off towards the railway station.

As they walked down the hill, Johnny checked to see that he was still wearing the brown leather wristband that Uncle Lucius had given him the day before. As he had put it on that morning, Johnny couldn't recall feeling very magical, but he hoped that it would protect him from the awful dangers of the void anyway.

As the boys reached the station entrance, they were met by Uncle Fergus. He still looked extremely menacing in his big, black robe and at his side hung a long, ceremonial scythe, the blade made entirely of polished silver. "Hello boys," he said in a voice that was little more than a low rumble. "Not up to any mischief today, are we?"

"No, Uncle Fergus," answered Eddie, "We're both on soul searcher duty."

"Really?" replied Uncle Fergus, only half listening to Eddie's reply. "Well, you're not going to get the chance to get up to any mischief anyway, because I'm on a very special guard duty today; soul searcher guard duty, in fact. Your dad asked me to keep an eye on you, Eddie Death, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. So, I suggest that you both sit down, shut up and stay still until we've arrived!" he suddenly bellowed, pointing to a nearby platform bench.

The boys shuffled over to the bench and as they sat down dejectedly, they felt the tug of the train station as it pulled away from the village on its journey back to the real world. Staring at the empty platform, Johnny said in a hushed voice: "Eddie, what exactly does a soul searcher do?"

Eddie turned and replied in an equally quiet voice, so as not to disturb Uncle Fergus, who was sitting next to them, engrossed in his newspaper. "Well, although it seems like people die all the time in your world, we actually only collect souls once a week. This means we have an awful lot to get through each time, so we have to make sure that we get it right. Soul searchers visit your world a few days before each collection and make sure that all the lists are correct and that everyone is where they should be. Some people feel it as a premonition that something isn't right, but that's pretty rare these days."

"Of course," Eddie carried on. "We don't always get it one hundred per cent right. Occasionally, we take the wrong person. Smith's and Jones's are the most common mistakes. But, we usually notice the mix up before we reach the station, so we're able to return them without too much trouble. I think they call it a 'near death experience' or something like that in your world. Of course, you were a last-minute job, so you got a really strong premonition only moments before the actual event. Sorry about that."

But Johnny wasn't listening. Something Eddie had said was spinning around and around in his mind, and he couldn't make sense of it. Finally, he turned to face Eddie and said: "Eddie, if we're going back to my world now, why can't we just go to the hospital, or wherever I am and put me back into my body?"

Eddie stared at Johnny, trying to think of an answer. "Um, err, because, um ..."

"Because Uncle Lucius told us we had to wait at least one more day before returning," said Johnny, completing the sentence for Eddie. "But why would he make us wait and risk our worlds colliding when he must have known that we could get back into my world safely, simply by using the Station in the Sky?" Johnny continued.

Eddie was completely lost for words and a shiver suddenly ran down Johnny's back, as an awful thought occurred to him. Perhaps Uncle Lucius had actually wanted the two worlds to be destroyed?

Looking Eddie straight in the eye, he said: "Eddie, I think we've been tricked. I don't know why, but I think Uncle Lucius wanted us out of the way today for some reason. Ever since he gave me this silly wristband I've had a bad feeling about him. I don't even think that it's magical at all," and so saying, he tore the wristband from his arm and flung it to the platform floor.

Sure enough, nothing happened. No void appeared, no demons, no lost souls. Nothing.

Eddie stared at Johnny in disbelief. "But, why would he do such a thing?" he cried, "He's never done anything like this before. He's always been so kind."

"I don't know," replied Johnny. "But we're going to find out. We've still got time before it's too late, so let's discover what Uncle Lucius is really up to."

Uncle Fergus looked up from his newspaper, as the two boys tapped him cautiously on the shoulder. "What do you want?" he rumbled suspiciously.

"Please, Uncle Fergus," said Eddie, "We think that Uncle Lucius might have tricked us into coming soul searching today and that he might be up to something terrible in Deathville."

Uncle Fergus regarded them seriously for a moment. Then, straightening up, he nodded slowly at the pair and rose from his seat to approach one of the other guards. Johnny noticed that the other guard also carried a ceremonial scythe by his side. After a few hushed words, the pair of them returned to the boys.

Crouching down before them and in the closest thing that he could muster to a whisper, Uncle Fergus boomed: "We think you're right. Your father thought something was up when you came home last night claiming that you and your friend here were off soul searching. He wasn't sure if you were up to no good or telling the truth, so he asked Brian and I to keep an eye on you."

Eddie was hurt by the thought that his dad didn't trust him and also by the thought of being tricked by Uncle Lucius, but he shrugged off his disappointment with a small sniff.

He didn't hide it well enough though and seeing tears welling up in his eyes, Uncle Fergus clapped a big, bony hand across Eddie's back and said: "It's not that you're a bad kid or anything Eddie. It's just that this might be so serious that your dad had to be sure that you weren't telling fibs again. Anyway, we can't go home now until the collection lists have been checked, so we're just going to have to be patient until that job's done."

"And hope that we've got a home to go back to," he added quietly under his breath.

# Chapter 12 – Something's Wrong

After what seemed like forever, the collection lists were finally checked, and the great stone railway station began its long journey back to Deathville. Uncle Fergus and Brian sat on either side of the boys and no one said a word as the station passed through the last of the clouds and into the night sky beyond. Each of them was lost in their own private thoughts and trying very hard not to imagine what lay in store for them when they returned to the village.

As the train station came to a halt with its now familiar lurch, Johnny and Eddie leapt from their seats and ran towards the station entrance, with Uncle Fergus and Brian close behind. As they reached the front of the station, they could see that something was indeed very wrong with Deathville.

All of the colour, which Johnny had brought to the village, had gone, being replaced instead by a blood-red glow, which came from the direction of the Impassable Mountains. Turning to face them, Johnny could see a huge band of thick, red cloud reaching out from the top of the mountains, moving slowly towards the village. Terrifying thunderclaps could be heard from deep within the clouds and enormous bolts of lightning shot out from them, enveloping Uncle Lucius' tower like a glowing spider's web.

Eddie barely had time to take in the scene before he was swept into a crushing embrace by his mother.

"Oh Eddie!" she cried, "I was so worried about you. I thought something terrible might have happened to you down there. I should never have let you go! Oh, what was I thinking?" Little pink tears ran down her skull, as she hugged the thin figure of Eddie even more tightly.

"It's Uncle Lucius," she continued. "He's gone completely mad. He keeps on shouting about the 'good old days' and how he's going to show us how it's done properly. He's got your dad locked up in the tower and won't let him go. I tried to rescue him but couldn't get through those great black doors. Oh Eddie, I really think that this is the end for all of us!"

As his mother burst into another enormous fit of sobbing, Eddie gently detached himself from the iron grip of her arms.

"Don't worry, Mum," he said quietly. "There's another way into the tower. Uncle Lucius told me about it once. I'll rescue Dad, and everything will be alright, you'll see."

"But Eddie, you can't go to the tower alone. Uncle Lucius will capture you like he did your father," she wailed.

"But he's not going alone," piped up Johnny. "He's got a friend. He's going with me."

"Oh, you silly boys," Mrs Death sniffed, "You silly, silly, brave, brave boys." Then, turning to Uncle Fergus, she said: "Go with them please, Fergus. If there is another entrance to the tower, Eddie can show it to you, but he's not to go inside under any circumstances. I'll gather the rest of the village together and we'll meet you there as soon as we can."

"No problem," said Uncle Fergus to Mrs Death, giving her a gentle hug. "I'm not going to let you or your husband down now, am I?"

Then crouching down so that he was on eye-level with the boys, he grasped them firmly by their shoulders and giving them a wink and a big skeletal smile, he roared: "Right then boys. You heard Mrs Death. We've got some rescuing to do!" "Have you got your sickle, Eddie?" he asked.

"Yes, sir!" cried Eddie smartly.

"Good man!" replied Uncle Fergus. Then, unsheathing the long silver scythe by his side, he gave a great whooping cry and set off towards the tower at a run.

# Chapter 13 – The Mission

Uncle Fergus set a ferocious pace, shaking the ground like the thunder above their heads, as he galloped over the rolling hills. After a while, Johnny and Eddie found it hard to keep up with him and started to drop back. Noticing that they were starting to lag behind, Uncle Fergus slowed down to a jog to let them catch their breath as they came alongside him.

"Sorry lads," he said as they wheezed and gasped red-faced alongside him. "It's just that your dad and I have been friends for such a long time, Eddie, that I can't bear the thought of him being locked up in that tower by a scoundrel like Lucius."

Eddie simply nodded, too tired from all of the running to answer back.

"Okay, we'll take it a bit easier from now on. After all, we don't want to arrive too exhausted to fight, do we?" said Uncle Fergus, his skull shining a deep red colour from the stormy clouds above them.

Johnny hadn't really thought about what would happen once they reached the tower. He certainly hadn't been thinking about fighting. Now he wasn't so sure. What if Uncle Lucius wouldn't let them in? What if he let them in and then tried to trap them, or worse? What would he do in that situation?

Glancing across towards Eddie and Uncle Fergus, he suddenly recalled all the times that he had been alone and been bullied by Toby Brown and his gang. At that moment, he knew what he would do. Johnny Jenkinson would stand by his friend. Whatever Uncle Lucius tried to do, Eddie wouldn't have to face this bully alone.

Strengthened by this realisation, Johnny carried on with the others towards the sharp peaks of the Impassable Mountains and the tower cradled beneath them. Looming up in front of him, Johnny thought that never before had the mountains appeared as inhospitable, cruel and unpleasant as they did at that moment.

Suddenly Eddie spoke, his voice shrill against the rumbling of the thunder above them. "Is it me, or is it getting hotter? And what's that smell?"

"It's definitely warmer here than back in the village," Johnny said. "In fact, it's getting hotter by the minute, I think."

"The smell is brimstone," interrupted Uncle Fergus. "The smell of our worlds starting to come together."

Placing a hand to his forehead and gazing at the tower in the distance, he continued: "I don't think we've got a lot of time left, so we'd better get a move on. Jump up onto my back the pair of you. It'll be quicker if I carry you."

Johnny and Eddie stared at each other and then scrambled up onto Uncle Fergus' back. With a huge battle cry, Uncle Fergus leapt into the air and began running towards the tower as fast as he could.

Johnny had never had a piggy-back ride from a skeleton before and rather suspected from the look on Eddie's face that this was something new to him as well. Unlike a normal piggy-back ride, there was no chance of falling off. Uncle Fergus' bony skeleton gave Johnny plenty of good handholds, although he did feel a bit guilty for sticking his feet in Uncle Fergus' ribcage. Still, Uncle Fergus didn't seem to mind, he thought to himself, and they were making terrific progress towards the tower, which was growing larger and larger by the minute.

As they reached the end of the cobblestone road, Uncle Fergus came to a halt and the two boys climbed off his back. Standing before them was the tower, dwarfed by the Impassable Mountains behind it. Eddie walked up to the two huge, jet-black doors and as before, tried to push them open.

"Ouch!" he yelled, pulling his hands away from the doors and tucking them under his arms. "The doors are boiling hot. I can't open them. They burned me."

"It looks as if your mother was right," called out Uncle Fergus. "You'd better show me where this secret entrance is and then we'll wait for her and the others to get here before we try to go in."

Blowing on his fingertips to try and cool them from the burning, Eddie pointed to the giant skull carved above the doorway. "The secret entrance is through the right eye of the skull. It's hollow and Uncle Lucius said that it comes out behind one of the staircases inside the tower."

Uncle Fergus peered at the skull high above them. Staring at the right eye-socket, he said: "There's no way that we can get in there. It's too small for a grown-up and I'm not sure we could reach it even if we wanted to."

Suddenly, from somewhere deep in the tower, a voice called out: "Help! Someone help me! Please!"

"Dad!" cried Eddie. "Dad, we're coming!"

Eddie looked at Uncle Fergus, his mind racing for a way to help his father. "Uncle Fergus," he said. "I know the entrance is too small for a grown-up, but Johnny and I could fit through it easily. Once we're inside, we could open the doors for you. You could throw us up onto the skull and we could climb in. I know Mum said we weren't to go in, but it's our only chance and my dad's in there. We've got to do something! We can't leave him there. Please, Uncle Fergus! At least let us try!"

Uncle Fergus looked down at the small figures of Eddie and Johnny before him, carefully weighing up the situation. At last, he came to a decision.

"Eddie," he said. "You're right. Your mother forbade you to go into the tower, but your father is in trouble. I can't sit by and let an old friend suffer while we wait for the others to arrive, so we'll try to get him out ourselves. If I throw you up to the skull, you must promise me that you'll open the doors as soon as you're inside and if you can't open them, you're to come out the way you came in and I'll catch you."

"I promise," said Eddie, as another desperate call for help came from within the tower.

Uncle Fergus took a firm grip of Eddie's collar and trouser belt and gently lifted him off the ground. Swinging him, as if he were emptying a bucket of water, Uncle Fergus called out: "One, two, three and up!" and launched Eddie towards the huge skull above the doorway.

It was a magnificent throw and Eddie flew through the air like a bird, landing almost directly inside the right eye socket of the skull. A quick scramble and he was inside it, facing back out towards his Uncle and Johnny.

"Your turn now," said Uncle Fergus, reaching for Johnny.

Holding him in a grip of iron by his hooded jacket and jeans, Uncle Fergus began swinging the helpless Johnny back and forth. "You're a bit heavier than Eddie, but I think you'll make it," grunted Uncle Fergus, as he carried on swinging, building up momentum. Then, with a gargantuan roar, he launched Johnny into the air.

As he hurtled through the sky towards the skull, Johnny was scared beyond belief. If I hit that thing at this speed, I'll be a lost soul for sure, he thought, as the skull loomed closer and closer. Johnny clamped his eyes tightly shut just before impact, but rather than striking the skull headfirst, as he had expected, he felt stonework beneath his feet and tumbled into the eye-socket just as Eddie had done. He felt Eddie grab his arms and pull him deeper into the secret entrance before he could fall out and finally, shaking like a leaf, he gingerly opened his eyes.

Eddie was crouched before him with a huge toothy grin on his face. "That was awesome!" he exclaimed. "We'll have to do that again sometime."

"I think once was enough for me," gasped Johnny, weakly returning his friend's smile.

"Come on, we can't hang around," said Eddie, "My dad's in there and he needs our help." Turning himself around in the cramped space of the tunnel, Eddie began to worm his way into the secret entrance to Uncle Lucius' tower, with Johnny following close behind.

#  Chapter 14 – Running Out of Time

As the boys made their way deeper into the secret entrance, the light quickly faded until they were crawling in complete darkness. They crawled in silence, the only sounds being the scraping of their clothes against the rough ground beneath them and the occasional muffled cry of pain from Johnny, as he got too close to Eddie's feet.

As they crawled, Johnny noticed that the tunnel had been sloping steadily upwards for some time. Just as he was starting to wonder where in the tower it would come out, he heard Eddie suddenly whisper: "Stop!" from the darkness ahead of him.

"Ouch!" yelped Johnny as he bumped into Eddie's outstretched foot once more. "What is it?" he whispered.

"I think the tunnel is starting to head downward," whispered Eddie in reply. "We'd better be careful. Wait a few moments before following me, just in case Uncle Lucius is waiting for us at the other end." With that, Eddie moved off again, leaving Johnny alone in the darkness.

After waiting until he could no longer hear Eddie moving through the tunnel, Johnny began to edge nervously forward. Eddie was right. Just ahead of him, the tunnel began to slope gently downwards. As he crawled on, Johnny wondered what was waiting for him at the end of the tunnel. He couldn't hear anything apart from the sound of tiny rocks and pebbles scuttling down the tunnel, dislodged by his movement; but that didn't mean anything. Eddie could be standing in the tower waiting impatiently for him or could be struggling helplessly in the clutches of the evil Uncle Lucius. All Johnny could do was to keep on moving and find out.

Lost in thoughts of imminent capture, he failed to notice that the floor of the tunnel had begun to drop away more sharply and before he knew it, his hands met nothing but empty space. Groping blindly around for something to hold onto, Johnny lost his balance and toppled forwards with a yell of surprise into the gaping darkness below.

He didn't fall very far before he hit the floor of the tunnel and began to slide helplessly downward. The tunnel dropped away at what seemed like an impossible angle, twisting and turning left and right and round and round, until Johnny felt completely disorientated and rather sick at the same time. As he slid faster and faster, he dislodged more and more stones, until he seemed to be riding on a carpet of gravel, his feet buried up to his ankles in slippery, sliding stones. The sound of the gravel as it hissed and roared its way down the tunnel was deafening and just as Johnny thought that he couldn't take any more, the tunnel began to level out, slowing him down. Then suddenly, with a loud pop and surrounded by a cloud of dust and stones, Johnny shot out of the end of the tunnel and landed with a thud on the bone floor of one of the tower's staircases.

Johnny rose to his feet, swaying slightly as the dizziness faded and coughing ferociously as he dusted himself down. Glancing around, Johnny could see Eddie standing on the other side of the tower, gazing deeply into a hole similar to the one Johnny had just fallen out of. Hearing Johnny's coughing from the other side of the tower, Eddie turned and dashed around the bone walkway that skirted the wall of the huge tower, towards his friend. "What happened to you?" he cried, when he reached Johnny, looking up and down at the dust-covered figure before him.

"Don't ask," replied Johnny, still too dazed to feel like answering questions. "Anyway, we've got more important things to do. Have you found your dad yet?" he asked Eddie.

Eddie didn't have time to reply, for below them came another desperate cry for help from Eddie's father. "Dad!" cried Eddie, "we're here. We've come to rescue you!"

The two boys raced over to the bony handrail of the walkway and gazed down at the scene below them. There, far below in the centre of the room, was the large, bone table that the boys had sat around when Johnny first met Uncle Lucius. Hanging just above it, suspended from a thick metal chain, was the source of the deathly pale light that lit the tower, a huge silver ball, glowing white-hot and throwing out a ferocious heat. At the head of the table, bound to one of the tall bone chairs by what appeared to be steel ropes, sat Eddie's father. His face was twisted painfully away from the silver ball to avoid the heat, but it was useless. The front of his robe was blackened and burnt, and Johnny could see that the heat was starting to crack his ribs.

There wasn't much time. Eddie and Johnny would have to act quickly if they were to save Mr Death from crumbling into dust.

As Eddie's dad cried out again for help, Eddie ran down the bone staircase towards his father. Johnny followed close on Eddie's heels. As they reached the ground, the full force of the heat from the silver ball hit them. It was like walking into a furnace and the boys were forced to stagger slowly forwards, covering their faces with their hands, to try and avoid being burnt themselves.

As they approached the table, Eddie's dad finally noticed them from the corner of his eye and yelled out: "Eddie! Release the chain. Release the chain!" He threw his head back against the chair and gathering up his remaining strength, cried out: "The lever on the wall, to the left of you. The chain!" His energy spent, his head lolled forwards, his jaw coming to rest on what remained of the top of his robe.

"Dad!" screamed Eddie. "Dad! No!"

Johnny grabbed his hysterical friend by the arm and dragged him as fast as he could away from the table. Casting his eyes frantically around, he spotted the lever controlling the silver ball.

"Eddie. Quickly. The lever. We have to move it!"

Still dragging Eddie behind him, Johnny staggered towards the lever, the heat from the silver ball now starting to char their clothes as well. As they reached the wall of the tower, Johnny could see that the lever was linked to the chain and a pulley. If they could only pull the lever down, the chain would lift the ball back into its proper place at the top of the tower. "Come on Eddie! Help me with the lever," gasped Johnny against the burning heat. "It's our only chance to save your dad."

For the first time since seeing his father trapped in the tower, Eddie's glazed eyes came to rest on Johnny. Wiping his tears away and with a look of grim determination on his face, he took hold of the lever and began to pull. Johnny grabbed hold as well and despite the burning heat, the pair of them pulled as hard as they could. For a few seconds, there was nothing.

Then, with a small click, the lever came crashing downwards. From deep within the walls of the tower came a rattling sound, as the chain started to move. The rattling sound grew louder and faster, and suddenly the pulley began to spin, as the chain holding the silver ball lifted it skywards. Within moments, the silver ball had resumed its proper position at the top of the tower and the room was once again filled with a pale grey glow.

With the ball now far above them, the ferocious heat had died down and with a sigh of relief, the boys picked themselves up from the floor and rushed over to the table and the slumped figure of Mr Death.

"Dad! Dad! Are you alright?" shouted Eddie, as he reached his father, wrapping his arms around the still form bound to the chair.

With a groan, Eddie's dad lifted his head from his chest and looked at Eddie, who was hugging him fiercely.

"Not so hard, son. I'm still a bit tender from the heat," said Mr Death weakly.

"Oh Dad, you're okay. I thought you were..." Eddie's voice cracked, and he buried his head into his dad's scorched robe.

"I'll be alright Eddie. There's nothing to worry about. You reached me just in time. You boys were both very brave. I'm proud of you son. Proud of you both," he replied, smiling through the pain of his charred and cracked ribs. "But, I need to get out of here. Someone has to stop Lucius before it's too late," he continued.

Just then there was a resounding crash, as the doors of the tower were flung apart and the imposing figure of Uncle Fergus appeared. "Boys, boys, are you alright?" he shouted. "What happened? Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine, Fergus," said Eddie's father. The boys got to me just in time, but Lucius has gone. I've got to stop him," he continued.

"You're not going anywhere my friend," said Uncle Fergus gently, resting a massive hand on his friend's shoulder. "You're in no state to take on Lucius after what you've just been through. You need to rest. We'll wait for the rest of the village to arrive and we'll stop Lucius together, whatever he's up to. But first, we've got to get you out of that chair," he said.

And with that, Uncle Fergus unsheathed his scythe and swept it through the steel cables binding Eddie's father to the chair. The ropes were no match for the ceremonial scythe, which cut through them like they were silk. Mr Death tried to rise to his feet but was too weak to move and slumped back into the chair.

"Stay there, my friend," said Uncle Fergus softly. "Like I said, you need to rest."

Uncle Fergus moved around the table and took a seat opposite Mr Death. Fixing his gaze on Johnny and Eddie, who were standing quietly by Eddie's father, he said to the boys: "What you two did was extremely brave. Amazing no less. You should be very proud of yourselves. I know that I am."

Johnny and Eddie looked up sheepishly at Uncle Fergus, who regarded them with a warm smile. "Well done," he continued. "Now, just what is that madman Lucius up to?" he said to himself. "I mean, he's been here in the tower for ages and never shown any sign of wanting to leave. I thought he was content with things as they were."

"Not so," answered Eddie's father, weakly. "He's been here in the tower plotting a way to get rid of us all for years. He hates us. Hates the way we've changed things. He longs for a return to the past when he was in control; spreading war, famine and disease to the far reaches of the world. He's not content with collecting a few souls here and there like we do. He wants thousands — no — millions of souls all at once. He wants to strike fear into the heart of every man, woman and child on Earth like he did in the past. He wants to be worshipped. And if he can't have that, I'm afraid he'll destroy everything out of spite, as it seems he's doing now."

Johnny, who had been quietly listening to Eddie's father, glanced at Eddie. "This is all my fault, isn't it?" he said. "If I had got on the Ghost Train, then none of this would have happened, would it? Our worlds wouldn't have started to collide, and everything would have been all right. I'm sorry. If I had known what was going to happen, I wouldn't have left the station with you, Eddie," he went on miserably.

"Hey, don't blame yourself, Johnny," said Eddie's father softly. "It's not your fault, no matter what you might think. We should have kept a better watch on Lucius. We knew he wasn't to be trusted, yet we chose to ignore him once he stopped coming into the village. If anything, it's our fault. Lucius knew that sooner or later someone like you would enter our world and then it was only a question of tricking them into staying long enough for him to act."

"But, how do we stop him, Dad?" piped up Eddie. "This is my fault for asking Johnny to stay, so how are we going to make it right?"

"I don't know, son," said Eddie's father sadly. "All I know is that after tying me to the chair and lowering that silver ball of his, Lucius ran down that tunnel into the mountains," he said, pointing to a small gap between two ancient bookcases, hidden by the gloom at the back of the tower. "What he planned to do next is anyone's guess, I'm afraid."

"Well, if that's where Lucius went, then that's where we're going, right Johnny?" said Eddie, with a look of fierce determination on his face.

"Hold on a minute. You're not going anywhere," said Uncle Fergus. "I'm already in enough trouble with your mother as it is, and besides, you've both been brave enough for one day. We wait for the rest of the village and that's that," he continued gruffly.

"But, that's just it, Uncle Fergus. If we don't go now, there won't be another day. Not for us, not for anyone, ever," said Eddie. "Besides, we're the ones who started all of this, so we've got to be the ones to end it."

"That's right," said Johnny, winking slyly at Eddie. "And you can't stop us anyway, you'll never fit through that gap. Come on Eddie... run!" he cried and launched himself towards the gap between the bookcases.

Uncle Fergus moved like lightning and no sooner had Johnny started to run than he found himself suspended in mid-air by Uncle Fergus' vice-like grip. Glancing over to his right he saw Eddie, caught helplessly in Uncle Fergus' other hand.

"Stop boys, easy there. Just wait a minute," said Mr Death with a sigh and as the pair gradually stopped struggling, Uncle Fergus returned them gently to the ground.

Eddie's father rose slowly from his seat and stood in front of the two boys.

"You really are determined to get yourselves into trouble, aren't you?" he said, his familiar toothy grin spreading once more across his skull. "Very well. I could stop you, but I know that it would be pointless to try. And as you so rightly said, Eddie, we are rapidly running out of time, so I'm going to let you go. But, be careful. Please be careful. Your Uncle Lucius is more powerful than you know, and his madness has made him all the more dangerous. He will stop at nothing to destroy us all and that means he'll destroy you too if you don't stop him first."

Then, reaching deep inside his burnt and ragged robe, Eddie's father pulled out a strange object that glowed with a soft white light. It was a large rivet; the sort of thing used to hold big sheets of metal together but made entirely out of diamond. Resting it in the palm of his hand, Eddie and Johnny gazed at it in wonder. Even Uncle Fergus was staring at it oddly. As Eddie's father spoke, a warmth came into his voice and for a moment he was lost in memory.

"A long, long time ago, Uncle Fergus and I helped build the Ghost Train, which ferries souls to the afterlife. It took many years to build and when it was finished, I kept this single rivet as a souvenir. Eddie, I want you to take it. I don't know why, but I have a feeling that it might be of more use to you than it ever was to me."

He placed the diamond rivet carefully into Eddie's outstretched palm and said: "Now you'd both better be going. Try to stop Lucius but take care and please come back to us safely."

With a nod to Uncle Fergus, the boys were released from his grip and made their way slowly towards the dark gap between the bookcases. As they reached the entrance to the tunnel, Eddie stopped and said: "Wait a moment, Johnny."

Turning back to face his father, he said: "Don't worry Dad. We will be careful, and we will come back to you, I promise."

Then, with a deep breath, and holding the glowing rivet high above his head, he and Johnny ran into the tunnel and the mountains beyond.

#  Chapter 15 – The Mountain

As they raced down the tunnel, the glow from the shining diamond rivet lit their way like a beacon. Giant stalagmites and eerie rock formations sprang out of the darkness, ready to trip and injure the unwary, but in the bright light, the boys dodged them easily.

More difficult to avoid were the strange and slimy cave-dwelling creatures, which appeared from the many cracks and holes in the tunnel. They were drawn to the radiance, like moths to a flame, and as Johnny ran past them, he noticed that these creatures were somehow far more real and far more frightening than the skeletal animals back in the village. Some were small and fled squealing in terror from the light as it flashed past them. Others were larger, with razor sharp teeth and hooked talons at the end of long, skinny arms. They weren't so afraid of the light and more than once Johnny had to duck sharply to avoid sweeping talons and snapping jaws, as one of the slime-covered creatures made a frantic lunge for him. If it weren't for the light, thought Johnny, he and Eddie would never have made it beyond even the mouth of the tunnel.

As they continued to run, their feet splashing loudly through shallow pools of rock water, the tunnel began to slope upwards. The rocks and creatures that had beset their way began to thin out and eventually disappeared altogether, as the boys reached the foot of a narrow flight of steps carved into the rock. The steps were well-worn with age and use, and were covered in a silvery moss, which reflected the light from the shining rivet with a soft glow of its own.

Eddie stepped gingerly onto the first step, slipping slightly on the damp moss as it shifted under his foot. Looking up the flight of stone steps and shielding his eyes from the light of the rivet, he could just make out a faint redness in the distance. "I can see the sky. We've got to go up," he said in a hushed voice.

"I know," replied Johnny quietly. "Lucius went this way. I can see footsteps in the moss."

Slowly, the boys began to climb, taking care to walk in Uncle Lucius' footprints, so as not to slip on the moss, each step taking them closer to the top of the mountain and whatever was waiting in store for them there.

As they climbed, Johnny began to wonder what they would do when they reached the top. Would they be able to stop Uncle Lucius? Would they be able to save Eddie's world and his own? Would they even get to the top of the mountain safely?

Pushing these thoughts to the back of his mind, Johnny concentrated on the task of climbing the endless procession of steps. After what seemed an age and just when Johnny thought that he could go no further, the steps came to an end and a blast of warm air swept across his face. They were on the outside of the mountain.

Eddie was standing on a narrow ledge a few feet away from him, gazing into the distance and there was no sign of Uncle Lucius. This wasn't what Johnny had expected. And then, with a sinking feeling in his stomach, he realised why they hadn't found him. The ledge they had reached was barely halfway up the mountain, the top of which still loomed menacingly far above them. They still had a daunting climb ahead of them and time was running out.

Stepping onto the ledge and trying to keep his balance against the hot, swirling wind, Johnny followed Eddie's gaze. Far below them was Uncle Lucius' tower, looking like one of the giant stalagmites they had encountered back in the tunnel. Beyond it in the distance, Johnny could just make out Eddie's village. The band of blood-red cloud coming from the mountaintop had now reached the village and great bolts of lightning rained down from it, slamming into the village and turning houses and shops into smoking ruins.

Johnny shook his head sadly. Uncle Fergus was wrong, he thought. There would be no help from the village. All he could do was hope that Mrs Death and the rest of the villagers had found somewhere safe to hide from the fearsome storm above them.

Straining his eyes once more towards the top of the mountain, Johnny noticed several more series of steps and ledges cut into the rock. A small feeling of relief flooded through him. At least they wouldn't have to scale the outside of the mountain, as he had feared.

Tapping Eddie gently on the shoulder and pointing to the other end of the ledge, where a small cave hid the next flight of steps, he said: "We've got to carry on. I'm sorry Eddie, I know how you must feel, but there's nothing we can do for them now. We've got to try and stop Lucius. It's the only chance any of us has got."

Eddie moved along the ledge to the second set of steps and with a look of pure fury on his face, began stomping up them two at a time, leaving Johnny standing alone on the ledge.

"Eddie, wait for me!" he yelled frantically and set off after his friend as fast as he could.

It didn't take long for Johnny to catch up with Eddie, who was still furiously stomping up the steps. They climbed in silence, Johnny not wanting to upset his friend any further and Eddie just wanting to get his hands on Uncle Lucius. The second set of steps was shorter than the first and soon the boys came out onto another narrow ledge.

As Johnny reached the middle of the ledge, there was a sudden high-pitched shriek and a small pebble hit him smack on the top of his head. "Ouch!" he said, peering wildly around to see where it had come from. As he turned another pebble hit him, followed by another and another. Before he knew it, he was caught in a shower of tiny stones, accompanied by wild high-pitched voices. "Ouch! Ouch! Get off! Leave me alone!" he cried, flailing his arms around to try and ward off the attack.

Eddie, who had already begun climbing the next flight of steps, came back down and smiled at the scene before him, his anger momentarily gone. "Stop mucking around, Johnny. They're only bogeymen. They won't hurt you," he said with a laugh.

"Bogeymen! Where?" yelled Johnny, running for cover and now thoroughly terrified.

"Over there," said Eddie, pointing to a jagged outcrop of rock by the entrance to the previous steps. Sure enough, partly concealed by the rock were a group of tiny figures, each holding a small pebble. They couldn't have been more than six inches high and looked quite comical, jumping up and down, and shrieking wildly at the boys. They were covered from head to toe in thick, grey hair and were almost as wide as they were tall.

Johnny stared at them, his mouth wide open in astonishment. "But, I thought bogeymen were huge, lumbering things, that would tear your arms off as soon as the lights went out," he said to Eddie in disbelief.

"No, not at all. Here they're just silly, hairy little creatures. They think they're immensely fearsome, which is why they try to pick fights with anything bigger than themselves, but they're nothing to be afraid of," replied Eddie, adding casually: "Of course, when they accidentally get into your world, then they're huge, lumbering things that will tear your arms off, but that doesn't happen very often."

"Anyway, we need to keep moving," he continued, a serious tone creeping into his voice, as he set off again up the next flight of steps.

Johnny had long ago lost count of the number of steps they had climbed when at last they reached the final flight. As they crouched at the base of them, Eddie whispered: "It's that smell again. We must be close."

"Yes, brimstone and it's much stronger than before," replied Johnny. "What do you want to do when we reach the top?" he suddenly asked Eddie. "Shall we creep up on him, or rush out and tackle him by surprise?"

"I don't really know," said Eddie, who in his anger hadn't been thinking that far ahead. "Let's just see how it goes, shall we?"

Then, rising slowly to his feet, he carefully drew his sickle from his pocket and tested the blade with his thumb. Shifting it nervously from hand to hand, he returned it to his pocket and then soundlessly began to climb the final flight of stairs.

Johnny hung back for a second, his nerves threatening to overwhelm him. Finally, shaking the fear free, he whispered half to himself and half to Eddie: "Well, this is it," and joined Eddie on the last short climb to the top of the mountain and Uncle Lucius beyond.

# Chapter 16 – The Fight

Eddie stopped just below the last step and waited for Johnny to catch up. Hardly daring to move for fear of being caught, they crept forward inch by inch, until they could peer over the final step at the scene before them. What they saw startled and amazed them.

The top of the mountain was completely flat. Some tremendous force had blasted the rock away, leaving a plateau of shining black glass in its place. It was like looking into the depths of a completely still lake in the middle of the night. Around the edge of the plateau, the thick red clouds, which had brought terror to Eddie's village, swirled angrily around and around, driven by furious, howling winds, which dared not touch the plateau itself. Bolts of lightning flared deep within the clouds, accompanied by the deafening roar of thunder. And there, in the centre of it all, arms held high, like a mad scientist or the conductor of some insane orchestra, stood Uncle Lucius.

His back was to the boys, so he couldn't see Eddie and Johnny creep silently from their hiding place onto the glassy rock in front of them. Not that it mattered. For as soon as they moved, a crushing silence fell on the plateau. The clouds still swirled outside, and the lightning continued to flash angrily, but not a sound penetrated the mountain top.

Johnny and Eddie stopped in their tracks and stared at each other. They were just about to turn and make a run for the steps, when the booming tones of Uncle Lucius shattered the silence.

"Stop where you are, Edward!" he commanded. "And you too, boy. I've been expecting the pair of you for some time," he said, lowering his arms and turning to face them.

As Uncle Lucius approached, Johnny and Eddie were rooted to the spot with fear. The clicking of his feet on the glassy surface of the plateau, sent shivers up their spines and Johnny's face drained of all colour until it was as pale as Eddie's.

Stopping just in front of them, Uncle Lucius towered high over the boys, his ancient yellow skull reflecting the blood red colour of the clouds beyond. His eyes blazed with centuries of untold hatred, all traces of compassion and warmth now gone. Johnny remembered the power of that fearsome stare from the tower and tried to look away, but he was caught, drawn helplessly down into its bottomless depths.

Suddenly, the spell was broken, as Eddie cried out: "Stop! Stop it, Uncle Lucius! Stop all of this, please! Stop it now!"

No longer held by Uncle Lucius' gaze, Johnny fell to the floor, clutching his head in his hands, as Uncle Lucius' turned to regard the terrified figure of Eddie before him.

"Stop?" said Uncle Lucius slowly and quietly. "Stop?" he said again, in a slightly louder voice. "Who are you to command me to stop?" he roared. "You are nothing. Do you hear me? You are nothing! I created you. I created all of you, all of this," he bellowed, sweeping his arm before him. "You are mine! You do not tell me what to do!" the madness in his voice growing more intense with every word he spoke.

Turning abruptly from Eddie, Uncle Lucius began to pace wildly around the plateau, completely lost in his ranting speech. "I created you to help me and what did you do?" he asked. "You built human houses. You built human streets. You made your world into a shadow of theirs. You even built a train to help them reach the afterlife!" he thundered, raising his fists to the sky. "That was never my plan. Leave them in the void. Let them find their own way to the afterlife. That was how it was supposed to be. Oh yes, that was the way," he said, his voice fading away to leave the plateau in silence once more.

Before Eddie could even try to reply, Uncle Lucius rounded on him again and cried out in a deafening roar: "When I was in charge, I took souls by the thousand! Entire armies fell to the swing of my scythe! Viking hordes in their wooden longboats, mighty barbarian kings clad in bearskin and gold, and knights in shining armour on horses as black as the night, I took them all. Took them to the void and left them there to fight their battles again and again, until the very end of time. I took ordinary men too and their women and their children. And the more I took, the more I was feared. They feared me and worshipped me at the same time, without even knowing it. I was the name burned into the back of their feeble minds at birth. I was the name that haunted them for every minute of every day of their pathetic little lives. I was a God to them and I will be again!"

Uncle Lucius screamed these last words with such fury that the entire plateau shook, sending Eddie toppling to his knees. Uncle Lucius bent over him, sneering cruelly as he said: "And you think that you can stop me? I think not."

Then, rising to stare high above him, he pointed and said: "Look, Edward. The time is near. The end has almost begun. Soon, these worlds will be destroyed, and I will rule over them all!"

Eddie clambered to his feet and looked upward to where Uncle Lucius was pointing. In the blackness above the swirling clouds, he could see sudden flashes of colour flickering in and out of existence. As he stared at them more closely, Eddie thought that he could make out images of cities, countries and even entire continents. They were blurred and wobbly, but Eddie was in no doubt that they were real. Real places on Earth, which were now trying to enter his world.

"But you'll be destroyed too," said Eddie desperately.

"No. You will be destroyed. I will not. I came from the void long before any of this existed and so I will return to the void unharmed. I cannot be destroyed," replied Uncle Lucius mockingly.

Hanging his head in defeat, Eddie suddenly remembered his sickle. Reaching into his pocket, he gripped the handle of the small silver weapon as tightly as he could and pulled it out. Standing defiantly in front of Uncle Lucius, he yelled out: "We'll see about that, you evil murderer!" and swung the sickle across Uncle Lucius' robe. The blade bit deeply into the ancient cloth, tearing it open and exposing the skeleton beneath.

Uncle Lucius roared with anger: "Fool! Did you not listen? You cannot destroy me. Nothing can destroy me. I am invincible!"

As he spoke, Uncle Lucius grabbed Eddie and hurled him high above his head, as if he were nothing more than a rag doll. Eddie sailed through the air with a scream and came crashing down on the other side of the plateau, where he remained motionless, lying in a small crumpled heap.

"Fools, the pair of them," said Uncle Lucius under his breath and returned to the centre of the plateau. Raising his hands skyward once more, the deafening roar of the wind and booming thunder returned to fill the space, as he stood and watched the flickering images descend ever closer.

As Eddie battled Uncle Lucius, Johnny lay on the floor, the pain in his head from Uncle Lucius' soul-stealing stare preventing him from moving. He watched helplessly through half-glazed eyes as Lucius tossed Eddie across the plateau like a plaything. As he lay there, a rage unlike anything that he had ever experienced rose up within him. He'd lost his friend, probably the best friend he'd ever had, and all because of that bully, Uncle Lucius.

As the anger built inside him, the pain in his head subsided and slowly he rose to his feet. His vision still swimming, he focused as best as he could on Uncle Lucius and began to stagger towards him, gathering speed with every step. Uncle Lucius was so absorbed in watching the flickering images above him, that he didn't notice Johnny approaching until it was too late.

With a mighty grunt, Johnny cannoned into Uncle Lucius, knocking him off his feet. As Lucius toppled backwards, Johnny wrapped his arms around the ancient skeleton and pushed as hard as he could. Uncle Lucius' arms flailed wildly, as he tried to regain his balance, but the glassy rock of the plateau offered his bony toes no grip and he slid helplessly towards its edge.

Johnny kept on pushing, all the time accompanied by the desperate scrabbling of Uncle Lucius' feet, as he tried in vain to fight back. As he reached the lip of the plateau and the roaring winds beyond, Johnny gave one final heave and hurled Lucius over the edge. With a terrifying scream, Lucius fell and was instantly swept away into the swirling red clouds, spinning head over heels as he was borne away far into the distance.

As Lucius fell, there was a mighty crack from within the mountain and the plateau began to shudder violently. Johnny hurried over to the still form of Eddie and knelt down beside him. Shaking him by the shoulder, Johnny yelled over the din: "Eddie! Eddie! Are you alright? Say something, please! You can't be gone. You can't! You're my only friend. I need you!"

Despite his pleading, Eddie remained motionless. Then, with a small groan, he opened first one eye and then the other. "That hurt," Eddie said, a weak smile crossing his pale face.

"You're okay!" cried Johnny. "But I thought... I thought," he stammered, unable to finish his sentence, as Eddie slowly picked himself up off the floor.

"Where's Lucius?" asked Eddie, scanning the plateau for signs of his evil Uncle.

"He's gone," replied Johnny. "And now the mountain is falling apart, so we've got to get out of here as fast as we can."

"Well, there's only one place we can go, if we want to save both our worlds, and that's up," said Eddie, bravely pointing to the blackness, which was now only just above their heads.

"Are you ready?" he asked Johnny, who nodded in reply. "Right then, take my hand," he said and grabbing hold of Johnny's wrist, he leapt into the void.

#  Chapter 17 – Lost Souls

For a moment there was nothing. No sound. No light. No movement... nothing. Just darkness all around them. Then, fumbling in his pocket, Eddie brought out the shining diamond rivet from the Ghost Train. It glowed brighter and brighter in the void until it seemed like Johnny and Eddie were at the centre of a tiny star.

As they stared at the brilliant light around them, Johnny noticed a faint glowing speck in the distance. Then another and another, until the void was filled with them. As they watched, the specks grew bigger and it was clear that they were moving towards the boys. They watched spellbound, as the glowing specks drew closer, until Eddie gasped: "I don't believe it. Lost souls. They're lost souls!"

And sure enough, as Johnny looked on, he could make out the ghostly figures of hundreds of men, women and children, all approaching the shining rivet.

They drew up at the edge of the glow, each ghostly face gazing silently in awe at the diamond rivet held in Eddie's outstretched hand. With every passing moment, more and more lost souls arrived, until there were thousands of them surrounding the boys. Every colour and creed of mankind must be represented here, thought Johnny, with Norse Vikings, African tribesmen and Victorian street urchins among those closest to them.

Although they were all different, one thing united all of the lost souls. Every one of them was smiling. Some wore smiles of satisfaction. Others wore smiles of relief and still more were grinning with happiness and joy. Eddie and Johnny were quite overwhelmed by the spectacle of the lost souls and nervously returned the smiles, wondering what would happen next.

Suddenly, there was a shifting from within the circle and the crowds began to part, as a band of ghostly knights made their way towards the centre. At their head was an imposing figure, clad in a shining suit of armour and riding a magnificent white charger. He held a broken lance in his right hand and in his left was a huge, dented shield, decorated with the emblem of a roaring lion. The knights halted at the edge of the crowd and one of them took the reins of the horse, as their leader dismounted and approached the boys. Having just fought Uncle Lucius, neither of them was particularly frightened by the ghostly figure, but they were surprised when the knight suddenly dropped to one knee before them, his head bowed low.

"Can it be?" asked the knight, in a deep, rich voice. "Can it really be?" he repeated, almost to himself.

Looking up at the boys, he said: "Long has it been spoken that you would come and long have we waited. Truly, you are the ones who will lead us home: the boy and the death child. At last, you have come. Tell me this truly. You will lead us home, will you not?"

Johnny and Eddie exchanged uncertain glances and it was a long time before anyone spoke. When Eddie finally broke the silence, his voice sounded shrill in comparison to the commanding voice of the knight. Addressing the lost souls gathered around them, Eddie said: "I can't take you back to your world if that's what you mean, but I can help you reach the afterlife, if that's what you want."

The knight looked across at the great gathering of lost souls, many of whom were nodding to each other in agreement and said: "Very well. If we can't go home, you may take us onward to the next adventure. I for one have had my fill of this terrible darkness."

As he rose and turned to leave the circle of light, Eddie called out to him: "I promise I will help you as best as I can, but in return, you must help me. I have to return my friend Johnny back to his world. Unlike you, he can return. In fact, he must go back if any of us are to escape this place."

The knight turned and regarded Eddie with a dark stare. "You say we cannot go home, but this one can. Do you mean to trick us?" he demanded.

"No," said Eddie, looking the knight in the eyes. "I'm not lying. I took him to my world when I should have sent him on. As a result, both of our worlds will shortly be destroyed if I don't return him and all that will remain will be this," he said, staring at the void.

"So be it," said the knight softly and turning to the crowd, he called out loudly: "Before we can leave, we must do one thing for the death child. There is one here who must be returned. We must help him get home. Who here knows the way?"

There was a great murmuring as the lost souls turned to one another and tried to remember where they had last seen the Earth. Many had been wandering for so long that they had completely forgotten. Others seemed more certain, but no two could agree on the right direction. Just as Eddie was about to give up, a small girl pushed her way forwards.

She only looked about seven years old, but her play dress and rather severe Victorian boots suggested that she had been wandering the void for quite some time.

Ignoring the knight completely, she walked straight up to Eddie and said in a rather sing-song voice: "I know where that boy's home is. I used to go back there all the time, but no-one can see me anymore, so it isn't any fun."

"Are you sure?" said Eddie frowning at the girl.

"Of course I am, silly," she replied and began to drift away from them. "Come on!" she cried, racing off into the distance.

"After her!" yelled Eddie, grabbing Johnny and speeding after the now tiny speck in the distance. As one, the crowd of thousands of lost souls took up the pursuit behind them, effortlessly keeping pace with the boys.

Johnny had no idea how fast they were travelling through the void. In fact, surrounded by the darkness, it seemed as if they weren't moving at all. It was easy to imagine how awful it must be to be a lost soul, always travelling, but never seeming to get anywhere, desperately trying to find a way out of the clammy nothingness that lay all around.

As they raced on, Johnny lost all track of time and when they, at last, came to rest, he couldn't say whether they had been travelling for minutes, hours or even days. And as the crowd of lost souls drew up behind them, the ghostly little girl drifted back into the pool of light cast by the magnificent shining rivet, smiling broadly.

"It's right in front of you," she said brightly. Johnny and Eddie stared into the darkness beyond the glow but could see nothing.

"Oh, you really are silly," she laughed. "You can't see it. You just have to believe that it's there. I've been here hundreds of times and I know the doorway to your world is right there. Trust me."

Eddie and Johnny looked at each other, not quite knowing what to make of the girl's strange instructions. Turning towards the band of knights, who had remained at the head of the lost souls, Eddie said: "Wait for me here. I'll be back for you soon, I promise."

Thanking the small girl, who gave them a big smile and drifted back towards the edge of the lost souls, Johnny turned to Eddie and said: "Well, this is it, I guess."

"I guess it is," replied Eddie, as they slowly made their way forward into the nothingness beyond.

#  Chapter 18 - Homecoming

The change from the void back into Johnny's world was both sudden and unexpected. No sooner had Johnny and Eddie begun drifting forward than they found themselves flying high above the clouds in a bright blue sky.

"We made it!" cried Johnny excitedly, squeezing Eddie's hand. "We made it!"

"Not so fast," replied Eddie, pointing into the distance. "It's not over yet."

There, far above them on the very edge of the sky, was a band of thick, red cloud moving rapidly towards them. Johnny didn't need to be told that it was the same as the clouds that had caused so much damage in Deathville. Looking nervously at Eddie, he said: "Do you know where we are?"

"Yes," replied Eddie confidently. "We've come out in exactly the same place as the train station did, so if we really hurry, we'll be back in your town in just a few minutes."

As they dived through the clouds to the land below, Johnny couldn't help feeling relieved that he was going home. There below him were the patterns of familiar fields and roads, and up ahead the outskirts of the town were fast approaching.

As they crossed over the glittering blue water of the town reservoir, Johnny had a sudden terrifying thought. He was back home, but where was his body? After all, he'd been hit by a car and died in the accident, hadn't he? He turned to Eddie and asked him frantically if he knew what had happened to his body.

Eddie looked at him and laughed out loud. "Don't worry, you're in the hospital. You're safe," he said. "I didn't cut your life-band, did I? All you've got to worry about is that you don't get sucked into the void when I finally do sever it. Now hold on, we're almost there," he continued, turning sharply as they entered the hospital grounds.

Eddie didn't bother to use the proper entrance. Instead, he and Johnny just flew up the side of the main building and drifted straight through the walls, into the eerie silence of the coma unit. There, in a small cubicle, surrounded by a white curtain, lay Johnny's body. His left leg was encased in a large plaster cast and an oxygen mask was resting on his face. The only sound was the steady 'beep, beep, beep' of the heart monitor, as it marked the steady rhythm of his heart.

Sitting on his left-hand side were his mother and father. Both of them were staring silently at the broken body before them. Johnny's mother was weeping softly and shaking her head as his father tried to console her. "Don't worry, Mum," said Johnny quietly. "I'm coming home."

Turning to Eddie, he said: "Okay, so what do we do to get me back and make everything all right?"

"You go down there, I cut your life-band and you hold on as tightly as you can. Simple as that," replied Eddie, without his usual smile.

Johnny floated down to the hospital bed and stood next to his body. Peering out of the window by the bed, he noticed the thick red clouds closing in around the hospital.

"Quick, there's no time left! Hurry! Cut my life-band, Eddie," said Johnny anxiously.

Eddie hung back for a moment before drifting down to stand beside Johnny. "I'll miss you, Johnny," he said sadly. "It's been great having you as a friend."

"I'll miss you too, Eddie," said Johnny, suddenly realising that this really was the end of their adventure. "I hope you get back home safely, and I hope that your parents are all right," he continued.

"Ready?" said Eddie.

"Ready," said Johnny, clapping his friend tenderly on the back, before leaning over the unmoving body on the bed.

Silently, Eddie reached into his pocket and withdrew the shining silver sickle one last time. Reaching over to Johnny's wrist, he took hold of the life-band and sliced it neatly in two.

"Goodbye my friend," he said as the life-band parted and Johnny started to fade from view.

As soon as the life-band was cut, Johnny felt a dragging sensation. Remembering Eddie's words, he dived on top of his body and clung to it as tightly as he could. At first, it felt slippery, like trying to hold onto a squirming fish and Johnny thought that he was going to be pulled into the void. But as he fought to keep his grip, the pulling sensation began to weaken, and it became easier to hold on. Just as the pulling came to an end, he suddenly remembered Eddie.

Craning his head to where his friend had been standing, he called out: "Will I ever see you again?"

From somewhere far, far away, Eddie's faint voice replied with a laugh: "Johnny, of course you will. I think you can count on that!"

It was the happiest day of Mr and Mrs Jenkinson's lives, when Johnny opened his eyes and looked at his parents, a fragile smile breaking across his face. The sun was shining through the window and all trace of the thick, red clouds had gone. Tears of joy ran down his parent's faces, as nurses and doctors rushed to his bedside, amazed at his sudden recovery.

"I knew you'd come back to us, Johnny. I knew it!" his mother said over and over again, hugging her husband in delight. His father just gazed down at him, grinning like the all of his dreams had come true at once.

Johnny dropped his head back onto the freshly plumped pillows of the hospital bed and sighed. He was exhausted. Being dead was hard work, he thought to himself.

And with that, he gently closed his eyes and drifted off into a wonderfully relaxing and well-earned sleep.

The End

# Epilogue

When Eddie finally returned to Deathville, with the lost souls in tow, his parents and the entire village turned out to give him a hero's welcome. All traces of Uncle Lucius' tower and the Impassable Mountains had disappeared, leaving new and unexplored lands in their place.

That wasn't the only surprise for Eddie. Although he was no longer there, Johnny's strange magic had remained and the entire village and everything beyond it was bathed once again in the most brilliant and beautiful colours imaginable.

As for Johnny, when he eventually left the hospital, he found that Toby Brown and his gang had been expelled from the school. And, as a result of his newfound confidence, he quickly made many new friends and became a very popular fellow indeed.

And yes, he did meet Eddie again, but that, as they say, is another story ...
Thank you for reading this book. If you enjoyed it, which I certainly hope you did, then please have a look at my other works and leave a glowing review with your favourite retailer.

Also by the same author:

Death and the Atom Bomb (Book 2 in the DATS Trilogy)

Death and the End (Book 3 in the DATS Trilogy)

Drynwideon, The Sword Of Destiny – Yeah, Right

# About the author

R.A. Gregory (a.k.a. Robin Alexander Gregory or just plain old Rob Gregory) is an author and animal welfare consultant who splits his time predominantly between Northern Thailand and New Zealand, writing books, helping people to help animals and generally trying to live as contrarian a life as is possible. Consequently, he aspires to no particular genre or style, just tries to write stories that he hopes will make people smile a bit and think about how absurd the world really is (and how much better it would be if he were in charge).

# Connect with me

Website: https://www.rob-gregory.com

Twitter: <https://twitter.com/theunrealrobg>

Facebook: <https://www.facebook.com/MalthusDevryn/>

Smashwords: <https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/RAGregory>

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16455527.Robin_Alexander_Gregory

