BLOODMIX

Jane Cuff

Description

Draygon Lord of the Barren Lands waited for the day a Bloodmix would draw their first breath. Told by their grandad that their parents have gone missing, twelve year old April and ten year old Ken, return home with the one person they believe they can trust. Both are in danger, one is being hunted.

Informations

• Publié par: Grindstone Books
• Date de parution: 18 septembre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780956560179
• Langue: English

Extrait

Unit 3940 PO Box 7169 Poole BH15 9EL
www.grindstonebooks.co.uk
First published in Great Britain by Grindstone Books in 2012
Copyright © Jane Cuff 2008 Cover Design © Jos Cunningham 2012
All rights reserved The right of Jane Cuff to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-0-9565601-7-9
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
www.janecuff.co.uk
For the children and staff of Sun Hill Junior School, Alresford, Hampshire.
A place where children are inspired to be the best they can be.
The following account took place over forty five years ago.
The sound of his wife’s blood curdling screams pierced through every fibre in Giles’ body. He swung around violently to run in their direction. Branches whipped at his face as he charged through the densely planted apple trees, heading for the end of their orchard.
As he neared the shed, Giles came to an abrupt halt, unbalancing himself momentarily. He fought to regain his composure, before raising his head to witness his wife Esther fighting for her life against what he could only describe as a ‘beast’.
The beast, unbeknown to them, was ‘Draygon’, Lord of the Barren Lands, a being from the lower world.
Giles fought valiantly to release his wife from the beast’s hold, yet, tragically, during the struggle, he accidentally cut Esther’s beautiful face with the pruning sheers he was holding.
The moment Draygon saw her blood, he used his razor-sharp beak to tear the skin from his own arm and, before Esther and Giles had a chance to react, the beast pressed his open flesh against her facial wound. His blood, dark as tar, entered the deep cut and, from that moment onwards, a Bloodmix between mankind and the Barren Lands had been created.
Any child born of Esther’s line would now carry both his blood and human blood in their veins.
Draygon knew that the Bloodmix would be stronger in a child.
A child who, once captured, would enable him and his own kind to cross between the two worlds at will.
Then, without warning and as quickly as he had appeared, Draygon withdrew back into the shed, disappearing without trace.
It is written in the book of truth that the key to being human is free will.
Chapter 1
The present day
Brother and sister, April and Ken, sat next to each other on the back seat of their grandad’s car. Still reeling with shock from their grandad’s revelations, the two siblings remained motionless, simply watching the darkened figure behind the wheel. April moved only to adjust the seatbelt that was cutting into her neck. The three of them travelled the long journey from the children’s boarding school to their grandad’s farm in silence.
The school had allowed Giles to collect the brother and sister on behalf of their parents for an impromptu long weekend, even at such short notice.
Once in the car, Giles had been quick to explain to them both that their parents had ‘gone missing’, and that it would be in their best interests if they were to stay with him until any news came through.
April’s vivid imagination sent her mind into a tail spin.
The journey dragged, until eventually the newly broken family pulled up outside their grandad’s farmhouse. Giles turned off the engine, pulled the keys from the ignition and opened his car door, triggering the in-car light.
April and Ken remained in their seat. They were emotionally and physically exhausted and felt unsure of what to do next. Giles shifted his body to rest his foot on the trim next to him, ready to step out of the car. Glancing over his shoulder, he became aware that his grandchildren were not moving. He sighed, before twisting back around to face the confused brother and sister.
"It’s gonna be okay you know, kids," he said, half smiling, "it’ll all come out in the wash."
Ken lunged forwards, grabbing the chair in front of him as he said, "But what if they’re…?" The frightened ten-year-old stopped mid-sentence, as though thinking better of what he was about to say.
April stared at the grandad she adored with all her heart and hearing the strain in her own voice, she said, "You would tell us if there was anything we should know… wouldn’t you, Grandad?"
"Of course I would," he replied looking first at April and then at Ken. "Look, I suggest we get inside the house, have a warm drink and then get to bed. It’s been a long day for all of us." Giles twisted back round to face the front, ready to exit the car. Before he had a chance to heave himself out, April leant forwards, hugging him from behind. For one fleeting moment, she felt secure and comforted as she wrapped her arms tightly around his strong, broad shoulders. After a few moments, she tilted her head sideways until it rested on his shoulder in the crick of his neck. Quietly, she whispered, "Thanks for being here for us, Grandad."
Giles patted her small, delicate hand as he said, "I am here for you, April… you’ve no idea how much I’m here for you."
The few tender moments they shared together brought April a much needed respite from the weight and seriousness of the crashing news their grandad had broken to them only hours earlier.
Cold and overtired, April knew she had to end their warm embrace. She raised her head and released her hold, tenderly squeezing her grandad’s shoulders as she did so. Giles leaned over to pick up something from the passenger seat, and as his head turned, April noticed a nasty bruise behind his ear. Had he not made such a hasty exit from the car, she might have asked him how he came by it.
April threaded her arm through her cardigan sleeve as she watched her grandad scurry round to the back of the car to retrieve their suitcases.
Once inside the familiar farmhouse, he showed his grandchildren to their bedrooms, assuring them that a nice hot drink would be waiting for them downstairs in the kitchen.
Dressed in her well used dressing gown, April met Ken at the top of the stairs. She asked him if he had noticed the bruise behind their grandad’s ear.
"No!" he replied before asking which ear she was talking about.
"His right one," she said, pointing to the area behind her own ear. "I noticed it after I hugged him."
Ken shrugged his shoulders and said, "He probably knocked himself on something. Old people do that a lot."
April sighed. "Says who?"
Ken sniffed before saying, "It’s a well-known fact that old people are less stable on their feet. Besides," he added nonchalantly, "I’m surprised you could see anything in that light. I bet when we go into the kitchen you won’t see anything. It’s more likely to have been a shadow."
April raised her eyebrows in response to her brother’s dismissive answer. Upon entering the kitchen, the children spotted two steaming mugs of hot chocolate sitting on top of the well-worn kitchen table.
April led the way. "What’s this?" she said holding up a tatty, hand written note that lay next to one of the mugs.
Ken looked over her shoulder as she read aloud. "I’m closing up the farm for the night. Enjoy your drinks, then get straight to bed. I’ll see you for breakfast in the morning."
Both Ken and April thought their grandad’s note was slightly odd and out of character, but neither said anything to the other.
Chapter 2
April had slept surprisingly well. Yawning, she stretched before leaving the warmth of her bed.
Her first port of call was the large, ornate mirror that hung on the wall by the door. As she looked upon the reflection of herself dressed in her favourite purple pyjamas she made a vain attempt to flatten down her bed hair as best she could without bothering to use a hairbrush. Giving up, she turned to notice a few hand painted pictures of trees planted in front of an old shed hanging to the right of the mirror. They were numbered one to four. April hadn’t paid them much attention until now. Odd , she thought to herself, not sure I would have chosen pictures of fruit trees to hang on my wall . Taking a closer look at the picture numbered one, April noticed a very faint drawing of a woman. The lone figure appeared to be standing at the closed entrance of a run down, old shed. In the second picture, April could barely make out the back of the woman; however she did notice that the shed door was now painted as open. Picture three showed the woman being cradled in the arms of a man, as though being comforted, although it was hard to be sure as the pictures were old and faded. In the final picture, the small wooden shed was sealed shut with a "Keep Out" sign and what looked like a substantial padlock on its door.
The paintings were plain and amateurish, which led April to consider whether her grandad had purchased them from a car boot sale. As she mulled them over, she pictured the far wall of her parents’ kitchen, where Ken’s and her early attempts at artwork were displayed for all and sundry to see. This made her question whether the four paintings might have even been done by her own dad when he lived there as a boy. She gently reached out her hand to touch one, as though wanting to feel some sort of connection between herself and her missing father. After a few moments she retracted her hand then turned to face the huge window that looked out over the south meadow. For April, this was the best part of the room, tempting any onlooker to get lost in the pictur