The Beast of Seabourne by Rhys A. Jones

they threw themselves into the back seats.
    â€œLong story,” Oz gasped. He wiped sweat from his eyes and proceeded to give them every detail of what had happened at the garages. Ellie and Ruff stared at him with open mouths and unblinking owl eyes. It was only when he felt pain in his fingers that Oz realised that he’d been clutching the seat back in front of him so hard, it had stopped the blood from circulating. When he finally got to the bit where he managed to squeeze back out of the garage and run off, Ellie was frowning.
    â€œAnd you’re sure it was a bear?”
    â€œYes. I mean I didn’t have time to take a picture, but his aura was massive.”
    No one spoke. They both knew what Oz meant. They too had seen auras around other people whom Gerber had experimented upon.
    â€œSo, definitely not a dog, then?” Ruff said.
    â€œNo, definitely not a dog. I got the feeling he was there to sniff us out.”
    Neither Ellie nor Ruff said anything. They both knew that too many weird things had happened when it came to the artefacts to simply ignore Oz’s theories. But by their expressions, they obviously weren’t a hundred percent convinced. Ellie was the first to voice their misgivings. “But how did they know where we were?”
    Oz racked his brain for a memory that had kept nagging at him and then remembered the JG van he’d seen from Caleb’s window at Penwurt. He took a deep breath. “Look, I know how it sounds, but maybe they’re tracking us,” he said, watching the other two for their reaction.
    He saw Ellie’s eyebrows arch upwards, and Ruff, too, looked sceptical.
    â€œBut why now all of a sudden, when there’s been nothing for months?” Ruff said.
    â€œI dunno, but I got the feeling that, this time, there was more control than we’ve seen before. The woman had this box on her wrist, and when she pressed the button, the boy just transformed. Maybe they’ve been working on the auramal stuff to get it right.”
    Ellie didn’t say anything immediately. For a long moment, they all seemed caught up in their own thoughts.
    â€œCome to think of it, I have seen lots of JG Telecom vans lately,” Ruff said eventually.
    â€œThey’re everywhere,” Ellie agreed.
    Oz nodded and felt a wave of relief wash over him that they weren’t simply dismissing his theories out of hand.
    â€œHow did you get Mr Eldred to go back inside?” he asked.
    â€œI got Soph to ring his house phone,” Ellie explained.
    â€œGood thinking,” Oz said.
    â€œShame, really, because he seemed quite happy to talk about the shop.”
    â€œWell, at least we got Bendle and Son as another lead,” Ruff mused.
    â€œSo, what now?” Ellie asked as she took the pebble out of her pocket and handed it back to Oz.
    â€œWe should go back to Penwurt and get Soph to find out as much as she can about this Bendle bloke. And,” he added without a vestige of a smile, “we watch our backs and hide our tracks from now on.”
    Oz saw Ruff nod approvingly. It was, at least, a plan of sorts.

Chapter Five
    The Room Of Reflection
    They arrived back to a seemingly deserted Penwurt. Though they were all quite shaken from their morning ordeal, walking through the doors of the old place instilled an immediate sense of reassuring familiarity in Oz.
    He called out to his mother from the hall but got no reply. In the kitchen, colour charts and paint manufacturers’
    catalogues littered the table. Oz made them all some ginger and lemon cordial, and they drank without speaking for several seconds.
    â€œWell,” Ellie said, thirst slaked, “that was different.”
    â€œYeah,” Ruff agreed. “Spying is thirsty work. And I wouldn’t want to do it every day, thank you very much.” He looked about him. “I’ve really missed this place, Oz.”
    â€œThought you’d finished the basement?”