The Day Before Tomorrow by Nicola Rhodes Page B

talked himself into a state of complete reassurance.  Which was abruptly shattered when he opened the door and found himself in … well, he wasn’t in No’ Wer, anymore.   
    * * *
    Denny was concentrating on Tamar – with one hand on Jamie’s shoulder – in order to teleport to her, when he heard a sound behind him.  It was a large sound, not a loud sound, but a large sound, which is quite different.  It went “Whump!”  It was the sound of quite a lot of air being displaced.  He looked round.  There, behind him in the clearing, was a house.  And Denny was quite certain that it had not been there before. 
    Denny walked all around the house looking at the ground. 
    Jamie was puzzled.  ‘What are you doing?’ he asked. 
    ‘I’m looking for the Wicked Witch of the East,’ said Denny balefully.
    It should be clarified at this point that Jamie had had magic explained to him by now (‘Magic’s real, get used to it’) in view of what Denny was planning with the Athame, and he was taking it pretty calmly.  People usually did: well,in fact, a person usually took it well.  People tended to get panicky and do stupid things, like tell the newspapers. 
    ‘Not really?’ said Jamie, he was getting the hang of Denny’s sarcasm too, which was much harder to adjust to.  Denny never used a sarcastic tone when employing sarcasm, but always sounded absolutely sincere.  It was the only really nasty aspect to his character. 
    While Denny was around the back of the house, Stiles came warily out of the front, blinking in the bright sunshine.  He wondered where he was. He appeared to be in a large field, not dissimilar to the one the house had stood in before, but definitely not the same, unless he really was going mad.  When he saw Denny coming round the side of the house with his head bent to the ground and an enemy soldier in tow, he descended into an icy calm certainty.  He had indeed lost his mind – seeing things was definite proof.  He seemed to remember reading that somewhere.  So, he was definitely insane.  Good, that was that cleared up then.  He probably was not in a field at all; no doubt, he was in a nice hospital somewhere, with kind nurses and doctors and little blue pills every day to stop him trying to jump off the roof.  Perhaps the war had turned his mind, some horrible atrocity that he had witnessed … or maybe there had not been a war, maybe it was all a part of his madness.  Maybe he had never been a policeman.  Maybe he was not Jack Stiles at all.  There was a kind of tranquility in the idea, which was rudely shattered when Denny spotted him. 
    ‘Jack?’ he said, in shocked tones.  Then: ‘Oh sorry Captain, I don’t know why I said that.’
    ‘It’s all right,’ said Stiles.  ‘I’m not a Captain any more anyway. I must say, you’re a very convincing sort of delusion,’ he added.  ‘I didn’t know delusions could talk to you.  What am I saying? Of course, you can.  You did before, didn’t you?  And she did.  Oh boy did she talk.  You know who I mean, of course you do.  You’re all of you in my head together, so you must know each other.’
    ‘Izzee all right?’ asked Jamie in concern. 
    ‘He’s fine,’ said Denny wryly.  ‘He’s just clutching at straws.  Aren’t you Cap … Jack?’
    ‘Oh bugger,’ was Stiles elegant response.  ‘I nearly had myself convinced there.’
    ‘Worth a try,’ said Denny, and added: ‘I know how you feel.  I think I’d rather be nuts at times.’       
    ‘So,’ Stiles nodded to Jamie, ‘who’s this?’ 
    ‘Later,’ said Denny.  ‘Watch this.’ He vanished and reappeared.  ‘Cool, hey?’
    Stiles snorted his contempt.  ‘That’s nothing!  I made an entire house move from China  to … where are we anyway?’ 
    ‘Cambridgeshire.  Are you sure, it was you?’
    ‘No,’ Stiles admitted.  ‘I think it was her.’
    ‘Who?’
    ‘Hecaté, I found out her name in …’
    Jamie