Penny Black

Chapter 8

The corridor was completely empty. The eerie blanket of silence that falls on a school during lesson times was a comfort to Penny. Miss Mollis was well and truly gone, although the unexpected sense of evil in her voice still lingered. Keeping a low profile, the only sound to distract Penny now was the fall of her soft shoes as she tiptoed along the wall from the toilets towards the sick room. She couldn't explain the strength that the light had given her but it continue to power her on, determined to seek some answers. She couldn't contain this feeling and she had to get to Ella to make sense of it.
 
The sick room was empty. It was the smallest of rooms and as soon as Penny entered, it was clear the bed was empty. Even the door to the tiny 'en-suite' toilet was fully open and the mirror within gave a good view that confirmed Ella wasn't hiding in there. She must have gone home. But how was that possible? It suddenly occurred to Penny that there had been no sound of Miss Mollis returning with Ella's Mum and, when she had flung open the main toilet door Penny would have heard Ella's Mum fussing over Ella's predicament. Thoughts of Miss Mollis brought home the fact that she could return at any moment. She would need to get out of here. Find some other way of contacting Ella. The door had swung shut when she entered the room and she held out her hand behind her now, to find the handle as she kept her eyes on the room in some hopeless effort to make sure she had scoured it entirely for signs of her friend. She must have misjudged her position because as she felt into the air for the handle behind her, it didn't come easily but now she felt it, with some relief and grabbed at it as a reassurance. It all happened in a moment. The search for the handle, finding it and grasping it. And in that moment her blood turned cold as her hold on the handle was enveloped in the sudden grip of a cold, bony claw. A voice, as dark as ebony and twice as hard rasped, "Help me, Penny." And there, as she turned, was the face of her friend, her strong and determined friend, contorted with pain as the feathers from the fight with the crow tangled her hair and the cuts on her face dripped black blood.
 
"Ella!" 
 
"It's ok, Penny," cried Ella. "You're here now. Stay with me and I'll be alright." And she held on tight to Penny's hand, both of them wrapped around the door handle. As Penny stared at the hand that clasped hers, she saw now that it was fading from a claw to human form. The cold dissipated as the human warmth of Ella's had returned. Penny lifted her gaze to Ella's face where the cuts were fading and one by one, the crow's feathers fell to the floor as though Ella herself was shedding them. 
 
Ella collapsed onto the bed. "Penny. We must be quick. My Mum will be here soon and I have much to tell you."
 
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The room was dark. Pitch black and silent. Even the glow from the street light outside Penny's bedroom had failed. It seemed there was no light left in the world, now that Penny knew what the world was made of and what lay ahead. She played with the ribbon from under the bed, as it snaked between her fingers, tugging at her hands to dance. The words, 'We Need You' glowed brighter than ever. This was it. This is what she was born for and she must act. She wanted to act. Finally she was good for something and no-one could take it away from her. It was clear to her now, as she reflected on Ella's hurried and desperate explanation earlier that day.
 
"Penny," Ella had continued as she sat at the foot of the sick room bed. "I know about the light. I know that you know about it too. The other day, on the bus, when I told you that I was exhausted from the night before, it was from the fight. The fight against Dark Thoughts. They're advancing Penny, all those thoughts that make us sad, that tell us we're no good, that make us hate the world. They are stronger than ever."
 
"Ella, what are you talking about?" Penny began to cry. She hadn't seen Ella like this before. Out of control and wild from fright. "And what about your hand, your face, the feathers. Ella, I'm scared!"Ella had stopped her right there. 
 
"Penny. Listen to me. "The Dark Thoughts must be stopped." They are stronger than ever. For centuries our world has been protected, filtered by the light that keeps the worst of the thoughts at bay. They can't all be kept from us. The light is not that strong and without Dark Thoughts how can we ever experience the joy of overcoming them. But times are changing Penny. Our world is groaning under the power of the Dark Thoughts as they strengthen and the light fades."
 
"Why are the Dar…" Penny could barely bring herself to say it, it seems so incredible and ridiculous. She wanted to go home and hug Bentley and go to bed. Wake up tomorrow and pretend none of this ever happened. 
 
"Why are the Dark Thoughts growing stronger?" hastened Ella. "That's what you want to know, isn't it?" Penny nodded. "They have been here forever. Every moment is history is interweaved with them. Remember History and the Second World War? We learnt how strong Churchill was but deep inside he was afraid Penny, wracked with Dark Thoughts. He fought them with courage and carried on. Science lessons; we know that Einstein was quite brilliant but he fought the Dark Thoughts." Ella was quite manic now. "What about Sylvia Plath that they told us about in English? Her work is amazing but behind it all, the Dark Thoughts spoke to her. And all this time, throughout the history of the Second Time the light within us all has been enough to overcome the worst of it all."
 
Penny had tried to interrupt. The Second Time? Ella was unstoppable. "But now the light is dimming. It's like a flame that will eventually burn out unless it is passed on, to another bearer. Another who holds the key to releasing it and folding the Dark Thoughts in on themselves, until they are a black hole from which the worst cannot escape; until the light can rule again."
 
Penny's head was spinning. As she tried to take in everything Ella was trying to tell her, all she could think about were the Dark Thoughts in the days after Daddy had died. She knew it was a pain that would never go away, not completely but the light from her friendship with Ella had thrown those Thoughts into the shadows and she had learnt to smile again and worry less about the Sunshine Girls that had tormented her. The light in Bentley's eyes had kept her going as he demanded his walks and a fuss. Even her Mum had shown her some compassion. That proved the world was not all bad. But what if those shards of light were shattered into a million pieces by the Dark Thoughts. What would be left then? 
 
"What does this have to do with me?" she asked Ella, not caring now what it all meant but knowing that something must be done, the realisation dawning on her that it had much to do with her. 
 
Ella began to straighten her hunched frame where she had slumped onto the sick room bed. She seemed brighter now, as if a sense of relief had melted over her and she met Penny's eye. 
 
"I will tell you everything, Penny. Meet me tonight and I will show you the way. Here is what you must do to find me."

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And so here Penny found herself, perched at the foot of her bed, the ribbon in one hand and the paperweight in the other.