Chapter 1
The trapdoor creaked. Unseen, a figure slipped from the loft down onto the concrete ground below. Horses nickered. Ammon looked around, before stealing into the feed room. Buckets of feed were stacked in piles. He grinned and went to work. Soon the horses all around him were chewing contentedly on their grain. Ammon picked up a marker, and placed it on the white-board. Elegant script wound its way across the slate as he wrote out a turn-out list.
Twenty minutes later found Ammon cleaning stalls one at a time. Dirty shavings and hay were scooped into muck buckets, which were dumped into the giant mucking cart to be emptied when Charlie came down from the house. He spread clean shavings over the rubber mats, then dumped, scrubbed and refilled the water buckets, and swept the aisles. Ammon read over the list of horses Karen, the owner, was going to ride that day, then pulled out Karen's saddle, Ninook's bridle, girth, and saddle pads, and a pair of front boots.
He paused. A door slammed. Ammon swore, then froze. Sabrina stared at him with wide eyes. She took in his appearance, from holey jeans and worn boots to thin jacket. Sabrina blinked, then set a lidded cup warily on the trunk by Ammon. The scent of hot cocoa drifted into his nostrils, and his mouth watered.
"That's for you, Ryuu." She said, placing a waxed paper bag down next to it. "When you do my jobs for me in the morning, I suppose I can get you breakfast." Ammon picked up the cup warily, taking a sip. He hummed in delight as the sweet raced over his tongue, taking a larger sip from it. Sabrina walked into the lounge, sinking into a deep leather couch with a sigh. Ammon leaned on the doorframe, nursing the hot chocolate almost lovingly.
"How long have you known?" he inquired, silky voice low. "I tried to be very careful."
"I knew as soon as stalls started getting cleaned. You left footprints of shavings until the trapdoor to the attic. Is that where you're staying?" Pale green eyes flashed. Sabrina smiled gently.
"If I were planning to tell someone, I would have told them right away, wouldn't I? You do an amazing job, because only I've noticed, I think. Karen thinks that Charlie and I are just spectacular at cleaning stalls and whatnot." Ammon peeked into the bag, finding three warm, crusty rolls inside. "Eat, kid. You're too thin. How long have you been here?"
"Four years." He mumbled around a mouthful of bread. "I got into the loft when I was eleven." Sabrina started to say something, but was cut off as the front door slammed again. In a flash, Ammon was gone, taking the cocoa and rolls with him. There were no signs that he had ever been there, except the trapdoor, which sat slightly ajar. As Sabrina watched, it fell into place with a muffled thump. She smiled as Charlie came into view.
"What're you smiling at, Sabrina?" he asked, repositioning his baseball cap.
"Our phantom struck again. I came in here to find the stalls mucked, horses fed, buckets filled, Ninook's tack out…" Charlie's eyes bugged. "Ryuu's getting faster and faster. Remember when we'd come down and find the horses fed and a few stalls mucked? Nothing like this!"
"So we have nothing to do?"
"You still have to feed hay, we have to turn them out, you could patch up those fences that need fixing, and there are a lot of other little chores, you slacker." Charlie groaned theatrically. An hour later, eight horses were in their paddocks. Charlie had fed the horses hay, and Karen was on Ninook. Sabrina watched Charlie walk out to one of the paddocks, new boards, nails, and hammer in one gloved hand. She paused, then rapped on the wall inquisitively.
"Yes?" Ammon questioned drowsily, poking his head out the trapdoor. She jumped.
"Oh! I was curious if you could hear it." She said, almost sheepishly. Ammon sighed.
"Yes, I can hear when people tap the walls, when horses kick them, when the doors open and close. May I go back to sleep?" Sabrina nodded, and his head vanished. His voice floated down. "If you would like to make a ladder of some sort, I will attach it, so you may visit."
Two days later, Sabrina tapped on the wall below Ammon's trapdoor. It slid open slightly, and the boy peered out. "Barn's closed and Charlie's out to get lunch. I'm on my own. You can come down and be social with little ole me…" she grinned. Ammon paused, then blinked.
"I'll be down in a second." He hit the concrete floor with a thump. Sabrina held out a large backpack.
"Take it, Ryuu." He peered inside. There were new jeans, a heavy fleece, warm socks, and sturdy gloves. He gaped.
"Um, Sabrina? I can't take this. You didn't have to buy me this!" she shook her head, smiling still. He stared at her in confusion.
"Karen's apparently known for over a year. She was waiting for one of us to see you so she could buy clothing that fit. She says it's payback for the four years of work you've done. This is a fraction of what you really deserve." Sabrina eyed his thin frame. "Have you ever wondered why there was always food in the fridge?" Ammon had wondered, but if no one noticed the food missing, he wasn't going to complain.
"I felt bad when I took some." He confessed. "But I tried not to take a lot."
"That's why Karen always left plenty of food there, you know. Everyone knew not to eat it. When you started taking the food, she was so happy. It was a little strange." Sabrina said, leading him into the lounge. She pulled open the fridge, then tugged out one of the vegetable drawers.
"Bread, cheese, plenty of fruit…" she ticked off on her fingers, "…some candy, there are chips and nuts under the counter, water in the dispenser, of course you know that…oh. There's soda in the machine, too. I'll leave coins."
"How do you know I don't eat meat often?" Ammon asked in spite of himself. A voice came from behind him, full and amused, "Because whenever it was left in the fridge, it would stay there until it was about to go bad, then it vanished. You waited until the last moment to eat it." He spun. Karen leaned on the doorframe, grinning. "So you're my mysterious phantom. You're working Sabrina out of a job!" Ammon blushed.
"I can do less. I just felt guilty, taking space and food without doing anything to repay you."
"And now I should be paying you, silly. Relax. Sleep late. Come down and eat often. Are you warm enough, in this freezing weather?" Ammon nodded. Karen frowned. "I also insist that you come down here between the hours of nine and five, for at least two hours total. Yes?"
"Yeah…" Ammon said warily. "I have a question…" Karen and Sabrina looked at him. "Can I…um…can I learn how to ride?" Sabrina laughed. Ammon sneered and stalked away. They heard the trapdoor thud, and Karen sighed.
"I didn't mean it like that!" Sabrina said, panicked. "I really didn't!"
"I know. But really, how often has he spoken with people? I'm surprised he's talking to us." Sabrina nodded shamefully. Karen strode out into the aisle, where she tapped on the wall under the trapdoor. "Ryuu, Sabrina didn't mean it. She wasn't laughing at you." The trapdoor slid open, and Ammon poked his head out.
"She made fun of me." He said flatly.
"Oh for…can I come up, Ryuu? I'd like to see your home up there." Ryuu reluctantly dropped down a ladder he had made from the twine he saved from the hay bales. Karen scaled the ladder, and gaped.
"It's not much." There was a thin layer of hay spread over the floor, with small bales stacked along the walls. Two heavy wool horse blankets were spread over the hay in one corner. Karen noted the ragged towel and shampoo stacked on top of the new clothes she had bought him. Suddenly, her eye was caught by a set of expensive, but very clearly old, pastels and coloured pencils next to the clothes. There was also a scrapbook, the pages worn and cover torn off.
"Can I look through your scrapbook?"
"Sure…" Ammon said hesitantly, sitting on the floor awkwardly. Karen walked over to the scrapbook, absently noting that she could stand fully. She picked up the book and flipped through the pages slowly. The drawings started rough and crude, done in pencil. They got better and better, and soon they were in full colour, both in pastel and coloured pencil. Karen's jaw dropped. On one of the last pages, there was a full colour drawing of Ninook and her, leaping an oxer. Before she could turn the page, the scrapbook was taken, rather gently, from her hands and closed.
"I have some that are not finished. I do not want some seen." Karen nodded, then followed Ammon out of his loft. The trapdoor closed behind her with a soft thump. Sabrina looked over as she groomed Ranna, a gray mare. "Sleeper…" Ammon whispered, and the mare's ears pricked straight forward. She nickered hopefully, and Ammon offered her a treat.
"Sleeper?" Sabrina inquired, picking dirt from Ranna's hooves.
"It's…something I'm working on. A book." Ammon muttered, slinking down the aisle. Karen caught up to him easily.
"A book?" she pried gently.
"It's a long story. A woman inherits seven necromantic bells from her father, and must learn to be the Abhorsen. The bells have names. Ranna, Mosrael, Kibeth, Dyrim, Belgaer, Saraneth, and Astarael. Sleeper, Waker, Walker, Speaker, Thinker, Binder, Weeper." Ammon said rather shortly, before slipping into one of the horse's stalls. Before Karen could shriek a warning, the horse was nuzzling the boy's hair affectionately.
"Ryuu, get out of Badge's stall. Right now." Badge was a dangerous horse when he was handled.
"This is my Belgaer, my Thinker." Karen's eyes widened as Ammon patted the gelding on the neck.
"Mancala is my Mosrael, my Waker. King is Kibeth, Walker. Dakota is my Dyrim, my Speaker. Sir is Saraneth, my Binder. Apache is Astarael, my Weeper." Ammon said absently. "The bells command the Dead, and she must learn how to ring them before she can control the Dead." He pressed his forehead to Badge's. Ammon stood there for a moment before patting him again and walking out of the stall. Karen followed, replaying the details in her head.
Three weeks later, Ammon descended the twine ladder carefully. When his feet hit the ground, he staggered. Gritting his teeth, Ammon picked up the first bucket of feed, and almost fell over. This was going to be a long week…the last time he had felt like this, it lasted for over two weeks.
By the time Sabrina and Charlie got there, Ammon had dumped and refilled the water buckets and fed all the horses. His face was pale and he was rubbing his knees. Sabrina took one look at him, led him into the lounge, and ordered him not to move. Ammon was laid out on the couch, covered in a warm blanket, and told to stay there until the vet came later.
"Why do I have to wait for the vet before I can move?" Ammon inquired, sweating. "I just have a cold." Sabrina didn't say anything, but put a hand on his forehead. "Sabrina, come on. I can take care of myself. I have before."
"Ryuu, I just need to ask you a couple of questions." He nodded grudgingly. "Have you felt like this before?"
"Yeah, about a month ago. It's been on and off for a while."
"So what doesn't feel right?" Karen slipped through the doorway, coming to sit on the couch.
"I'm tired, my knees hurt, I haven't been hungry for three days…" he shivered as Karen placed a hand on his forehead, then yanked it away. "Your hand is absolutely freezing, did you know that?" he inquired mildly, nestling deeper under the blanket.
"You're burning up, that's why." She responded, frowning. Sabrina looked at Karen, then back at Ammon. She pulled another blanket over him, then jumped as a rather plump woman ambled down the aisle with a loud, small dog.
"Hey Karen! Hey Sabrina! How're you?" she said enthusiastically, tying the small dog to her trunk. The miniature poodle yapped excitedly, jumping up and down. Ammon groaned and tossed the blanket over his head as it began to pound.
"I'm going back to my loft." He muttered, abruptly heaving himself to his feet and swaying dangerously. Before anyone could steady him, he staggered out of the lounge and set a foot on the twine ladder. Ammon struggled up the ladder, and when he reached the top, he practically collapsed, head throbbing painfully. He forced himself up and onto his bed of straw, then tugged one of the heavy blankets over himself. Ammon curled up into a ball and slept restlessly.