CHAPTER ONE

Rannaghan Castle, Cardiff County, Scotland, UK.

It was a rainy day, like most Scottish days. Clouds were clustering in a sky that was getting darker and darker, the rain was quickly turning into a storm. A man and a woman materialized just outside the huge portal of the castle. Their clothes were not suited to the rainy weather and they had to take shelter to avoid getting soaked. The woman was clad in a blue dress made of a soft, thin fabric that didn't offer any protection from the cold, but she didn't seem to care. The man was wearing a grey suit with a polka-dotted blue tie. Both were definitely overdressed and looked quite incongruous in that harsh, uninviting environment.

They quickly took cover behind the portal's stone vault, brushing away the raindrops from their blond hair. The man asked his companion in a stern voice:

"Is there anybody inside?"

The woman touched the portal with both her hands and closed her eyes. After a few moments, she replied.

"No, it's empty. But the door is locked."

He made a small half smile.

"Not for long." He palmed the bolt and, with a swift movement of his wrist, forced the inner mechanism to unlock.

They entered the building, looking around inquisitively. The two were in a large hall, fully decorated with period furniture; it was clean, no dust had deposited on the furnishings and the lights were on. The man was the first to speak.

"This place looks inhabited." He didn't ask his partner if she was sure that the castle was empty, though; he knew that her probing powers never failed.

"I doubt they went for a walk in this weather. Maybe they fled?"

He looked at her with grey, questioning eyes.

"How could they have known we were coming?"

She considered briefly before continuing.

"Perhaps the time anomaly we have been sent to investigate has already taken them."

He nodded. "That's more likely. Can you feel anything?"

The woman concentrated as her eyes turned a bright blue and a deep rhythmic throb propagated around her. When her probe was finished she was confident of her reply.

"No. Time flows normally here."

The man needed something more.

"Let's walk around and search for anything out of the ordinary."

The two partners started walking briskly in the castle's numerous rooms. All were in perfect condition, clean and elegantly furnished. The kitchen was huge and could have accommodated at least thirty people.

The woman easily observed the room's use.

"It looks like this dwelling hosted a large family, and was probably helped by a good service staff. No one could run this place alone."

"Then where is everyone?"

Her answer began with a smile.

"That's what we have been sent here to find out, I suppose."

A derisive snort accompanied his response to that.

"I wish they bothered to enlighten us on what we should expect on our assignments and on what they want us to accomplish."

She was still smiling at him.

"They probably don't know themselves. I think they just perceive that there's something wrong with time, but they cannot pinpoint what the exact problem is and how to correct it."

"And how do you propose we pinpoint it now?"

Before she could reply, they both heard a muffled sound coming from a small door concealed in one of the kitchen walls. The man didn't hesitate: in a split second he was in front of the door and flung it open. It was a pantry, and he could see what the source of the sound was: a cat was trying to open a packet of food. The animal didn't seem frightened by the two strangers, and indignantly walked out of the pantry, jumped on the kitchen table and sat in a regal pose, languidly swinging its tail. Its hair was pitch black, with eyes green as emeralds. It was wearing a collar with a word written on it. The man approached the cat to read the letters, but as soon as he reached with his hand, the cat scratched it, leaving five bleeding marks. He immediately withdrew his hand, startled by the attack. He removed a handkerchief from a pocket and applied it over the scratches to wipe the blood, mumbling as he did so.

"Treacherous creature."

He half expected a light-hearted remark and an amused smirk from his partner, but the woman was unsmiling.

"That's a very unusual behaviour for a cat. They usually warn with hisses and flat ears before scratching. And it should be running from you now, not just sitting there placidly as if nothing happened."

The man cast a disapproving look at the animal.

"Maybe I trespassed into its comfort zone. It is true that it doesn't look too ruffled, though. And these scratches burn like fire."

She approached him. "Let me have a look." But when he removed the handkerchief, they both could see that his skin was undamaged; no red marks were visible.

Her concern was assuaged with relief at the clear looking skin.

"Steel, that was very quick."

But he shook his head. "No, Sapphire. My elemental powers could not have healed the skin so fast. And I can still feel it burning. There's something very unusual about this cat."

When they turned to look at the animal, it was gone. They looked around, but it was nowhere to be seen.

When Sapphire glanced at her partner again, she was surprised to see him sitting on a chair, holding his injured hand with a pained expression in his eyes.

"Steel? Are you all right?"

"Not quite. My whole arm is hurting now. And the burning is spreading over my entire body."

She approached him with a worried expression.

"Maybe the cat's paws were poisonous."

He was baffled.

"Are there poisonous cats on Earth?"

"No, but perhaps its paws were soaked in some kind of venom."

"It would be dead, by now. I saw it licking its claws after it scratched me. No, Sapphire, we must find that cat: I'm sure it has something to do with the reason we were sent here."

Puzzled, she asked him, "Do you think that creature is causing some kind of time anomaly?"

He shook his head. "No, not concerning time, but an anomaly nonetheless. You just suggested it's not an ordinary cat."

"No. You stay here until the burning has subsided, I'll go looking for the cat."

He didn't object, and that was what worried her the most. He must really be in pain, she thought, to stay behind and let her go.

While she was walking out of the kitchen, she heard his voice in her mind: "Be careful, Sapphire. If you find it, stay away from its claws."

She sent out a reassuring thought and kept searching for the cat.

She realized it was a daunting task; the castle was huge and she was looking for a very stealthy creature. Its black colour didn't help, either. It could hide in any dark corner and she would miss it entirely. She was still searching the extensive dining room, when she heard a strange sound coming from the kitchen. She sent out a questioning thought: "Steel? What was that sound?"

No answer, and the sound got louder. She anxiously ran back to the kitchen to check on her partner. When she entered the room, she was confronted with an appalling sight: Steel was on the floor, convulsing. She knelt at his side and tried to keep him from hurting himself. He was banging his head against the floor, but the seizure didn't seem to subside. The only thing she could do was to support his head to avoid any more banging, but she couldn't help him when his teeth bit his lower lip, drawing blood. She probed deep into his mind, but he had completely shut off from her.

She tried not to panic and called him.

"Steel? Please, stop it. You're hurting yourself. Steel!"

The man didn't answer, but the seizure gradually lessened. When the convulsions finally subsided, she tried calling him again.

"Steel? Can you hear me?"

He didn't answer, but his eyes started to flutter. When he finally opened them, she could see that they were a strange green colour, much different from their usual grey-blue shade. It only lasted a few seconds, though, and soon they returned to their customary colour. He gazed at her with a look she could not read, very different from all his usual expressions.

After a few moments, he said: "Sapphire. At last."

Baffled, she asked: "What do you mean?"

He got up and brushed his clothes as if nothing had happened, licking the blood from his injured lip: "Merely that I feel good, at last. The burning has gone."

The woman was flabbergasted.

"You just had a seizure, Steel. Hardly an ordinary reaction for a few cat scratches."

He shrugged. "I guess I'm allergic to cats, that's all. There's no need to go looking for that creature, it's probably hiding in some invisible place. We should not waste our time with it. I'm sure it's unimportant."

Sapphire protested in spite of Steel's reassurances.

"A few minutes ago you said that the cat's probably something to do with the anomaly we have been sent to investigate, and now you say it's unimportant?"

"I simply changed my mind. I'm entitled to it, am I not?" He spoke with what sounded like a very uncharacteristic prickly tone.

She answered him, still confused by the situation.

"Yes, of course you are. So what should we do now?"

"We should keep searching the castle. We will find what we are looking for, sooner or later."

Her reply was cautious. "Very well."

The two partners resumed their exploration, but Sapphire wasn't sure what she was supposed to look for. She was still quite confused by Steel's behaviour, but her confusion increased when he proposed a new plan.

"I think we should split, this castle is too big. You go upstairs and I stay downstairs."

"Are you sure it's safe?"

His temper almost flared at her question. "Of course I'm sure. You don't trust my judgement anymore?"

She was used to his temper tantrums, but they were usually triggered by her failing an important task, not by a simple question. She was so baffled that she didn't object.

"Very well. What am I supposed to look for?"

"How should I know? Anything out of the ordinary, I would say. I will meet you upstairs as soon as I have finished searching the ground floor." That said, he hastily left her alone, without even asking her to be careful, which was totally out of character.

Trying not to think about her partner's odd behaviour and to concentrate on her assignment, Sapphire walked up the grand staircase and started looking into the many bedrooms and bathrooms of the first floor.

The first three bedrooms contained double beds, but only one of them looked inhabited. The other three bedrooms looked like children's rooms, judging from the many toys they contained. When Sapphire reached the last one, she stopped, feeling something unusual in the atmosphere. Before she had a chance to investigate further, she heard a muffled sound coming from under the bed. The cat, maybe? Or possibly a child, spared from the incident that took his or her family, and now hiding in fear.

She cautiously knelt down and lifted the heavy quilt to have a look, but all she could see under the bed were three dolls. They were very unusual, though, so she decided to have a closer look at one of them. She reached with her hand under the bed and grabbed the closest doll with her fingers, but she felt a stinging pain. She immediately withdrew her hand, stunned: it positively felt like a bite. Indeed, the back of her hand was bleeding and showing unmistakable tooth marks. She had no time to tend to her injured hand as another sound, louder this time and coming from behind her, made her spin around abruptly. She could not believe her own eyes. All the toys in the room were moving, as if they were alive! She was so startled she did not fully comprehend the danger. The toys – at least three dozen of them – were rapidly approaching her. Before she realized what was going on, they all attacked her. Some of them were harmless, but others were either using their weapons or their teeth and limbs to hurt her. Their sheer number prevented her from escaping, for even though the toys were small their strength was overwhelming. They made her stumble and fall to the ground where they rapidly overpowered her. She was literally covered in toys, and all of them were biting, punching, kicking, and stinging her with their spears, knives and rifles. Blood was now oozing out of countless small wounds, and the blows and kicks were leaving painful red marks.

She instinctively sent out a mental cry for help to Steel, but she received no answer. She then cried out his name, but once again only silence answered her desperate call. She realized she had to get out of that terrible situation alone, before being completely overwhelmed by the deadly toys. Despite the fear and the pain, she forced herself to concentrate. Her eyes once again turned a bright blue, and the woman fought to take time back. Slowly, excruciatingly, her efforts started to warp the time fabric, and the minutes flowed backwards. She kept her concentration until one moment before she entered the room. When her eyes lost her brightness, she was standing in front of the closed door, unhurt. Her hand was on the knob, but she hastily withdrew it, frightened. She ran downstairs and called her partner.

"Steel! Where are you?"

His voice answered her from the recesses of the house.

"Over here. In the servants' quarters."

She ran to her partner, still shocked by the terrible danger she had just fled.

"Steel, the toys in one of the upstairs bedrooms just attacked me!"

He looked at her with what positively looked like a scornful glance.

"Say again?"

"The toys were alive! They attacked me with bites, blows and weapons. They hurt me. They wanted to kill me. I barely managed to take time back and save myself."

"Sapphire, do you realize what you're saying? You were attacked by toys? You don't expect me to believe that, do you?"

The woman was more surprised than disappointed by her partner's disbelief.

"We have seen things more strange than that, Steel. Why don't you believe me? And, above all, why should I lie to you?"

"I don't think you're lying to me, Sapphire, I just think that you suffered some sort of... hallucination."

"I have never hallucinated before. Why should I start now?"

He shrugged, unconcerned.

"Well, probably the atmosphere somehow influenced you."

She was more and more taken aback by her partner's odd reactions.

"The atmosphere? Steel, we have worked in far more sinister places. And why didn't you answer my mental call?"

He looked even more uninterested.

"Sorry, I didn't hear you. I was probably too busy searching this place."

She realized that she would accomplish nothing, so she just stopped debating, but she could not help thinking that Steel wasn't himself since the cat scratched him. Probably the poison, or whatever it was that hurt him, was still in his blood stream and was somehow affecting his responses.

While she was still trying to justify his behaviour with some logical explanations, he spoke to her.

"Look, I'll go upstairs and you take care of the rooms downstairs. How does that sound?"

She cast him an astonished look.

"It sounds like a bad idea. I insist we should not separate."

He lost his patience again. "Oh, come on, Sapphire, quit acting like a scared child! You're a professional operator, and I expect you to behave as such. Now stop discussing all my orders and kindly do as I say."

That said, he stiffly left the room and walked upstairs.