The Shadow Setters Book 1: Prominence

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Jason had spent all of Friday morning preparing for the night ahead. He had double checked his calculations and the predicted landing site and was now almost certainly convinced that it was the only conceivable location. He had printed a route planner to make sure that Jo would not lose precious time in trying to find the place and he couldn't rely on her being as prepared as he was. All in all, Jason was impressed with his high organisational standard concerning the whole subject. It felt to him almost like it was a military operation though he knew that such a potentially important situation had to be approached as professionally as was possible for a sixteen year old young man to expect from himself. With everything double checked, printed off and hidden away from prying eyes, Jason found that his eagerness had made him finish his tasks by early afternoon and that he still had hours to go, his growing impatience within urging him to get the plan underway. 

After over an hour of wandering around the house thinking of things to do then changing his mind, Jason realised that after all this time cooped up in the house, he had never followed up on the threat to go out and explore the back garden. The opportunity had not really arisen to go out and explore with the constant gloomy days closing in into night before he had any chance to contemplate the idea. Today seemed to be no different but he had fallen on the idea early enough in the day to act upon it. Kato was prowling around his feet to the point of annoyance, which he had done relentlessly since he had returned from London. With that and the ever present absence of his father, on top of what he could only decipher as wanting to warm up for his mission tonight, the inquisitive aspect of Jason's character had overtaken any other thoughts in his mind. 

Wrapping up warm, Jason stepped out of the back door and into the misty cold gloom of the back garden. As he went to close the door behind him, his grip on the outer handle was greeted with a sticky welcome. Jason cursed. Upon examining his hand and the offending handle, he discovered that they were both covered in the same sap-like substance that he had found randomly dotted around the house, though this particular patch was softer, stickier, even what Jason would deem to be fresher. As he looked closer at the door he noticed the same veins spread out across its surface, accompanied with its familiar shiny snail trails that he found with every other marking, though the door was much more heavily adorned than anywhere else inside. The traces inside were subtle, almost inconsequential where as this was garish, almost an advertisement of a presence. 

Jason frowned and shook his head at the growing mystery that it held. It was yet another thing around the place that warranted answers. He wanted solutions to them more than ever now. Wiping his hand free of the sap-like substance, he turned his attentions to the original reason that he had come out into the garden in the first place. Immediately it dawned on Jason just how vast the grounds actually were. His old garden back home in London was no bigger than a courtyard at best with a barbeque being the focal point and a modern smothering of concrete and potted plants that formed a stereotypical low maintenance city plot. This garden however was the complete opposite. Jason stood in awe of the sight for a few moments before he realised he was standing with the back door open. He looked down and spotted Kato paused at the threshold of the door. As soon as Jason prompted him to join his master outside, the feline shied away and retreated to the substantially warmer interior. He carefully closed the door, not willing to be covered in foreign substances again. Bewildered by the cat's behaviour and unwillingness to join him outside considering that he had been his constant shadow for the past few days, he peered through the damp glass and wiped away the condensation to improve his view inside and hopefully locate the cat. Kato was perched on the edge of the work surface looking at his master, meowing silently as he spotted him. 'Weirdo' mouthed Jason. Kato meowed again but the master just answered him with a disappointed shake of the head.