The Stronghold

Bench Is NOT A Name

"Hello there," a voice said softly. "Do you need any help?"

I looked up from my panicking to see a younger, smaller, saner version of Shaade stood just in front of me.

"My name's Bench," he continued. "I can walk through walls and bring people with me. Do you need any help?"

"Are you a robot?" I asked, standing up. He laughed and shook his head.

"No. Why?"

"You just seem too perfect for a child," I replied, still a little wary of him. "Can you really walk through walls?"

"I got in here, didn't I?" He offered his hand to me, twitching back his sleeves slightly.

"Come on."

Did you send the miniature Super Glitch? I asked Tom as I followed Bench towards the wall. He gripped my hand tighter as we passed through the wall, walking upwards and then out into the open air.

"You didn't die," Bench said, clearly relieved. "That's good. I've never done that before."

"In answer to your question, yes," Tom said, walking over.

"Who even is that kid?" I asked in a low voice as Bench walked away to Shaade.

"I think he's related to Shaade," Tom replied quietly.

"That does seem to be the logical solution," I agreed. "Where's Georgina, Sophie, Rebecca, Emmi, Josh?"

"Somewhere over there." Tom pointed with his hand in the general direction of everyone else. Speeding up so that I reached them before he did I was able to give everyone a cheery smile. Emmi and Rebecca shot me death glares and my smile wilted.

"I was joking when I said tell them to burn in hell," I muttered to Tom. He shrugged and grinned.

"I know."

*

"So, Shaade, are you going to explain why there is some random child here that has resulted in my brother's death?" I asked. Shaade was stood opposite me with the boy by his side.

"Probably not," Shaade replied. "I think I'll get something to drink, actually." He turned and went to move away but I was in front of him.

"Now is not the time to be infuriating," I warned. Shaade shrugged nonchalantly and made to walk past me. I put a hand on his chest and pushed him back.

"Stay right here," I threatened in a soft voice, "or I will kill Bench."

"You wouldn't," Shaade scoffed. I held out my free hand and a small bar flew across the room, activated by magnets. It grew into a long sword in my hand and I aimed it directly at Bench, pointing it at his heart.

"I am not in a joking mood," I hissed, facing Shaade again. I lowered my hand to see what he would do. Glancing at Bench and then back to everyone else he realised he was defeated.

"I'll explain," Shaade said reluctantly. "Can I sit down?"

I nodded and Shaade backed onto the sofa, swinging his legs up so that he was sat sideways. He beckoned for Bench to join him and I adjusted my grip on the sword. It was a small movement but enough to show Shaade that I was truly being serious.

"When I was a boy," he began. "I was told by my parents that I was going to have a little brother.

'Being a 'cool' person, I didn't really care. But when both my parents died and I was left to look after a baby demon on my own I didn't particularly want to be grumpy and irresponsible.

'So I delayed any school and spent most of my time looking after Bench. Before you ask, my parents named him. Not me."

"Bench is not a name," about three people said at once. Shaade shot them all an irritated look before continuing.

"What is it with your family and odd names?" Tom said, shaking his head.

"Anyway," Shaade said loudly, "Loki helped me read and write and stuff until the school kicked me out. I had as good as left anyway, going by the amount of time I spent actually in the building. Which was very little, by the way.

'Bench grew up a little too slowly for my liking. So I sort of asked a witch to give me a spell to age him to about twelve years old, the same age as I was." Shaade closed his eyes before going on with the story, hesitating, thinking about what he was going to say.

"But, because it was me casting the spell, it didn't go very well and now Bench is stuck at the age of twelve forever."

"Well done," Georgina muttered sarcastically.

"I'm not proud of what I did," Shaade growled. "Because Bench's demon powers evolved too, and kept on evolving. He's got more power than a twelve year old can handle and so it feeds off him. He's weak, he needs protecting."

"He's an obstacle," I said.

"He's a child," Shaade argued, standing up again. "And he needs help."

"We all need help!" I cried, whirling round, pointed rapier coming dangerously close to several faces.

"We all need help," I repeated, halting and looking Shaade directly in the eye, a manic smile on my face. "Look at us! Young adults with magical powers! This should never have happened! We're all mixed up in a business we didn't want to be in, with spying and deaths and hatred! Yet we're sane! Ha! We are not okay! We're all dying inside, our own souls turning black and destroying us." I lowered my head, looking through my tangled hair to grin up at Shaade.

"And so you we all need to die before that happens."