The Thirteenth by G L Twynham Read Free Book Online Page A

like?” Delta cambered to her feet.
    “It’s dark tan leather and has a zodiac circle on the spine like the one on my arm.” Val showed Delta the tattoo again.
    “Thank you, you can put that thing away, I can remember what it looks like.” Delta walked off faking a full body shudder in disgust at Val’s tattoo.
    “OK, you start on the left side of the shop from the water cooler, or what’s left of it and I’ll go from the right hand side near the counter.” Val pointed at the aisles with arms outstretched like an airhostess, and they both started to laugh again.
    Setting off, Val waved goodbye to Delta as she headed towards the back of the shop. The shelves went from floor to ceiling so there was no way of seeing each other. The only way of communicating was by shouting, and that felt so wrong in a bookshop.
    After about ten minutes, Val was heading up aisle number three. She hadn’t heard a single noise from Delta in the past few minutes so she decided to head back towards the front and wait for her. Plus, it was lunch time and Val was hungry. She was sure there would be enough food for both of them in her packed lunch.
    As Val headed towards the counter, she felt a strange sensation in her arm. For a few seconds it was just an uncomfortable tingling feeling, and then sharp pain hit her. Within an instant, she was in serious pain and needed Delta’s help. Val felt her knees buckling. Unable to call out, she grabbed the nearest shelf for a support. After a few moments and several heavy breaths, Val stood shakily and pulled up her sleeve to glimpse at her tattoo. Once again, only one of the symbols was inflamed. It seemed to be like a flower or some sort of curly horns. Val had a very poor knowledge of the zodiac, so there was no chance that she would know what symbol it was, but maybe Delta would.
    As she slowly made her way to the counter, she heard a car. It was quite loud and sounded as if it was closing in on the shop, getting nearer and nearer, the way you would hear a lone car on a quiet street at night.
    Something felt different. Val was suddenly confused, no longer knowing where she was, let alone where the noise was coming from. She needed to find Delta and the time for silence was now over.
    “Delta!” Val shouted. In that instant she spotted Delta busily re-applying her lip-gloss in the mirror next to the toilet door. She moved in, shaking her head like a dog with an itch. The noise from the car got louder and more irritating, and as she reached Delta, who hadn’t even noticed her coming, she couldn’t even hear her own thoughts. As she moved towards the mirror that Delta was gazing into, Val saw the flash of an image in the reflection. She grabbed Delta’s arm and Delta almost jumped out of her skin.
    “Val, you scared me! What’s wrong? You look awful.” Delta said almost supporting the whole of Val’s weight. Val was shaking her head from side to side in pain although her eyes were still fixed on the mirror. She needed to see exactly what was in there. As she pulled herself up on Delta’s arms she saw cars. First was a red Ford. It was racing along, and was being followed by a black BMW. As Val attempted to move closer to the mirror, Delta could no longer hold her weight.
    “Val, stop!” Delta called, stumbling backwards onto the wall as Val grabbed at the reflection.
    Val’s stomach seemed to be pulling into her back, but all she could think was how good it was that at last the noise had stopped. She opened her eyes and as they adjusted to the new light, she saw Delta crouched next to her on what seemed to be grass. Then Delta proceeded to vomit violently before toppling sideways. Val tried to grab her.
    “What the hell just happened?” Delta spluttered as she wiped her mouth on Val’s sleeve.
    “Hey!” Val pulled her arm away, “How in God’s name am I supposed to know?” Then it happened, just as Val had seen it in the mirror.
    The red Ford came around the corner at full