A Writer's Wonderland [PDF] - University of Portsmouth

‘The Soul suckers annoy me.’
‘So you came here?’
‘I want to get rid of them,’ he explained. ‘Why are you here?’
‘Uh, well…’
‘You look terrible.’ He hadn’t seen her since the ghosts arrived. When they first met, she
was like sunshine to him. Now she looked rough. ‘So why are you here?’
‘Long story,’ she said, beginning to shuffle along the tunnel. ‘Come on.’
Vesper sighed and obeyed. She had always been bossy. He followed her to the end of the
tunnel and watched as she deftly slid out into the room below.
‘What’s going on, Lux?’
She had lost a lot of weight since he had last seen her. She had always been too skinny, but
now she looked unhealthy. There were a series of large gashes up her left arm, wrapped
clumsily in a strip of dirty cloth.
‘What happened to you?’ he asked.
‘It’s just a scratch,’ she lied.
‘Why are you here?’
‘I’m trying to stop the Soul suckers. It’s my fault they are here.’
Vesper put his hand on her shoulder. She shrugged him off. He smiled to himself; she
would never accept his support. He wrapped his arms around her waist and refused to let go.
Lux didn’t have the strength to fight him.
‘Tell me everything.’
She elbowed him in the stomach. ‘Get off.’
‘Charmed.’
Lux sighed. ‘I was visiting my dad and he said that he was buying the docks. I came here
to see what he was working on but…’
‘But what?’
‘But someone drugged me and I woke up here, in a locked room and I couldn’t escape.’
‘But you did.’
‘Yeah, well… I fainted. Or rather, I pretended to, while the guard was trying to move me.
He ran for help and I ran away.’
‘Not the brightest of men then, your captors?’
‘Apparently not.’
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