‘Lills… Lills?’ he whispers. The floor boards creak as he heads across the room.
My breathing gets heavier as I hide under my covers.
‘Lills, I know you’re awake.’ He stops at the edge of my bed. And he laughs to himself as he taps my duvet covered shoulder.
‘Lilllyyyy…’ he sings. ‘Oh, Lilllyyyy…’
He pulls off the duvet and tosses it to the floor, leaving me lying on the bed looking up at him. ‘Hello you. Long time no see.’
‘Ryan, please…’
His grin grows. His fingers twitch.
‘Hmm. Begging. I like it.’
‘Yeah,’ Toby agrees, appearing by the foot of my bed. ‘She always was a good beggar.’
They start mocking me.
‘Don’t kill me baby. Please…’ Both boys laugh.
More voices join in. My old bedroom at my uncle’s house starts to fill with people, all laughing at me and mimicking my cries for mercy.
Harry and Christa stand at the foot of my bed, half-burnt and decayed.
The bodies of Traitors start falling from the ceiling, landing on the floor with heavy thuds.
Jade is swinging by her neck in the doorway.
Malcolm watches on, his head, half-gone.
More and more people start chanting. All the people who have died because of me.
Ghosts, seeking their revenge.
They all get closer. Closer. Closer!
My bed is surrounded. They reach out for me…
A delicate female voice drifts over them. ‘It’s okay, my love. I’ve got you. You’re safe.’
‘Mum?’
She appears on the bed, sat on her knees opposite me. Her loving smile warms my heart and makes me miss her so much.
Then she screams furiously, launching herself on top of me with her fingers around my neck.
I fall backwards. My bed turns into a bath, and she’s holding me under the water.
I can’t breathe!
Mummy… Why are you drowning me?
I sit up screaming, flailing my arms and legs. Gabriel engulfs me completely and pins me to his chest, holding down my arms so I can’t hurt myself.
‘Easy. Easy, Beautiful,’ Gabriel soothes, holding me close. ‘Take a breath, in and out. And realise where you are.’ My face is buried in his chest as I pant and shake. My fingernails bury into his back as I cling to him. ‘Where are you?’
‘With you. Safe,’ I reply, moving my face to his neck and breathing him in.
‘That’s right. You’re with me. And you’re safe. Open your eyes.’ His fingers glide along my jaw and disappear beneath my hair so he can guide my face up to his. ‘You’re awake. It was just a bad dream. You’re safe.’
I nod and take a breath.
‘You used your magic on me,’ I accuse. ‘I always have bad dreams when you make me sleep.’
‘You have bad dreams no matter what I do. You didn’t look right and I knew you hadn’t slept for a few days. And besides, I wasn’t going to risk you starting a fight with Grayson. I saw that look in your eye. You were going to open your mouth and be smart. I wasn’t gonna risk it. We’re in enough shit as it is.’ He’s short. To the point and annoyed. I notice I’m wearing different clothes and I’m clean. ‘I washed you and changed your clothes. No one else. You were covered in soot and ash. I had to get you clean.’
‘I didn’t wake up?’
‘I didn’t want you to. So no. You didn’t.’ He gets to his feet and takes a deep breath as I take a cursory glance around the room. It’s a very basic and bland bedroom. A double bed, single desk, a wardrobe and little television.
‘We’re in a hotel room,’ Gabriel tells me. ‘A shit hole in the arse end of nowhere. We can’t go to any of the other houses we own.’
‘Is everyone okay?’ I ask.
‘We lost several Nomads. Theo lost a lot more of his men. Most got away but we have two as prisoners. We’re going to interrogate them. Try and find Theo. Waste of time though. Theo will be in the wind by now. He wasn’t expecting you to have your magic and he certainly wasn’t expecting you to be that powerful. He abandoned his men so he’ll be regrouping somewhere. But Connor is fine. Thanks to you.’ He folds his arms across his chest and looks down at me with an unimpressed look on his face. ‘We need to have a conversation. No bullshit, Lilly. You hear me?’
I nod and struggle to swallow.
‘Did you burn down the house intentionally?’ he asks. ‘Stop chewing your lip and tell me the truth because I swear, if you lie to me-’
‘Yes,’ I reply honestly. ‘I did it on purpose.’
He seals his lips together and looks so furious as he takes a moment to gather himself.
‘Jesus Christ,’ he hisses suddenly. ‘For fuck’s sake, Lilly!’ He grabs at his hair and steps back. ‘Do you have any idea what you’ve done?’
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t think about what I was destroying when I did it. I know your mothers stuff was in there and I’m-’
‘I don’t care about that!’ he says in an angry, shouting whisper. ‘Everything I cared about keeping I’ve had stashed away in a safety deposit box for months. Or kept in a chest back at the hotel room I keep.’
‘You have?’
‘I’m ready to leave at the drop of a hat. If we needed to leave quickly, we could have, and been well provided for.’
‘Then, why are you so angry?’
‘I’m angry because you decided to take it upon yourself to piss off Grayson and destroy the only real sanctuary we had.’
‘Sanctuary?’ I laugh, throwing off the blanket and getting to my feet, filling with anger myself. ‘That wasn’t a sanctuary. Or did you just miss the army that attacked us? Maybe you have forgotten your ex, hanging in our bathroom?’ I rub my throat which is still red raw from whatever was in those smoke canisters. With a tentative cough to clear my throat, I return to arguing with the man I love. Sadly, a pastime that is becoming all too regular. ‘The Orchard was not safe. Toby got in and Theo got in.’
‘It was all we had!’
‘BULLSHIT!’
‘Keep your voice down!’
‘Keep your own voice down,’ I bite back. ‘You have no right to be mad at me. Not after the shit you pulled.’
‘I have every goddamn right-’
‘You want a years-worth of bodies to pile up? You want Grayson to start cutting me to get my manifestations to happen? You want me to twiddle my thumbs as Toby works up to whatever sick endgame he has planned? For Theo to attack us again? Well tough. I won’t. And neither you or Grayson would let me do the spell while you continued deluding yourselves that we were safe in that gilded prison. And I’m not allowed to leave until the spell is done. Oh. And until we find Junior which is not going to happen.’
‘Why won’t it happen?’
I ignore his question and continue my tirade. ‘So I destroyed the house and forced us out into the world because now, he has no choice. We need to move quick before Hunters, Theo or Toby catch up with us.’
He stalks up to me, stopping close and breathing hard and fast. I don’t back up or falter in my resolve. I know that no matter how angry he gets with me, he won’t hurt me.
‘By doing such a disrespectful thing against him, you have put not just our safety on the line, but our friends too. Every day he’s coming up with different ways to separate us. Excuses to punish us.’ He kicks a stool across the room and slumps on the edge of the bed. I stay stock still on my feet, not knowing if moving or saying anything will help. So I just keep quiet. He looks up at me a little defeated. ‘He’s sent women to the house, Lilly. I’ve walked into our bedroom to a naked girl sprawled on our bed. My clothes staged around the floor to make it look like I’d betrayed you. He blames you for everything that goes wrong. A missing book. A misplaced knife. A dodgy look. And he’s ready to punish. Me. Amara. Collins. And You. He’s itching for an excuse.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ I sit beside him and rest my hand on his. ‘Why do you keep hiding things from me when we swore that we would be completely honest with each other?’
‘Because I didn’t want you to lose your temper and give him a legitimate reason to lash out at you.’
‘I wouldn’t-’
‘You burnt down his house,’ he sighs, turning to face me and resting his palm on my cheek. ‘I love you, Lilly Hooper. But you are not a calm or rational woman when faced with a problem. You tend to… react.’
‘Me? React?’ I shake my head and don’t hide my smile. ‘I’m a perfectly calm and sane young woman, I think you’ll find.’
‘You’re bat shit bonkers with a temper like a Pitbull. Which I love, by the way. Before you get all pouty. I love it immensely. I love that you talk your mind and fight for what you think is right. But that mouth of yours gets you in all sorts of trouble and you don’t see past the problem at hand. You never have.’ As I go to argue, he rests his finger over my lips. ‘My endgame is keeping us all alive and in one piece. If that means putting off the spell, or keeping small secrets from you in order for you not to freak out and do something drastic-’
‘Like burn down your home?’ I ask around the finger still pressed to my lips.
‘Like burn down my home. Yeah.’ He lowers his finger and takes my hands in his. ‘How do you feel? After Theo and the manifestation? I heard you screaming. Christ.’ He runs his fingers through his hair and shakes his head. ‘Your screams were so filled with pain. It killed me to hear them.’
I guide his anguished face back to me. ‘It hurt. I’m not going to lie and say I’m okay. My muscles really ache. Like, barely able to lift my arms kind of ache. He didn’t hold back.’ He strokes the length of my arms while hissing a swear word or two. I hate the harrowing look I’ve put in his eyes. ‘But the manifestation was worth it. We’re a step closer. Two more to go. Physical and Sight. And now pain has been used as a motivator, Grayson won’t use it again. Like he said before. It’s rare the same motivator can be used more than once. So at least his threats to torture me till I manifest can’t be used anymore.’
‘If you’re trying to make me feel better, you’re failing. Miserably.’
‘Sorry.’ I rest my head on his shoulder and look into the grimy little mirror on the desk opposite. ‘We look like shit.’ We’re both pale, bruised, scratched-up and have dark circles under our eyes.
‘Lilly?’
‘Yeah?’
‘Hendrix told me about the fingers.’
‘Oh.’
‘What were you thinking? Cutting people like that?’
‘I don’t know.’ I shrug. ‘I guess I should feel bad about that. But I really don’t. I was so angry. I still am. For everything that man has done to us.’ I lift my hand and stretch out my remaining fingers. On my index finger are several deep teeth marks where Theo broke the skin. ‘He almost bit off another one. Sick bastard. I tossed the fingers I cut off his men at his feet and laughed.’ I lift my head and look up into his brilliant blue eyes. ‘It’s this little voice in my head urging me to do all this shit. Encouraging me to act out. To cut off those fingers as revenge. To blow up the house so I could leave.’
‘You’re… you’re hearing voices?’ he asks nervously, tucking my hair behind my ears. ‘I have to admit, that worries me. A lot.’
‘It’s my own voice,’ I assure him. ‘It’s just… a little darker than my usual one.’
‘Well, maybe you could stop listening to that voice? Grayson already thinks you’re going a little… weird.’
‘I know. I heard him in the car.’ I sense Grayson’s magic getting closer. I look to the door and groan.
‘He’s coming, isn’t he?’ he asks. I nod.
‘You don’t think he’ll hurt Amara and Collins because of what I did, do you?’
His face is awash with uncertainty. He doesn’t need to say. I know the answer is yes, he probably will.
‘He’s really pissed, Lilly. But you saved his men and you manifested. So just convince him that the explosion was an accident and hopefully, he’ll leave his threats as just threats. You lost control. And you’re sorry. You’re really, really, sorry. Understand?’ I nod. The air vibrates as Grayson continues descending on us.
‘Fine. But no more deals with him unless we discuss it together. And no more secrets, Gabriel. I mean it. If I can’t trust you-’
‘You can. A hundred percent honesty from here till the end of time. I promise. If, you promise me that you will stop listening to that little voice in your head and keep that fiery temper and sharp tongue of yours under wraps for a couple of days. At least till he’s calmed down.’
‘I promise. No more voices and my fiery temper and tongue will be under your keen instruction.’
He leans in and looks at my mouth.
‘Promise?’
‘I promise. Let’s not fight.’ I straighten the collar of his leather jacket. ‘I hate fighting with you and that’s all we seem to do these days.’
‘But we always make up.’ He grins. ‘And making up with you is absofuckinglutely fantastic.’ He leans in, his mouth resting close to mine and his hand settling on my lower back. ‘Sometimes, I want to start a fight just so we can make up.’
‘Well make up with me then.’ I grin, tugging on his jacket so his lips crash into mine.
Just in time for Grayson to walk in.
‘Gabriel. Out.’ Grayson orders bluntly, not even looking at us.
We pull away from each other as Gabriel shakes his head. ‘No chance. I’m not leaving you alone with her. You’re too angry.’
‘I really wasn’t asking. Get out. Or I will throw you out and re-break her wrist as punishment for your disobedience. Your choice.’
‘Go,’ I tell him, with my best attempt at a comforting smile, tapping my hand on his lapel. ‘It’s fine. Besides, I’m starving and would love something to eat.’
He glances at his agitated brother. ‘I’m not leaving you alone with him.’
‘Please.’ I stroke his concern filled face. ‘Go. If I need you, I’ll call. Take your own advice. Don’t make things worse.’
‘She says something sensible for a change,’ Grayson mutters, stepping aside and clearing the path to the door. ‘We have the whole floor. Find another room and wait while I talk to Miss Hooper in here.’
‘Like you said. You need me, you call me. Loudly. Got it?’
‘Got it.’ I nod. After a final and rather over the top kiss, he gets to his feet and leaves, glaring hatefully at his brother as he goes. The door shuts behind him, leaving Grayson and I alone. As I get to my feet, Grayson walks slowly towards me. His dark eyes not looking away. Not blinking. Not in the mood for forgiveness. He stops in front of me, looking down his nose with a furrowed brow. Not a word escapes my lips. I know that the best thing I can do is keep my mouth shut. A good call. As my silence seems deserving enough for him to backhand me hard across the face. The force of which knocks me to my knees and leaves me seeing spots. A metallic taste seeps into my mouth and sadly, it’s all too familiar. I wipe the blood clear, leaving a streak of red across my hand, and look up at him, still on my knees.
‘Feel better?’ I ask.
‘It helped.’ He sneers. Kneeling, he makes himself level with me. ‘You burnt down my house.’
‘It was an accident.’
‘You’re a filthy liar-’
‘I did everything I could to protect you and your men last night. My whole body feels like it’s been hit by a truck and I have a headache from hell. Theo almost broke my bones with his lightning, Grayson.’ I lift my three-fingered hand and show him the teeth marks. ‘He was about to bite my finger off before you got hold of the Bloodstone. The pain he inflicted on me made me manifest my Energy magic. Believe me. I suffered just as much as you. But this is good news. You should be happy-’
‘Happy?’ he hisses in my face and lifts me to my feet. ‘I am far from happy, Miss Hooper.’ He snatches my chin with his hands and leans into my face. ‘You destroyed my home. You tossed Hendrix out of the window-’
‘He landed on his feet, didn’t he?’
‘That is not the point.’
‘The point is, I saved your lives, Grayson. Despite you letting Hendrix have my Bloodstone and ordering him to refuse to give it to me, even if it meant my death. Despite the months of torture you have put me through. Despite branding me. Despite taking away my friends and threatening to hurt them. I still saved you all from the army that attacked and overrun your impenetrable fortress.’
‘You better watch your tone. I won’t be spoken to like that.’ He steps closer but I don’t back up. We’re nose to nose.
‘What more do you want from me? Huh? You brought me to your house for the sole purpose of performing your spell. You want the Veil down and I am doing everything I can to make that happen for you. You didn’t take me in out of the kindness of your heart and I’m trying, Grayson. I am trying my hardest to do what you need me to do. But you’re making it impossible. You either want me to lower the Veil or you don’t. There’s no in-between.
‘I want you to lower the Veil and save us!’ He leans over and picks up a newspaper that was left on the desk, and thrusts it into my hands. ‘This is not saving us, Lilly.’
The headline:
“Red lightning and crimson fire seen on the Cornish Coast.
Mysterious mansion left in ruins.”
He jabs his finger down on the paper. ‘Hunters will have read that. A dozen police officers saw your red flames. They saw your lighting come down from the sky and they will report it all to the Hunters. They’ll know about us by now. They’ll know our names. All our business associates. Our holdings. Everything. They’ll be out looking for Gabriel and me in force. I’ve had to send Nomads out to fetch as many of our belongings as possible. I’m emptying bank accounts left, right, and centre.’
‘Shit.’
‘Yes. Shit. We need to move quick before we are caught. You get your wish, Miss Hooper. We’re doing the spell as soon as we are able.’
‘We are?’ I grin. My joy makes his eye twitch, so I swiftly lose the smile.
‘Yes. We are. Hunters are coming. And without their magic, the Descendants are worse than dead. The last place you want to find yourself is in the Hunters hands without protection. So, we need to find Rebecca’s ring and your mother’s necklace, get you to this “stone” on Dartmoor, and in your words… “see what happens”. Gabriel will start looking into your memories straight away to see if we can find the necklace, and you will not fight him.’
‘I won’t fight him. I’ll do everything I can.’ Even if it breaks my heart to see the whole mess of the six-weeks. I’ll let him look.
‘And we need to track down the family who brought Rebecca Hopper’s ring from Hendrix. Connor is currently working on it. He’s sat on a laptop in one of the rooms down the hall searching for the family and any signs of the ring.’
‘I’ll help in any way I can.’
‘You need to manifest your Sight and your Physical powers. That is what you can do. We will see if the spell can be done without those manifestations, but we will still keep trying to get them. Agreed?’
‘I can do this, Grayson. The manifestations? The tests? The spell? I know I can do it.’
‘You better hope so. Because if you fail, the deaths of thousands will be on your conscience. Not mine. I look forward to seeing you realise exactly what you are in for. Because Rebecca Hooper was fierce. She was ten times the witch you are. And any challenges she has in place at these sites will be designed to test you to your absolute limit. Mentally, physically and magically. So… good job forcing my hand. If you die in these tests, we are all doomed.’ He turns and heads to the door.
‘That’s it? No punishments? You’re not going to hurt Amara?’
‘Amara and the others are safe if you do as you are told.’
‘And me?’
‘Would you like me to punish you?’ he asks, glancing at me over his shoulder with a smirk. ‘I could always put you over my knee.’ I roll my eyes and fold my arms across my chest. ‘Shame. I want to remind you, Miss Hooper, that just doing the spell isn’t the only condition of your release from my employment.’
‘Imprisonment,’ I correct him.
‘You are not going anywhere until I can guarantee the continuation of your bloodline.’
‘Could Gabriel be tested?’ I ask. ‘Perhaps whatever is causing his infertility can be fixed now. Modern health care is far more advanced-’
‘He’s been tested. Shortly after you woke up, after you almost died of blood poisoning. He insisted. Five doctors all reported the same. He can’t have children.’
He heads to the door and opens it up. Hendrix is on the other side with a tray of food in his hands. Grayson leaves and Hendrix heads inside.
‘It’s shitty hotel food. So probably tastes like cardboard. Ya did real good, Little Witch,’ he says, without a hint of his usual sarcasm as he places the tray down on the bed. ‘Ya saved a lot of folks and put the fear of God into Theo. I honestly didn’t think ya had it in ya.’ He turns with a genuine smile on his face and heads to the door. ‘And the thing with the fingers? Loved it.’
‘Err, thanks, I guess. I’m sorry I tossed you out the window.’
‘No, you’re not,’ he chortles.
‘No. Not really,’ I reply with a slight chuckle, lifting the burger he’s brought me. ‘I lived off scraps for years and this looks worse than anything I’ve ever eaten before.’
‘Like I said. Shitty hotel. Shitty food.’
When he opens the door, Gabriel is there. They pass each other with barely any acknowledgment.
As the door closes, I slump down onto the bed before handing him the plate. ‘Fancy a lick? Check it’s not poisoned?’
He sits beside me and takes the plate, shaking his head with his usual and beautiful half-smile. ‘It would be my weird and gross pleasure. Right after you tell me everything that you and Grayson just spoke about.’
With a sigh, I tell him, ‘We need to look into my memories. It’s time we knew everything that happened in the missing six-weeks. And we need to do it now.’
‘I told you. We don’t have to actually look. I’ll just tell Grayson all I found was blackness. An empty void. No memories whatsoever.’
‘I need you to look. I need the necklace.’
‘Then we should talk to Bias-’
‘-Toby.’
‘He’s probably got it.’
‘You would rather look for Toby than look into my mind?’
‘I would rather anything than let you feel any of the misery that I know you will suffer by learning the truth of those weeks.’
‘I won’t Break.’
‘You don’t know that for sure.’ He places the plate down and gets to his feet. I watch him wear down the carpet as he starts pacing. Up and down he goes. Up and down. His fingers play with the necklace I made him for Christmas. Every time he hears a car engine outside, he peeks through the thick net curtain blocking the window. He’s so wound up, it’s setting me on edge. On his third stop at the window to watch a milk van, I get to my feet and go to him. I rest my face on his back. My arms fold around him and my palms lay flat on his chest. His heart is pounding like crazy and his body is so tense it’s like hugging a statue.
‘Please calm down,’ I tell him softly. ‘If your heart beats much faster it could break. It has a hole in it now, remember?’
‘The only thing that will break my heart is losing you,’ he sighs, closing the curtain and turning to face me. I keep hold of him and peer up as he leans down. His dark hair falls over his eyes as they close. ‘Each time you look into those memories of the missing six-weeks, you start to slip. When you saw what Bias-’
‘-Toby.’
‘What he did to you in that barn, I almost lost you.’ He runs his fingers through my hair and watches it with unease. ‘It started to go white. I already lost my brother to a Break. I can’t lose you too. I just can’t.’
‘And I promise you that you won’t. Hey.’ I take his face in both my hands. His eyes open and I see them swimming with a grief that he doesn’t need to feel. ‘I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere. We’re both okay and we have each other. Amara and Collins are together and are safe as long as we do what we need to do. And what we need to do is the spell. So help me. Please, Gabriel. You have to help me find the necklace.’ I wait and watch him as he thinks. ‘Baby, please. I can’t do this alone.’
‘Fine. Okay.’ He concedes and pulls me in to his embrace. I have to stand on my tiptoes to reach my arms around his neck. ‘I’ll look. But you have to be strong. Okay? Whatever we see, we face together. You can’t let it Break you.’
‘It won’t. I promise it won’t.’
∞∞∞
We’re sitting face to face, cross-legged on the floor of the dank hotel room with the curtains closed and the lamps on. Grayson stands by the door flanked by Billy and Hendrix. I’m given access to my magic to help with the process. If I’m looking and Gabriel’s looking, we’re more likely to find something. And because I have access to my magic, Grayson is well guarded. Billy has his phone to his ear. One word. A single word of Grayson’s choosing is all he would have to say and the person on the other end of the line will kill Amara.
‘Ignore them,’ Gabriel encourages as I look back to him and not the three men by the door. ‘Focus on me. You remember what we did last time?’
I nod. I remember sitting on Grayson’s office floor and letting him in to my mind.
‘It will feel uncomfortable. But don’t push me out. You have to let me in to look.’
‘I will. I promise.’ My clammy hands tighten on his as I nod my head. ‘Where do we start?’
‘I want you to think of the days leading up to when Bias left. I want you to pinpoint the last time you think you remember seeing the necklace, and we’ll go from there.’
‘Toby,’ I correct him. ‘His name is Toby. Not Bias. Bias is gone. You know that, right?’
‘Fine. Toby. Think of the days leading up to that event and we’ll see if we can spot your necklace. Okay?’
‘Okay. But, Gabriel… What you see won’t be pretty. The last few days at Harry’s weren’t pleasant.’
‘Whatever we see, we’ll face it together. And remember. It’s just memories. Those days are gone. You survived it.’
‘This is all very touching. But can we get on with it?’ Grayson mutters.
Gabriel and I both glare at him.
Insensitive twat.
‘You’ll be fine, Little Witch.’ Hendrix nods with certainty. ‘You’re a tough cookie. Ya got this.’
Everyone looks at him with a slightly raised brow.
‘What?’ he shrugs. ‘I can’t be supportive?’
‘No,’ Grayson and Gabriel reply at exactly the same time.
Hendrix rolls his eyes before they settle on me. As does everyone else’s.
Gabriel squeezes my fingers. ‘Ready, Beautiful?’
‘Ready.’
His hands settle on either side of my head and we close our eyes.
Here we go.
