December Moon (The Raven Saga) (18 page)

In the vision, Oliver was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. His hair was dry and he wasn't carrying a surfboard. She realised she had time. He must have gone somewhere to change before he came back to the beach.

As she watched the boy catching the waves as he successfully glided along them in peace, she realised she had no idea what she was going to say to him. How on earth was she going to explain that a vampire was going to attack him? She would surely sound insane?

Think, December, think.

Before she knew it, the boy had ridden his final wave for the day, had surfed all the way to the shore and was walking towards her, shaking his wet hair. She stood up and smiled as he neared.

"Hello," she said.

"Hi," he replied looking a little quizzical at her as he took a towel out of his bag and began drying his hair with it.

"Erm..." December felt stupid. She had absolutely no idea how to approach the matter, and she had no idea how long it would take Lilly and co to arrive.

Oliver looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to say something. When she didn't, he picked up his bag, his surfboard and said, "see ya" before turning and walking away.

"Wait!" she yelled, as she jumped up. "Don't go!"

His expression was one of confusion.

"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" he asked with a lop sided smile.

Shaking her head, December tried to smile, "No, but you know my best friend... Lilly."

Immediately his expression softened and then he looked angry.

"I'm sorry, you must have me confused with someone else. I don't know anybody called Lilly."

"Please, Oliver, don't go. Hear me out. You're in danger. Lilly is on her way to help."

"What are you talking about?" he said angrily, "please just leave me alone."

"No, I can't. Oliver, please just look at me. It's important."

When he continued to walk away from her, she called out, "Your brother, Ben, he's on his way too."

"Ben?" he asked, turning and dropping his bag.

"Is Ben okay?"

December nodded, catching her breath as the wind blew her hair across her face. "Ben's fine, Oliver, but they're on their way here because you're not. Well, you won't be if you don't hear me out."

"Okay, I'm listening," he said as he pushed his surfboard into the sand and leaned on it.

December shivered, "Look, I know you know the truth about Lilly but there's so much more that you don't know about us."

"Us? So you're one of them too?" he asked, disgusted.

"Yes. No. I mean... kind of. I'm not a changeling, if that's what you mean. I'm a...a... witch. I only just found out about it myself so I know it sounds crazy."

"Jeeze... you people are crazy," he responded as he pulled his board out of the sand and picked up his bag and started walking away again.

Getting a little aggravated with him, December focussed on the surfboard and flicked her wrist. The board flew out of his grasp and upwards, hovering for a moment before zooming off into the ocean.

"Hey!" he yelled, "What the...? My board!"

"Did you... do that?" he yelled at her.

"It's the only way I could get your attention! Oliver, you are in major danger here. So stop and listen or I won't get your board back, okay?"

Rooted to the spot, Oliver nodded.

"There's this guy, a really, really bad guy. Well, he's coming here to get... you."

"What do you mean by bad guy? And why would he be coming here to get me?" he asked.

"He's a vampire. A really bad one and he's probably got it in for you because of Lilly. He seems to want Lilly for his mate or something weird and somehow, he seems to know that Lilly already has a mate and so he needs to get rid of that mate in order to have Lilly for himself. Capiche? You get it now?" she said with barely a breath.

He nodded and swallowed.

"Right, now that we understand each other, we need to get off this beach. I'm freezing here!"

With a flick of her wrist, the surfboard flew back in Oliver's direction.

"Look out!" yelled December, as Oliver turned and ducked out of the way just in time.

"Sorry, I'm kind of new to all this magic stuff," she said, reddening.

Picking up the board and dusting off the sand, he said, "I'm staying in an apartment just up the beach there. Come on."

December followed him as she told him about her vision as they quickly hiked all the way up the sand, climbing over some large pieces of wood and up some steps into a small cluster of apartments. After she'd explained, neither of them said another word until they were safely indoors.

"Do you mind if I have a quick shower?" Oliver asked December who shook
her head and flopped down into the nearest chair.

"There's soda in the fridge, or coffee there if you need something hot. Help yourself. I won't be long. I just need to get out of this wetsuit and get rid of all the sand and salt."

"Do you have a sweater I can borrow, Oliver? I'm really cold," she shivered as he walked into another room and came out carrying a large grey pullover.

"Thanks," she smiled, quickly putting it on and rubbing her arms to warm herself up. It dwarfed her and Oliver shook his head with a barely heard chuckle.

December made them both a cup of coffee and waited for him to finish in the shower. When he came out, he was wearing the white T-shirt and jeans she'd seen him wear in the vision.

Handing him the drink, she said, "I'm December, by the way."

"Thanks, December. I'm sorry I was such a moron back there. I guess I'm still pretty confused with all this business with Lilly. Is she okay?" he asked.

"She's just seriously worried about you. She'll be fine once she sees you're all right."

"December? I just remembered. You're her friend from London?"

December smiled and nodded.

"How did you get here, December? And how on earth did you know where to find me?"

"That's a long story..."

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

"There's still no answer on his cell," shouted Ben over the noise of the plane as it came in to land on the water.

Unfastening their seatbelts, the small group began to descend the side of the aircraft once they had come to a standstill.

The pilot smiled and wished everyone a good stay in Tofino, completely oblivious to the real reason they were there.

"Tom, I can't thank you enough for this," said Ben shaking his hand.

"I've told you before, Ben, you're always welcome. Any time you need to fly anywhere, you just let me know. Duke and Duchy wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for you and for that I owe you... big time. You take care now, okay?"

Waving goodbye to Tom the pilot, Lilly asked, "Duke and Duchy?"

"His Golden Retrievers. I guess you've not been at the practice whenever I've treated them."

Ben's cell rang just as the plane took off without them.

"Oliver?!" he yelled into the mouthpiece, "Oh hi Jo. Yes he's right here. Hang on a sec. It's for you," he said, handing the phone to Carmelo.

"Hi babe, what's up? Gone? What do you mean, gone? Yes, okay. Yes, we will do. Keep us updated. Yeh, you too."

"It's December. She's vanished."

Lilly felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. "Oh God, no, not December. What if it's Duran? What if somehow he tricked us into coming here, when he could still be in Powell River. He could have been planning to take December all along," she groaned.

The same cell phone rang again and Ben answered abruptly, "Yeah? Oliver... Oh thank god you're okay. We've been worried sick. We're here. We just landed in Tofino. We're on our way. You're with who? How? How is that possible? Okay, put her on and I'll pass the phone to Lilly..."

"Hello? December. What the...? How did you...? Yeah, they know you're gone. You'd better phone them and explain. Okay, we're on our way now. The apartments behind that beach, the Dune Apartments, number eighty-two? Okay, stay put. We'll be as fast as we can."

Shaking her head in disbelief, Lilly looked shocked.

"I have absolutely no idea how that happened but somehow December has managed to get to Oliver. She's with him now. Come on, let's go."

Twenty minutes later, their two cabs pulled up outside the Dune Apartments. Lilly was the first to jump out and run up the steps to Number eighty-two. Just as she went to knock, the door was opened and December stood there smiling at her.

"Oh, thank god, December. I was so worried. Jo called just before you did to tell us you'd vanished. I thought Duran had got you. I thought he'd tricked us. I'm so glad you're okay. But how did you get here?"

Laughing at her best friend's lack of breathing, she pulled her into a hug, "some kind of witchy magic... I can't even explain it. Mom never told me about it so I have no idea. But we'll talk about all of that later."

Pulling apart, Lilly saw Oliver standing behind waiting.

"Hello Oliver."

"Hey Lilly," he said shyly, just as Ben pushed the door open again and rushed in. "Bro! I can't tell you how happy I am to see you. Are you all right?" he asked as the two hugged each other only as brothers do.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine."

The others followed indoors and closed the door behind them.

"Erm, Oliver, this is Carmelo, Ursula and Zoltan," Ben introduced them to his brother.

Shaking Carmelo's hand, Oliver pulled away quickly, "Jeeze, man you're freezing!" he said.

Laughing, Carmelo replied, "I'm afraid that comes with the territory."

Unsure what to make of him, he turned to Ursula who nodded curtly and then to Zoltan who took his hand and shook it... hard.

"Erm, that's one helluva grip, Zoltan," he said with a forced smile.

"Well, I guess we can't keep the truth from you any more, so you should know that Carmelo and Ursula are both vampires and Zoltan is a werewolf. I assume you already know by now that December is a witch? And you obviously know that Lilly is what is known as a changeling. I know, I know... it's kind of a lot to take in. I've only just learned the truth myself!" said Ben, smiling what was probably the most fake smile in the world.

Just looking at the two brothers, who both appeared to be scared out of their wits made December laugh out loud. The sound of her giggles was contagious and soon everybody in the room was laughing alongside her, oblivious to the fact that Duran wasn't too far away.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

After Oliver had been completely filled in on what had been going on back home, the group sat in the apartment questioning December further about her vision, trying to work out exactly when the vampire Duran would appear at the Tofino beach.

"I'm sorry but I just couldn't tell when it was. The light looked exactly the same as it has done for the past hour. It's that mist out there, it makes it difficult to pinpoint. He could be anywhere for all I know. I'm sorry, I just don't know," she said in despair.

"December, have you spoken to Moira since you arrived?" asked Lilly, changing the subject for a moment.

Nodding, December looked upset. "She wasn't very happy, as you can imagine. She was astounded at what happened. She was already in the car driving down... but she has no idea how long it'll take. She didn't even know if the ferry would be running. Oh..." December suddenly remembered that Sammy and Tabitha were also on their way.

"What is it?" asked Carmelo, concerned.

"It's Sammy... I forgot to mention that he decided to fly down after all. Don't worry, though, he said he would try and wait for it to get dark. Tabitha is with him too."

Lilly shook her head in disbelief. "It's because of me isn't it?" she asked.

December looked at her and nodded back, "he said there was no way he was just going to sit at home and do nothing. Tabitha felt the same way."