Ravensborough (26 page)

A beam of torchlight illuminated the alley, and I could see the faces of the others in its reflected light. Their faces were, I imagined, mirror images of my own, frozen in fear.

The light disappeared and the voices of the soldiers got further and further away. After a few moments of silence I exhaled. I hadn’t realised until then that I’d been holding my breath.

‘Ok, let’s go,’ Liv ordered.

We made our way onto the road, and again took up our position in the darkest shadows beside the buildings, and continued to walk in the direction we had been heading earlier. Eventually, we came to a wide open plaza. We continued to hug the shadows. The corners of the buildings on one side were black and damaged. That must be where the bomb must have gone off. The plaza was eerily quiet, and dominated by a large fountain that was probably once been imposing but had been diminished by the water power being switched off. It was old, dirty and rusty. A bookshop called Dark Literature had no glass in its store front, except for small shards that clung to the frame. The blast from the bomb had obviously caused a great deal of damage to the place. Rationalists had to have planted the bomb though, didn’t they? What reason would Pagans have to blow up their own area?

‘There it is,’ Liv hissed in my direction. ‘Look!’

She pointed across the square at a small church-like structure sandwiched between two much larger buildings. Getting there would involve crossing the square, and that meant going out in the open.

‘We could walk around the edges of the square until we get to the front of the temple,’ Sam said, in his first helpful suggestion of the night.

‘Good idea,’ Liv approved. ‘Off we go.’

God, I hated her. I couldn’t deal with her being nice to me, which wasn’t a nice thing to admit. The locket was exciting for me. It had chosen me and it was the first time that I’d really felt special and important, and having Liv here made me feel like she was hijacking it. Appropriating it. And while Aradia and Gethan seemed to think that Liv was selfless enough to help from no other motivation than kindness, I wasn’t convinced. I remembered the look on her face when she warned me to leave Gethan alone at the gig. I’d done nothing to make her change her opinion of me. Perhaps the fact that I seemed to have some connection with the Pagan world had made her mellow somewhat. Plus, with my boyfriend here she probably thought that I wouldn’t be making any moves on Gethan. A dart of shame went through me at the memory of the night before. I’d never thought that I’d be the type of person to cheat on her boyfriend. It didn’t feel good.

When we came up to the temple, I saw that it was carved from dark stone. There were two heavy oak doors up a small flight of steps, and engraved into each door was a crest, showing a bird surrounded by a swirl of lines. It matched the image that was engraved on my locket exactly. Underneath the crests, near to the ground were engraved two pentagrams.

‘I was right,’ said Gethan. ‘Protective pentagrams. Looks like I’m staying outside.’

‘So what’s the plan now?’ Mei asked as we shivered in the cold night air. ‘Do we go inside, or wait out here?’

‘I’ll stay out here and keep watch, if you want,’ Gethan offered. ‘I mean, I’ll be out here anyway.’

‘Ok, well the rest of us should go inside then,’ Liv said. ‘It makes more sense. That way we’ll all be hidden, except Gethan. And I’m not really worried about you,’ she practically purred at Gethan. ‘I know you’ll be ok.’

‘Can we get on with this,’ I interrupted hotly. ‘Sam has a plane to catch in the morning, and I’d like to wrap this up as soon as possible.’

Liv smirked at me, she knew the real reason that I wanted to speed things up. ‘Alrighty then, let’s do it.’

She walked up the steps to the door and pushed it open. She walked in without hesitation. The rest of us followed her into the temple, which was musty, cold, dark....and deserted. There was nobody here after all that. Disappointment struck me hard. Despite my feelings about Liv, I had really believed that there might be someone here tonight who could tell me what was going on, even if it was just a fluke that I was the one who had found the box. But this was crushing. The wall at the far end of the table was dominated by a large window, clear and criss-crossed with lead. Moonlight streamed in through it providing a silver glow which illuminated everything. There were pews arranged around the edges of the room, carved from dark wood. In the centre of the room there was a large chalk circle on the ground. The four cardinal points of the circle were marked with coloured candles and offerings, just like the circle that Aradia had called up in the mountains. I was still looking around when I heard a large squealing sound. I looked around. Liv was bolting the heavy oak doors closed from behind.

‘What are you doing?’ asked Aradia. ‘We should just go. There’s no one here.’

‘Of course there’s no one here,’ Liv said, her voice dripping with scorn. ‘Didn’t you hear those soldiers talking? Most of the Daughters of Morrigan are
in prison
. And the rest are scattered to the four winds. They don’t come back here.’

‘If you knew that then why did you bring us here,’ I asked angrily. ‘Is it some kind of joke to you?’

‘No, it’s no joke,’ she said quietly. I felt uneasy. There was something wrong here.

‘Then why are we here?’

‘Because you have something I want,’ she said smiling. ‘And I’m afraid that I’m going to have to take it from you.’

‘What does she have that you want?’ asked Sam.

Liv shot Sam an apologetic smile. ‘Her life.’

I hoped that I’d misheard.

‘Her life?’ Mei said. ‘You want her dead?’

‘I’m afraid so,’ Liv replied as she walked towards me. ‘But don’t worry, It’s nothing personal.’

‘Liv! You’re joking, right? I mean, this has to be some kind of joke,’ said Aradia, wildly.

My brain was still trying desperately to process what she was saying. I’d imagined that the worst thing that could happen would be getting caught, having a warning from the Ravensborough police department, and Mum grounding me until my mid-twenties. Dying, funnily enough, hadn’t been on my list of likely outcomes. I looked over at Mei and Sam whose faces were frozen in fear. The adventure had turned into a nightmare.

‘You do realise that you’re outnumbered here, right?’ Aradia asked in a high, panicked voice.

‘In numbers yes, but in terms of power, no,’ Liv said, walking around us. She was circling us, as if we were prey.

Aradia raised her hands as if to perform some kind of magic spell. She waved them but nothing happened.

‘Darling, I really wouldn’t bother if I were you,’ Liv drawled nastily. ‘I’ve had this well planned. I bound your powers earlier. I put a potion in the coffee I gave you at my house.’

Aradia tried again, but still nothing happened. ‘But you’re only a Wiccan, like me,’ she protested. ‘There’s no way you could perform the kind of spell that would bind Gethan’s powers!’

‘You’re right, I’m not that powerful yet, but you seem to be forgetting that he’s outside, and you are all in here,’ she said crisply. ‘And with his heritage there is no way he’ll be able to get into this building. The same charm surrounds this building as is in Scarlett’s locket. There’s no way he’s coming to help his damsel in distress.’

‘Why is she calling you his damsel in distress?’ Sam asked in an angry tone.

‘Oh, Sam shut it,’ Mei snapped. ‘We have more important things going on here right now, don’t you think?’

‘Why would you want to kill me? I don’t understand,’ I said unable to keep the trembling note out of my voice. ‘I mean, I knew you didn’t like me, but...’

She stopped and looked at me with scorn. ‘You’re right. I don’t like you. But much as you irritate me, I’m not petty enough to kill you over a guy. Especially one who’s so out of your league.’

I knew that I had more urgent things to worry about at that moment than her cheap taunts, but that still stung.

‘But no,’ she continued. ‘This isn’t about that. You may have heard of a group of people called the FPL.’

I nodded grimly.

‘Well, I’m one of their rising stars,’ she boasted, her hands on her hips. ‘I may be young but eventually I’m going to lead that group. Then we’ll finally get to overthrow the Rationalist rule and take back our country from you people.’ She looked at Mei with disgust.

Hearing that just intensified the fear that was already coursing through my veins. ‘That’s all very well, but I still don’t see what that has to do with me,’ I said, my voice shaking. ‘I have
nothing
to do with the FPL.’

‘I only have Wiccan powers, witchcraft. Like her,’ she said nodding towards Aradia. Then with a dry laugh she said ‘Although I am better than she is. At least I’m not a half-breed.’

Aradia visibly bristled at this description of herself.

‘The Daughters of Morrigan have more powers than I do, and of an interesting type. And they’ve all fled or are in prison. That magic is lying latent, just waiting for a person to unlock it. I’ve visited here a few times over the last few months, trying to work out a way to access it. There’s a book hidden in the wall, a book that will enable the user to do just that. Power on that scale would ensure that I rise up the ranks quickly. ’

Aradia rolled her eyes. ‘Oh, come on, it isn’t that easy. If it was everyone could practice all types of magic.’

‘Not necessarily. For Scarlett to have gotten that locket the others must have lessened their hold on their positions within the group. Scarlett found the locket – she’s the heiress. If I kill the heiress on the feast night, and put on the locket before sunrise than I will be the new heiress.’

‘For that to work you’ll have to have her agreement,’ Aradia said. ‘That clause exists in all covens, it’s designed for passing leadership in the case of illness or death. You would have to get the consent of all daughters.’

‘But there’s only one daughter here,’ Liv said turning to me. ‘I only need Scarlett’s agreement to elect me as heiress. Then I kill her so I immediately become head. It’s simple really.’

‘And why would Scarlett agree to something like that?’ Mei asked.

‘That’s why you’re all here,’ she said. ‘If she cooperates, then I’ll kill you all quickly and relatively painlessly. If she doesn’t, well, then it will hurt. A lot. Do I make myself clear Scarlett?’

I couldn’t believe that this was happening. My brain felt like it was working double speed, trying to work out how I could get out of this situation. So far I was drawing a blank.

‘Can you not just let the rest go?’ I asked. ‘I’ll do what you ask, just let them go.’

‘It’s cute that you’re trying to save your friends, but I can’t do that I’m afraid. If I leave them alive then they’re witnesses.’

She grabbed me roughly by the arm and pulled me roughly towards a silver and wrought iron door in the wall. The door was patterned with birds and leaves, just like my locket. I had to do something.

‘Go on, open it,’ Liv said to me harshly. ‘The book is in there, and anyone with the locket on it should be able to open it.’

I hesitated for a second, and she hit me across the face.

‘Leave her alone!’ shouted Sam.

‘Who’s going to stop me?’ she taunted. ‘Come on Scarlett, open the door. Or I’ll start on your precious boyfriend.'

I had no choice. Putting a hand up to cradle my stinging cheek, I pulled the door open and saw a dark walk in cupboard space. All three walls were shelved and held a variety of objects, including a heavy book that looked like it had been thrown down a flight of stairs every day for the past two hundred years.

‘Take the book out now,’ she ordered.

Still desperately trying to work out a way out of this, I hesitated again. This time, I lost touch with reality. All I saw was a blinding white light that took up my entire vision. It took a few seconds for the pain to kick in, but when it did it was immense. Slowly I came back to full consciousness, putting a hand out to brace myself against the wall. It looked like my locket didn’t repel everything.

‘Scarlett, are you ok?!’ Sam shouted.

‘Scarlett, do it now,’ Liv said in an eerily calm voice. ‘Or, I’ll give your little Rationalist friend a touch of what you just felt there.

I looked at her with unconcealed hate.

‘It’ll hurt her more though,’ Liv said almost conversationally. ‘She doesn’t have any Pagan blood after all, she can’t defend herself.’

I continued to glower at her, but reluctantly pulled the book off the shelf. It was heavy and covered in dust. My arms trembled with the weight of it. I offered it to Liv, but she shook her head.

‘I can’t touch it yet, only Daughters can handle it.’ I wasn’t in much of a position to argue. I carried the book over to the large lectern that stood in the corner of the room and placed the book on it. The moonlight spilling in the window illuminated the cover, which was as heavily engraved with the raven motif that seemed to be on everything in the room.

‘Open it,’ Liv commanded.

I flipped open the heavy cover, aware that I was beginning the proceedings for my own execution. The pages were covered in spidery handwriting that was hard to read in the moonlight. I moved the pages over squinting to try to decipher the words on the pages.

‘What am I looking for?’ I asked Liv.

‘The rite to elect an heir. Come on, move faster. I’m getting impatient.’

I did as she asked numbly. I was out of options.

‘There it is!’ Liv shouted pointing to the entry in question, accidentally touching the page as she did so.

‘Shit!’ she shouted nursing her hand. She leaned over the book and looked at the entry, struggling to make out the words in the weak light.

‘I can’t see a thing,’ she muttered. She put her hand up and twisted it to create an orb of light by which to see the book. Nothing happened.

‘I can’t make a light orb,’ she said confused. ‘Why can’t I make a light orb?’

Aradia sighed. ‘I can’t believe you’re going to kill me and I’m answering questions for you. But of course you can’t orb beside the book. It’s protecting itself. It won’t allow magic to be performed near it in case you use a spell to steal or harm the book. There are plenty of people out there who would love to get their hands on it.’