Shadows (13 page)

I fade in and out. I’m rolled onto a stretcher and carried from the cage. I catch pieces of conversation.

‘Just let me shift with her.’ Daisy’s voice, tight and angry.

‘No.’ Definitely Daniel.

‘But she’ll take weeks to heal from these injuries. I don’t understand why you’re being so—’

‘Daisy, go to your quarters and stay there until you’re summoned.’

If Daisy argues with him, I miss it, because I pass out again.

When I next come to, I smell antiseptic. My body feels cased in cement and the skin on my neck stings like a bastard. Even through closed eyes I can tell the room is brightly lit.

‘I’ll guard her.’

‘No, Taya, you go.’ Daniel’s voice is close. ‘Tell the Council I’ll be there shortly.’

‘But there are no cameras in here. What if—’

‘Gabriella isn’t going anywhere.’

‘But Daisy—’

‘Won’t disobey an order.’

Any further exchange is silent. The air beside me stirs. Taya is gone. The only sound now is the faint buzzing of a fluorescent light. Daniel must be alone.

Fingers gently move hair out of my eyes. Daniel sighs. ‘I wish I knew what you did.’

I don’t have the strength to move my head away.

‘I just…I can’t take the risk.’ He strokes my cheek with the back of his finger, slowly, softly. ‘If you really betrayed us, and I show you mercy…’ Another sigh, and then the touch is gone. A door opens and closes. As usual, Daniel leaves the old-fashioned way. Maybe shifting creases his shirts.

I prise open my eyes. I’m in a treatment room. Stark white. Clinical. I touch my side, gingerly, to find that the jumper’s gone and the wound is bandaged. There’s a dressing taped over the bite on my neck. The pricks haven’t even given me fresh clothing. I’m sticky with my own congealing blood. And I stink of hellion.

There’s a door across the room. A plain door, no locks
or keypads. No voices or footsteps on the other side. If I can get over there…Can I even sit up? I grit my teeth, try to lift myself on my elbow. A thousand knives twist below my ribs. I whimper and sink back to the bed, wait for the waves of nausea to pass. My eyes close and I let sleep drag me back into the comfort of oblivion.

I wake with goosebumps. My aching skin tingles. I’m not alone.

‘I’m so sorry, child.’

The voice behind me is rich, masculine. Nathaniel.

I stay on my side, my pulse quickening. The air in the room is cooler now.

‘This was not the path meant for you.’

I swallow loudly, letting him know I’m awake.

‘Be still, Gabriella. Submit to me.’ His voice is like balm. ‘Let me see if anything has changed.’

I should fight him. I should make this hard. But the memory comes, unbidden.

Jude and I have raced each other up a steep hill and we’re standing, hands on knees, catching our breath.

We’re in a vineyard in Monterosso al Mare. Every new place in Italy becomes my favourite, but the Cinque Terra may last. I love the fishing villages on the cliffs and the vineyards defying gravity above them. We’ve spent the last few days walking between villages, sometimes
on the cliff tracks, sometimes through the hills.

We collapse in the grass between the vines. The sea is before us. Usually, it’s flat, but today it’s choppy, and the sky is pensive. Endless clouds dull the multicoloured buildings in the village below. Jude stares out at the horizon.

‘Don’t hurt yourself,’ I say.

He gives me a playful shove.

‘What are you thinking about?’

‘Nothing much.’

We’ve been backpacking for over a year now, and lately he’s been drifting in and out of melancholy.

‘Are you thinking about home?’ It’s not something we talk about, but here, today, on the side of this hill, it seems okay to.

‘Not really.’

‘You miss the guys, though, don’t you?’

Jude makes friends everywhere we go, but he had a tight group of mates back home. It was tough for him to leave them behind.

He turns to me. ‘Sometimes.’ His brown eyes, so much like mine, study me closely. ‘Have you got any regrets?’

I answer without hesitation. ‘No.’

‘But you left friends behind too.’

‘But now we’re
living.’

A gentle breeze lifts the dark hair from his face. ‘You know I’ll always look out for you, right?’

He’s never said anything like that before. I’ve always known how protective he is of me, but it’s another one of those things we don’t talk about.

‘Likewise,’ I say. ‘Even when you don’t want me to.’

He grins. ‘Cock blocking doesn’t count.’

‘Ugh!’ I shove him. ‘You know I hate that phrase. It’s revolting.’

‘And it still gets a reaction every time.’ His smile fades. ‘Seriously, though. I know I let you down sometimes, but never doubt you mean more to me than anything else in the world.’

I nod, not speaking. The feeling in my chest is so big I can’t name it.

‘I’d die for you, you know.’ His voice is quiet. I barely catch the words.

‘Jude…’ I stop. Swallow. ‘What’s going on?’

‘I just want to make sure you know that.’

I do something I almost never do: I put my arm around him and lean against his shoulder. He is so strong, so permanent. I can’t imagine life without him. I don’t want to imagine it.

‘I’ve always known that,’ I say.

‘Whatever happens, don’t forget it.’

‘I won’t.’

‘Promise?’

‘I promise.’

It ends abruptly. A tear slides over my nose.

‘Impossible. Gabriella, did you meet Semyaza? Did he do this?’

I don’t answer because I’m too busy clinging to this memory of my brother. I know it’s not real but I don’t care. The weight of what I feel for Jude, these fabricated memories, they must be based on something.

‘It cannot be Semyaza.’ Nathaniel is talking to himself. ‘Too much power involved.’

I want to see him. I know it’s going to hurt, but I roll onto my back. A low moan escapes my lips, and in the moment it takes to absorb the agony, Nathaniel disappears. There’s a flash of blue-white light and then there’s just me, and the empty room.

I close my eyes as the air in the room stirs again.

‘Leave me alone,’ I whisper.

‘Ah, fuck, Gabe.’

I know that voice, but I open my eyes, just to be sure.

Rafa.

He stands there, taking in the wreckage. A muscle twitches in his jaw. ‘I thought she was exaggerating. What the hell were they thinking?’ His voice cracks. ‘Hey, hey… Don’t cry.’

Through my tears, I see he’s not alone.

Jason is hiding under sunglasses and a bucket hat. His
tanned face is pale and his blond curls nowhere to be seen.

‘Is Mags here?’

I shake my head. I know his presence is significant, but I can’t grasp why.

‘You done with this place?’ Rafa asks.

‘I’m sorry I didn’t—’

‘Just tell me I can take you out of here.’

I answer by trying to sit up. His arms come around me, taking my weight. ‘Slow down or you’ll do more damage.’

‘I don’t care,’ I whisper.

Rafa lifts me off the bed and Jason steps in to take the weight of my legs.

‘Just like we talked about,’ Rafa says to him. ‘Ready?’

The door swings open and Daniel walks through. He stops in his tracks. ‘You…’

Rafa tenses. I feel him hesitate. Oh, please, no.

But before Daniel can gather himself, the room disappears, and the only noise is rushing wind.

I feel it this time, the sense of being stretched and compressed. I bury my face in Rafa’s chest, and smell the sandalwood on him.

It’s all over in seconds, and then Rafa is laying me on a couch, in a dark room that smells of old dust and smoke. We’re back on Patmos. The fire’s already lit, and blankets are piled up on the floor beside the couch. Rafa covers me and puts a pillow under my head.

‘This is why I didn’t want you to go there,’ he says, straightening the end of the blanket. The effort of healing my wounds hasn’t burned off his anger.

I sink deeper into the pillow. ‘Can we argue about this later?’

He doesn’t answer, but the line of his mouth softens.

‘Where’s Jason?’ I ask.

‘Over here.’

He’s leaning against the wall, bathed in firelight. The hat is gone and his sun-bleached curls are loose around his shoulders.

‘Get some sleep,’ Rafa says to him. ‘You look like you’re about to pass out.’

Jason crosses the room and crouches so his face is level with mine. ‘Are you okay?’

My body still aches, but it’s nothing compared to a minute ago. ‘I’ll live. You?’

‘I’ll be better when we get Mags back. Was she there, at the Sanctuary?’

‘No. I don’t think she ever was.’

He glances at my bandaged neck. ‘Would they do this to her?’

‘Why would they?’ She’s not one of them. She’s not me.

‘Who knows what they’re capable of.’ Jason runs a hand over his face. He’s tired and agitated, and won’t look at Rafa.

I glance from one to the other, and the pieces fall together. ‘You told him.’

‘It seemed wrong not to, under the circumstances.’

Rafa sits on the arm at the other end of the couch.

‘What happened?’ I ask him.

‘Goldilocks found Daisy’s number in my phone and rang her while I was out of the room.’

‘There was no answer,’ Jason says. ‘I didn’t leave a message, but she rang back anyway.’

‘She didn’t know it was my number,’ Rafa says, ‘but when she got me, she told me what happened in the cage. She didn’t
exactly
suggest I come get you, but she let me know where you were, and when you’d be unguarded.’ He unlaces his boots. ‘I didn’t know if she was lying about the hellion, but there’s no way I could heal you on my own if you’d been drained. I was about to call for back-up when your buddy here dropped his little bombshell.’

Jason stands up. ‘I need to sleep. Have you got another pillow?’

‘Try the second door on the right,’ Rafa says. ‘The bed’s made if you want it. And Goldilocks?’ Jason pauses at the door. ‘I’m not finished with you.’

Jason disappears into the shadows. Somewhere in the dark, a door opens and closes and then bedsprings squeak.

‘I only found out tonight,’ I say. ‘He told me about two minutes before Daniel turned up.’

I instantly regret mentioning Daniel’s visit. I don’t want to have
that
conversation. ‘Daisy got in the cage with me,’ I say. ‘Did she tell you that?’

Rafa kicks his boots off. ‘Daisy said you fought that hell-turd on your own.’ He doesn’t look at me.

‘I did.’ There’s a small, belated spark of pride. ‘Actually, Daisy got in the cage but Daniel ordered her out. She stood her ground for all of a minute, and then left me in there on my own.’

Rafa shrugs. ‘That’s what happens at the Sanctuary. Everyone obeys. You used to be like that.’

‘Bullshit.’

He shakes his head. ‘You have no idea how ironic this is.’

‘But she just caved in. I don’t get it. What’s the worst thing that could have happened?’

‘If you disobey one of the Five? You get cut off.’

‘Cut off from what?’

‘From Nathaniel. From your family. Not everyone’s in a hurry to get kicked out of home.’

‘You left. So did Jude.’

‘Yeah, but we all paid a price.’

As usual, everything he tells me about the Rephaim brings more questions, but I’m too tired to ask them.

Rafa yawns. ‘Got room for me under there?’

I roll onto my side so there’s space for him at the back of the couch. He gets under the blanket and eases me back to where I was so he can look at me. There are dark circles under his eyes.

‘You’re a mess,’ I say.

He laughs. ‘You can talk. You stink like a hell-turd.’

‘I know. It’s revolting.’

‘We’ll get you cleaned up in the morning.’ He touches the dressing on my neck. ‘The Five must be desperate, to let a hellion feed on you. I can’t believe Pretty Boy stood there and watched.’ He runs his thumb along my collarbone, almost absently. ‘And you cut its head off?’

I flinch at the memory. ‘Yeah.’

‘So you still know how to swing a sword.’

‘I just remembered what I dreamed.’

‘It takes a lot of strength to cut through a neck that thick.’

I have no idea how to describe what happened when that thing drank from me. ‘I had a moment.’

‘A moment?’

‘A burst of strength. It lasted long enough to save me. Then it went.’

‘You haven’t felt it since?’

‘If I had, Daniel wouldn’t still be in possession of his balls.’

‘Now
that
I’d like to see.’ He gives me a long look that I can’t quite read, and then settles down behind me.

‘Thanks for coming for me,’ I say, quietly.

He tightens the blankets around us. ‘I should have done a better job of convincing you not to go there.’

‘Is that an apology?’

His lips move against my ear. ‘As close to one as you’re getting at this hour. Now, stop talking and go to sleep.’

‘Hiding out here isn’t getting Mags back.’

‘Neither is shifting when you’re shattered.’

I’m alone on the couch. Rafa and Jason are talking quietly in the room. It’s still dark and the fire is down to embers.

‘I’m fine,’ Jason says.

‘You won’t be when we shift with Gabe again. Hellion bites are hard work. What is it with you and Maggie? You’ve known her for, what, five minutes?’

‘No shorter than you’ve known Gaby, and don’t tell me you weren’t torn up two hours ago.’

‘That’s different. We’ve got a century or so of history.’

‘Not anymore, you don’t.’

Rafa ignores him. ‘You’re one of us, so I get why Maggie is so into you—humans can’t help themselves. But what’s up with you? I mean, she’s hot, but so are a thousand other women.’

‘How many women do you know who could see and hear what she has in the last few days and be cool with it?’

‘Is that it? You’ve been waiting to find that special girl who can cope with the fact you’re not human?’

A sigh. ‘Yeah, well, we’re not all walking cocks.’

‘God, Nathaniel’s going to love you.’

‘That’ll be hard, given he’s never going to have the chance. I have no intention of joining him—or anyone else.’

‘Is that right?’ The fire spits and hisses. ‘You’re going to crawl back to that rock you’ve been hiding under all these years?’

‘We’re not talking about any of this until Mags is safe.’

It takes some effort, but I sit up. ‘What time is it at home?’

A green light radiates from Jason’s wrist as he checks his watch. ‘About ten in the morning.’

My shirt is stiff with dried blood. I stand up. ‘So, I can’t be forced to shift, even if I’m sleeping? You said if you were unconscious…’

‘I didn’t mean asleep. If someone grabbed you, you’d wake up. Unconscious as in knocked out.’

‘Then there’s no reason we can’t go home.’

‘Apart from Taya turning up and kicking the shit out of you again.’

I touch the bandage on my neck. The wound is tender, but it doesn’t feel like the skin is broken anymore. ‘I’m hoping you might stop that from happening.’

‘Oh, you
want
my help now?’

I wish I could see his face. I can’t read his mood from his voice alone. ‘Yes.’

‘Please tell me this isn’t about your job at the library.’

‘I don’t work Tuesdays.’ I run my fingers through my hair and don’t get far. ‘But we’re not going to find out where Mags is unless we go back to Pan Beach. Daniel
has to negotiate now, and to do that he has to be able to find me. And Mags is due to start work in an hour.’

Rafa moves closer. ‘So?’

‘Her mum will come looking for her if she doesn’t show. Mags never bails on a shift, not since her dad died, and there’s no way I’m telling Bryce her only child is missing. I’ll cover her shift.’

‘Will that work?’ It’s Jason who asks the question.

‘It’ll have to.’