Vision in Trust (Legends of the North #2) (10 page)

***

It was a crisp, blue-sky day as she made her way to James's cottage, and the weather suited her mood. True to his word, Rob had called her the previous night, which was weird but nice. She wasn't sure what was happening between them, if anything.
 

If she didn't think it would get back to Matt, she would talk to Emma about it, but she wasn't sure if Rob would want Matt to know. Maybe he'd want to speak to Matt himself. Maybe
she
should. She shook her head to stop the thoughts.

The rest of her Saturday had been quiet, spent with her head in reference books at the library. She hoped Matt and James were having more luck than her.
 

As she reached his cottage, she knocked on the door and then walked in. James came to greet her, leading her into the dining room that now had a desk, littered with papers and books, and an open laptop on it. There were several notice boards with papers pinned to them. Clearly, James had been busy, but then that was James—if something needed to be done, he'd just do it.

She saw her name on one of the pinned papers and, as she read it, realised it was Matt's list of everything related to what was happening. Her stomach did a little flip when she saw Rob's name on there too.

James nodded towards the list she was reading. "Why don't we start with that? Anybody got anything to add to it?"

Jess could feel everyone's gaze on her, and her cheeks flushed with heat. Some things she just didn't want to share with her brothers. Emma must have understood and smiled at Jess.

"Why don't we go get drinks for everyone?
 

Jess gladly followed her out of the room and into the kitchen. "Thanks. Not sure my brothers are prepared for so much sharing. Not from their sister, anyway."

"You want to tell me instead? I can let the others know after."

With a nod, Jess explained her visions to Emma, and Rob's dream. She hoped he wouldn't mind, but it seemed important to this. By the time she had finished, Emma had a smile bigger than Altenchester spread across her face. "What?"

"Okay, so you told me about the visions, but what
aren't
you telling me? Are you and Rob ...?" Emma said, waving her hand back and forth.

"Friends?"

"You don't sound so sure. Did something happen?"

Jess didn't want to lie, and she really wanted to know what Emma thought. "Okay, but you can't tell Matt. He stayed the night, and we ... kissed." Jess clamped her hands over her ears as Emma squealed and clapped excitedly.

"I knew it. I knew it!"

"Shh." Jess glanced over her shoulder. "Matt will come running, thinking you're being attacked if you carry on with that noise."

"Sorry, sorry. But I'm so excited. You two are
so
right for each other."

"I think you're getting a little ahead of yourself, Emma. I said we kissed, that's all."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Jess. Just let me know when you start to believe it."

"It's true," Jess urged.

"If you say so. But that man is crazy about you. It's written all over his face whenever he's near you. You're hiding behind this 'just friends' rubbish because, for some reason, how he feels scares you."

"Is everything all right? We heard screams," Matt said as he walked over to put an arm around Emma's waist.

Jess picked up her coffee and left the two of them to it. She could hear their voices as she left the room.
I'm not hiding, am I?
 

No, she hadn't been hiding that morning, when they'd kissed. Emma didn't know what she was talking about. Did she?

Distracted by her conversation with Emma, Jess didn't notice James staring at her until he spoke.

"You okay, Jess? You look a million miles away, rabbit."

"I'm fine, James. Really," she added, as he raised his eyebrows at her.

"Okay. You just let me know if I need to sort anybody out."

"I don't need you to sort anybody out, honestly," she said, patting him on the shoulder. "If I did, you'd be the first person I'd tell."

Matt and Emma came back in with the drinks then, and thankfully, they returned to easier topics.

"I'll update the spreadsheet tonight, and give everyone a copy," Matt said, taking a seat next to Emma.

"Okay, great. Jess, did you find out anything about our family history?"

"Not much, to be honest. There's not a lot about our family. It's mainly about the Hall. I found a few articles about William, but again, they were about him building the Hall. I've ordered a few old books, though, so I'm hoping I'll have more luck with those.

James rubbed at the bridge of his nose and nodded. "Okay, well, not a lot we can do about that. Matt, what about you?"

Matt shoved his glasses back up his nose and stood, hands behind his back. He'd gone into teacher mode, she thought with an internal groan.

"Obviously, Altenchester has ties to Roman times. It's a Roman town. But other than that, well, not a lot either, to be honest. There's nothing Roman-related to where the visions took place. Altenbury Hall isn't on Roman land because the fort walls stopped at the top of the lane.
 

“Again, the fields where Emma was attacked, not Roman related, just the old Roman road passed by them. The visions, though, they have Roman themes. The first one, when Emma moved back here, had a Roman helmet and fort. Also lightning, and the oak tree, are symbols of the king of the gods in Roman mythology, Jupiter. In December, they contained poppies and white roses, both related to Proserpina, based on the myth of spring. January was Pluto, god of the underworld, with the horse and chariot.
 

“Then, if we take into account Jess's visions, starting in March, we have Mars, the god of war, with the symbols of the wolf and spear. Oh, and the vulture, that was in the vision too," Matt said, moving to point at his spreadsheet.

Jess wondered how long Matt's lecture was going to last because she was starting to feel like she was back in school. She hoped he wasn't planning to give them a pop quiz.
 

She noticed his cheeks had the look of being out in the cold for too long, and he kept tapping the spreadsheet. He glanced at Emma, then back to the spreadsheet. What had Emma told him? Jess dropped her chin into her hands and waited for him to carry on.

He cleared his throat several times. "Ah, and the latest vision of Juno, the goddess of marriage. Her symbol, the ... erm ... the peacock."

The room was silent once Matt had finished. He sat back down, next to Emma.

"But how does any of that tie into what's happening now?" James asked.

"If I knew that, I'd be able to stop whatever's going on. All I can tell you is what I know. There is a Roman link to all of this somehow. I just haven't figured out what it means yet."

"Okay," James said, holding his hands out, palms up, towards Matt. "Let's keep that in mind, then. Can you find out more about the Roman links to Altenchester? Do we know when the Romans were here, when they left? Jess, are we descended from Romans?"

She lifted her head at her name and gave James a shrug. "I don't know. I can look into that when my books get here, though."

"Good, do that."

"What about you, James? What have you found out?"

From the tone of Matt's question, Jess wondered if she was going to have to play peacemaker between the two of them. She really hoped not.

James leaned against the desk, gripping the edge, legs crossed at the ankles. "Unfortunately, nothing of any use. There are a few legends about Altenbury Hall being haunted and the like, but nothing helpful to us about what's happening. There's not a huge amount of information to go on, so I'm going to try to find some reference books about the area. What about the historical society, Matt? Do you think they'd have anything useful?"

"I can check. We have archives, but we cover a lot of topics. Anything to do with our family I would've been asked to do though."

"Okay, but at least we've made a start. I feel better knowing we're doing something. So I suggest we all go to the pub and drink to a good start, and a relatively quiet week."

***

Rob checked his watch for the fifth time in ten minutes. He hated working Mondays, especially after he'd worked the weekend shift too. It wasn't helping that it was quiet either. Too much time to think, and too often about Jess. He wanted to see her; he had this feeling that, if he left it much longer, she'd freeze him out again. She'd opened up after their little game of truth or lie, but there was only so much he could say in a few texts.

"Hey, man, I thought I was on shift with Tom?"

Rob nodded at Josh. "Yeah, you are. I'm out of here. See you later." He quickly changed, shoving his gym uniform of shorts and T-shirt in his locker, and headed for home. If he was quick, he could make it home and get to Jess's by seven. He could surprise her. Maybe take her out for dinner.

As he turned down the road towards his house, he noticed how cold the air had turned. It was only March, but it suddenly felt like December again. Flipping up the collar of his jacket, he shoved his hands in the pockets. He turned his head to look over his shoulder when he heard a scraping noise. But he couldn't see anything, or anyone, behind him in the dim light of twilight.

He carried on, but he heard it again; it sounded like nails tapping against the pavement. Picking up his pace as his house came into sight, the wind began to howl down the street.
 

He was just about to push open the gate when he was hit from behind. Something landed on his back. The force sent him staggering forward, hands out in front of him. Whatever had hit him was heavy, and he fell to his knees as what little light of the evening was left faded. He felt a hot breath blow across his neck, but then it was gone, replaced by something soft wrapping around his throat. He tried to pry it off, but it just enveloped his hands too. He bucked his hips, trying to throw the thing off him, but it was heavy, and he was struggling to breathe.
 

The last thing he heard was the sound of a dog howling in the distance.

And then there was nothing.

Jess grabbed her mobile as it started to vibrate across the coffee table. But as Emma's name flashed across the screen, she couldn't help the feeling of disappointment. This was why she stayed away from men, the disappointment. The spending all night checking her phone for a text from him, only to hear nothing.
 

She had started to trust Rob, thought he was different, but he'd just disappeared. He’d said he would call her, but he must have finished work hours ago, she thought, her gaze flicking to the clock on the wall. She set the alarm on her phone and threw the cushion to the other side of the sofa. She had work the next day, and she was not going to turn into one of those girls who spent her time waiting around on a man.

On her way past, she locked the front door and made her way upstairs. For a long time, she lay in bed and stared at the ceiling, in the darkness of her bedroom. Her thoughts kept whipping around. What if he'd been hurt? What if he was out with another woman? Rolling over onto her side, she took her frustration out on the pillow. She got a few good thumps in before settling down, finally falling into a restless sleep.

Jess blinked rapidly, but she couldn't see anything—she was surrounded by darkness. She was outside, though, that she could tell. The cold wind caressed her bare skin, making music as it weaved through the leaves on the trees. She could smell damp earth.
 

A hoot from above made her jump and look towards the sound. High above her, she could see two orange half circles, just floating in the dark night. As she stared at them, they disappeared, then reappeared. They moved higher, another hoot sounding from the same direction.

Jess tensed, ready to run. It was an owl, she guessed, but she wasn't sure it wouldn't attack her. Behind her, the soft light of the moon broke through with enough brightness for her to make out a building in front of her. The owl was perched on the roof of what she assumed was a barn. Mostly, just its face was in view, and its white feathers seemed to glow. Unnervingly, the owl stared straight at her, blinking in its slow fashion and then letting out another hoot.

The barn disappeared from in front of her eyes, and instead, she saw the porch of Alt Hall. James stood outside, looking striking in a black suit and a crisp white shirt. He looked sad and seemed to stare straight at her. James turned at the sound of his name. And there was Rob, looking so handsome in a suit.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just never thought my little brother would be getting married before me."

Rob slapped him on the back. "Yeah, you are kind of turning into a crusty old bachelor."

"Watch it; you're not part of the family yet. Never did understand what Jess saw in you."

"Neither did I, but I'm not about to question her. I love her, and I just thank my lucky stars that she sees something good in me."

As quickly as they appeared, they both vanished in a swirl of white mist and a hoot of the owl. Now all she could see was the dark again. But instead of hooting, she heard a low growl and twisted to try to see where it was coming from. The growl turned into a howl and the snapping of teeth.
 

Silence followed, and when the moonlight filtered through the clouds again, Rob was sprawled out on the earth, facedown. Blood trickled down his back from the claw marks on his shoulders, and Jess dropped to her knees with a sob. She reached out to him, but her hand passed straight through him, and she screamed.

Her hand tangled in the sheet as she screamed again. Tearing at the sheets, she pulled them free and blinked as a shower of feathers rained down on her. The entire bed and pillow were covered in feathers, brown, black, and white. She checked the ceiling, but the feathers weren't coming from there, and they seemed to have stopped. Just settled onto the bed as she sat frozen, watching them glide gently down onto her bed.