Vision in Trust (Legends of the North #2) (7 page)

He heard her sob and thought,
Screw it.
He pulled her onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her as she cried. The sound tore at his heart, and he pressed his lips to her forehead. "Please don't cry, angel." He ran his hand down her hair and pressed her head to his chest. "Please don't cry," he said again. Gently, he rocked her in his arms and kissed her forehead.

***

Jess held herself completely still and slowly opened her eyes. Sliding her gaze to the side, she saw a toned chest sprinkled with a few dark hairs; farther up, red lips curved into a smile. Slowly, she let out a breath, as parts of the previous night came back to her. Pulling her arm free, she slid towards the edge of the bed, trying not to wake Rob. As she pulled back the covers, she muttered her thanks, as she saw she still had her pyjamas on.

"Morning."

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw his smile was now a grin, and the feelings from the night’s vision hit her hard. "Why are you in my bed?"

"Don't you remember?" he asked, his smile fading a little.

"Obviously, I don't, or I wouldn't be asking." He sat up against the headboard, the sheet falling around his waist, and she dragged her gaze away from his chest.

"You were upset. When I carried you upstairs, you ... you asked me to stay because you didn't want to be alone."

He was being kind with the word “asked,” as she remembered clinging to him, practically begging him to stay. Her cheeks felt like they were on fire. She needed space, needed to get away from him. "Mmm, thanks. I'll go put some coffee on."

"Jess ..."

But she was already out the door and bounding down the stairs.

Staring out the kitchen window, she sipped her coffee. She heard Rob pour himself a cup, but didn't acknowledge him. She couldn't believe she'd asked him to share her bed. How disappointed he must have been when he realised she only meant to sleep.

"I don't have to go into work until late this afternoon. I was ... I wondered if you'd mind if I came with you all, to see James."

Why?
Why wasn't he running from the house as fast as he could? Tipping her cup back, she drained the dregs of her coffee and went to get a refill. "If you want to. It's not up to me. And you know Matt and Emma already think you're involved somehow."

"Jess."

She looked up at him as he held her wrist, his fingers curled around it. She was being a bitch, she knew, but she couldn't seem to stop herself. They might have shared a bed, but she was just Matt's sister to him; she didn't need to hear the brush-off story. She was just someone he had to look out for; she already knew that. When he just shook his head, she pulled her arm free, heading upstairs for a shower.

Jess had done a really good job at avoiding him for the rest of the morning. He wanted to talk to her, but he just wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to say. He rubbed his fingers across the back of his neck, frustrated that he couldn't say anything at the moment anyway.
 

Emma had turned up with enough food to feed half the village, and now they were on their way to collect Matt from the museum, so they could all go speak to James. And Jess was doing a great impression of him not even existing, avoiding eye contact—hell, any kind of contact. Anyone would think his touch burned the way she pulled her hand away from him so fast.
 

He was confused; she'd done a complete turnaround. She was acting like the ice queen she had been when she first met him. But he knew that wasn't who she was, and he didn't know what he'd done for her to be like this.

"Hey, rabbit."

Rob looked up at the words to see Jess engulfed in a hug by James. He guessed James wouldn't be too happy knowing where Jess had slept the previous night, never mind what Matt would think. He was beginning to think the whole night had been a big mistake, or maybe he had imagined it all. But Jess wouldn't want to share, so maybe it could just stay between the two of them, never to be mentioned again. That seemed to be what Jess wanted, anyway.

***

Jess wrapped her arms around James and squeezed him hard. She loved Matt, but he always managed to wind her up. James was always there for her, always stood up for her. When she thought she'd lost him ... She couldn't even finish that sentence in her head. Instead, she kissed his cheek as he put her back on her feet.

She and Emma set out the buffet-style lunch for everyone, and Jess smiled, noticing that James had at least attempted to clean up the place before they arrived.
 

After lunch, talk turned serious. Matt took the lead, which was unusual when James was around, but Jess guessed they'd all have to do a little adjusting. At that idea, her gaze flicked in Rob's direction; maybe she needed to do a little adjusting where he was concerned too. She knew he wanted to talk, but maybe if she just gave out the friend vibe, he'd realise they didn't need that talk after all.

"So, as far as we can tell, this ... this thing can take on different forms. When it attacked me, it looked like a panther, yet when it attacked Ems, it disguised itself as a sheep. But when we were both there together, it started out as a panther. Then, when Ems hurt it, it turned into ..." Matt looked at Emma, his hand on her thigh.

"It was just bones," Emma said. "Bones, dripping in this green liquid. And the smell, oh!"

"But it's not just the attacks. The visions that Ems had ..." Matt gave her a goofy grin, which made Jess smile. "I think her visions helped us get together. We certainly wouldn't have met so soon if she hadn't come to the museum that day. But they also helped us to find you, James. It's like two sides of the same puzzle. The visions are trying to help us, while this monster is trying to stop us. I think."

"Help us or stop us from doing
what
, exactly?" James asked, leaning forward in his chair towards Matt.

"That's the bit I'm not exactly sure on."

James turned to look at Jess, and she fidgeted under his gaze. "And what about you?"

"What about me?" Jess said, as Emma gently nudged her shoulder. Jess leaned forward and glared at Matt. "I haven't been attacked, and neither has anyone else since you two tried to kill it. My visions, if that's what you want to call them, didn't lead us to James. They haven't got me back together with Miles or with ..." She glanced at Rob. His jaw was clenched, the muscle above it ticking as his lips pressed together in a thin line. She looked back at James instead and added, "Or with anybody else."

"Maybe it's just too soon," Emma said, patting Jess's leg. "Mine changed over time, like yours are, from being chased in Altenbury Hall to being in the fields."

Jess didn't reply. She didn't know what to say.

"You might be right, Ems, but I think the cemetery has something to do with it too. There's a Roman theme to the visions. Well, Emma's at least," Matt said, when Jess turned to glare at him again. "But I had my first vision there, about Gran. We found James in the vault—"
 

"And my first vision, when I moved back, was about the oak tree there," Emma almost shouted.

James ran his finger along the bridge of his nose, his lips pulled up to one side. "I did some research on the head in the oak tree, but couldn't find much. It just appeared one day, but apparently it's supposed to keep ghosts away or something like that. I remember giving up on it because I thought it was a waste of time, just old ghost stories."

"Oh," Emma said, as she slumped in disappointment. "I wonder why it was in my vision then."

"Maybe because it's related to our family?" James replied.

"Yeah, that would make sense, I guess."

"Look, the way I see it, we need to know what we're dealing with."

"If we're still dealing with anything. Who says it's not all over now?" Jess said, looking from Matt to James.

But it was Emma who answered. "Because, while we might have hurt it, we didn't kill it. And as much as I'd love it to be true, I don't think it just wanted to scare us with a few attacks. And don't forget it also attacked your gran."

"What?" James asked.

"My vision was of Gran. She had the same raised, red marks on her skin," Matt said. "We found her diaries and letters, where she mentioned being attacked several times, and it killed her friend."

Jess didn't want to admit it, but Emma was right. This thing was back, and whatever its plan was, it definitely had one.
 

And she feared it was only just beginning.

Rob listened to the four of them calmly discuss some unnamed monster and couldn't believe he hadn't known about this sooner. He'd known Matt was worried about his brother, but he hadn't really believed anything had happened to him. But now, listening to what they knew, Rob realised James was lucky to be sitting there. With Jess busy arguing with Emma, he took the opportunity to just watch her. He liked her, had been attracted to her since the first time he'd met her, but why now? After knowing her for years, why did he now want to be more than just her brother's friend? Why did he find himself wanting to wake up with her warm body pressed against his again in the morning? He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
 

The previous night had been a mistake. The last thing either of them needed was distractions—they had an enemy to fight. He snorted at that; from the way Jess had acted that morning, the last thing she wanted was him.

"What?"

Matt's question brought his thoughts back to the room, as all four of them stared at him. So he coughed because he had no idea what they'd been talking about. He held up his hands and coughed again. "Sorry, just swallowed the wrong way."

"Okay. So, as I was saying, I think we need to do some more digging. I'm happy to carry on looking into the Roman side of things, and Emma's been helping me with that. Also, I've got a list of everything that's happened that might be linked to what's going on."

"Sounds good," James said. "I think we should all get a copy of that. Can you email it to us?" Matt nodded, and James continued. "We can use my dining room because it doesn't get used for anything else. We'll compile all the stuff we gather and try to link it all together. I'll carry on with the local legend research and see if anything sounds remotely realistic or related."

"What should I do?" Jess asked.

"Could you do some more research on our family history? Try to find out about our relations before Gran. It will be hard because I doubt a lot of it will be recorded electronically, so it'll probably be a bit random."

"I can help with that," Rob said. "If you like," he added when he saw the expression on Jess's face. Her eyes narrowed in his direction, but she nodded once.

"Okay," James said, as he stood. "Why don't we meet up this weekend, and we can go over what we've found out?"

Everyone agreed, and Rob followed Jess out of James's cottage. Matt and Emma were discussing what they still wanted to research, but he was quite happy to walk along next to Jess in silence.

"Jessica. Jessica, darling." She turned at the sound of her name being shouted across the field.

"Oh, God," Matt groaned.
 

Rob watched Jess's lips twitch into a half-smile.

"Go, Matt. I'll see what she wants. I'll see you all later."

Rob watched her cross the fields towards her mother, and an image of her lying facedown in the field, shirt ripped, flashed through his mind. He shook his head, trying to dislodge the disturbing image, and saw Jess hugging her mum.

"Rob? You coming?"

Rob turned to see Matt and Emma waiting for him, then turned back towards Jess, but she’d disappeared inside the Hall. "I'll catch you both up."

Matt shrugged a shoulder. "Fair enough."

Rob had no idea why he was waiting for her, but it felt like the right thing to do.

***

"Mum," Jess said, as she kissed her on the cheek.

"Jessica. Come in, come in. It's been so long since I've seen you, and I wanted us to have lunch. But ..." She looked up at the grandfather clock and sighed. "You could join me for afternoon tea?"

"I'm not hungry. I just had lunch with ... erm ... with Matt." She didn't know if James had been to see their parents yet, and there was no way she was breaking the news that he was back. Let James come up with that cover story.

"Oh. But I have guests coming, and I know they would love to catch up with you."

Jess eyed her mother, knowing that tone of voice as the one where she thought she was helping. Whereas Jess thought of it more as meddling. She heard the chime of the doorbell and the clack of Mrs Rees's shoes as she walked across the wooden foyer. At the sound of the voices, her head whipped back to her mother’s. "You didn't?"

"What? He knew you were back, and he wanted to see you. Try to show some compassion, dear. You must have hurt his feelings, calling things off as you did. But here he is," she said, holding her hands out in the direction of Miles.

Jess watched as her mother hugged Miles like a long-lost son. Well, in her mother's eyes, he probably was. Her mother air-kissed Mrs Campbell's cheeks, leaving Miles free to stare at Jess.
 

God, how had she ever found him attractive? His dark, almost-black eyes were shadowed by his large eyebrows, which made his eyes look sunken. Evil eyes that made her skin crawl in their intensity. His black hair was long and slicked back and, with the black shadow along his jaw, made him look like a man who wouldn't bat an eyelid at killing a puppy.

She forced herself to move. "Mrs Campbell," she greeted, brushing her cheek against hers. "It's so lovely to see you, but I'm sorry, I can't stay. Mother, I'll speak to you later." Jess didn't wait for a response from any of them, just hurried towards the front door.
 

When she made it outside, she took a deep lungful of fresh air, fighting the urge to throw up. She held her hands up in front of her, and then clenched them into fists to stop their shaking.

She walked down the steps, back in the direction she had been heading before her mother’s twisted plan had interrupted her.