Winter of Discontent (Four Seasons Book 1) (17 page)

I checked the time on my phone and it was just after 7 p.m. You could see the moon’s reflection in the pool and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. This wasn’t a good sign. No cloud cover normally meant the temperature was gonna drop. We had no warm clothes, only wet weather capes, no means to call for help or to light a fire to keep warm.

I tried to keep our spirits up by telling jokes but I was genuinely concerned. Kacey started to look really ill. I cuddled up close to her to try to keep her warm – body heat was the only heat we had and I didn’t know what else to do. I was really scared but I couldn’t show it.

A few hours in and Kacey seemed to pick up a little. She was showing signs of a temperature but she was lucid.

‘Talk to me, Trump, I’m so cold and I need to think about something else.’

‘OK. What do you want to talk about?’ I asked, as I rubbed her arms up and down, trying to keep the circulation going.

‘Anything. I know. Tell me why you fell for Erik.’

‘We’re out here in the middle of nowhere, freezing cold, no shelter and no food, and you want me to talk about Erik?’

‘Well, you get really agitated when you talk about him – I thought it might help with the heat.’

I felt her body rise slightly and it was clear she’d been joking. Mind you, she was right – talking about him did tend to raise my temperature.

‘OK then, I liked his smile, he made me laugh, and for a brief time he made me feel like the only person in his life. Then he turned into a hateful bastard and broke my heart. Anything else you’d like to ask?’

She cuddled in closer to me.

‘Not much extra heat, Trump. Let’s try again. So what was he like in the sack?’

‘Kacey! I have no idea, we didn’t get that far.’

Kacey didn’t respond.

‘I hope you heard that. Hey …’ I nudged her again. ‘You OK, Kace?’

Still nothing. I hoped she had just managed to fall asleep but I feared it was something more serious.

I checked my phone, still no signal; at least I could see what time it was, just after 1 a.m. I wished I could close my eyes and it be morning the next time I awoke, but I didn’t hold out much hope for that. I nudged Kacey and she moaned a little – a good sign, I thought. I could barely feel my feet although my upper body being next to Kacey’s wasn’t too bad. I tried to snuggle closer to her and closed my eyes again. I don’t know what time it was the next time I opened them but I recall I heard voices. I struggled to focus in the dark but, as I looked into the woods, I was sure I could see torchlight.

‘Oh, my God, Kacey, I think it’s the Ranger.’

I remembered I’d told him where we heading and when we were gonna be back.

‘We’re over here!’ I shouted.

I was so exhausted, so cold, I could feel myself losing consciousness and tried hard to fight it. The last thing I remember was seeing the outline of the Ranger coming towards us; I think the relief of that gave me the confidence to close my eyes; the weight of my eyelids was just too much to not give in.

I don’t know what time it was when I awoke but I was tucked into my sleeping bag, warm as toast. I could hear voices outside and the light was barely starting to come through the canvas of the tent. I could hear Kacey snoring gently in the bag next me and I lay for a moment trying to work out how we’d gotten there; then I remembered, the Ranger.

I pulled myself up to a sitting position. I still had the clothes on we’d gone out in the day before but my shoes and socks had been removed. I started to feel a little uncomfortable. I was happy we had been found and that somehow he had gotten us back to our tent but the thought that he’d put us to bed was a little unsettling. All of a sudden, I remembered the bite Kacey’d had and started to panic.

‘Kacey, Kacey, can you hear me?’ I said, pulling at her arm.

‘Too early,’ she said as she rolled over in her sleeping bag.

I just sat there grinning. No matter how embarrassing the thought of being put to bed by the Ranger was, it was no comparison to the relief I felt at Kacey being OK. I’d been grinning for a moment or two when the zipper on the tent started to move. I pulled the sleeping bag up over my chest. Perhaps the Ranger was just checking up on us. You could have knocked me down with a feather when Jared popped his head into the tent.

‘Hello, sleepyhead. How are you feeling now?’

Chapter Thirty – All new

Erik

As I sat outside the tent, listening to Jared explaining to Sarah how we’d found them in the woods, I thought back to the previous day.

Jared and I had been in town just hanging out. I’d been really uptight about what had happened with Jess and he figured getting me out of the house would do me good. I suppose it would’ve been about 9 p.m. when I got the feeling. I’d never sensed more than a couple of miles out before, so when I sensed something wasn’t right, I just presumed Sarah was at home.

‘Call her for me, J?’ I said as I dialled her number and passed him my phone.

Jared just kind of raised his eyebrows and grinned as he put the phone to his ear.

‘Hi there. Is Sarah home?’

I could hear her aunt explaining that she and Kacey were out at Lake Arrowhead and not due back till Sunday evening. I went cold. The feeling I’d gotten that prompted the call was unclear; I just knew something wasn’t right.

‘We have to go over and check it out, J.’

Jared was a great brother – he never scoffed at the suggestion or tried to talk me out of it. He simply turned the car around and headed out of town.

It was pitch black by the time we arrived at the campsite.

‘Wait a moment,’ said Jared, as he stood looking out into the darkness. It might have been my unease that had bought us here, but this was Jared’s strength now. It was pitch black, apart from the faint light coming from the Ranger station. We made our way over there. Jared said that we should check in with them in case they knew something we might need to know.

‘I checked their tent about thirty minutes ago but they’re still not back,’ said the Ranger when we called in.

‘Well, we got a call about an hour back to say they had strayed off the path but were OK, gonna start down the hill in the morning.’

I looked at Jared but said nothing; he was lying but obviously had a good reason for it.

‘I told them we’d wait for them at their tent, so if you can show us where that is, please?’

‘I don’t know,’ he said nervously, ‘they shouldn’t be out there in this weather.’

Jared looked at the Ranger and smiled.

‘They’re back now. Fast asleep in the tent. Just show us where it is.’

‘Of course, no problem,’ he replied, as he led us out into the field.

‘I’m not sure what that was all about, but I figure you have a reason.’

Jared smiled wryly.

‘If we’d let him put a call out for help in looking for them they’d only have slowed us up. We’ll find them much quicker alone. Come on, we need to get a move on – they’re cold. By the way, well done – great sensing.’

I grinned broadly. Jared had always said that in time my senses would pick up. This was over twenty miles. I’d never sensed anything like that far before. If I wasn’t so worried about Sarah, I might have stopped to congratulate myself but for now we just needed to find them.

It took a few hours before we hit the general area; I’d say somewhere around five miles from where they were. Jared stood again, quietly, unmoving, listening carefully to every blow of the wind.

‘This way.’

We made our way carefully in the darkness. Our night sight was better than the average human and we could move quite quickly through the woods, but it was well after 2 a.m. before we reached them. I heard Sarah shouting out and I guess she thought we were the Ranger.

She’d slipped into unconsciousness by the time we got to her and Kacey was totally out of it. We realised immediately that she was in a bad way. I checked her over and noticed the bite on her ankle. Jared looked at it and quickly set to work. Holding her ankle in one hand and hovering the open palm of his other over the bite he stared intently into the night. A few minutes later and it was all done.

‘Right, we need to get them back to the campsite as soon as possible. You take Kacey.’

‘No, I’ll carry Sarah,’ I insisted.

Jared grabbed me by the arm ‘No! You take Kacey.’

I didn’t argue further. He was right, he was always right, I needed to concentrate on getting them back down the hill, holding her so close to me wasn’t really the best way to do that.

By 4 a.m. we’d arrived back at camp and settled them into their sleeping bags. At various points on the way back they had each started to wake. Jared and I agreed we could get them back quicker if they remained asleep, so a quick notion made that possible. I felt bad in one way that we’d resorted to that; after all, I’d promised Sarah I would never practise around her without her knowledge again. This time, I knew she would understand; would forgive me. We’d each removed our coats and placed them around their shoulders but it was still cold. We needed to get them back into the warm. A harmless good-willed notion was a small price to pay.

Jared and I sat outside the tent talking whilst they slept. I wasn’t entirely certain how we could explain things to Kacey, but Jared said it wouldn’t be a problem. It was around 6 a.m. when we heard Sarah calling out to Kacey.

‘Leave it with me,’ said Jared as he unzipped the door to the tent.

I listened in carefully as he went through what had happened. When he’d finished he asked,

‘Do you understand, Sarah? We have to change her memory. She can’t know
we
found you. It would cause too many questions, too many problems.’

Sarah hesitated before she answered him.

‘How did you know we needed help?’

‘It was Erik. He sensed you were in trouble. Now are you OK with this?’

‘Not really but I guess … well … no choice really.’

Jared gently woke Kacey and set to work. It didn’t take him long.

As soon as he’d left the tent, we set off back to the car.

‘Thank you. I really have no idea how I’d have coped without you.’

‘No worries, E. Come on, let’s go home.’

We were back just before breakfast, which was a relief, as I was really hungry. Jess greeted us warmly, like we’d been out for an early morning stroll rather than an overnight rescue mission.

I’d spent most of the journey home going through everything that had happened in my mind. At the end of it all, I came to just one conclusion: if Sarah and I had still been together, the chances are this would never have happened; she would never have been in any danger and neither would Kacey. The more I thought about this, the more wound up I started to get.

‘You OK, E?’ said Jared, as I sat quietly at the kitchen table.

‘Yeah, I’m fine.’

I don’t know why I lied; it was clear he didn’t believe me but he didn’t push it.

‘Ham and eggs, Erik,’ smiled Jess, placing the plate in front of me.

Shamefully, I didn’t even say thank you.

‘So what do you want to do today?’ she asked, as I ate silently.

‘Nothing.’

‘I thought we could go out for lunch today. What do you think?’

I said nothing, I just kept on eating.

‘Erik. Jess asked you a question,’ said Dad curtly.

I looked up for a moment and then got back to my breakfast.

‘We could go to the new restaurant on Ryton Street,’ Jess pressed.

‘For fuck’s sake, Jess, just take the hint!’ I shouted, as I threw my knife and fork down, pushed my stool back, and walked out of the kitchen and into the lounge.

‘There was no need for that!’ snapped Dad, as he followed me in.

‘She’s going back to Canada, Dad.’

‘What?’

‘It was a mistake. I know we all thought it was the right thing at the time but it wasn’t, not in hindsight. Sarah was almost raped New Year’s Eve and could have died of hypothermia last night. None of that would have happened if I’d still been with her. I shouldn’t have given her up. I have to put this right.’

I was getting really wired – I could feel the Warlock rising and I struggled to maintain composure.

‘Calm down, E.’

‘No, Jared, I won’t. I have to put this right.’

‘Erik, have you really forgotten what was said at Lorcan’s? If the Segan find you with her, they’re likely to kill you too. I won’t have it. I won’t have her tear this family apart.’

I hadn’t heard Dad get this angry in a long time.

‘I’ll deal with this once and for all,’ he said as he made his way to the door.

‘What do you mean? What are you going to do?’

‘What I should have done in the beginning.’

‘No you can’t. I won’t let you. I promised her no one would do that again – you stay away from her.’

Dad didn’t listen and carried on toward the door. I could feel the anger rising in me; I knew the rules, but I couldn’t help it. As he opened the front door, I held out my hands and, with a single thought, pulled the handle from him and slammed it shut.

It went quiet. It went very quiet. Jared spoke first.

‘Let him go, E.’

‘No. I won’t have him upset her.’

‘I don’t mean let him go to her. I mean let him go.’

I looked across the room to see Dad still stood in the same position as he’d been when I slammed the door shut.

‘I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to do that, Dad.’

‘Let him go, E.’

I just nodded my head. Dad didn’t turn around straight away. I could see his shoulders rising and falling. I could sense his anger. Using magic against another Segan was outlawed and using it against a family member was totally unacceptable. I hadn’t meant to do it; I just wanted to stop him leaving.

When he finally turned around his eyes were black. I had never seen him like this before and I was more scared than I’d ever been.

‘I’m really sorry. I really didn’t mean it.’

I backed off toward the couch, only stopping when it touched the back of my legs.

‘Dad, he’s just a kid. Please, don’t do this.’

Jared, as usual, was one step ahead of me and it wasn’t until Dad stopped and held his palms together that I knew what was coming. I braced myself. I’d heard stories of how painful it was when powers were curbed. Jared pleaded with him again to stop, but I knew he wouldn’t. This wasn’t my dad in front of me; this was the head of a Warlock household about to pull a dissident in line and there was nothing Jared or I could do to stop him.

That first wave hit me like a thousand volts and I felt I would explode as it lifted me off my feet and threw me over the back of the couch. I rolled about the floor in agony. Jared came running round and held me in his arms.

‘That’s enough, Dad. He’s had enough, he’ll be too vulnerable.’

He begged, but Dad didn’t stop. Waiting for the second wave to pass was excruciating. I tried hard not to cry out, but it was just too painful. Jared held me close to him and rocked me backwards and forwards.

‘It’s OK, I got you,’ he cried.

It felt like the pain went on for hours but in reality it was probably only about twenty minutes. By the time I’d picked myself up off the floor, Dad had come down and was sat stone-faced on the chair by the hearth.

I felt strange, felt empty somehow.

When I finally spoke it was to apologize again. ‘I am sorry, Dad. I honestly didn’t mean to do that, I only wanted to stop you leaving.’

‘You used magic against me, against your own father. You disrespected me in a way I never thought you would.’ His tone wasn’t angry now, it was just hurt. ‘With power comes responsibility and you have proved you aren’t ready for it. You chose to fight me rather than back me. I couldn’t let that pass.’

‘I wasn’t fighting you, Dad, I was fighting for her. Has it really been that long since you felt love that you’ve forgotten what it’s like?’ I stood up and walked over to the front door.

‘You may have just done me a huge favour. Perhaps without magic, I can show her how to trust me again. Either way, I have to try.’

‘Wait!’ shouted Jared. ‘Dad, have you thought this through? How do you know if his magic will hold now he doesn’t possess it?’

I didn’t quite get what Jared meant by this. Clearly by the look on Dad’s face, he did.

‘Not my problem, Jared. He made his choice when he acted against me.’

‘But he’s just a kid.’

‘What’s going on, J? What are you saying?’

‘There is no guarantee that the memory wipes you did on her attackers will hold. They could remember everything by Monday.’

I got a feeling of sheer panic; a cold shiver ran down my spine.

‘Dad, please. I’ll do whatever you ask. Please.’

He just shook his head and went back into the kitchen.

‘OK. Then I guess I can’t leave her side, I have to protect her, with or without magic.’

Jared called after me as I left the house, but I didn’t turn back.

The walk to Sarah’s felt like a marathon. On any other given day, I wouldn’t have broken into a sweat, but today, without my power, I felt drained by the time I arrived. I had no way of knowing whether she was home yet, no sensing her presence, no way of ghosting in or attempting to Whisper to her. I walked up the path to the door and stood for a moment to get my breath before knocking, I was so happy when she answered the door.