Winter's Shadow (39 page)

‘You’re trying to hypnotise me?’

Damien smiled cockily. ‘It’s a little more complex than that, Winter. This is no mere trick. It’s a combination of science and mysticism. The Witching Stone won’t work for just anybody. There are secret —’ He broke off, distracted by the commotion coming from the front of the house. The voices were raised, growing more heated by the second.

‘What is going on out there?’ Caleb asked in exasperation.

Though Winter couldn’t make out the words, she did recognise the interloper’s high-pitched voice – specifi-cally the tone of outrage.

It was Jasmine!

By the sound of it she was blasting Sam with the full fury she’d given Winter a preview of earlier in the day.

Caleb exhaled wearily and turned to Marcus and Damien. ‘Help your brother get rid of her.’

Still smirking, the two obediently went out into the hallway, closing the door behind them. Winter doubted that the three Bennet brothers were enough to dissuade Jasmine once she got herself worked up into such a state.

Caleb shrugged at Winter. ‘I sometimes forget my boys have lives outside of the cause. Sometimes I wish they didn’t.’ He cocked his head to one side, studying Winter with amused fascination. ‘Do you have any idea how special you are, Winter?’

Winter swallowed nervously, uncomfortable with the scrutiny. ‘I’m not special.’

‘Oh, but you are,’ Caleb countered, grinning like a cat who’d just caught a mouse. ‘We’ve been looking for someone just like you for a long time now. Decades, in fact. You have a gift, Winter. A gift we can use.’

Winter was no longer listening to him. Something about Caleb’s eyes had caught her attention. The smile faded from his face, replaced with a frown. ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’

Back at the house, the Sight had failed her when she’d required it in the upstairs hallway. Now, it returned unbidden. Staring at Caleb’s gaunt face she could see the Occuluma, tiny tongues of blue flame twisting and turning in his pupils.

‘You’re going to die soon,’ she said quietly, mesmerised by the fading blue fire. Caleb’s frown deepened. His voice took on a dangerous quality.

‘What are you talking about?’

Realising she’d misspoken, Winter looked away from the light in his eyes. ‘Nothing. I’m sorry.’

Caleb circled the table, coming close to her. ‘Tell me, Winter.
What did you see?
’

‘I didn’t see anything,’ Winter answered, frightened by the look on Caleb’s face. Whatever pretence of kindness or civility he’d sported had fallen away, revealing the violence beneath. He grabbed Winter by the shoulders, screaming, ‘What did you see?’

Nefertem suddenly leapt from the table – a screeching orange ball of claws and teeth – to attack Caleb. The old man staggered backwards, falling to the floor as the cat
bit and scratched his face. Winter didn’t waste any time. She jumped off her chair, scooped Blake’s necklace from the table and ran to the window. Already she could hear footsteps coming down the hallway towards the room.

She didn’t have much time.

Bracing her palms against the window frame, she tried to push it open, but it wouldn’t move. The footsteps grew closer in the hallway. Winter could hear Damien and Marcus teasing Sam about Jasmine –
they would be here any second!

Frantically she tried to see why the window wasn’t budging and saw it was still latched. In her haste, she’d forgotten to unlatch it.

Caleb let out a groan as he continued to struggle on the floor with Nefertem. ‘
Boys!
’ he managed to cry out.

Winter heard the brothers’ footsteps quicken and tried again to shove the window open. It flew up with startling ease, rattling in its frame. The doorknob turned behind her as she dived through the window into the dark backyard.

Winter struck the ground painfully but was too frightened to care. She scrambled to her feet and ran around the side of the house. Luckily there was no side gate barring her way and soon she was in the front yard, jumping over the flowerbed and sprinting towards the car parked on the curb. Jasmine was sitting behind the steering wheel of her Mini Cooper, looking upset. Her mouth dropped open in astonishment when she saw Winter streaking towards her.

‘Winter?’

‘
Start the car!
’ Winter yelled, running to the passenger side. Behind her, the front door of the house swung open and Sam and his two brothers burst out. Winter wrenched open the door and slid into the seat.

‘
Go
, Jas!’ Winter urged, locking the doors.

Jasmine still looked very confused, but the panic in Winter’s voice, not to mention the furious males bearing down on them, startled her into action. She slammed her foot on the accelerator just as Sam got within grabbing distance of the car. Winter turned to see the brothers running after them. Her eyes jumped to an orange blur streaking along the side of the road – Nefertem! The cat overtook the trio, struggling to close the growing space between itself and the car.

‘Stop!’

‘What?’

‘Stop the car, Jas!’

Frowning, Jasmine applied the brake, allowing Nefertem to catch up. The cat leapt in through Winter’s open door. However, the brief pause had allowed the three brothers to gain on them. Sam was almost within an arm’s length of the Mini Cooper, his expression thunderous.

‘Can we go now?’ Jasmine asked, eyeing the rear-view mirror nervously.

‘Yes!’

They sped off, leaving Sam standing in the fading glow of the tail-lights.

Once they were far enough down the road Winter allowed herself to breathe again. Adrenaline thrummed through her body like electricity, making her feel elated and vaguely sick.
She’d escaped!
It had happened so fast she still couldn’t believe she’d managed the feat. Of course, she hadn’t done it alone. Bouncing Nefertem on her lap, she smiled gratefully into the cat’s bemused face.

‘Thank you!’

‘No problem,’ Jasmine replied, assuming Winter’s gratitude was directed at her. Her voice sounded a little panicky. ‘Mind telling me what the hell’s going on, Win? What were you doing at Sam’s house? Why did they chase us? Whose cat’s that?’ She took a deep breath. ‘In case you can’t tell, I’m a little freaked out here!’

‘His name’s Nefertem.’ Winter scratched Nefertem behind the ears. ‘And he’s my cat.’

‘Since when?’

‘Since now.’ The cat blinked at her and yawned, curling up on her lap.

‘I’m waiting, Winnie.’

She could see by the glow of the dashboard that Jasmine was genuinely upset by the situation. However, Winter was still having a hard time wrapping her own head around everything.

‘I can’t tell you, Jas,’ she replied hesitantly, knowing Jasmine wouldn’t stand for such a dismissive response.

Sure enough, Jasmine shook her head, setting her jaw in determination. ‘Uh-uh, you have to tell me something! You can’t expect me to just deal with this.’

Winter sighed and ran her hand through her hair, absently noting how greasy it was. She needed a shower desperately.

‘Do you remember last summer when you had that scare? When you thought you were pregnant?’

‘Of course! It’s not exactly something you forget in a hurry.’

‘For a week you were just moping about, not talking to anyone – even me. When I asked you what the problem was, you told me some things were just too big and scary to talk about. Do you remember?’

Jasmine’s mouth dropped open. ‘Oh my God, Winter, are you pregnant?’

Despite Winter’s frustration, she couldn’t help but grin at Jasmine’s cockeyed deduction. ‘No! Nothing like that.’ She stared at Jasmine as earnestly as she could.

‘This whole thing is just too big for me to discuss with you right now. I promise I will when I can. Is that okay?’

Jasmine chewed her lip thoughtfully, considering her proposal. ‘You’ll tell me when you can?’

Winter nodded. ‘Yes.’

‘Okay, then. But I’m going on record as saying that this is pretty messed up!’

‘Agreed.’ Winter slumped back into the seat. She felt utterly exhausted by the events of the past few hours. Nefertem had fallen asleep on her lap. It had been a tough evening for both of them and she suspected they still had a long way to go before they reached the end.

‘Can I ask one more question?’

Winter looked over at Jasmine, an eyebrow raised.

‘Maybe.’

‘Where are we going now?’

In the heat of the moment Winter had failed to set a destination for Jasmine. She’d been too churned up and grateful to have successfully escaped that it hadn’t even occurred to her that they needed to be escaping
to
somewhere.

‘The Velasco place,’ she answered quietly.

‘Why are we going there?’

‘To find Blake.’ Winter wasn’t sure what she was going to do once she got to Blake’s house. The mysterious ‘protections’ he’d talked about hadn’t prevented the
Bane from breaking in, but they had seemed to work against the Skivers, so it seemed the safest place for her right now. Once inside, she could use the lodestone to call Blake and warn him about the Bane. They couldn’t reasonably stay in the house for too long now that Caleb and his sons knew where Blake lived. Winter only hoped that Blake had some kind of contingency plan.

As they drove along in silence, Winter’s mind turned inexorably back to the newspaper article about Carol Oates as well as the list of other girls on Caleb’s computer. She tried to clear her head of what she’d learned, but the information had taken root there like a malignant growth, playing on her insecurities and fears.

If nothing else, Caleb had been successful in wedging a splinter of doubt into her conviction of Blake’s essential goodness. She hated Caleb for that, and felt some grim satisfaction at the memory of Nefertem attacking the old man’s cruel face.

Blake stood in the centre of the dais, staring up at the pale, solemn faces of the Malfaerie convocation. There were thirteen of them, seated in groups across five curved platforms, which slowly revolved around Blake like planets orbiting the sun. Each platform hovered off the ground at a different height, depending on the rank of the Malfaeries seated upon it. The very highest platform floated several hundred feet off the ground and was occupied by only one – the Magister. It was to this being that Blake looked now, studying the white, mask-like visage for a clue to the creature’s thoughts.