Darkhaven

Liam met me at the front door of Darkhaven. ‘What are you doing here?’ he asked. He looked so calm.

‘Stephen called me. Surely you know about –’

With a furtive glance around, he pulled me inside before I could finish. ‘Were you followed?’

I realised his “calm” was actually controlled tension. His eyes betrayed the fear under his neutral expression.

‘Followed?’ I’d put my phone in the Faraday bag.

Liam headed back towards the kitchen, mobile phone to his ear as he waited for someone to answer. Finally he said, ‘She’s here,’ then hung up and turned to me. ‘Something is going on. I think you were right about your hunch that something bad is happening. But I can’t see what it is.’

‘Is this about Alex? Where’s Stephen?’

He shrugged apologetically. ‘I don’t know. I’m sorry, Gabby. But you shouldn’t have come here. Stephen thinks they might be following you somehow. You were meant to meet him at your Event location.’

Bubbling anger flashed over my body. ‘How was I supposed to know that? You know my intuition is gone.’

Liam turned and placed a hand on my arm. ‘It’s okay. He’s on his way back now.’ His voice was gentle, but there was an edge to it I hadn’t heard before. I shivered, despite the heavy heat.

We made a tense group in the kitchen. Donovan was on the couch, one leg crossed over the other, stoic as ever. Liam took a chair, and I sat down next to him. It felt like all I’d been doing since this whole nightmare started was sitting down at tables, but I couldn’t think of anything else to do. Wander the streets? Knock on the Taskforce door? Hi Sean, sorry to bother you, just wondering if you happen to have my uncle here. If I could have him back, please. Yeah, right.

After fifteen minutes of wired silence, Stephen walked in. Taut lines of worry creased his forehead.

‘What was the code?’ he asked, bypassing “hi” completely. At least he wasn’t mad that I hadn’t understood his cryptic message about the meeting point. His gaze on me was heavy with compassion as he pulled out a chair and sat down.

Deflated and exhausted, I gave half a shrug and relayed the message. ‘So nothing useful.’

‘Except that the threat extends to your friends,’ Donovan said darkly.

‘What was the message you got about Alex?’ I asked.

Stephen pushed his phone over to me. It was a single line from an unknown number.

I have her uncle – Sean

‘What are we supposed to do with that?’ I tried not to let panic rise all the way up my throat. ‘Can we trace the number?’

Liam shook his head. ‘It’s just a pre-paid phone. We don’t know how he has Stephen’s number though.’

‘What do we do?’ I asked. The panic simmered at chest height. My ears started to ring, softly, insistently.

Stephen turned on his chair to face me. ‘I might not have clairvoyance or a gift for it, but I still have some intuition. And it’s telling me that we have to sit tight. He’ll be in touch again.’

‘How can you trust that at a time like this?’ I asked, rising to my feet without really meaning to. ‘Intuition! I trusted mine last time I was dealing with Sean, and it nearly got me killed!’

Liam reached a hand towards me. ‘Gabby, Stephen’s been intuitive for a long time. Trust me. He’d know if the feeling was gone.’ His voice sounded empty.

I was not empty. Alex was in danger. One of my best friends could be dying on a bathroom floor and I wasn’t there, and although I was still mad, fear for her writhed in the pit of my stomach. And for Cecelia. Keraun was gone, possibly never to return – why would he? Come back to Perth for some slightly superhuman girl who couldn’t make a decision?

I was full of rage. My blood hissed, my ears rang, my vision sharpened to a harsh contrast and I channelled the anger. I threw my chair back.

‘Trust you? You don’t even know what’s going on! I know when the feeling is gone, and I know why!’ My voice rose to a roar. ‘It’s because I trusted every damn thing you ever taught me, and look where it’s got me!’

Liam sat back down. Stephen sank his head into his hands. They looked defeated, but I wasn’t done shouting. ‘So you lost Luci! She was my mother! I was nearly murdered, and now my uncle is abducted and on top of all that you still want me to choose this!’

I picked up another chair and raised it above my head, ready to hurl it at something. Steel arms grasped mine, pulling them down and wrapping around me from behind, forcing me to let go of the chair. Donovan wrestled with me, containing my rage. I squirmed, but I was no match for her strength. She pinned me to her iron body until my blood cooled and the ringing stopped and I sagged. Then she lifted me by the shoulders like a rag doll and set me down on the sofa. She leaned against the wall, watching me. I sat and glowered until the silence started to close in.

‘You know what?’ I said, standing. Donovan made a move towards me, but I held up a hand motioning her to stop. ‘When all this is over, I’m done. I’m going back. I’ll have the Viciretro. You can take my memories. I’d rather forget you all anyway.’

***

I stalked out of the room, down the hall and to the patio. Despite today’s dampness, the landscape was drier than it had been when I first came here, the grass browning and the blooms on the tea trees faded. I leaned on the railing and gazed out as the gravid air finally caved under the weight of the water in it. The rain was sparse at first, but the drops were fat and heavy, and each fell to the earth with an audible spaa-lop. I took a deep breath, sucking in air, not paying attention to smells or sounds or even looking at anything other than the damp dirt.

‘Petrichor.’

I turned. There he stood, this alien god, leaning against the wall like he owned the world and hadn’t a care. He smiled, the colour of his eyes lifting to a faint yellow glow. Everything dropped away for a swift moment, all my worry and fear and stress, and it was just him and my heart, which was now somewhere near my knees. This must be how people swoon, a remote part of my brain thought. Their heart actually moves down a metre or so and knocks their knees out from under them with its pounding. Then reality crashed back on top of me, and I sank against the railing until I was sitting on the dusty floor. Keraun was at my side.

‘What are you doing here?’ I asked. He took my chin in his hand and turned my face to his as he leaned in. His breath was warm on my cheek. His eyes were so close to mine, I could feel heat radiating off them. They glowed, shifting from brown to liquid yellow as he closed them and moved closer and drew my face towards him and his lips met mine. My eyelids fluttered shut and my lips parted and again I forgot about everything except my heart now winging its way back up my legs and through my chest, past its usual resting place, past my throat and head until it soared out somewhere I hadn’t even known it could go. Time almost stopped.

But it didn’t. My breath caught in my throat. Keraun pulled back, eyes glowing, a gentle smile playing on his face.

‘And you thought I wouldn’t come back,’ he whispered.

‘I thought you couldn’t read minds.’ There wouldn’t be much he could read now anyway – my mind was utter chaos.

‘I can’t. It was just that you looked surprised to see me.’ He didn’t take his eyes off my face. The intensity was soft and sharp at the same time. I looked away.

‘I’m sorry,’ he continued, ‘I wasn’t paying attention. What’s wrong?’

‘They’ve taken Alex,’ I said, trying not to let the trembling take over my body. ‘And Zenna’s in trouble.’

Keraun squeezed my shoulders. Before he could say anything, Stephen stuck his head around the door, frowning. ‘There’s a new message,’ he said.

I leapt to my feet and followed Stephen back inside, Keraun right behind me.