Darkhaven

Cecelia called while Stephen and I drove to Zenna’s. When Zenna hadn’t responded to her frantic hammering on the door, Cecelia had gone around the house and smashed in the bathroom window with a pitchfork from the garden shed. She’d found Zenna semi-conscious on the floor, blood flowing from a deep gash in her wrist. By the time Cecelia compressed the wound, the ambulance had arrived. She’d waited at the hospital while Zenna was taken through emergency.

‘So unless you’re going to let me help you, I’m going home to study,’ Cecelia finished.

‘Wait!’ I said, a little too urgently.

‘What? I have Chemistry on Monday. I feel bad for Zenna, but I can’t spend all day in the hospital because of her life choices. I have my own future to look after.’

I winced at her lack of sympathy, but then Zenna’s accusations about being a second-best friend whipped across my mind and my own rage flared up. Zenna was safe enough for now. I was pretty sure Sean was only after Cecelia to get at me, but if I told her that her home was unsafe, I could hardly expect her to sit idly by and do nothing while she worried about her own family. ‘Cecelia, can you do something for me?’

‘Sure. What is it?’

I glanced at Stephen helplessly. What could I ask her to do that would delay her? He was concentrating on weaving through traffic. My earlier explosion had waned, and without the anger fuelling me, I was hit again by the realisation I’d had in the Taskforce: this was my fault.

‘I, ah, I need a library book. Would you mind picking it up for me? I won’t get home before it closes.’

‘A library book?’ She sounded incredulous. Fair enough.

‘Yeah, I lost my Human Biology book.’

‘How? That thing is huge.’

‘It fell in the bath.’ I kept talking over her next exclamation. ‘Can you please just get the library copy out for me?’

‘They’re old editions. You can borrow mine.’

‘You know we won’t have time to study together next week, you have a hundred exams to do still. Just get the book, and I’ll come by for it tomorrow morning and explain it all, please?’ I willed her to understand.

‘Okay, whatever. But what’s happening with Alex?’

‘We’re sorting it out. Honestly, Ceel, there’s nothing you can do right now. Except help my exam stress by getting that book.’

We pulled into Zenna’s driveway as Cecelia hung up. Stephen told me to wait in the car while he scouted around. I scratched at my neck, which had still refused to heal, and tapped my foot nervously. I thought about turning on the radio, just for a distraction, but figured it would be better if I could hear any activity. There was no sign of movement. I jumped when I saw the side gate open, but it was just Stephen. I got out of the car to meet him, earning a reproachful glare.

‘There’s no one here,’ he said. ‘And I asked you to stay in the car for your safety, you know.’

I ignored his rebuke as we got back in the car. ‘So we go to Cecelia’s.’

He shook his head. ‘Liam will call to report. And Donovan is meeting us here.’

I opened my mouth to argue, but the look on his face caught my words. Layered over the strain and uncertainty was grief. After a few minutes of silence, he spoke.

‘Do you really want to go back?’

‘No.’ I stared out at the huddled grey clouds. My heart felt torn. ‘But I don’t know what to do.’

‘I know. It was too much to ask of you. Please understand, based on our previous case studies, I didn’t believe there was a better way. But, well, I owe you an apology.’

I couldn’t hold back a tiny smirk. ‘I was right?’

Stephen’s smile lifted some of the stress off his face. ‘Not entirely. I’m not saying you did the right thing either. At some point, you are going to have to figure out what to do with yourself, but you don’t have to do it now. Finish school and join Darkhaven if you like. We’ll sort the rest out later.’

Did he mean what I thought he meant? I hardly dared to hope. ‘So I don’t have to leave everyone? But what about avoiding situations exactly like this?’

Stephen reached across the console and squeezed my hand. ‘Gabby, this is not your fault. Even if your friends did believe you were gone, they could still be held hostage against you.’

I ventured a proper smile. ‘Let me get this straight. I come and live at Darkhaven, and I can still visit Alex and have sleepovers with my friends?’

He nodded. ‘At their houses, obviously.’

‘Obviously.’

A thread of hope and happy anticipation rippled through the car, weaving with the worry and fear. All we had to do was make Sean’s exchange, give him the disk, and all this would be over. I had something to look forward to next year. I didn’t quite see the point of finishing school now, except that it would raise a lot more questions if I didn’t.

My phone rang again. Cecelia.

‘Is the book not available?’ I asked, trying to sound disappointed. I knew my human biology book was sitting where I had left it after the last class, in the middle of my desk under some clothes.

‘Um, I’m at home, Gabby –’

‘What?’

‘And Alex is here.’

Before I could yell any more, the phone disappeared from my hand. Stephen had it pressed to his ear, fingers clenched around it. ‘Can you put Alex on, please?’

He talked tersely for a moment. I sank back down into my car seat and didn’t bother listening to what was happening on the other end. If Cecelia was free to call me and Alex was on the phone and talking, it couldn’t be that bad. Surely.

Stephen hung up, looking even more worried than before.

‘Alex?’ I asked.

‘He’s fine. So is your friend. Sean isn’t there.’

‘What? Why not? Doesn’t he want the disk back?’

Stephen shook his head and pressed his fingers to his temples. ‘I don’t know. No. Wait. What if it was never an exchange? Shit.’

He threw the car into reverse as his phone rang. He reached for it, but nearly swerved into another car as he pulled out of the driveway. ‘Can you answer it, please?’ he asked, waving apologetically to the driver.

I picked up the phone. ‘Donovan,’ I said, putting her on speakerphone.

‘Get back here,’ she growled. ‘It wasn’t a ransom. It was a diversion. Darkhaven is under attack.’