Ready or Not (The Hide and Seek Trilogy Book 3)

by Mark Ayre

Wasn’t it?

  She gripped her hands tighter to the wheel, and of course, that got her back to thinking about the car and thinking about the car brought her guilt flooding back. Mercury, Pluto and Trey would be fine without her, but they needed the car. She wished she hadn’t had to take it. But there was no other way.

  Was there?

  Too late now.

  She drove on, speeding towards her destination. Towards Benny.

  And Stephanie.

  The call had come almost as soon as she stepped out of Dwight’s front door, as though Stephanie had been watching, as though she knew Sam was alone.

  Sam hadn’t recognised the number. When she answered, she knew the voice.

  “Turns out I was wrong about Benjamin.”

  Sam’s blood ran cold. She took a step towards the house, as though she might ask for help, then stumbled away like a dying man in the street. The phone was clasped to her ear. She couldn’t say a word.

  “I didn’t know where I was going when I left you, but I thought, wouldn’t it be nice to see, to find out how Benjamin’s doing. I knew you were worried, see, Samantha, and what with us being good friends I knew you’d want me to be the one to give you the news. Good or bad.”

  By this point, Sam felt as though she were on shaky ground. As though the floor might disappear between her feet at any second. That she might fall. Forever.

  “He’s okay,” said Stephanie. “Alive, I should say. When I reached him, he’d not long come out of surgery. The doctor would have suggested he stay under observation for several days. Maybe a couple of weeks. But Benny isn’t dumb. I told him the police were coming, that they had questions about Liam. He wasn’t keen to stick around to answer. He begged me to spring him free.”

  Sam had found her way to the car. One hand was on the bonnet, the other on her phone. Her chest was tight though she wasn’t sure why. This was good news, wasn’t it? It had to be.

  “He asked about you,” said Stephanie. “Keeps asking about you. He was so upset when he learned you’d abandoned him. Betrayed. Well, you had more important things to which you needed to attend, right? I told him as much, honest I did. Still, he’s upset.”

  Sam could see through the car window. Or should have been able to see through it. In the glass, she kept seeing her brother’s face. Draped in hurt, his temper rising. Then he was collapsing, falling disappearing.

  “I shouldn’t have got him out so soon, to be honest,” said Stephanie. “He’s not in the best place. He’s so unwell. Lying in my bed, shivering away. I’ve suggested we take him back, but he won’t have it, he won’t listen to me.”

  Though the question had yet to be asked, Sam had moved around to the driver’s side window. Looking through the glass, she could see the keys, waiting to be taken.

  “I’m not sure he’ll last much longer,” said Stephanie. “I think he needs his sister. Although I know you’re ever so busy.”

  “Stephanie.”

  “Oh, you are there. I was starting to wonder.”

  “Why are you doing this?”

  Stephanie didn’t answer right away. Sam was still staring through the window, looking at the keys.

  “I think he’ll be dead by nightfall,” said Stephanie. “Time to decide where your priorities lie.”

  Stephanie hung up. Sam opened the door, stole the car and drove away without a second thought.

  Those would come later.

  Forty-Two

  Back again. Not far from where Mercury had parked for her previous visit to Michaels Manor. That time, she had been on the hunt for Heidi. This time Heidi was at her side, looking uncharacteristically nervous.

  “You sure you’re ready for this?” she asked Mercury.

  “We’re not friends.”

  Heidi rolled her eyes. “I didn’t mean to imply concern for your well being. If you screw up, we all suffer. Cleo’s power is beyond measure. If you fail, she’ll make me pay. I’m used to torment. When we return to our barren world as spirits, Cleo will make my previous experiences seem like a cuddle from a massive fluffy teddy.

  “You like teddies?”

  Heidi smirked. Looked out the window, over the nearest buildings. The mansion was in that direction, though they couldn’t quite see it, despite its size.

  “You think you’ll be able to kill her?”

  “Yes,” said Mercury.

  “I’m not sure you have it in you. You might have plunged a blade through the hearts of your boyfriend and mother, but this is different. Cleo’s chest will offer resistance, and you’ll only have a second.”

  Mercury glanced at the knife in her lap. That shining steel blade. She knew how sharp it was. Still, it was easy to believe what Heidi said. Would she be able to plunge it through Cleo’s reinforced chest?

  “I’ll manage,” she said. Not because she was sure she could but because she didn’t want Heidi to know she had doubts.

  “If you need help—“

  “Ahh.”

  “What?”

  Mercury had been afraid of this. If total power could seduce anyone, it could seduce Heidi.

  “You try put that knife through Cleo’s heart, I’ll kill you before I kill her.”

  “You might try. You would fail.” Heidi raised a hand before Mercury could rage. “Don’t worry, I’ve no interest in killing Cleo. You think I’m seduced by power? Not at the cost. I kill Cleo, I return to spirit form. This planet falls apart, and I can find escape only by cracking the walls between worlds and returning home. Then, what? I wait a millennium or more for some other being from some other world to start pulling through my kind. Then wait hundreds more years for them to summon me so I can achieve what I had hoped Cleo would on this planet. You think I’d spend thousands of years back on that tortuous barren land, just for the power? Mercury, I wouldn’t spend a single second there. Have no fear about that.”

  Despite the impassioned claims, Mercury wasn’t sure. She had little choice but to work with Heidi, especially now the plan was in motion. That didn’t mean she had to trust her uneasy ally, that she couldn’t keep an eye on her. That was exactly what she intended to do.

  “Why did you volunteer?” Heidi said after a couple minutes silence. “You know it’s suicide right, so why so keen?”

  Mercury glanced at Heidi, then back at the dash. She didn’t speak.

  “Yeah, I get it, we’re not friends. Still, I’m interested. Pluto says you jumped at the chance, and I wonder why. You can’t even say humans have pitifully short lifespans, so it doesn’t matter when they die. That’s not true of you, is it? I left you a gift when I was ripped from your body. Several gifts. One of which being you’ll live for hundreds of years. I think you know that, which makes your decision even more curious.”

  Still, Mercury didn’t respond. Though she could see Heidi only out of the corner of her eye, she could sense the cogs turning.

  “Unless it’s because of me that you want to die,” said Heidi. “Ahhh, could that be it?”

  Mercury said nothing. She twitched. It was annoying. Even in silence, she was giving too much away.

  “Do you think yourself cursed, Mercury?”

  “Pluto and Trey will be in position any minute. Get ready to move.”

  “Do you think my remnants are changing you? Changing you how, though? You don’t think you’ll turn into one of my kind, do you?”

  “Does it look as though I want to have this conversation?”

  “It doesn’t. Maybe I can put your mind at rest. If you did think you were turning into me, then don’t. You’re still human. Always will be. Extended lifespan or not.”

  One of Mercury’s fists was clenched by her hip. The other was on the knife’s hilt. She became aware her arm was straining. Without realising, she had started fighting not to put a blade through Heidi’s heart.

  Seemingly, the monster noticed too.

  “You want to watch that bloodlust, darling.”

  Mercury snapped around. As she did, her phone buzzed. The bl
ade was off her lap and pointing towards Heidi, who raised her eyebrows and tapped the phone in Mercury’s lap.

  “You’ll want to check that.”

  Somehow, Mercury began to pull herself under control. For a while, her arm seemed to ignore the messages she was trying to send from her brain. Eventually, she replaced the blade in her lap, collected the phone and checked the screen.

  “Time to move,” she said.

  Heidi did just that.

  Forty-Three

  No kids were playing in the street as Sam made her way for the second time down the cul de sac. The old lady’s curtains were still open, but she wasn’t there, nosing. The neighbourhood watch signs remained present and accounted for.

  There was a car in Stephanie’s driveway. It had been there on Sam’s previous visit. It wasn’t the Ford Stephanie had driven to collect Sam from the hospital and which she had later stolen from Will’s to collect Benny.

  So where was that Ford?

  Of course, Stephanie was happy to let people die on her behalf. There was every chance she was a liar, too. She might never have been to the hospital. This might all be some cruel joke to wind Sam up, to frighten and upset her. That wouldn’t be beyond Stephanie.

  It might also be a trap.

  Sam parked her stolen car where Stephanie had previously parked after returning from the hospital. She looked up the drive at the house. Calm, quiet. Curtains open—no sign of movement from inside.

  Chills racing up her spine, Sam forced herself to turn off the engine. Learning from Mercury’s mistakes, she pulled the key from the ignition. She slid it into her pocket before stepping from the car and locking it behind her. This done, there was nothing to do but step up the drive and knock on the door.

  This was the easy bit. When she reached the top of the drive and knocked, however, she found the door wasn’t closed, only pulled to. Under her knuckles, it slid back a little. With a sweaty palm, she was able to push it wide.

  Beyond the front door: a dark, empty hallway. The doors to the living room and downstairs bathroom were closed. The bottom of the stairs was clear. It might have been a ghost house.

  Sam opened her mouth to call but could find no words. Maybe Stephanie had never visited the hospital. Maybe she had parked a street away and walked home. Once she arrived, she could have left the door open and waited in the living room or on the upstairs landing. She could have a gun or a knife. Either of which would allow her to make an effective end to Sam’s life.

  Thud, thud, thud. Her heart was running on overtime.

  Stephanie might be inside, waiting to kill her.

  Why though?

  Stephanie could have killed Sam in the woods, had she wanted. She could even have killed her in the hospital. Maybe she liked to kill only in the comfort of her own home. Maybe she felt it was safer—neighbourhood watch area or not.

  Terrified by now, worked into a state, Sam was ready to turn and walk away. Perhaps run.

  She took a step from the door, then paused. It took strong, mental effort to persuade her legs to return her to the front step.

  Leaning through the front door, she called, “Benny, are you there?”

  For a moment, silence. Nothing more than the whisper of the wind across the street. A tear in Sam’s eye, she was ready to walk away.

  Then, “Sammy?”

  The voice was low, suffering. It came from upstairs. So quiet and pained was it that many who knew Benny might not have called with confidence that he was the speaker. Sam was not someone who just knew Benny. She’d recognise his voice no matter how twisted out of shape it might have been.

  Fear still filled her. Her need to reach her brother was a more powerful force. Stepping through the door, she closed it behind her. Then she was rushing up the stairs, taking two at a time, no longer theorising where Stephanie might be hiding, or what she might be planning.

  On the upstairs landing, all the doors were closed except one.

  “Sammy.”

  The voice drifted through the open door.

  Stephanie might have been just across the threshold, pressed against the wall. Sam would step past her and walk to the bed. Stephanie would leave the wall, come up behind, and slit Sam’s throat.

  Even as she considered this, Sam was walking into the room. With a flinch, as though she had heard someone shift behind her, Sam jerked her head back.

  No one there.

  No one in the room except for her and Benny.

  He lay on the bed. On top of the covers. He wore a hospital gown and grim expression. There was sweat on his snow-white brow. His hand trembled as he reached towards her.

  “Sammy.”

  She came to the bed. As though this were a hospital, Stephanie had left a chair beside the side on which Benny lay. Maybe the beauty with the scarred face had sat beside Benny before she had left, or hidden in one of the other rooms. Perhaps the chair was booby-trapped.

  Benny’s shaking hand was still reaching for her. Without checking for wired explosives beneath the seat, Sam sat. She reached out and clasped his hand in her own, bringing it back to the bed.

  “Oh, Benny,” she said. “Benny, I’m so glad you’re alive. I’m so glad you’re okay. And you are going to be okay. I promise you’re going to be okay.”

  Entering the room, Sam had been caught up in the pallor of Benny’s skin and the way he sweated as though he were hot but shivered as though he were cold. His raised hand had distracted her. She had barely glanced at his face before sitting down and taking his hand.

  “Sammy.”

  Now she saw his eyes.

  With a speed that indicated he had been putting on at least some of the weakened trembling when he raised his arm, he yanked his hand from hers and slapped her across the face.

  She cried out. “Benny, what?”

  Before she could continue, Benny’s hand came again. This time he clasped her throat.

  “You bitch,” he said, his voice rasping, pained. “I know what you did. She told me what you did.”

  “Benny,” she said, then his grip around her throat tightened. She could say no more.

  “I know what you did,” he said again.

  He began to choke her.

  “I’m going to make you pay.”

  Forty-Four

  “I think I know what it is.”

  Heidi was driving slowly, giving Trey and Pluto time to get to where they needed to be. Michaels Manor was in sight. They were only a minute or two away, depending on how Heidi drove.

  “It is to do with me, but maybe you don’t think you’re going to turn into one of my kind. You probably still believe the remnants of me are affecting you, changing you, is that right? Okay, don’t talk.”

  Mercury was lying on the back seat, head down, eyes closed. It was unlikely Cleo or any of her people would see Heidi’s car before they arrived at the mansion. Still, it paid to be careful. Mercury was already in character. The slaughtered woman.

  “Do you think my essence has a hold of your soul? Do you think I’m turning you evil?”

  Heidi glanced back. Mercury didn’t open her eyes or speak. Maybe there was a tell in her face because Heidi laughed as though Mercury had confirmed this hypothesis.

  “One of my infected, one of those who survived an attack on your team, he returned to me. When he did, he reported that you had let him go when he’d begged to be freed. He was proud of his performance. He said Amira had been ruthless, slaughtering his guys. You had killed, but with reservation. He had known he could escape, when you, rather than Amira, caught him.”

  Mercury remembered the evening in question. When Amira discovered what Mercury had done, she had been furious. The women had argued. Trey had stayed out of the way but within earshot, like a child who sits at the bottom of the stairs when he’s supposed to be in bed and listens to his parents arguing in the living room.

  He was unarmed. He pleaded. And it’s not like we can lock him up. I won’t apologise for not executing him in cold blood.
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  One of these days, Amira had said. You’ll regret letting one of them live.

  As though Heidi knew what conversation Mercury was remembering, she pressed exactly the right button.

  “You let my last human servant live after she gave you my supposed location, didn’t you? Imagine if you’d killed her for being on the other team.”

  Mercury saw the gun flash, the door burst from its hinges. She watched Will fall and saw Nanny’s smiling face before Trey had killed her.

  “Those were good things to do, but you didn’t do them because you’re good. You did them for fear you’re turning bad. You realise that doesn’t count? It’s not about action but intention.”

  What would you know about being good? Mercury wanted to ask. Even if Heidi wasn’t taking this charade seriously, Mercury would. They had to be no more than thirty seconds from the mansion. She kept her mouth shut.

  “I’ve news for you, sweetling,” said Heidi. “There’s no evil gene in my race. Look at Pluto. When I left your body, I left behind some strength, some speed, and long life. Nothing that would affect your soul, if such a thing exists. You worry you’re turning bad, guess what? That’s all on you—no point laying it at my door. You want to be better, you be better. You’re in control of how good or bad you are.”

  The words hit like hammers, reinforcing the niggling fears she’d experience since Pluto was revealed to be on their side.

  “Though of course, you don’t have time to change. Win or lose, you’re about to die.”

  Heidi slowed the car.

  “We’re here. Let’s see how much you really want to save the world.”

  Forty-Five

  At first, Sam was paralysed. Benny had his hand around her throat. He was squeezing. He was going to kill her.

  She didn’t stop him. Why would she? She deserved it. How did she know she deserved to die? Because Benny was trying to kill her. Benny knew what was best for her. Benny knew what she deserved. Always. Always.