There was an awkward silence for a while, but Juliet broke it with, ‘Did Ryan know about the children?’
‘I’m not sure. If Aldrich had enslaved him for as many years as he told us, then he probably knew something. He knew Aldrich was involved in my mum’s disappearance.’ Nick covered his face with the palm of his hand, muffling his voice. ‘This is so screwed up. Aldrich told me he used to burn the children alive, before Moloch apparently found him and demanded they be sent through the portal … or into the light, as Aldrich called it. You’ll probably recognise the name of one of the missing kids: Katie Baker. The story was in the news a lot, and her parents are still looking for her.’
The shock on Juliet’s face was hard for Nick to bear. ‘I know the girl you mean. Her parents have been to my café before. They live in Chanton …’ Her expression contorted a little. ‘That poor girl.’
‘Yeah. And a boy named Marcus Luck disappeared a couple of years before my mum did. I’m not certain, but I think it was Aldrich too. He’s probably to blame for most cases of missing children on this island … and if he is, then it could lead back nearly five hundred years.’
‘Why five hundred? How could you know that?’
‘Ryan.’
‘Ryan?’ she said sharply, as if Ryan’s name were synonymous with the Devil’s. ‘You’ve been in touch with him?’
‘No. But I received a letter from him shortly after he burnt Aldrich’s body. In the letter, he explained that Aldrich once told him about the Lansin Island Witches, about what really happened to them. Apparently, Aldrich used his mind control to cause the islanders’ paranoia himself. He had them build the platforms and burn the accused. He was under the delusion that Moloch had ordered him to.’
‘That can’t be true,’ said Juliet, but with little conviction. ‘Should we tell Tamara about this? She’s the only remaining descendant, after all.’
‘Maybe … If we want her to keep our secrets and trust us, then I suppose we should be honest with her.’ Then he had an idea. ‘Or, actually, maybe that’s how we can be sure she doesn’t call the police on us. Say to her that we’ll only tell her what we know if she promises to help.’
Juliet didn’t look disgusted, but she didn’t look happy either. ‘Bribe her?’
‘I suppose that’s what you’d call it.’
‘No, Nicolas. We shouldn’t put it across like that. If we just tell her what we know, then she’ll be more inclined to help us anyway.’
Nick saw her point and stopped himself from automatically arguing his case. Juliet seemed to put a lot of trust in the witch, considering she’d been recently deceived. Cautiously, Nick said, ‘Okay. So … I think I’ve told you everything I hadn’t before.’
‘Ughh!’ Juliet practically growled, shaking herself so violently that she made Nick jump. ‘Ryan creeps me out so much. I wish we’d never made that deal with him.’ She pressed her hands onto the dashboard, pushing down until her skin was white. With obvious reluctance, she said, ‘But he did keep his promise … and we’re not in prison.’
‘God’s sake, Juliet.’ Nick’s heart pounded. ‘You nearly frightened me to death.’
‘I didn’t mean to.’ She took her hands back and then sat up straight. ‘I felt really tense. My body’s so full of energy. It’s been like this for a while now …’ She was plainly uncomfortable saying this aloud, and went quiet for a second. Nick’s mind ran rampant with all the possibilities immortality held. He snapped out of it when Juliet made another sound of frustration. ‘To think Ryan not only murdered my best friend’s ex so he could be with her, but that he also let Aldrich sacrifice children …’ She stopped. Nick watched her close her eyes in an attempt to compose herself. ‘I’ve had so many nightmares over Aldrich, felt so much guilt, but now I feel almost happy he’s dead. If I ever agreed with the death sentence, it would be for people like that. People sick enough to harm children.’
But the fact he stabbed my mum to death wasn’t good enough for you … Murdering an adult, a wife, a mother; that’s only worthy of a prison sentence, is it? He had to clamp his mouth shut to avoid saying these things aloud. When he felt he could speak again, he said, ‘It’s good he’s dead. I know I couldn’t have killed him myself, and it’s hard to look at my brother knowing he did, but after all the pain that man caused people, and all the pain he would have continued causing …’ He looked into Juliet’s eyes. ‘He had to die.’
Juliet gave an almost imperceptible nod. ‘It’s done now anyway. At least no other lives can be ruined by him.’
I want to fix the lives that have already been ruined. ‘When the portal spoke to me in my head, it told me the children were better off on the other side. But still, I want to find out what happened to them.’ An urge to justify his words stopped the momentum. He came up with a way to say it before continuing. ‘I’m not trying to sound like some kind of hero, like I’ll save the children!, but I know how it feels to be in the dark about the fate of someone you love. It’s been tearing me apart, knowing more about their fates than their own parents do.’
Juliet had pity in her eyes. ‘I’m sorry, Nicolas; I asked Tamara before if there was any way to the Otherworld. She said there wasn’t.’
Oh … ‘Maybe she was lying.’
‘Why would she lie?’ Juliet sounded defensive.
Nick’s energy began to run low. He muttered, ‘Never mind. We’ll be talking to her soon anyway.’ Then he wondered something. ‘So have you been in contact with Ryan? Is he still with your friend? Kim, isn’t it? I remember you explaining it all at the manor.’
‘Yes, he’s still with her,’ she said, tension distorted her voice. ‘They are on holiday in Rhodes at the moment, but I’ve been checking up on her as much as possible, calling and texting to see how their relationship is. Since that day at Grendel Manor, I’ve only seen Ryan in person a couple of times. I have to be careful not to arouse suspicion, but if he starts acting hostile towards Kim, or tries anything, I’ll … I’ll …’
‘Kill him?’ Nick provided.
‘I’ll have to do something,’ she said, and looked frustrated with herself.
‘But we made a deal with him. You can’t ever tell Kim.’
‘She’s my best friend,’ Juliet said sharply. ‘It’s bad enough I’m lying to her as it is. I can’t bear the thought of her being harmed because of me. Or for any reason.’
The numbness began to fade, Nick’s emotions returning in its place. It didn’t take long before he felt miserable and unsure of everything. ‘We’ll have to see how things go. There’s not much more you can do than keep an eye on your friend. Ryan hasn’t betrayed us so far, so let’s hope being free of Aldrich has given him a chance to change.’
Juliet huffed a lone, sceptical laugh. ‘How can anyone redeem themself after killing someone?’
Maybe Nick would have agreed with her point of view a year ago, but they both knew the events that had transpired. Her comment annoyed him so much, he had to bite his tongue again.
‘Oh.’ Juliet’s voice became soft and sorry. ‘I wasn’t referring to Tommy … I didn’t mean that …’ But she had the decency to let it trail off. People over-justifying themselves was one thing Nick despised. ‘How are your family getting on?’ she asked, sounding genuine. ‘How has your dad been since you told him everything?’
Nick sucked up his irritation. ‘Tommy didn’t seem very affected by what he did, but since then, Tom has come out as gay, which has caused some problems. Basically, Tommy isn’t cool with it. So he’s ignoring Tom. Dad is a completely different person now, in a good way, I think.’ He took a second to contemplate it, and decided he definitely liked the way his dad reached out to people more these days—even with the awkward moments. ‘He took the news hard at first, but now he seems to want to enjoy life again.’
A modest smile was on Juliet’s face. ‘I’m glad your dad is doing okay.’ She said nothing about Tommy.
‘Me too. We couldn’t tell him everything, of course, like he
doesn’t know about your ability or mine or that my mum appeared to you as a ghost. Neither do my brothers, actually. Instead, I had to tell them that when you were younger, my mum drove past you on the way to Grendel Manor and stopped to ask for directions. When you saw in the news later that my mother had gone missing, you didn’t tell anybody because you were young and unsure of what to do, unsure if it was even the same woman who had spoken to you. Well, you would have been seventeen, I think, but anyway, that’s the excuse I gave to Dad and the twins. I told them you only sought me out after recalling the memory and then searching for the old news reports to find us.
‘Finally, I told Dad that by coincidence you knew the man Aldrich had forced to work for him, and that because we unintentionally freed him, he agreed to clear up the evidence. I think my dad would have been just as worried and surprised as me and my brothers were the next morning, when we heard about the body at The Burning Grounds, and later on when we heard about Grendel Manor, but Dad was in shock. He kind of hid away for a couple of weeks. When we spoke afterwards, he said he was just glad to know the truth and he hoped we’d all get away with it scot-free.’
By the end of Nick’s narrative, Juliet had hung her head. She blinked slowly. ‘I’m sick of lies, Nicolas. If I thought I saw a woman who’d gone missing, I would have told the police, even if I doubted what I saw. There’s no way I would have left it for so many years.’ She sighed. ‘But … I understand why you told your dad that.’
‘I’m sick of lying too. It feels like a pressure, building with every lie I stack on top. I wish I could just tell everyone everything.’
Juliet nodded. ‘Me too.’ She looked ahead impatiently, an unsubtle hint that they should get back on the road. ‘But let’s find out more ourselves before we think of telling others the truth.’
Without responding, Nick started up the car and they continued on their way to Willow. All the talking had cleared his head somewhat, allowing him to think on what had happened … and grow angry over it. It was like he was being tested. The only other time he’d felt so enraged was when he’d almost murdered Aldrich. Is this a test? Because I struggled so much the first time, is life saying, ‘Here you go, Nick, have another shot! But this time, either outright kill the man you hate or just leave him be. Don’t beat him near to death and then change your mind, you conflicted fool!’? He surprised himself with a laugh, though he was far from cheerful.
‘Are you alright, Nicolas?’ he heard Juliet’s voice.
‘Fine and dandy,’ he muttered. Luckily, he was entering the hamlet and could stop driving soon. ‘Which way is it?’ he asked his passenger without turning to her.
‘Head towards the centre where the willow tree is.’ Being such a tiny place, it took less than a minute to reach the tall willow tree slap-bang in the middle of the hamlet. ‘Park anywhere around here. Her house is just there.’ Juliet pointed, and soon they were out of the vehicle.
As Nick followed Juliet, he noticed how tired his body and mind were. The clarity of his thoughts began to slip. Juliet led him to a well-kept cottage with vines crawling across the walls. Parked out the front was a bright purple Volkswagen Beetle with alloys of the same shade. Nick found himself saying, ‘Is that Tamara’s car?’ with a little huff of amusement. Better to laugh than cry, he told himself, whether he believed it or not.
Juliet looked back over her shoulder. ‘I assume so. It’s been here every time I’ve visited.’
Nick vaguely knew what the medium looked like, having seen her in the media before, and from the image that came to mind, he visualised her to be as quirky as her car.
He stood aside when Juliet knocked, remembering they were uninvited. It took a long time for an answer. When the door opened, he heard, ‘Juliet. Is something the matter? I’m in the middle of an appointment.’ Then the famous medium saw him. ‘Oh,’ she said, and frowned at him solemnly. ‘Let me speak with my client; I’ll be right back.’ She closed the door.
Did she recognise me? When Nick turned to Juliet, she seemed to be thinking the same thing. She shook her head. ‘I don’t know what that was about.’
Nick heard movement and pivoted on the spot to hide his face. With the investigation into Kerra’s abduction still underway, he figured being seen with an apparent stranger, who just so happened to be an extremely attractive woman, might look suspicious. The door clicked open behind him. A woman said in an almost too understanding tone that it was fine, honestly, and she would see Tamara in a few days’ time. Nick rotated to remain unseen.
‘Money down the drain,’ said the orange-haired witch quietly, when her client was out of earshot. She elongated every word. To Juliet she gave a short glare, and to Nick a measured look. ‘Come inside,’ she said, her voice grave.
Nick followed Juliet into the cottage and ended up in a small living area full of witchy doodads. The ceiling was fairly low, giving him a sense of claustrophobia, and on the floor was a floral rug. Tamara sat down in a fabric chair near an open fireplace after packing away items that had been scattered on the rug. When Juliet perched herself on a loveseat, Nick joined her. The two-person sofa was so little that his right leg pressed up against her left. The warmth radiating from her thigh made him uncomfortable. He spotted another chair in the corner Tamara hadn’t chosen, but to get up and swap seats now would be too awkward.
‘So, why have you come here?’ asked Tamara, aiming her query at Juliet. The witch wore a black robe that made her look very Halloweenish, especially with the ginger of her hair. In appearance she didn’t near the age Nick had thought she must be. Although she certainly looked no spring chicken either.
‘We want your help,’ said Juliet. ‘This is Nicolas.’ She gestured to him. ‘I never told you before who it was that saved my life, but it was him. He’s the reason I’m displaced.’ To Nick, she said, ‘This is Tamara.’
Tamara squinted, creasing her otherwise proud skin. ‘It’s lovely to meet you, Nicolas,’ she said with reserved warmth.
Forgetting his manners (or rather, not caring about them right now), he asked, ‘Did you already know who I was?’
‘Why would I know you?’ She shifted in her seat.
‘You seemed to recognise me when we arrived.’
The witch took her time answering, but when she did so it was without averting eye contact. ‘I don’t know you.’ She returned her attention to Juliet. ‘So, the help you require?’
‘It’s going to take a lot of explaining. And we need your promise that you won’t betray our confidence.’
Tamara raised a hand. ‘Juliet. I’m no fool. I don’t make promises before I know what’s entailed.’ She sounded impatient …
… and Nick was impatient, so he butted in. ‘We know something about your ancestors that you don’t. We know how and why they were burnt alive, and who was truly behind it.’ Juliet tensed her leg against his. Whether to get his attention or not, he didn’t care.
Tamara cocked her head back and squinted one eye as if to assess Nick. She looked a little unhinged. ‘They were murdered by their neighbours, their friends, and their own families,’ she said, a deadly edge to her words. Nick found her voice interesting, with its earthy tone, but at this moment it was full of indignation. ‘It was their leaders’ fear-mongering that took these small-minded people and filled them with hate.’
‘No.’ Nick recalled what he’d been taught in history lessons at school. ‘It wasn’t the figures we all know of who started it …’ He spoke with a confidence he hoped would breed doubt in the medium’s mind. ‘They were just pawns to someone else.’
Very, very slowly, Tamara clasped her hands together on her lap. ‘You have no right to use your supposed knowledge against me.’
‘Nicolas,’ Juliet said sternly, and let silence give her authority. ‘I’m sorry, Tamara. We spoke on the way here and I told him we wouldn’t use this against you. That we could trust you.’
With rising anger, Nick thought, Thanks for undermining me, Juliet. ‘Well, at the moment
we are just sitting here getting nowhere. Can we trust you or not, Tamara? Because the things we are about to tell you will sound unreal, and once you know it all you will either have to keep it secret or—’
‘Turn you in?’ Tamara finished, her eyebrows flicking up. When Nick and Juliet stayed silent, an enigmatic smile came to the medium’s face.
Nick turned to Juliet. Their eyes met, inches apart. It was awkward enough already, but now he was remembering the last time his face had been this close to hers. He was pretty certain the memory crossed her mind too, because she looked away hurriedly.
‘Turn us in for what?’ asked Juliet, playing innocent.
Tamara stared back. ‘You know what.’ She pushed herself up to stand, then sighed and sarcastically declared, ‘Well, this is bloody fantastic!’ Hearing her swear surprised Nick, but the witch continued, unashamed. ‘None of this has gone to plan. I need to make a call.’ Already she was pulling her mobile from her dark robe and switching it on.
‘What do you mean?’ said Nick. ‘Who are you calling?’
The medium flicked her wrist at him as if he was rude for interrupting her, even though her phone hadn’t managed to load yet. ‘Stupid thing,’ she said. She must have realised it would take some time to switch on, because she said, ‘Sorry … You asked what I meant? I suppose I was hoping you two were going to be more clueless than you appear to be, so I could avoid telling you anything. Then afterwards I would have spoken to my … superior.’ She stopped and grinned to herself in amusement. ‘Superior! Not my superior, sorry. Back to the point, there is more going on than the pair of you realise, and, quite honestly, I do not want the hassle of listening to you both while I pretend to know nothing. Plus, you would only have to repeat yourself when the person I am calling gets here.’
Nick tensed up. ‘What?’
Juliet added, ‘You’re bringing someone here?’
‘Someone who knows what has been happening to you,’ the witch clarified.
A Body Displaced (Lansin Island 2) Page 21