Lisa’s sobs filled the car and Emma just wished she would shut up with the self-pitying crap. Wasn’t it enough that she humiliated her in front of everybody she knew? It wasn’t her that was the hurt party here. At the M25 turn off, they left the last street lights behind them and Emma only had the reflection of her headlights on the tarmac in front for company. She found herself drifting off into their seductive glow as the miles stretched on, and she opened her window to combat the yawns that were starting to encroach on her anger. Behind her she heard Lisa shift as the sudden influx of chilled night air dropped the temperature in the car with a speed that snapped her senses back in to play. The rippling of rubber on tarmac and spatter of rain on skin now had a immediacy to them that forced Emma to concentrate on the road ahead.
“It’s cold, can you close the window, please?” The voice was weak and seemed to blow away on the squalls that slipped in through the opening. Lisa shifted in the seat behind Emma and moved into view in the rear view mirror as she slid across to the other side of the car, her coat lapels scrunched around her shoulder.
“No.” Emma didn’t realise it was possible to annunciate a one syllable word with such venom until then and the effect it had on Lisa was visible as her sister shrunk into the back seat before descending into tears again.
“Emma…” Taryn’s voice matched her eyes as Emma looked to her left to see a look that seemed to sit somewhere between ‘don’t be so mean’ and ‘she’s not the only one that’s freezing.’
Emma closed the window but made a point of doing it slowly whilst studiously avoiding her idiot sister in the back.
As she shivered, Lisa looked over at Emma but couldn’t make contact. Her sister was looking straight ahead and Lisa knew that it was no accident that Taryn had been the one to come to her aid.
Pulling her, now saturated, coat tightly around her, Lisa sat huddled in her misery. She tried to think of anything but what had happened but all she could think of was Simon and the way he tasted when he kissed her. It was so different to what she expected, all a blur of heartbeats and hands and now it all seemed to mix into a fusion of emotions that defied a rational explanation. She knew she shouldn’t have done it but a part of her refused to regret her actions, even though that caused another part to rail against the thought that messing around with her sister’s ex-boyfriend was in any way acceptable.
Lisa scolded herself, knowing it was wrong, but she could say that now couldn’t she? At the time, it hadn’t felt that way, she had been swept up in the moment, Simon’s dark brown eyes had burrowed deep holes in to her insecurities, making her feel wanted. How was she to know that he was using her to get back at Emma? That thought hurt most all, more than the knowledge of the pain she had caused her sister. Her first kiss had been for someone else. Even if it had been designed to hurt that person, it wasn’t for her. And then, when she remembered him placing her hand on his…urgh, Lisa grimaced at that thought. But all that faded away when she saw the silent tears rolling down Emma’s cheeks, they were tears weren’t they? It could have been the rain but the windows were closed.
The regular strobe of the motorway lights gave way to the staccato sweep of the street lamps as they turned off the south circular and onto the last stretch towards home. There was a mugginess in the car now, where the dampness of their bodies was being converted to heat and the windows began to steam up as Lisa started to feel the sweat tickle her back. Her sister’s tears stung her with each drop and she suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to make everything right between them. It didn’t matter that she had no idea how that could be done, she just felt like she had to do or say something. She settled for the latter as she watched the last of the street lamps give way to the darkness of a small wooded area by Dulwich Park.
“I’m sorry.” They were the first words that had been spoken in the car for nearly fifteen minutes and Lisa waited for a response.
There was nothing, just silence, Emma was looking straight ahead and the only noise Lisa could hear was the drumming of the rain and the methodical swish thump of the wipers.
“Em, please say something. I’m sorry, I really am. If I could take it back, I would honestly. I mean, it’s not as if I meant to do it…” As she said it, Lisa knew that her words had only compounded the mistakes she’d made earlier in the evening. If she hadn’t realised it then, the groan from Taryn was enough to set her straight.
Emma’s breath caught in the back of her throat as she heard her sister’s words. Her hands tightened on the steering wheel to the point where any movement would have been translated to a sharp exit off the road.
Emma fought to keep it under control but all the humiliation of earlier came back afresh and she looked at her sister in the rear view mirror through eyes of cold steel.
“Didn’t mean to do it? You mean in the same way that you didn’t mean to grope his cock? Do you think I’m completely fucking stupid?”
Lisa blanched and visibly shrunk at these words but Emma wasn’t going to let her get off that easily.
“Why didn’t you just drop to your knees and suck him off whilst you were at it? You practically had it out of his jeans!”
The tears were running down the cheeks of both girls now and Emma could see Lisa trying to respond but all that came out were gasps and snatched words.
“I can’t believe you’d betray me like that! You’re my sister!”
“Em, I’m sorry..”
Emma turned to Lisa, her eyes down to narrow slits.
“Don’t keep saying you’re fucking sorry! Don’t you realise that everybody’ll know about this by Monday! I’m going to be the fucking laughing stock of the school. My ugly sister copping hold of my ex-boyfriend!”
“Em, slow down, you’re going too fast for the bend!” The voice was Taryn’s but the warning had come too late. Had it not been so stormy, then there might have been a chance to keep the car under control but as it was, when Emma braked, the wheels locked up and skidded on the newly wet tarmac. The tyres would have done their job in channeling the standing water away had they been a little less worn, but instead the rubber tread was swamped in seconds and lost any grip it might have had on the road beneath it.
The car swung violently first left then right as the sounds of the tyres skidding across the wet tarmac mixed with the screams of the three occupants. Emma tried desperately to wrest control back but it was pointless. Her head shook like a rag dolls as the car careened onwards, the bend in the road first appearing in the left of her vision then the right. Then there was the sickening crunch as they came to a sudden stop.
It all happened so fast, everything blurred into one. She flew forward in her seat and felt the sharp snap of her seatbelt as it restrained her just as the airbag went off. The windscreen made the sound of an eggshell as something smashed into it and she felt a heavy pain in her left shoulder. Then there was silence.
After what seemed like an age, Emma, came to. How long had passed? ten seconds? ten minutes? she had no idea. At first she couldn’t make out anything. Her face hurt like hell from where it had impacted on the airbag and her chest felt like it was on fire. A trickle ran down the side of her head but a brief look down to where it was pooling revealed no blood.
Then she heard the screaming. It brought her out of the daze she had been in and she looked to her left to see Taryn struggling with her seat belt. She hadn’t been so lucky, there was no airbag on her side and the seatbelt hadn’t stopped her hitting her face against the dashboard, but there was so much blood she couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Where had all the blood come from? She reached across to help Taryn to release the belt but Taryn drew back screaming and pointing to the back seat. Emma followed Taryn’s raised arm but there was no one there. Lisa was gone.
As Taryn’s warning had come, Lisa had seen the corner coming up as well and had instinctively covered her face with her hands as the car started to swerve wildly, giving her no chance to grab hold of anything. She wasn’t wearing a seatbel
t and when the car came to a sudden stop she carried on, hitting Emma’s shoulder as she slammed into the windscreen face first. The initial impact broke her nose and jaw, but it was when the laminated glass gave way that the real damage was done. Lisa may have only been eight and a half stone but she was traveling at over forty miles an hour and at that speed, she might just have well have been an elephant. The glass shattered under her weight and she carried on through it, the sharp edges shredding her legs as she went, before she bounced off the bonnet and came to rest just inside a tree line.
She tried to scream but her throat was filled with a warm liquid that she coughed up instead. The blood covered the grass in front of her and Lisa looked on in confusion and panic. She tried to get up but her arm was broken and couldn’t take her weight. Instead she crawled forward on her stomach and attempted to turn herself around but the effort proved too much.
The shock wore off and Lisa became aware of the cold. It was raining and her body started to shiver, except that she wasn’t shivering, she was convulsing and something inside her, something primeval and ancient told her that this was terribly, terribly wrong. She tried to turn again, she knew the car must be behind her and Emma was in it. If she could just reach Emma, then everything would be okay. She grunted with the effort but instead of turning, she found herself slipping. Lisa had rolled onto a bank and now she found herself sliding down it. She tried to stop herself but her arms were useless and the muscles in her leg were shredded from their passage through the windscreen. The fall only took a few seconds but in those seconds Lisa saw her life slip away along with a vision of a mangled car in which she could see her sister starting to stir. She made one last, desperate, attempt to shout to her but again her blood was the only thing forthcoming. The water enveloped her with shocking speed as her body spasmed in the cold. It rushed into her nose and mouth as she tried to breathe but by now she had no energy to resist. She coughed, spluttered and convulsed but her body was fighting a losing battle and she knew it.
Numbness spread through her and try though she might to convince herself, she knew it wasn’t because of the stream she had ended up in.
As a faint voice carried on the wind, Lisa tried to raise her head but it was too much effort . Her body was giving up the fight as the babbling sound of the water started to recede.
Lisa’s last memory was of her sister’s voice calling out her name. As she tried to respond, the world withdrew for the final time.
Emma’s breathing came in ragged bursts as she forced the door open. It was jammed into the frame from where the impact had crumpled the panels around the engine and diverted the energy along the outside of the chassis. It grated in protest as Emma rammed her shoulder into the plastic trim but eventually it gave and the door opened in a rough, ragged motion. Emma took one last look at Taryn, who was clutching her face in her hands in a vain attempt to staunch the flow of blood and then heaved herself out of the car. The airbag had done its job and Emma found she could stand without collapsing. She looked at the damage to the front of her car and saw the jagged opening mid way along her windscreen. The rain was starting to come down harder and she watched as the droplets exploded on the bonnet. She followed the trail of glass and clothes as it worked its way down onto the grass. There was a red trail which followed it that Emma didn’t want to believe was there, it continued on until it was washed away by the rain and all that was left was flattened and twisted grass.
“Lisa!”
Emma’s cries went unanswered, she stumbled on for a few more yards until she came onto a sudden slope where she stopped before she slipped and looked down. Everything was in shadow but in amongst the rustle of the leaves and babble of the river, Emma could see a dark shape. She peered closer, willing herself to be wrong until, “Oh no, no, no, please, God, no! Lisa!”
Emma threw herself down to the riverbank and made a grab for her sister, Her hand slipped off the first time but the second time, Emma was able to heave her out. She looked into the vacant eyes and started to cry uncontrollably, “Oh please baby, please be okay.”
But the words weren’t going to be enough and Emma knew it. She held Lisa’s lifeless body in her arms, screaming and crying in the same breath as, in the background, sirens started to cut through the curtain of rain.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Time Runs Out
Emma sat on the stairs looking at the crowd still milling around outside the gateway. It had been an hour since Sister Ignacia had met her at the door and given her the news. Two hours. Was that all she had? Had it all come down to this? Had everything come down to the actions of Samantha?
Sister Ignacia had told her that Father Eamon was at her studio now. There was nothing he could do except watch but he would be back for her the moment that the letter reached her father, if the letter reached her father Emma reminded herself. But right now it didn’t matter what happened with the letter, Emma was more concerned that the mob outside didn’t lynch her. The horsemen had forced the people around them to attach ropes to the gates. It had taken over a hundred of them to do it as one by one they fell away screaming in pain but eventually they managed to attach and knot them. Emma watched the scene playing out in front of her, knowing that Aithne had chosen to go back out via a side entrance to see what help she could give other initiates caught in the conflagration. she offered up a silent prayer for her safety.
Now the horsemen were whipping them into two lines running off down the street. It was clear that they were going to try and pull the gates down and Emma wasn’t sure that they wouldn’t succeed; no matter how often Sister Ignacia assured her that the gates would hold. Sister Ignacia for her part was standing, looking out the window and seemed to Emma a lot quieter than she had been ten minutes ago.
“What are they doing?”
“They are preparing to lift the rope.”
The sparkle had left Sister Ignacia’s voice, her playful intonation replaced by a quiet concern.
“Will they succeed?”
“No.”
It was little comfort that she was protected from the crowd like this as it was only a matter of time before the bells tolled and this time they would be tolling for her. Emma stood up and walked to the window. The crowd now filled the whole of Seething Lane for as far as she could see and they were joined by more horsemen with monks following in their wake.
“They really mean business, don’t they.” Emma’s voice was wavering around the edges but she tried to keep up the appearance of strength, even if she knew it wasn’t working.
“They are desperate. They know time is running out.”
“Yeah, I had noticed.”
Emma looked up and down the stairs wondering about the best way to fight off the resurrectionists if and when the time came.
“It will not come to that.” Sister Ignacia had turned from the window.
“How can you be sure?”
“I cannot, but we must trust that Father Eamon will get to us in time.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
Sister Ignacia didn’t answer; instead, as she turned back to the window, she let out a long, slow breath.
A large cry went up outside and Emma ran to the window. Men and women in two long, sinuous lines were now tugging on the ropes in an attempt to gain entry into the sanctuary. The horsemen had been joined by six more riders and they were now whipping and kicking people as they leant in to the rope. All around they were falling under the hooves and heels of the horses. The monks threw replacements into the line, never once allowing the tension to be lost as they went about their task.
Every heartbeat felt like the tick of a clock as it counted Emma down to her fate and she was getting increasingly restless. She had gone to her room and changed back into some more comfortable clothes, the one thing worse than failing was meekly waiting for it to take place. She sat down then got back up, itching to do something, anything that didn’t involve standing around.
Once again Sister Ignacia seemed to se
nse her frustration. “There is nothing you can do. We must wait for Father Eamon to come to us.”
Emma felt like she was going to explode wait for Father Eamon? She had faith in him but time was short and it wasn’t either of those two who would suffer if it ran out, but what could she do? Pacing the main hall wasn’t going to help. Her frustration was starting to turn to panic, and panic, she knew, would inevitably turn to fear and she couldn’t allow that to happen. If she let fear take over then she wouldn’t be able to think rationally.
Emma looked out of the window at the darkening horizon, “How long?”
“Another hour and a half.”
Her stomach churned at the answer. Over time, the prospect of being taken had become, if not everyday, then an accepted part of this existence but now it was rushing up with an immediacy that caught her off balance. She tried not to become fatalistic but it was difficult to see any kind of good outcome from this. Why hadn’t she tried harder, earlier, What if she had spent more time at the house, God, why hadn’t she used her mother to get the letter?
Doubts and recriminations started to flood her mind and Emma tried to block them out but their force was irresistible. Was this how it was? Was this how every initiate spent their last hours, running everything through their head, wondering where it all went wrong?
“C’mon, Sam, please, for me.”
She paced up and down the stairs trying to keep her mind active but it didn’t help. The air was filled with the shouts of the riders and the screams of those forced to struggle against the rope. The gates held firm and didn’t look like giving an inch but this didn’t deter those outside.
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