Amelia gestured to her small, wooden bed, and turned the chair at her desk around so she could face us. The bed was surprisingly soft despite how industrialized it looked. Our hostess waited patiently for me to speak.
“I understand you can’t speak to us,” I told her gently. She blinked, nodding slightly. “But, I think we can try to fix that, if you’ll let us.”
Amelia gave us a quizzical look. Christina, who hadn’t sat beside me, peeked at the drawing on the desk behind Amelia, and gasped. “Jesus, Vale, it’s the temple!”
I jumped to my feet, startling Amelia, and stepped across the room to see. The temple was drawn in perfect detail, black on white, on Amelia’s tablet of drawing paper.
The woman in question grabbed my arm and gestured to the picture before touching her head. “The temple is connected to your problem?”
She nodded vigorously. She opened her mouth, a slew of sounds coming out, before closing it and sighing. Placing both hands on the picture, she then opened her palms up in the universal symbol for “why?”
I glanced at Christina, who shrugged. “Amelia, this temple is in Quicksilver. It is a church to the great goddess.” I tried for terms she would understand.
Again, she touched her head and then pointed to me. I wasn’t sure what she meant, but Christina knew.
“I’m a healer. Vale thinks I can fix you,” Christina told her quietly, catching my eye. Amelia made a couple “get on with it!” gestures.
“Go ahead, Christina. It’s worth a try. If she knows something about the temple, I’d like her to be able to tell us.”
It was a little anticlimactic. Christina put both hands on either side of Amelia’s head, her blue nails dark against the woman’s pale skin, and closed her eyes. There was no flash of light, no look of pain across either of their faces…just Christina, opening her eyes and smiling.
“I think it worked,” she whispered, awed. “Amelia, try to talk to us.”
She was nervous. Amelia cleared her throat, and shuffled her feet, then spoke, “Who are you?”
My heart skipped a beat. “We work for the temple you have drawn on your desk.”
The woman nodded, reaching behind her for her chair and sinking into it. “The night my sister died,” she started, her voice scratchy. “She heard someone call her name in the night. The storm had already begun. I couldn’t convince her to stay inside, to ignore it.
“We lived on the edge of a great forest,” she continued. “Alice ran through the trees, and I followed after her. We ran for so long. When that building came into view, the trees opened up, and it was there. In the sky.”
Terror filled her eyes. I reached across the space between us as I sat back down on her bed, and placed my hand on hers. “Go on.”
Amelia took a ragged breath and let it out slowly, closing her eyes. “I saw her soul leave her body. There were figures in the clouds, moving and screaming. This light left Alice and was jerked up. She fell. I began to run, back towards where I thought home was, when I heard someone yelling behind me. It was a man coming out of the temple. But, I kept running. I don’t know what happened to him.”
Christina and I were silent as she composed herself. A thin trail of tears ran down each cheek, but they were silent. “It’s been forty years since I’ve spoken words.” She looked into Christina’s eyes. “Thank you.”
My friend looked away, embarrassed. “It’s what I do.”
*********
“Forty years,” I told Christina as we climbed into the Coop. We’d left a silently weeping but smiling Amelia hugging the nurse in the reception area. She would soon return to a normal life, and I wished her well.
“What about it?”
I put the car into gear and headed back towards Quicksilver. “Edward said the temple was compromised forty years ago. Do you think the temple is the reason behind the hunt?”
*********
I was drunk for the second night in a row, driven by too much rolling around in my head and accompanied by a silent Christina, when my cell buzzed in my pocket. I sloshed my drink on my sweater. “Excuse me,” I said to nobody in particular, slipping the phone from my back pocket and checking the caller ID. I didn’t recognize the Yorkshire number. “Hello?”
It was my sister. “Vale, I’m at Leeds Bradford. Will you come get me?”
Chapter 27
Christina rode shotgun to the airport, swearing she’d cut off my fingers before letting me drive drunk alone. She clutched the suicide handle above her head comically, her other hand braced on the center console. “I’m not going that fast,” I told her, amused.
“You almost hit that cow.”
“I did no such thing,” I answered calmly, both hands gripping the wheel as I tried to make two roads become one in my vision. “He was eating in the ditch on the side of the road.”
“He was half on the road,” she shot back, tugging her seatbelt tighter. “Apparently you just can’t distinguish the grass from the asphalt!”
“Just close your eyes,” I told her in exasperation, rolling my eyes. I decided I probably shouldn’t do that as I had to correct myself between the lines. “Nobody ever told me driving under the influence on the opposite side of the road was so hard.”
“That’s why I try not to drive here.”
We were quiet for a bit, lost in our own thoughts. “Did she say what was wrong?”
I shook my head, blurry trees whizzing past on both sides. It felt like we were traveling at warp speed through a worm hole. “No. She just asked me to come pick her up and burst into tears. It was a no-questions type thing.”
“Boy trouble.”
Laughing, I answered, “No, not that. Girl trouble maybe.”
Glancing over for her reaction, I noticed the thoughtful look on her pretty face. “That’s too bad.”
I noticed Macy right away when we pulled into the loop to pick her up. She dragged two rolling suitcases behind her, with a duffel bag tossed over one shoulder. Her nose was red and her face pale, green eyes bloodshot. The moment I put the car in park, Christina jumped from the passenger seat to take one of the suitcases and the duffel bag from my sister with a shy smile. After putting all three bags in the trunk, Macy took the passenger seat at Christina’s urging and my lanky new friend slid into the backseat, dwarfing it with her long legs.
“What’s going on, Mace?” I asked, putting the car into gear and heading back towards the highway.
“We can talk about it when we get to your apartment. Thanks for picking me up.” Her voice was much more subdued than I’d ever heard it. “I like your shirt,” she said over her shoulder to Christina, who beamed in response and looked down lovingly at her black shirt. It was a face shot of David Bowie a la Labyrinth.
“Yeah? I’ve had this for years. It’s been back in style now, you know, Labyrinth. It was my favorite movie when I was little.” Christina was babbling and tugging at the edges of her sweater coat. Goddess help us, she had the hots for my sister.
Macy just smiled serenely at her, the kind of smile that knocks the socks off anyone who sees it. Mixing it with her red nose and sad eyes, she looked like a damsel in distress, princess style. “How’s Mom?” I asked her.
“Back to her normal self. The biopsy came back today. Normal, no cancer cells. You wouldn’t know she’d even had surgery.”
“Good to hear.” Macy reached over to turn on the radio and effectively cut off any further conversation by singing along with some obscure English band.
*********
After dropping Christina off at her car in the parking lot of the pub, I took Macy home.
“She seems nice,” she said, draping the strap of her duffel bag over a shoulder. I placed a suitcase on the ground and pulled up the handle for her, then pulled out the other one to take in myself.
“I just met her a couple days ago. I was lonely, with Brett gone and Melissa…” I trailed off and my sister gave me an understanding nod. “I liked her on the spot, you know?”
/> “I know.”
Turning the key in my lock, I warned her about the animals, who lived up to the hype by mauling us the minute we walked in. Macy let go of her bags inside the door and sank onto the couch, letting Hunter slather her face in kisses and Addie solicit her hand for loves. “That’s ridiculous. They act like I don’t pay any attention to them.”
“I’m sure that’s not the case,” my sister said softly, burying her face in Hunter’s fur.
Locking the front door, I took Hunter out for a quick bathroom run, and set the alarm. I took a seat on the couch next to Macy, and waited.
“I caught Amy with another woman.” I almost didn’t hear what she said, it was so low and broken. The sobs started, and I scooted closer, letting her fall into my lap. Brushing her tangled blonde hair away from her face, I whispered soothing words that she probably didn’t hear over the terrible noises coming from her. The anger inside me simmered on low. I swore I’d punch the girl in the face the minute I saw her again.
The crying drifted off after some time. I lost track of how long I cradled my sister in my arms, rocking her. Finally, she sniffled and wiped an arm across her eyes. “You smell like alcohol.”
I laughed.
*********
We fell asleep cuddled up in my bed watching “Ten Things I Hate About You.” I awoke with a start not too long after, gazing around in the dark. My TV had shut itself off after the movie.
Something was wrong, I could feel it deep in my abdomen. I hadn’t spent my life with Theresa not to understand when my intuition was trying to tell me something.
Slipping from beneath the covers as quietly as possible, I followed my instincts down the stairs and to the living room window, pushing back the heavy drapes and gazing out into the night. A quick look at my watch showed it was just after ten. If I hadn’t convinced Nikolas to work for me, I would have started my shift already. My eyes were drawn across the road, searching for Brett’s ancient car in the parking lot of his complex.
Just in time to see his headlights flick on, and his car creep out of the lot.
Macy woke up as I was slipping into some sweats and tennis shoes, despite the fact I tried to be quiet. She flicked on the bedside lamp, wreaking havoc on my night vision. I shook my head to clear it and glanced up at her. “Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you.”
“What the hell are you doing?” She rubbed her eyes, looking like an angel in her white nightgown. For a moment, I felt like I was looking at the little girl I’d helped my mother raise. A wave of tenderness swept over me, and I placed a quick kiss to her forehead.
“I’ve gotta run out for just a bit, okay? Look, keep the curtains closed and don’t go outside, not for anything.” I opened the drawer in my nightstand and pulled out some earmuffs I hadn’t worn since high school. “Put these on and go back to sleep. Whatever you hear outside, don’t open your eyes.”
“Vale,” she gripped my wrist, her small hand surprisingly strong. “What are you talking about?”
“I don’t have time to explain, just trust me, please,” I pleaded, shaking off her hand and thumping down the stairs. I grabbed my car keys from the kitchen counter and ran out into the night.
Chapter 28
His car was exactly where I expected it to be, sitting alone in the field near the temple. I cut the lights on the Coop and sat back in the seat, listening to the engine tick as it cooled down. Steam rose from his hood, but he wasn’t inside.
Pulling the hood on my sweatshirt up over my ponytail, I took off through the trees in the general direction of the temple, opting not to take the path in case someone was lying in wait. Then I hated myself for even thinking that Brett could be up to something less than noble.
My feet were moving too fast for my body. I tripped over something on the forest floor and fell face first to the ground, my ankles hooking around what felt suspiciously like a body. I landed hard on my cast. A sharp pain slid from my ankle to my knee, and I groaned. A broken wrist and a twisted ankle, just what I needed. Pushing myself awkwardly to my hands, the sticks and leaves of the forest floor digging into my skin, I turned and crawled to the inert form.
Brushing long locks of dark hair away, I found Nikolas’ face peaceful in sleep. I swore, putting my cheek up to his face until I could feel his warm breath fanning over my icy skin. Shrugging out of my hooded sweatshirt, I draped it over his torso, tucking his hands under it to keep them from freezing. Wrong place at the wrong time, I thought, getting to my feet and brushing debris off my knees. I turned my back on him and hurried through the trees.
I couldn’t believe he had hurt Nikolas. That wasn’t something Brett would do, I knew it. Worried about the state of his mind, and what he could possibly be doing alone inside the Temple, I broke into a sprint, ignoring the pain in my ankle.
The Temple rose from the darkness like a great black beast, the outside spotlight shattered. I stopped before it, touching a finger to the broken glass. It was already cooling in the chilled night. A heavy stick as big around as my arm lay on the ground before it. That’s how he’d snuck up on Nikolas, I realized. He broke out the light and snuck up to the Temple in the darkness. I moved quietly to the shadows of the columns, running a hand along the cold stone wall until I got to the open doorway.
Nikolas must have let Brett in; it was the only explanation I could give. Then he ran, only to get knocked out in the woods.
Stepping into the fire-lit room, I scanned my surroundings for any sign of my boyfriend. It was eerily quiet, and the smell of jasmine was overpowering in its intensity. Glancing down at the watch on my wrist, I slowly pulled the door shut behind me. Not too long before the Wild Hunt came.
The click of the final lock accompanied his appearance from the ritual room. We stared at each other across the expanse of the temple. He looked wild, his blue jeans torn and dirty, and his T-shirt ripped down the chest, dyed red with dried blood. He was clutching a towel-wrapped object in one arm and reaching frantically into each of his pockets with his other hand, eyes wide and lost.
Something told me to search the floor, and I glanced off to my right, spotting a set of keys lying on the stones at the feet of Cerridwen. He noticed it at the same time, and we both took off, colliding and collapsing in a heap on top of it. Another sharp jab in the leg I’d come down on in the forest brought a groan to my lips, but I got to them first, and rolled defensively away from him, hopping to my feet.
“What the hell are you doing?” I thundered, waving the keys in his direction. The jangle echoed off the Temple walls. “Why did I find Nikolas unconscious in the woods?” My knee gave out beneath me and I flailed for a hand hold, catching Cerridwen’s foot and righting myself. Goddess, but it hurt. Her face was impassive, lost in its cocky smile.
The Brett I knew, and quite possibly loved, was lost somewhere inside the wild-eyed creature before me. He was like an injured animal. A flash of concern at my collapse showed me he wasn’t all gone. He clutched the sheet-wrapped object tighter to his abdomen, one hand going to rub his forehead in agitation.
“Look, I know you might think I’ve lost it, Vale,” he said, his voice hoarse. “You don’t understand the pain.” He began unwrapping the object he held, lovingly removing its dirty white shroud until he held an infant sized statue between his shaking hands. “He was only eight years old. Eight.”
Having caught my second wind, I took an awkward step forward, tentatively putting weight on my hurt leg. God, the years I spent thinking I was indestructible and a trip over a body and a tussle with my boyfriend injures me. Not to mention the broken wrist, healed though it felt. My hair was falling in my eyes. I swiped it away with the swollen fingers of my left hand. “Exactly what are you talking about?” I coaxed him, tucking the keys in the back pocket of my jeans.
“This,” he said softly, gesturing at me with the statue. A cat, long limbed, missing an ear, and the color of dried, red dirt stared at me. “This is the last one. The final step to bringing Her here, to help.”
“Bringing who here? To help with what?” I could feel the tone of my voice settling into the kind of coo a person would use when dealing with an angry dog.
“This room,” he said, gesturing to the only room I’d never entered, the one I’d been warned away from by Jordan. “This room holds the key to summoning the goddess.”
“That’s insane, Brett,” I murmured, my voice so low it didn’t even echo in the cavern. I knew he could hear me from my position across the room; after all, we shared the same powers.
“I heard his screams,” he said, ignoring me. Leaning against the heavy steel door, he sank to the floor, hugging the statue. Turning it to face him, he stared into its unseeing eyes while he spoke. “I’ve done a lot of research. The Wild Hunt runs rampant. Eons ago, it was used for Her purposes. It gathered the criminals, the murderers, the rapists…collected their souls like shit soup. Her little way of helping out humanity, and wreaking vengeance on those who deserved it.”
He placed the cat before him on the floor, facing me, then pulled his knees up, draping his strong arms over them. I blushed at the memory of his arms around my waist, his hands on my body. “About a hundred years ago, she lost control of the leader, thus losing control of the Hunt completely. That’s when it started hitting the small towns, preying on us like lions.”
My silence gave him permission to continue.
“It hurts, they say. It feels like your limbs are ripped from your body.” His eyes were haunted, staring at the posterior of the idol, seeing things I couldn’t. “Searing heat, a vicious rip that tears you from corporeal form and thrusts you into that evil mass where you always hunger, always thirst, live for nothing but the hunt, the kill.” I stepped forward as a sob rent through his body, his head dropping into one dirty hand, fingers curling into dark hair. “It has to stop.” Voice so small he could have been a child, I felt my heart stop beating, and there was nothing more I wanted to do but go to him.
The Temple Page 20
