Infinite Spring (Young Adult Fantasy Horror series) (Guardians of The Light Book 2)

by J. A. Armitage

  She opened the door and made her way in. The pantry, as she had found out only a few months ago, was not an ordinary pantry. It doubled as a secret elevator down to the underbelly of the house, to the cellar, where Jago was locked up. She pressed the switch and held on tightly to her crutches, knowing that there was an abrupt halt at the bottom. Once down, she arrived at two doors. One of them she had never been through, but she knew it led to a passageway out into the grounds. The second door led to the cellar. It had a fingerprint reader that she placed her thumb on and waited. One of the little red lights turned green. She just needed to input the code into the little keypad next to the fingerprint reader, but she hesitated. Was she really ready to meet her parents’ murderer? She wasn’t so sure she would ever be really ready, but something about the name Sabine intrigued her. Well, not the name so such, but the fact he was calling out any name in his sleep. He’d shown no mercy and threatened the lives of everyone on the planet. Surely that was the mind of a psychopath, not someone who loved another. Curiosity got the better of her and she inputted the code 2103 into the keypad. The second red light turned green and the door opened.

  The room was empty. A thrill of fear shot through her. Where was Jago? Where was Rafe? The room looked the same as it had the last time she had seen it, except the giant row of screens that filled the nearside wall were now blank, switched off. Every monitor was connected to a security camera in each room of the house and the last time she had been here, they had been switched on, monitoring the house, searching for Jago, should he ever try to get in. He did actually manage to get in on more than one occasion but somehow gotten past the detection of the cameras, a feat which was pretty much impossible according to Andrew who had set the system up to begin with.

  She wondered if anyone had asked him how he had managed to get into the house without being detected, but then remembered he’d not been speaking to anyone.

  The ratty sofa was still in the same position and the computer which was used to control all the security was evidently now being used for games judging by the solitaire that was currently showing on the screens. She made her way to the little cellar kitchen to see if they were there, but as she pushed the door open, she could see that it was empty. The only place they could be was up the narrow staircase that led to two dormitories and a bathroom. She shouted up the stairs.

  “Rafe.” She prayed she would hear his voice and was extremely relieved when she heard him call back down to her. Except it was not Rafe, it was Alex.

  “Anais?” he sounded surprised. “What are you doing down here? How did you get down? Are you alone?”

  So many questions. She ignored them all and asked one of her own. “What are you doing up there?”

  “I’m just helping Jago use the bathroom. Hang on a tick, I’ll be right down.”

  He appeared at the top of the stairs, grinning as he bounded down them, two at a time.

  “Here, let me help you to the sofa” He put his arm on her back and guided her across the room. She had to hide her annoyance at him. If she could manage three flights of stairs herself, she could surely manage to get the five steps to the sofa. Still, that was Alex, always trying to help. She sat on the sofa and Alex joined her.

  “Will he be ok up there on his own?” She knew there was no way out from there apart from the stairs, but she needed the reassurance.

  “Yeah, I have to help him on the stairs because his legs are chained together, but once he’s up there, he’s ok by himself. He’ll let me know when he wants to come down.

  Anais was appalled by the news of him being chained up so much, but obviously Alex read her expression wrong.

  “Don’t worry, there is no way out and nothing he can do to escape up there.”

  “Are all those chains really necessary? It seems a bit excessive, after all he’s locked in a room with no way out except for a thick steel door.”

  “Are you feeling sorry for him?” Alex gave her a strange look. “He nearly killed you, Anais. Why are you down here anyway? Have you come to see me?”

  A glimmer of hope flickered in his beautiful eyes. It was no secret that he was in love with Anais, which made her uncomfortable around him. It was true that if she had never met Aethelu, she could see herself falling for him. His chestnut hair cut short, spiked up in a modern style, so unlike that of Rafe, his twin brother. He had dimples in his cheeks when he smiled giving him a look of impish mischievousness. The overall look was stunning, but it was the eyes where he really had it. They were the exact same shade of jet black with tiny diamond flecks as Aethelu’s. The effect was mesmerising. Still, she was in love with Aethelu, and nothing was going to change that.

  “I was intrigued. I wanted to meet him.”

  “Jago?”

  Who else? Has he spoken to you yet? Rafe says he talks in his sleep.”

  “I wouldn’t know. It’s Rafe who is down here with him mostly. I just take over at mealtimes.”

  “I thought Rafe would be here. He said he was taking over your shift over an hour ago.”

  “No, he’s due down here at 9 pm. He probably told you that, so he could go to his room. He’s been a bit of a moody sod lately.”

  Anais always thought of Rafe as, as Alex put it, a moody sod, so she’d not actually noticed any difference. She thought of Andrew holed up in his room and wondered if it was catching.

  “Why do you want to meet Jago? He’s dangerous.”

  “I know but…” she was interrupted by banging coming from upstairs, which made her jump.

  “Ah, He’s finished. I’ll be right back.” Alex disappeared up the stairs leaving Anais to her thoughts.

  She heard the clinking of chains and slow heavy footsteps coming down the stairs, coming towards her. Fear crept through her, surprising her with its suddenness. She was about to come face to face with the man who had torn her life apart and hurt her in so many ways. At that point, she realised she had made a mistake coming down here. It was too soon to meet him. What did she really care who Sabine was anyway? She made a move to get off the sofa, but it was so low that she struggled to get herself upright. She’d barely managed to stand when Alex and Jago appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

  Jago’s arms and legs were chained and Alex held him roughly under his arm. He brought him over to the sofa, almost too quickly for him to walk in his chains and sat him down. He quickly fastened him down to some other chains on the sofa so he couldn’t escape. Out of instinct, Anais backed away and sat herself a safe distance away on the only other chair in the room, the computer chair.

  “Right, does anyone want a drink?” Alex made it sound like he was hosting a party, instead of holding a deadly killer, but Anais knew it was just his way of putting her at ease.

  Jago nodded his head almost imperceptibly. Anais also nodded and took a quick glance at Jago.

  Almost immediately she knew something wasn’t quite right. It didn’t feel right at all. This wasn’t Jago. They had the wrong man.

  Chapter Two

  She quickly stood up and followed Alex as quickly as her crutches would allow. Once inside the small kitchen she closed the door behind her.

  Alex had already put the kettle on and was busy putting coffee into two mugs.

  “That’s not him!” she whispered hurriedly, not wanting the man at the other side of the door to hear.

  “What do you mean, it’s not him? Of course, it’s him. We found loads of documentation in his house with his name on it. Jago Cutter. It’s hardly a common name, especially in Italy.”

  “That’s it? Documentation? I’m telling you, that’s not Jago!”

  “Anais. It dated back over three hundred years. He’d meticulously kept every bit of documentation he’d ever possessed. Everything, all neatly sorted in a filing cabinet. What is the likelihood of there being another Jago Cutter who lived to such a ripe old age? None, it’s impossible. Plus you are forgetting how we caught him in the first place. He had so many paintings of the village where we all liv
ed over six centuries ago.”

  Anais remembered back to how he had been caught. When he had first known the Guardians over six hundred years ago, they had all lived in a small village in Northern England. It was seeing pictures of this village, painted how it would have been six hundred years ago signed by Jago Cutter, on the internet that led them to him.

  “It can’t be him. He’s not tall enough. He’s too thin. There’s something not quite right. He looks too old, too. How old was he when he took the potion? Thirty -five?”

  “He was about forty I think. He just looks different in the light of day. He was wearing a mask, the night he attacked you. He’s probably lost weight since being here. We haven’t been feeding him.”

  “You haven’t been feeding him? At all?” Anais could barely believe what she was hearing.

  “We don’t really need food to survive, which just proves my point. He’s been here weeks without food and with only water to drink and he’s still alive. If he was a normal human being, he’d have died of starvation by now. Besides, Aldrich recognised him. He knew him better than all of us. He spent years working with him. Anais it’s definitely him.”

  He poured the freshly boiled water into the two cups and stirred. For Jago, he extracted a plastic cup from the cupboard and filled it with cold water from the tap. He picked up his own coffee and Jago’s water and headed out of the kitchen.

  Anais, in a state of disbelief, ignored her coffee and using her crutches, walked as quickly as she could to the door. She opened the door and made her way past the two men, ignoring them completely, taking the elevator back up to the larder. Once inside the main kitchen, she got together a bit of food as best she could. It was slow going because of the crutches, which meant she could not hold anything too big or heavy. She solved the problem by finding a plastic carrier bag which she could dangle off one of the crutches. Into it she put a whole loaf of freshly baked bread, some sliced meat from the fridge and some apples. She then found a bottle of juice which she also added to the bag. It was too heavy to add much more, but she could see a couple of the pink iced cupcakes like the one she had eaten earlier just sitting on the table. She put them in the bag and hobbled back into the larder.

  Back down in the cellar, once through the metal door with all its security, she moved over to Jago and handed him the bag.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t make the sandwiches. You’ll just have to make do.”

  “Anais. What the hell are you doing?” Alex raised his voice to her, more from shock than anger. “You can’t make the sandwiches because he broke your leg into a million pieces not long ago. Have you forgotten that?”

  Anais was acutely aware that they were having this conversation right in front of Jago, but he seemed too wrapped up in his first meal in three weeks to pay any notice to either of them. Anais glanced down at him, devouring the bread, and carried on.

  “Alex. I haven’t forgotten. Of course I haven’t, but not feeding him? It’s barbaric.”

  “He doesn’t need food. It’s a waste.”

  “Look how thin he is. We all need food. Ok, he might survive a really long time without it but look at him. You are starving him to death slowly.”

  “Well, that will solve the problem of what to do with him then, won’t it?” Anais had never seen him so angry. She knew that if the lights went out now, she’d see him practically glowing, another side effect of The Light Elixir.

  Anais had a thought. It was not one that would quell Alex’s anger, but she verbalised it anyway.

  “I want to talk to him, alone, until Rafe gets here at nine o’clock.”

  “Are you serious? He’s dangerous!”

  “He’s chained up. I’ll stay out of arms reach. What damage can he do with all those chains on?”

  “Ok, fine. If that’s what you want. Just don’t expect him to talk.” With that he stormed out of the room.

  Anais knew it was only his anger that had made him leave. He normally would have said no, she was sure of it.

  When the door had slid back into place, Anais sat back down on the computer chair.

  Jago was already halfway through the loaf and had eaten most of the meat. She studied him intently. Could this really be the man who had attacked her? She looked closely at his unshaven face. The Light Elixir stops the aging process, and it was possible that it was stopped at forty. His face had a weathered look and his white hair and beard aged him considerably. It was very difficult to tell, especially as he was now devouring the food she had passed him. Beneath the shaggy hair, she could just about make out laughter lines around his eyes. It was difficult to imagine him as the man who attacked her. Of course, he had worn a mask then. He had a kindly face under all that hair, which she was not expecting. It didn’t match up with what she imagined him to look like at all. Still, the most ferocious beasts can come in the prettiest guises.

  She sat silently, watching him, until he had had his fill.

  “Thank you.” It was almost imperceptible; Anais almost thought she had imagined it.

  “Jago?”

  Silence. He was looking down once again at his knees.

  “Jago Cutter?”

  “James.” His voice was gravelly and quiet.

  “Sorry?”

  “James Cutter. I only go by Jago for professional purposes. It’s my artist name. Everyone calls me James.”

  “But you were Jago Cutter?”

  “Yes. That is my given name. Funny, I have vague recollections of the others, but I do not know you.” He looked up at her through his hair, his gaze intense. It unnerved her a little but not as much as she would have anticipated.

  “I am one of the girls you attacked a few weeks ago, Mr Cutter. You did this to me.” She indicated her leg. “I think you remember me very well.”

  “I have been in Florence for the last three hundred years. The last month or so before I was kidnapped by your people I was immersed in an art project for an influential American art collector. I believe I would remember if I had injured a young lady.”

  “I’m afraid my leg is proof of what you did to me Jago.”

  “Your leg is proof that you were attacked. It says nothing of the attacker.”

  Suddenly, the big metal door opened and Rafe walked in looking murderous with Alex, Winnie and Aldrich following right behind him.

  “What do you think you are doing?” Rafe spoke, his voice echoing the expression on his face.

  “Rafe, let me deal with this,” Winnie spoke with her usual calm authority. “Anais, please come with me.”

  Anais didn’t dare to argue with the family looking at her the way they were. She picked up her crutches and followed Winnie up the elevator into the Kitchen. Once there, she sat at the large kitchen table.

  Winnie busied herself making tea leaving Anais to her thoughts. She felt angry herself. Who were they to tell her what to do and not to do?

  “He was chained up. He couldn’t have hurt me,” she said defensively before Winnie could talk.

  “There are ways to hurt someone other than physical violence. You know that, Anais, he killed your parents, he nearly killed you. I know you are a strong woman, but you have been through so much recently. We just care about you. What on earth were you thinking?”

  Anais felt chastened, Of course, they only were concerned about her welfare. Still, she was pretty annoyed at being treated like a child. She wondered if she should tell Winnie what Jago had said. Deciding that there was no point in not doing so, she tentatively began.

  “He says he didn’t do it.”

  “Who? Jago? Of course he did. Anais, we know he did. You don’t believe him do you? He is a master of manipulation. You know what he did to you. Alex has told you about all the proof they found at his Italian house.”

  Alex appeared out of the larder.

  “Right you.”

  He walked over to where she was sitting, picked her up as if she was no more than a bag of feathers and hoisted her over his shoulder. With his free hand
, he picked up her crutches and swiftly carried her up the spiral staircase. The last thing she saw as she was carried out of the kitchen was a look of shock and bemusement on Winnies face.

  “What the hell do you think you are doing?” screamed Anais, “Put me down.”

  Alex ignored her protests and proceeded to carry her up the two flights of stairs to her bedroom.

  Once there, he placed her carefully on the bed before neatly putting her crutches against the wall.

  “How dare you!” Her voice was shrill. She was so mad. “I’m perfectly capable of getting up the stairs if I wanted to, which I didn’t! I don’t need you to…”

  Alex cut her off by kissing her strongly on the lips, taking her completely by surprise. Just like when Aethelu kissed her, the electricity of the light sent shocks coursing through her body, concentrating on her lips. It was as mind-blowing as it was shocking. She pulled back quickly.

  “Get out!” she screamed at him. Never in her life had she been so angry.

  “He looked as shocked by what he had done as she felt. He picked himself up and left her room, slamming the door behind him.

  Anais lay herself back on the bed, shaking with a mixture of fear and anger.

  What the hell had just happened? She’d kissed Alex. It was so wrong. He was Aethelu’s brother. But, she reminded herself, she hadn’t invited it, she had pulled away from him quickly. Had she though? Had she moved away quickly enough or had she lingered a fraction of a second too long? She could barely breathe with the shock of events.