But she didn’t let the beauty deceive her. She knew what that dreamy landscape hid. She knew what would happen, as always in her dreams. Her heart tightened in fear and anticipated rage.
Too much had happened for Sarah to be the trembling lost girl she had once been whenever a vision took her, resigned to another ordeal, frightened to her very core. Inexperienced, clueless, able only to yield to whatever came upon her.
The forces that she had encountered, and that she had survived, meant that she had now grown into herself. She was still frightened, but she had learnt how to handle it. She had embraced her Midnight blood at last. After having been deliberately shielded from her rightful inheritance of power throughout her childhood, her parents’ death meant that she had finally reclaimed it, been forced to reclaim it. All that Sarah was meant to be, she was, at last. It was a conquest made of pain and loss, like most conquests, and it gave her strength, and a belief in herself she had never felt before. Only now, standing by the seashore, drawn there by her dreams, could she fully grasp how far she’d come. Her hands were burning, her senses were awake and alert. She stood on that beach flexing her hands, waiting to find out what was in store for her.
She didn’t have to wait long.
It was Mermen who emerged from the sea, their scaly skin shimmering in an opaque rainbow, pale green and mother-of-pearl, their gills faintly throbbing in the transition between water and air, webbed hands at their side and wide mouths open to reveal row after row of thin, needle-like teeth. Two, four, six, ten of them, walking unhurriedly towards Sarah, waddling slightly from side to side, the sound of their gurgling breath coming nearer. They were close enough now for Sarah to see the barnacles attached to their skin, the sea anemones that had made a home on their chests, on their hips, on their legs, and the seaweed dangling from their arms like ripped clothes. Little creatures slithered over them, newborn eels and many-legged things that resembled woodlice. A slimy trail shimmered faintly behind them on the wet sand.
Sarah tried to calm her pounding heart – there were too many of them. They were going to kill her. The best course of action was at least to try and get as much information as she could out of the dream – when it would happen, and where – before they slaughtered her.
She drew a deep breath, her eyes glinting with the Midnight gaze. “Who sent you?” she screamed into the sea wind, her voice determined but coloured with the terror of what was soon to come.
The Mermen neither acknowledged her question nor replied. Instead they continued their silent march across the shore towards her. They resembled fish gasping for air, their mouths opening and closing intermittently, their gills pulsating in rhythm with their heartbeat. A nauseous smell of things decaying underwater wafted off them, carried towards Sarah on the wind.
“Answer me! Who sent you?” she repeated, and a bittersweet memory came back to her – how Sean used to get so impatient with her whenever she tried to communicate with the Surari. She used to try and communicate with them to avoid fighting, and it angered Sean no end, but this time she was on her own, and she was demanding the truth.
The Mermen were now a few yards away and coming closer, closer. There was no point in turning around and running. She could have outrun them, but she would have learnt nothing. She raised her hands, now scalding, and readied herself. Suddenly she felt something brushing her elbow and she jumped in alarm, but it was only Nicholas, having materialized beside her in perfect silence.
“Oh no,” she whispered.
“I’m glad to see you too.” He grinned sarcastically.
“I don’t want you in this dream. You’ll die too.”
“No. I won’t. And neither will you.” And with that, Nicholas started shouting to the creatures at the top of his voice, with such fury that his fingers were sparkling blue and crackling with fire. Sarah could recognize only a few words as they were spoken in the ancient language, the one used by the human tribes during the Time of Demons.
Immediately the Mermen stopped in their tracks, and one of them replied in a gurgling, watery series of sounds that vaguely resembled the ancient language, but sounded alien as well, alien to this earth and all its creatures.
A dialogue followed that was fevered and full of anger on Nicholas’s part, and calm and steady from the Merman. He kept repeating the same things, on and on, over and over.
Sarah turned and smiled sadly at him. “Nicholas, I don’t think you can help me here,” she said gently.
“Sarah …”
She turned back to the Mermen. “Come on! Come and get me!” she screamed, and as one, they starting moving up the beach towards them again.
Sarah could feel Nicholas tense at her side. Now that the sea creatures were right in front of them Sarah estimated that they were twice her size, their arms thick with sleek muscles. There must have been at least twenty of them. She’d never seen so many Surari in one place at the same time.
Another gust of wind, and Sarah gagged at the rotten smell that swept over her. Recovering quickly and ignoring Nicholas’s muted pleas, she crouched slightly before leaping with a growl, her hands thrust forward, trying to grab at least one of the Mermen before they bit her, or drowned her, or whatever they were planning to do to put an end to her life. But the Merman she attacked didn’t react by retaliating. He simply put one arm around her waist, lifted her off her feet and threw her aside effortlessly.
Sarah landed on the sand, her breath knocked out by the fall. For a few hazy seconds she watched as the slimy, wet fins of the Mermen moved towards her, then around her, marching over the dunes, leaving her behind. They weren’t interested in Sarah. She wasn’t the target.
Where are they heading?
Sarah sat upright and looked ahead of her. The landscape had changed; the sea and land had swapped places, so that the water was now in front of her. The Mermen were marching towards a formation of rocks that jutted out of the waves like rotten teeth.
Sarah stared aghast and peered into the gloom. She could see something tied onto each of the rocks – someone.
It was Niall, Elodie, Mike, and a bit further away, Sean. Her Sean. Their feet were dangling over the water, their hands bound behind them, and she could see now that their eyes were pools of horror and despair. They knew what was ahead of them. They were waiting for the sea to take them – they were like Andromeda, waiting for the sea monster.
Nicholas scrambled along the shoreline, shouting warnings one moment and threats the next, but the Mermen took no notice, continuing their march into the water, towards the rocks. It was as if they were being controlled by some other power. Sarah watched, frozen with horror. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t move, and worst of all, she couldn’t close her eyes as, one by one, the Mermen climbed over her friends and tore their bodies limb from limb, ripping flesh from bone, leaving only trailing, reddened ropes of sinew behind.
Unable to take any more, Sarah threw herself on the sand, staring in silent despair. Why couldn’t she have stopped them? Why couldn’t Nicholas have stopped them? Eventually she found the strength to raise her eyes towards the scene of devastation. She felt her world spinning as she contemplated a lock of blonde hair strewn with blood floating on the incoming tide. All that was left of Elodie.
Sarah woke up panting, her eyes open wide in the pure, unbroken Islay darkness. The horror of the dream had been burnt into the back of her mind – she’d never get rid of it for as long as she lived. Her skin was covered in freezing sweat, her heart would not stop pounding, and the room was so dark, so silent that she couldn’t even make out the shape of the furniture. All she could hear was the beating of her heart and the rush of blood in her ears.
Why? Why had the sea demons devoured her friends but not her and Nicholas?
Sarah felt the edge of her bedside table with a trembling hand and eventually found the lamp switch. Soft, yellow light illuminated the room. She sat up, and breathed deeply – once, twice, three times – trying to calm her heart. There was no doubting th
e dream. But despite its cruel clarity, there were things she didn’t know or understand.
I’ve got to warn them. Now. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, bare feet on the ice-cold stone floor, and tiptoed out of the room. Nicholas slept at one end of the corridor, Sean’s room was at the other. She stood for a long, long moment, hesitating – which way to go?
Finally, she made her choice.
*
He was awake, of course. When he’d heard the footsteps outside his room, he had got up instantly, weapon in hand. He was standing by the bed as Sarah pushed her way in.
Ready for anything, she thought, and felt better for knowing that. “It’s me. Were you not sleeping?”
“You know me, I never sleep. Are you OK?” he whispered as she closed the door behind her.
“Yes. I dreamt again tonight. It’s the first time since …” She shook her head, puzzled.
Their eyes met, and lingered for a moment. And then it happened – they were drawn towards each other like a planet and its moon.
Sean’s body smelled just the same as it used to, of soap and of the sea, with a soft, lingering scent of coffee. She didn’t want to let go, and he clung to her with all his might – it was as if they had come home to each other. But eventually they forced themselves to break their embrace and take a step back. Sarah’s cheeks were scarlet in the darkness.
“Come here. Here, have this.” Sean switched the table lamp on and took a blanket from his bed, wrapping it around Sarah’s frozen shoulders as he sat her down in an armchair. Then he knelt in front of the fireplace and lit the fire. It didn’t take long before she saw the soft, warm light reflected in his face, dancing over the old white scars on his arms and the more recent ones on his chest. He was wearing only a pair of sweatpants, and the glow of his skin, the strong contours of his body made Sarah want to run her hands over him, made her want to be close to him.
The horror of her dream followed so quickly by the sudden rush of desire made Sarah’s mind go blank and she sat immobile, rigid, unsure of what to do or say.
“What did you see?” Sean asked. He sat at her feet, looking up at her.
Sarah’s emerald-green eyes widened at the memories as she pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders. “Sea demons. Mermen. They were huge.” She flinched, thinking of their wide, fish-like mouths and their razor-sharp teeth. “They came out of the sea, and I thought they were coming for me. But they ignored me. Just cast me aside. They …” She took a deep breath. The last thing she wanted was to recall the terrifying images.
Sean found her hand under the blanket and held it tight. Once more Sarah considered how big, how strong his hand was, and she clung to it, drawing strength from him. She braced herself to tell the last part of the story.
“You were there, tied to a sea rock. Niall, Mike and Elodie, too. The Mermen,” she shuddered, “tore you all to pieces.”
Sean grimaced, then recovered himself. “Was Nicholas not there?” he asked carefully.
Sarah nodded, frowning. “He was with me on the shore, trying to help me. He kept shouting and calling to the Mermen in the ancient language, trying to convince them to stop.”
“Are you sure? You don’t understand much of the ancient language. How would you know what he was saying?”
Sarah rubbed her forehead. “No, I don’t, but the meaning was clear. He was begging them. Honestly, Sean, begging them. But they wouldn’t stop.”
Sean nodded, his manner almost businesslike. “Any indication of when this would happen?”
Sarah shook her head.
He stood up. “We must be ready then.”
“Sean. They killed you.” An abyss was opening slowly in her heart. All her strength, all her courage leaked away in the face of a world without Sean, and she was horrified to realize how much she needed him, how much she … loved him.
He stood there, looking at her, then once again knelt in front of her and took her hand. His striking blue eyes were full of longing, his face open and strong, his hair shone golden in the light of the fire. Sarah reached forward slowly and took hold of the red velvet pouch around his neck, the protection charm she’d made for him.
“I never took it off.”
“I know.”
They both felt at once what was to follow. Arms and lips looking for each other, irresistible as gravity, but almost immediately the sinking feeling in Sarah’s stomach that she was betraying Nicholas, betraying her boyfriend, that she really ought to stop it now …
“Sean! Can I come in?” A voice at the door. Elodie.
Sean and Sarah looked at each other, shocked, the moment shattered.
“Come in,” answered Sean, jumping to open the door. “Come in.”
Elodie entered, pale and troubled. “Sean. I dreamt.”
“You too.”
“Oh,” she gasped, her face tightening when she saw a pale-faced Sarah standing beside Sean’s fireplace. “I didn’t realize.”
Sarah took in Elodie’s graceful figure in her white cotton slip trimmed with lace, her slender legs, her arms like willow branches, her silky blonde hair cascading down her back. She was delicate, and perfect, and Sarah’s heart sank. “I dreamt tonight too,” she said quietly.
“Mermen?” Sean asked Elodie.
“Yes. It was horrible,” Elodie replied, her accent made thicker by distress. “So what are we going to do? Wait until they come to get us?”
“All we can do is prepare ourselves as best we can. Elodie.”
“Mmmm?” she replied, biting her lip.
“In Sarah’s dream we were all killed, except Nicholas and Sarah.”
“Yes. In mine too.” Elodie’s face was hard as she glanced over at Sarah. “What can this mean?”
“Nicholas was trying to stop them.” Sarah assured her. “Trying to halt the attack. You must have heard that.”
“Yes, I heard that too. And saw him. Just like he tried to stop the ravens from attacking me on the beach yesterday,” pondered Elodie.
There was a gentle knock at the door and before they could answer, it swung open. “Hello. A pyjama party, and nobody told me?” Niall walked in, pushing a hand through his hair, his eyes sleepy and his feet bare.
“You dreamt too?” asked Sean.
“Yes. And judging by the colour of your faces, it was the same dream. I dreamt we were fish food. It wasn’t pretty.”
“The revenge of the clam?” chipped in Mike, appearing from behind Niall now. “After all the shellfish we ate in Louisiana?”
“More than likely,” teased Sean briefly, but his face became deadly serious and a silence fell over the room.
Suddenly, Elodie gasped.
“You OK?” asked Sean.
“Yes, yes. It was just a shadow.”
Sarah noticed that Sean’s eyes rested on Elodie for a long time after that, but the French girl didn’t offer any further explanation. Sean brought his hands to his temples, massaging them. “I need to think this through.”
“When’s the first ferry?” asked Mike hopefully.
“To go where? They’d just follow us,” Sarah replied. “At least here we’re on familiar territory.”
Sarah was interrupted by Elodie in a voice so frail yet firm that they all turned to her with concern. “No more running away,” she whispered.
Sean nodded his agreement. “Elodie’s right,” he said.
“I think we need a drink,” Mike concluded after a short pause.
The whole house instantly came alive with lights and footsteps and conversations as Mike and Niall took Elodie downstairs to steady their nerves. Sarah and Sean stayed behind.
“I don’t want to be alone,” Sarah whispered.
“Go to Nicholas then,” replied Sean immediately, his voice harsh.
Sarah wasn’t expecting that. It was as if she’d just been punched in the stomach, the air knocked out of her. Sean had turned away from her.
“OK. I will. Yes.” She walked towards the door, reeling from S
ean’s response.
At the doorway, he took her arm and turned her until he was looking straight into her eyes. “Nicholas is your boyfriend, after all.”
“Yes.”
“Because if he weren’t, I’d ask you to stay here with me.”
Sarah froze.
Too much.
Too much, too confusing. Too complicated.
The dreams coming back, the choices she was faced with. The danger. The one choice she didn’t know how to make.
“You can’t ask me to choose now, Sean. Can you not see?” she whispered, her mind somewhere between being angry and imploring him for a reprieve.
“If not now, when, Sarah? It’s not likely to get better, is it?” He took her by the shoulders firmly. “Do you love Nicholas?”
There was nothing she could do but to tell Sean the truth for once – to reveal herself, and reveal her heart.
“I don’t know what love is,” she said, with a clear, steady gaze.
Sean’s eyes were solemn, unsmiling, when he replied. “Yes you do. And when you decide to admit it, I’ll be there.”
It’s a promise, Sarah.
39
Be Ready
Rules of the heart
Before rules of the mind
Be ready then to face
The time to fall
Nicholas had been in his room, standing in front of the open window. All he could see was darkness, except for the intermittent lighthouse beam shining from beyond the hill. His whole body was alert, and a film of sweat coated his forehead. His nails sank into the palms of his hands.
Earlier that evening he had lifted the fog that had enveloped Sarah and the other Dreamers for weeks. Now he would wait for her to dream and for her to tell the others what she had seen, what she’d been finally allowed to discover. Nicholas knew what would happen next and he had stood there waiting for them to come and challenge him. Or hunt him down, probably. He was ready to defend himself.
Tide (The Sarah Midnight Trilogy) Page 20
