by Tim O'Rourke
“That’s why we mustn’t tell anyone what Coanda has planned,” I warned him. “Please don’t say anything.”
Potter looked at the jets of lava that continued to shoot up into the night sky. Then, turning slowly to look at me he said, “Okay, I’ll go along with it for now, but I’m warning you, Kiera, the first sign that we are heading into a trap and I’m walking - with or without you - and I’ll be taking Kayla with me.”
Chapter Seventeen
We arrived back at the camp just before the dawn – or before the Light House completed its cycle and started to spread its light over the Weeping Peaks.
Landing on the side of the mountain, Potter kissed me gently on the mouth, then we split, so if any of the others were awake, they wouldn’t know we had left the camp together. I went back to my spot on the ledge that jutted from the side of the mountain, and closing my eyes, I drifted into a dreamless sleep.
Just before dawn, I was gently shaken awake. Opening my eyes, I could see it was Luke who had woken me.
“It’s time we made a move, sleepyhead,” he smiled down at me and I knew that he had chilled a little from the crossed words we had shared back at the resistance camp.
Looking up into his face, I knew that I couldn’t put it off for much longer; I had to tell him about Potter and me. But how was I going to tell him that I had fallen in love with his best friend? I knew that it would hurt him. After all, he had saved my life on so many occasions, dived into a burning church, taken a beating in the caves below the mountain for me, and while he’d been imprisoned, I’d fallen in love with his best friend. How ever I told him, it was going to hurt.
Handing me another of those clay-type mugs, he asked, “Are you okay, Kiera?”
“I’m fine,” I lied, taking a sip from the mug. The contents were warm and bitter, and I screwed up my face.
Laughing, Luke said, “You’ll get used to the taste in time.”
“What is it?” I asked, staring down into the yellow liquid that sloshed around the inside of the mug.
“Sloff,” he said, as if that should mean something to me. Then, seeing the look of confusion on my face, Luke added, “It’s like tea or coffee, I guess. Anyway, drink up. Coanda is keen to get moving.”
Luke went to walk away, but before he’d gone too far, I called out to him. “Luke!”
Turning, he looked at me and said, “What’s up?”
Making sure that I couldn’t be overheard, I asked, “What do you make of Coanda?”
“A bit of a flyboy, but he’s okay, I guess.” Then he said, “Why do you ask?”
“No reason,” I smiled back at him. “Give me five and I’ll catch up.”
Holding me in his gaze for just a moment longer, he finally turned and sauntered away. I took another sip of the Sloff, and turning up my nose, I ditched the rest of it over the side of the mountain.
I joined the others as Isidor was kicking ash over what was left of the burning embers. Potter stood on the other side of the camp and seemed protectively close to Kayla. He looked at me, but his face looked emotionless. He held my gaze as he stuck a cigarette in the corner of his mouth and lit it. I half-smiled back at him, then looked away.
Once Isidor had kicked out the fire, Coanda clapped his giant hands together and said, “Okay, let’s get moving.” He then turned and started back up the mountain.
“I don’t want to be a pain in the arse, but where are we actually heading?” Potter called out after him.
I shot Potter a look, but he was staring at Coanda.
“We’re heading for the Dust Palace,” Coanda smiled back at him. “I thought I’d explained that, Potter.”
“I might be wrong, as I’ve always been pretty shit at geography, but I thought the Dust Palace was more to the East. We seem to be heading more inland,” Potter said.
“I know a different route,” Coanda smiled again. “A safer route.”
“Safer?” Potter mused as he chewed the end of his cigarette. “Are you expecting trouble then?”
“No trouble,” Coanda said, and although he smiled, I could tell it was forced. Potter had rattled him, but then again didn’t Potter rattle everyone?
“Just checking,” Potter smiled back at Coanda. “Lead on.”
Turning his back on us, Coanda marched off up the mountain.
I looked at Potter again and he winked at me, then headed off after Coanda, Kayla by his side. Isidor slung his crossbow over his back and set off too. He looked sullen as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. His head was hung low and he looked tired as if he hadn’t slept too well. I didn’t want to walk with Luke, not just yet, not until I knew how I was going to tell him about Potter and me, so I caught up with Isidor.
“How are you doing?” I asked him as we made our way up a path that spiralled around the outside of the Weeping Peaks.
“Fine,” he said.
“Are you sure?” I pushed gently.
“Sure,” he said back without looking at me.
“How are your cravings?” I asked.
“For human flesh, you mean?”
“Yes.”
“Gone, but then again I always knew they would be once I came back home,” he said.
“Are you glad to be home?” I asked him.
“I guess.”
“So what’s wrong?”
Turning on me, his little chin beard bristling in the breeze, he said, “How many ways have I got to tell ya, Kiera, there’s nothing wrong.” Then he was gone, striding ahead on his own.
“I’m sorry, Isidor,” I called out after him, but he was gone, lost to his own personal thoughts, and I couldn’t help but feel anxious about what was worrying him.
“Leave the boy be,” someone said, and I looked back to see that Luke had caught up with me.
“I guess,” I said, looking at Isidor, desperately not wanting to make eye contact with Luke.
“He’s obviously got something on his mind,” Luke said.
“You’ve noticed it too?”
“Whatever it is, he’ll tell you when he’s ready.”
“I’m sure you’re right,” I sighed, stealing a quick glance at
him.
Luke was looking at me and said, “Fancy walking together?
“Sure,” I smiled at him. I didn’t feel I could say no, even
though I wanted to.
“I’m sorry about yesterday,” he said.
“Sorry for what?” I asked, although I knew exactly what he
meant.
“Coming on heavy like that,” he said. “It’s just I can’t help
my feelings for you, Kiera.”
Glancing sideways at him, I said, “You’ve got nothing to be
sorry for, Luke.”
“Have you thought any more about what I said?” he asked.
“Can’t we talk about this another time?” I asked, desperate to avoid the issue.
“Sure,” he said, looking a little embarrassed. “What do you want to talk about?”
“How did you get out of the zoo?” I asked him.
He paused for a moment as if a little surprised by my question. “I escaped.”
“Yeah, I figured that out for myself, but how?” I pushed, interested to hear all about it.
“They had me held for months in this little cell beneath the zoo,” he started. “At first I didn’t even know that it was a zoo, not until I came above ground. They fed me the red stuff and I’m ashamed that I ate it – but I knew that if I were to ever rescue you and the others, I needed to be strong.”
“I thought they had killed you,” I told him. “After the beating you took in the caves, I feared that perhaps you were dead.”
“I was already in pretty bad shape when those vampires dragged me from that lake,” he said. “They were going to kill me, but Phillips said he wanted me alive to be used as a bargaining tool in case you refused to eat the red stuff. I guess that’s why they never killed me in the zoo. Phillips and Sparky had f
igured out that we meant something to each other, that we were friends, and they knew they could use me.”
“So how did you get out?” I asked him again, keen to see if his escape had been as grueling as mine.
“In the end it was easier than I thought it would be,” he said. “They just opened up the doors.”
“How come?” I was surprised to hear this.
“They just suddenly deserted the zoo and left,” Luke told me. “But I knew why they had fled that zoo, something had scared them. I’d overheard two of the Lycanthrope talking about how some virus was loose in the zoo and some of the half-breeds had died. At first I panicked as I thought they were talking about you, Kayla, and Isidor. But within a matter of days, they had all left. I stayed in my cell for a few days more, and when on the fourth day those werewolves hadn’t brought anymore of that meat to me, I realised I hadn’t heard a sound from anyone in days. I knew that they had vacated the zoo. So, suspecting that no one was going to stop me or raise the alarm should they hear me, I tore down the cell door. It was only when I made it from the basement that I realised where I had been kept.
“My suspicions had been right, the zoo had been deserted. I searched every empty cage and cell for you and the others, but couldn’t find you anywhere. Not knowing if Phillips and the others would return at any moment, I fled the zoo. But within moments of me escaping, a storm had started. Not too sure exactly where I was or what direction I should head in, and not wanting to fly for fear of being recaptured, I walked half-naked in the freezing snow. For hours I staggered blind through the blizzard until I became totally disorientated. When I thought I couldn’t go on any further, I saw a shape in the distance coming towards me. Not knowing if I should draw attention to myself in the hope that I might be rescued, I hid behind an outcrop of nearby rocks. And like an apparition appearing out of the snow, I saw that it was Potter. Barely able to stand, I stumbled out from my hiding place and into his path.
“Potter took off his coat, and wrapping it about my shoulders, he led me to a nearby overhang set into the side of a hill. He lit a fire, skinned some rabbit, and we waited for the storm to ease. He said at first he hadn’t recognised me through my long beard and hair. I owe him my life.”
“Why do you think they abandoned you in the zoo like that?” I asked him. “Why not kill you before they fled, or take you with them for future bargaining opportunities?”
“At first I wondered if, in their haste to leave, they just forgot about me sitting down there in the basement,” Luke said. “Then I feared that perhaps you were dead, and that I no longer served any further purpose, so Phillips was happy to just leave me to starve to death. After all, who was going to rescue me?”
“Potter,” I said.
“Exactly,” Luke said, “And that was Phillips’ mistake – he underestimated the power of true friendship. Potter and I are like brothers and I know he would never do anything to hurt me.”
To hear Luke boast of his friendship with Potter made my heart ache. How was I ever going to tell him that his best friend had fallen in love with me and I had fallen in love with him?
Chapter Eighteen
We walked in silence. Not because Luke wanted to, but because I had nothing to say. I guess that’s not exactly true; I had lots to say – stuff that I needed to tell Luke, but I just didn’t know how. I didn’t even know where to start. As we walked onwards up the mountain, in my mind I played out the hundreds of ways I could tell him how I felt about Potter and how he felt about me. But the only way was truthfully – Luke deserved that at least. When did I tell him, though? Because once something like that was out, there was no way of taking it back. How much longer did I put it off? I knew in my heart that time was running out.
Throwing Luke a sideways glance, I watched him as he walked silently beside me. His head was down, and he looked deep in thought. He knew that things weren’t quite right between us – they weren’t like they had been before. Would he ever be able to forgive me? But did that matter? What mattered more was if he would be able to forgive his best friend, Potter. He had already lost Murphy, and although he hadn’t spoken about that, I guessed he couldn’t face it. So much had happened while Luke had been locked away in the zoo. I could see the hurt in his eyes every time I looked at him, and I was just going to add to that hurt and deep down, I wondered if I could do it to him.
But to not tell him about Potter and me, however painful it might be, was unfair on him, so forming the words in my head, I gently touched him on the arm and said, “Luke, there is something I need to tell you.”
Raising his head, he looked sideways at me and said, “Oh, okay. What is it?”
Before the words I had planned had reached my lips, Kayla came running up to us and said, “We’re being followed!”
Staring at her, I asked, “Who’s following us?”
“Dunno,” she said, her eyes wide, almost scared looking.
“How can you be so sure?” Luke asked her.
“I can hear them,” she said, tapping her right earlobe with the tip of her finger.
“What’s going on?” Potter asked, coming back to join us.
“Kayla says we’re being followed,” I told him.
Looking at Kayla, then at Luke, Potter said, “C’mon, Luke let’s go back and see if we can’t find them.”
“No!” someone said, and we all turned to see Coanda looking at us.
“I don’t take orders from you,” Potter snapped back at him.
“Listen to me,” Coanda said, coming forward, Isidor just behind him, crossbow raised. “We keep moving forward and we don’t split up. We will be safer together.”
“But if we’re being tracked…” Luke started.
“Then we lose them,” Coanda said firmly.
“How?” Kayla asked.
“We go into the willows,” Coanda said.
“Bad idea,” Isidor said, and Coanda glanced back at him as if unaware that he was there.
“Why?” I asked, reading the concern, no, fear in Isidor’s dark eyes. “What are the willows?”
“Haven’t you asked yourself why these mountains are called the Weeping Peaks?” Isidor replied, his voice now no louder than a whisper.
“For crying out loud -” Potter started.
But this time, Isidor cut over him. “I couldn’t have said it better myself, Potter. If we go amongst the willow trees, you will be crying out loud.”
“Just a load of old hocus-pocus nonsense,” Potter sneered. “You’ve listened to too many bedtime stories, kid.”
Stepping towards Isidor, I said, “Take no notice of him. Tell me what happens amongst the willow trees.”
“Some say they are haunted,” Isidor started. “But not by ghosts.”
“Then by what?” I pushed.
“All that has ever made you sad,” Isidor said, staring into my eyes. “The willows are meant to evoke all those feelings of unhappiness you have ever felt.”
Then coming forward to stand at my elbow, Potter lit a cigarette and said, “See, what did I tell you? Just a bunch of old crap!”
“We should go!” Kayla said, tugging at my sleeve. “Whoever is following us is close.”
Turning and leaving the path, Coanda said over his shoulder, “If it’s just a bunch of hocus-pocus, Potter, then you won’t mind following us into the willows.” Then he was gone, striding forward towards a dark shadow of trees that loomed in the distance.
Pitching out his cigarette, Potter looked at me and said, “Watch your back.” And just like Coanda, he headed for the willows.
Looking back over her shoulder, Kayla said, “Whoever it is, their heartbeat has quickened. They’re running!”
“In which direction?” Luke asked her.
“Ours!” Kayla breathed, setting off towards the trees.
With crossbow still raised, Isidor sniffed the air and said as if to himself, “I can smell them.” Then, he was walking away after his sister, and Luke and I followed.
&n
bsp; The trees leaned from the side of the mountain, forming a thick, wooded area that, from a distance, looked like a giant beast with many writhing tentacles. The drooping branches of the thousands of willow trees swung to and fro like leafy curtains. As we approached them, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the crop of weeping willows that surrounded the children’s graveyard on the grounds of Hallowed Manor, and to think of it made my flesh shiver with goose bumps.
Reaching the edge of the woods, I heard something, almost like a whisper on the breeze. At first I thought it was just the wind playing tricks with my hearing, but as I followed the others amongst the willows, I was sure I could hear the sound of weeping. The woods were dark, and very little light from the Light House penetrated through the overhanging branches of the trees. We walked in silence, Coanda always ahead of us, peeling back the branches with his muscular arms. The sound of weeping continued, and as we moved further amongst the willows, the sound of crying grew louder. It sounded like a nation of people crying out as if all were suffering the most terrible nightmare. The weeping was filled with sorrow and anguish; I just wanted to cover my ears with my hands to block it out.
I looked to my left and then quickly to my right only to find that I was on my own.
Where are the others? I wondered. How had I been separated from them?
“Potter?” I called out, but it was as if my voice had been drowned out – smothered – by the continual sound of crying.
Then, just ahead amongst the trees, I saw someone. “Hey!” I called after them. “Luke, is that you?”
The figure disappeared amongst the willows and I lost sight of it. Speeding up, I ran amongst the trees in search of the figure. With my heart pounding and the sound of sobbing all around me, I pushed the swinging branches aside like rows and rows of curtains. Then, just ahead of me, I saw the figure again. But this time, it stood motionless with its back to me.
“Hey you!” I yelled, desperate not to be alone in this place.
Hearing me call out, the figure turned and looked straight at me. With my legs almost buckling beneath me, I threw my hands to my face and drew a shallow breath.
