by Kirsty Ferry
‘How? How can it get weirder?’ asked Ryan, looking up at her. His eyebrows knitted together. ‘Come on. I’m not stupid. This whole place has been weird. All day. You stabbed me with that pen. And you went crazy. And we both saw...weird things. And now I’ve got a fuzzy head and I can’t remember anything since we sort of didn’t kiss.’
‘Can you not remember properly kissing just now?’ teased Liv.
‘You’re not answering the question,’ argued Ryan. ‘Of course I can remember that one. It’s just before that. It’s fuzzy.’
Liv half smiled.
‘Yeah, well. It’s got to stay fuzzy. I don’t know what happened myself.’
‘Liar,’ said Ryan.
‘Yup,’ said Liv. ‘But you wouldn’t believe me anyway.’
‘Try me.’
‘No.’
Liv raised her eyes and scanned the area for Meggie. She half expected her to be standing on the edge of the field, or hovering by the temple. Or even watching them from Carrawburgh. But she wasn’t there. She’d gone. And so had Aemelia: and Marcus. All gone.
Liv sighed. She couldn’t even feel them around her anymore. They’d come back though. They were bound to the place. As she was. She sat up, stretching her arms out behind her to lean back on her hands. Under one of them, she felt a hard, sharp object. Her stomach flipped; she could tell by the shape of it that it was the knife. She cast a glance at Ryan. He had his head on his knees again. Carefully, she eased the knife into her hand and curled it inside her fist. They were quite near to Coventina’s Well. Liv silently judged the distance to it from where she sat; not far. She flicked her wrist and let go of the knife, sending it somersaulting towards the Well. There was a tiny splash and the knife sank into the filthy water, to be swallowed up by the mud at the bottom of the spring. Liv let out her breath; she hadn’t even realised she was holding it. Ryan turned to her, the tiny splash startling him out of his reverie.
‘You won’t tell me, will you?’ he said.
‘Damn right,’ she replied.
‘Well. In that case, would you kiss me again?’ Then there it was; that irresistible twinkle was back in his eye. ‘Because I don’t actually believe you did that either.’ Liv grinned at him, her heart suddenly lighter.
‘Damn right I’ll kiss you again,’ she said. ‘I’ll let you believe that one.’
The End
