“This Maris was only a kid.”
“How old?”
“Sixteen at the most.”
“Do you know why they attacked the person you merged with?”
“Because he attacked her.”
“Where did this passe happen?”
“I don’t know, other than it looked like the land around here.”
“It happened here?”
“No, more like a reserve than the countryside.”
“Did you get a read on who you merged with?”
“A blond male. Can Halos or Terras burn?”
He shook his head. “Why?”
“Because he burned this Maris.”
My father frowned. “But that’s impossible. Only Seraphim can burn, and we aren’t blond.”
I ran a hand over my face, trying to make sense of what I saw. Then it hit me, the answer obvious.
Stellas could burn.
***
The passe bothered me throughout the day. I’d obviously had it for a reason, a reason I had no clue about, other than witnessing the final moments of Catherine’s sister’s life. I wanted to speak to Catherine about it, but she didn’t come to school again. It made me wonder whether she was ever going to return. I was still wondering that when Nicky appeared by my side as I was unlocking my car to go home.
I jolted, the girl giving me one hell of a fright. “Dio, Nicky! Don’t sneak up on people like that.”
She wrinkled her little pixie nose. “Technically, you’re not a person.”
“I am so, just not one of you lot.”
“My lot?”
I rolled my eyes, the girl denser than a slab of concrete.
“Oh!” she squealed. “You mean humans.”
“Keep your voice down.”
She pulled a face. “No one knows what we’re talking about.”
“Just tell me what you want,” I snapped, my patience wearing thin. Though, everything had tested me today, my sore chest putting me in a foul mood. The only consolation I had was that the pain was nowhere near as bad, just an annoying ache that wouldn’t go away.
Like Nicky.
She tsked me. “Be nice, after all I’m doing you a favour.”
“What favour?”
“You wanted to know when Catherine was coming back.”
My annoyance instantly evaporated. “When?”
“Tomorrow.”
I smiled for the first time today.
“You should smile more often, it suits you. Anyway, you free now?”
“For what?”
“I want to take you to McD’s.”
I shook my head. “I like Catherine, not you.”
She smacked my arm. “I know that, silly. I was just going to shout you a Happy Meal.”
“Happy Meals are for little kids.”
“No they’re not, I love ’em!”
I smiled.
She smacked my arm again. “Hey! I’m not a little kid, so don’t get cheeky with me.”
“I just smiled.”
“Yeah, right. Apart from your angelic face, you’re a right devil.”
More like part demon. “Just tell me why you want to shout me,” I asked, my mood souring once more.
“Oh! For getting me that date with Stephen. He’s my boyfriend now!”
My eyebrows shot up. “How’d you manage that?”
She frowned. “Manage what?”
“Get Stephen to agree to being your boyfriend.”
Her face fell. “What do you mean by that?!”
“Um...” I said, not wanting to insult her. I hadn’t thought that my cousin would hang out with Nicky past her putting out. Or maybe she hadn’t put out yet. But then why would Stephen hang around with a girl that he thought was weird if he wasn’t getting any? Maybe he thought he would.
“Stephen’s so hung up on Catherine,” I answered instead.
“Oh,” she said, looking a touch relieved by my reply. “He’s given up on her, said she’s too much hard work, while I’m easy.”
I snorted out a laugh, her reply answering my thoughts. “That’s not a compliment, Nicky.”
She scowled at me. “He didn’t mean it the rude way!”
“Knowing Stephen, he definitely did.”
Her face went redder than her hair. “He still likes me! Otherwise he wouldn’t want to go out with me again.”
“Only because you’re putting out.”
“That’s got nothing to do with it! And Catherine was right, you’re a complete jerk. You say the most horrible things.” She spun around and stomped off, heading for...
Stephen’s car. He was sitting behind the wheel of his turquois Valiant, smirking at me, obviously enjoying Nicky biting my head off. As Nicky rounded the side of his car, he made a circle out of his thumb and fingers and pushed another finger through it, then gave me the thumbs-up, obviously telling me he’d banged her. I shook my head at him, the guy a complete douchebag, only out for one thing. I just hoped he wasn’t going to break Nicky’s heart in the process.
Chapter 26
Wednesday the 14th of June, 1989
Ominous grey clouds blanketed the sky as I drove along Balwyn Road. It was almost as though the day was warning me that nothing good was going to come out of confronting Catherine. But I needed to talk to her about the passe. I also wanted to see her again, the girl hard to get out of my head.
I drove past her house, swinging sharply onto Highwick Park Drive. I pulled over to the kerb and focused on the rearview mirror, waiting for Catherine to appear. She emerged from her property a few minutes later. She threw her hands up in the air, but not because she’d seen me. It looked like she was arguing with her mother. Then she was darting across the road, running a little way down the hill before slowing to a walk. I started up the engine and followed her, once more feeling like a stalker, but past caring.
A car came up behind me fast, blasting their horn at me to get out of their way. Unfortunately, it attracted Catherine’s attention. The next second, she took off, sprinting down the hill.
“What the hell?” I said, not believing she was doing this again.
Angry, I planted my foot on the accelerator, swerving around the corner onto Camdale Avenue. Ignoring the stop sign, I shot forward in an attempt to cut her off, but she predicted the manoeuvre, taking a sharp right. I yanked on the handbrake and jumped out of the car, sprinting after her, my long legs chewing up the distance faster than she could get away.
I grabbed her arm from behind, barking, “Stop!”
She yelled out and yanked her arm free. But instead of trying to escape again, she stepped into my personal space, looking on the verge of planting her clenched fist in my face.
“I don’t want to see you!” she yelled, her eyes darkening to a brown/black. The colour was so much like a Seraph’s it made me stare, the girl fiery enough to be one.
She continued to yell at me. “Nothing but bad things have happened since you arrived!”
I shook myself out of my stupor. “Why are you blaming me? I did nothing to you. No, I did. I saved you. Twice.”
Her jaw set. “While your grandfather murdered Sister Cecile, then came after me! And he won’t stop, so keep the hell away from me.”
“My grandfather didn’t kill her, he isn’t even in the country,” I said, leaving out the part where he had been at the time. Also leaving out the part where it had been my father.
“You’re lying,” she spat. “I saw him that night. He tried to pull me across the highway, probably wanting to get me run over. You had to have seen him. He was right across the damn road.”
“All I saw was you about to step into traffic. And I stopped you, yet you’re angry at me for what happened to that nun?”
“She wasn’t that nun, she was my teacher, someone who tried to help me, yet now she’s dead, and all because of me. No, because of your psychotic grandfather, so leave me alone!”
She went to walk around me. I grabbed her arm again.
&n
bsp; “I told you to leave me alone!” she screamed, trying to pull free.
I tightened my grip and glared back at her, having had enough of her merda. “How about you use your rosary on me?” I growled. “Go on, use it to hurt me like you did the other night. Like that nun taught you.”
She went still, guilt crossing her expression. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, and Sister Cecile never told me to attack you. She wanted me to stay away from you.”
“What about my grandfather? Did she tell you to kill him? Because my father said she was training young Merges specifically to murder my grandfather.”
Her eyes widened. “He’s lying!”
“He has no reason to lie, and your nun was the one who told him that. It’s why my grandfather went after you. He thought you were being trained to kill him.”
Catherine shook her head. “She would never—”
“Don’t be so naive, Catherine,” I said, letting go of her arm. “She wasn’t teaching you out of the goodness of her heart. She was hoping you’d kill my grandfather for her father’s crimes.”
“What crimes?”
“Her father raped and murdered her mother.”
Catherine’s eyes widened. “You know about that?”
I nodded. “My father told me all about it. He also told me her father was responsible for getting my grandfather killed.”
She did a little confused headshake. “Wait, your grandfather’s dead?”
“Not in the way you think. Sister Cecile’s father stole my grandfather’s rosary, getting him killed in a school fire. As a result, my grandfather’s soul was sucked into the purgatory bead. Sister Cecile’s father eventually became a priest, raping a nun, who gave birth to twins, Sister Cecile being one of them.”
Catherine’s eyes widened. “I dreamt of that!”
“You had a passe?” I asked.
“More than one. But I thought it was your grandfather who attacked Sister Cecile’s mother.”
“Nope. His soul was trapped at the time. He wasn’t released until years later.”
“What do you mean his soul was trapped?”
“When a Merge dies their soul usually rises to Heaven or sinks to Hell. But when a Merge is murdered or dies before their time, they’re left in limbo—between Heaven and Hell, otherwise known as Purgatory. Or in layman’s terms—Earth. The wrongly killed will wander the earth or remain trapped within the purgatory bead.”
“What’s the purgatory bead?”
“The biggest one on your rosary. The star would be yours, while mine is the large ruby.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “I’m wearing a freaking cemetery?”
“More like a prison.”
She pulled her rosary out from under her Guns N’ Roses shirt and stared down at it. “Are the souls the ones swimming around inside?” she asked, holding it out for me to see.
I lowered my head to get a better view. What looked like minute schools of fish were darting around the blue star, her bead filled with souls.
I nodded. “You have a lot in there. Your rosary must be really old.”
She started to shake.
I placed a hand on her arm. “Are you all right?”
She looked back up at me, her eyes shifting from brown/black to brown/gold. “Are Merges able to see the souls who roam?”
“We feel them. Humans call them ghosts and spirits.”
“You sure you can’t see them?”
I shrugged. “Haven’t heard of it, but you never know, I’m learning lots of new things lately, so maybe. But I know one hundred percent you can feel them. One of my friends died and whenever I went to a place she loved, I felt her, her soul’s heat so strong.”
“Do you think I could sense my sister like that?”
“A Maris wouldn’t feel warm, they’d make you shiver with cold. Have you felt cold when you should be warm?” I asked, remembering how cold my bedroom had been after the passe. The rest of the house hadn’t been that cold, making me wonder... No, there was no reason for Catherine’s sister’s soul to be in my bedroom. It was probably just a draught.
Catherine shook her head. “I haven’t felt anything, and I thought you said my family are Stellas, not Marises.”
“Merges can vary within families, plus your sister looked like a Maris in my passe.”
“Wait, you dreamt about my sister?” she said, pointing to herself.
“It was a passe, not a dream.”
“I don’t care how you word it, why the hell are you having dreams, passi, whatever the hell, about my sister?”
“It was only one and I have no idea.”
She lifted her hand to her head, tugging on her white hair. “Well, it had to be a dream, because she didn’t have blue eyes. They were the same as mine.”
“It was too real for a dream. I smelt her burnt—” I stopped talking, the horror on Catherine’s face making me wish I’d never opened my big fat mouth. “Merda! I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.” I reached for her, but she turned away from me.
“When?” she asked.
“When, what?”
“When did you have this passe or dream?” she answered, still facing away.
“Two nights ago.”
“What did you see?”
Her body tensed as I relayed the passe. “I’m so sorry,” I added, not knowing what else to say.
She shook her head. “It’s not your fault, I just...” A sob broke free. I placed a hand on her shoulder, ready to pull her to me, to console her, but she brushed it off and continued talking, her voice cracking. “I just wish that Vesna had told me what was happening. She shouldn’t have pulled away from me, I would’ve done anything for her. Anything.”
I stepped closer and wrapped my arms around her. She didn’t avoid my touch this time. Instead, she turned into my hug and buried her face in my chest, sobbing her heart out. A car passed, the driver giving us a strange look, but I didn’t care what he thought. Didn’t care if anyone else could see us, the shielding spell not necessary. Catherine’s emotions were no different from a human losing a loved one. Grief didn’t care whether we were a Merge or a human, we all had hearts that could be broken.
“I want her back so bad,” she said, her voice muffled by my chest.
I ran a hand down her white hair. “Maybe we can get her back. My grandfather returned, maybe your sister can too.”
She pulled away from me, her eyes going big. “She can come back?” she gasped.
I nodded. “If we find who killed her, we can steal their rosary and bury it. Once it’s buried, her soul will be released and she can merge with her killer, possessing his body.” My thoughts returned to the blond male in the passe, not remembering seeing a rosary on his chest. But that didn’t mean he didn’t have one on him; it could’ve been in his pocket ... unless he’d merged with it. Dio, I hope that wasn’t the case, because it would mean that Catherine’s sister would be gone forever, wiped out of existence, nothing but raw energy adding to her killer’s powers.
Catherine wiped her eyes, hope lighting up her expression. “Then we have to find out who killed her. She died at Buckland’s Reserve. We could go there, try to see if her soul is lingering.”
“It won’t be if she’s been sucked into her killer’s purgatory bead.”
“We have to start somewhere! And if we go there we might find some clues, possibly other souls that could’ve witnessed what happened.”
“Even if we did find some, they won’t be able to tell us anything.”
“We could still feel or see something that could spark another passe, which might reveal who the killer is.”
“Possibly.”
“Good, then let’s go.” She grabbed my arm and yanked me towards my car. “Let’s hope her soul’s in the purgatory bead so we can help her escape. I don’t care if she has to merge with a male, at least I’ll have her back.”
I yanked free from her grip. “As long as her killer’s not a demon, or she’ll take on his traits. She
’ll become a demon.”
“The Merge who killed her might not be a demon.”
“But what if he is?”
“We won’t know unless we investigate, which means you’re taking me to Buckland’s Reserve. Now.”
“What about school?”
“Screw school!”
“Okay, okay, I’ll take you, just rein it in, will you?”
“Only if you get me there.” She ran around my car and jumped into the passenger seat, slamming the door so hard I winced.
I climbed behind the wheel. “Don’t slam the door.”
“Oh, boo hoo, hoo, I hurt your precious car.” She pulled on her seatbelt. “Just drive, you big baby.”
I shook my head. “And Nicky called me the jerk?” I said, starting the engine.
“She calls me one too.”
“That’s because you are one.” I pulled away from the kerb.
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” She turned in her seat to face me, her eyes a touch bloodshot from her crying. “So, did Sister Cecile really tell your father she was training me to kill your grandfather?”
“I already said she did.”
“I’m just shocked she would do that. I always thought she was a nasty cow, but I didn’t think she would do something that bad. I thought she’d changed, that she actually wanted to help me, but guess leopards can’t change their spots.”
“You knew her before?”
“Yeah, she used to be the headmistress of my primary school. She hated me, was so nasty. She even broke a ruler on my hand, hitting it so hard it snapped in two. How can a person of God do that to a child? I was eight years old.”
“Evil often hides behind unsuspecting disguises.” I stopped at the give-way sign, waiting for the traffic to clear, the highway jam-packed.
“I wouldn’t exactly call her evil. Nasty is closer to the mark.”
“She was training you to murder my grandfather. I’d call that evil.”
Catherine exhaled. “Guess so,” she said, looking resigned to the fact the nun wasn’t who she’d thought she was.
I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel, still waiting for the traffic to clear. “Where do I go? I don’t know where Buckland’s Reserve is.”
Stella Maris (The Legendary Rosaries) Page 21
