“Morning, Cara.” Percy’s eyes were sparkling as he twisted in his seat to look at me. He looked like a kid who’d just been told Christmas was coming early this year. I just wasn’t sure why.
“Is it morning?” I asked, glancing at the still pitch black sky outside.
Wyn smirked. “Technically.” His expression turned serious as Lance climbed in the other door and slung my bag over the backseat. “What happened?”
Lance met his gaze steadily in the rear view mirror. “Things have been…advanced.”
Flicking his eyes to mine Wyn nodded. “I’d figured as much. The plan was only a guideline.” He started to pull away from the curb.
I glanced at Lance just as he sighed. “I know, but I really would have liked a little more time.”
I wanted to ask him what plan, and what he needed more time for, but the long day and sleepless nights were catching up with me. The purring of the engine was lulling me, and in the back of my mind the voice was softly singing an ancient lullaby.
My eyelids drooped and I dozed off, my cheek pressed against the glass of the window.
It was hard to tell how long I slept for, but when I woke the sky was just getting light, turning the steely grey of pre-dawn. With my eyes half open I kept my cheek against the window. We were on a motorway somewhere, the tarmac like a black river beneath the tires, but there was nothing distinctive about the landscape to tell me where. Away to my left was the grey sprawl of a distant city but we didn’t seem to be going towards it. A little voice in the back of my mind was trying to get my attention. My own voice this time, asking me what the hell I thought I was doing. Pointing out that of all the craziness in my life, this really took the top spot. I tried to ignore it. I knew what I was doing was insane, I also knew I had to do it. It was like I didn’t have a choice. Something was drawing me onwards.
The car was quiet, not even the radio to break the silence. I’d been awake for ten minutes or so when Percy shifted in his seat.
“We should stop somewhere.” His voice was hushed, as though he thought I was still asleep.
“I don’t want any delays,” Lance replied, his voice equally quiet. “We need to get to him as soon as possible.”
“Come on, Lance,” Percy whined. “I’m starving. Just a quick stop for food.”
“You’re always starving.” Wyn sounded amused. “But I’ve got to admit, I could do with stopping and stretching my legs. I can’t drive the whole way in one stint.”
“Why not?” Lance asked, frustration colouring his tone. “It’s not exactly strenuous.”
Wyn snorted. “You want to give it a go? It’s harder than it looks. Give me a horse any day.”
It was an odd thing to say, it made no sense, but I was still too sleepy to try and puzzle it out. I shifted in my seat, trying to see Lance’s face, but as I moved my bladder made itself known.
“I wouldn’t object to stopping.” My voice came out a little hoarse and sleepy.
Lance started and turned to face me. “I thought you were still sleeping.”
Shaking my head, I rubbed my eyes. “I really would like to stop.”
“There’s a service station a few miles away,” Percy said, looking over the head rest at Lance.
For a moment Lance said nothing, but finally he nodded. “All right, but just a quick stop.”
Just a few minutes later Wyn pulled off the motorway and into a bright service station. He parked the car as close to the main doors as possible.
Lance was at my door before I’d even gotten the seatbelt off. I climbed out, my muscles protesting at being cramped in the same position.
The jogging bottoms and sweater I’d pulled on in place of my nightshirt were mismatched, and they were now hopelessly crumpled. I didn’t even want to know what a bird’s nest my hair must have been. As I reached back to grab my bag for a change of clothes Lance’s fingers closed over my wrist.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting some clean clothes,” I snapped back. “Is that a problem?” I’d gone along with him without complaining because I wanted answers, but I was still on edge, and that tiny voice was being pretty vocal again.
Lance’s grip loosened slightly, but he didn’t let go. He reached with his other hand for my bag.
“All right.” He glanced over his shoulder at Percy and Wyn who were both watching him. “You two go and get some food. Cara and I will meet you in a few minutes.”
Lance steered me towards the door with a hand on my elbow and we separated from the others just inside. I pulled my elbow out of his hand just as we reached the toilet doors.
“Were you planning on coming in with me?”
He flushed and dropped his eyes as he handed me the bag. “No, of course not. I’ll wait right here. If you need me – shout.”
“I’m quite capable of dressing myself,” I muttered.
A tiny smile twitched his lips, which got him a half smile back from me. For just a moment I remembered the ordinary teenager I’d first met, the one who’d made me feel normal, until everything had turned upside down. Then his expression turned serious and the moment disappeared.
“Just don’t be too long.”
I cast one final look his way then pushed open the toilet door. The place was empty. I dropped my bag by the sink before slipping into a cubicle. A few minutes later I was grimacing at the reflection in the mirror. Big shadows darkened my eyes, and my hair, though scraped back into a pony tail, was tangled and frizzy.
As I gazed at my reflection I wondered what Lance thought was going to happen to me in a service station bathroom. He seemed on edge, nervous, and I wasn’t sure why.
I drew my thoughts away from him, even though the image of his face as he held my hand to his cheek seemed to be ingrained behind my eyes. Instead I tried to focus on trying to find some clean clothes. Lance hadn’t really been paying much attention when he’d packed. He’d neglected to pack any winter sweaters, but had packed twelve bras.
A pair of jeans lurked in the bottom of the bag, which got dragged out along with a long sleeved t-shirt. As I dug back into the bag my fingers touched something cold and plastic. I pulled it out and found my mobile phone sitting in my hand.
In the madness of Lance arriving and leaving with him I hadn’t even thought about things like my phone. It was on silent, I always put it on silent at night, but there were no missed calls. It was probably too early for Dad to have discovered my disappearance. I stared at the screen until it went dark.
I could call Dad. Lance would never know. Just a quick phone call to let Dad know I was OK. Surely Lance couldn’t object, he’d packed the phone after all.
I flipped through my contact list until I got to ‘home’. My finger hovered over the green call button. The phone was Lance’s way of saying I was free to go anytime I wanted, his promise that I wasn’t going anywhere against my will. But I knew that if I made that call, I’d never know the truth. My fingers closed around the phone and pushed it back to the bottom of the bag.
I changed quickly and raked a brush through my hair. Lance hadn’t packed any make-up – not that I expected him to have – so my pale, tired looking face would have to stay that way.
Just as I pulled my hair back there was a tap at the door.
“Cara?”
I pushed down a flash of irritation. It wasn’t as though I could come to any danger in a toilet, and the tiny window on the far wall was too small for me to get through, so he couldn’t be worried about me running off. Quickly tying back my hair I reached the door just as Lance pushed it open from the outside. It missed my nose by a couple of millimetres.
“Sorry.” He grabbed my arm to steady me as I stepped backwards.
“What’s the rush?” I muttered as he took the bag. “Nothing was going to happen to me.”
A look flashed across his face that made me hesitate, and I remembered the strange feeling in the street outside my house.
“Of course not,” he said a fraction to
o quickly, smoothing his expression. “Come on.”
I trailed after him across the service station. The bright lights of a newsagent’s occupied a corner of the building, but we headed straight for the large food court and the seats outside a McDonalds. Percy and Wyn sat at a table in the far corner, the top strewn with empty burger wrappers.
“Did you actually leave any for us?” Lance asked as we reached them.
Wyn snorted. “Only just. But I convinced Percy that you might kill him if he ate everything.” He turned, hooking one foot around a nearby chair and pulling it over for me.
I hadn’t realised how hungry I was until Wyn pushed a tray over to me with a McDonald’s breakfast and my stomach growled. Beside me Lance ate, but he still seemed on edge, his free hand tapping against his thigh, and he glanced often towards the rising sun.
In what seemed like no time he touched my arm. “Time to go.” I’d barely eaten half my breakfast.
“What’s the rush?” I asked him as we stepped out into the car park. It was a question I’d asked a few times, but I was yet to get an answer. I figured I’d keep asking it until I did. A cold gust of wind swept across the car park making me shiver and Lance shrugged out of his jacket.
“Sorry, I forgot to pack something warm.” He wrapped the jacket around my shoulders and I was sufficiently distracted. The inside of the leather was warm and the smell of it surrounded me. There was the scent of soap and aftershave, but oddly enough there was also a slightly metallic smell, one I didn’t quite recognise, but mostly it just smelt like him, warm and very masculine. I couldn’t help the memories it brought back of a rainy day, and flirting in a doorway. That guy and girl seemed so far away right then, like they were completely separate people.
“You didn’t answer my question,” I pointed out as we reached the car.
He grinned, realising he’d been caught out. “No, I didn’t. That’s because it’s a tricky one to answer – without explaining everything – and I’m not the one to do that.” He smiled and opened the car door. “Just trust me.”
“You keep saying that,” I said as he closed the door.
Leaving the service station we headed straight back out onto the motorway. We drove in silence for a long while, half an hour at least. We’d left the moors far behind, moving deeper into the south of England. An odd tingling in my fingertips, like pins and needles, made me flex my hands constantly as the scenery flashed by.
Percy seemed to get tired of the silence eventually and he twisted in his seat, fixing me with one of his open, infectious grins.
“Did you see us?”
I blinked at him in confusion. “See you where?”
“I mean in your dreams? Did you see us coming?”
“Percy!” There was a warning tone in Lance’s voice and I turned to look at him.
As I did pain sliced through my mind. The voice in my head roared with rage and impotent fury. The volume of it rendered the actual words indistinct, but I felt rather than heard the warning.
I clamped my hands over my ears, even though I knew it wouldn’t help, and suddenly the world turned white.
As though from a great distance I heard Wyn shouting and Lance yelling something back, then everything flipped upside down.
My body bounced around like rag doll as the jeep rolled over and over. I couldn’t tell up from down, then, as my side hit the door with a sickening crunch, I blacked out.
Chapter Seven
I was lost in the dark, alone and terrified. The only memory I had was one of unbelievable pain, everything beyond it was a blank.
Then a voice reached me in the darkness and I grabbed on to it like a drowning man clinging to a lifeline.
Cara, you’re safe. No harm will come to you. You have to wake up.
Memories flooded back with the voice. The screech of tortured metal, blinding pain, and Lance shouting my name over and over. I didn’t want to wake up and see what had happened.
The voice was soothing me, whispering meaningless words that nevertheless calmed me.
“You’re always with me,” I whispered into the darkness. I’d thought I’d only recently started hearing it, but the truth, I realised now, was the voice had always been a part of my subconscious, all through my childhood. Little memories were coming back, things I hadn’t thought about in years. Things that had long been buried behind the wall in my mind, along with the voice.
Yes, Cara. I am always with you.
For some reason the thought comforted me, I didn’t feel so alone.
“Who are you?”
I felt amusement from the voice. Now is not the time, Cara. You’ll understand soon, I promise. But right now you are in danger. There are those out there who do not want you to know the truth, who do not want you to succeed. You must wake up, and trust in those around you.
As though unable to disobey the voice, my consciousness returned. Noises reached me first, the thunder of traffic nearby and the sound of Lance saying my name over and over again.
“Lance.” Wyn’s voice was desperate. “Lance, we need to move her away from the road. We need to get out of here.”
I forced my eyes open. Lance was bent over me, his face only inches from my own. His eyes widened in relief and he let out his breath in a rush.
“Don’t ever do that to me again,” he muttered, slipping one hand under my neck and lifting my head.
“What happened?” I turned my head. The jeep lay a few meters away, crushed and mangled. The smell of leaking petrol caught at the back on my throat. Percy was slumped on the ground nearby, cradling his arm. His right side was covered in blood.
Lance followed my gaze then his eyes flashed back to mine.
“It was an accident.”
I shook my head. I didn’t believe that for a second. Ours was the only car involved, and the road wasn’t wet, or icy. Then there was the voice warning me seconds before. Something had made us crash, and it wasn’t Wyn’s driving.
A tiny, faint smile crossed Lance’s lips. “All right, it wasn’t an accident. But we need to get out of here.”
“Why?” I sat up and regretted it almost immediately as my vision swam and bile rose in my throat. I lifted one hand to the side of my head where the pain was worse and it came away covered in blood.
“Because the police are going to be here any moment.” Lance answered my question as he slipped his other arm under my knees and lifted me up, cradling me against his chest. He glanced over his shoulder at Wyn, who was helping Percy to his feet. “Grab Cara’s bag. Come on.”
“Why don’t you want to wait for the police?” I asked. I wanted to protest about being carried across the field away from the jeep and the motorway, but Lance’s arms were warm and strong around me and I felt safe.
He looked down into my eyes. “Because, technically, Wyn doesn’t have a license to drive.”
I had to turn that sentence around in my head a few times, because I couldn’t quite bring myself to believe it. Maybe I’d been wrong about the reason for the crash. Lance saw the expression on my face and laughed, the sound rumbling in his chest.
“Don’t worry. He’s quite capable of driving; he just doesn’t have a piece of paper to prove it.”
We were across the other side of the field when the sound of approaching sirens reached us and Lance broke into a jog, jostling me in his arms. A small B-road curved round the edge of the field and we crossed it quickly, slipping into the small grove of trees on the other side.
“Lance,” Wyn called out once we were a few steps into the trees. “We have to stop.”
Lifting my head, I looked over Lance’s shoulder. Wyn struggled along behind us, supporting a glassy-eyed Percy, my bag slung over his other shoulder.
“I guess you’re right.” Lance came to an unsteady stop, lowering me to the ground, propped against a tree.
Wyn helped Percy to sit against the tree opposite me.
“Are you ok?” I asked as Lance and Wyn walked back towards the road to see if
anyone had followed us.
Percy shot me a weak grin. “Takes more than a car accident to slow me down.”
He had a clearly broken arm which he was cradling close to his chest and numerous cuts and bruises covering his face and neck – he looked like the accident had slowed him down pretty well.
“You need to get to a hospital.”
“No.” Lance reappeared. He hunkered down beside Percy. “We don’t have time for that.”
Lance ran his fingers over the arm, feeling for the break in the bone. He glanced towards my bag.
“Cara, I need to borrow a t-shirt or something.”
I frowned. “I don’t think anything I have will fit him.” But I nodded anyway. Lance pulled out a plain white top from the bag and I had to choke back a protest as he carefully started ripping it into strips.
Wyn appeared with a couple of long, straight bits of wood.
Lance glanced over his shoulder at me. “You might want to look away.”
I frowned in confusion. “I don’t…”
Percy’s scream of agony ripped through the air as Lance yanked his arm back into place. I swear there was the sound of the edges of bone grating together.
Sweat dripped down Percy’s face as he turned very pale. He looked close to blacking out. Wyn held his shoulders as Lance bound the bits of wood as a splint to the broken bone, using my ripped t-shirt as bandages.
“Better?” Lance asked as he created a crude sling.
“Oh, yeah,” Percy said through gritted teeth. “Loads better.”
Lance chuckled at the sarcasm and patted him on his good shoulder before moving over to me.
“How are you doing?”
I shrugged. “My head feels like someone hit it with a sledge hammer, but otherwise I’m just great.”
The Last Knight (Pendragon Book 1) Page 6
