Mouse, Mella said, I’m scared.
Shh, Lil said back.
As Lil stepped into the hallway outside her room, the house seemed to breathe in around her, like something was pulling the walls tighter and smaller. There was another thwack on the front door. It turned Lil’s insides over. She flicked on the lights in the hallway. There was a flash and then a pop. The lights went out. A blown fuse. Great. Perfect timing.
“There are candles in the kitchen,” she said in Kiran’s general direction, because it was too dark to see him. She heard him moving about and then saw a beam of light as he turned on the flashlight on his phone.
They went down the stairs together, Lil slightly ahead, Kiran holding his phone up so they could see the way. When they got to the front door, Lil peered through the glass. Usually you could make out the shape of the person beyond: fuzzy like a blurred photo. There was nothing out there now but darkness. “Seven?” Lil said. “Sabrina?” No answer. The uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach growing, she opened the door.
There was no one there.
Lil went out onto the step and looked about, while Kiran shone the flashlight into the dark corners of the driveway. It only made them seem darker somehow. “That’s so weird,” she said. She was going to call out again, but that feeling came back, of not wanting to disturb something.
Her Wellington boots were in the hallway, and she pulled them on quickly, then went a little way down the drive. The wind was properly howling now, slapping her in the face and whirling her hair out behind her. She pulled her sweater more tightly around her. The driveway was dark, the sky a slice of blackness above it, apart from the silver orb of the moon.
Lil looked about. She felt prickly all over. The gravel driveway was empty and so was the lane beyond—or so she thought; it was full of dancing shadows. Lil had an urge to run back to the house. She almost jumped out of her skin when Kiran yelled her name. She looked over to find him gesticulating wildly. She jogged the three or four steps back to him.
“What?” she said. But before he could answer, she heard it. That thud. Again. And it wasn’t coming from the front of the house. Had it never been coming from the front? Or perhaps whoever had been making that noise had moved around to the back?
Lil was icy cold, and it had nothing to do with the wind. Sabrina would never knock on the back door. You couldn’t even get to the back door from the front of the house. There was a gate, but it was always locked. Otherwise, the only way to it was across the Merryns’ fields, and that meant climbing several fences, and beyond that were miles of nothingness.
“Why would someone be at the back door?” Kiran asked.
“Seven could have gone out that way. Or maybe in the storm . . . Sabrina got stuck and had to. . .” Lil didn’t bother to finish her sentence. It made no sense. She again had that prickly sensation of being watched. She really wished the lights hadn’t gone out. The phone’s flashlight barely penetrated the darkness.
“You want to answer it?” Kiran asked.
“Not really,” Lil said.
“But it’s got to be Sabrina or Seven, right? Or one of your neighbors.”
“What neighbors?”
“Or someone who got lost?”
Kiran’s suggestions were perfectly logical, but Lil doubted they applied, and why was the person just banging? Why not say something?
Lil went back into the house. She then shut and bolted the front door. Beyond the reach of Kiran’s flashlight, the hallway was ink black, a dead space of nothingness. Anyone could be standing right beside her and she wouldn’t even know. The hairs rose on the back of her neck again. She turned around sharply as there was another bang. And then in that instant she realized what the noise was. “The back door,” she said. “We didn’t bolt it properly when we went out earlier looking for Seven. It’s blowing in the wind. Quick, get the candles from the kitchen and I’ll go and lock it.” Her voice echoed loudly in the empty house. There was an inky patch near the top of the stairs, as though someone was standing there. “Seven?” she said, her voice quieter.
There was no answer.
“There’s no one up there.” Kiran swung the torch upward. He was right. The stairs were as empty as they should be, but still, Lil couldn’t shake the feeling . . .
She hung back by the kitchen door as Kiran rummaged through the cupboard under the sink. “You said there were candles in here?” he asked.
“Yeah, or maybe in one of the drawers.” There was another thud. The sound of it brought the hairs up on the back of her neck. She wanted that door shut now. How long had it been open? Since yesterday afternoon? Since yesterday morning? Had someone gotten in? Fear washed over Lil like an icy shower. “Can I have your phone?” she asked Kiran as he emerged from the cupboard, candles and lighter in hand.
Once he’d lit a candle and handed the phone over, she set off down the hall.
“What?” he cried after her. “Wait! Lil.”
But she didn’t want to wait. She wanted to lock the back door. Right. Now.
When she got to the end of the hall, she found freezing-cold rain blowing in through the open doorway. The flashlight on Kiran’s phone was pretty rubbish and only illuminated the doorframe. The door itself was just blackness, like a portal to another world. She wished she’d waited for Kiran. She could hear him moving about in the kitchen, presumably lighting more candles, and the sound was reassuring.
She swung the phone around, trying to assess what had happened, and saw that the door had flung back with such force that one of the hinges had snapped. She drew a deep breath. It was just a door; it had blown open loads of times before. Seven had probably left it open when she went out. There was nothing to be afraid of. Lil gave herself a stern talking to and then reached forward. Her hand closed around the door handle and pulled. To no avail; the door was well and truly wedged. She didn’t have the strength to move it at this angle. She’d have to go outside.
She took a deep breath and stepped out. The rain lashed her face and hair. Lil fumbled for a bit before she found the door handle. She tugged again. It gave much more quickly this time, so quickly, in fact, that when a gust of wind caught it, she was knocked off balance. Lil stumbled, Kiran’s phone flying out of her hand as she landed bum-first in a puddle of icy water.
The door slammed shut.
It was total blackness now. The moon must have disappeared behind a cloud. It didn’t even seem like there were any stars. Lil splashed around, desperately looking for the phone. The wind howled in her ears as loud as someone screaming. Then she heard it: a faint scratching over by the house, like fingernails clawing at a windowpane. She looked up, heart sounding a percussion in her head. Two eyes gleamed back at her.
Lil couldn’t help herself. She screamed.
CHAPTER TEN
At the sound of her cry, the creature—Lil was sure now that it was a fox—bolted across the yard. Lil’s breathing came out jagged and uneven. She struggled to get to her knees and then to stand as the icy water seeped through her tracksuit bottoms to her skin. Forcing herself to recover her nerves—It’s just a fox—she splashed around again, trying to find Kiran’s phone. When she couldn’t, she shouted for him. She turned around quickly, with that lingering sense of someone watching her.
There was a patch of white glowing faintly by the tree line at the back of the yard. It seemed to float among the trees, fading in and out of view as the wind blew. It looked ghostly, and Lil shivered, feeling her heart begin to race.
“Seven?” she called. It was little more than a whisper, but the shape stopped moving, coalescing into patches of light and dark. “Seven, is that you?” Lil said again, louder this time and moved forward, hands stretched out in front, the darkness clawing at her. She blinked, and when she opened her eyes again, the white shape was gone.
The moon had come out from behind the trees, casting a bright glow across the whole yard, and there was Seven, standing by the fence. Relief ran over Lil like warm water, un
til she remembered that Seven was no longer wearing a white dress. The white shape she’d seen couldn’t have been her. Fear almost took Lil’s legs out from under her.
She whirled around quickly, looking everywhere for any sign of that white shadow. There was nothing, only her and Seven. Whatever else—whoever else—had been here was gone, or hiding. Lil’s knees buckled at that thought, but she tried to reassure herself. It was a sheep, most likely. They were always getting loose, but doubt niggled at her. She’d seen no sheep today, and the neighboring farmer had probably put them indoors ahead of the storm. Heart thumping, Lil did one last rove of the yard and tried to force it from her mind.
She strode quickly toward Seven, keen to get them both inside as fast as possible. “What are you doing out here?”
Seven was staring up at the moon. “It is beautiful, isn’t it?”
Lil barely glanced up. The moon didn’t seem relevant at the moment. “Why did you leave like that? We didn’t know where you were. We were worried about you.”
“They said the moon did not shine as brightly out here, and the stars were different. If we ever left, we’d get lost and not find our way back. But the sky is just as radiant. The moon is just the same. It’s the sun’s opposite; it tethers her to the earth. We all have our opposite, our balancing force.” She smiled at Lil, her eyes round and dark in the moonlight.
“What are you doing out here?” Lil asked again. She didn’t want to get caught up in Seven’s riddles. Understanding them was like trying to find the end in a tangled ball of wool. The more you looked, the more knotted up you got. “You can’t just go wandering off in the middle of the night! I found you . . . I feel responsible for you now. If anything happened to you . . .”
Kiran appeared at the back door, candle in hand. “Everything all right?” he shouted.
“Come on,” Lil said after waving at Kiran, “let’s go inside. We’ll sort it out. It’ll be okay.” She didn’t even know what needed sorting out; it was just something to say. She started walking across the lawn.
Kiran was shouting about finding more candles, so she couldn’t be certain, but she was pretty sure Seven said, “You don’t know what I’ve done.”
Lil hesitated a second, but Kiran was standing in the doorway with the light and she wanted to get inside and get warm, so she kept walking. When she reached him, Lil ducked against Kiran, wrapping her thawing fingers in his sweater. He brought his arm tight around her. She’d never held him like this. But it felt right. It felt good.
• • •
“And then there was light,” Kiran said as Lil struck a match and brought the flame against the wick of the candle. Kiran had managed to find an extra whole pack of them in a kitchen drawer. The kitchen walls flickered with candlelight.
Lil felt immediately calmer; the fear she had felt earlier receded, thanks to the warmth of the room. She was less cold, too. She’d found a pair of clean tracksuit bottoms hanging on the kitchen radiator and changed into them in the larder, not wanting to go back upstairs in the dark. Sensation finally returned to her fingers.
She had good memories of this room. It was the best in the house, in her opinion. She and Mella had hung out here a lot, before Mella started spending all her time with Cai, of course. With the AGA stove, it was the warmest place to be. They would do their homework at the kitchen table. Or Lil would. Mella mainly painted intricate patterns on her nails and checked messages on her phone.
“Oh!” Lil said, the thought jogging her memory. “Kiran, I’m so sorry. I dropped your phone in the puddle. I’ll buy you another one.” Although with what money, she wasn’t sure. “Or it might still work. I could go check.”
“No,” he said quickly. “Don’t go out there again. Let’s wait till it’s light or see if we can sort the electricity. Then we can get that outside light working.” He turned to Seven. “You all right?”
She sat at the kitchen table. The blanket Lil had draped around her hung loosely over her shoulders, which were hunched. Neck tucked in, she was like a tortoise retreating into its shell. The habitual fear was scored into the lines of her face, but this time it was mixed with something else. An expression Lil couldn’t exactly read. Seven was staring at the photo of Mella and Lil that stood in a frame on the sideboard. “My sister,” Lil said. “Mella.” She gave a weak smile.
Seven looked at Lil and then back at the photo. “You don’t look alike.”
“No. Mella looks like my mum. I take after my dad.”
Seven was staring at Lil like she was solving a crossword puzzle.
“What?” Lil asked.
Seven shook her head: Nothing. But she kept staring. It made Lil uncomfortable. She turned to Kiran. “Should we try to find the fuse box? I think it’s probably in the cupboard under the stairs.”
“Sure,” he said. “We should check the home phone again too. They might have fixed the line.”
Lil opened her mouth to say she doubted it, but her eyes fell on Seven, who was still staring at the photo of Mella. She got up and took it down from the cabinet, and was weighing it in her hand.
“Seven, what . . . ?” Lil asked.
“Mouse?” Seven’s voice was unsteady.
Lil’s breath caught in her throat. How did Seven know that name? No one called Lil that but Mella.
Her own disbelief was reflected in Seven’s face. “I found you,” she said breathily, “by the Light. I found you.”
“You called me Mouse. How did you know that name? . . .” Lil trailed off. “What’s going on?”
Seven came forward, placing the photo down on the table, before clasping Lil’s hands in hers. Lil shrank back slightly. Seven’s gaze was so intense.
“I know your sister,” Seven said. “She’s the reason I came here. You’re the reason I came here.”
“I don’t . . . what?” Lil stammered. “You know Mella? How . . . ? I don’t understand.” Her mouth formed the words, but they felt entirely disconnected from her brain, which felt like it was on fire. Seven knew Mella? Seven had seen Mella? That meant she was alive.
Of course I’m alive, said Mella’s voice in Lil’s head. Rude!
And Lil smiled, despite everything. Because after months of nothing, she had saved a girl in the road who somehow knew Mella. How was this possible? It was too much to take in. Lil felt overwhelmed—happy, yes, but overwhelmed.
Kiran put his arm around her shoulder in a hug that was more than a hug. It was like he’d grown twelve feet tall and twelve feet wide and he was wrapped around her and holding her. He smiled at her, and it said, See, you were right! You knew she was all right.
But they didn’t know that. Lil’s happiness became anxiety once more, because Seven was very far from okay, and if she knew Mella, then there was every chance Mella was in trouble too.
Lil took a deep breath. She was getting ahead of herself. “How do you know her?” she asked. “Where is she? Is she okay? Please, you have to tell me everything. Where’s my sister? Where’s Mella?”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Your sister is a member of the Sisterhood of the Light, like me. We are the chosen daughters of the Sun. She is our creator and our spirit guide. We call Her the Light and honor Her always.” Seven’s voice was hesitant and quiet. Every word she spoke was fragile, like the unfurling of a flower.
“What does that mean? The Sisterhood of the Light? How did Mella know about you?” Lil asked. She was scared of startling Seven into silence, but she couldn’t hold back. There was so much she wanted to know and so much she needed to understand.
“Moon, our high priestess, goes out into the world and brings back the Light’s daughters so that they may be saved by the Brightness.”
“Light’s daughters?” Kiran repeated. His eyebrows dipped into a near perfect V.
“Yes, those who belong to the Light but who have been born into Darkness.”
“Darkness!” Lil repeated angrily. “Mella wasn’t born in Darkness. She was happy here! She was loved. How can you
say that? Who is this Moon to go around gathering up people who have homes and families who love them! Is that why she left us? Because of you guys?”
“Lil,” Kiran said gently. “Let her explain.”
Lil knew he was right, that getting cross with Seven wasn’t going to help, but she didn’t care, because it hurt to hear her and Mella’s childhood condemned like that. What gave Moon the right to take her sister away?
“Your sister had already left home when Moon met her.”
“Oh,” Lil said, and then again, even sadder, when she realized the implications. “Oh.” Moon hadn’t forced Mella to leave.
So it was my fault, she said to Mella in her head.
There was a moment’s silence, and then Mella said, very quietly, You were kinda mean, Mouse.
Lil’s cheeks flushed with shame. She would regret that last conversation with Mella for the rest of her life.
“High Priestess Moon found your sister living on the streets.”
“Sleeping rough?” Lil’s heart twisted at the thought. Oh, Mella, what happened to you?
“She was afraid and alone, and Moon brought her home to us and to the Light.”
“And that’s where she is now? At your home? At this Sisterhood?” When Seven nodded, Lil asked, “Where is it?” Her heart was racing. This was the best, the only, lead they’d had in months. Lil wanted to run out of the house right then, get in Kiran’s car, and drive until she found her sister.
“I don’t know,” Seven said.
Lil felt like a popped balloon, the hope of a second ago seeping out of her. “Why not? You came from there! This morning!”
“I’ve never left the compound before. I was scared. I just ran. . . . I don’t know. . . .”
“Well, think!” Lil almost shouted. “Please. This is important!”
“Lil,” Kiran said softly.
She rounded on him. “If Seven can tell us something, anything, then we’ll find her. We can find Mella.” To Seven she said, “Which way did you run? Here, I’ll get a map. Maybe if you see it, you’ll remember something.”
The Sisterhood Page 9
