WE BURST THROUGH the front room doors just as the wind had started to pick up. Ric doubled back and shut them while Ethan threw a few logs in the hearth. I went to grab a box of matches when he held up his hand, stopping me with a single motion. He smirked and placed his hand on the top log, waiting patiently before smoke started to rise from beneath his fingers. A few seconds later flames licked across his skin and I rushed forward with a startled cry. He sighed, cracking his knuckles, and lifted his hand from the fire as warmth filled the room. I dropped to my knees and before I could stop myself I took his hand in mine and inspected it, turning it this way and that.
“How-?” There were no blisters, no burns, no sores…moreover; he’d just lit the fire with his bare hands. I released him and slumped back, ignoring the wet patch I left on the rug from my sodden dress.
“Is your memory truly that bad?” he teased. “Skinwalker – Demon – Gnathian,” he said, pointing from Ric to himself to me.
“Though, you’re a different Demon, right?” I corrected him. “Can the others do…that?”
“Not one,” he said. “Aren’t I just special?”
“’Special’ isn’t quite the word I’d use,” I teased back. “You’ll have to tell me how you do it one day.”
“I’ll spring it on you. You won’t know if I’m joking or not.”
“Ah, well, you’re out of luck. That’s how I think of our conversations already,” I said with mock sincerity.
“Shut up, you. Try reflecting on what we told you today instead of being a smartass.” He stuck his chin out.
“And work on getting warm,” Ric added, dropping a towel on my head. “It’ll be Willow that ends our miserable lives if you get sick again.”
“Oh, please, I haven’t had a cold since…well, ever.” I suddenly thought. “That’s odd, isn’t it?”
Ric shrugged. “Depends on how healthy you are. The ailments we’ve seen on you so far have been because of a raving psychopath.”
“Very true,” I answered quickly. Ethan rubbed the towel over my hair until it was sticking up in all angles.
“After today the threads of information grow longer and more entwined, so you’ve got to grasp the basics if you want to understand. We don’t have many books on our history anymore.”
“My head hurts, and I knew about it already,” Ric said, rubbing the back of his head.
“I expect your head always hurts though, doesn’t it-?” Ethan started but I threw my towel over his head, severing an argument waiting to happen.
“Shouldn’t the others be back by now?” I asked.
Ric looked outside and caught a glimpse of the setting sun behind dark clouds. “The girls will be back soon. They keep to their schedule – sunrise to sunset, three days a week…most of the time.”
“And Alistair and Daniel?
“Who knows?” Ric shrugged. “Could be today – could be a few days from now. Whatever happened on Daniel’s last run has put him in quite a foul mood.”
“I hope nothing’s wrong,” I said, yawning. The room was suddenly cosy against the dull, darkening evening outside. The rain had lessened to a light mist of drizzle, which I always thought was the worst type of wet weather. Somehow it made everything wetter and more slippery, like algae on old wood. A wave of exhaustion suddenly hit me and I yawned again, finding it very hard to keep my eyes open. There had been so much to take in; so much to consider and to get my head around; so many questions that needed to be answered. It made me dizzy.
“Stop that,” Ethan said, covering his mouth.
“What?” I glared at him and yawned again.
“That-.” His hand failed to cover his mouth in time and he bared his sharp-looking teeth as the yawn caught on.
“Sorry,” I laughed. “I’m just tired. I’ve got no excuse to be tired.”
Just as I felt my mind plunging into a state of semi-sleep, I heard voices in the hall and the lounge door opened. Willow and Lavender entered and almost dropped their bags at the sight of us.
“Where have you three been?” Willow demanded. We must have looked a state. The floor was wet. We were wet. Everything was wet. “Daeus help us; half-drowned rats look drier than you do.”
“We went on a short trip to give Ava some fresh air,” Ric said.
“You don’t have to make me sound like a dog, you know.” I raised my eyebrows. “Though if you insist, can I have a treat? Do you want me to sit? Though, I’m technically sitting already. What about if I roll over-?”
“Quiet, Madam Sarcasm, it’s a poor humour,” Ric said, trying to hide a smile.
“Where did you go on this ‘short trip’?” Lavender asked. A bite of playful jealousy rang as she sat behind me and towelled my hair properly.
“We rode to Andor to pay our respects,” Ethan said, taking a deep breath in. “We also told her everything.” His words shattered the atmosphere in the room like taking a stone to a mirror. Lavender’s hands stilled, half-tangled in my hair and Willow turned to him. Her eyes were wide. “I mean, she guessed a large chunk of it anyway, so we were only filling in the gaps.”
“What do you mean ‘she guessed’?” she asked.
“I’m sorry.” I squeezed Lav’s hand and faced Willow with all the courage I could muster. “This is my fault. It started out as an accident. That night I tried escaping I was chased down in the forest by – something.” I didn’t elaborate. “Ethan probably never told you but he saved my life…again, by shooting the creature dead with his,” I tried searching for the word, “thing.”
“I see,” she said.
“Then in the hidden library there was a book I happened across and it made me ask so many questions that the boys really didn’t have any choice. I bullied them into it.” I wrung my hands together.
Willow was still for a moment. “What did you learn?”
“I learnt of the creatures myself and confronted Ethan about the similarities between what I read and what I saw. Then I explored the house further – which was Ethan’s fault technically – and found the rooms below. You know, the – um – prison.” I held my hands up reassuringly. “I still don’t know what it’s being used for. Quite frankly, I didn’t want to know.”
“After we found her she had already observed enough about us to understand we weren’t the same either; right down to our heartbeats.” Ethan appeared almost impressed as he spoke. “We were going to tell her everything here but then Alistair returned and-”
“Instead we took her to Andor and explained the basics,” Ric piped up. “She knows what I am, what you are and what Stephan is. Even without bullying the information out of us I believe she would have put the pieces together eventually.”