For a brief second I thought his expression softened before Ric almost barged the door into the room off its hinges. Roan bared his teeth, snarling at them, and disappeared back into the grate hole.
“Quickly,” Willow called to Alistair, “get after him. We can’t let him escape.” Alistair bolted back along the passage and took chase. “Ethan, Ric, you’re with me. We’ll see if we can spread out and cut him off. Alistair won’t be able to take him on alone if what Chester says is true.”
I didn’t look up at any of them but could feel eyes burning into my back as I huddled pathetically on the floor. My grief was suffocating. When the room was empty and quiet Lavender helped me to my feet and walked with me to the lounge. I sat quiet and still in the chair while Lavender fetched cups of steaming herbal water and cleaned my wound.
“Valerian root,” she said encouragingly. “It’ll help calm you.”
“Do you think I’m a Berserker spy?” I asked, cutting straight to the point.
Lavender studied me. “No, I don’t.” She continued, “I knew you were different, but I don’t believe you’d join their cause, especially if you are who Daniel says you are and they’d massacred your entire family.” She tied off the bandage around my leg and played with my braid as it swung over my shoulder, fastening the feathers deeper inside the band. “Clearly there are others who think so too.”
MY MIND WORKED feverishly in the hours we sat there. If they caught up with Roan he would be questioned, tortured, or worse. He may have been corrupted by a relentless evil but some of his goodness must still remain. When Lavender let me sit alone in the sitting room I let the ancient despair for my family, for my memories and for Roan swallow me up.
I WAS ROUSED in the early morning by heavy footsteps and loud voices. My body shook as I pressed my feet into the cold ground and walked out to meet them in the hall. Ethan wore a freshly blackened eye and a scrape across his cheek, and Alistair’s forearm had been lacerated by sharp nails.
“I can’t believe we lost him,” Daniel snarled.
“He was fast, Daniel, much faster than we’d anticipated. He’s unlike any young one I’ve seen. It’s no wonder he climbed to Senior so quickly.” Willow asked Lavender for warm water and turned her attention to Alistair’s arm.
“He slipped right through my fingers,” Daniel spat and threw a piece of torn material to the floor in a rage.
“At least Ric has his scent,” Willow reassured. “Should he come within the perimeter of our territory we’ll know about it. Next time we’ll be ready for him.”
“How did he know where to find us? How did he know where to find her?” Alistair flinched while his wound was cleaned.
“There was no way she could have gotten a message out. Trust me, the only way out of that cell is through the door,” Ric said. “At least I didn’t think there was another way.”
“Even if there was something suspicious going on, the reunion between Ava and her friend was clearly not a pleasant one.”
“Just because one of them has a grudge doesn’t mean the rest of them will,” Alistair said.
“We’ll just have to wait and see.” Willow wrapped Alistair’s arm and turned her attention to Ethan. “Somebody gave that information out. For now, Ava’s as much a suspect as the rest of us are.” My relief was insurmountable.
“Did any of you see anyone else during the chase?” Lavender asked.
“No, there was only him.” Daniel pressed his fingers into his forehead.
“Check the outside of the house,” Willow ordered. “We need to locate the entrance point and block it. If any trouble arises it could prove fatal for our defences. The cell bars are a deterrent, not an obstruction to something as powerful as that.”
Daniel nodded obediently and shot me one last look before disappearing. My vision sparked and I went back to the sitting room. My head spun. Daeus, I had to lie down. Lavender followed me in while the others continued discussing.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Sorry.” I tried to clear my head. “I’ve got no right to feel crappy, I know – I’m just a bit shaken.”
Lavender sat in the chair beside me and picked up her book. “Rest for a bit longer,” she said. “I doubt any of us will be sleeping for a while after this.”
She didn’t have to tell me twice. Not two blinks later I was gone. The ceiling above melted into grey stone as my eyes adjusted.
I recognised the room from its shelves upon shelves of books but I wasn’t at Willow’s house. Catriona’s voice became clearer against the muffled background noise of a busy household and I stretched out my small arms. The old, leather chair I sat in was Father’s favourite. He would usually grumble about it being taken, but not today. Adrian paced from one side of the room to the other and peered out of the window several times a minute. He was edgy.
I joined in with Mother’s singing and clambered onto one of the large, wooden desks that sat amongst the room. Though it felt like I was a mile from the ground I leapt fearlessly to the bookshelf beside me and reached out for a leather-bound book almost as big as I was. I read the complex writing and symbols with ease; a skill attained far beyond my years. Father was always so proud of it.
The singing stopped as a chill ran through me, making the hair on my neck stand up. My insides bubbled nervously and I dropped the book, jumping back down to the floor. Mother called after me but I didn’t go far from the study; after all we had been ordered to remain inside but there were still a few windows. The door was cracked so I could still be seen by my parents, enough to allay their worry. Outside the sky was murky and a layer of damp other than the nearby geysers hung over us. But there was something else; something that made my neck ache and the air around us utterly suffocating.
In the old, rounded walkway something seemed to moan. I reached out to touch the purple wildflowers as they closed their petals. Run, they whispered, bad close. Leaves brushed my hands, turning my attention to the far end of the corridor. I was standing downwind of something foul; I could smell its rotting presence as the air breezed past.
“Papa,” I called, still unaware of what I was feeling.