Chapter 8
OLLIE
After puking in the HQ carpark, I started to feel better. Putting distance between myself and that damn building helped. So did the drive along Rainbow Mile.
I loved it down here on the seafront. Seeing the twinkling lights of the attractions facing the dark beach always warmed the cockles. Nighttime was the best to see its colorful glory in full swing.
Whenever I wanted to clear my head, I came down here to wander the mile-long stretch, tuning into the sounds of the sea under the tinkling of cash in slot machines, music, and breathing in the smells of popcorn, candy floss, and fish and chips.
I’d even stop for a bite to eat at a restaurant or café, then dump a few coins in some game in one of the arcades.
It was such a magical pocket away from regular reality, my body itching to park up and be out there in the thick of things right now.
“I can smell a chippy,” Jake said, patting his stomach. “What I wouldn’t give for a large cod and chips with a side of curry sauce.” He licked his lips.
My belly rumbled a yes. “Want to grab a bite?”
“Let’s do it, mate.”
My phone rang, Mum’s name flashing on the dashboard screen. Jake clicked the answer button for me so I could speak to her hands-free.
“Hi, Mum,” I answered. “I’m almost—”
“Something’s happening here.” She sounded breathless, a little panicked.
“What’s going on?”
The line crackled, elevated voices in the background.
“It’s the Hecate Crystals again…they…woman…what…” White noise swallowed most of her voice.
“Mum?”
“Erin?” Jake tried, leaning forward to check the screen on my dashboard.
The call timer continued to tick by, but there was no sound other than the crackle coming from the speakers.
“Crap!” I hissed, heading for Aurora Lane.
When I hit the steep, curved road, I picked up speed on the ascent up the cliffs toward the mansion at the top.
Please be alright, I repeated in my head, dread an iron ball in my chest.
Man, I worried about Mum all the time. I couldn’t live in a world without her. Losing Dad had been brutal, grief’s permanent barbs embedded in my heart. Even the slightest suggestion of Mum leaving my life was out of the question. I wouldn’t allow it. She didn’t get to go to the other side.
Dammit. My brain skirted toward panic mode.
Jake hung up, calling back.
Mum answered, but her voice got engulfed in the crackles again.
I accelerated, heart performing backflips while Jake tried calling the Brambles.
No answer.
He tried Drake, then Riley, then Isaac. No one answered their phones.
My chest contracted painfully, my scalp prickling. I couldn’t drive any faster than this unless I wanted to crash the car on the next bend.
Jake kept trying the phones.
Whenever bad things happen, the world always slows to a crawl. As if you’re wading through water, desperately fighting the liquid resistance as you try reaching your goal.
This was the quickest route home, but that didn’t stop the mental flagellation for not thinking of a better plan.
Mum would bollock me if she knew how much I worried about her. She was a realist, never shying away from the cold hard facts of death. One moment you’re alive, the next you’re gone. All part of the circle of life, according to her.
A matter-of-fact statement, sure, but after she lost Dad and then the previous Aurora triplets, she’d decided to try making the inevitable more palatable with more sprinkles of sugar. Like telling me she’d always be with me when her time came.
I refused to swallow any facts or sugar-coated crap. It wouldn’t lessen any hurt, and it wouldn’t stop grief’s rotten touch.
“It’ll be okay, Ollie,” Jake shot for reassurance.
Tell that to my panic.
Fear fluttered like birds trapped in a room with a cat. My knuckles were on the verge of popping from my tight grip on the steering wheel.
The mansion was protected. Magic couldn’t break through the protection spell, especially after Riley cast the latest one with his sacred strength. At the same time, nothing was infallible. We were up against shadow magic, as well as the strange power of the mystery fae woman.
Come on, car! Move your wheels!
I turned the last corner, coming into the final stretch where the high verge on my right gave way to the wrought iron fences of the mansion grounds.
A huge crystal shade stood in the driveway, the gates flattened beneath it.
“Holy shit,” Jake said, speaking for us both.
I spotted the Brambles, Drake, and the brothers facing down this monster, guns firing, spells too.
No sign of Mum.
Three crystal shades leaped out of the dark verge to my left. I slammed on the brakes, skidding to a stop.
“Bloody hell!” Jake wailed.
My heart in my throat, I fumbled for my witchcop gun.
The three shades split apart until ten blocked the road completely. Together, they hissed, rocking from side to side as if they were around a campfire, swaying in prayer.
Not about to cower in the car, I flung the door open, pointing my gun at them.
“What is this?” I demanded, using the door for cover.
Jake mirrored my action on the other side.
“Irrelevant witches,” the shades responded as one, their collective voices echoey in my ears.
Where were the weak points here? Bullets didn’t slow down the big one on the driveway, at least from my perspective. Spells failed too.
“You will not spoil this,” the shades said. “This is the beginning of a great change.”
Of course it was.
Shades never waffled as much. Usually their sentences were short, full of threats to tear our limbs off.
“Who are you?” Jake demanded, beating me to it.
They laughed, the sound of a feminine cackle seeping through.
Teeth grinding, I tried formulating a plan.
The big shade didn’t move further up the driveway, just stood there looming and mumbling something inaudible.
On my right, a grassy slope led up to a small patch of grass and the perimeter fence. I could climb up, vault the fence, and dash for the mansion driveway.
Yep. I’d do that.
“Cover me?” I mumbled to Jake from the corner of my mouth.
“Got it.”
Clearly, he trusted my judgment. Which only made me admire him more.
“You are lucky,” the shades rambled on. “You will see everything from the front row.”
Was I hearing the fae woman for the first time through these things?
With a deep breath and a five second countdown, I cast Hide, clapping out the magical blue energy from my hands to release the spell.
I had three minutes of being invisible before it stopped working.
Launching myself at the slope, I scrambled up it, pouring everything into my legs. At the top, I broke into a run, ignoring the cliff edge dangerously close to my right, and grabbed the perimeter fence, about to go up and over.
“Stop!” the shades cried.
Jake shouted, “Taser!” then his gun went off.
“You fools! You despicable fools!” the shades cried. “We see you! We see you!”
I grabbed the spiky top of the fence, swinging my right leg up for my boots to find purchase in a gap. I focused only on clearing these deadly points and succeeding in my mission.
Overthinking led to mistakes, and this wasn’t the best time to mess up with a spike near my crotch.
Something hot and hard hit me in the back, the pain making me see stars.
I fell, landing hard on my spine, the back of my head smacking the ground.
“Ollie!” Jake yelled.
Winded, my limbs on pause, I touched at the throbbing ache in my chest. The pain congregated there, and in my back.
My shaking hand came back slick with blood. I lifted my head enough to see blood gushing from a wound in my chest. Felt it pooling beneath me.
Had I been shot?
“We saw and we see!” the shades called.
“Hold on, mate!” I heard Jake shout.
My vision blurred, my body temperature dropping.
Did the shades shoot me with a shard or with a special crystal gun? And how the hell did they see through my spell?
“Help’s coming,” Jake said. “Help’s coming. Get Isaac over here!” He bellowed that last part.
Was I bleeding to death?
I couldn’t move, pain migrating to my skull, my throat closing up. The steady drumbeat of my heart pounded languidly in my ears.
Slowing down.
Fading away.
Jake appeared above me, falling to his knees. “Shitting hell.” He pressed his hands to my chest. “Hang in there. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
I watched the condensation puff from his mouth, clinging onto the hope I didn’t fade away.
I’m not ready yet…
My heartbeat slowed more.
I’m not ready…