Chapter 4
Exes she’s a miserable woman.
“You’re trouble,” she snarls. “You were always trouble, like your father before you. This is your fault. I don’t know how, but it is.”
He slowly turns his head away from me and looks down at her. Pain flashes through his eyes—maybe she reminds him of his mother. She has her dark red hair. Or maybe because his aunt is really his only family, other than Tansy. It must be painful for him to have her dislike him so much.
But then the pain is gone, and a hard expression fills his eyes.
He steps toward her. “You know nothing.” His voice is low, menacing.
“In fact, you know less than nothing about me or my fucking father.” His nostrils flare, like a beast sensing his prey.
“So unless you have something constructive to say, stay the fuck out of my way. You’re nothing to me. ”
Whoa. That’s not the broken boy I remember. That’s someone who could break me in half without blinking. And, yeah, maybe I like it. Ugh.
I think she’s going to respond. For a second, the two of them stare into each other’s eyes. Her skin goes pale, and she takes a step backward.
Wow, I’m impressed. Again.
The tension leaves Zayne’s shoulders, and the hardness fades from his expression.
He turns toward the small boy beside him.
I’d hardly noticed him before—sort of cute, with dirty blond hair.
He’s got something on his shoulder: is it a toy?
It’s a gray gargoyle-like figure, its tail wrapped around his neck, and it’s so still—then I’m sure its fingers twitch.
Did it move?
I shake my head. I’m seeing things. This place always had a bad effect on me, and Zayne coming back has sent me into a tailspin.
Zayne crouches down beside the boy and talks to him quietly. The boy glances at me and then nods. Zayne straightens and moves toward me, tugging the boy by his hand.
“Holly, this is my little brother, Josh.”
His brother? Where did he come from? He must see the confusion on my face.
“We’re sort of foster brothers, but we’ve decided to make it a real thing,” Zayne says.
“Zayne’s the best brother ever,” the little boy adds. Then he tugs free of Zayne and holds out his hand. “I’m Josh. It’s nice to meet you, Holly.” He sounds so mature—it’s really cute.
I take his small hand in mine and shake. “Hi, Josh. Welcome to Elderfell Manor.” I turn around to see where Milo has disappeared to; he’s standing pressed up close to my mother. I curl my finger to call him over.
“This is my little brother, Milo. I’m guessing you’re about the same age. Milo, why don’t you take Josh to the kitchen and get him some breakfast?”
Josh looks at Zayne, who gives a nod, and Josh follows Milo as he slowly limps across the terrace on his crutches. But I can already see them talking to each other as they disappear through the front door.
“I think they’re going to be friends,” I say to Zayne.
“Maybe. Though hopefully, they won’t have time to become too close.” He sighs and presses a finger between his eyes. “I want to get the hell out of this shithole. Fast.”
Wow, that puts me in my place. Any thoughts that he was hoping to rekindle things with me are right out the window and into the snow. And I can’t believe that thought even entered my head. It was over between us the moment he called me a liar.
He runs a hand through his hair. “Sorry. I know this is your home, but I don’t have fond memories of it.” Then his gaze drops to my mouth, and he quirks his lip in a smile. “Well, I have some fond memories of it.”
And just like that, something inside me melts. Get a grip. He hasn’t come back for me—he’s come back for Tansy. And besides, we were never compatible. That’s the story I’m sticking to. Whatever we had between us is over. It was over five years ago.
I take a deep breath. “So, we need to decide what to do next,” I say. “I think we should go look at all the ways they could have gotten out of the village: the main road, the pass through the hills, the track through the forest—”
“No,” Zayne cuts me off, his tone firm. “I want you to take me back to where you found Milo. I want you to take me back to Silvergate.”
I grit my teeth. “It’s pointless. We’re wasting time. The children weren’t there. There was absolutely no sign of them.”
“Still, I want to go.”
“Right, and what Zayne wants, Zayne gets?”
We have a staring match—me looking up, him looking down, my jaw so tight I think it might crack. I don’t want to go back. Not with Zayne; it will stir too many memories.
“There’s zero reason why I have to do what you say,” I say slowly.
We glare some more.
Then my father comes up beside me and touches my arm.
“Why don’t you do what he asks?” he says.
“Zayne’s obviously very upset about Tansy.
Cut him some slack; just go with him. I’ll organize the villagers to check all the other exits out of the village.
We’ll find them; don’t worry. You take care of Zayne. ”
My dad always had a warm spot for Zayne, treated him like a son. He even offered him a home after all that bad stuff happened. But Zayne—I don’t think he trusted anyone anymore, including himself. Or me. Especially me. So he left.
I look at him now; he raises an eyebrow. I give in to the inevitable and nod. “Okay. Let’s go.” I don’t wait for an answer, just march down the steps to the drive. I can sense him following.
I pause for a few seconds to look around at all the parked cars but don’t see any strange vehicles. “How did you get here?” I ask.
“We came by motorbike, but we had to leave it outside the village about five miles away when the snow got too heavy.”
“Oh.” I shove my hands into my pockets and head toward the back of the house, then start walking the same route I went earlier.
He falls in beside me, and for a while, we don’t talk.
It’s stopped snowing again, and the sun has come out—but there’s an ominous feeling in the air, and I know more snow is on its way.
“Your little brother seems nice,” I say eventually when the silence gets too heavy.
“He is nice. Much nicer than me, though I guess that wouldn’t be hard.”
I grin. “No, probably not. You were always an ass, Zayne. And you haven’t changed.”
He snorts, and I look into his face and see genuine amusement in his eyes. “Ask me nicely, princess, and I’ll show you just how much I’ve fucking changed.”
My jaw clenches at the “princess.” He always used the title when he wanted to piss me off.
But in some ways, it’s nice. It reminds me that we do have a past—that this tall, devastatingly handsome stranger, with an aura about him that I’ve never felt before, once kissed me in the stables.
Okay, more than once. Lots more. My skin warms at the memory, and I shake it off, put my head down, and keep walking.
“Tell me what happened, exactly,” he says as we approach Silvergate.
“There’s not a lot to tell. Milo was missing. I went looking for him.”
“So why come this way?”
I shrug, feeling a little uncomfortable when I can’t come up with a sensible answer. “I don’t know. Just a feeling, and Milo has a thing about Silvergate.” I shrug again. “Anyway, I came here and I found him.”
We’re just coming into the clearing now, and I sense his hesitation. A bleak look flashes across his face. This has to be so hard for him. Then his expression is wiped clean, and he steps into the clearing.
I wave my hand. “He was over there, huddled by that rock. He was crying and so upset. He said he’d followed the bells with all the other children, but he couldn’t keep up because of his leg, and he fell behind.
By the time he got here, they were all gone.
He was mumbling about presents and a fabulous place, and—I don’t know. He wasn’t making any sense.”
I follow him into the clearing, a pressure blooming behind my eyes—like a storm gathering in my skull.
Zayne walks around, his fingers gliding over the rocks as he passes. He crouches down at the spot where I found Milo, a faraway expression on his face as though he’s listening to something distant. Then he straightens and stands with his head thrown back, breathing deeply.
“What are you doing, Zayne?”
He turns slowly to look at me, and there’s something in his eyes—something wild, dark, and fierce. For a second, they seem to flash yellow—a trick of the light? Then he gives a little shudder, and they’re back to normal.
His gaze meets mine. “Can’t you feel it?” he asks.
“Feel what?” I reply. I have a suspicion he’s about to say something I won’t like, and I’m not ready for it. I’ve had enough this morning. I just want to go back, eat breakfast, and pretend everything is normal. But how can I, with all the children missing?
“Can’t you feel the hum in the air? The magic?”
Grrr. “Magic? Nope. Not happening. I’d sooner believe in Santa Claus riding through on a reindeer.
” I shake my head. “I don’t believe this.
I always thought you felt the same way about it as I did.
When we used to talk about getting away from Elderfell, that was one of the things—escaping all the stupidity. ”
“Well, I got away—and I learned a few things. And believe me, we were wrong. Magic exists.”
“Oh.” I turn away, shove my hands deeply into my pockets, and hunch my shoulders against the cold. But he’s not finished yet.
“There’s a portal close by. Somewhere really close. I’m guessing the children disappeared through that, and it closed behind them.”
The pressure flares sharp, like a migraine about to pounce. I whirl around. “A portal? You’re serious? That’s your answer—a magical portal that vanished into nothing?” I grit my teeth. “Great. You left, got taller, and came back sounding like every other Elderfell nutcase.”
He chuckles at that, and I stomp my foot. God, he’s annoying. I’d forgotten how annoying. “Can we go back now? Can we go do something useful?”
“Well, we can go back, but whether we can do something useful is another matter. But I do want to talk to Josh.”
“Josh—your little brother? Why?”
He shrugs. “He’s got a feeling for these things.”
“A feeling? Really?” I’m so mad I could spit. I’d expected something better from Zayne. He’s just turned into one of the villagers. He got away from here, came back, and he’s changed, yes—but he’s changed for the worse.
“Right then. Let’s go talk to Josh. I’m sure that’s going to be a lot of help.” I huff and start walking back to the house.
He lingers a moment longer, then jogs to catch up with me. To my surprise, he hooks a hand through my arm, and warmth flows through me. I should yank away. Instead, I let him keep it. Weak, weak, weak.
He lowers his head and whispers in my ear, his breath hot against my skin. “Admit it, princess. You’re glad I’m back.”
I bite my lip and walk faster.