Chapter 42
Holly
What had Morag given her? She didn’t feel jittery enough for it to be speed, it definitely wasn’t molly, but her heart was beating fast and she was wired. Maybe, she thought, it was a caffeine tablet. Some of her friends lived on them when they were studying for exams.
She sat up and got out of bed. She was still wearing all her clothes because she’d thought she was going to zonk out immediately. Now, though, she didn’t know what to do.
Was Jimmy still at the caves?
It was only one in the morning. Maybe there was still a chance to rescue this New Year’s Eve. Morag’s bike was downstairs.
Before she had a chance to change her mind, she hurried downstairs, grabbed her coat and gloves and headed out to the bike.
She cycled straight back to the caves, the roads quiet and empty.
Jimmy was going to be so surprised. In the little scene that played out in her head, he would be thrilled to see her; tell her that he’d hoped she’d come back.
They would finally kiss. It would be romantic. The beginning of their story.
She left Morag’s bike outside the cave and went inside, taking the lamp from the front of the bike to light her way.
‘Hello?’ she called when she entered the cavern.
There was no response.
Where was he? The fire had burned out, and Jimmy’s guitar was lying on the ground. He would never leave that here, so perhaps he’d just gone off somewhere and would be back in a moment. But where would he go?
A horrible, cold sensation crept into her guts. Jimmy had been drunk earlier. Wasted.
Her legs felt rubbery as she walked over to the ledge on the far side of the cavern. Behind her, the Serpent Stone was a dark smudge on the rock face, barely visible.
She shone the lamp down towards the water beneath the ledge, terrified she would see his body.
But there was nothing down there.
Relieved, she made her way back out of the caves. She was about to give up on her search for him when she heard something from over the hill. A girl, laughing, then a deeper voice.
Lewis and Morag? She abandoned the bicycle and hurried up to the crest of the hill.
From her vantage point, with the moon illuminating the scene, she saw two figures emerge from the manor house and start walking in her direction, though there was no way they would spot her from down there.
From their shape and size she could see the second figure was a man, but he looked too bulky to be Lewis.
Laughter rang out again, and then the man put his arm around the woman, heading towards a parked car. Dad’s Jeep.
It wasn’t Lewis and Morag. It was Morag and Dad.
They stopped, close to the car. She had a good view of them now. Morag shook her head at something Dad said, and he put his arms around her and – to Holly’s horror, even though she’d already realized what was going on – they kissed.
‘Hey, what are you doing back here?’
She whirled around to find Jimmy grinning at her.
‘Where have you been?’ she asked in a whisper.
He grinned. ‘Call of nature. Didn’t want to do it in the cave and stink out the place. Hey, what’s up? You seem freaked out.’ That grin again. She was finding it hard to keep it together. Dad and Morag. While Mum lay at home dying. And Morag was her age. A schoolgirl.
‘I need to go.’
She hurried off towards the bike, almost stumbling over a rock, trying to fight back tears.
Dad and Morag. In the distance, she heard the laughter again and she knew Jimmy would have heard it, too.
Over her shoulder she saw him walk towards the crest of the hill.
From there he would definitely see Dad and Morag. His sister.
What would he do about it?