Chapter 30
Mabel
Once we’d reached the main road, Norah called us a taxi for the way back. While we were waiting, I texted Cliff to tell him it was done, but I felt none of the expected sense of relief.
It was impossible to relax. What had just happened settled like a cold damp hand on the nape of my neck.
The plan had worked, but I knew it was far from over.
Norah had managed to get us out unnoticed, but what we’d left in the room would raise questions.
The thought of the dead body made me strangely nauseous.
One corpse, two dead people. I was thinking mostly of Jess, and I knew Norah was thinking of Victor.
The glassy look in her eyes as she stared out of the taxi window reflected memories left unsaid.
To me, Victor had been a monster; for her, and for Cliff, he was a friend.
Yet they had still allowed me to destroy the artefact.
I thought I understood why Cliff had made that decision, but … not Norah.
‘Why did you help me?’ I asked, keeping my voice hushed so the driver couldn’t hear us.
Slowly, she turned her gaze on me. Her red hair shimmered like copper, and the shadows under her eyes were deep.
I had never seen her so … tired. At that moment, it was easy to imagine how old her soul must be.
‘Cliff loves you. I know that because we’re so familiar with each other we can see these things.
It was obvious he would never sacrifice you like this.
He’d have tried to run off with you rather than give up your soul without a fight. ’
I blinked, taken aback. ‘Then … you knew what we were planning? So why did you go along with it – why did you help? You don’t even know me.’
‘I don’t have to. No offence or anything, but this isn’t about you.
It’s about Cliff. And about … myself.’ She smiled dully, running a hand over the smooth skin of her cheeks, as if she could feel the mask slipping with every word.
‘When you’ve lived as long as we have, eventually you come to realise what really matters to you.
For a long time, I thought I wanted all the things the League was created to provide.
But after what happened with Heaven, I realised that wealth, power, eternity – they mean nothing.
Not if you can’t spend that time with the people you love.
’ She gazed again into the reflection of her own eyes.
I wondered how many faces she saw when she looked at herself.
If maybe, even after all these years, she sought her own true face in each reflection.
‘When we lost her, I chose friendship,’ she whispered, as midnight-blue billboards swept past outside.
Lie after lie, all trying to sell you something, and Norah’s pale features overlaid across them.
Her face had never looked more honest. ‘That’s why I did it. ’
I had never seen anyone more loyal. Cliff hadn’t told her what he had in mind, yet she’d not hesitated to support him, even though she knew it would change her own life forever.
More than that: if she helped him, there would be no forever.
I wasn’t sure if I liked Norah, but from that moment on, I felt more respect for her than for almost anybody else.
‘Thank you, Norah.’ I hesitated. ‘I mean, is that your … real name?’
‘Who’s to say. It wasn’t my first, but it looks like it’ll be my last.’ Her smile faltered, and she swallowed heavily. ‘Be good to Cliff, okay? He’s the best soul of us all. He always was. He deserves things to end happily.’
I returned her piercing look, not understanding. ‘What do you mean, end? I know it’s your last life, but it’s only just beginning. You have so much time left.’
She looked at me with strange perplexity. Before I could ask again, the car stopped and the driver turned to us expectantly.
Cliff was waiting for us outside his building, and hugged first me then Norah. His expression was a mosaic of relief, guilt and weariness as he stepped away from her, his hands on her shoulders.
She smiled crookedly and adjusted the collar of the dark shirt poking out from underneath his jumper.
‘I’ll try to put Henry off the scent, but you know what he’s like.
I’m afraid that sooner or later they’ll want to talk to you.
And to her.’ She lowered her voice, and I took a step away from them.
Not just to give them some privacy, but so I could pretend I didn’t know they were talking about me.
I didn’t want to think about what happened next.
‘I know. I’m ready for whatever’s coming.’ Cliff hesitated, then he hugged her again. His voice was mostly lost in her thick hair, and the rest was plucked apart by the gust of winter wind between us, so that it reached me only in fragments. ‘Thank you. And … forgive me.’
‘There’s nothing to forgive,’ she replied just as quietly, before she pulled away. ‘But you know he won’t see it like that.’
He nodded slowly. ‘Like I said: I’m ready.’
We watched Norah until she had vanished into the densely woven network of passageways. For a few minutes more we lingered there, standing close yet in our own separate worlds, then Cliff took my hand. ‘Milk and honey?’
I smiled and squeezed his fingers. ‘Sounds good.’
* * *
I sat down on the sofa while Cliff heated up the milk. When he brought it in I was just finishing a brief conversation with Zoe. I accepted one of the two porcelain mugs gratefully, drawing up my feet so he could sit next to me.
‘Zoe’s feeling better,’ I told him after the first sip. ‘She’s staying at her parents’ place for another week. At least Ashton won’t be able to take his temper out on her when he finds out what we’ve done.’ I hesitated, setting the drink down on the table.
‘You want to tell her the truth,’ he said, before I could go on. He didn’t sound troubled or surprised, more like he’d seen it coming.
‘I don’t think I have a choice. Zoe needs to know why she has to stay away from Ashton. Even if you can’t leave your bodies anymore, he could still try to drain her energy. Or he could use her to get revenge on me in some other way. I have to protect her.’
He stirred his milk pensively with the silver spoon. ‘Do you think she’ll believe you?’
‘She believes in astrology,’ I replied, giving him a look. ‘If I can believe it, she definitely can.’
Cliff smiled and put his mug down, too. ‘All right, then go for it.’
I sat up straighter, astonished. I’d been expecting a lot more resistance. We’d struck a fatal blow to the League, but even so, I assumed the Starlings would be none too pleased about me spilling their secrets. ‘You don’t mind?’
‘It doesn’t matter anymore who knows what. I mean, we probably shouldn’t go to the newspapers with it, but—’ He broke off when he saw my face change, twisting with pain the way it always did when I thought of Davie.
‘I’m sorry.’ He stroked my hand, which was clenched rigidly around my knee. ‘He could still recover. Anything’s possible.’
I noticed the deliberate subjunctive. He knew as well as I did that he could make no promises. My only hope was that Davie would be as tenacious now as when he was chasing down a story.
I forced myself to smile. ‘I know. And when he does, I’ll ask him to be discreet. Davie’s pretty good with secrets, as long as he’s in on them.’
‘All right, let’s do that. I don’t want you lying to your friends for my sake.’ He grinned half-heartedly. ‘Plus you’re still pretty crap at it. You’re not going to fool anybody even if you try.’
‘Hey,’ I began, mock-outraged, then broke off instantly when the doorbell rang.
I hadn’t realised it was possible to ring a doorbell angrily – until now.
Whoever it was, they were holding down the button while hammering against the wood with their other hand.
Cliff and I exchanged a look. I swallowed; he ran a hand through his hair.
Whoever it was? Bullshit. We both knew exactly who it was.
‘Maybe you shouldn’t answer,’ I whispered. ‘Wait until he’s calmed down.’
Cliff shook his head and stood up. ‘You don’t know Ashton.’ He stopped just before he reached the door and turned to me. ‘Look, stay back, all right? And … I’m sorry.’
Confused, I opened my mouth, but he was already turning away again and reaching for the handle.
It happened so quickly that I didn’t catch on.
I sat immobilised on the sofa, watching as Ashton pushed Cliff back into the flat and followed him inside.
As the door was still falling shut, he swung.
There was an unpleasantly dull crunch as his fist hit Cliff’s nose.
Cliff grunted, and I pressed both hands to my mouth to suppress my scream.
Still, Ashton’s voice rose above everything else.
‘After. Everything. I’ve. Done. For. You?
’ Each word was a snarl, the sentence punctuated by blows.
Two more to the face – one in the eye, another just below the cheekbone.
Cliff’s head snapped to the side, then Ashton’s fist struck him in the ribs and stomach.
Cliff sagged a little, but he didn’t fight back.
No raised hands, no attempts to get away.
He staggered against the wall, letting Ashton pin him there, his forearm across Cliff’s throat.
‘Was it worth it?’ he spat into his face.
‘Was her shitty life worth betraying all of us?’
‘Ash—’ Cliff broke off when a fist slammed into the wall beside his head. One of the frames wobbled threateningly – like my knees, when I finally managed to stand up.
‘Let him go!’
Ashton shot me a glare over his shoulder.
His usually light eyes were incredibly dark, as if the pupils had blown out and begun to leak.
Hatred had contorted his angelic features into an expression that looked more like a devil’s.
‘I’ll get to you later, Moth,’ he snapped, before turning his attention back to Cliff.
Cliff put a hand on the forearm crushing his larynx. ‘She had nothing to do with this.’