Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
B ee looked at the man sprawled on the brightly coloured cushions. A large grape vine had sent out exploratory tendrils and delicate green shoots had almost reached his leg where it lay near to the large pots of foliage at the side of the space Bee used for yoga and meditation. Warm lamplight fell upon him, illuminating the angles of his face and casting shadows into the hollows under his cheekbones.
It was like a scene from Gulliver’s Travels. Luke’s twin was, unsurprisingly, also tall and broad. An outsized man stretched out in the Sisters’ calm oasis.
He had been unable to keep his eyes open when he had arrived, leaning heavily on Lydia’s arm, and Bee had asked whether Lydia knew what had been used to drug him. She had also wondered at how the slight woman had managed to walk him all the way from the carpark. He dwarfed her. Bee supposed she was stronger than she looked.
‘Not a clue,’ Lydia had replied. ‘And who knows what state they’ve had him in and for how long?’
The man’s breathing was deep and even. As far as Bee could tell, it was a normal sleep, but she was no expert. She could call Esme, but she wasn’t going to bother the witch unless there was a clear need. She needed to tell Luke first, by rights. He was the man’s kin. At least he was safe and alive. With Tobias missing, she needed the Book Keeper on his game and not absent through grief. Or revenge. It was nice to have some good news for once. Bee was used to being asked questions that rarely had the answer the person wanted to hear. This time she would be able to open the door for The Book Keeper and produce his brother, alive and well. Ta-da.
Lewis made a noise in his sleep and turned onto his side, facing the door.
Diana appeared from upstairs. She met Bee’s eyes over the hulk of manhood in their living room and formed a question with her face.
‘Luke’s twin.’
‘I can see that,’ Diana whispered. ‘What is he doing in our house?’
Bee had integrated with the islanders, while her sisters kept to themselves. For the most part, this worked for everyone, but there were times when she wished Diana was a little more interested in the residents of Unholy Island. Her sister was already turning away, as if she couldn’t be bothered to wait for the answer.
‘He won’t be here long,’ Bee said. ‘I’ll move him.’
Diana’s attention was on a calathea in a red enamel pot. She ran her finger down one of its large striped leaves and then touched her lower lip. When she spoke, it was offhand. ‘Should I get Lucy?’
Bee suppressed the urge to shudder. ‘Absolutely not. I’m going to get him out of here before she notices.’
Diana turned away, already finished with the subject and ready to leave. ‘Make sure he doesn’t damage any of my plants.’
Esme had tried to keep busy while Luke was on the mainland. In amongst the textbooks on burial mounds, the bookshop had included a slim volume of retrieval spells. Bee had said that Tobias had ‘gone between’, so perhaps magic would be the answer to bringing him back? Kate Foster had been a stark warning of the dangers, but Esme was willing to take a risk for the sake of Tobias. Besides, she wasn’t going to touch anything involving sacrifice.
She was halfway through the book and diligently making notes, but was finding it hard to focus. She couldn’t stop thinking about Luke, worrying that something would go wrong. He was dealing with dangerous people. Bad people. And part of her couldn’t believe he had walked into that world willingly. She knew he hadn’t really had a choice, but part of her still resented the fact that he had left her and the island. Even while they were in crisis, while Tobias was missing, maybe worse, he had left. He had chosen his brother, and it was a salutary reminder that she wasn’t his family.
She was just thinking that the causeway would be closing and that if he wasn’t back in the next few minutes, he would have to wait until the next day, when she heard the squeak of her garden gate and steps on the path. She was out of her chair and opening the door before Luke had knocked. It was dark outside, and the air was cold. Esme didn’t care, standing on the back step to hug him as tightly as she could. He was safe. Whole. Home.
Inside the warm kitchen, with the door bolted against the freezing night, she listened while Luke told her all about Dean Fisher and Yuri.
‘So Fisher had already let your brother go? That’s good, isn’t it?’
‘I think so. It means he was alive recently, at least. And Yuri seems to object to him being hurt or held, so hopefully that’s an end of it.’
‘Yuri is a friend? Of Lewis?’
Luke looked uncomfortable. ‘I guess so. Something like that.’
‘What’s wrong?’ Esme could see he was holding something back.
Luke looked at his hands. ‘I got the impression they had worked together. Yuri seemed to like Lewis or felt like he owed him or something. He’s the reason Dean Fisher held Lewis captive rather than just killing him after he caught him skimming.’ Luke shook his head, still not looking her in the eye. ‘I don’t know what Lewis was into with Yuri, but it sounded serious.’ He passed a hand over his face.
‘I was so scared,’ Esme said.
‘Me, too.’
‘I kept thinking. First Tobias. Now you.’
He flinched. ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry I put you through it. But I’m back. I’m not going anywhere.’
Esme wanted to tell him not to make promises he couldn’t keep. The moment Lewis needed him, he would leave again. The knowledge was a stone in her stomach. ‘It didn’t feel like home,’ she said instead. ‘With you gone. How can that be true when you’ve been here less than a year? How can everything have changed that fast?’
He shook his head gently, looking a little confused. ‘It’s not bad, though, right? It’s good that I belong. You want me here, don’t you?’
‘I do,’ Esme said. ‘But I’m scared of losing you. I’m scared that you will leave again and take my home at the same time.’
He frowned, and Esme knew that he didn’t understand what she meant. ‘I never had a place to belong when I was growing up. I was always an outsider. A visitor. When I was in the group home, I dreamed of being adopted, but it was only ever foster care. Always temporary.’
‘I’m sorry.’ Luke wrapped his arms around Esme, holding her with just the right amount of pressure. She felt comforted, not caged.
‘And now I have a home. I do belong. I will do anything to protect it and feeling like that scares me a little.’
‘I know what you mean. I don’t even like my brother a lot of the time, but he’s my brother and I know I would do anything for him. Ultimately. It’s like having your free will taken away, almost. Family has such a strong pull.’
‘I wouldn’t know about that,’ Esme said. She tensed in his arms, feeling suddenly cold.
‘You do,’ Luke said gently. He stroked her back. ‘The islanders aren’t just your friends and neighbours, they are your family. They would do anything for you, I can see it.’
Esme didn’t think that Luke should use the word ‘family’ so freely. It was difficult for those who had grown up with one to know the depth of her longing. She was a fully grown adult and had dealt with her issues as best she could, but if there was one thing that hours of meditation with Bee had taught her it was this: the small child that had longed for a mum and dad, brothers and sisters, cousins and aunties and a place in the world still lived inside her adult self. She could recognise when it was speaking, when it was crying in the dark and soothe it as best she could, but it would always be with her. Always be inconsolable, just as she had been when she and the child had been one and the same.
When she hadn’t spoken for a few minutes, he shifted so that he could look into her eyes. ‘Are you all right?’
Esme tried to smile reassuringly, but it didn’t take. She blinked back tears and pushed her tongue into the roof of her mouth to stop them from coming. An old trick. Crying children didn’t get adopted. Her soul was hurting and she wanted to stop thinking like this. The past was in the past, and there was no point in revisiting the old hurt. She leaned in and kissed Luke, losing her sadness in the sensation of his lips. His jaw was covered in thick stubble, long enough that it felt soft to the touch, and his skin was warm.
He responded, hands in her hair, cradling her face and neck, kissing her hungrily like she was the single most important thing in the world. Sparks burst behind her closed eyes as her nerves lit up and desire bloomed until she was just feeling, not thinking.
Luke was the one to stop. They were breathing heavily and Esme realised that she had climbed onto his lap and was pressing herself against him.
His eyes were heavy lidded and glazed and looking into them made Esme want him even more. It was intoxicating. ‘Let’s go to bed,’ she said. ‘Right now.’
‘Are you sure?’ Luke’s pupils were huge, his hands flexed on her hips.
‘Yes. Make it all go away for a while. Please.’