Chapter 40
NICK
The last thing Nick wanted to do was go back down into that hidden crypt.
The feeling as he had run down those steps, the awful oppressive dread, the terror that something had happened to Maeve… his heart still ached with it and his stomach tied itself into a knot.
She was safe now, safe with Patricia. Away from Wildewood Hall. That was all that mattered.
Well, not quite.
He and Alex sat in the study now, where he had followed her after her abrupt departure from the kitchen, both of them avoiding looking at the chair propped up against the wall where the hidden door was.
He was trying not to think of what lay beneath them like a gaping mouth.
Alex was still reading an email, a look of fixed determination on her face.
When she had finally turned her phone back on, the number of notifications had been astounding.
After she had spoken to Arnold, she had spent an hour placating and calming the rest of them.
They really cared about her, worried about her. And they had a better idea of what they might be facing here than he did. If they were that concerned, he knew it had to be serious indeed.
They might be the epitome of gung-ho Americans, especially that Gabe, but in this case… in this case they were terrified. And determined to protect her. From the house, from him, perhaps even from herself.
Nick just wanted to retreat into the woods and let them sweep him away.
The storm would rouse them and in that wildness he could forget himself.
Perhaps forever. Now Sally and Theo were gone – and they were gone, he could feel it – and Maeve was safe with Patricia, there was nothing to keep him here, was there?
Except Alex. He couldn’t leave Alex to face this alone.
Maeve had made him promise. Alex had saved her, and she had saved Sally’s spirit, helping her escape with Theo…
of that he had no doubt. His daughter had been very clear on what she had seen and what had happened, and despite her youth and what others believed, Maeve wasn’t actually given to flights of fancy.
Nick had smelled the wild woods as he rushed down those stairs.
The scent of them had washed over him and through him, so powerful that he thought he was plunging headfirst into the clearing with the stone circle, the heart of the wild wood, rather than the darkness under the house.
At first, he had thought he must have brought it with him.
But he didn’t. Alex had called it, somehow, called the wild to save his daughter.
It had to be Alex. The dead couldn’t do it, Maeve was too young, and there was no one else here.
Nick owed Alex everything.
But that wasn’t all.
He wanted to keep her safe, he realised. He wanted to make sure that no harm came to her. Not just as the guardian of this place, its protector. He wanted Alex safe. More than he ever had anyone other than Maeve.
Even Sally.
Sally had never needed him. Not really. He was a symbol to her, some kind of manifestation of that which she served. He represented the woods. But she had never loved him. He had adored her, worshipped her, served her.
But she had never made him feel the way Alex did.
Nick drew in a breath and held it, until his lungs strained. How was that possible? He barely knew her, not really. And yet…
For years he had felt bound here, tied to the woods, to Sally, and now… now that was gone. The tether broken.
Sally was gone and Alex had been the one to help her escape from whatever had trapped her spirit here. He hadn’t even been there to say goodbye. Theo had come for her. And she’d gone gladly.
And that was all right as well. He had said goodbye to Sally long ago. Perhaps even before she died. When he saw her with Theo, when he understood that she didn’t really love him. Not like that.
And perhaps he had never really loved her either. He saw that now.
It was a world away from what he felt now for Alex.
He just hadn’t known. He’d never realised the intensity of the emotion.
Was this love? This burning, desperate feeling, this need to hold her and shield her, this desire to be better for her, to deserve her.
The shock of it made his heart pound. It couldn’t be. He barely knew her.
But she had saved and shielded his daughter. She had given herself up to the wild. He owed her everything. And even if she hadn’t…
She was more like her brother than she would care to admit. So easy to love. And he had loved Theo in spite of everything that happened. He’d never stopped loving him.
How could Nick possibly know what he was feeling? If any of this was real? Or if the house was playing games with him? How would he ever know?
‘—need to have a proper look at that thing,’ Alex said.
He jarred back into reality. ‘What?’
She studied his face for a long moment. ‘I said, I think we need to have a proper look at the statue.’
‘Is that wise? It was buried down there for a reason.’
‘Maybe. But that reason might not have been to our benefit. Right under the house like that? And then the whole area blocked off and hidden? It was left there so it could fester and grow, infect the whole house. Hidden away.’
Except for the secret door. Someone had known about that. Not Theo perhaps. But her grandfather had written about it.
‘Is there anything in the notebook about sealing or controlling?’ he asked.
‘I think he knew it was there and he was hiding it. Perhaps trying to keep it under his control. He didn’t tell Theo anything, did he?’
‘I’m pretty sure Theo would have told me if he knew. Or Sally.’ But there were things none of them had told each other, after all.
And were there things he wasn’t telling Alex now?
He hadn’t hidden his true nature from her.
Not intentionally. But nor had he shared it.
He’d run off, hidden, stayed away until he was sure he could control himself.
He hadn’t shared his past, dreamlike, mangled and half-forgotten as it was.
He refused to let her see what he could be when the wild took him.
Sally had never really seen the thing she had made of him. Not really. She saw purpose, she saw need. But not him.
Alex’s hand closed on his fist. She stood beside him now, a look of concern on her face as she bent over him. ‘Are you okay?’ Her touch was warm and so painfully gentle.
‘Yes, I – I’m sorry. What were you saying?’
‘Do you want to talk about her? About them? Sally and Theo, I mean?’
She didn’t manage to look as if the prospect thrilled her either, but at least she offered.
‘They’re at peace now,’ he replied at last, forcing the words around the lump in his throat. ‘They’re together. And safe. That’s what matters.’
Alex hunkered down in front of him, searching his face for something. She didn’t let go of his hand. The pad of her thumb brushed against his knuckles. ‘Any other man might still be angry, might want revenge. Might want them to suffer. Not find peace together.’
Nick shrugged. What did they say about people setting out to get revenge? First dig two graves. He’d already done that. He had stood over two graves anyway. It definitely hadn’t helped. ‘I never saw the point in that kind of thinking. It just tortures everyone.’
‘True,’ Alex replied, and then her phone rang again. ‘Oh, for God’s sake.’ She poked a finger at the screen as she got up and turned away. ‘Yes, Gabe, what now?’
She walked out of the room, and he could hear her pacing in the hall. Talking, listening, talking again. Which left Nick sitting there, looking at the hidden door. On his own.
His hands shook, just a little, and he clenched them into fists again to make it stop. Blaise Chambers had tried to take his daughter. He had almost taken his wife’s spirit. Even after death he had tried to destroy her.
And he was supposed to be the guardian of this place. He was supposed to protect it. He’d been focused on trying to protect it from Blaise, and hadn’t thought that there could be more.
Nick dragged the armchair away from the door, opened it and stepped into the darkness.
For a moment he just stood there at the top of the stairs, looking down into a space blacker than a moonless night.
He felt nothing of the wild wood here now.
Nothing of the trees that sustained him and filled the emptiness inside him.
But he could feel something down there still.
It was an empty, sucking hole underneath the house, where Theo had lived, and all his ancestors before him.
It was the thing that Sally had been trying to guard against when she embroiled them in her schemes.
It had almost taken Maeve…
His head swam and he had to reach out and steady himself against the wall. It felt greasy, unclean.
‘Nick?’ Alex said again, her hand resting on his arm, her fingertips so cool, like points of ice.
He shook himself, trying to clear the fog gnawing at the edges of his mind. The need to turn around and sweep her up in his arms again shuddered through him. He could still feel her lips on his, that bruising kiss, the way it burned. The way he hadn’t entirely felt like himself as he kissed her.
Nick swallowed hard, forced himself to focus on the here and now. Something was wrong. This place was evil. And he knew why.
‘Maybe we shouldn’t. Even if it’s not—’ He wouldn’t say cursed. He couldn’t. Even if that was what it felt like. ‘What if it’s old? Shouldn’t we get an archaeologist or something?’
She considered that, perhaps not noticing that it was just an excuse. ‘Maybe. But we need to take a look at it, at least. Take some photos. No one is going to believe us otherwise.’
‘Okay,’ he agreed, but he didn’t move. ‘Then we need torches. And work gloves.’
‘Work gloves? Why?’
‘I don’t want to touch anything down there. Do you?’
The statue was hunched and misshapen. More like a rock than a figure. And there was definitely a glint of gold. Nick wasn’t sure. Something felt off, like it was luring them in, teasing them, offering them riches if they were brave enough, or foolish enough, to try to take it.
It was an idol. There was no mistaking it.
A hunched figure, just like they had thought.
Alex had said it was called Crom, that her grandfather had identified it in his notebooks.
And it definitely looked to be covered in gold, if not completely made from it.
He wasn’t sure and part of him didn’t want to examine it too closely. It left him cold. Cold to the core.
The small hunched figure, squatting in the corner of the undercroft, more or less under the drawing room now, with a gaping mouth and round eyes, knees up and splayed wide, clawed hands gripping the base on which it crouched.
Nick stared at it and tried to shake off the immediate feeling that it was staring right back at him. All he wanted right now was to get out of the dark.
Alex, who had been examining it in the same kind of solemn silence, took out her phone and photographed it from every angle. Then stared at it for a moment longer. Nick frowned. It was like she couldn’t tear her eyes off it and that was a troubling idea.
‘Alex,’ he said, and lightly touched her shoulder. She brought her hand up and closed it over his, the gloves keeping them apart. But it was a contact, an anchor. Just that touch. ‘Let’s go back upstairs.’
Slowly, without saying a word, she nodded.
Alex emerged from the secret door behind him, closing it firmly.
‘Crom,’ she said at last, staring at the photos on her phone. Then she sent them to her group chat.
‘Looks like it,’ Nick agreed reluctantly.
‘I wonder which one.’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t really care. I’m still not sure we shouldn’t have put it back in the hole.’
‘I’m not sure we should leave it down there,’ Alex murmured softly. He didn’t know what to make of the tone of her voice. ‘It’s strong in the darkness.’
Her voice trailed off again and Nick saw her shiver, her shoulders tightening.
Carefully, quietly, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back against his chest. She melted against him and he felt her exhale, a sigh of both relief and release.
‘Thank you,’ he whispered. ‘For finding Maeve. And for Sally too. You saved her. You and Theo. Maeve told me.’
She didn’t turn around but he felt her fall still as if she was holding her breath.
And strangely he found that he wasn’t able to breathe either. Not anymore. She was there in his arms, her body soft against his.
Nick held her a little tighter, and pressed his lips against the top of her head.