gaze. If she uses her powers on me, I’m gone in a minute. I need to come back in one piece. My best bet is to catch her asleep.” I laugh, a hollow laugh, slipping my trainers on and making my way down the stairs.
Elodie follows me, grabbing her jacket hanging on the banister. “Would she hurt you?”
I hesitate. “I don’t know. I’d like to think not, but I can’t take any chances. There’s something strange going on with her. Remember what Harry used to say about Morag Midnight? Well, they seem uncannily similar.”
“Oh. I see.”
We make our way through the silent, still night. The sky and the air all around us are now dark purple, with the orange tinge of the lights over the city of Edinburgh. I feel full of energy after my sleep, as if I’d shaken off a lead suit I’d been wearing for days.
“Come,” I call, striding down the overgrown path. “We’re walking. I don’t want anyone to spot my car.”
Elodie looks around nervously. “I wonder when they’ll come next,” she whispers. “It’s just a matter of time, isn’t it?”
There’s no need to ask who “they” are.
“True. And they will get Sarah if I’m not there.”
“You said she’s very powerful.”
“She is. But she’s also new to the fight. Sometimes she sort of … forgets she’s a huntress. I always have to convince Sarah to fight. She’s been so sheltered by her parents.”
“Not a wise idea, to shelter a Secret heir. With all we need to face …”
“Well, she’s a Dreamer, so she knew what she was going to have to face one day. I suppose her parents were trying to protect her. Maybe because of what happened to Harry’s aunt … They never even told Sarah about that.”
“They never told Sarah her aunt died?”
“They never even told her she existed.”
“Seriously?”
“Weird, I know. And Sarah even reminded me of Mairead … the way Harry used to describe her. His father, Stewart, was very close to Mairead and he often told Harry about her. She was shy, sensitive. Very quiet. Just like Sarah. But something happened, just a few weeks ago. That’s when she changed.” I take a breath, remembering the terrible day Leigh was killed. “One of Sarah’s best friends was murdered by a Surari. The bastard said that if Sarah sacrificed herself, he’d spare Leigh. Sarah agreed, of course. But I was there. I couldn’t allow it to happen. So it was Leigh who died.”
Our feet make a crunching noise on the frosty grass. There’s silence all around and darkness as we walk across the moorland towards the outskirts of the city.
“After that Sarah changed. The Surari’s slave had possessed a woman – she was the one who killed Leigh. The woman turned up at our door, and well … Sarah slaughtered her. I mean, she slaughtered her. The look in Sarah’s eyes when she finished … It was as if she really was Morag Midnight.”
I haven’t quite managed to finish explaining when the ground rises up to meet me. I hit my face, hard, on a tree root. I taste my own blood as a voice rasps in my ear.
“Back … soil.”
The Night Has Eyes
I hope you never know what crawls
In places of the soul
I keep under a shroud
Sean
“Elodie!” I try and warn her, but it’s too late. She lands with a thud beside me. I struggle as hard as I can – the creature’s fingers are wrapped around my ankles, and they’re pulling me under. My eyes meet Elodie’s; she is mute and staring as she too struggles to free herself. I see her reaching for the dagger she carries strapped to her chest. She manages to slip the knife out, but right at that moment the Surari pulls her down another inch, and the blade falls out of reach. I try to take a hold of the dagger strapped around my ankle, but I can’t quite stretch far enough. Maybe Elodie …
“My sgian-dubh!” I mutter, my hands grabbing at the frosty leaves, at the soil, trying to hold on to something, anything. I spit blood.
Elodie understands at once and lifts herself up on her arms, kicking back as hard as she can. She twists herself at an impossible angle and reaches towards my legs. She must have freed one of her ankles, because I see her leg is bent behind her. Her heavy breathing is in my ear as she grabs at my knee, my calf and finally my ankle – I