came the voices from the Shadow World screaming, screaming, using every possible argument and threat to get him back.
It was worse than he could have possibly imagined. He lay in agony, knowing that finally the die was cast and that there would be no salvation. Not for him. He felt Sarah coming into the room, but he wasn’t ready for her. He lay still, calm, pretending to be in a deep sleep, using the last of his self-control not to cry out with the pain that exploded in his head. He was aware of her standing by his bed for a few seconds, then walking out as quietly as she had come in – a ray of moonshine sweeping the room and disappearing.
No salvation for me, but I’ll keep you safe. And I’ll keep you with me, Sarah Midnight.
40
Comet
Is it written, is it chance?
The way we move and the way we go
The way it will all end
Something is not right. Everything is not right.
All Niall’s radars were roused in alarm, but he couldn’t figure out where the threat was coming from, he couldn’t figure out who was with them and who was against. He was just relieved that Winter hadn’t been in his dream, that she wasn’t among those killed. It didn’t mean she’d come to no harm at all, but he clung to the little hope he had that she’d survive.
He’d heard Elodie gasp in the gloom, and somehow he knew, as surely as he knew his own name, that she’d had a vision. As they were making their way slowly downstairs for a drink, he caught her elbow and gently made her stop.
“Tell me,” he whispered.
“What?” Immediately she looked away, defensive.
“What did you see?”
“In my dream? We all had the same dream. You know what I saw.”
“No.” Niall shook his head. “Afterwards. In Sean’s room. You saw something there, I’m sure of it. And you were horrified. I saw the look on your face. What did you see?”
Elodie pleaded with him. “Don’t make me tell you, Niall. Please.”
“I need to know.”
“I …” She turned away.
Niall grabbed Elodie’s wrist, a gesture so weird for him, so out of character, that Elodie was alarmed. “I need to know,” he told her in a measured staccato.
Elodie took a deep breath. “I saw one of us …”
Niall’s eyes narrowed. “One of us?”
“It’s difficult to explain. One of us …wasn’t there. There were five of us in that room. And then suddenly, there were four.”
“Which one of us?” asked Niall calmly.
“I don’t know.”
“If it was me you can tell me, Elodie. I’m not afraid.”
Elodie looked him straight in the eyes. “Believe me. I don’t know! The vision only lasted a second. I didn’t see who it was. I swear to you. Now let’s go downstairs.”
Niall studied her face. She was telling the truth. He eased his grasp on her wrist, and Elodie continued down the stairs, flushed with anger.
Which one of us?
41
The Last Letter
Your voice across the years
Told me why they said
You never smiled
Sarah waited until she heard Sean’s rapid footsteps on the stairs. Then she crept along the hall and let herself into Nicholas’s room. He was fast asleep, immobile, his breathing heavy and regular. Strange, she thought. How can he sleep when the whole house is awake?
A tapping at the window made her jump. Through the glass she saw a beak tapping, and a confusion of wings and black, shiny bodies – the ravens, crowding Nicholas’s windowsill. The sight of them pressing and pushing against the glass as if they wanted to come in made her shiver.
She tiptoed back to her room. There she was alone once more in a daze of sleeplessness, still reeling from the horror of the dream, but also from Sean’s words.
If these are the last days of my life, who do I want to spend them with?
She took a moment to steady herself. Her entire body and soul screamed for her to be back in Sean’s embrace.
She lit the fire – the room was so cold that she could see her breath coming out in little white clouds – and opened the box she’d stored the letters in. All that was left, as far as she could see, was one last letter in the same creamy paper as the others, and a few loose pages torn from notebooks, lists and receipts and various bits of paperwork. One last letter left to read, and the dreams had started again. She felt the chill breeze from the storm