Tide - By Daniela Sacerdoti Page 0,95

inside, I can feel it. Too much pain, too much anger.

“Sean won’t bring him back. Look, Elodie. Don’t go trying to get hurt, because believe me, we’ll all get hurt soon enough.”

“I don’t really care if I live or die. I want to do what Harry asked of me. Of us. I want to destroy the Enemy.” The chorus of screams and whispers in Nicholas’s head got louder all of a sudden. “And then I won’t have anything left to live for.” She gave him a bleak smile.

The ravens had caught them up. They had chased away the seagulls and were flying in circles over their heads, cawing. A few of them landed and hopped beside them, their little heads tipping from left to right, awaiting instructions. Nicholas felt his fingertips tingle. Suddenly, he knew exactly what was about to happen.

Let us taste her.

“Let’s go back. Now.” He took Elodie by the arm and began pulling her down the path. The terrible chorus in his head kept calling. Let us finish what we started on the beach. Let us taste her. Let us.

More ravens landed in front of Nicholas and Elodie, blocking their way down the path – a sea of feathery black, dotted with hungry eyes. No! Nicholas protested silently. But it was too late. He barely had time to call Elodie’s name, when the ravens took to the air, and, quicker than the eye could see, they were on her. Elodie screamed and fell to her knees, a moving blanket of black, oily feathers smothering her. In seconds drops of her blood began to stain the ground.

Stop!

Why? Why do you want them to stop, Nicholas?

It was his father’s voice.

Nicholas clutched his head in his hands, the blinding pain of the brain fury ravaging him all of a sudden – just a hint, not its full force, but painful enough.

“Nicholas!” Elodie called desperately, trying to beat the ravens away from her eyes with her arms. Her body was crawling with birds, black and crimson mixing in a terrible kaleidoscope on the ground.

You need to stop, now.

But the ravens wouldn’t listen. They were ruled by a higher power now, one they had no choice but to obey.

“Nicholas!” she implored again, her strangled voice muffled in the grass.

Leave her. Leave her! Nicholas looked around in desperation as blast after blast of pain shot through his head. And then he thought of something, the only argument he could use. They will find out who I really am!

They will know soon anyway, came the reply.

Despair filled Nicholas’s heart. There was nothing else he could do. The ravens were going to peck Elodie to death, just as they’d done to Cathy, as they’d tried to do to Elodie once before.

His moans of pain as the brain fury burnt in his head echoed Elodie’s.

But not yet.

A sudden gust of air hit Nicholas, followed by the sound of beating wings far too close. When he opened his eyes, he was astonished to see the ravens flying back into the sky. His father must have called them back.

He threw himself beside Elodie’s bloodied body, ignoring the agonizing pain in his head.

“Oh, Elodie,” he murmured.

She couldn’t hear him. She was lying curled up, unconscious. Quickly he gathered her in his arms and ran towards the house, bracing himself for attack every time he heard a distant cawing, his head still sore from his father’s punishment.

Only Niall was in the kitchen when Nicholas pushed the door open and staggered in, and he paled at what he saw. Nicholas’s voice was croaky, broken. “The ravens again.”

Quickly Niall took Elodie from him, horrified as her blood began to stain his chest and arms. “The ravens? Your ravens?” He sat down on the settle next to the range, careful not to jostle her.

“It was me who saved her,” Nicholas said brusquely. You’ll know the truth soon, Niall, but not yet.

And then Elodie opened her eyes, and from the shelter of Niall’s arms, she called a name. But it wasn’t Niall’s, and it wasn’t Sean’s.

“Nicholas.”

Disbelief showed on Nicholas’s face. She called me. Me. He looked at Niall, then into Elodie’s battered face. “I’m here,” he said hoarsely.

“Have the ravens gone?” she whispered.

“Yes. They’ve gone. You’re safe.”

“I shouldn’t have asked you.”

“Shhhh. Don’t speak now,” he said, resting a hand on her head. The look between them was so intense that Niall frowned, sensing something unspoken in the air. He was about to speak when Sarah stepped into the kitchen. Her eyes were red-rimmed, but