Tide - By Daniela Sacerdoti Page 0,59

a random door and disappeared inside.

“We should probably share. It’s safer,” said Sean.

“What? I’m not sharing, man!” Mike called from the depths of the corridor. When Sean and Sarah reached him, he had thrown himself onto a giant four-poster bed. “Aaaah, paradise. Paradise!”

“You’ve got to share with Niall. Keep an eye on him.” Sean’s piercing blue eyes were twinkling.

“What? No way! I’ve been sharing with him for weeks! Give me a break! He’s always damn singing in his sleep!”

“You love me, really, Mike. Oh look, one bed only! Oh well. Move over.” Niall sat beside him.

“No way.”

“You just hurt my feelings. Badly. I’ll take myself somewhere I can be alone.”

“Shut up, Niall.”

“Right, boys, enough!” Sarah interrupted them, a smile playing on her lips, in spite of herself. “There’s peat and briquettes in the kitchen. Feel free to light the fires Mrs McArthur hasn’t lit already. Sean, the room next door …”

“I’m sharing with Elodie. Just in case.”

Sarah froze. Sharing with Elodie? She glanced at him. He’s not joking!

“Right. Sure, of course,” she said with what she hoped was a nonchalant tone. She strode into the room across from Mike’s. “This one, then,” she called to Sean, trying not to look at the lovely four-poster bed, covered in brocade covers and a multitude of pillows. “My parents’ old bedroom is the last one. Nicholas and I can share this one.” She swallowed. She didn’t really want to sleep in the same room as Nicholas, but she wanted to spite Sean.

“Good for you.” Sean spoke in a staccato tone, and followed her into what was to be his room.

“Yes. Well.”

Behind Sarah, Mike sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Will you be needing another bed in there, Sean? For Elodie?” said Sarah, a too-casual edge to her voice as she gestured to the bed-sit. “We have plenty. Of beds. Only if you want to, of course. Unless one is enough.” Sarah jabbered on, cursing herself with every word. Her cheeks were bright pink.

“Yes, please. Lads, help me carry?” he said, his eyes glinting with mischief. Had he been winding me up? thought Sarah, furious.

“Sure,” said Mike, a mocking smile on his lips.

“Oh, actually,” Sean added, feigning innocence, “maybe I should check with Elodie if she’s OK to share with me. She’s a light sleeper. I’ll tell you what, we’ll take adjoining rooms.”

Sarah breathed a sigh of relief that she hastened to hide. Mike chuckled quietly, straightening his face at once when he met Sarah’s frosty gaze.

“We’re back!” a voice called from downstairs. Elodie.

Sarah, Sean, Mike and Niall leant on the banister, looking down to the hall. Elodie and Nicholas were standing in front of the door, their hair wet and windswept, their jackets shiny with a million little droplets.

And then Sarah noticed the bright red stain on Nicholas’s face.

“Nicholas!” She ran downstairs, and gasped at the sight of Nicholas’s bloodied cheek. “You’re hurt!” She touched his face softly and looked into his eyes, waiting for him to tell her what happened.

“Just an accident. I’m fine.” The look in his eyes contradicted his words. He didn’t look fine. He seemed spooked.

“The ravens attacked me,” Elodie began. “Had it not been for Nicholas … I wouldn’t have come back.”

Sean bristled. “What? The ravens attacked you? But it’s Nicholas who controls them in the first place!”

“Not this time, Sean,” said Elodie quietly.

“What happened?” Sarah asked Nicholas.

“I don’t know. They attacked Elodie, and I stopped them. So they …” He touched his cheek. Sarah covered his hand with one of her own. “Elementals can be … difficult,” he shrugged.

Sean snorted.

“Sean,” Elodie admonished him. “Nicholas saved my life. Do you understand that? Look at the facts!”

“Better keep our eyes open from now on,” intervened Mike.

Sean was looking at Nicholas. “I’m keeping mine well open.”

“Any trace of whoever left the letters?” asked Sarah, holding Nicholas’s hand in hers.

“No. We didn’t see anyone. Apart from a demon,” Elodie said darkly.

“A what?” Sean barked.

“A sort of bird. Huge. It was flying above us. We couldn’t see properly because of the rain. And then it disappeared.”

“The demon-bird!” said Sarah. “The one that—that—” Words failed her, remembering Uncle Trevor’s words: You’re dead to us. Aunt Juliet had been killed by something – possibly that demon – and it was all her fault. And now the demon was back for more, to destroy more people she loved.

“You’ve seen that demon before?” Nicholas seemed deeply interested all of a sudden.

Sarah’s voice was shaking. “It got me on the way to Sean’s cottage.”

Nicholas winced.

“I wounded it but I