* * *
When they were back at the flat, Aidan got out of the Jag without saying anything and stalked into the building just as silently. His hands were back in his pockets, the muscles in his arms showing under his short sleeves.
‘What happened to your hoodie?’ Melody asked when they were inside. ‘Not that I’m complaining.’
She ran her hands up his arms and squeezed his biceps. This time, he didn’t move her. But he didn’t respond, either.
‘Oh,’ Aidan said, remembering something. ‘I took it off, like, in the field. I must have left it there.’
She could see he wasn’t telling her something, but she couldn’t work out what.
‘Wanna play Halo with me?’ Verdi called from the lounge.
Aidan grunted. ‘I don’t,’ he barked in reply.
He put his hand to his cheek, which was marked with cuts, a gift from the dinosaur skeleton - a strange thing to think. He closed his eyes and pressed his fingers to his ragged red skin and it slowly, magically, healed itself, so that when he was finished, the skin was golden and unscarred once more. Then he looked down at Melody, who was six inches shorter than his six-foot-two.
‘I’m going for a wee lie down.’
‘I’ll go with you,’ she offered.
But he returned the gesture with a hard look. ‘No,’ he said. ‘I really want to lie down.’
Melody tried to ignore the feeling of disappointment. She smiled up at him and lifted herself on tiptoes so she could kiss him. It was quick and dispassionate, but it was something.
Then she watched him head into their shared bedroom and shut the door, knowing it would not be a good idea to disturb him.
FIFTEEN
On the journey home, Seth insisted on sitting in the backseat with Itzy, so Devon sat up front with Oz. Devon had gone quiet and spent most of the drive staring out the window.
‘So, what,’ Itzy said to her brother as he drove, ‘you can raise the dead?’ She rested her arm on the back of his seat.
‘Not exactly.’ He stretched his neck from side to side. It made a light popping noise as the muscles released. ‘It’s not zombies or anything. And I don’t have control over what comes out. I just…I can draw bodies out from the ground, whatever bodies happen to be there. It’s sort of a surprise every time I do it.’
‘Is that why there was a sheep?’ she asked. Now that it was all over and they were back in the safe normality of the car, it seemed funny.
‘Yeah.’ He grinned at her in the rear-view mirror. ‘Weird things come up, sometimes.’
‘Have you ever raised a human?’
Oz’s face set in a grim expression. ‘No. Not yet.’
He let the unspoken and I hope I never do hang in the air between them.
Itzy leaned back in her own seat. ‘So that’s why you couldn’t show me, at home.’
She felt Seth watching her. His usual cockiness had left him in the field and his face had been a picture of concern ever since. The first thing he had done after Aidan had gone was ‘draw’ away the scrapes and tears painted on her body. Unfortunately, it was all appearance and he couldn’t erase the pain underneath. At least she wouldn’t have to explain it to her mother when she got home, though. If her mother was even awake.
‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ Seth asked her now.
Itzy smiled at him, touched that he cared. ‘I’m getting better.’
One of his long hands darted in her direction, like maybe he meant to touch her. Then he withdrew it and lay it on his lap. He noticed something grey on the seat between them. ‘What’s that?’
She looked down at the article in surprise. ‘Oh. It’s Aidan’s. I was…wearing it. I guess I brought it with me, without thinking.’ She noticed it was torn in several places.
Seth looked like he was trying to work out who Aidan was, before understanding settled uncomfortably over his face. His eyes were indecipherable, and then he turned away. Oz put on a CD of Bach preludes and Seth didn’t even comment.
When they reached more familiar neighbourhoods, Devon said, ‘You can drop me off here.’
Itzy looked out the window. They were on Ashley’s road.
‘If you say so,’ Oz said, and he pulled the car over so she could get out.
She hopped out without saying goodbye and slammed the door behind her, hurrying to her boyfriend’s front door. Oz didn’t drive away yet. He waited until he knew she was safely indoors.
Itzy’s heart contracted at the sight of Ash opening the door and pulling a tearful Devon into his arms. He held her to him, his hands smoothing down her hair. His gaze floated over her head and found the black car. Itzy ducked behind Seth, who looked at her quizzically.
‘Who is that?’ he asked.
She groaned and leaned into the seat. ‘Please just drive,’ she begged.
Oz grunted and restarted the car, slowly leaving Ashley’s street. ‘Where are we dropping you?’ he threw over his shoulder.
Itzy took a breath. ‘Actually, I was sort of hoping…I could go to your house.’
‘Oh.’ Oz considered the idea. ‘Okay.’ He drove on to his own road and parked the car three houses down from his. It was dark by that time, past 11.30pm. ‘Shouldn’t you ring your mum and let her know you’re okay?’ he said.
Itzy privately doubted her mother had even noticed she was gone, but she didn’t feel like getting into that now.
As they walked down the road to their front door, she pulled out her mobile and pushed a button. She put the phone to her ear and listened to it ring, ring, ring, ring, ring.
Voicemail,’ she said. She waited for the beep and then left a message. ‘Hi, Mum, it’s me. I’m…staying with friends.’ She paused before adding, ‘Love you,’ and ended the call. She looked up at her brother. ‘Happy now?’
Oz shrugged like it was all the same to him. He yawned, stretching his arms high above his head. ‘I’m shattered,’ he declared. ‘I’m going to bed. You can stay on the sofa, if you want. I’m sure Seth can get you whatever you need.’
They headed into the house. Oz flicking the light switch and the building burst into their vision, making them squint. Oz made good on his word and went straight up to his room, closing the door for the last time that night.
It wasn’t the scenario Itzy had imagined. She had hoped maybe they would sit and talk, maybe laugh off the adrenalin of the afternoon. She felt restless and knew she’d be unable to sleep.
Most of all, she didn’t want to be alone. But Oz was gone, and now it was just her and Seth.
Seth stood in the kitchen with his hands in his pockets, just watching her. He seemed to sense something was expected of him, so he said, ‘Tea?’
‘Yes, please. Black.’
He nodded, his face expressionless. He pulled his hands from his pockets and set to filling a kettle with water and flicking the switch. It seemed he wasn’t in the mood for magic. He put his back to the kitchen counter and leaned on it, his hands clasped together in front of him. Itzy stood in front of the sink, four feet across from him. They locked eyes and fell silent.
When they heard the bubbling of the water, he whisked two mugs from the cupboard, pulled out a box of tea, dropped a bag in each mug and poured the water. Steam billowed up from the ceramic mugs. He opened a drawer and retrieved a spoon to stir the tea bags around in the boiling water, before handing Itzy her cup.
He exited the kitchen and she followed him into the lounge, where they sat on opposite ends of the sofa. She realised she was carrying Aidan’s hoodie, and she dropped it on the floor. She allowed herself to get comfortable, curling her legs up under her, while Seth kept both feet on the floor and leaned back, not meeting her eyes.
‘So,’ Itzy said. Now what? ‘Thank you for fixing me up, after…you know.’
Seth ran one of his fingers along the rim of his mug. ‘You must know today wasn’t good,’ he said finally.
‘What I mean to say is…it was very bad. Very, very bad.’
‘You mean, apart from me getting dragged across the ground by man-eating cornstalks?’ She meant it to be funny, but she had a tough audience that night.
Seth nodded gravely. ‘There are more of us out there - more than we know.’
‘Who can…do things?’ she presumed.
‘Yes. And clearly, some of us aren’t interested in confining our powers to our own lives.’
‘You’re wondering what Aidan’s game is,’ Itzy guessed.
Seth slowly turned to face her. ‘You realise if he’d really hurt you - I would’ve found a way to hurt him.’
Her heart thudded in her chest. ‘You…you would?’
For a moment, neither of them said anything. They held each other’s eyes too long, and Seth appeared to be turning over an idea in his mind.
Then the moment passed.
‘Who was that, who Devon went to see?’ he asked.
The change in subject was so abrupt that, at first, she didn’t know what he meant.
‘Oh, him,’ she said. ‘That’s Ashley Morgan. Ash.’
‘Her boyfriend?’ Itzy nodded. ‘So why didn’t you want him to see you?’
Itzy tried for a laugh, but it fell flat in her ears. ‘You know, just…stuff.’
‘Stuff,’ he repeated. He put his tea down on the floor and sat back against the arm of the sofa, waiting for the story.
‘There’s history, okay?’ She tried to distract herself by drinking her tea, but it was too hot and it burnt her tongue, so she put her cup on the floor too.
‘What sort of history?’ Seth pressed. ‘Did you date?’
‘Kind of.’
‘What’s that mean?’ he asked.
‘Okay, we did.’
‘I see.’ He blinked. ‘For how long?’
‘Not long.’
‘How long?’ he echoed himself.
‘…two years?’
Seth whistled through his teeth and shook his head. A humourless smile played on his lips. ‘You don’t think that’s a long time?’
She sighed. ‘I just don’t like to remember, yeah?’
Something friendlier came over his face. ‘What happened?’ he asked, his voice now gentle.
Itzy brushed a thick lock of hair out of her face with her hand and tucked it behind her ear. ‘I ruined it, okay? I just…I couldn’t control my anger and I kept hurting him.’
‘So he broke up with you.’
She played with a ring on her left hand, spinning it around her finger. ‘No, actually…I was the one who ended it.’
‘But you didn’t want to,’ Seth guessed.
Itzy shrugged. She could feel his stare on her. ‘It was never going to work out, you know? He was just so nice. I was this emotional train wreck, throwing all my problems on him, and he just took it, right? He was so bloody understanding.’
‘Don’t you just hate that?’ Seth said with grim irony. He leaned his arm over the sofa and reclaimed his tea. It had to have still been hot, but he threw his head back and drank it all down. He set the cup back on the floor when he was done. ‘But you’re still in love with him.’ He said it as a statement of fact.
Itzy shrugged helplessly, now meeting his eyes. ‘I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. Because he’s with Devon now, and they’re really good together.’
‘But you had him first,’ Seth pointed out.
‘Are you trying to destroy my friendship with Devon?’
‘Ah.’ He scratched his chin absently. He jumped to his feet and waved his hands through the air, producing a duvet and pillow. When he saw the look of disappointment on his guest’s face, he grinned and drew something else. Itzy glanced at her lap and found Parson Brown sitting there.
‘Are you going?’ she asked.
‘It’s getting late,’ he said. But his eyes said something more. She wished she knew what.
‘I….’ Her voice dropped so she was almost inaudible. ‘I was sort of hoping you’d stay up with me.’
Seth’s eyes fluttered closed and then open again, and he smiled sadly. ‘I wish I could,’ he said. Then he admitted shyly, ‘I guess I’ve been wishing it almost since I first saw you. And if I’m honest…I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since you made me kiss you.’
His confession made Itzy’s heart flutter in her chest and heat rushed all over her. ‘But today, you told me it didn’t mean anything.’
Seth laughed silently and shook his head. ‘I was trying to be cool.’
‘Why are you telling me now?’ she wondered.
He reached out and touched the skin on her forehead, as if he could still see the grazes he had healed for her. ‘Because today scared me.’
Itzy put up her hand to grab his, to hold it. He let her, but just for a moment, before gently pulling away from her.
‘No,’ he said. ‘Not when you’re hiding from your ex-boyfriend. But ask me again when you’re over him, yeah?’ He winked at her in a half-hearted effort at disguising his seriousness.
He leaned over and adjusted the duvet so it was tucked in around Itzy’s body. For a brief moment, his chest was suspended over her face as she slid down the sofa and outstretched her legs. His t-shirt hung loose and she could see the contours of his muscles underneath. Then he was standing again, just looking at her.
‘Goodnight, Itzel,’ he said.
This time, there was no irony when he used her name in full, but affection. It spoke of a different kind of familiarity. He bent down and dropped a kiss on her forehead before turning off the light and disappearing up the stairs.
Then it was just her, sleeping on a sofa in a house belonging to two people who had been strangers to her, not two weeks ago. It was incredible how things turned out, sometimes.
Itzy retrieved her tea and tipped the cup sideways, sipping the last of it and rubbing stray dribbles off her chin with the back of her hand. She dropped the cup back on the floor beside her and snuggled under the covers. Parson Brown sat on her chest, staring at her with accusation.
‘What’s your problem?’ she asked the silent toy.
She felt frustrated and restless. She was never going to be able to sleep. She was too keyed up from the day’s events, and she couldn’t believe the others weren’t.
She saw a flicker of light from one of the bookshelves that encircled her. She squinted, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room, and realised it was Eurydice. She gazed lazily at Itzy from among the books, her body curled up into a ball and her long chestnut tail tucked under her chin. The cat blinked once more before closing her eyes and falling back to sleep.
Itzy dug her hand into her pocket and retrieved her mobile. There was one missed call: Ash. What was he ringing about? And what about Devon? She hoped her friend was okay. She hadn’t looked okay when they’d dropped her off.
Then she saw something that obliterated all other considerations. It was an alert saying she had a Facebook message -
from Aidan Carnegie.
There was no mistaking who it was; she knew no other Aidan. With a torturous mix of dread and excitement, she opened the message:
Glad to finally meet you. Shame about the circumstances. I think you have something of mine. Wondered if you’d like to meet so you can give it back to me. A.
Finally?
Was he serious? Something told her he was. Something told her he was always serious. And now he seemed to be serious about her.
SIXTEEN
This time, she dreamt of Oz. They stood in the graveyard outside the little church where the funeral had been held. It was dark and they were the only ones there.
Her brother’s face strained with hard concentration. All at once, the ground before them cracked. Soil crumbled and tumbled aside as bony fingers covered in rotting bits of old flesh reached out and pushed their way out.
‘Dad,’ Itzy breathed as sh
e stared at the corpse.
The awful putrefying smell filled her lungs and threatened to make her sick. Oz had grown as white as cotton.
‘They’re coming,’ the dead thing said, its empty eye sockets on Itzy. ‘They’re coming for you.’
It looked up into the sky, which had grown so black and glinted with so many stars. ‘Don’t let them get my children,’ it said.
Itzy and Oz’s heads turned up in the direction their father was looking and saw the sky bend, a deep impression freezing in the fabric of space, like a jelly mould.
Whatever was on its way, it was getting closer.
Mythos (The Descendants, #1) Page 12