The Ferryman (The Guardians Series 1 Book 2)

by Wendy Saunders

  She said nothing as he carried her back inside and shut the door. Nor did she utter a word when he carried her up the stairs and sat her on the side of the bed. She watched him slowly as he kneeled in front of her his eyes filled with pain and remorse.

  ‘I’m so sorry Livy,’ he whispered.

  Words were still lost to her as she dropped the blanket he had wrapped her in, rose and silently walked past him to the bathroom and slammed the door shut. Turning the water on as hot as she could stand it she stripped off Theo’s shirt and stepped into the shower. Blood covered most of her thigh and ran down her leg, turning the water a pale rose colour. She slowly slid down the wall until she was sitting crouched in the corner and with the water cascading over her, drenching her hair, she pressed her face into her knees and sobbed.

  Chapter 21

  Olivia stared numbly out of the window. Her fingers were wrapped around a mug of steaming tea and she was snuggled in her favourite thick chenille sweater but she still felt cold right down to her bones. She gazed out at the lake which was now completely frozen and covered with snow. Her eyes tracked across to the edge of her protective wards, her body still tingling with residual energy from wielding such an ancient and powerful magic as Spirit Fire. She could feel the pressure against the wards as Mary pushed at it, trying to get back in. She wouldn’t be able to, Olivia knew that much. Her wards had been seared with both Hell fire and Spirit fire now, and as protective shields went hers was pretty hard core. That said, she wasn’t stupid and she wasn’t careless. They were safe enough for now but she knew they would have to be extra careful every time they left the protective circle of the house, at least until they could get to Charon and banish the spirits back to the Otherworld.

  She looked down as a big truck rumbled across the edge of the circle and drove up to the house, parking by the steps leading up to her front porch. She watched as Danae and Davis climbed out, followed by her father. Both her aunt and uncle skirted the edge of the truck and began hauling huge bags and supplies out of the back. Charles stopped and turned, glancing back down the drive towards her shield as if he too could sense the angry spirit trapped on the other side. He continued to watch for a moment, then turning back to the house his gaze lifted to the window where she stood and their eyes locked. For one brief heart rending moment she was seven years old again and was swamped with the overwhelming urge to run to him and let him fold her safely in his arms, but she couldn’t, she wouldn’t. She saw Davis turn and speak to her father, drawing his attention away from her and he nodded to his half-brother following him up the porch steps.

  Olivia looked back at the wards as she felt the pressure again, felt the wave of anger as Mary continued to test it, circling it like a predator. Even from this distance Olivia could see sections of the shield fog up as hand prints appeared then disappeared again. She deliberately turned her back on the window and stepped back into the room, heading towards the stairs. By the time she made it downstairs Theo had already opened the door and the others were stamping the snow off their boots and heading into the house. Theo looked up at her silently as she paused on the bottom step. He looked pretty worse for wear. Not only was he probably sporting a pretty bad hangover from the night before, he also had a nasty cut and bruise at his hairline where Mary had thrown him into the corner of the window. Ignoring him she turned as her father came through the door and stopped abruptly. He sniffed and his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

  ‘What happened?’ he asked bluntly, ‘this place reeks of magic.’

  ‘Nothing that concerns you,’ Olivia replied coldly, ‘it’s been dealt with.’

  ‘Is that so?’ his response was equally cool.

  ‘You’re here because you need help,’ Olivia told him curtly, ‘not to concern yourself with my private affairs.’

  ‘I see,’ he watched her speculatively.

  ‘Olivia?’ Davis interrupted holding a big brown packing box, ‘where do you want this?’

  ‘It depends,’ she frowned. ‘What is it?’

  ‘Supplies, we’ll explain in more detail when the others arrive.’

  ‘Put it in the kitchen then.’

  He nodded and headed back, she didn’t want to ask how he knew where her kitchen was; she had a feeling she wasn’t going to like the answer much. Danae nodded in greeting, following behind her brother with two big olive green military looking canvas bags, which clanged and rattled slightly.

  ‘Theodore,’ Charles turned to face Theo, studying his harried appearance and the large painful welt at his forehead. ‘I don’t suppose you’d care to explain as my daughter seems so reluctant.’

  Theo’s jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed a fraction.

  ‘Like Olivia said it’s private.’

  ‘This wouldn’t have anything to do with the rather angry dead woman stalking your perimeter?’

  ‘Private and off limits,’ Olivia repeated as Charles lifted one brow questioningly.

  The doorbell rang again and Theo turned to answer it, stepping back to allow Veronica in. She stomped the snow off her boots and held up a huge bakery box.

  ‘I brought pastries, is everyone here yet?’ she asked, looking up curiously at Charles.

  ‘Not yet, Roni,’ Olivia replied quietly. ‘This is my father, Charles Connell.’

  ‘Your father?’ her voice came out as a small squeak and her eyes widened.

  She couldn’t blame Veronica for being slightly nervous, despite the fact her dad hadn’t actually murdered her mom, it wasn’t for lack of trying and after all he was still a wanted fugitive.

  ‘Hello, you must be Miss Mason,’ he smiled at her charmingly his voice low and smooth as he took her hand gently. ‘It’s nice to meet you, I hear you are doing great things with the Museum. I am a professor of history myself. I taught at the High School and I was very fond of Renata and the Museum. I’m pleased to see it has been passed into such capable hands.’

  ‘Uh-huh,’ she seemed mesmerised by him.

  ‘Perhaps when there is more time you could fill me in on your plans for the research suite expansion. I must confess I do find the idea intriguing.’

  ‘For God’s sake Charles,’ Davis laughed as he reappeared, ‘stop charming the poor girl. Can’t you see you’re confusing her.’

  Charles laughed lightly and tucked Veronica’s arm companionably through his.

  ‘This is my younger half-brother Davis and his twin sister Danae.’

  Veronica’s eyes narrowed as they turned to Danae.

  ‘I know you,’ she frowned. ‘You were at the Museum the morning I found Renata’s body, you work with Jake. Deputy…Hanson, Helga Hanson?’

  ‘That was my brother’s idea of a joke and now I’m kind of stuck with it,’ she scowled. ‘My name is Danae, but as you can appreciate I would prefer to keep my relationship to Charles a secret and besides, the rest of the town knows me as Helga. I’d be grateful if you could keep my real name to yourself.’

  ‘Of course,’ Veronica replied nervously, wondering and not for the first time exactly what she’d got herself tangled up in.

  Charles moved into the library with Veronica still on his arm, and his siblings followed. The doorbell rang again; this time it was Chief Macallister followed by Jake who was looking as delicate as Theo. Olivia wasn’t surprised given the amount they’d drunk the night before.

  ‘Olivia’ Mac smiled, dropping an affectionate kiss on her cheek.

  ‘Hey Mac,’ she replied, ‘go on through they’re in the library.’

  He nodded and disappeared, as Jake yawned. ‘Olive, I’d murder for a cup of coffee.’

  ‘I’ll go put a pot on.’

  ‘Olivia,’ Theo stepped towards her. She glanced back at him in silence before turning towards the kitchen.

  ‘I guess you told her then,’ Jake murmured to Theo, picking up on the strained silence between them.

  Olivia froze halfway down the hallway and turned slowly back to Jake. She star
ed at him for what seemed like a painfully awkward eternity before she turned her gaze on Theo.

  ‘He knew?’

  Theo sighed and nodded, knowing that he was done lying to her. No matter what, he had to come clean or there was no hope of her ever forgiving him.

  ‘And Tommy?’

  Theo nodded again and silently cursed himself for opening his mouth the night before. He should never have told his friends before he told Olivia.

  She stared at him in silence for a moment, then without saying a word she turned and walked towards the kitchen.

  ‘Olivia,’ he started towards her but Jake caught his arm and held him back. ‘Best give her some space Theo.’

  ‘It’s killing me,’ Theo breathed quietly, ‘she won’t talk to me. She hasn’t shouted, screamed, called me names, set me on fire, nothing. It’s like she’s just shut down. I did that to her.’

  ‘Just give her time,’ he told him. ‘You hurt her, but she’ll come around, she cares about you too much not to.’

  ‘Do you think so?’ he asked hopefully.

  ‘Theo if she didn’t care, trust me she’d have torn you a new one and thrown you out of her house, but you’re still here aren’t you?’

  ‘For the moment.’

  ‘It’s been a big shock for her and the last few weeks have been really stressful for everyone, her in particular. She needs time to process everything, just like she did when she found out about her mom. When Olivia’s hurting she shuts down and wants to be left alone while she figures things out.’

  He knew Jake was right, when Olivia was hurting she retreated into her own private bubble until she was ready to face everyone again. She’d done it before with her mom but he’d been right there with her. He was the only one she’d kept close and at the time he hadn’t appreciated the significance of that. It was only now that he was on the other side he realised just how much he’d screwed up.

  The doorbell went again and this time Louisa trudged through followed by Tommy, who was also looking pale and hungover.

  ‘Hey,’ Louisa greeted them, ‘I brought more medical supplies. Something tells me we’re going to need them. So where’s the party at?’

  ‘Library,’ Theo and Jake answered together.

  ‘I’ll take that and put it with the rest,’ Theo took the box from Tommy.

  ‘Thanks man,’ Tommy swallowed, ‘got coffee?’

  ‘Olive’s just bringing it,’ Jake reassured him.

  ‘Wicked,’ he replied following his wife into the library.

  ‘Oh hey Mr Connell,’ Louisa nodded as she headed into the room. ‘You’re looking better than the last time I saw you.’

  ‘That’s because you’re not sticking needles in me.’

  ‘The day is young,’ she replied brightly taking a seat by Olivia’s desk.

  ‘Indeed,’ he smiled in amusement, turning his gaze on Tommy who’d stopped dead in his tracks when he realised who Louisa was talking to. ‘Tommy Linden,’ Charles spoke slowly, ‘I remember you, I hope your parents are well.’

  ‘Uh yeah they are,’ he replied.

  ‘I realise I’m a few years late but congratulations on your marriage to Louisa.’

  ‘Um thanks,’ he moved to stand next to his wife, watching Charles suspiciously.

  Theo headed back into the room after stashing away the medical supplies, followed a few minutes later by Olivia who set a tray down on the coffee table, next to the box of doughnuts and pastries Veronica had brought from Liddy Mayberry’s.

  ‘Okay help yourselves,’ Olivia told them as she moved across to the other side of the room from Theo and perched on the edge of the couch opposite her father.

  Shivering slightly at the cold she glanced over at the fireplace, watching with satisfaction as it burst joyfully into flames. Her gaze caught her father’s as she turned back to the room.

  ‘What?’ she frowned.

  ‘Nothing,’ he murmured as he looked at the fire and then back to her, regarding her thoughtfully. ‘Do we have everyone now?’

  Olivia glanced around the room and nodded.

  ‘All right let’s get this show on the road,’ Charles began. ‘All of you are aware of the current situation. We have creatures coming through the doorway and they need to be stopped. I have an idea of what to do about that, which we’ll get to shortly but even my solution will only be a temporary measure. The main objective is to find the Ferryman so he can close the doorway. Olivia and I are pretty sure Isabel and Nathaniel are behind his kidnapping, so where are we on locating them?’

  ‘Hang on a minute,’ Jake frowned, ‘are you sure it’s them?’

  ‘As sure as we can be,’ Charles replied calmly. ‘I’m sure Olivia will fill you in on the details later but it’s definitely the most likely scenario and Nathaniel is the only creature around here with enough power to take a supernatural being of Charon’s age and ability.’

  ‘Okay,’ Jake conceded.

  ‘Now,’ Charles continued, ‘where are we on location?’

  ‘Not very far,’ Olivia replied quietly. ‘We’ve hit a dead end.’

  ‘What about Charlotte?’ Veronica asked softly. ‘She was helping you, trying to tell you about Charon in the first place.’

  ‘She’s getting confused I think,’ Olivia shook her head. ‘She has tried to tell me something several times, each time she keeps giving me just one word. The first time she wrote it on the fogged up window in the kitchen. Last night as I got out of the shower she wrote it on the steamed up mirror.’

  ‘What is the word?’ her father asked her curiously.

  ‘Boatman, which isn’t really that helpful. We already know that it’s the Ferryman, she just keeps repeating herself.’

  ‘Boatman? What like the hotel?’ Louisa asked absently as she scrolled through the message she’d received from the hospital.

  ‘What hotel?’ Olivia asked.

  Louisa glanced up from her phone.

  ‘Don’t you remember the project we did in school? Oh no, wait a minute…’ she frowned as she thought back. ‘No that was in High School, you’d already left Mercy by then, my bad. We had to do a project on local landmarks and I chose the Boatman, it’s the old abandoned hotel on the cliff above the lake.’ She looked around the room at the blank faces. ‘Is this not ringing any bells?’

  They all shook their heads.

  ‘Okay,’ she set her phone down. ‘A couple of miles from here, past the woods as the ground slopes uphill, there is a cliff overhanging the lake. A wealthy businessman from Salem decided to build a hotel there back in the twenties. He saw the lake and fell in love with it, story goes he wanted to build a luxurious and very exclusive hotel retreat overlooking the lake. Given that it was at the height of prohibition you can imagine exactly what kind of retreat he wanted to build there. Anyway they finished construction in ‘29 but unfortunately about two months before, the Wall Street crash had hit. The Boatman never got the chance to open its doors. The owner lost everything and the hotel was abandoned. By the fifties the economy had finally recovered and the hotel was sold to a chain of hotels. I forget which one, however they were set to renovate it but the company was then bought out by a larger chain and they didn’t want the Boatman. They didn’t see the financial viability for a hotel that size in such a small town, so it was sold on again to a private owner, but he was caught out on a tax audit and ended up in prison for tax evasion.’

  ‘That’s a hell of a lot of bad luck for one hotel,’ Mac spoke up.

  ‘You’re not kidding, it changed hands a couple more times back in the seventies and eighties but the same thing kept happening. Whoever owned it ended up losing their fortunes which led to the rumour that the hotel was cursed,’ she laughed shaking her head. ‘Anyway I don’t know who owns it these days, last I heard it was bought by some company called Black Orchid, but it’s still abandoned. You used to be able to access it by road but back in the nineties we had all of those really vio
lent storms. They brought down a load of trees on the road that led up to the hotel and as that road was privately owned and never used, the town council didn’t bother to clear it. Nowadays its only accessible by boat, I’m not even sure if the jetty is still there, but it has a small stretch of private beach at the foot of the cliff and steps leading up.’

  Olivia suddenly stood up and grasped Louisa’s hand.

  ‘Come with me,’ she pulled her from the room and headed into Theo’s studio. She flung the door open, ignoring the chaos from the previous night and dropped down to the ground brushing pieces of charred paper and brushes out of the way, until the picture Theo had seen in his vision, and painted directly onto the floor, was revealed.

  ‘Is this it?’ she asked.

  Louisa dropped down to the floor and moved more pieces of paper out of the way.

  ‘Yes it is,’ she whispered looking up at Olivia. ‘I mean its older and more overgrown than the pictures I’ve seen, but that’s definitely The Boatman.’

  ‘God,’ Olivia breathed as she closed her eyes and shook her head. ‘She’s been trying to tell us all along where they are.’

  She looked up as the others gathered in the doorway.

  ‘All this time, they’ve been right under our noses just a couple of miles up the road.’

  ‘Okay this changes things,’ Charles frowned. ‘Everyone back in the other room, we need a change of plan.’

  They all filed back into the library and resumed their places.

  ‘Now we know where they’re keeping him we need to get him back, but at the same time we need to do something about the lake. It’s the full moon tonight and as soon as the sun goes down creatures are going to start pouring out of that doorway. So we’re going to temporarily block it and rescue Charon and we’re going to have to do it all tonight.’

  ‘How are you planning to block the gateway?’ Olivia asked curiously.

  ‘Magic,’ he replied, ‘we’re going to cast a net over the entire lake trapping everything inside it.’