The Demon's Grave
Page 33
She wiped the corner of her eye with a tissue. “I was about to ask you the same thing. The police will want to talk to you.”
I took another sip of my water and lied. “I don’t…remember.”
Mom’s shoulders collapsed and she muttered. “Aidan said the same thing.”
Good.
“How long was I gone?” I asked. I knew I should probably stop talking but the fierce curiosity wouldn’t allow it.
“Three days,” she said. “What’s the last thing you remember, sweetie?”
I closed my eyes briefly then looked back at my Mom, contemplating what to reveal. I wasn’t sure what Aidan had already said and our stories had to be very similar to avoid the wrong questions.
“We went to sleep at that old house on Aidan’s property,” I ventured.
Frowning deeply, she pursed her lips. “Mr. and Mrs. Birket found you both on third floor of that old farm house. Apparently the two of you weren’t waking up. So, they called the ambulance. What were you all doing?” Mom was beginning to lose her composure. Anger swelled in her voice. “Was it drugs? Did anyone else show that you didn’t tell us about?”
I patted her hand, feeling the shifting needles under my skin. “No, it was just us. No drugs.”
She tried to smile, but faltered. I could see she didn’t believe me. “I’m not angry with you, honey. It’s just…”
Suddenly a glimmer caught the corner of my eye. Looking to the bedside table I recognized the glass skeleton key. From the Challenge! Aidan had thrown it away, why was it here?
Holding my breath I averted my eyes quickly to avoid questions. “Where’s the family?” I asked referring to Dad and my two sisters.
She’d already followed my gaze to the key. “Home. We’ve been taking turns coming here.” She picked up the glass. “Do you remember this?”
Timidly, I shook my head.
As she twirled it in her fingers, I could have sworn it glowed a pale pink before fading to clear. Eyes narrowing, Mom muttered, “They found this key in your pocket when they picked you up.”
I stared at it and frowned. “Shouldn’t the police have it?”
My mother’s eyes glazed a bit. “They didn’t want it. Said it was part of the house.” As if snapping awake from a trance, she reached over and hugged me. IVs that were pinned inside my arms stretched with a twinge. “At least you’re all right,” she cooed and sniffled. “This amnesia is probably only temporary.”
“Mom,” I protested, feeling a buzz radiating the air and knew instantly what it meant. Aidan was close, just like before the Challenge, I could feel him coming.
Mom instantly released me and apologized several times before looking back over her shoulder and waving at someone to come in. “Whoever did this is going to pay,” she said seriously.
Leaning on crutches in the doorway, Aidan smiled weakly at us. “Mrs. Fuller,” he said politely. He was in regular clothes again, clean clothes with clean bandages on his forehead. His knee was covered in sweat pants.
That familiar buzz still electrified the air. My stomach twisted and my insides squirmed at the warning. Suppressing it with a smile, I tried to shove it aside. After everything that’d happened I wanted it to go away; it didn’t belong here with him. “How are you?” I asked.
He glanced at my mother. “A little shaken up,” he said.
“Me too.” I chuckled nervously.
Mom glanced between us before standing awkwardly and smoothing her clothes. “I should call your father. He’ll want to know you’re awake. He’ll probably bring the girls.” She cast Aidan a suspicious backwards glance as she passed him but he didn’t seem to notice.
Once she left, Aidan hobbled closer and sat in the empty chair by my bed. “Said anything?”
“Temporary amnesia. You?”
Aidan adjusted his leg while sitting and shook his head. “Let’s just keep this Demon’s Grave thing to ourselves,” he said.
“Yeah,” I sighed and we smiled at the same time. It was a bitter, secretive one, but mutual in its understanding.
Aidan’s leaned closer and before I could move, he and kissed my forehead. His warm lips stayed there for several seconds, tickling with the buzzing sensation that vibrated through my scalp. He jerked back and bit his lips together.
“Now tell me you don’t feel that,” I said huskily.
His eyes trailed to my lips before taking a deep, slow breath. “It’s not like that—usually.”
“I don’t feel like I don’t belong anymore?”
Aidan blushed and looked away.
The joke fell sour and I glanced at the key that was left on the bedside table. “Guess it wasn’t all in my head,” I muttered.
Aidan’s cheeks still flamed, he said, reluctantly looking at me. “No, but Damien was trying to manipulate us both into thinking we were enemies.”
I didn’t want to say that I thought it was Aidan who’d done most of that. “He never told me you were my enemy,” I said instead.
Aidan stiffened. “Oh.”
“What did he say to you?” I raised my eyebrows.
He shook his head.
Seeing the broken trust fragments, I said. “My aunt killed my sister. Her name was Nell, if you hadn’t already guessed.”
He finally looked at me. “She was with those two zombies?”
“They were men at the time, but yeah. I guess she sacrificed them to the Demon’s Grave, but I don’t know why.”
“Where’s she?”
“A high security mental hospital. She was the only one caught.” I told him about the bonfire and how I was supposed to be thrown in first. I told him everything. We weren’t in the darkness anymore. My promise to Damien seemed moot without me there. I only hoped that he couldn’t hear us out here in our world.
When I finished, Aidan pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed in deep. “Christ.”
Falling silent I wasn’t sure how I should react.
“The dream,” Aidan released his nose and sniffled, “when Damien was talking to me. He said I should sacrifice you because you belonged to him, not me.”
I raised my eyebrows, hoping he’d elaborate, but he said instead, “We have a lot to do.” Aidan had trouble meeting my gaze. “The, uh, marble door is missing.”
I wanted to twist at my shirt. I didn’t move my hand and tried to absorb everything he’d said. I didn’t belong here. That’s what Aidan had said he felt about me and Damien had played on that. He must have when he kissed me.
Swallowing loud enough to hear, I listened to the beeping instruments and murmurs from the hallway. Not a single noise could distract me from feeling his mouth and I concentrated on blocking it out.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
There wasn’t a doorway anymore. The Keeper had failed.
I reached back and plucked the key from the bedside table to show Aidan. Gripping the tip so the glass handle shone in the florescent lights I turned it around in my fingers, much the way my mother had. The glass key flashed a color, but it was so quick it could have been a trick of the light.
Aidan grimaced. “How are we going to do this, Nora?”
Dismal is the Demon’s Grave. Dismal and dark to what I crave…
Tilting my eyes to him over the shining key I said reluctantly. “I have an aunt who knows how to make a portal.”
To be Continued in Midnight Ruling
Midnight Ruling The Demon’s Grave Book 2
They weren’t supposed to go back and they weren’t supposed to take innocent people with them. Damien is getting closer to the truth and Nora realizes she has more enemies than friends.
About the Author:
E.M. MacCallum grew up in Southern Alberta surrounded by harsh winds, prairies and wonderful people. She’s an avid reader, writer and random hobbyist.
You can find out more about her and her novels on her website: EMMacCallum.com
Or follow/like on Twitter @EMMacCallum and Facebook
Table of Contents
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
About the Author:
Table of Contents
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
About the Author: