Amy thought we should check out the orchard, then go to my room and search there. Even though I'd been planning on doing that anyway, when Amy suggested it I felt uncomfortable. Not annoyed exactly, more uneasy - like it wasn't her job. Amy ran the milk in to the kitchen while I wandered under the apple trees. Tortured out of shape by the wind, a few were still bravely budding. I wondered who'd planted the trees here. It really wasn't apple tree country. That was fairly low on my list of questions, however. I had new Dead things to worry about. Gran had once called it a gift. I had decided then, that gifts of the non-returnable variety should be treated with deep suspicion.
Every nerve was hyper-sensitive, singing with disquiet.
"You know what's really weird?" Amy appeared behind me and I flinched.
"Aw all of it?" Was there anything about this that wasn't messed up?
"Well yeah, but I meant specifically. I mean that whole scene at your window. I feel like I remember that from somewhere. Like a film or a book or something."
"I'm n-not m-making it up!"
"No, I know that. But I really think I've read that exact same thing somewhere. I just can't remember where." Amy's eyebrows drew together in concentration.
"N-not a phuh-physics text book then." I looked up at the skeletal branches of the tree nearest my room. They didn't go nearly high enough for anyone to climb; far too thin and whippy to bear weight where the top brushed my window. Definitely not an alive-type visitor last night then. What was I doing anyway? Since when did I help the Dead?
"Oh ha ha!" Amy started to say and then stopped.
I had heard it too. A laugh. Low and dark. We hadn't got as far as the old out building yet but it came from around there.
"Was that Grace?" Amy's tone of disbelief was justified. Grace never got up this early.
There. Again. A throaty, husky laugh but definitely Grace. What on earth was she doing? Amy and I exchanged a look, then we both set off towards the out building. It had once been a stable. Now one side was a converted garage. The other side was crammed with around fifty years’ worth of old junk. It must be full of spiders and mice and creepy crawlies.
A black motorcycle was parked by the old hitching post. A black stallion. All we needed now was the knight errant. A masculine chuckle came from the out building. Was Grace with a boy? I flicked a gleeful glance at Amy. Dad would freak out.
Then a tall figure dressed from boots to collar in black, slid out of the shadows of the old stable and I forgot everything else.
This was bad.
The cold struck first. Ice like knives in my stomach and chest. I was winded. So cold it hurt. Worse than dislocating my shoulder in the accident. Worse than Dad's belt descending on me all those years ago. This was sharp and twisting and real. This was now. And all around oily shadow dripped and clung, ready to seep into the fresh wounds.
Air hissed out between my locked jaws. My mind was full of scared, rabbity thoughts. Run. Hide. Don't be seen. Too late. Far too late. He had seen me. I felt he had seen me more clearly than anyone ever had in my life. As if he had peeled off my skin to examine my flesh and bones.
Amy shifted next to me, crunching the gravel. I shuddered back to awareness. Had it really only been a few seconds? Less than that? Couldn't she see the shadows? I threw out an arm to stop her moving past me. She glanced at me in puzzled irritation, but the stranger's sensual mouth twisted with a hint of a smile.
Tall, dark and handsome, my brain catalogued irrelevantly. Somehow that made him even more dangerous. His lower lip was full but it made his mouth look cruel. Black hair fell in careless tangles. His eyes were the worst. So dark…I was falling whilst standing perfectly still…
"You ok, sweetheart?" A half- smile. He knew what he was doing to me. Knew it and liked it. His lips parted and a quick tongue tip ran between them. Testing the air like a serpent. Tasting my fear. "Hey, Grace? These your sisters?"
Grace ducked cobwebs and joined us, an oil can dangling from one hand. "Oh." Her voice was flat. "Yeah that's them." She made no move to introduce us. Her territorial 'hands-off' stance couldn't have been clearer if it had been flashing above her head in neon. We weren't welcome.
You know what Grace? You're welcome to him.
I just wanted him gone. But Amy was winding up for a patented 'Amy' interrogation. And she shouldn't draw attention to herself. Not safe.
Couldn't stop her. Couldn't breathe.
"I'm Amy. This is Emlynn." Amy said.
"Wh wh who who…?" I wheezed. Pathetic. No words. Why now?
"God, Gremlin you sound like a retarded owl. This is Haze." Grace smiled up at him. She had a smudge of dust on one cheek. It only made her look prettier. I'd never seen her so…kittenish. He nodded without turning to her, narrowed his eyes at me. Again that sense of being under a search light. And a pushing feeling in my head. As if my mind was a bubble and something…someone was trying to make it pop. I clenched my teeth and pushed back. No clue what I was doing.
Why couldn't anyone else see what was going on?
"Haze is an odd name." Oh not now Amy. "Haze as in foggy? Or Haze as in a prank?"
"Haze as instead of my given name, which I won't be giving you." He grinned, white and sharp.
Amy wasn't charmed.
"Well you must have a surname. Only Rock stars and popes have one name. You don't look like either!"
Not strictly true on the rock star front Amy but full marks for trying.
He threw back his head and laughed in a way that made me want shuck the skin off my back.
"Smart kid aren't you?" He smirked.
Amy bristled. She hated being called a child. Grace's cheeks were scarlet under the grime and her eyes sparkled with anger.
"Oh, Amy really is a very clever little girl." Grace gave her a tight smile. "Almost like an adult."
Amy went white. She was crushed. Whatever Grace thought of me she'd never cut Amy before. And never in front of anyone. I managed a full breath and lifted my chin. The ground beneath me was held me up. The earth hummed under my feet.
"Let the pr-pretty boy keep his s-secrets. Don't care. Dad will though. W-when he finds out. Guh-Grace, you know that." I locked gazes with my older sister, willing her to send Haze away. She scowled but said nothing. I forced myself to look at Haze. His dark eyes were speculative now. As if I'd surprised him. Unwillingly, I met his gaze again, braced against the feeling of falling. This time though, I was over whelmed with crushing loss and heartache that made me want to curl up with pain. So bad that my grief and betrayal over Mum seemed fleeting and small. For a moment those pitiless black eyes held all the sadness in the world. Then they hardened once again.
"Anything we c-can help you w-with?" I forced out the words. Even with my stammer my tone meant the exact opposite.
"No." The smile flashed off his face like someone had flicked off a light. "You've all given me…exactly what I need." His eyes met mine and I was sucked into screaming darkness without moving or making a sound.
For now.
The words scratched into my mind.
I was a set-back. A minor one.
He swung a leg over his bike and kicked it snarling to life. "Thank you for your courtesy." He gave Grace the kind of smile that made me think we should all run away. Instead Grace's eyes widened. Even from here I could see her pupils dilate. Her lips parted making her appear soft and vulnerable.
"Anytime," she said, heartfelt as a promise and Haze nodded. He intended to collect. More was being said here than even I could follow. "Come again."
Haze raised a hand in farewell. His Harley chewed and spat chunks of gravel as it roared down the drive.
I knew he would be back. The fear was huge inside me, raking at my stomach with blunt claws. Grace appeared different. Distant. I thought I'd already lost her but this was real. I felt her slipping away moment by moment. Amy made a worried noise beside me but I could only stare the way Haze had gone and shiver.
What did you
promise him Grace? Did you even think before you promised it?
I Belong to the Earth (Unveiled Book 1) Page 8