Cast in Stone

by Bilinda Sheehan

  I awoke in the semi-darkness. The light from the wall sconces flickered, giving off barely enough glow to illuminate my hands in front of my face. I pushed upright, and as my vision ran with streamers of colour I tried not to vomit.

  “Tracey, can you hear me?” Grey’s voice seemed far away, but when I glanced up I realised he was standing only a couple of feet from me.

  He was leaning over the girl on the stone altar. Her skin looked dry, almost papery, and she was very still.

  “Is she…?” I asked, watching as Grey pressed his fingers to her throat.

  “She has a heartbeat, but it’s very faint,” Grey said, glancing back at me.

  “I’ll call an ambulance.” I searched my pocket for my cell phone.

  “It’s already done; Alex called them when we heard the scream.” Grey gave me a concerned look. “You’re bleeding.”

  I stared at him in shock. “I thought you didn’t want to call in the reinforcements?”

  “Hearing her screaming was different. When it was just us, I thought we could handle it. With an innocent’s life on the line…” He shrugged, not needing to finish. I knew what he meant anyway. We knew the risks, and when we put our lives on the line it was always with the intention of keeping innocent bystanders out of it, ensuring the loss of life was kept to a minimum.

  We, on the other hand, were expendable.

  As I rolled over onto my side, my stomach rebelled, and I began dry-retching as I dug my fingers into the dirt. The blow to the head definitely hadn’t helped matters, but I also knew part of the nauseous feeling in my stomach came from panic.

  “I need to get out of here,” I said, staggering to my feet.

  Sirens split the air, making the pain in my head so much worse.

  “You need to let someone look at your injuries,” Grey said, his hand pressed against Tracey’s head. The faint glow of his blue-tinged magic played around his fingers.

  “No.” The thought of being looked over by paramedics left me feeling cold. I’d never been a good patient, and I wasn’t about to start now. “What are you doing?”

  “Keeping her stable until they get in here. She’s strong, but…” Grey trailed off, and I knew what he meant: strong wouldn’t stop death from taking her.

  Alex’s voice floated down from the entrance to the chamber, and it was quickly joined by others. I turned, heading for the chamber mouth as the paramedics made their way inside. I avoided Alex’s questioning glance and climbed outside.

  The fresh air helped clear my head a little, but not enough to get rid of the dizziness that washed over me every couple of minutes. If I didn’t get a grip soon, driving was going to be a real problem.

  The blue and red lights from the gathered ambulances and police cars illuminated the area, and the panic I’d felt inside the burial chamber only increased. I was missing something, I knew it, but the more I tried to focus in on it, the more elusive it became.

  I tugged my cell phone from my pocket, a frustrated growl trickling past my lips as I stared at the large crack that had splintered the screen. As I pressed the home button, the phone lit up, but it was impossible to make out the jumbled and broken words that covered the screen.

  Were they missed calls? I couldn’t be sure. I tried unlocking the phone, but it let out an unhealthy-sounding beep before the screen went dark. I tried to bring it back, but the screen remained dark.

  Great.

  Grey’s hand brushed against my shoulder, and I jumped. I’d been so engrossed in the cell phone that I hadn’t noticed him joining me.

  “How is she?” I asked, struggling to quiet the erratic beat of my heart.

  “Critical. They’re trying to stabilise her down there now, and then they’ll move her.”

  I nodded and stared out across the open expanse of wild grass. Stonehenge was visible on the hill, and the urge to race across the open fields toward it was almost more than I could stand. The standing stones called to me, but I couldn’t put my finger on why.

  “You really need to get your head looked at, Jenna,” Grey said, pushing my hair aside so he could take a closer look at my face.

  “I’m fine.”

  “You’re not, you keep spacing out on me,” he said. “You haven’t heard a word I’ve said the entire time we’ve been standing here.”

  I tore my attention away from the standing circle and met his eyes. Concern and worry filled his dark gaze, and I could feel its warmth spreading across my skin.

  “I thought I’d lost you,” he said. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t stop it.”

  “This isn’t your fault.”

  “I wanted to help, but she was dying…” Grey stared down at his hands. “When I saw it hurl you across the space, heard the sound your head made as it connected with the stone…” He raised his eyes to mine once more. “I don’t know how you’re standing here.”

  “It wasn’t that bad. I’ve got a pretty tough noggin,” I lied, the taste like bitter ashes in my mouth. I wanted to tell him the truth. I wanted to tell him what I was, that the reason I was standing here wasn’t because the creature had failed to kill me but because I was an immortal. That unless it too was immortal, it couldn’t end my life.

  It hit me then. I knew what the creature wanted, and I had a sinking feeling that we’d given it exactly what it needed.

  “You saw the creature when it left,” I said, and Grey nodded. “What did it look like?” He gave me a confused look. “Did it have form, or look human?”

  Grey nodded. “Yeah, you hit it with Alex’s sword and it bled. By the time it left, it had healed, but it definitely looked human.”

  “Where’s Alex?” I said, turning away from Grey.

  “He was with the paramedics when I left,” he said.

  Without waiting for Grey to ask me why I needed Alex, I stalked toward the chamber just as he stepped out into the night air.

  “We’ve got a problem,” I said, without waiting for him to open his mouth.

  “What is it?”

  “We know the creature wants a second chance at life, but because it’s a wight it needs to keep feeding to regain its power, right?”

  Alex’s eyes studied mine, but he didn’t dispute me.

  “What happens if it feeds from an immortal?”

  “I don’t know, I’ve never seen it happen before. What are you getting at?”

  “But have you ever seen a wight that looks human?”

  “No…” Realisation dawned on his face. “You don’t think feeding from me gives it immortality too?”

  “It already can’t die, but what if draining you gives it life again? Isn’t that a kind of immortality anyway?”

  “Shit,” Alex said. “You’re telling me that bastard can kill me because I helped make it an immortal?”

  “I don’t know, but it seems pretty likely,” I said, but something else niggled at the back of my mind. I knew I wasn’t connecting all the dots.

  “What is it?” he asked as Grey joined us.

  “I don’t know, there’s just something I can’t quite put my finger on…”

  “We’ve got another problem,” Grey said, and I glanced up at him. His expression was grim.

  “It’s not Tracey, is it?” I asked, and when he shook his head I couldn’t stop the sigh of relief that flowed out of me.

  “The Pied Piper has taken the SUV. It’s got my druid box, and there are things in there that I wouldn’t want just anyone getting their hands on…”

  “Do we know where it’s heading?” Alex asked.

  Pain like white-hot heat flared inside my head, momentarily rendering me blind. The heat seemed to sear through every cell inside my mind, and Adrian’s voice echoed in my ears as though he were standing next to me shouting my name.

  My vision cleared, and I found myself clutched in Grey’s arms.

  “What’s wrong?” His grip tightened on me as he helped me back to my feet.

  Panic swelled inside me, and I clamped down on it, blocking out ev
ery other emotion and feeling that threatened to overwhelm me. I didn’t have time for that; Adrian needed me, and panic was far too dangerous an emotion to entertain.

  “I need to get out of here. I need to see Adrian,” I said, my voice devoid of emotion. I tried tugging away from Grey’s grip, but he managed to hold onto me.

  “You’re not fit to go anywhere,” he said.

  “Grey, let me go.” My voice sank low, growing cold enough that surprise flashed in his eyes.

  “I’m coming with you,” he said, rather than releasing me.

  I didn’t fight him. If that got me out of here faster, then I wasn’t going to argue.

  “I guess I’ll stay here and deal with the scene and the cops,” Alex said, and I knew the only reason he was being so helpful was due to the tone of my voice.

  Ripping free of Grey’s hold, I trudged over the grass, picking up my pace as the urge to run swept through me. Adrian… something was wrong with Adrian. Was that the reason for the missed calls on my phone?

  Grey kept pace easily with me, and as I reached the Land Rover he held his hand out toward me.

  “Keys,” he said.

  “I can drive.”

  “This isn’t a debate, Jenna, you’ve got a head injury. If you want to get there in one piece, then give me the goddamned keys.”

  I tossed them over to him and opened the passenger door. I couldn’t feel my heart beating… was that because it was beating too fast or had whatever Adrian done to reach out to me finally cause it to stop?

  I slipped into the car, and Grey said nothing as he started the engine and reversed out onto the road. Under normal circumstances, his erratic driving might have worried me, but not now.

  Now, I could only think about my friend. In all the years we’d known each other, he’d never called to me like that. I needed to get to him before it was too late.

  Chapter 31

  Adrian’s shop was lit up when we pulled to a halt outside. An ambulance sat at the curb, along with a couple of police cars. My heart sank as despair clawed its way through me.

  “No. No. No. No. No.” The one-word mantra repeated over and over drew a sideways glance from Grey as I slid from the car and darted toward the barrier that had been erected on the pavement.

  I slipped beneath the tape and made it as far as the shop door before a tall, wiry police officer brought me up short.

  “Where are you going?” he asked, suspicion coating each word.

  “My friend, he owns the shop, is he…”

  The policeman shook his head. “I can’t tell you anything about…” He paused, and I could feel power flooding my veins as I stared up at him. He stuttered, and a bluish blush spread out from his lips.

  The police officer raised panicked eyes to someone behind me, and I could suddenly feel Grey at my back. His hand gripped my shoulder, and I released my magic, letting it drop back into the pit inside me as the officer gasped.

  “Division 6,” Grey said, sounding authoritative. “What happened here?”

  “The owner of the store was attacked,” the officer said, sucking in a deep breath with a slight wheeze. “Knocked around pretty badly, but the ambulance crew has him now…”

  Relief made my knees weak and instinctively I reached out, grabbing the door frame. The police officer jumped as though I’d tried to make a grab for him and took a step backwards into the shop. I tried to follow, but my body refused to cooperate, and I knew if Grey’s hands hadn’t been on me, my legs wouldn’t have kept me upright.

  “He’s all right?” I asked shakily.

  “Well, that’s up to the ambulance crew to decide.”

  I stepped into the shop, and the officer hesitated, then changed his mind and quickly moved out of my way. Inside, I saw that most of the shelves and displays had been destroyed. My boots crunched over the broken glass.

  “I need to talk to her.” Adrian’s voice filtered through to me from the back room, and I moved past the counter and stepped through the beaded curtain.

  He sat on a stretcher in the middle of the floor as two paramedics fussed around him. The whir of the inflating blood pressure cuff met my ears, and the steady beat of his heart registered on the monitor.

  “Jenna!” The relief in Adrian’s voice when he saw me tore at my heart. His face was beginning to swell on one side, blood was crusted around his nose, and I knew that in a couple of hours he’d have two shiny black eyes.

  “What happened?” I asked, my voice choked. “Did Triskel do this?”

  “Triskel? You don’t have her?” Panic twisted his voice. “No, this wasn’t her…”

  “Then who?”

  “The vamps who are after her paid me a visit…”

  “I thought you said they hadn’t made the decision to come back!” I swore beneath my breath, and Adrian winced as one of the paramedics tightened a strap across his lap.

  Adrian shook his head. “It’s a long story, and I really don’t have time to get into it now, but the three that paid me a visit were definitely the vamps I’d seen in my first vision. I told her to run when I felt them coming… Jenna, I think they’ve got a witch working with them. It’s the only thing that makes sense, and the only way they could have shielded their thoughts from me. I didn’t know they were coming until it was too late.”

  I swore again. “Where did she run to?”

  “She said she’d go back to your house, that she felt safe there.”

  “Did they go after her?”

  Adrian nodded, his face twisting in pain. “But I saw something else, Jenna, before Triskel left.”

  “What?”

  “Merry.”

  He didn’t need to say anything else. The moment her name left his mouth, the niggling thought that had been plaguing me ever since I’d felt the creature in my head came crashing together.

  The Pied Piper was going after Merry. He’d seen her in my head, felt her innocence, her power. She was the key to him finishing the spell he’d started all those years ago.

  “The Pied Piper,” I said, and Adrian nodded.

  “He needs her…”

  “I know. She completes the spell.”

  “A pure soul,” Adrian said, and the intonation in his voice made the hairs stand on the back of my neck. He sounded just like the creature when it spoke in my head.

  “You need to go. I tried calling you to warn you, but…”

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”

  “Jenzie, go, you have to stop them. The vamps and that abomination…”

  I felt torn. He was right, but I still didn’t want to leave him. He was family, and I’d failed him.

  “You haven’t failed me,” he said, and I jerked my gaze up to him. “But you’ll never forgive yourself if you don’t leave now.”

  He was right.

  “We need to load him up now,” the paramedic next to me said, and I could feel the weight of his gaze as he took in my bloodied appearance.

  “I’ll come and see you as soon as I’m done,” I said, trying to keep my voice light. I succeeded in sounding like I was going to get my nails done rather than face an immortal wight and at least three vamps intent on destroying everyone under my protection.

  Adrian smiled at me. “Give ’em hell.”

  Without another word, I turned on my heel and ran for the car. Time was not on my side. They had a head start… how much of one, I couldn’t be certain. But it was enough that if I didn’t get a move on, there would be nobody left to save.

  Chapter 32

  This time I didn’t let Grey drive. He’d tried to protest, but I slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine, leaving him with a simple choice. Get in or get left behind.

  From the corner of my eye, I watched his fingers turn snowy white as he gripped the dashboard. I spun the wheel, easily manoeuvring the car around a hairpin bend, our speed causing two of the wheels to gently leave the ground.

  “Try them again,” I said, gritting my teeth as I pressed my foot a little
harder on the gas pedal.

  Grey hit redial and I listened as the phone rang without an answer. I flicked off the headlights. I could see well enough in the dark without them, and the last thing I wanted was to alert anyone at the house that I was on my way. An ambush outside the house wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. The Land Rover moved smoothly over the darkened road, as though it knew the way home.

  As we crested the last hill, the house came into view. Every window blazed with a green glow, but I knew it didn’t come from any light in the house; it was the colour of the magic used to create the wards that protected the whole house. And judging by the luminous green glow, the wards had been activated.

  They’d be safe so long as they stayed inside with the doors bolted and the windows locked. The wards would protect them from anything and everything that tried to gain access… But they’d have to stay indoors, and knowing how skittish Carolyn was, I could only hope that she’d really listened to what I’d told her about the wards.

  Triskel, on the other hand, was different. I didn’t even know if she’d made it back to the house in time.

  An image of the fae, hurt or worse, popped into my head, and I almost drove the car off the road. Jerking the wheel forcefully to the right, I managed to keep the car on the road by the skin of my teeth. The sound of Grey muttering curses beneath his breath might have made me laugh at another time, but right now it only managed to draw a grim smile out of me.

  “If you get us killed, we’re no use to anyone,” Grey said quietly, the strain evident in his words.

  “Sorry,” I said, keeping my eyes trained on the uneven, narrow road. He was right.

  I really didn’t need to think so negatively right now. I had to concentrate. They would all be safe. And when I got there, I would deal with whatever monster, or monsters, had triggered the wards.

  I’d failed enough people tonight. I wasn’t going to fail anyone else.

  Gravel sprayed up around the sides of the Land Rover as I pulled into the driveway and stamped on the brakes hard enough to crash into the seatbelt as we came to a sudden stop. The sound of Grey’s breaths coming in short bursts was the only noise I could hear inside the car.