by Aria Sparke
‘I will.’
Even though I’d just seen something I couldn’t explain, I had faith in him. Why exactly, I couldn’t say. It was instinctive, just like my certainty that Kate and the doctor were obviously not to be trusted.
I gazed out the window as we drove back toward Anubis. The evening fog was creeping over the landscape like a sinister creature sliding through the valleys. Overhead and from the north, clouds encroached on the sky, so darkness appeared to swallow the early stars. A sense of foreboding weighed heavily on me, yet I didn’t know what to do about it.
That night, I tossed and turned. Over and over, I saw Flynn take my sweater and as if by magic create smoke. What he did was impossible. I also heard him speak in a strange, uncharacteristic way to a woman beguiled by his speech. If this was not enough to worry me, what of Kate and Dr. Manson? Wicklow was a dark labyrinth with strange inhabitants who were continuing to be my worst nightmare.
When I finally slipped into sleep, I dreamed of a dark paneled room with rich tapestries, mahogany furniture and heavy velvet curtains. One curtain was open and through the gap the moon shone, throwing a luminescent spotlight on the center of the room where a coffin lay. Unable to resist, I walked toward it and when I was close, peeked over the coffin’s rim. Inside laid a young man, who wore a dark cape wrapped around his black-frilled shirt and trousers while his white fingers rested over his wine-colored vest like a bony adornment. His skin was so pale and lips were purple-tinged as though he was close to death, but his face was impossibly beautiful—like Flynn but far more perfect and a few years older. He opened his eyes and looked at me directly.
‘Lily, you came,’ he whispered in my head and it echoed even though I tried to silence it by screaming. But it was futile because I had no voice.
He smiled. ‘I’ve waited so long.’
I woke in a lather of perspiration with the sheets clinging to me.
‘It’s okay,’ I said aloud. ‘It was just a dream.’ The trouble was I’d had this dream over and over since I’d turned eighteen and tonight was the first time the glorious young man had spoken to me. What was more disturbing was the attraction I felt for him—or should I say, lust? And although it was only a dream, it was so powerful and consuming I felt unfaithful to Flynn.
* * *
On Monday, Flynn burst into my room where I was waiting before our mystery date. Although I was supposed to be studying for exams this week, my mind was too distracted to focus. Already well prepared for next week, I figured I could start afresh tomorrow.
Outside, the rain had stopped but it was overcast, so I’d chosen to wear jeans, a simple white t-shirt and a leather jacket.
‘Would you tell me everything here before we go?’ I don’t know why, but I was sad, believing it would be our final date.
‘I promise I’ll tell you everything you want to know but not here.’
‘You didn’t say where we were going, so I didn’t know what to wear.’
He grabbed my hands and pulled me into a dance with him. ‘You look perfect.’ He was trying hard.
‘You’re in a good mood.’
‘I like it when we’re together.’
Had he already dismissed what had happened yesterday? ‘Are we staying at Anubis?’
‘No.’ He took my hand and led me from the room as my heart skipped with excitement. Even though I felt we would be parting soon, I loved how he seized the moment and acted on impulse. I decided to make the most of the day.
‘We’re going for a car ride.’ In the parking lot, he walked ahead and opened the door for me to climb in.
‘Thanks.’ He was always considerate. ‘Okay, where are we going?’
Flynn smiled mysteriously. ‘You’ll see.’ He drove from the college gates to the main road, but instead of veering toward Wicklow, he turned in the opposite direction further into the countryside.
‘Interesting. A picnic, restaurant, animal, vegetable, mineral ...?’
With a grin, he ignored my question and clicked the radio on. Singing tunelessly to the music, he drove until we reached a formal set of wrought iron gates off the highway. Leaning from his window, he pulled up next to an intercom. ‘We’re here.’ A small boom gate opened as if by magic.
‘Here? Where?’
‘Patience.’
We drove up a long, pink pebbled drive shadowed by arching oaks and met on either side by meticulously mowed lawns. It was a glorious scene that belonged in the pages of a glossy magazine. At the top of the drive was a formal mansion so close to the style of Anubis College that it had to be designed by the same architect.
‘It’s beautiful.’
Flynn seemed pleased. ‘It’s my home.’
‘What? Wow!’ Anya had said they were well off, but this was ridiculous.
As Flynn parked his car, I felt an instinctive flurry of anxiety. What would his parents think of me? I came from an ordinary family. This place was so far out of my league. Wait, what did it matter? My role wasn’t to please him or his family. I squared my shoulders and lifted my chin, knowing I was a free spirit and would probably be exercising that freedom soon. As we walked toward the front steps, I gazed above at the mansion’s three levels while Flynn gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. Before we’d climbed the steps, the front doors flew open.
‘Hi, what took you?’ Anya said. She turned and called, ‘They’re here.’ Wearing a black cocktail dress and high heels, she instantly made me feel underdressed.
‘Flynn, what’s going on?’
He slipped his arm around my waist and urged me forward. ‘It’s okay, Lily.’
After we climbed the steps leading to the front door, Flynn ushered me in. The foyer was ridiculous. A massive chandelier hung from an ornately plastered ceiling. Statues of grumpy old men, oil paintings of flowers and naked women and a staircase with gold banisters competed for my attention.
‘Come on.’ Flynn grabbed my hand and guided me through a doorway to a living room.
Martin lay sprawled on a fluffy white rug playing with a whippet dog while an older woman sat in a sofa chair looking over her glasses at me. Standing in front of a large fireplace warming his back, was Professor Ruberio. What was he doing here? My heart sank as I feared an ambush. But the greatest shock was the vision of an elegant woman, who glided in from another room and took my breath away.
‘Who are you?’ I said when I could finally form the words.
‘Surely you recognize me?’
I felt sick. She was the spitting image of my mother. At once, I realized she was my mother’s sister.
‘Lily, I’m Cecilia, your aunt.’ She even had my mother’s voice, which unnerved me.
‘I know.’ My tone was surly and cold, yet I couldn’t help it. She looked so much like my mother that I longed to reach out and hug her—and throttle her simultaneously. ‘Why didn’t you answer me or come to the funeral?’ I knew I sounded bitter, but I didn’t care.
‘I’m sorry, Lily. It isn’t right that we meet this way.’ She ran her fingers through her dark, curly hair, smoothing it in the same manner my mother always did when she was uncomfortable.
I kept my mouth closed in case an uncontrolled barrage of words escaped.
‘I’m like Elise and you. We all share the same heritage.’
You don’t say. ‘Hmm, we’re related, so I suppose it isn’t surprising we share some DNA.’ What did that have to do with anything?
‘I couldn’t risk being found by them,’ Cecilia sounded emotional. ‘You know what they did to Elise.’
‘What?’ Now I feared she was crazy like my mother. What if I inherited their mental condition? My mind flitted with memories of the phone conversation with Chrissie and my mother’s talk of a monster. I started to panic.
‘I’ve spent half my life running from them. Why Elise dragged you here right under their noses, I don’t understand. You were safe in Florida.’
‘What? Who were you running from? I thought you were in Scotland.’ Everyone was look
ing at me as the walls closed in. I was hyperventilating. Suddenly everything went black. When I opened my eyes, I was lying on the couch and Flynn was holding my hand.
‘You fainted, Lily. Are you okay?’ he said.
‘I’m fine,’ I snapped and brushed him aside before sitting up, annoyed with myself that I’d done something so embarrassing.
‘I wasn’t in Scotland, Lily. I’ve been here all the time—fighting them,’ Cecilia said after I’d sipped a glass of water.
Not wanting to humor her, I raised my eyebrows at Flynn.
The woman with blond hair drawn in a severe bun from her aristocratic face coughed. Flynn scurried forward like a buffer between her and me.
‘Mother, I want to introduce you to Liliana Winter,’ he said in a formal tone.
I bobbed my head at her, thinking she was far too old to be Flynn’s mother while at the same time suppressing the urge to laugh at Flynn’s pompous manner. He would have to lay off the old novels.
‘Hello, nice to meet you,’ I said, not really meaning it.
Flynn’s mother gave me a thin-lipped smile. ‘Liliana, we’re so pleased to welcome you into our home. Please call me Mirela. I believe you’ve met my stepson, Alexis.’
Stepson? Now I was confused. Alexis was part of this menagerie? I could hardly wait to get back to college. Nothing would stop me fleeing Anubis and Wicklow now. It was all getting too weird.
I frowned at Alexis. ‘You’re related too?’
‘Hello, Lily.’ Obviously embarrassed, Alexis flushed. ‘I’m a half-brother of the triplets. We share the same father.’
It was starting to feel like one of those complicated logic problems where you had to work out everyone’s relationships, but I’d already lost interest feeling as though the Ruberio-Cooper cobweb was ensnaring me with its sticky threads.
I fixed Flynn with a glare. ‘I’d like to go back to college, thank you.’
‘Nonsense,’ Mirela said. ‘Lunch is waiting and we haven’t begun to get to know each other.’
Flynn and Alexis looked at each other awkwardly.
‘Alright, let’s cut the formality,’ I said suddenly feeling emboldened. Standing with my arms folded, I confronted the Ruberio-Cooper clan. ‘Tell me why I shouldn’t pack up and leave Wicklow as soon as I return to college?’
‘Such wonderful spirit,’ Mirela said admiringly before she stood and took me by the elbow. ‘I understand you’ve had a terrible time, Liliana. Please come and join me at the table, so we can explain.’ Her accent echoed Alexis’.
I was starving. If I returned to Anubis College now, I’d miss lunch. I could afford the delay, so I let her steer me to their dining room where servants flitted in and out, carrying trays and platters of food. Mirela insisted I sit at the grand dining table set with a snowy tablecloth, pale blue china, silver cutlery and vases of lilies. The smell of roast chicken and vegetables effortlessly undermined my resolve, so I relented.
When I’d devoured more than my fair share of chicken, potatoes, pumpkin and peas, I turned to Flynn and said loudly, ‘I want to know how you were able to do the things I saw yesterday.’
‘Perhaps I can begin,’ Mirela said.
‘You’re going to find this difficult,’ Flynn said apologetically.
‘Try me.’
Before speaking Mirela picked up her wine and sipped from the crystal glass. ‘We are from the family clan known as the Ruberios. In the 17th century the Ruberios fled from Albania to Lithuania and 100 years or so later to North America. The reason they fled was to escape a monster. His name is Vincent Berisha.’
Here we go again—monster talk. Was this all a practical joke, or was I the crazy one imagining the whole scenario? Perhaps my mother’s death had sent me off the deep end. For all I knew I might be in a padded room in Piermont House suffering a delusional state.
‘Lily, you’re not going crazy,’ Flynn said and grasped my hand.
I laughed unconvincingly. ‘Okay, you just said his name is Vincent Berisha. If your clan escaped him a hundred years ago, shouldn’t you have used the past tense?’
Mirela fixed me with her gaze across the table. ‘Vincent is undead and followed us here.’
Feeling left out of the joke, I chuckled. ‘Ghost, zombie or vampire? Although there are others in fantasy books and games, aren’t there?’ I glared at Flynn. ‘You should have given me a heads up; I would’ve worn a costume for this freaky party.’
Mirela seemed peeved.
‘It’s true Lily,’ Alexis whispered. ‘He’s a vampire.’
There were only two logical possibilities—they were delusional or joking. I decided to play along with the charade. ‘Okay, what about the Ruberio clan? Are you all past your use-by date too?’
Flynn shifted in his chair but reached for my hand and held it tightly under the tablecloth.
‘Our father’s a vampire,’ Alexis said, ‘but we’re dhampirs or half vampires.’
‘We?’
‘Me, Martin, Anya and Flynn. Our father has had many mortal wives over the last few hundred years and his latest is Mirela.’
‘So, what about your mother?’ I asked Alexis trying to catch him out with their practical joke.
Alexis looked at the ground.
‘She died 100 years ago,’ Mirela said.
* * *
A few hours later, Flynn and I drove back to Anubis in silence until my anger had subsided sufficiently to talk.
‘Ambushes aren’t much fun, but maybe I’m difficult to please.’
‘I’m sorry, Lily. Even though I’ve lived a long time, I’m not socially adept.’
I hadn’t for a moment believed the comedy foisted on me by this nutty family, so I decided to pick at the threads. ‘What happened to Alexis’ mother?’
Flynn gazed at the road ahead. ‘One guess.’
My eyes narrowed as I regarded him. An image flared in my mind. ‘No.’ I blocked a hideous face from my mind and refused to believe. It was too ridiculous because he looked like Vince, the green-eyed dummy we threw knives at in the gym.
‘You know already, don’t you? Did you have a vision?’ He seemed intensely curious.
But I didn’t respond.
‘Of Vincent Berisha? You saw him in your mind, didn’t you? That’s unreal.’
I was unconvinced. ‘I don’t know this man or monster, so how do you know I visualized him?’
‘Of course it’s him. Who else would it be? Did he have white hair?’
I shook my head although he did.
‘Do you know Mirela and Cecilia could sense your abilities as soon as they met you?’
‘My abilities?’ Poor Flynn, he was just as deranged as they were with their crazy cult-like beliefs.
‘They believe like your mother, you’re a seer, a witch ... whatever you want to call it. I know you don’t believe what my family told you, but give it time, please Lily. We desperately need your help.’
‘My help?’ Even if Cecilia and his family’s strange delusion was in any way true, what possibly could I do to help them?
* * *
CHAPTER 18
Midnight Runner
The Ruberios’ comedy act had overwhelmed me. At their weird family lunch I had discovered that the triplets had used the pseudonym Cooper to hide their identities at Wicklow High. But their fanciful revelations made me sure about what I had to do next. For the next couple of weeks, I’d focus on study and exams, so I could finish the semester with a clean record. After that I’d leave. Although I loved Flynn with all my heart, I couldn’t stay in Wicklow, not with his mad relatives living so close.
The day after the family lunch, Flynn didn’t show up for dinner and Kate hadn’t returned from Wicklow, so I felt a little lonely.
I tapped on Flynn’s door and he called for me to come inside. He was lying on his bed reading a novel with his dark fringe flopped over his eyes. Studying wasn’t a preoccupation with him because like Anya and Martin, he just seemed to absorb information with ease
. Now I knew they were triplets it made sense. They obviously had lucky, smart genes, yet the boys seemed to have no ambition to go further than Anubis College despite always doing well. After the strange family lunch, I wondered whether their weird family sense of humor, or whatever it was, might also be a hurdle for them to overcome.
Flynn looked up and grinned.
This was going to be hard. I wished I hated him and felt no physical attraction.
‘How did sport go?’ he asked.
‘The running part was fine, but I seem to have plateaued with the knife skills.’ Why were we gibbering about something so meaningless?
‘You’ll get the hang of it.’ He patted the bed next to him. ‘Come and lie with me.’
Despite longing to forget all the nonsense and snuggle up with him on the soft quilt, I perched stiffly on the edge of the bed.
‘Kate was missing from class.’
‘I don’t think she’ll be returning to college. Alexis thinks she was a plant.’
Puzzled, I waited for him to continue.
‘He said Kate’s probably part of the Berisha clan and since they went after your mother, they were using her to check you out.’
I’d had enough of the insanity. ‘We have to talk.’
Flynn sat up with a worried expression. ‘What’s wrong? I thought we were fine. Look, if that stuff yesterday put you off, just forget it.’
He had to be kidding. I didn’t know how to break the news to him, so I just blurted it out. ‘I want to leave college.’
He looked as though he’d been hit between the eyes with an arrow. ‘Right.’
‘And Wicklow.’ I could see the shock and disappointment in his face.
He frowned. ‘To go where?’
‘Anywhere away from the craziness here.’ I picked his hand up and traced the creases on his palm. ‘I know your life is here, but would you come with me? We could go anywhere and work over the next semester, raise some money and reapply for college somewhere else. I don’t care if I have to wash dishes or clean bathrooms, so long as I get away. Lots of people take gap years, it’s normal at our age.’ I turned to him, but his face was unreadable. ‘Flynn, what do you say?’