Charley Chambers

by Rachel Kennedy

  ‘Okay,’ Aiden said, tossing the diary on to the bed and kissing her gently on the forehead. ‘You call if you need me, all right?’

  ‘I will, I promise.’

  She saw them to the door and watched them make their way down the street. Aiden turned to give her a last wave, to which she smiled and mouthed, ‘Thank you.’

  ‘Anytime,’ he shouted, before disappearing round the corner.

  Charley never even made it to bed after that. She walked into the living room and collapsed on the couch. She was dead to the world in seconds.

  While Charley slept, she dreamt about Marcus. They were back on the bridge, staring into the water, relishing each other’s company. Marcus had his arm draped around Charley’s neck and her head was resting on his shoulder.

  ‘What are you thinking?’ he asked, stroking her cheek with his fingertips. She giggled softly.

  ‘Just about you.’

  ‘What about me?’ He raised one eyebrow cockily.

  ‘About how much I love you. The way I feel when I’m with you . . . How much I want to kiss you right now.’

  Her smile faded and her eyes grew wide, wanting.

  ‘Kiss me then,’ Marcus whispered in her ear and she giggled again, this time from nerves.

  ‘I can’t,’ she said sadly.

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘I . . . I don’t know.’

  ‘Do you still miss him?’ Marcus asked, a sombre expression on his face.

  ‘Miss who?’

  ‘Aiden.’

  Charley gave him a blank look, her eyes searching his for some sort of clue.

  ‘Who’s Aiden?’ she asked, frowning in confusion. ‘You’re teasing me again, aren’t you? You know I hate it when you do that.’

  Marcus’s smile returned and he said, ‘Of course I’m teasing you. Come on, let’s jump.’

  ‘All right, on the count of three?’

  ‘On one condition . . . once we hit the water, you’re mine, okay?’

  ‘Deal,’ she smiled, grabbing a hold of his hand. ‘One . . .’

  ‘Two . . .’

  ‘No!’ Charley yelled, waking with a start. Her mouth was dry, her palms sweaty, and it took a moment for her to realise where she was. The curtains were still open but it was dark outside, the light from the street lamps glaring in the window.

  Charley got up to shut them, still shaking from her nightmare.

  Why is no one home yet? she wondered, pulling away the ties that held the curtains in place.

  She hated nightmares of any kind, but this had been one of the worst. Not just because it was about Marcus, but because she’d enjoyed it. She could still feel his arm around her and his breath on her cheek; she could hear the rough sound of his gritty voice, whispering tenderly in her ear; she could still see his beautiful brown eyes, looking down at her affectionately.

  He’s a demon, she reminded herself, trying to forget about what she was feeling – what she had felt.

  Charley took a deep breath as she fetched the phone, a knot forming in her stomach. She couldn’t think of anything she wanted to do less, but she knew she had no choice.

  Carefully, she dialled Marcus’s number and put the phone to her ear. He knew more about Jess than he was letting on and the only way to find out was to talk to him, ask him to meet her in person.

  Yeah, because that usually works, said the irritating voice in her head.

  ‘I don’t have much choice,’ Charley grunted aloud.

  Who says he’ll even agree to meet you?

  ‘He will.’

  Marcus was unpredictable, but when it came to Charley he was completely transparent. If Charley asked, Marcus would be there.

  She let the phone ring but eventually hung up when it became clear he wasn’t going to answer. ‘Stupid demon,’ she muttered, just as the front door opened.

  ‘Charley? Who are you talking to?’ Linda came through the door, followed by a fragile-looking Jess.

  ‘Eh, no one. Never mind. How are you feeling?’ she asked her sister, who was as white as a sheet.

  ‘She’s tired,’ Linda said, dropping her handbag on the couch and giving Jess a kiss on the cheek. ‘Go upstairs, honey. I’ll bring you some tea and a hot water bottle.’

  Jess left without a word to Charley and Linda groaned in exasperation.

  ‘You okay, Mum?’

  ‘Oh, Charley, I’m fine. It’s just been a long day.’

  ‘Is Jess okay?’

  ‘As far as I can gather. They don’t seem to be able to find anything wrong with her. I’m not pleased, Charley. In fact, I’m furious. People don’t just stop breathing like that.’ Linda was close to tears.

  ‘Can I do anything?’

  ‘No, honey, it’s all right. Thank you for offering. In fact, there is one thing you could do, before it gets passed on. The box in the living room,’ – she gestured to a tattered cardboard container – ‘it’s all old stuff of your gran’s. Would you mind going through it to see if there’s anything you’d like? It’s mostly junk, the big things are all in the garage, but there might be something you want to keep.’

  ‘Sure, I’ll have a look.’

  Charley wandered over to the box and began unpacking it: a pair of old brass candlesticks; a silver brooch; a pearl necklace missing half its beads. Linda was right, it was all rubbish.

  At the bottom, Charley came across a small pile of photographs, held together with an elastic band. They were torn at the corners and some of them stained, the paper curling slightly around the edges. Charley took them out and began leafing through them, smiling at her gran’s cheerful expression. They were old pictures, probably dating back at least forty years.

  When she came to a photo halfway through, she stopped. She had to take a second look to make sure she was seeing things right.

  Yes, it was definitely her. It was a picture of her gran, smiling as always, with her arms wrapped around a skinny blonde woman: Tabitha.

  It can’t be, Charley thought, rubbing her eyes in confusion. What the hell’s going on?

  And then it hit her; it wasn’t Tabitha, it must be her mother. The two were almost identical, although the woman in the photograph had a slightly squarer jaw.

  But what is Gran doing with Tabitha’s mother? Were they friends?

  Charley suddenly became very suspicious. Why had Tabitha never mentioned the fact that her mum had been friends with Dorcas? Pretty good friends, by the looks of things.

  Charley shoved the picture in her pocket and got up from the floor.

  ‘Mum, I need to go see Aiden.’

  ‘Charley, dinner won’t be long. And you have school in the morning. Can it really not wait until tomorrow?’

  ‘Charley!’ Jess suddenly yelled from upstairs, her voice like thunder. ‘What the hell have you done to my room?’

  ‘Nope, can’t wait. Gotta go.’

  Linda watched bewildered as Charley ran for the door.

  ‘Oh, I give up,’ she sighed.

  The breeze caught Charley off guard and she cursed as the bitter wind blew through her hair, sending a chill down the back of her neck. She started to run, determined to get to Aiden’s before she turned into an icicle.

  ‘It shouldn’t be this cold yet; it’s not even snowing,’ she said aloud, wondering if it was just the weather itself or if somebody had been messing with the climate again.

  Maybe Quinn took the whole Ice Queen thing to a new level.

  ‘You think this is bad?’ a male voice echoed around her. ‘Just wait until Christmas. I hear it’s meant to be a cold one.’

  Charley looked about but didn’t move, trying to work out where he was. She couldn’t see him and she couldn’t tell where the voice had come from, but somehow she could feel his presence.

  ‘What do you want, Marcus?’
she asked warily. ‘Not really a fair fight, is it, when I can’t even see where you are?’

  ‘I’m not here to fight,’ he said, and she suddenly noticed him lounging against a wall up ahead.

  ‘What are you here for then?’

  ‘You called, didn’t you?’

  She took a few steps towards him. ‘Yeah, but you didn’t answer. I didn’t expect you to show up at my house.’

  ‘I’m not at your house. You live there,’ he said, pointing down the hill. ‘I’m sitting here. Not the same thing at all.’

  Charley folded her arms and scowled at his sarcasm.

  ‘So who’s Red?’ he asked, levering himself up so he could see her. ‘She’s a feisty one, isn’t she?’

  ‘Do you have to have nicknames for everyone?’

  ‘I don’t have one for you,’ he said seriously.

  Charley shook her head, ignoring him. ‘Her name’s Dru . . . Quinn’s twin sister. I thought you might have got that. They are identical after all.’

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry. I was a little busy getting blasted through a bloody fence. You never did ask how I was after that. Honestly, Charley, I’m hurt.’

  ‘Will you drop the act, please?’ she snapped. ‘What did you do to my sister?’

  ‘I didn’t do anything to Jess.’

  ‘You cured her earlier, and you helped her when her hands turned black.’

  ‘She told you about that?’ Marcus raised his eyebrows.

  ‘Well, no. I read it in her . . . her diary. Not that it’s any business of yours.’

  ‘And what’s in Jess’s diary is yours? You didn’t really strike me as the intrusive type.’

  ‘I’m not. I mean . . . not usually. I want to know what’s wrong with her, that’s all. I just want to help.’

  Marcus looked thoughtful for a second and then pushed himself up off the wall. ‘She’ll be all right. Probably just teenage stuff. You know what it’s like.’

  ‘People’s hands don’t turn black for no reason, Marcus. What happened to her? And how did you fix them? Black magic again?’

  ‘Yep, got it in one.’

  ‘Why would you help my little sister?’

  ‘Because she bumped into me in the street. I noticed one of her hands was a strange colour and I made her show them to me. Wasn’t very well gonna leave them like that, was I?’

  Charley didn’t know if he was telling the truth. She looked into his eyes but they gave away nothing; they were deep and hypnotising and . . . empty. His eyes looked empty, like they hadn’t quite found what they were looking for yet.

  ‘You’re still keeping something from me.’

  ‘I’m probably keeping lots of things from you, Charley. Why would I tell you anything? I’m just a lousy demon after all.’

  ‘Where did you come from?’ she asked, not really expecting an answer.

  He gave her one anyway. ‘Didn’t anyone ever tell you, love? I came from hell.’

  Charley crossed her arms. ‘Literally . . . or metaphorically?’

  ‘I’ll let you decide that one,’ he said, taking a small step towards her. She didn’t back away. She couldn’t seem to tear her gaze away from him, fragments of the dream flashing through her mind.

  ‘Get out of my head,’ she whispered, but Marcus only grinned.

  ‘I can’t, Charley. I’m trapped.’

  She looked into his eyes again, imagining them like they were in the dream: bright, happy, playful.

  ‘You had what you wanted.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ he asked.

  ‘In my dream . . . your eyes weren’t empty because you had what you wanted.’

  ‘You’ve been dreaming about me?’ he teased. ‘I’m flattered.’

  ‘Don’t be.’

  ‘It’s all right,’ he shrugged. ‘I dream about girls I hate all the time.’

  Charley didn’t speak, the silence saying much more than words ever could.

  And then Marcus kissed her.

  Charley pulled back in horror, her mouth still open as she stared at Marcus in disbelief. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ she yelled, but Marcus just looked at her hungrily, his chestnut eyes boring into hers. ‘Well?’

  He laughed quietly, her reaction not really all that surprising. ‘Come on, Charley, don’t kid yourself. You wanted that as much as I did.’

  ‘Are you insane? I didn’t want anything of the sort. I would never do that to Aiden.’

  ‘Is that all that’s stopping you?’ he asked. ‘Because I can easily take care of that.’

  ‘No!’ Her hands began to shake; she was so angry. Marcus took a step closer. ‘Don’t! Don’t come near me.’

  ‘I’m not going to hurt you.’

  ‘That’s not what I’m worried about.’

  ‘You can deny it all you want, but I know what I saw. You wanted me to kiss you.’

  ‘I didn’t . . .’

  ‘Your eyes gave it away. Your scent. The tone of your voice. You waited a moment. . .’ He tilted his head to look at her.

  ‘What do you mean, I waited?’

  ‘Before you pushed me away. You could have stopped it the minute my lips touched yours, but you didn’t. You waited and you felt something and that’s what scares you!’ He was shouting now, his jokey exterior gone, replaced with a hard stare.

  Charley looked at him blankly. ‘I felt nothing,’ she snarled, her furious expression matching his. ‘Don’t ever do that again.’

  ‘As you wish, princess. You go on fooling yourself. But I can see right through you. There’s a fire in your belly and you know he can’t put it out.’

  ‘Maybe I don’t want it to go out.’

  ‘No, you don’t. You know why? You like the heat. You like the thrill. You can pussyfoot about with your boyfriend all you want, but he’s never going to be enough.’

  ‘He is enough,’ Charley growled.

  ‘Say it enough times and maybe you’ll believe it.’

  ‘I already do.’

  She walked past him, but he grabbed her wrist before she could leave.

  ‘Let go of me!’

  ‘Just do one thing for me, and then I’ll let you go.’ He took a hold of her hand, linking his fingers through hers. ‘Tell me you feel nothing right now. Say it and I’ll go.’

  Her hand was tingling, her body hot with exhilaration. She could feel the heat flowing from his fingertips, running through her veins like poison.

  She let go of his hand. ‘I feel nothing,’ she said, and then she left.

  Charley banged Aiden’s door repeatedly until he answered, anxious that Marcus might have followed her. The wind was bitter, yet she still felt warm, tingles creeping from her head to her toes.

  ‘Chambers?’ Aiden said as he opened the door. ‘I didn’t expect to see you tonight.’

  ‘Can I come in?’ she asked tentatively. His brow furrowed and he pulled her inside, kissing her softly once the door was shut.

  ‘Like you even have to ask,’ he whispered, and she smiled, nuzzling her head into his jumper. He was warm . . . familiar. She felt safe with his arms wrapped around her.

  ‘Aiden,’ she said cautiously. ‘I have to talk to you about something. Actually, I need to speak to your mum.’

  ‘My mum?’ he frowned. ‘What’s she done now?’

  ‘Yes, what have I done this time?’ Tabitha came into the room with her arms crossed, long hair framing her face. Charley wasn’t sure if she’d ever seen Tabby with her hair down. It was nice; it softened her features and she appeared a lot less forbidding.

  ‘I found this in amongst my gran’s stuff.’ Charley pulled the photograph from her pocket. ‘I take it that woman’s related to you?’

  Her tone was fierce, but she didn’t care. Normally she wouldn’t dare speak to Tabitha in such a manner, but enough was en
ough. Charley wanted answers.

  Tabitha nodded. ‘Yes, she is.’

  ‘Your mother?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Why have you never mentioned that your mother and my gran were friends? You’ve had every opportunity to say something. Does this have anything to do with my gran’s death? Did you have something to do with it?’

  ‘Chambers,’ Aiden said in surprise. ‘I know Mum can be difficult, but she’d never do anything like that.’

  ‘How can you be sure? She knew my gran was sick before we did.’

  ‘I knew she was sick, Charley, because Fergus passed her one day in the street. They brushed shoulders and he got a strange vibe from her, like a flash, a coldness. He said it was like the end.’

  ‘You never told me Dad could do that,’ Aiden muttered.

  ‘It’s only happened twice before, but on both occasions the person was dead within a matter of months.’

  Charley turned back to Tabitha. ‘How do I know that’s even true? You haven’t liked me from the moment I got here. You’ve never mentioned the fact that my gran and your mother were friends. In fact, you’ve never mentioned your mother at all. Somebody conjured up that nost for my gran, who says it wasn’t you?’

  ‘Magicians can’t conjure up nosts,’ Tabitha said quietly.

  ‘Maybe you got someone else to do it. You’re hiding something and I want to know what it is.’

  The atmosphere in the room grew tense. Fergus was now standing in the doorway and Quinn had just come in with a steaming tray of chocolate chip cookies.

  ‘Biscuit, anyone?’ she grimaced. ‘Or not.’

  Dru came in behind her and nabbed one from the tray, taking a bite and saying, ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘I’m not sure,’ Aiden said, looking from Charley to his mother.

  ‘Quinn, these are disgusting,’ Dru cried, spitting the chewed-up cookie back on to the tray.

  ‘Can everyone please be quiet?’ Tabitha called, her voice trembling. ‘You want to know what happened, Charley? Take a seat.’

  Charley turned to Aiden for moral support and he sat down beside her. Tabitha looked at her nieces, expecting that they might give them a little privacy, but Quinn perched herself on the table and Dru lay down across the back of the couch. Fergus glanced at her in disapproval but she wasn’t paying attention.