The Night Raven

by Sarah Painter

  ‘It’s a club for local businesses,’ Lydia said. ‘People pay in and Uncle Charlie makes sure there aren’t any problems. Like a union. Or a round table.’

  ‘Or a protection racket.’

  Lydia shook her head. ‘No. It’s not like that. Not anymore.’

  ‘How would you know? You’re the precious princess. Henry Crow’s heir. Too special to get her hands dirty.’

  ‘I’m not special,’ Lydia said. ‘Quite the opposite.’

  ‘Well,’ Madeleine leaned back, the energy draining away as quickly as it has appeared. ‘Dear old Charlie wanted me to hurt someone and I wouldn’t and he said I would be in a world of trouble for crossing him, not doing as I was told, so I vamoosed. And I’m not going back.’

  ‘Look. I’m sure there has been a misunderstanding,’ Lydia said, feeling sick. ‘But if there hasn’t, then I will help you move away. Properly. I will help you get set up somewhere new.’

  Madeleine raised an eyebrow. ‘How?’

  ‘Well, I don’t have any money, but your parents do and I’m good at persuading people to do things. I bet I can talk them into donating some money to help set you up in a new life. But I need to let them know you are okay. Okay?’

  Madeleine stared at Lydia for a long moment and Lydia couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Eventually she said. ‘All right.’

  ‘Shall we?’ Lydia gestured to the door and something flickered across Madeleine’s face. Fear or uncertainty or something else, Lydia couldn’t tell.

  ‘Not right now. I’m not ready. I’ll go tomorrow.’

  ‘On your own?’

  ‘No, with you,’ Madeleine said. ‘I’ll meet you on the corner and we’ll go in together. They are going to hit the bloody roof.’

  ‘They really aren’t,’ Lydia said. ‘They are going to be so happy to see you.’

  ‘Maybe.’ Madeleine shrugged.

  ‘Right, get your things together,’ Lydia said, clapping her hands together.

  ‘Tomorrow,’ Madeleine said.

  Lydia fixed her with her best sceptical look. ‘Like I’m going to just leave you here on your own to do another disappearing act. You’re coming with me.’

  ‘I told you I’m not ready to face them.’

  ‘Fine. You can stay with me tonight. Pack a bag.’ If she could just get Maddie off this boat, that would be a good first step. She could work on her later, maybe convince her to speak to her parents on the phone at least.

  ‘You don’t trust me,’ Madeleine said.

  ‘I don’t know you,’ Lydia said. ‘It’s nothing personal.’

  As Madeleine made a big deal out of putting some clothes into a large striped tote bag and a wide array of makeup into a silver-coloured case, Lydia stood by the door and watched carefully. There was still something off that she couldn’t quite place and she wouldn’t put it past Madeleine to make a run for it. ‘Who owns this place, anyway? Did you break in?’

  Madeleine was placing different sized makeup brushes into slots on a material roll with all the care and attention of a scientist and she didn’t look up. ‘It’s Paul’s.’

  ‘Paul Fox.’ Lydia said flatly.

  Then she looked up. ‘You know him?’

  ‘Yes,’ Lydia said, not elaborating. ‘You expecting him?’

  Madeleine shrugged and went back to her brushes. Lydia wanted to shake her and she had a sudden moment of empathy with Daisy and John.

  Once Madeleine was finally ready, Lydia hustled her out of the door.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The cafe was in darkness when they arrived and Lydia didn’t bother switching on the light. There was enough glow from the street lights to find the door to the flat easily and Lydia just wanted Madeleine safely on the other side of a locked door. She felt exposed and jumpy, as if someone were going to loom out of the shadows at any moment and place a hand on her shoulder. Lydia didn’t know how much of Madeleine’s story to believe, but she had clearly been desperate enough to run away from a very comfortable life.

  Madeleine moaned about the stairs and lack of a lift, she cast a disgusted look around the bare living room and marched into Jason’s room. ‘I can’t stay here,’ she said.

  ‘It’s one night,’ Lydia replied, at the end of her very short tether. ‘And you’re not sleeping in here.’

  ‘Oh, thank God,’ Madeleine said, her lip curling as she surveyed the plain furnishing. Jason was sat on the bed, his legs crossed and a scowl on his face. Lydia was glad that Madeleine couldn’t see him, especially when he started making rude gestures.

  ‘Come on,’ Lydia said, pushing Madeleine out of the room and back into the hall. ‘This way.’

  Lydia’s bedroom didn’t meet with any more approval than Jason’s, but Lydia talked over Madeleine’s objections. ‘You can sleep in here or on the sofa. Those are the choices, so don’t whinge.’

  ‘I’ll take the bed,’ Madeleine said huffily. ‘But why don’t you sleep in the small bedroom?’

  ‘I prefer the sofa,’ Lydia lied.

  ‘You can use my room,’ Jason said, appearing next to Lydia’s right ear and making her jump. ‘No, thanks,’ she said without turning her head.

  ‘What?’ Madeleine said.

  ‘Nothing,’ Lydia replied.

  ‘Weirdo,’ Madeleine was stripping back the duvet and inspecting the bedding with a suspicious frown.

  Lydia left Madeleine to settle in. She didn’t have a spare duvet but borrowed a fleece blanket from Jason.

  ‘You can sleep in here, I don’t mind,’ Jason said. ‘I will stay in the living room.’

  ‘No. I’ve brought her here, I should be the one inconvenienced,’ Lydia said. ‘But thank you.’

  ‘But I don’t really use the bed. I don’t need to sleep.’

  ‘Honestly, it’s fine.’ The idea of sleeping in Jason’s room was indescribably creepy. Instead, she made a nest on the sofa and read until she felt sleepy. She wanted to call her mum and dad and say ‘thank you’ for getting out of the Family business, but at the same time she wanted to speak to Charlie, to reassure herself that he couldn’t really have done the things Madeleine claimed. Either way, she had found her cousin. Alive and well. That was all that mattered.

  Lydia felt her eyelids closing so she put her book on the floor and clicked off the lamp. The sofa wasn’t comfortable but she had slept on worse. Her last thought, before sleep took over, was whether Fleet would still be speaking to her after all of this got straightened out.

  * * *

  Lydia woke with a bolt of adrenalin which switched her from deep asleep to completely aware in a single, disorientating moment. Her eyes snapped open as her brain prepared rational reasons like she had heard a noise in the street below. They fled in an instant as she saw the sleek silhouette of a giant raven standing next to her in the dark. The form was deep black against the dim light, like a hole in the universe. Lydia was too frightened to scream but a startled, strangled little noise escaped.

  The large curved beak moved as the creature turned and Lydia knew that if she looked into its face she would see tunnels where eyes ought to be. It made no sense, it simply couldn’t be true, but the Night Raven was in her bedroom, and she had never been more afraid of anything in her life. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the raven’s face. The smell of feathers was chokingly thick, stopping Lydia’s breath, and the complete darkness was more terrifying still. She opened her eyes a crack.

  The beak had gone. The figure straightened and narrowed, wings becoming arms. The creature leaned down and, as a curtain of hair fell forward, the tips tickling Lydia’s cheek, she realised it was Madeleine. She had been hallucinating. A night terror. A bad dream.

  Lydia opened her mouth to ask what the hell Madeleine was doing watching her sleep and giving her heart failure, when she felt something heavy on her chest. It was unpleasant but not painful but when she tried to speak her breath came out in a wisp. She tried to take a breath in order to try again, but the pressure was unrelen
ting and she couldn’t fill her lungs.

  ‘Hey there, cuz.’ Madeleine’s breath was sweet and Lydia could smell perfume and an expensive shampoo. ‘Don’t try to speak, it will only hurt you.’

  Her hands were on Lydia’s chest and Lydia opened her eyes wide and raised her eyebrows, trying to convey ‘what the actual f is going on?’ with her facial expression.

  Madeleine’s smile was a ghost in the dark. ‘I don’t know where you stand in all this. Maybe you really are just trying to help, to get poor little Madeleine home to her loving parents,’ she paused, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. ‘Friendly warning, you had better decide. It’s your lookout if you don’t look where you’re going.’

  Madeleine didn’t seem to be pushing down at all, her arms and body appeared relaxed, as if she was just resting her hands on Lydia’s chest. But when she tried to pull her hands away they didn’t budge. It felt as if a stack of heavy books were piled there. A pile of books with a lead weights for good measure. Lydia reached for Madeline’s shoulders and shoved as hard as she could from her prone position, but Madeleine didn’t so much as sway. She was an immovable statue and the pressure on Lydia’s chest had become agonising. Little fireworks were going off behind Lydia’s eyes and she could see a darker dark than the half-light of the room encroaching from the edges of her vision. She needed to breathe but trying just hurt more. She could feel herself panicking, her mind jumping, kicking at a locked door. She could hear Harry’s words, his description of Ivan lying on the toilet floor with blue lips. Like he had been starved of oxygen, suffocated.

  At once her vision went dark, the black edges closing over until there was just a tiny circle in the centre and then a bright point of light and then nothing.

  Here I go, Lydia thought. I should be more upset.

  The black was calm and quiet and utterly empty. For a single second it was beautiful as everything fell away: No fear, no pain, no desire.

  And then a voice by her ear brought the screaming agony in her body back in full force. It was her name and the voice was one she knew. ‘Lydia.’

  Lydia wanted to say ‘hi, Jason’ but, of course, she couldn’t. She wanted to open her eyes so that she could see, but they were already open. There were bright pin points of light, again, little exploding stars which got bigger with each wave of pain. Lydia wanted to tell Jason to go away, that it was too late and that she would like to switch off and go back to that delicious blank screen. To fall through the darkness free and alone and with nothing hurting.

  And then the pressure lifted and she was able to drag a tiny breath. Her chest screamed as it moved, but the air reached her lungs and her mind began to clear. There was Jason, his arms wrapped around Madeleine, holding her so closely that it looked as if he was a part of her. He was glowing a little in the half-light of the living room and Madeleine’s expression was surprise and confusion as she felt herself dragged away from Lydia by an unseen force.

  Lydia rolled off the sofa and crawled toward the door, her lungs and throat on fire as she pulled in oxygen. If she could get to her phone she could get help. She felt movement behind her and twisted to the side, just as Madeleine launched herself onto the place Lydia had just occupied. Madeleine twisted and grabbed a handful of Lydia’s hair, yanking her head back. Lydia knew she couldn’t roll away, that Madeleine had a good grip, so instead she moved toward her attacker.

  She reached her hands up and behind, searching for Madeleine’s face. Her defence training had said to go for weak points like eyes. Lydia had been an attentive student but had never really imagined using the techniques. Her arms felt weak, her fingers numb from lack of oxygen, but she tried to get a grip on Madeleine. She felt skin tearing away from her scalp as Madeleine pulled her hair, her head straining backward. Lydia jabbed her elbow back sharply, driving it into Madeleine’s solar plexus and she felt the tension on her scalp release. Twisting around she punched Maddie in the face and got her knee up into her stomach.

  Jason was there, too, his arms wrapped around Madeleine, chilling them both with his freezing presence. At once Madeleine went limp and Lydia moved away, drawing in ragged breaths. ‘Don’t hit me,’ Madeleine said in a little-girl voice.

  Lydia zip-tied her wrists and ankles, not fooled by Maddie for a second. Then she picked up her phone to call Charlie. Maybe he wasn’t a good guy, maybe there was truth in what Madeleine had told her, but he had one big advantage over her cousin; he hadn’t just tried to kill her.

  Before she could focus on the screen, Jason gasped ‘I can’t’ and disappeared. Then, as if the zip tie cuffs were made of paper, Madeleine broke them apart and sprang.

  * * *

  Moments or minutes later, Lydia had no idea, she forced her heavy eyelids open. Her head was pounding and even the low light in the room hurt. She was lying on the sofa and Madeleine was sitting on the rickety folding chair. Madeleine brought something to her lips and her face was illuminated by an orange flame as the tip of her cigarette ignited. No lighter. No match. Lydia's brain was working in slow-start-up mode, but she had enough energy to feel new fear. Just how much power did little cousin Maddie possess?

  ‘I don't want to hurt you,’ Maddie said, her voice quiet in the dark.

  Lydia was head-to-toe bruises, her scalp was on fire and her head pounded. Bit late for that.

  ‘You were my inspiration when I was little. I was excited when I heard you were back in town.’

  Lydia struggled to sit up. Her chest hurt as if she had been punched by the Hulk. There was a sharp pain when she took a breath and she thought that maybe the thin teenager opposite had broken a rib or two in their fight.

  ‘It was upsetting that you were running around for him, but I understand.’ Maddie’s voice suggested the opposite. Her shoulders shrugged and she sucked hard on the cigarette. ‘He can be very persuasive.’

  ‘Charlie?’

  She dropped the cigarette onto the carpet, ground it out with her shoe. That was when Lydia clocked that Maddie was fully-dressed and packed. Her bag was zipped shut and near to the sofa. ‘I wanted you to know that you had been right to run away. Next time you should go farther.’

  ‘What about your parents? They’ve been so worried.’

  There was a pause. Lydia could hardly make out Madeleine’s features in the dim light, but she could feel the rush of fury. She tasted feathers thick in the back of her throat and coughed, stars of pain exploding from her ribs.

  ‘You could come with me,’ Madeleine said. ‘We are the only two in this family with any power, we could start our own business.’

  Lydia wanted to say ‘I have no power’ but that didn't seem like a good idea. Madeleine’s misapprehension might be the only thing keeping her alive. ‘Thank you,’ she said, instead. ‘But I have a strict rule about not forming partnerships with people who try to kill me in my sleep.’

  Madeleine smiled. ‘I wasn’t trying to kill you. I was just curious.’

  ‘If you wanted to test me, there are better ways.’

  ‘I don’t think so. Mortal fear is such an adrenalin rush.’

  ‘Even so,’ Lydia said. ‘I think I’ll stay here.’

  Another flash of anger. Feather and claw, the scent of blood. ‘Not to work for Charlie,’ Lydia continued quickly. ‘But to live. Work for myself. I was kept away from the Family growing up and now I want answers.’

  Madeleine stood up. ‘That’s a shame.’

  Lydia tensed for the blow.

  Madeleine shook her head. ‘Answers are overrated. And I’m done with the Family. I’m going to do things my own way.’

  ‘Where will you go?’ Lydia didn’t expect an answer. Not an honest one, anyway.

  ‘I haven’t decided,’ Madeleine zipped up her jacket and picked up her bag. She stopped, right in front of Lydia, looking down at her. ‘Don’t follow me.’

  Chapter Twenty

  Lydia had absolutely no intention of following her homicidal cousin. She moved in a dream, locking and bolting the
cafe door behind Madeleine and then climbing the stairs back to her flat and sitting in the dark of the living room. After a few minutes, she located her phone and tapped out a text message to Charlie. It was late and he probably wouldn’t see it for several hours, but there was no longer any urgency. Madeleine had gone.

  Tiredness came in a wave and she could barely gather the energy to get to the bedroom. She didn’t want to sleep in this room, though. And she had one last task before she could sleep. ‘Jason?’ She looked around for the ghost, waiting to see if he would appear. He didn’t, but the curtain moved as if in a breeze, despite the tightly-shut window. Lydia looked in that direction for a couple of moments, willing him to become visible so that she could look into his eyes. When he didn’t, Lydia kept her gaze at the approximate height she would expect his head to be if he was standing there and put all the emotion and sincerity she could manage into her voice. ‘Thank you, Jason. Again.’

  * * *

  Lydia woke up in her own bed and before she opened her eyes, she knew that Charlie was in the room. And her mum and dad. The scent of Crow was comforting although it was almost drowned out by the thick fragrance of fresh flowers. She prepared herself for a moment before stirring and pretending to wake up.

  ‘Hello, darling.’ her mum was leaning down and suddenly she was enveloped in a maternal hug, smelling her mum’s perfume and feeling like a six year old again. She clung for a moment, enjoying the sensation of being safe and loved. No matter whatever decisions she did or did not entirely agree with, her mum and dad loved her. That was something she had always known but, seeing the grey tinge to her mother’s complexion and the lines of tension around her eyes and mouth, she knew it on another, deeper, level than before.

  ‘Look,’ her mum said, straightening up. ‘Your dad’s here, too.’

  Her father was sitting in an armchair that Lydia didn’t remember owning. He had his feet together neatly and his hands were resting on his coat folded on his lap.