I followed her gaze and saw a small cabin boat not much bigger than a rowing boat. I smiled and nodded my head. An elderly man with a short, bushy white beard had just turned the engine over. Looking back at Nellore and Charlie, I watched as they disappeared below deck.
“Go!” I pushed Raven out from our hiding spot and together we rushed over to where the cabin boat was moored. Without taking any time to think about it, we stumbled down the quayside steps and ran across the wooden decking. Reaching the boat, the old man with the white beard looked up at us, surprised by our sudden appearance.
“Can I help you?” he asked, suddenly narrowing his eyes at the state of us. I watched him eye the handcuffs and he took a step back, nearly losing his balance.
“We want your boat!” shouted Raven, eyes wild.
“Please…” I tried to smile. “We have to get across to that island and quick. It’s an emergency.”
“Gallows Island is private property. You can’t just go trespassing on it,” said the fisherman. “What’s going on… why are you handcuffed together?”
I looked at Raven and she looked at me. The question flummoxed us for a moment and then, I said, “It’s just a prank. We’ve been at a party all night and some friends thought it would be funny to lock us together.”
“Why?” The old man rubbed his head.
I glanced back at the other boat. It was already making its way out of the harbour.
“I don’t know…” I began, feeling in a panic. “Probably because… because…” My mind went blank.
“Look…who gives a shit anyway…!” snapped Raven, stepping down onto the boat and pulling me down with her. “We’re taking the boat!”
“Oh, no you’re not, young lady,” said the fisherman, raising his voice. “I’ll call the police. Get off my boat… now!”
Reaching down, Raven snatched up an oar that lay on the deck. Pulling on our cuffed wrists, she managed to get a hold of the oar with both hands. Then, she shoved it into the man’s chest hard and he toppled back. Unable to regain his composure, he teetered over the side of the boat, arms pin-wheeling.
“Push him,” she shouted, her top lip curled up.
Together, we rammed the oar into the old man. He fell back, hitting the water with a large splash and a cry.
Spinning on her heels, Raven shouted, “The rope… untie the rope!” She rushed over to it, dragging me along with her. The boat tipped from side to side. Struggling together, we managed to remove the rope. The old man continued to thrash about in the water. He reached up and grabbed hold of the side. Lifting her leg, Raven brought down her foot and crushed the fisherman’s fingers. He let go.
Turning to me, her eyes dark and menacing, she hissed, “Let’s get out of here!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Kassidy
I had somehow managed to manoeuvre the boat out of the harbour and onto the open sea, still imprisoned to Raven. And although she’d helped in the taking of the boat, I still didn’t trust her.
I glanced back over my shoulder at the disappearing harbour, hoping to catch a glimpse of Ben. But there was no one there. I was beginning to fear the worst. Had Ben not made it out of the fog? Had he become trapped by the Cleaners? I tried to push such thoughts from my mind and focus on the island ahead. The cabin boat was slow and the engine seemed to be sputtering. The vessel that had taken Nellore and Charlie was no longer in sight.
Out on the ocean with no one else about, everything seemed eerily quiet. Even the bobbing up and down of the boat seemed to have a mysterious feel to it—like a dark, trance-like state lulling me into a trap. There was a chill in the air, and every so often, the wind would blow and sound like high-pitched wailing. I looked up at the sky. There were grey clouds threatening more rain.
I glanced at Raven as she stood beside me. Her hair blew across her face and she stared ahead at the island with a look of determination. With her right hand and my left, sailing the boat, I wondered how the hell I was gonna pull off destroying the corpses, chained to her. Especially if my suspicions of Raven being Doshia was right. But not being completely convinced with my theory, I felt as though I was in a constant conflict. If Raven was just herself, then having her with me could be a blessing. There would be two of us to destroy the corpses making the task a lot easier and quicker. But if she was really Doshia, then not only would she destroy Trabek, Nellore, and Vectis, but she would also kill Quint, Eras, and Etta, which would then lead to my own death. As I tried to play out in my head how Doshia would take his revenge, I realised that all I could be certain of was that I would be the last to go. I would be needed to kill the demons as Doshia couldn’t do it, so Etta would go before me but not until the others were dealt with first.
As we got nearer to the island, the water became choppier. The waves rose higher and splashed the deck. Raven stumbled into me and I nearly lost my footing. Holding my right hand out, I stopped myself from falling overboard.
“That was close,” I said, trying to regain my balance. “These bloody things don’t help though!” I glared down at the cuffs. “You do realise that if I fall over the side, you’ll be coming with me!”
Raven looked down at the handcuffs and said, “I can’t swim!”
“Great… if you go over then that’s me done, isn’t it, I’ll be sinking to the bottom as you drag me down!”
Raven fell quiet for a moment and then she reached into her pocket with her free hand and pulling something out, palm open, my eyes grew wide.
“If that’s what I think it is…” I began, my heart beginning to race. A small, silver key twinkled up at me as the light caught it. “Is that…?” I stared at her, shocked and bewildered. “Why?”
Raven’s dark eyes peered down at my face as she towered over me. We knocked into each other as another wave hit the boat.
“Don’t drop it!” I shouted, snatching hold of her hand.
Regaining her footing, she shrugged and said, “I thought if I told you I had the key then you would just dump me like you dumped Robert and Max and go on to Broken Cove without me.”
“But… we could have died… back there when Langstone was hiding in that policeman’s body. I needn’t have gone to all that trouble searching him for a key that you really had. We could have just run away from him. What the fuck…!” I couldn’t believe the stupidity of Raven. Did she even have a brain? “So why now? Why reveal the key now?”
Looking at the sea, Raven said, “I can’t swim. But maybe if we weren’t cuffed together and we fell overboard then you would be able to save me.”
“Well,” I scoffed, shaking my head, “I’m not sure that I would want to save you after this crazy stunt that you’ve pulled.” I snatched the key from her hand and fumbled with the cuffs as the boat tipped from side to side. I was angry—livid. What was wrong with this girl? She had put us in so much danger just to get her own way. And as I stood, staggering about on deck, angry thoughts of Raven swimming around inside my head, another idea came to me, and it was almost a relief. Raven couldn’t be Doshia. Doshia wouldn’t have let me go. He would want to be by my side undetected until the time came for me to destroy the other demons. My suspicions of Raven had been wrong.
The handcuffs fell to the floor and slid to the left as the boat tipped again. “You steer the boat,” I ordered, still shocked at Raven’s stupidity. Rubbing my wrist, relieved to be free, I bent down to pick the cuffs up. As I did, I spotted something else on the deck. The face of Jude Middleton stared up at me. It was his identity card from Cruor Pharma. It must have fallen out of Raven’s pocket as she’d pulled the key out. I snatched it up and shoved it into my pocket so Raven couldn’t see that I’d discovered it. What was she doing with that? I remembered how Jude had wanted to show me it to prove that he wasn’t Doshia when we had been at Langstone’s, but he hadn’t been able to find it. Up until that point, Raven, Max, and I had all believed Jude to be Doshia. So how long had Raven really known Jude’s true identity? I mean, she must have know
n for a while, yet why didn’t she say so? Why go along with the rest of us in believing that Jude was hiding his true self? I suddenly felt sick. As my mind wandered back to the journey we had all travelled on, I remembered something that now turned my skin icy cold. It had happened by the railway tracks when the police had turned up, way before we had reached Langstone’s and just before we had been arrested. Ben had got Jude to follow him across the tracks just before the train had come through. Raven, Max, and I had run in the opposite direction to escape Jude, as I had believed then that he was Doshia. But something had fallen out of Jude’s pocket and I shivered as I remembered seeing Raven pick it up and place it in her pocket. That was it. That was when she knew the truth. But had she known all along? If she was Doshia then of course she would have known. I glanced over at her and forced a smile. Raven stared back, those dark, penetrating eyes narrowed at me. I broke the eye contact and looked straight ahead at the island. All my suspicions about Raven came flooding back again. She had hidden Jude’s identity card because she had wanted the rest of us to believe he was Doshia. If we believed that then we would do everything we could to rid ourselves of him leaving the real Doshia to travel along with us—collect up the missing volunteers and finally use us or one of us to destroy the other demons. If I had gone through with her idea back at Langstone’s with the knife that she had produced, then I would have destroyed the body of Jude leaving Eras weak and Raven—Doshia—with one less demon to worry about. Was that what had happened to Langstone? Had Doshia left Raven’s body and entered Mr. Shackleton’s so he could break the body of Langstone and leave Vectis weak?
The more I considered all these thoughts, the more I felt sure that I was heading toward Gallows Island in the company of Doshia. I had to get rid of Raven. But destroying her body wouldn’t be good enough. Doshia had the power to control multiple bodies at the same time. Getting rid of Raven’s wouldn’t help. And besides, I was in the middle of the ocean. If I let on now what I knew, I would probably never make it to the island. Even with Etta inside me, her silence when I was around others and her reluctance to reveal herself told me that she feared Doshia, too. No. I had to choose the right time. I would have to wait until I reached the island and ditch Raven before I reached the coffins. It seemed the only way.
Staring ahead, the island loomed up out of the ocean as we got nearer. The waters were rough and the waves hit the jagged lumps of rock that jutted out of the ocean. The noise was deafening. To the left of the island was a small, pebbly beach, and to the right I could see a wooden jetty. The vessel that had taken Nellore and Charlie was moored there. I narrowed my eyes as I tried to gain a clearer picture of the boat. It appeared to be empty. Nellore and the security guard had probably already headed for the lighthouse. I looked over my shoulder. There were no other boats in sight and I felt my heart sink as there were still no sign of Ben.
Facing front, I pointed to the beach and said to Raven, “We land over there. We might be seen if we head for the jetty.”
Steering the boat toward the beach, Raven pulled the throttle into the lowest setting. As soon as we could go no nearer, she turned and said, “I guess we have to jump out here. How deep do you think it is?”
For a brief moment, I considered pushing Raven off into the sea. Knowing that she couldn’t swim and would probably drown, I wondered if that would buy me enough time to escape Doshia and head to the lighthouse. But after considering this, I decided against it. I had to keep up the pretence that I didn’t know who Raven really was. Maybe on the way up to the lighthouse, I could somehow lose her and if she happened to catch up with me, I could just pretend that we had somehow got split up and lost from each other. That’s what I’ll do.
Why not push her off the cliff when you’ve reached the top? The voices suddenly spoke up. Why not cave in her skull with a large lump of rock and splatter those dumb brains over the sand?
I stood silent on the deck and found myself actually considering what the voices had suggested. They began to laugh and the voices seemed to join up and become one. The sadistic laughter was male and it boomed so loud in my head that it drowned out the sound of the waves.
I looked at Raven as she stood and stared at the sea. She had her back to me and I stepped forward stretching out my arm.
No sooner had I reached out, I dropped my arm back to my side. No, I told the voices. Now isn’t the right time. Go away. I shook my head and realised that I was trembling. The voice or voices had almost persuaded me to do what they wanted. They seemed to be stronger than ever, and I worried that soon they may overpower me.
Feeling desperate to get them out of my head and block them, I called to Raven and said, “Come on, I don’t think it’s too deep. We can make it.”
I walked to the side of the boat and stared up at the island. Feeling scared by its unfriendly appearance, I reluctantly lowered myself into the ocean. It was just over waist-deep and I held up the satchel to protect it from the waves. With my other hand, I reached out and took hold of Raven as she dropped into the sea. Together we headed for the beach looking like two friends helping each other. But deep inside, that was not how I felt. I was just keeping the enemy close.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Ben
I stood beside the harbour of Broken cove. I had been so lost in my thoughts about Kassidy that I hadn’t even noticed how fixated I had become on a boat that was manoeuvring its way out of the harbour. I could feel my eyes stare intensely at the vessel bobbing up and down. And then I felt myself smile as the boat suddenly stopped. I continued to stare, gripped, like the boat was all that consumed me. With a grin across my lips, I began to head toward it as if the boat was all that mattered. With one arm outstretched, my eyes wide, I watched as the fisherman threw his arms up in anger as he struggled to restart his boat. I laughed and it was then that I realised my actions and the possessive way I had watched it, was the doing of Quint. He had stopped the boat from leaving the harbour and now, my pace quickened along the quay, until I had reached alongside the vessel.
I felt myself look back over my shoulder and heard Quint order the others to hurry up. With my eyes back on the fisherman, I smiled again. The old man was swearing under his breath when he looked up and saw me watching him. I headed down the steps and walked along the wooden planks. Taking a large step, I climbed into the boat.
The fisherman opened his mouth to complain, but soon shut it when he looked at me. More scared than angry at my intrusion, he backed away.
As soon as the others had caught up and climbed into the boat, I turned back to the old man and felt Quint’s overbearing presence come forward.
“Take us to the island,” commanded Quint.
The fisherman hesitated at first, but I guess he realised that he was outnumbered. And maybe, just looking at me was enough to stop him from arguing. I had seen myself, and the way I looked when Quint was the dominant presence, and I knew I didn’t look friendly.
“Hurry up!” shouted Quint. “Or I’ll do it myself and you can go swim.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time today,” mumbled the fisherman, taking hold of the steering and restarting the engine. He stood straight and clicked his back as if he had stiffened up.
I turned around, sat down on one of the deck cushions, and felt Quint relax back into silence. It almost felt like a breath of fresh air when he retreated and I could truly be myself.
“How far ahead do you think Middleton’s got?” asked Max. “Do you think Kassidy and Raven are already there?”
“They must be,” answered Robert. “They had a head start, what with knocking us both out and taking the car.”
“I would have thought that Middleton’s been over there for a while now,” I said. “There was no sign of him, the others, or the coffins at the harbour. They must have left earlier than planned.”
The boat suddenly rocked and the engine seemed to stutter. I faced the fisherman and wondered how the hell he ever caught any fish in this boat.
“Hey, old man!” called Jude, getting up. “You sure you know how to work this boat?”
“It isn’t my boat,” answered the man over his shoulder. “I’ve just borrowed this one. Mine was taken a little while ago.” He turned back and pushed the throttle.
Hitting open water, the boat sped up. I stared ahead at the island. I could see a lighthouse which stood tall and alone set on the grey, rocky terrain. I wondered if I had ever been there before. I couldn’t remember. But that didn’t surprise me. There was so much of my past that was hidden from me.
My thoughts returned to Kassidy and my stomach seemed to knot. I hoped that we weren’t too late. I closed my eyes and breathed in the salty air. For however long I had been possessed by Quint, I wasn’t sure exactly, I had believed I was doomed to an eternity of horror. I had struggled against him—fought to escape Cruor Pharma—but always ended up back at that abysmal place. I had walked on the same treadmill for so long following orders from Middleton and prayed for death to just take me. I had hated Quint. But now, I no longer believed him to be my enemy. Even after Quint had nearly left my body not so long ago, I felt that I could trust him. I believed he wanted no harm to come to Kassidy—even if it was misguided with Quint believing that she was Etta. No. There were greater enemies out there on that island. They were waiting for us, and I realised that this journey I had been on for so long now was coming to an end. This was make or break. We had to destroy the corpses of Trabek, Nellore, Vectis, and Doshia. If we could pull this off, then we would be free of Cruor Pharma—free of the Cleaners and maybe even Quint would feel free. Perhaps Mathew and Adam could finally rest knowing that their deaths had been avenged. I glanced at Jude. He had made himself comfortable, draped across the deck cushions like he was on a cruise. All he needed was a pair of sunglasses and some swimming shorts and he would look the part. But as I continued to watch him, I could see in his eyes that this act was just that. It was a shield—a barrier to cover up what was really going on inside him. It was a way to pretend that he was all right—that his life was just fine and how he wanted it. But those eyes gave him away. I could see the struggle—the fight—the weariness that really plagued him. And as I stared closer, I could see the nerves—the anxiety hiding in the shadows of not just Jude but of Eras, too. The both of them knew that this could be their end.
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