Before he could answer, Seven spoke from the back of the car. “The Illumination ceremony cannot take place before sunset tonight. That’s when the gateway between our world and the next is at its weakest. It’s when we can pass through.”
Lil cast a sideways glance at Kiran. Seven’s words didn’t offer much comfort. The rules of the Sisterhood might seem set to her, but who knew what this Moon would do, what “rules” she would change to fit her purpose?
“We’ll get there in time,” Kiran said.
Lil nodded. “Sabrina will know what to do.” She said it again in her mind, and she held on to it tightly. It felt like a prayer. Besides, there was nothing else to be done right now. She hoped Seven was right about the timing of the ceremony and that Mella would be safe until then. Right now she concentrated on getting to her aunt.
She glanced around at Seven, who was staring out the window as if she expected something to emerge from the trees along the driveway. Lil remembered the flash of white she’d seen in the yard and shuddered. “Do you think the high priestess would have followed you here?” she asked.
“No. She would send Sister Evanescence, and she’s far worse.”
Lil glanced at Seven’s arms, burns covered under the sleeves of Lil’s sweatshirt, and wondered how this woman could be any worse.
No one spoke as they headed out onto the track that led to the main road. It was pockmarked with puddles. It was hard to see anything, even with the windscreen wipers slammed onto full, which Kiran always said were held on by “black tape and luck.” Kiran sat forward in the driver’s seat, driving at a snail’s pace; it was too dangerous to go any faster. The road to Old Porthpridd twisted sharply down the mountain past the river. Below them, through the trees, Lil could see fields, or what used to be fields and were now mini lakes.
For the first mile or so, the road to Porthpridd was clear. Large puddles, but nothing more. We’re going to make it, Lil thought. She let herself imagine arriving. They would park the car and tell Sabrina what had happened. She would know how to find Seven’s home—she must investigate stuff like this all the time—and she would go there and bring Mella home. Lil would put her arms around her sister and say, It’s so good to see you. And Mella would hug her back and everything would be okay; this endless missing and guilt would be over. If Lil knew that she was being blindly optimistic, she pushed the thought away.
They came to the turning lower down in the valley. A sign had been placed in front of it: ROAD CLOSED.
“I don’t see any water,” Lil said. “Maybe it’s fine and they just haven’t taken the sign down since yesterday.”
“Maybe,” Kiran said.
“We could always drive a bit of the way and see what happens?” she suggested.
Seven was leaning forward from the backseat. “Is there another way?”
Lil shook her head. “It’s this or we turn around.” She wasn’t going back, not when Mella was in so much danger.
Seven weighed this up for a second. “We must try, then. Our sisters need us.”
Kiran drove slowly forward. When they rounded the next corner, they realized why the sign was there. Water was running right across what had once been tarmac and into the field beyond. Kiran whistled.
“It might not be that deep,” Seven said. “There is a ford near the compound. The water moves faster than that, and the sisters drive across it easily.”
“Hmm,” Lil said. “But you’re meant to drive through fords. This is floodwater. . . .”
“What do you want to do?” Kiran asked, looking at Lil. “This is your call.”
Lil stared at the water. It was madness to drive into a flood. It went against all her instincts, and yet . . .
“We risk it,” she said. Mella was facing far worse. The only way Lil was keeping the fear for her sister at bay was feeling like she was moving forward, getting closer to rescuing her.
“Are you sure?” Kiran asked.
“Yes.” There was no way Lil was going back to the house. Not for anything. She was going to make it to Sabrina. She was going to rescue Mella. No matter what.
“Okay,” he said. His knuckles paled as he tightened his grip on the steering wheel. Lil knew he was readying himself. She was acting dangerously, recklessly, and she was doing it with Kiran and Seven, too. But she couldn’t stop. Mella needed her and that was all that mattered right now.
The first few meters were all right. The car held steady and the water didn’t come above the tire line. It wasn’t until they were a good ten meters in and the water started flowing faster that she realized they’d made a massive mistake. The water was white on top now, with branches—some so big they looked more like trees—and other debris caught in it. As kayakers, they both should have known better.
“Kiran!” Lil screamed. “We’re drifting!”
“I know!” Kiran said, frantically spinning the wheel. He slammed his foot on the brake, but it made no difference. The water, a swirling eddy, dragged them toward a clump of trees at what might once have been the side of the road. Then there was a jolt, and the front of the car dipped forward on Lil’s side.
Lil gave another scream as water began gushing in around her feet. “Oh my God! Kiran. There’s water!” Even as she spoke, the water was up to ankle level and rising. There was another jerk as the car shifted again, lurching even farther down on Lil’s side, so that the water began trickling in through the window seal. “We’re going to sink!” she said. This was her fault.
“We must ask the Light to bring salvation,” Seven said from the backseat.
Lil bit her lip to stop herself from snapping at Seven. The Light? Seriously? How the hell was that going to help? She tried to open the door, and cursed under her breath when the water was too high. “Try the windows,” she said. “Seven, press the button beside you. Will the window open?” Lil frantically jabbed at the button, but nothing happened.
“The water must have damaged the electronics,” Kiran said.
“What are we going to do?” Lil yelled. The car tilted completely forward now, and the water was rising fast. With a lurching fear, she realized they could die in here. “We have to get out. Now!” she said.
Seven was chanting softly under her breath. Lil caught only the odd word: “. . . Light protect us.”
“We’ll have to smash the glass. Check the glove compartment,” Kiran said. “There’s an ice scraper in there. It’s got a metal handle. It might be strong enough.”
The car slid farther into the water as Lil jerked forward. Seven’s chanting grew louder.
“Easy,” Kiran said, “no sudden moves.”
Lil tried to move steadily, but it was hard when the blood was thrumming in her ears. “I can’t find it. I can’t find it—oh, there.” She tore the car manual out of the way and then snatched up the ice scraper. The car groaned as it tilted downward, straightened up a bit, and then dropped forward again. Water was gushing in at Kiran’s feet now too.
“We have to get out of here,” Lil said. “Can you climb into the backseat? It should give us a bit longer to escape if we crack the back window.”
Seven’s voice rose up: “. . . by the Light . . .” Her eyes were closed, and it took Lil saying her name a couple of times to get her attention. “We’re going to break the window back there, okay? You need to move so me and Kiran can get in the back.”
Seven nodded. Her mouth was still moving, the words silent.
Kiran and Lil climbed as carefully as they could between the front seats. Lil smashed the handle of the ice scraper into the back window. It reverberated fast, narrowly missing Lil’s face. After several attempts a thin crack ran along the glass. It took eight more smashes before Lil managed to make a hole, and more than she could count to make it big enough for them to get through. Murky gray water gushed in; it was freezing cold.
“You go first,” Kiran shouted. It was hard to hear him with the sound of the rain thrumming on the roof and the floodwater slamming into the car.
> “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’ll help Seven. We’ll be right behind you. You’re the better swimmer. I might need your help once we’re out.”
Water was trickling past the seats now. It smelled of sewage. “Go,” Kiran said. “Seriously.”
Lil went. She tried to avoid the ragged glass, but the car jerked and pain lanced through her arm as she ducked forward. She lost her balance, her calves banging against the trunk of the car as she slid headfirst into the murky water.
It snatched at her, wrapping itself around her and turning her over, dragging Lil down, so that she couldn’t find her footing. She fought, legs kicking at the thrashing water as her lungs tightened. She clamped her jaw shut to prevent herself from gasping and taking in a mouthful of the dirty river. Once or twice Lil cleared the surface, only to be tugged back under again. Her body seemed to be ignoring signals from her brain, because her mouth suddenly opened, and with a huge gulp she took in a lungful of water. Her insides burned. She coughed automatically and took on more water. Panic boiled in her belly.
Then, through the muddy water, she saw Mella, hair in a French plait, the stripes on her wet suit luminescent despite the gloom. Get a move on, Mouse, she shouted. Not the time for a paddle!
And Lil swam toward her, legs that had been floppy and weak strengthening. Her feet found firm ground and she broke through the water, coughing and spluttering, to find herself knee deep. She was only a few meters from the dry road.
“Kiran!” she shouted, spinning around and wiping the water from her eyes. There was no answer, save the wind shrieking through the trees behind her. She couldn’t see him. Dread rising up like bile, she turned around and around, shouting his name. She could just make out the top and rear end of the car. Had it sunk with Seven and Kiran inside? Please, please, please, no.
“KIRAN! SEVEN!” she screamed again, and there was an answering shout: quiet but steady.
She spun around, and there he was, farther along the flood and wading toward her, Seven beside him. Lil didn’t stop to think. She ran to him, splashing the filthy water high and almost tripping several times in her haste, so that when she reached him, she barreled straight into him, nearly knocking him backward. Her arms were instantly around him and his were around her, and she was just breathing, breathing, breathing, because he was safe. They all were.
“I thought you’d . . . ,” Kiran said, pulling back and brushing her hair off her face. “I’m okay, we’re okay.”
“We’re okay,” she said. She gave him a final squeeze before turning to Seven.
The younger girl stood to the side, looking small and scared, and Lil tucked her into the hug. She resisted for a second, body stiff as though she was unused to being touched, and then her arms slid around Lil as she hugged her back.
“I asked the Light to save us,” Seven said. “And She did. May we forever be in the Light.”
Kiran nodded over her shoulder at the car. “Do you think the Light can rescue that? Dad is going to go mental when he finds out.”
“He’ll just be pleased you’re not dead,” Lil said.
“Only so he can kill me himself.”
“Come on.” Lil tugged him. “We need to get out of here. Seven?”
The girl smiled weakly. Then, hands laced together, the three of them splashed through the water and back to the stretch of dry road.
“What do we do now?” Lil asked. The light was just beginning to surface, the dawn sun edging up on the horizon, and the rain was less. It was freezing, though. She was starting to shiver, and her arm was stinging from where she’d cut it getting out of the car. They’d been incredibly stupid to think they could cross that water.
Kiran sniffed. His arms crossed tight over his chest. “I guess we’ll have to go back. We can’t stay here.”
“We can’t go back!” Lil shouted. “What about Mella?”
“Lil, I’m so sorry, I don’t know.”
“What are we going to do?,” Lil said, fighting against tears. This was such a mess. Her teeth were chattering now.
Seven stepped closer, putting an arm around Lil. She was so tiny she barely reached Lil’s shoulder, but Lil appreciated the gesture. Kiran came closer too, and the three of them huddled together to keep warm. Lil didn’t know how long they stood there like that. She had never been so cold. She knew they would eventually have to start walking home, but she couldn’t bring herself to move. Doing so would be accepting defeat, accepting that they were unable to get to Mella.
Suddenly there was a shout behind them. She looked up to see a splodge of orange on the horizon. It was coming closer. “It’s a boat!” Lil said. “One of those search-and-rescue things. Hey!” she shouted, jumping up and down and waving her arms. “Hey!” The occupants of the dinghy must have seen her, because the boat veered toward them. They waited for it to arrive on the side of the road.
A man and a woman clambered out. “You kids all right?” the man asked.
The woman’s eyes narrowed. “That your car?”
Lil nodded.
“You saw the road closure sign?”
“Ye-e-e-es.” Lil’s whole body was shaking now, her teeth chattering like crazy.
“And you drove past it?”
“Yes,” Lil said sheepishly. “We urgently need to get to Porthpridd. My aunt’s a police officer. Sabrina Laverty.”
“Wait,” the man said, “you’re Sabrina’s niece? We were sent to come get you. You must be Kiran, eh? And you are . . . ?” He looked at Seven, who automatically shrank back farther behind Lil.
“A friend,” Lil said, moving forward so Seven was better hidden from sight. “So you’ll take us to Porthpridd?”
The woman spoke before the man. “That’s what we came out for. You’re lucky we found you when we did.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Tell me again what she said about Mella,” Sabrina said.
Lil and Sabrina were in the tatty kitchen of the village hall in Porthpridd. The journey here had been long, wet, and cold, although a much better trip with Kay and Don—the search-and-rescue team—than it would otherwise have been. The landscape around Porthpridd had transformed—what had been fields and road the previous day were now water. They’d gone in the dinghy for as long as they could, and then walked the rest of the way. By that point, Lil had been somewhere beyond cold, which she suspected was a dangerous place to be. Lil had nearly wept in relief at seeing the village hall. Kiran had walked head down most of the way, eyebrows so low they were practically on his chin. And Seven had been just as silent.
It was about six o’clock when they finally arrived at the hall. Sabrina rushed out to meet them. Lil let her aunt wrap her arms and then a blanket around her as she breathed in her aunt’s smell of vanilla, the same perfume Lil’s grancha—Sabrina’s mam—always wore. Sabrina looked very much like Lil’s dad, with the same lively gray eyes and long, pointed nose. Sabrina had even inherited the same elfin ears. Mella had those too—the one thing she seemed to have taken from their dad. She hated them and always made sure her hair covered them.
As soon as she saw Sabrina, Lil blurted out what she’d found out about Mella. Her sentences were chaotic, her teeth chattering so hard, and Sabrina’s face creased as she tried to understand. She frowned as realization sank in. “Lil,” she said gently, “you mustn’t get your hopes up, cariad.” But rather than carry on, insisting that Lil put on the dry clothes the volunteers had collected at the hall, she grabbed another blanket and took her straight to the kitchen, where she put a cup of tea in front of her. Lil had tried to explain as best she could, but it was taking a while.
“She said that Mella has been staying with them,” Lil said.
“And she’s still there?”
“Yes, and she’s in danger. This ceremony—”
“Why didn’t you call me? Driving here like that was madness!” Sabrina’s disapproval was clear in the thin line of her lips.
Lil stared down at the table. “The phones weren�
��t working. I just wanted to get to you as quickly as possible.”
Sabrina touched her hand. Her voice was gentler when she said, “I get that, I do, but tearing off like that—in this weather—it was very dangerous, cariad.”
“Do you know about The Sisterhood of the Light?” Lil asked, changing the subject. She knew she’d acted dumb, reckless, but this was about saving Mella. “Have you heard of them?”
Sabrina hesitated and then said, “There was a story a few years back, about some sort of group farther up the valley. A cult, you might call it, but that’s not . . . the proper term is ‘new religious movement.’ It’s possible Seven came from there. A few of the locals made complaints about some strange practices.” Her voice was calm, but Lil could tell she was agitated.
“What sort of strange practices?” Lil’s stomach flipped.
Sabrina squeezed the top of her nose like she had a headache. “I don’t know. I wasn’t directly involved in the case. Witch stuff, rituals, dancing naked. That sort of thing. It was all very exaggerated, like something out of a movie. I think the locals just wanted them gone. You know what people can be like about anything different. They build up all sorts of prejudices, tell all sorts of stories. The complaints never came to anything. It was just a group of women living together and farming. Not a hint of satanic worship.” She gave Lil a grim smile. “But now after what you’ve told me about Seven . . . This is serious, Lil. She didn’t give you any more details about the ceremony?”
Consumed.
Lil shivered. “I didn’t ask too much.”
“Maybe we can get more out of her.”
“She’s terrified of the police.”
“I’ll go easy. Officer Burnley is talking to her now. We have to be careful, though. Gentle. It sounds as if she’s been through a lot, and no doubt she’s traumatized. If it weren’t for this bloody storm, we could have taken her into the women’s center, gotten her some proper support.” Sabrina looked worried. “I don’t have access to any systems. I’ve only got Officer Willoughby because he lives in the village, same as me. Officer Burnley’s only here because she popped into the village last night to check on her mum and got stuck here. It’s a bloody mess. Still, we’ll work it with what we’ve got. Seven’s a pretty distinctive name, if it’s her real one. No surname, though, or none that she shared, anyway. I tried calling the HQ at Caerwen to have them put what info we have into the database. They’re flooded too. Place is chaos. The constable I spoke to managed to run a quick check. Nothing. It’s like she doesn’t even exist. You say you found her on the road?”
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