Dark Heart Surrender (12 page)

‘What?’ Pete jerked back to look at him, his face stern, frowning. ‘So what could be going in their heads? They’re just kids. Heads full of rubbish, more like.’

‘Right.’ It seemed like a touchy subject for Pete. ‘I didn’t mean anything by it …’

‘Ade struggles with being given up by his parents. I see the troubled look in his face. He was old enough to know what was going on, of course. And he and his sister, they’ve got a real bond. Unbreakable. She hangs off his every word. And he would do anything for her.’

‘It must be hard for them – what with your daughter being unwell.’ Luca stopped seeing a look of confusion on the older man’s face. But Pete quickly recovered himself.

‘She’s had some health worries over the years, but …’ Pete seemed to check himself before shutting down. ‘They all have their struggles, like anyone else. But they’re not doing badly. The boy will be running his own business soon. And Polly, she’s as sharp as a tack. She runs rings round me. She’ll be fine too.’

‘That’s good.’ Luca felt awkward. There was something Pete wasn’t saying, he was sure of that. But before he had a chance to push it, the sound – the one from before – was heard from somewhere in the hut.

‘You hear that?’ Luca stood perfectly still. ‘Sounds like a mouse squeaking. Something alive anyway.’ He glanced around. ‘Something in pain.’

Pete snorted. ‘Not in here. There can’t be a living thing left in here. Apart from us.’ He shivered. ‘And we’ll be six feet under soon if we don’t work up some heat by finally getting rid of all this rubbish.’

But the sound continued – plaintive, almost like a human whimper. Luca didn’t know whether it was his heightened sensory perception, but it felt as though it was meant for him.

‘Let’s get going, boy,’ Pete said gruffly.

Luca picked up the handles of the wheelbarrow again and rolled it outside, where he and Pete lifted it together and threw the contents into the waiting dump.

Behind them the light inside the hut went out. Pete exhaled, squinting. ‘Must be the damp,’ he said, taking his torch out of his belt. ‘You stay put, I’ll go and see where the fuse box is.’

Luca watched as Pete stumbled around inside. His unease was growing.

‘Pete,’ he called. ‘Pete?’ The old man had disappeared out of sight. ‘Are you OK, Pete?’

He waited but there was no answer and the cold air seemed to tighten around him, a low whistling sound coming through the trees. As it died down, Luca heard an audible moan coming, but not from the hut; it seemed to come from everywhere, growing louder, like a chorus of moaning, whispering in a guttural tone.

Luca swallowed looking up at the sky and seeing the moon. It wasn’t full, he was safe from that at least, but still he felt the hair on his arms pricking.

His heart thumped as he took a step towards the hut and he chastised himself for being scared.

Stepping inside, there was only darkness and silence. Luca’s eyes flickered around, then settled on something glinting in the corner. A flash of fur and angry, beastly eyes, watching him. But he couldn’t make out what it was.

‘Who’s there?’ He stood ready to face whatever it may be. ‘Whoever you are—’

And then his eyes fell on the figure of Pete, lying motionless under the animal’s nose. With a defiant screech, the animal stood on its back feet before rushing headlong past the paralyzed boy.

T
here was someone above her. She had heard them – more than one of them – moving around. Lack of food for days had considerably weakened her, maybe even was causing her to hear things that weren’t really there. But how could she be sure?

Crawling to the corner of the cave, she felt around for her water bottle. It had barely a trickle left in it now, but she drank it greedily, clutching the bottle as though it were her lifeline.

She stood up, thumping at the roof of the cave.

‘Help!’ She shouted as loud as she could though her voice was weak and inaudible. She knew she had little time left, that calling for help was pointless. She would die here, in this stinking wet cave.

But then, distinctly – she couldn’t be imagining this – the sound of voices, fading in and out. There was someone up there. Someone could rescue her.

But the voices moved away. Whoever it was was going, leaving her here. She listened, her heart in her mouth, praying for them to hear. She resumed her shouting, stretching every vocal cord she had.

A thump above her – like a fallen tree, it seemed so loud.

Then silence.

Tears sprang to her eyes. She was going to die.

She was going to die down here in this stinking cold, wet grave.

I
 lay on my bed looking at the clock. It was nine p.m. and Luca had not arrived home. I told myself that his working hours were erratic – it wasn’t a nine to five job. Pete obviously had him working late for a reason.

But he had never been this late before. I didn’t feel weird any more. Now all I felt was the adrenalin racing around my body. Pure anxiety.

There was a knock at my bedroom door. Before I could reply my little sister stuck her head round it. ‘What happened to you?’ she said without preamble. Her hair hung loose, streaky gold, and I realized how tall she had suddenly got, her once rounded cherubic face narrower, the beginnings of killer cheekbones developing. Dot was growing up, and I’d been so wrapped in my own stuff lately, I hadn’t noticed.

‘I’m touched by your sisterly concern,’ I told her. ‘And is that my T-shirt?’

Dot glanced down, her cheeks colouring a little, before she looked back up at me, impish defiance on her face.

‘You can have it.’ I threw a pillow at her, all at once so grateful to be back in ribbing-big-sister mode.

But Dot wanted to talk.

‘I feel like we never hang out together any more,’ she said, approaching the bed and throwing the pillow back at me. ‘You know, like we used to.’

I sighed. ‘I know. I’m sorry, Dottie. There’s been so much going on. I’ve neglected you.’

‘It’s OK.’ She plumped down on the bed. ‘I’m glad you’re happy. I was starting to get worried about you.’ She rolled on to her back, her long, unusually dark eyelashes batting over her big blue eyes.

I reached out and tugged gently at a lock of her hair.

‘I wish I could go back sometimes,’ I said quietly. ‘Back to when life was just a bit simpler. When it was just the two of us.’

‘And you were lonely.’ Dot was staring up at the ceiling.

I smiled down at her. ‘Yep. That’s true. But it was safer that way.’

Dot rolled back on to her stomach. ‘Safer?’

‘Yeah. I mean, there was nothing to worry about.’

‘Are you worried now?’ The concern in her voice made me swallow. I felt as though I was going to cry. ‘What are you worried about, Janey?’ she went on. ‘Is Luca being mean to you?’

‘No!’ I laughed. ‘Luca hasn’t got a mean bone in his body.’

At least not when he’s a boy
, I added to myself.

‘Yeah, but he is moody,’ Dot said tentatively. She looked up at me from under her giant lashes. ‘Not in a scary way. Just kind of intense.’

‘Suppose,’ I shrugged. ‘He’s just thoughtful. He feels things deeply.’

There was a silence, before we both burst out laughing.

‘So what is bothering you, if it isn’t Luca?’ Dot twiddled her hair. ‘You’ve never ever fainted before.’

‘I know.’ Suddenly I wanted to confide in Dot. Tell her everything. It would feel so good to unload all the thoughts in my head. But I couldn’t. As tempting as it was, Dot was too young to understand. So I hesitated before answering.

‘I’ve just been trying to do too much, please too many people, I guess,’ I said at last. ‘And it’s harder trying to keep it all going than I thought. Things keep getting in the way.’

‘Like that red-haired boy,’ she said, her eyes fixed on me, unblinking.

‘No, he’s nothing to do with anything,’ I said defensively, a flush creeping over my face. ‘Why do you say that?’

‘Well, he’s totally in love with you,’ she said slowly. ‘It’s so obvious.’

‘Nuh-huh.’ I shook my head. ‘
So
not in love with me.’

‘Yeah he is,’ she persisted. ‘I saw the way he looked at you when he came over. It made Luca angry. I could see that too.’

‘It’s not …’ I faltered, trying to find the right explanation. ‘It’s not because of that. Luca doesn’t like Ade, because Ade’s not … very nice.’

‘Oh, I could see that too,’ Dot said lightly. ‘But that’s kind of exciting, isn’t it?’

‘Dot!’ I raised an eyebrow. ‘Where did you get that from?’

‘Everyone knows that. It’s like a fact of life or something.’ She looked at me then, in such a knowing way, it was as though she was the big sister and I was the little kid, clueless all of a sudden.

The sound of feet thumping up the stairs startled us both and we sat up, just as the door was pushed open and my mother stood, pink-cheeked, staring at the two of us.

‘There’s been an accident,’ she said, trying to catch her breath. ‘Down at that training ground.’

‘Luca!’ I felt my heart speed up, launching myself off the bed. ‘Is it Luca? What happened? Is he hurt?’

‘No,’ she said, putting her arms out to stop me as I tried to run past. ‘Not Luca. It’s Pete.’ She paused, obviously wondering whether to say anything more with Dot in the room.

‘Pete?’ I stopped.

‘He had some kind of attack,’ she said, swallowing. ‘Luca said it happened suddenly …’

‘But Luca’s OK?’ I said, my eyes pleading with her. ‘Luca’s not hurt?’

‘No, Jane.’ She tried to take hold of my arm. ‘Luca’s fine.’

A shadow fell across the doorway. Luca stood pale-faced and shaken, hugging himself, as though he was in shock.

‘I don’t know what happened,’ he said, stepping inside, and I saw his whole body was shaking. ‘Pete’s gone to A&E. They think he had some kind of heart attack.’ He shook his head. ‘But he was fine. It doesn’t make sense.’

Luca’s eyes over the top of my mum’s head were trying to communicate something to me that he didn’t want anyone else to see. For the first time ever he looked out of his depth, like a little boy. I went to him and wrapped my arms around his shivering body.

‘It’s OK,’ I whispered. ‘It’s OK.’

I was aware of my mum and my sister slipping past us out of the room. We waited until they were safely in the hall, before I took Luca’s face in my hands.

‘What did you see?’ I said hoarsely, my own body tense and scared. ‘What did you really see out there?’

‘The good news is that Pete is suffering from a mild concussion and some cuts and bruises.’

My dad walked into the kitchen, a newspaper tucked under his arm. He drew a chair out from the kitchen table and poured himself a large mug of tea. He’d been straight over to the hospital to see Pete the moment Luca had arrived home. It was now nearly one a.m. and we were all up.

I held Luca’s hand under the table, still trying to make sense of what he had told me earlier when we’d been alone together in my room. Luca had said that it had seemed so odd. One minute Pete was sauntering towards the hut, fit and healthy, the next he was lying cold on the ground.

‘Well, he’s old,’ I’d said, as an explanation. ‘Old people aren’t so steady on their feet.’

Luca had screwed up his nose. The shadows under his eyes seemed to grow deeper by the second.

‘He didn’t make a sound, though. I didn’t even hear him fall – it was as though someone caught him, to muffle the sound.’

‘Who?’ I frowned. ‘There wasn’t anyone else there, was there?’

‘No. Nobody who made themselves visible anyway.’ Luca clenched his hands together and I could see they were still shaking. ‘But I told you about that sound I kept hearing before all the lights went out.’

‘Yeah. But wasn’t that a mouse or some night-time creature.’ I tried to sound as soothing as possible. ‘And an animal couldn’t have caused Pete to fall.’

Luca had looked at me then, straight into my eyes. And I saw a flash of fear in his face. Felt his belief that something – something unworldly – had been present.

‘You think it’s …’ I didn’t know if I could finish my sentence. It sounded too ridiculous. ‘One of those Vulc— whatever you call them?’

‘The Vulpecula?’ Luca sighed. ‘Honestly, I have no idea. But I just sense there is something in or around that place. Or somebody trying to send a message.’ He put his head in his hands. ‘It all seems too much of a coincidence.’

‘OK.’ I kept my voice steady. ‘But maybe there is a much more rational explanation. Maybe there is nothing sinister about any of this. Not even to do with Ade or Polly.’

‘Yes. Pete certainly stuck up for them.’ Luca relaxed very slightly. ‘They can’t be that bad. He would know if there was something bad.’

‘That’s true.’ I nodded. I had got up then, hoping that was an end to the weirdness. I felt totally drained. I turned my back on Luca and slipped off my T-shirt and reached for my pyjama top. I was just pulling it over my head when I felt his cool, strong hands behind me on my bare waist. And then his head, nestling against mine. I shivered, this time not from the cold or fear. I tilted my head back, allowing his fingertips to caress me, sending electric impulses shooting through my body.