Dead Push (Kiera Hudson Series Two#7) (11 page)

From my hiding place, I peered up at Kiera’s window. I saw the lamp light she had switched on go out. Was she going to bed? I wondered. Then, the front door opened, and Kiera appeared in the doorway. She was now wearing blue jeans, white T-shirt, and a waist-length black jacket. Kiera pulled the front door closed behind her and ran through the rain to a little red Mini parked at the kerb. I watched Kiera climb inside, turn on the headlamps, then start the engine. The car pulled away from the kerb and disappeared into the night.

Where was she going? I wondered. I reminded myself that whatever the Kiera in this
pushed
world did had nothing to do with me. She wasn’t
my
Kiera. But still, I was more than curious to know where she was going and what she was going to do when she got there. I stepped from my hiding place and glanced up the street. I could see the red taillights of her small car disappearing in the distance. Looking back at the apartment block, I knew I should stay and keep watch and wait for the photographer to show up. I looked again up the street and could see no sign of Kiera’s car. I looked back at the apartment block.

“Bollocks,” I whispered, rolling back my shoulders and releasing my wings.

Throwing my head back and spreading wide my jet-black and tatty wings, I shot up into the night sky after Kiera. I scanned the streets below, until I saw her car weaving its way through the narrow streets of Havensfield. She was heading towards town. I swooped overhead, hidden by the rain-filled clouds. With rain beating off my wings, I followed Kiera’s car until she pulled into the kerb and parked. Folding back my wings, I dropped sharply out of the night sky, landing behind some rubbish bins at the rear of a drab-looking pub. I could hear the sound of muffled laughter and conversation coming from inside.

With my wings withdrawing back into me, I headed around the side of the pub and onto the street. I peered around the side of the building to see Kiera climb from her car. She had parked outside a small Italian restaurant. It was then I saw someone step out from the shadows and approach her. All my instincts urged me to race across the road and protect her. I stopped myself. I saw Kiera turn around and smile sweetly at the man who had approached her. She then stood on tiptoes and kissed the guy gently on the cheek. The guy offered her his arm, which she took hold of as he led her smiling into the restaurant. It wasn’t the fact I’d seen Kiera kiss another man and take his arm that troubled me – well it did if I were to be honest – but it was the man himself. I stepped back into the shadows, my heart racing.

“John Miles?” I whispered. “Kiera Hudson is dating that fucking werewolf,
Sparky!”

Jack

I followed Isidor at a safe distance as he crawled ahead of me. He reached the patch of pale white light, and I heard a wailing sound like unoiled hinges squeaking. I screwed my eyes into slits and could see Isidor was lifting back some kind of grill in the ground. Isidor hoisted himself up through the hole and disappeared above ground. On my hands and knees in the filthy mud of the tunnel, I crawled up towards the grill. Just before reaching it, I heard it swing back into place, as Isidor closed his entrance to the world above ground. I heard the sound of his feet head away. I waited for the thud of his footsteps to fade,
then made my way towards the grill. Sliding my fingers through the bars, I pushed it up and open. I poked my head through the hole and peered out. There was what looked like a small woods, and in the distance I could see Isidor weaving his way through the trees, his back to me. It was winter above ground and bitter cold. Isidor was stripped to the waist. Didn’t he own a freaking coat? I wondered. The kid must have been freezing cold. Potter had always said the kid was dumb – perhaps he had been right about that one thing. I heaved myself out of the hole, and standing, I closed the grate. Looking at it, I guessed this was the place Potter had spoken about. This was where the photographer was going to leave the picture for Isidor to find. I stepped back away from the grate, and from behind a nearby tree, I stood and looked at it. How long would I have to wait for the photographer to show up? I wondered. Was it going to be hours? Days or weeks? How the fuck should I know? Then I remembered Potter saying that the picture was of Isidor and his girlfriend Melody Rose who had died. The picture surely then wouldn’t be placed in the grate until after the girl’s death or what would be the point? Was this girl dead already? Again, I didn’t know. Looking in the direction Isidor had headed, I knew there was only one way to be certain, and that was to follow the boy to discover exactly what the fuck was going on. So just like I had in the tunnel down in The Hollows, I followed Isidor at a distance as he made his way through the woods.

Isid
or reached the treeline and I hung back. I watched him step out onto a sandy shore, which circled a lake. In a strange way it reminded me of the Dead Waters, hidden deep within the secret forest. I guessed this was Lake Lure Potter had mentioned. So far, so good, I figured. From my hiding place near the edge of the woods, I watched Isidor sit in the sand as the cold, black-looking water lapped at his feet. He shivered with the cold, wrapping his arms about his shoulders. It was then I noticed that the boy didn’t have the tattoos I had seen on him before. They must have come later. He didn’t look like the kind of kid that would go and have angry-looking black flames engraved all over his chest and up his arms and neck. He definitely didn’t look like the sort of kid who would have eyebrow piercings. Isidor looked like the sort who wouldn’t say shit even if his mouth was full of it. Something must have happened to change him, I figured. I don’t know how long I hid in those woods, but the winter sun started to drop on the horizon as if it were sinking beneath the lake and down into The Hollows. Then, from behind me, I heard a rustle and the sound of snapping twigs underfoot. I spun around, wondering who it might be. There was a young girl making her way through the woods towards the lake. I slunk back behind the trees and watched her. She had dull, light coloured hair, which she had dragged back into a bun. The girl wore what looked like a grey coloured bonnet on her head and this was fastened beneath her chin with a black cord of some kind. She looked sickly pale and she wore a long, plain dress, which matched the colour of her bonnet. Over the dress hung what appeared to be an apron, and on her feet she wore the most uncomfortable-looking shoes I had ever seen. She clomped forward in them through the trees and I watched her go. So this was Melody Rose? Fuck me, what did Isidor see in her? The kid was fucking dumb. He killed himself for that? I wondered in disbelief. And everyone said I was fucked in the head. I’d kill the girl – but jeez – to get my kicks, she had to be at least semi-attractive.

The girl reached the shore, and I saw Isidor look around at her. At first his young face beamed with delight at seeing her. Shit, he really did have the horn for her in a bad way. He needed to come on a night out with me. I could introduce Isidor to women who would do things to him that would make his hair and toes curl. But then his face seemed to
change as it took on a more sullen look. At last he’s finally realised what a hag she is, I thought with a smile.

Melody said something, which I didn’t quite catch. Pricking up my ears, I dared to inch closer through the trees to the shore.   

“I waited all morning! I was freezing, Melody!” I heard Isidor bitch.

Being cold was the least of his worries, I thought.

“I’m really sorry,” Melody said, touching his arm.

“So you gonna tell me what you’ve been up to?” I heard Isidor ask.

Possessive too, I grinned. He really did have the hots for her. I would’ve killed the bitch if she had stood me up. Where was this kid’s fucking backbone?

“Aw, c’mon, I’ve said I’m sorry, haven’t I?” Melody smiled at him.

Don’t smile sweetheart,
I grimaced.
It really doesn’t do you any favours. It makes your face look like a plate with a crack in it.

“It’s not the fact that I was left waiting in the cold. I ran into Ray and his friends and they stole my coat,” Isidor groaned.

So that’s why the kid wasn’t wearing a coat, I realised. But that didn’t explain why he wasn’t wearing it now. He must have let whoever this Ray dude was get away. What was wrong with this kid? You don’t let anyone steal from you. If anyone tries, you rip off their fucking face then go around and have some
fun
with their entire family while you force the thief to watch. Jeez, this boy needed to toughen up. What a pussy! He needs to spend some quality time with Uncle Jack, I smiled to myself. 

“Poor Isidor.
No wonder you’re so cold.” I heard the girl sigh.

Oh, my God, I thought. These two fucking deserve each other. “Poor Isidor,” I mimicked under my breath. “Tell the fuck-wit to toughen up – to be a man, for Christ’s sake. What is wrong with these kids?”

Then, as if I were unable to believe what I was seeing, the girl stepped forward and gently wrapped her arms around Isidor as if trying to warm him. They gazed into each other’s eyes. Clutching at my stomach, I crouched down behind the tree I was hidden behind and vomited. Ropy lumps of puke and bile swung from my chin and I cuffed it away with my hands.

“Jealous, Jack?”
I heard someone say over my shoulder.

I glanced back and fell straight onto my arse at the sight of the bride standing amongst the trees a few feet away. She held the
posy of pink roses in her white-laced glove-covered hands.

“Don’t you wish you had someone to hold and love like that?” she said just above a whisper. The veil that hid her face moved like it was caught in a gentle breeze as she spoke from behind it.

“Fuck you,” I breathed through clenched teeth. I wiped the hot puke from my chin and stood up. I looked back at where the bride had been, but she had now gone. She had never been there, I told myself. Coming through the cracks had messed things up. It had fucked my head up. That was the last thing I needed. I knew I had to find this photographer and get back before I completely lost my mind. I looked back through the trees to find that Isidor and Melody were no longer standing on the shore. I came out from my hiding place, and being careful just in case both Isidor and Melody were still close by, I stepped out on to the sandy shore. It was then I saw both of them crawling through a nearby clump of bushes, set back against the treeline.

“Good boy,” I whispered with a smile. Perhaps I had underestimated Isidor and he was taking the girl into the bushes for some humpty-dumpty. This I had to see, I thought, crouching low and heading towards the bushes Isidor and Melody had disappeared into. Noah had told me not to hurt the girl. But had he seen her? He described the rose as being beautiful. He must have been talking about someone else entirely. This girl was no freaking
rose, she was more like some annoying weed. Reaching the bushes, I crouched low. I was surprised to hear Melody giggling.

“Are you laughing at me?” I heard Isidor ask. He sounded hurt.

Don’t say he has a small pecker too, I thought. You couldn’t make this shit up. Didn’t the boy have anything going for him? No brains and no cock!     

“Well, it’s kind of a dumb thing to do, don’t you think?” Melody giggled again, unable to figure out what she meant. Then she added, “Who would choose a book if they didn’t know what it was called or what it...”

Book? I wondered. Who takes a book on a freaking date? Perhaps it’s porn? But I doubted it somehow. 

“You think I’m stupid, just like the others do,” I heard Isidor say.

Yep! I thought to myself.

“Oh, my God, Isidor, I didn’t realise. You didn’t know what the book was about because you couldn’t read the title, could you?” the girl said from the other side of the bushes.

“No,” Isidor said back.

Oh this just keeps getting better and better. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry for the boy. Not only had he been robbed of his coat, not only did he have a small dick, but he couldn’t read, either. No wonder he had brought a porno book to read, they could both just sit and look at the pictures.

“I don’t think you’re stupid,” I heard Melody say to Isidor.

You must be about the only one who thinks that, I thought.

“I think you are the sweetest guy that I’ve ever met,” she continued, and my stomach lurched again. “You are the only person in this town who doesn’t avoid me because of the way my mother makes me dress. Even the people in church keep away from us. No one dresses the way we do. You didn’t judge me, Isidor, and I’m not judging you. You helped me mend my necklace, you went and chose a book for me – it had a rose on it just like my name. No one has ever done anything like that for me.”

The book definitely wasn’t porn. I’d never seen a porno book with a rose on the front. The idiot had probably bought her
a gardening manual. Shit, he couldn’t read, was he freaking blind, too? I wondered. When I thought I couldn’t stomach any more, the conversation took another turn for the worse.

“Why did you laugh then?” Isidor asked her.

“Because I wanted to cry, but I just couldn’t let it show,” she whispered.

“Why did you want to cry?” Isidor asked softly.

“Because I just can’t stop hurting... that is...” she stopped mid-sentence.

“What?” he asked her. “What stops you hurting, Melody?”