Dreams (Sarah Midnight Trilogy 1) (12 page)

Sarah threw herself on Harry, who was lying bare-chested and bloodied on the grass. His face was white; his chest was covered in bruises – the round wound caused by the demon, and dozens of little wounds all around it, where the ravens had pecked to prize it away.

“Wake up … please wake up,” she whispered breathlessly. She took his hand into her own, trying to find his pulse. Faint, but there. He was still alive. She covered him with his bloodied shirt and jacket, then she took her own jacket off and laid it on him as well.

“Harry …”

I can’t lose him.

I can’t lose him like I’ve lost my parents. I’d be alone.

I’d be completely alone.

Sarah brushed Harry’s hair away from his forehead, tenderly, in a gesture that mirrored what he’d done to her the night he’d arrived. Her touch left a trace of blood on Harry’s skin. She looked at her hands. They were wet with the blackwater, and with the blood that had leaked out of the creature when she had dissolved it. She’d been so worried about Harry that she hadn’t even noticed. She dried her hands on her skirt and on the dead leaves, and placed them on Harry’s chest, trying to give him her energy, her warmth. His skin felt so cold.

Sarah tried to inhale. She was breathless with fear again, her chest weighed down like she’d been buried alive.

Wake up, wake up.

A distant cawing came from the sky. The flight of ravens was still visible, like a black stain against the clouds. Sarah looked up, blinking at the white sky, dizzy from trying to follow the birds in their ascent.

“Sarah.” Harry had opened his eyes.

“Harry!” Sarah squeezed his hands and inhaled deeply, air filling her lungs at last. She could breathe again.

“The demon …”

“It’s gone, don’t worry … how do you feel?”

“Like I’ve been hit by a train.” He pulled himself up, slowly, holding on to Sarah’s hands.

“You lost a lot of blood. That disgusting thing was
full
of your blood! Had it not been for the ravens ….”

“The ravens?”

“They saved your life! They pulled that thing off you and pecked it. There, look.” She pointed at the sky, but above them there were only clouds. The flight was gone.

“Look, I know it’s hard to believe it, but really, it was ravens that saved us. But how can it be? A demon, pecked to death by … by birds!”

“Unless …” Harry whispered.

“Unless?”

“Unless they weren’t real ravens.” Harry’s voice faded, and he dropped his head in his hands.

Sarah wanted to ask what he meant, but he looked so pale, and his lips had a hint of blue. She remembered how quickly she had weakened in her dream, how soon she had started to lose consciousness, when the leech was attached to her. Sarah stroked his face again, and Harry put his hand on hers.

You’re still with me …

“I’m going to take you home. We can take a taxi, come and get the car tomorrow.”

“I can drive.”

“Are you sure?”

“Perfectly sure. One dead, six to go.” He attempted a smile.

“Harry …”

“Yes?”

“I thought I’d lost you.”

Harry looked at her with his clear eyes, and Sarah felt like she was diving in a loch of icy waters, falling endlessly, helplessly.

They were barely in the door when Juliet phoned to invite them for dinner. Sarah looked across the hall and into the living room, where Harry was lying on a sofa, deathly pale, a glass of whisky beside him. The journey home had been ghastly, with Harry concentrating furiously on the driving, trying not to lose consciousness again.

“I’m sorry, Juliet, we can’t. It’s just that …” She thought quickly. “Bryony is coming for dinner; we’ll watch a DVD, she’ll stay over …”

Shadow purred against her legs. She loved Bryony. Once more, Sarah wondered how much Shadow really understood of the human world. She seemed to always know what was going on.

“Yes, I’m here. Yes. Of course. Speak to you soon.”

Sarah put the phone down.

“Sorry, Shadow, Bryony is not coming, it was just an excuse to get Juliet out of our hair.”

Shadow stopped purring, and walked away on silent paws, in a huff.

“You did the right thing. We can’t risk it. If they attack us at Juliet’s we’d put them all in danger.” Harry’s voice was still feeble.

In a moment of clarity, one of those moments where things are grasped and understood all of a sudden with unquestionable insight, Sarah saw how much Harry
loved
that strange arrangement, just the two of them. He was right; they couldn’t put their family and friends in danger – it was their duty to stay away from them for a while – but he didn’t seem to mind much, being alone with her so often.

I like it too
, thought Sarah suddenly, unexpectedly. She had been alone so often as a child, and this was the first time she’d lived with someone who actually spent their nights at home. It was like a suspended time, an in-between time where Harry was with her, always. Even when she was sleeping.

She took in Harry’s pale, handsome face.
My cousin. He could be my brother. He could be my best friend. He could be
…

“I know it’s dangerous for you, going to school,” Harry interrupted her thoughts.
Thankfully
. “But it’s a risk we have to take. If you stopped going to school we’d get into trouble.”

“I couldn’t anyway. The audition with the RCS is in a few weeks. I
must
get a place.”

“What is that?”

“The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.”

“Wow. Is that what you want to do? Teach music like your mum?”

“No, I don’t want to teach music. I want to
make
music. I want to compose, and play all over the world. I’ll try and get into the Royal Scottish Orchestra, for a start.”

Harry smiled. “You’ll be amazing. I know that.”

Sarah smiled back, and looked away. “Well, it all depends … you know. This crazy life I have. I don’t know how much time I’ll have to do what I want to do. What about you? What did you do in New Zealand?”

“I studied medicine, like my dad. And your dad.”

“What will you do next?”

“You mean apart from making sure you stay alive? That’s a full-time job in itself.” He laughed.

“I mean, when we’ll be free.”

Once a Gamekeeper, always a Gamekeeper
.

“I’m not sure. Qualify as a doctor, maybe. I don’t really
need
to work. My clients in Japan were very generous. I can live on it for the rest of my life.”

“I don’t really need to work either – neither did my parents. They did it because they loved their jobs, though sometimes they were so tired in the morning, they couldn’t even speak.”

Harry nodded.

“So when is this audition?”

“The thirtieth of November.”

“You must work hard, then. I’ll help you. We’ve got to try and keep things normal.”

“Just as well, or I’d be stuck here alone with you!” she teased him.

He looked at her with those piercing eyes. “Would that be so bad?” he said, and it was a bit like a whisper, like something said while lying on the same pillow. Sarah felt her blood rising to her cheeks.

“I’m going to cook dinner,” she said quickly. Too raw, too intimate. She wasn’t ready. She was scared.

She ran into the kitchen and busied herself. She was trying to stop her heart from running away like a wild horse, but it was no use. The thought came anyway:
to be alone with Harry in this house. No, it wouldn’t be bad at all
. She rejected that thought, pushed it away with all her strength, because that was not the way she was supposed to feel, not right now. Not in the middle of all this. Not for her cousin!

“Smells good.” Harry had followed her into the kitchen, in that silent way that unnerved her. She jumped.
Something else he learnt in Japan
?

“Quiche with a side of peas and potatoes.”

“Nice.”

She desperately tried to think of something to say, some thing to break the silence. Maybe that was the right time to try and learn more about what was happening to her. And a way to change the subject.

“Harry, who are these people?” she asked, putting the dish she had prepared into the oven and closing the door carefully. “The Valaya, I mean. Why are they doing this?”

Harry took a deep breath. How much could he tell her, without giving away his deceit, without leading her into the hands of the Sabha? He’d have to tell her about the other Secret Families sooner or later, about the Valaya all over Europe, and the shadowy puppeteer behind them all. She’d have to know that once they’d eliminated the Scottish Valaya, there would be more of them, more enemies, more danger. That it was going to take a long, long time for the war to be over – if ever. But not now, not yet. Once they were safe from the present threat, he’d reveal his true identity, and explain what was really going on.

Not yet.

“They want to rule Scotland, and from here, they want to spread. They want to call more demons, and use them for their own means … They’re fools.”

“Because the demons won’t let them, will they? People like Michael … they think that the demons are at their service, that they’ve got them under control, but they haven’t.”

“Exactly. The Surari used
them
to come into this world, not the other way round. It’s not easy for the creatures to seep into our reality without dissolving. The Valaya helped them, so they played the game. But once they’re here, they won’t be doing the Valaya’s bidding. These forces are a lot older, a lot more powerful than we can imagine. They used to rule the earth. We snatched it from them, and they want it back.”

Sarah nodded. Her parents had told her about that, and how the Midnights were the only beacon for humanity, in a wilderness of danger.

But how can it be? Only the Midnights, for the whole world
? A million questions were swirling in her head, her outlook on the world changing by the minute.

“You said you hunted in Japan. So … we’re not the only ones? There are demons all over the world? And demon hunters like us?”

“Sarah, don’t worry about all this now. Let’s focus on staying alive.”

He’s hiding things from me. Just like my parents did. But he’s right. All that matters now is to survive
.

“How did the Valaya summon the demons? I had no idea you could actually
call
them.”

“They learnt the dark arts. Spells written in cursed books that I never want to set my eyes on, and I hope you won’t either. Even just looking at one of those books can sicken you, infect you. It must have taken years of study, to do what they did, to summon demons like these ones. That leech thing – a little bit longer, a little bit more feeding, and it would have multiplied into dozens, hundreds of them … can you imagine?”

Sarah shivered. “I don’t want to know about those books. I never want to learn those kinds of spells. Actually, I don’t want to know about any of this.”

“Like I said, let’s just focus on staying alive. It’s the best way, believe me.”

Sarah nodded. But she had one more question.

“Today, when you said they weren’t
real
ravens, what did you mean?”

Harry took a deep breath, and shook his head. “It’s hard to believe … But I think they might have been spirits of the air.”

“Spirits of the air?”

“Some call them Elementals, or in the ancient language, Dhatu. They’re spirits of the elements – air, earth, fire and water. They take the shape of animals somehow related to their elements. I’ve seen some spirits of the water taking the shape of seals, for example. They’re very, very rare. I have no idea why they decided to help us.”

“Could someone be controlling them?”

“They’re difficult, nearly impossible to tame. I’ll see what I can find out.” Harry gestured at his phone.

“It’s amazing. They looked like normal ravens, and then … they just did what they did. I couldn’t believe my eyes.”

“Things are not always what they seem.”

“That’s your favourite saying, isn’t it?” smiled Sarah. “A bit like your motto.”

Harry smiled, an anxious smile.
It applies to me too
.

The oven beeped, and shook them out of their thoughts. Sarah took out the quiche and set the table carefully, beautifully. It was lovely to be sharing dinner with someone. Her parents were always on the go, always heading somewhere. She lit two silver candles, and placed them in the middle of the table, as the final touch.

She felt peaceful, in spite of the storm raging in her life. Harry was eating heartily, and she took it as a compliment.

“You need to build yourself up, after you lost all that blood.”

“Don’t mind if I do.” Harry took a second helping of the quiche. “You’ve got to eat up too; you’re so pale and thin, Sarah.”

“I’m starving. I hadn’t eaten for ages after … you know. When you arrived, I got my appetite back.”