Dreams (Sarah Midnight Trilogy 1) (5 page)

“Yes.”

“He’s a fool. He’s trying to keep going as if everything is normal. He
knows
! But he’s refusing to acknowledge the magnitude of what’s happening. It’s as if he’s denying the existence of a wider world …”

“That can’t be. Nobody can keep going like nothing is happening.” I thought of the innocent people in Japan, unaware of the battle, caught in the middle of it. Even their lives had been changed, and they were just bystanders – how could a Secret Family remain untouched?

“He’s refusing to make provisions for his daughter, my cousin,” Harry continued. “Her name is Sarah. She’s nearly seventeen. She’s the Dreamer of her family.” I knew what that meant – each Secret Family has one Dreamer in its midst, someone who through their dreams tells the family about any demons in their surroundings, and where to find them. If the Dreamer gets killed, the power will pass on to another member of the family. “When they strike, she’ll either die, or be left to face it all alone, without allies. And they’ll strike soon. I know for sure that these are my uncle’s last days. Sean, there’s something I need you to do for me.”

“Of course, Harry. Of course.” To see such fear in the eyes of a man who was like a brother to me – no less than if we’d shared the same blood – I felt like my heart was breaking.

“You must look after Sarah. When something happens to me – and it’ll be soon – you must go to Scotland and protect her. I can only trust you. I don’t have long to live.”

All of a sudden the pain I felt turned to anger. Harry was a hunter, and yet he was letting himself be killed without putting up a fight. How could he do this to Elodie, to me, to himself?

“I don’t want to hear you talking like this, Harry. It’s like you’re dead already!”

“You don’t understand, Sean. I
am
dead already. Look. Look at me.”

I looked. And I saw. The gauntness, the mortal pallor, the rasping breath. The opaque eyes, covered by a milky film. I had seen it happening in Japan, I knew the signs – but with Harry, I had willed myself not to see.

“Poison,” I whispered, horrified.

“One touch was enough. Or maybe it was in my food. It’s just a matter of time now.”

“Oh, Harry. Who did it? Who was it?” I would strangle them with my own two hands, no matter how long it took me to find them.

“It’s difficult to believe, I know. But, Sean … it was the Sabha who did this to me.” He shook his head, as if he couldn’t believe his own words.

My heart skipped a beat. How could that be? How could a member of a Secret Family betray us all?

“The Sabha? Oh, God …”

“I used to think they were just in denial, that they hadn’t had enough time to act. But now I know. They’ve been infiltrated – or even turned. That’s why I can only ask
you
to look after Sarah,” Harry continued.“I can’t trust anyone else. I can’t be sure of anyone … We have to take matters into our own hands.”

“Who will listen to us, Harry? Who will believe that the Sabha are now an enemy?”

“Not many. We managed to get to Aiko through the Ayanamis’ Gamekeepers; we’re old friends, they believed me. And then there’s the Flynns. Our families go way back, so I know I can trust them, and they know they can trust me. I’ve sent Mike to get Niall Flynn and take him to Louisiana, some-where out of the way.”

“Mike Prudhomme? He’s the best Gamekeeper I know.”

“Yes. He and I go back a long way too. Niall is lucky, very lucky. And so is Sarah, with you.”

I nodded. I was at a loss for words. I hoped with all my heart I would not let Harry down.

“Nobody else can know what we’re doing. If the Sabha find out, you’re all dead …” Harry’s breath failed him, and he held his chest. I wished I could have breathed for him.“I want you and Mike to keep in constant touch. You need his help. Only you will know how to contact them.”

“Yes. Yes.”

The room was spinning around me. Nowhere to go, nobody to trust.

“What about Elodie? She must come with me to Scotland.”

“She can’t.” Despair flooded Harry’s face. “She’s being driven to the Thames now. There’s a boat waiting for her. She’s going to Italy, where Aiko Ayanami is. She needs to help the Gamekeepers protect her. You’re safer apart than together … You and Sarah, Elodie and Aiko, Mike and Niall. If you’re all together and they find you …”

I nodded. He was right. “I just can’t believe it. I thought we were fighting the Valaya. The Enemy. Now we have to worry about the Sabha too.”

“I believe that the Enemy and the Sabha are now one.”

We looked at each other, Harry’s words weighing between us like stones in our hearts.

“Sean. Elodie is now my wife.” The shadow of a smile appeared on Harry’s lips.

“Your … wife?”

“We got married yesterday. We knew there wasn’t much time left.”

Harry and Elodie had got married, and the day after their wedding they’d already been separated. I felt a deep sorrow take hold. It’s still with me, and I’m sure that it’ll never let me go, for the rest of my life. I felt the walls closing in on me and I thought I’d suffocate, just like it was slowly happening to Harry. I walked to the window and looked at the sky.

“The heirs of the Secret Families must be kept alive, no matter what. Do you understand? Sarah must be kept alive. She might be the one who saves us all, in the end. Each and every heir needs to survive, and so many have died already.”

“I’ll do anything I can, Harry. I promise you. Maybe I should take her into hiding too, like Aiko and Niall. Somewhere secret …”

“Sarah would never go with you, believe me. She doesn’t even know about the existence of other Secret Families, about the Sabha, or the true nature of the Surari. My uncle kept all that from her. If she were to know the truth now she might go to the Sabha, and we’d lose her. You have to keep up the pretence; you have to win her trust slowly …” Harry coughed again, a painful, burning cough that made me flinch. I nodded, overwhelmed by all these revelations. “Which is why I want you to have all this. This house, my belongings, everything. I want you to
become
me. Here’s everything you need …” He handed me a leather briefcase. “Leave here as soon as you can. They won’t be long.”

I struggled to take in what Harry had just said. “You want me to
become
you?”

“It’s the only way. Sarah will never let you in otherwise. She’ll never trust you. You don’t know the Midnights. They’re proud, and diffident. They won’t accept help from outsiders. The only time I saw her she was just a baby. She doesn’t know my face at all, and any pictures they have of me – if they have any – will be from when I last saw them, when I was eight years old. We’re both blond, and your eyes could pass as Midnight eyes. She’ll believe you.”

“I want to stay with you until … until the end.”

“It’s too dangerous. Listen to me now. You’re the closest thing to a family I’ll ever have. You and Elodie. You must survive this. You must help Sarah survive. You have to go. Now.”

The green of his eyes was burning into mine. I nodded. I couldn’t speak.

“They’re coming to finish me off in style.” He smiled bitterly. “I know what they want to do to me. I won’t let them.”

And that was it. I looked into his face one last time, into his brave, wild Midnight eyes.

That was the last I saw of him.

I rented a room somewhere in the East End, out of the way. I went through Harry’s briefcase. He’d been very thorough: all the documents I needed, pages and pages of information about the Midnights, people I could call if I needed help, the deeds of his Mayfair house with a note attached to it:
If you need somewhere to stay, when it’ll be safe again
.

Among the documents and papers was a photograph. It was a picture of a girl with long black hair, and Harry’s green eyes: Sarah Midnight. The quality of the photograph was terrible, dark and grainy, so I couldn’t make out her face very well. I stared at it for a long time.

That night I watched the news on my laptop. I heard what I was expecting to hear: that a man known as Sean Hannay had been found floating in the Thames. I prayed and prayed that Elodie was safe in Italy, somewhere hidden and secure, somewhere she and Aiko, and whoever else found their way there, could find refuge. It had been too late for Harry.

The last thing I could do for him was to follow his instructions. To become Harry Midnight.

I accessed Harry’s email account. And there it was, the email he’d been dreading, from the Midnights’ solicitors.

        This is to let you know that your aunt and uncle, James and Anne Midnight, were killed last night in a traffic accident …

I deleted it at once. There was no way I’d bring attention on Harry – on
me
.

Time to go. I walked out into the dark night, looking for a taxi that would take me to Heathrow Airport, and from there to Scotland, the green, windswept place where I would find Sarah Midnight.

Alone what seemed forever –

Then your beacon shone

“You
have
to go to school, Sarah. I know you’re upset, but we need to keep the routine going. You can’t sit around the house all day, it’ll make you worse …” Juliet was going on and on, busying herself around the toaster, spreading crumbs everywhere. Sarah felt her skin crawl at the sight of the mess her aunt was making. She had to get up and pick the crumbs up with a wet sponge, then dry the surface with a kitchen cloth, carefully. To see her cleaning seemed to upset Juliet, which irritated Sarah even more. Only when she was happy that every single crumb had been picked up, and only once she’d gone over the surface a couple of times for good measure, could Sarah sit back at the kitchen table, in front of the frothy cappuccino she had made herself. She looked mutinous.

“I can’t go, it’s as simple as that. I’ve got stuff to do.”

“Like what?”

“Just … things.”

Juliet rolled her eyes. Her niece must be the most stubborn, strong-headed girl in the whole of Scotland. In a fit of frustration, she threw her hands in the air.

“All right, then. Just for today. You’re going back to school on Monday though …”

“She’s going today.”

Sarah looked up in surprise. Harry had walked into the room, barefoot, wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, his blond hair wet from the shower.

“She needs to go
today
. You’re right, Juliet. We need to keep some sort of normality here. I’ll see to that.”

Juliet looked at him, incredulously. Was he really on her side?

“Yes. Good. I’m glad we see eye to eye.” Juliet took the last sip of her cappuccino and went upstairs to get dressed, a satisfied smile on her face for having won the battle, albeit with a bit of help.

Sarah was outraged. How dare he interfere in her life like that?

“What did you do that for?” she whispered, as soon as Juliet was out of earshot. “I need to sort out my parents’ things. You know that. I told you last night.”

“I know. But to do that, you need Juliet out of your hair. And to get her out of your hair, you need to show her you’re sorted. That we can manage by ourselves, and that I can look after you.”

“Oh! Of course. Then I can stay home for a few days.”

“Who said that?” said Harry, his blue eyes twinkling.

“
You
said …”

“I said we need to show her we’re sorted. And letting you miss school is not part of the plan. You’re going. Double maths and all.”

He’s enjoying this!

Sarah stopped in her tracks.
What did he just say?

“How do you know I’ve got double maths?”

“Do you actually have it? I took a wild guess.”

Sarah eyed him suspiciously.

“I guessed. Seriously!” He put his hands up in a declaration of innocence.

“I don’t believe you for a second. How on earth would you know what I’ve got on today?” She was shaking.
He creeps into my room at night, and he knows my timetable?

“Ok, then. I went through your stuff.” He said this in an even tone, as if it was a perfectly normal thing to do.

“You
what?
”

“I had to. I was looking for something.”

“Oh. Right. And did you find it?” Sarcasm was her only option. The alternative would have been to slap him.

“Not yet. Now go, or you’ll be late. Actually, wait …”

Sarah turned to face him. She was pale with anger.

“What?” she hissed.

“Do you have a minute to make me a cappuccino? Yours looks amazing.”

Sarah gasped in outrage. She looked for a suitable answer, but all she could muster was a feeble, “Make your own!” She was so angry that she was nearly in tears. She ran up the stairs, and slammed the door to her room.

He’s right
, a little voice inside her said.
If we show them that we’re fine, that we’re in control, they’ll let Harry stay and I won’t have to leave my home. Right now, it’s the best thing to do.