Angel's Fury (20 page)

‘Lizzie’s making them right now.’

I rubbed my sore eyes. ‘So, we’re doing this today.’

Seth nodded and his arms tightened round me. ‘Tonight. We’ll meet behind the tennis courts at ten, after the nurse’s rounds.’ He released me and I stumbled. ‘Did you sleep?’

I looked at Seth. It was obvious that he hadn’t. His skin looked like the ash at the bottom of a burnt-out fire.

Do I look that bad?

I bit off my concern.

I had a job to do. I had to persuade Pandra to take me back to her secret place.

I found her reading in her room.

‘Pandra, can I go out with you tonight?’

‘What?’ Pandra shut her book and stared. I tilted my head, curious to see what it was. I made out the words ‘Darren Shan’ and shivered; some of the boys at school read his stuff.

‘I-I have to do something.’ I bit my lip. ‘I had terrible nightmares last night. The worst. I want to go back there.’

Pandra toyed with the bar through her eyebrow. ‘You want to go into the woods?’

I made sure the corridor was empty. ‘To your secret place, yes.’

‘Tonight?’

I allowed a note of pleading into my voice. ‘You said it helped.’

‘It does.’

I stepped further into her room and the wallpaper of screaming faces surrounded me. She measured my sincerity with a long look then grinned. ‘Alright, you’re on.’

‘Shall I knock for you at quarter to ten?’

‘Cool.’ She grinned enthusiastically. ‘You’re gonna love this. We’ll have so much fun.’

The rest of the day I avoided speaking to Seth. I was terrified that if I so much as looked in his direction I’d give us away. Every time a nurse entered the room I jumped, certain the Doctor had discovered our theft of the book. Yet as the day went on and no alarm was raised I got more and more wound up.

It was hard to ignore the energy that seethed around the others. Max was excited about seeing ‘a British pub’, Kyle just wanted to leave the Manor for a bit and Lizzie was delighted with the fact that Seth was finally joining her game.

When she bounced up to me at tea-time and pressed a palm-sized wooden wedge into my hand I nodded but said nothing. By that point my teeth ached with the tension, as if my jaw had been wired together, and I wasn’t sure I could open my mouth even if I wanted to.

I headed to my room as soon after that as I could and set my alarm for nine thirty p.m. I’d only managed to nap for about half an hour earlier and although I couldn’t face the idea of
another nightmare I knew my body, at least, desperately needed some rest.

The pieces of the gun gleam in the dawn light that shines through the high window. My cleaning cloth, now smeared and oily, is on the floor next to the table. I crack my knuckles and wait for the signal. Oberleutnant Fleischer slaps his baton on the table and I snatch my extractor up an instant before the others puts their hands on theirs
.

I slide the channel over the lug and click the safety into the rear of the bolt sleeve. My fingers perform the familiar movements without thought and as I slide the main spring on to the rear of the firing pin Hans remains a beat behind me
.

I stab the wooden block with the tip of the pin and compress the spring. As I return the cocking sleeve to the rear of the firing pin there’s a curse and a crash. Heinrich has fumbled and his spring has released too early. Grinning, I carefully allow the main spring and bolt sleeve to expand
.

As I insert the firing pin assembly into the back end of the bolt body I inhale the scent of grease on metal that is so beautiful to me. Abruptly another scent winds round that of the oil
.

I turn like a puppet. Frau Asche is watching us assemble our
weapons from the back of the room. The slick of crimson on her smiling lips is the only spot of colour on her otherwise perfectly pale face
.

What is she doing here? Oberleutnant Fleischer had made it clear that our preparations for this mission were to be kept secret
.

My fingers are oily and suddenly I feel clumsy but, thankfully. I have no small pieces left to deal with. Directing concentration back to my task I deftly rotate the sleeve and extractor, insert the bolt into the rifle’s receiver and shut it
.

Click.
I move the safety from the middle position and slam the weapon down to indicate that I am done
.

The crash of Hans’s gun is an echo of mine. My eyes go to the clock above the Oberleutnant’s shoulder. Less than fifty seconds have passed. I hide a smirk beneath my sleeve. No one is faster than me at assembling a gun
.

Oberleutnant Fleischer nods his approval and gestures us to the trucks outside
.

At nine forty-five I stood outside Pandra’s door wearing my Converse with two pairs of socks, my warmest clothes and my winter coat. My rucksack was slung over my shoulder but I was taking only the book and things I couldn’t replace, like Bunny.
I took a deep breath and knocked quietly. The door swung open.

‘You planning on moving in?’ Eyes on my bag Pandra grinned and I couldn’t help smiling back.

‘Just a few things I thought we might need.’ I shrugged the rucksack higher on my back and willed her to accept my explanation.

Pandra shrugged and led the way to the end of the corridor. We marched past the football table in the rec room and paused at the outside door long enough for Pandra to palm her key card. I kept my eyes fixed on her back, worried that if I looked around I might give the others away.

While Pandra worked the lock I took Lizzie’s wedge from my coat pocket.

‘Let’s go.’ Pandra pushed open the door and I held my hand behind my back.

As she stepped into the near dark I crouched, as if to check my laces, and jammed the slice of wood into the door frame. With any luck it would hold until Seth removed it on his way past.

Pandra and I walked towards the wood, keeping the new shooting range on our right. Although I tried not to picture the equipment
that would be secured in there, the ghost of a gun stock pressed against my palm. Abruptly dizzy, I closed my fist round it.

The feel of the phantom gun brought Zillah back to me and now I seemed to hear her voice echoing between the trees ahead.

I ignored her. I had to distract Pandra, or she might notice the others following us.

‘So . . . how much longer do you reckon you’ll be at the Manor?’

Pandra blinked. ‘Until I’m cured I guess.’

‘Then what will you do?’

She focused on the wet grass. ‘I was hoping the Doctor might keep me on as an assistant or something. There’ll be some work I could do . . .’

‘What about school?’

‘I won’t need school.’

We had reached the edge of the wood and I no longer imagined I could hear Zillah’s ghostly cries. I cleared my throat. ‘Maybe you could come and stay with me for a while.’

Pandra stared. ‘You’d be alright with that? After yesterday I figured you wouldn’t want to be friends any more.’

‘I was just . . . shocked, that’s all.’ I caught her arm as she started into the trees.

‘Why’ve we stopped?’ She frowned.

‘We need to talk about something else.’

She tried to pull away. ‘Can’t we talk in the cave?’

‘No.’ I bit the inside of my cheek; I’d been worrying about this conversation all day. ‘Do you trust me?’

Thoughtfully Pandra nodded. ‘You didn’t tell any of the others about my place and after you left like that I thought you would.’ I let my grip on her arm relax and Pandra’s eyes sparkled. ‘I knew you’d come round; it’s like we’re sisters or something.’

Given Pandra’s background, I was willing to bet that meant even more to her than it did to me. My traitorous heart pumped, convinced I was about to betray her.

If the legend in the book is true, then we sort of are family
.

My mind skittered away from the thought and Pandra nodded towards the woods. ‘Ready to go?’

I held on to her coat. ‘Not yet.’ I didn’t dare glance past her to see if the others were on their way. ‘I-I found something in the Doctor’s office.’

Pandra frowned but made no move to leave. ‘There isn’t anything in the Doctor’s office.’

‘I found a book . . . under her floorboards.’

She fiddled with her eyebrow piercing. ‘How’d you find
anything
under her floorboards?’

‘That isn’t important; the book is. It scared me.’

‘What is it, a horror story?’

I shuffled my feet. ‘It’s more like a religious legend crossed with an instruction manual . . . finished with a load of strange notes.’

Pandra fidgeted. ‘So?’

‘I think you need to see it – I think we all do.’

With obvious scepticism she said one long drawn-out, ‘Okay.’

‘The thing is . . . we can’t do it here . . . and we can’t take the others to your secret place.’ Finally I looked past her and saw the small band trooping after us across the field. Now that I knew they were coming I could hear Belinda’s excited whispers.

‘No bloody way!’

Prepared for Pandra to bolt I was already tightening my grip. ‘I know I said I wanted to go to your secret place, but you wouldn’t have come out otherwise. I have to show you this.’

‘You never really wanted me to move in with you, did you?’ She yanked her arm free and loathing warped her face.

‘It’s not like that . . .’

‘Show me this book now and I can go back in.’

The ice in Pandra’s voice pierced my heart, but I couldn’t let her return to the Manor and rat us out. I lowered my voice. ‘I went with you to your place. I could tell the others about it right now.’ I let that thought fester between us until her frown deepened, then I continued: ‘They’d be horrified. I bet Seth would call the police. What would they think about it?’ Pandra’s face blanched. Swiftly I carried on speaking. ‘All I want is for you to come and read the book. After that you can do whatever you like.’ I tried to smile at her, but my lips would barely curl. ‘It might even be fun to go to the pub.’

‘With them?’ she spat.

‘We all have to see the book.’

At that point Seth reached us. ‘Hello, Pandra, nice of you to join us.’

Our feet crunched on the gravel driveway and the low sound of excited chatter soaked into the deepening gloom. Silently I let my arm slip into Pandra’s; partly for balance, but also because I was worried she might try to sneak back to the Manor once it was completely dark.

When we reached the sign for Mount Hermon Seth switched
on his torch. Shadows crowded creepily around the small island of light and I shuddered and looked for the moon.

Scrawls of cloud decorated the sky, crayoned over random constellations. Was it going to rain? Immediately thoughts of flash floods crowded my mind.

‘Which way?’ Seth swung the beam left and right. ‘Do you remember?’

I swallowed.
I can’t turn back now. All we have to do is follow the road to the village and this’ll all be over
.

‘Left,’ I said. ‘Harmon village is left.’

We set off.

Having become used to the scrunch of gravel, the near silence of the road made me twitchy. Sensitive as broken teeth, my ears were waiting for the sound of rushing water, so a sudden rustling in the verge caused me to tighten my grip on Pandra’s arm.

‘Stop being pathetic,’ she sneered.

My cheeks burned but, before I could answer, Lizzie shrieked and Seth swung his torch towards her feet.

The beam picked out the remains of some enormous road kill and I jumped.

Oh my God, it’s a badger
.

Lizzie stared wide-eyed at the dead animal and Kyle made retching sounds as he wiped his feet on a patch of grass.

He must have trodden in it
.

‘Oh, gross.’ Belinda’s voice came from just behind me, but she drifted closer to the animal, tucking her hair behind her ears, her face a study in fascination.

‘That’s disgusting.’ Lenny danced on his toes behind Seth, as if the road could contaminate him.

I was suddenly very much aware of the book in my bag and, despite the cold, my palms started to sweat.

‘Are you alright, Cass?’ Seth’s voice shattered my focus and I glanced at Pandra with a shiver. She was smiling.

Out here the stars shone so much brighter than they did at home and it seemed that the further we walked from Mount Hermon, the more dazzling they became. Finally I stopped, forcing Pandra to a halt, and stared upwards.

Seth joined us. ‘What is it?’

I gestured. ‘Look at the sky – it’s incredible.’

Through the shifting knots of cloud Orion’s Belt shone like diamonds on velvet and I could clearly make out the Plough, pointing to Polaris and bright Cassiopeia.

‘Can we keep moving? I’m cold.’

Belinda’s complaint harmonised with Lenny’s. ‘Me too. I’m
freezing
.’

Despite my instinct to argue with anything Lenny said, I had to agree. The chill was insidious and my clothing felt like tissue paper under the blowtorch of frigid wind. Even Seth’s teeth were chattering.

We started forward again but my feet tingled inside my trainers and I knew they’d soon be numb. Pandra said nothing but her arm in mine was rigid with cold.

‘I’m beat.’ Max stumbled to a stop. ‘Maybe we should do this another time.’

I glanced at Seth and shifted my rucksack to a more comfortable position, trying not to think about the book that lay in the bottom like a ticking bomb.

‘You’ll forfeit the dare, Max.’ Lizzie grinned. ‘You know the rules.’

Seth waved his arm towards the endless black road. ‘C’mon, Max. It can’t be much further. I’ll buy you a Red Bull when we get there.’

Max’s lips narrowed. ‘Fine, but we’re getting a cab back.’

‘This isn’t New York.’ Lizzie laughed. ‘I don’t think there’re any taxis around here.’

He glared. ‘Well, maybe someone’ll give us a ride.’

The wind fell away and I tuned out their bickering. Once more I looked up and this time water splattered on my cheek. As I watched, the moon vanished behind the clouds. What had, only a short while ago, been an infant scrawl of grey had turned into a star-smothering blanket.