Dead Water (18 page)

I felt
my cheeks fill with blood, as I remembered looking up and finding a
statue looking in at us as Potter and I had made love. “So that was
you, was it?”

“
I’m sorry,” Meren said with a cheeky grin. “If it makes you
feel any better, I didn’t see much. The windows were so covered
with rain, and it was dark inside.”

“
Wow, that makes me feel a whole lot better,” I said, my cheeks
still burning red. I looked away.

“
Do you love him?” she asked me.

I looked
at Meren and said, “Yes, I love him with all my heart. He can be
difficult at times – a real pain in the arse – but I love him all
the same. I love Potter more than I’ve ever loved
anyone.”

“
Will you get married?” she pushed.

“
He hasn’t asked,” I said.

“
But what if he did?” Meren wouldn’t let up.

“
Then I would say yes,” I said, with a thoughtful
smile.

Meren
giggled.

“
Besides, it will never happen,” I said, bending low to avoid a
branch.

“
How do you know?” she asked.

“
Men like Potter don’t ask you to marry them,” I sighed. “Men
like Potter aren’t the marrying type. They can’t or won’t settle
down.”

“
Why?” Meren asked.

Before
I’d the chance to answer, there was a sudden noise in the distance.
“Shhh!” I said, pressing my finger to my lips.

Cocking
my head to one side, I heard the sound of cheering, followed by
someone speaking through a loudspeaker. At once my mind flashed
with images of my nightmare. In them I could see Jack being forced
to crouch down by a man in a black hood. I could see the blade of
the guillotine come slicing down.

“
Jack?” I breathed aloud.

“
Who’s Jack?” Meren frowned.

“
Jack’s my brother, and he is about to be executed,” I said,
turning on my heels and racing towards the town of Wasp
Water.

Chapter Thirty

Kiera

“
Where are you going?” Meren called after me.

“
I’ve got to save him,” I shouted back over my shoulder, the
sound of cheering in the distance growing louder and raucous with
every passing moment.

“
I didn’t know you had a brother,” Meren said, catching up with
me.

“
Neither did I,” I shot back, breaking free of the trees and
darting out onto the road.

“
This isn’t safe,” Meren suddenly said, grabbing hold of my
arm.

“
We promised my dad we would only have a scout about – take a
look – and then report back.”

“
But they’re gonna execute my brother!” I snapped, yanking my
arm free of her grip.

“
That town is full of wolves,” Meren tried to reason with me.
“They’ll spot us a mile off, and then it will be us they’re
executing.”

It was
hard to argue her point. I had a sudden thought as I remembered my
nightmare. “Do we look so different from them? Aren’t we half wolf,
too? You can tell human from a wolf because of the colour of their
eyes. Our eyes are practically the same as theirs. They won’t be
able to tell the difference – not if we’re careful.”

Meren
looked down the road towards the town, then back at me. “How do you
know it’s your brother who is going to be executed?”

“
I
see
things,” I told her. “Meren, you’re gonna have to trust me on
this.”

“
But what about my father?” she said. “We made him a
promise.”

“
I understand if you don’t want to break that promise, I really
do,” I told her. “But I have to go and help Jack.” Turning away
from her, I raced up the road towards the town. I looked back only
once to see Meren darting back off the road and into the trees for
cover.

Just
like I had in my dream, I made my way through the throng of wolves
who had crushed themselves in to the town square. I kept my head
down, only looking up if I had to. I pulled my coat about my frame,
in the hopes that it made me smaller somehow, less visible. The
wolves jostled and bustled all around me. They stank of sweat.
Straw lined the streets, and the town looked rundown and tired. The
Tudor houses looked uncared for and no longer fit for human
habitation. Even though these wolves wandered around in human
skins, it appeared they were still very much like animals. Dog
shit, or was that wolf shit, lay squashed along the cobbled
streets. Blood ran along the gutters, where human remains clogged
the storm drains.

Skin-walkers, disguised as humans, crowded into the town
square. And unlike in my dream, I knew exactly what they had come
to see. I understood why an electric current of excitement buzzed
through the crowd.

They
stared expectantly ahead, their bright yellow eyes set in their
sunken sockets. I eased my way through the Skin-walkers, desperate
to get nearer to the stage I knew was up ahead, the stage where my
brother would be executed if I didn’t somehow manage to set him
free. But how? There was only me against hundreds and hundreds of
wolves. I didn’t have time to go back and get my friends. By the
time I would return with them, Jack would be dead. And besides,
would Murphy risk everything just to save Jack Seth? I doubted
it.

The only
person who was ever going to save Jack, was me. But how?

I
continued to push my way through the crowds, ducking beneath waving
arms, and between the bristling bodies of the wolves. Then ahead, I
could hear the sound of that man’s voice coming through the
loudhailer. It sounded mechanical, like a robot from a science
fiction film. The Skin-walkers whooped and cheered, punching the
air with their fists. They really were animals.

“
Welcome to today’s executions,” he bellowed through the
loudhailer. “Do we have a surprise for you all today!”

The
crowd roared with an insatiable excitement as they jostled closer
towards the stage, all of them wanting a better look at the
gruesome event about to be played out before them. I forced my way
forward for different reasons than those of the wolves surrounding
me. Just like I had seen in my nightmare, the fountain had been
reduced to rubble, and in its place had been erected the stage and
guillotine. It towered above the stage, looking bigger and more
intimidating in the real world. The blade gleamed like diamonds in
the morning light. It looked razor-sharp. Wolves pressed up against
me, and the atmosphere was suffocating, thick with a palatable
excitement.

“
Okay, so let’s not delay the main event any longer!” the guy
yelled through the speaker. “Please welcome to the stage, our
executioner!” The crowd exploded in an uproar of cheers and
whistles as the hooded man stepped out on top of the stage. He
waved back at the

crowd
like some kind of celebrity.

“
We love you!” a female Skin-walker screamed, waving what
looked like an autograph book in the air.

She’ll be throwing her panties up onto the stage
next
, I thought feeling sick to my
stomach.

“
He loves you, too!” the guy roared through the
loudhailer.

The
woman screamed, then fainted, the thought of the executioner loving
her back just becoming way too much for her. I saw the female
Skin-walker sink beneath the crowd, then heard the sound of her
bones crunching as the other wolves trampled over her, desperate to
get as close to the stage as possible.

“
So who are you going to be beheading for us today?” the guy
asked the executioner.

“
A killer!” the executioner roared at the crowd from beneath
his hood. “A killer of wolves!”

The
crowd erupted angrily and pressed themselves against the stage.
They punched the air with their fists as they hissed and
booed.

“
Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!” the crowd started to
chant.

From the
side of the stage another hooded man was shoved forward. I knew who
was beneath that hood, and my stomach knotted.
As I had seen before, he staggered blindly across the stage. His
arms were secured behind his back with chains. The executioner
grabbed him roughly by the arm.

“
Unmask him!” someone roared from the crowd.

“
Show us the killer’s face!” another yelled.

“
Unmask him! Unmask him! Unmask him!” the crowd wailed as
one.

Just
like in my nightmare, the guy with the speaker teased the audience
by shouting, “What was that? I can’t hear you!”

“
UNMASK HIM! UNMASK HIM! UNMASK HIM!” They screamed so loud, it
was deafening.

As if
sensing that he had brought the crowd close to an orgasmic
eruption, the guy with the speaker stepped forward and whipped off
the prisoner’s hood.

I threw
my hands to my face, as Potter looked bleary-eyed at the crowd. His
eyes were swollen almost closed, his nose was bent out of shape
across his face, and both lips were bloodied and
swollen.

“
No!” I screamed, desperately forcing my way through the crowd,
confused and terrified at the sight of Potter standing beaten and
broken on the stage.

“
KILL HIM!” the crowd cried.

“
No!” I screamed, my pleas drowned out by the crowd as I pushed
and shoved my way forward.

I felt a
heavy hand fall on my shoulder. With my heart racing I looked
back.

“
Hey, lady,” a giant-sized Skin-walker said, his eyes spinning
brightly. “We don’t get to rip him up until the executioner has cut
off his head. You know the rules.”

I looked
away in disgust and back at the stage as the first of the bloody
missiles was thrown from the crowd. A lump of red flesh slapped
against Potter’s chest, where it slid down his stomach and onto the
stage. As it spattered wetly on the stage, the air above my head
became full of human body parts and remains. They rained down on
Potter in thick wet chunks. Blood and innards covered him bright
red. Potter glanced up at the sky, and I knew what he was looking
for. He was looking for me and Murphy. He was looking for us to
come and save him like we had so many times before.

As if
giving up hope of being rescued this time, he lowered his
head.

I pushed
forward, the crowd crushing so tightly about me, I couldn’t even
open my wings to get airborne.

“
Potter!” I screamed over the roar of the crowd.
“Potter!
It’s me, Kiera!”

He stood
with his head cast down, arms tight behind his back, the blobs of
flesh and guts continuing to rain down on him.

“
Stop it!”
I screamed, tears streaming
from my eyes.
“Don’t hurt him!”

Deaf to
my cries, the Skin-walkers continued to roar laughter and cheers as
they threw the last of the body parts at Potter. He stood on the
stage, his entire face and body dripped red with blood, guts, and
body tissue. When the Skin-walkers had run out of human remains to
hurl at Potter, the executioner shoved him back across the stage
towards the guillotine.

“
Off with his head!” a Skin-walker screeched from behind me,
enticing the crowd to cheering excitedly again.

“
No!”
I screamed, desperately fighting
my way forward. There were so many wolves crushed around me, it was
almost impossible to move.

Potter
offered no resistance as he was forced by the executioner to kneel
down. I inched my way forward, the edge of the stage just feet away
now. The executioner forced Potter’s head beneath the
guillotine.

“
Please,” I begged, as I continued to push my way forward.
“Please don’t hurt him.” I edged myself closer to the stage. I had
to save him. But there were just too many people. I pushed harder.
My heart raced and I felt sick.

“
Take off his head!” the Skin-walkers whooped and chanted over
and over.

I
reached the stage.

“
Potter!”
I screamed over the roar of
the baying crowd. I reached for him but there was a barrier
preventing me getting any closer. I wanted to touch him.

“
Potter!”
I screamed, my throat raw,
tears raining down my face. Suddenly he looked up. Our eyes
met.

“
I love you,” I whispered, reaching desperately for him with my
hands.

“
I love you, too,” he said. “See you later,
aliga...”

The last
half of his final word was drowned out by the sound of the blade
thundering down at speed. Throwing my hands to my face, I watched
Potter’s head drop into the bucket before him.

“
No!”
I screamed, my knees buckling
beneath me.
“No!”

An arm
suddenly slipped through mine, catching me before I hit the ground.
“Come with me before they realise you are not one of them,” a soft
voice whispered in my ear.

Sobbing
uncontrollably, I turned my face to discover Meren holding me in
her arms. She had come back for me. “I can’t leave him.”