Perfectly Reflected (26 page)

“What are you doing?” he hissed. “I can’t believe that you thought I would fall for that. The deal’s off!” His eyes narrowed as he flashed a cruel smile at me. “We get to keep all the money then. Don’t say I didn’t offer. Kiss goodbye to your last chance to speak to your boyfriend!” He leered at me maliciously as I sat in a heap on the pavement, then looked over my head towards the door of the building. He couldn’t help himself, automatically preening and straightening his shirt in the mirrored wall, a self-satisfied look on his face.

And then, as I watched, his whole demeanour changed. His mouth fell open in horror, his eyes fixed on something I couldn’t see. His arrogant swagger changed almost imperceptibly into one of fear as he took a hesitant step backwards, his hands up in front of his chest as if he was trying to protect himself. My plan had worked: Callum had arrived and was giving Rob the fright he deserved.

“Get back! Leave me alone! I know you can’t hurt me – GET BACK!” His voice rose to a squeal and his arms started to flail around, beating at the empty air next to him. “Don’t you dare, I won’t … I won’t … I…” His head was shaking hard, and then his hands clamped over his ears. I could see that his eyes were screwed tightly shut. “Stop it, stop it, STOP IT!” he yelled, staggering around the pavement. A small crowd of people had gathered, and I could see two of them debating whether to intervene. I could remember only too well the unbearable noise that Lucas had made
in my head; I guessed that Callum was doing something similar to Rob.

Rob was stumbling in circles now, head down, hands still wedged over his ears. “Ha! I can make you stop, you freak!” he bellowed, making the crowd take a step backwards. “You’re not so clever!
Get out of my head!
” With that he tore the amulet from his wrist and hurled it to the ground, sinking to his knees in relief.

I darted across the pavement and grabbed the amulet, my euphoria growing with the thought of what I would see in the glass when I put it on. I slipped it back on to my wrist, feeling complete for the first time since it was stolen. I could feel the power of the amulet course through me; it felt as if I were clamping a living, pulsing thing around my wrist. Feeling inexplicably stronger I glanced quickly towards the windows, desperate to see Callum again. Directly in front of Rob was a tall Dirge, and I started to smile as he threw back his hood. But the smile was quickly wiped from my lips as I recognised the face behind the cruel sneer. It had all gone horribly wrong. Lucas was poised to strike; this time his plan had worked beautifully. Rob was about to lose his mind.

“Callum!”
I bellowed at the top of my voice, oblivious to all the people milling on the pavement. Rob was kneeling a couple of metres away, breathing heavily, now completely oblivious to the danger. Lucas was standing by him, his hand reaching out towards Rob’s blond head. I shouted again. “Rob! Look out!” But there was nothing he could look out for, no form of defence he could use. I remembered Callum’s words about the amulet with perfect clarity:
“While you wear it, it will protect you from us, but being close and not touching it … well, we know where to find you, and you have no protection. That’s how whole minds are stolen.”

I also knew that Rob would resist, would fight, which was
the worst thing he could do. I was suddenly consumed with rage. However mean and misguided Rob was, he didn’t deserve this; he didn’t deserve to die. Somehow I had to stop it.

The anger, frustration and general injustice were growing inside me, and I felt a strange coiling sensation as if a snake was winding itself around my wrist. The amulet knew it was home, I realised, and a wave of soothing calm settled over me: I had the amulet, I was in charge, and I was going to stop this.

“Lucas!” I shouted, hoping that I could distract him. He turned to look at me in the mirrored windows, a humourless leer on his thin lips, his long greasy black hair emphasising the pallor of his face. “I’m warning you, don’t do this!”

I looked at Rob. He was sitting back on his heels, eyes closed, head bent back at an uncomfortable-looking angle. His arms were straight out beside him, fingers scuffing the ground. He was twitching like an animal in a macabre experiment. There was no time to lose. I leapt in between them without thinking, forcing Lucas to take a couple of steps backwards in surprise. But it was no good; he started to advance again, to go straight through me to get to Rob. I racked my brain for something,
anything
, with which I could threaten him. But it was no use, I felt so helpless, and so furious that he was about to kill Rob. A wave of anger rolled over me and I stared up at Lucas’s cruel face. “Leave him alone!”

Without thinking I thrust my amulet into his and pushed hard with my mind, willing some of the energy from my amulet into his. I had no idea what would happen, it just seemed like the right thing to do. My amulet flared briefly, like a fire had suddenly been lit underneath the stone, and Lucas howled. The noise was like a wounded animal, and he glared at me, making a vicious snarling noise. Behind me Rob fell in slow motion into a heap on
the ground. I pushed again, harder this time, and the effect was electrifying. The fire in my amulet seemed to pour out over Lucas’s wrist, and suddenly his hand was outlined in a golden glitter, like a hundred tiny sparklers. The sparks started to move up his arm, accelerating as they went, and within seconds he was a mass of glittering lights. He held up his arms in front of his face in horror, the place where his mouth should have been opening and closing, and he took a couple of steps backwards. He gave a final, hideous roar, and the sparks fell to the pavement, leaving a momentary impression of where he had been.

I leapt back in surprise as the sparks formed a strange puddle on the pavement, not wanting my feet to touch it. As I watched in the window the sparkling mass seemed to roll and move towards the nearby rainwater drain. Within seconds it had gone, lost beneath the road.

It was suddenly eerily silent.

I looked down at my amulet, and the remains of that strange glow were still there, but fading fast. In the mirrored window I could only see the crowd; there was no sign of Callum. But something was still there; I could see in the reflection the pile of heavy fabric next to my feet. All that was left of Lucas was his cloak. Whatever I had done, however I had done it, it hadn’t been enough: I had failed. Lucas had drained Rob of everything and gone.

Rob was lying motionless on the ground, and the crowd of curious onlookers started to re-form. I quickly checked him for vital signs; he was breathing but unconscious. Reaching for my mobile I called for an ambulance, shouting for someone in the crowd to get some water from one of the nearby offices. He looked utterly defenceless and years younger. All I could do was put him
in the recovery position and wait for the paramedics to arrive. After all that effort I hadn’t been able to save him; Lucas had won. No one had been able to copy Rob’s mind the way that Callum had done for me. Rob was about to die.

Decision

Within minutes the ambulance arrived and the paramedics started to work on Rob, moving me gently to one side. I was completely distraught; not only was Rob as good as dead, but there was still no sign of Callum. I tried to focus on what the paramedics were saying, but all the while I was searching in reflective surfaces for the smallest glimpse of his face.

“What happened here, miss? What caused his collapse?”

“I … I really don’t know. We were arguing, and suddenly he clutched his head and started screaming. Then he keeled over.” It didn’t matter that I was lying; if they knew what had actually happened it wouldn’t have made any difference to their treatment of him as there was nothing that could be done. Rob’s brain was fried. Lucas had gathered everything from him despite my best efforts to stop him. I couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down my face, overwhelmed by the events of the day.

“What’s his name? Any medical history that we should know about?” I watched as one of them put a breathing mask over Rob’s face, checking him for a pulse, looking for any sign of life. The other one was waiting for the answers to his questions.

“Umm, Rob. Robert Underwood. I don’t know about his medical history, but he’s always seemed pretty healthy,” I mumbled.

“And his relationship to you?”

“I’m just a friend, that’s all. A friend.” I could barely make myself understood through the sobbing.

“Address?” he asked gently.

“Somewhere in Hampton. I know how to get there, but I don’t know the full address, I’m sorry.” I looked at him bleakly. “Can you help him?”

“It’s OK, we’ll get him straight to the hospital. They’ll work out what needs to be done.”

“Can I come with you? I don’t want to leave him.”

“Of course. It’s always best to have someone there who knows a patient.”

“OK, Clive, I’ve got him stabilised. Let’s get him on board,” called the other one. “There may be some ID on him in here, with a bit of luck.” He handed Clive the wallet from Rob’s back pocket.

“Look,” said Clive as he moved towards the ambulance. “Why don’t you have a quick flick through this stuff as we drive, see if you can find something with his address on it?” He handed the wallet and briefcase to me, and I took them reluctantly. I was pretty sure Rob wouldn’t want me rifling through his things.

They loaded him into the ambulance and Clive jumped into the driver’s seat. I was sitting in the back with Rob and the other guy when the sirens started, making me jump. Rob lay there, looking as if he was already dead, and I turned his wallet over in my hands. What was I going to tell his mum? The tears started streaming again, and the paramedic silently handed me a box of tissues.

“So, got an address yet?” he asked, nodding towards the wallet as he adjusted Rob’s drip.

“Umm, no, not yet,” I sniffed. “I’ll check now.”

Inside the wallet were the usual bits of paper and junk,
old tickets for gigs, scraps with phone numbers on, and nestled at the bottom, nice and safe, a memory card.
My
memory card. My eyebrows shot up in surprise, but I quickly tried to cover it up. When the paramedic wasn’t looking I slipped the card out of the wallet and into my palm. Within seconds it was securely in my back pocket. I could make sure it was destroyed before it caused any more trouble.

I finally found something with Rob’s address and handed it to the paramedic, who noted down some of the details on a form he was filling in. Rob continued to lie there, motionless, while we sped through the streets of London. I could hear the sirens wailing as we approached junctions, but it still seemed to take forever, and I was thrown from side to side as the ambulance cornered violently around the traffic.

Numbly, I looked at the amulet, now back securely on my wrist. How long had I been wishing for this? To get it back, safe and sound? And now I had it, but Rob was as good as dead and Callum was nowhere to be found. I couldn’t work out how it had all gone so horribly wrong. The amulet looked as harmless as ever, the blue and green of the stone occasionally flashing when the light caught the hidden red and gold flecks that were buried deep inside. I found that I was rubbing the stone compulsively, feeling again the delicate silver ropes that somehow secured the stone within its cage. But still nothing strange moved in its depths, and no tingle appeared in my wrist, and the tears ran unchecked again down my cheeks.

At the hospital Rob was whisked away into the depths of the A&E, and I was shown into a small family room. It was mercifully empty, so there was no need to pretend any more. I made sure that the door was securely closed before trying again.

“Callum! Please, let me know that you’re OK. I’m here and I need you. Please come.”

I waited, but nothing happened, and the creeping despair that had become so familiar over the last week started to claim me again. He wasn’t there, and I couldn’t fathom out why. Nothing could hold him against his will, he seemed to be able to hear me wherever he was, and he could run much, much faster than any mere human. So why wasn’t he with me? The more I thought about it, the more my mind kept circling back to a nagging fear: that whatever I had done with my amulet to stop Lucas hadn’t only affected him. What if the energy I had produced had got them all, sent them all in sparkling streams down the nearest drain? I looked at the seemingly harmless bracelet. Something subtle had changed; I could practically feel the power in it. The more I thought about it the sicker I felt. What
had
I done?

I was working my way through the box of tissues on the little table when the door opened and a nurse came in.

“Are you with Robert Underwood?” she asked in a kindly tone. I nodded bleakly. “Are you family or friend? We need to contact his next of kin.”

“I’m just a friend. I lost my phone and don’t even have his mobile number.” I sniffed unintelligibly at her before pulling myself together. His parents needed to be here now. “Could you look in his phone for his parents’ numbers? I’m sure he has them listed.”

The nurse looked at me sympathetically, patting my arm. “We’ll be doing that next. I just wanted to check that you weren’t family before we started. Is that his wallet?” She pointed at Rob’s belongings, which I had carried in from the ambulance. I nodded briefly and she picked up the phone. “You stay in here and I’ll let you know just as soon as he regains consciousness.” Her shoes
squeaked on the floor as she left the little room, carefully closing the door behind her.

I slumped back in my chair, drained, wondering what on earth I was going to tell his parents when they turned up. Had they seen the files on his computer? Had he told them what he was doing? Somehow I thought it was unlikely but I couldn’t be sure. My problems could be a long way from over, but they were nothing compared to what Rob was facing. Sighing, I looked at the briefcase lying on the little table in front of me. It was no more than a computer bag really. A laptop bag.

I sat bolt upright, appalled at what I was thinking, but I knew that I had to do it. Taking a deep breath I pulled the case towards me and unzipped it. Inside was Rob’s laptop, and on it would be the copies of the memory card files that Ashley had seen. I could feel my heartbeat racing as I lifted out the computer and pressed the on button. Quickly scanning the hard drive I discovered the videos and heaved a great sigh of relief as I deleted the entire directory. Shutting it all back down as fast as I could, I slipped it back in the case. All evidence of the existence of Dirges was gone.

Suddenly exhausted, I stood up and moved stiffly over to the small water cooler in the corner of the room, favouring my bad arm. The water was icy, and for a second I pressed the plastic cup against my forehead before draining the whole thing in one go. I could feel the cold water hit my empty stomach, and it made me shiver briefly as I refilled it.

“Alex?” The voice was hesitant, but joyful. “Alex, are you OK?”

The cup fell from my fingers unnoticed, drenching my feet. “Callum? Is that really you? Are you here?”

“I’m here, I’m right here. You’re all right, I can’t believe it.”

I could barely make my voice work, the tears were coming so fast, but this time they were tears of relief, of joy, of release. “Yes, I’m fine, just fine.” I grabbed a tissue from the table and blew my nose noisily. “Sorry. I can’t believe that you’re back – what’s been going on?”

“I’m sure that this has been the worst – the absolute worst – day of either of my lives,” he said with considerable feeling.

“I need to see you; let me sit down.” I couldn’t believe it was actually him. I wanted to see his eyes, feel his touch to believe that one part of the nightmare was over. I pulled the little mirror out of my pocket, and found the wires for the headphones, hurriedly tucking them into place. “Where have you been? I’ve been calling you for ages. It’s all gone horribly wrong.” My voice caught as the tears overwhelmed me again.

“Don’t cry, Alex, please.” Callum’s voice was equally strained, and I finally found him perfectly reflected in the mirror. His beautiful, familiar face was etched with pain, his eyes dark, the wayward hair sticking up in all directions. He manoeuvred himself into position looking over my shoulder, his free arm wrapped tightly around me in the mirror. At long last I could feel the whisper of his touch, and everything became too much for me. Tears streamed down my face and my shoulders heaved. He let me cry, murmuring gently to me and stroking my hair.

When the emotion finally subsided I straightened up and mumbled an apology. “I’m sorry, Callum, I didn’t mean to do that; it’s just been so awful.” I reached up to stroke his face, catching the hint of his skin as my fingers skimmed the air around him. “What happened?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing. I’ve not had time to talk to any of the others yet.”

“What do you already know? I mean, have you been around at all?” I pulled yet another tissue from the box and dabbed at my eyes, noticing briefly that the make-up covering my bruises had yet again been washed away.

Callum briefly pinched his fingers to the bridge of his nose. “I’ve been with you for almost every minute, Alex. Every minute I could manage of every day, until today. It’s been complete torture.”

“So you were there at the pub yesterday? You heard what Rob said about Catherine?”

“Yes, and I had a decision to make.” The pain was evident in his voice. “I made the wrong one.”

I looked at him quizzically.

“Rob told you that she was going to Cornwall,” Callum continued. “I saw you at the station first thing this morning and realised what you were going to do. I didn’t want you to be fighting Catherine in Cornwall without me being nearby, but I knew it would take a while to get there, so I set off straightaway.” He gave me his familiar rueful look. “I’m fast, but I’m not Superman. I realised that I wasn’t going to be able to make it all the way there, so I waited at Swindon where I knew the trains would stop, just to check. I hoped that maybe I would find a way to talk to you when I saw you, give you a bit of encouragement, you know.” His arm was back around me, holding me as if he would never let me go. “But it was Catherine I found, and I saw she had an aura, and a really miserable one at that. She clearly didn’t have the amulet with her either; I would have been able to sense it. I thought you’d won, that you’d already fought her and got it back.”

“I wish I had,” I said in a small voice. “She did a deal with Rob and gave him the amulet last night. She must have realised that Cornwall was far enough away to be safe from you all.”

“I’m not surprised she wanted to get rid of the amulet, and the difficulty will have been to do it safely. I tried to make her life as miserable as possible while she was wearing it, but she’s already phenomenally depressed, so it was quite a challenge.”

“So how did you find me? What did you do?”

The pain crossed his face again. “I was on my way back already, running as fast as I could, when I heard a call. I couldn’t quite work it out, because there seemed to be two voices, but one of them seemed to be you. I was so pleased; I thought it meant that you had the amulet back.” He paused for a moment, his free hand dropping down towards my amulet. “I guess I wasn’t the only one who heard the call.”

“No,” I shuddered, remembering.

“Who was it? Who connected with him?”

“Lucas. He—”

“Lucas!” exploded Callum. “I might have known it was his fault.” His eyebrows knitted together in a huge frown. “Wait till I get my hands on him…”

“But you can’t; he’s gone.”

His beautiful face was a picture of horror. “So that means Rob’s actually…” He didn’t finish, but he didn’t need to. I nodded mutely.

“They said they would come and get me when he regained consciousness. I’m not expecting them back.”

“He will have resisted.” Callum’s lips were pressed together in a tight line as he thought about what had happened.

“Yes, he did. It was horrible, and there was nothing I could
do.” My voice caught but I took a deep breath and carried on. “I did try, but Lucas got what he wanted and now he’s gone.”