A Crack in Everything (29 page)

‘So well she’s dying for it?’ Jinx growled.

Azazel shook his head and smiled as he tucked the bottle inside his cloak, out of sight. ‘Always so angry, Cú Sídhe. I sometimes think your first fathers were crossed with a pit bull. The heavens know, you’re ugly enough.’ He snapped his fingers. ‘Well, you’ve work to do, girl. Get up.’

Izzy shook her head. ‘Dying, remember? Stabbed myself.’

Azazel stuck out his lower lip. ‘Oh well, in
that
case, don’t
listen to your great-uncle. I’m just a foolish old man who was there when your line first came to be. Who has watched and guided your family every step of the way down the long years. We put the mark on you all for a reason, you know. By all means, lie there. But others might have something to say. I think we’re about to find out.’

A strident voice rang out across the hilltop, getting louder as it approached. A female voice that sounded like she’d just found her best flowerbeds desecrated, or the wrong cutlery used at dinner. A beautiful voice, a stolen voice, and one Izzy had hoped never to hear again.

‘What are you doing here? All of you, go away. You’ve no place here. Even setting foot here constitutes an act of war. Before I lose my temper, you’d better—’ The shades were gone in an instant, though the angels lingered. Izzy tried to smile. Even angels wouldn’t last long against Brí. ‘
Get off
my hill!’

The same soft displacement of air. And they were gone at last.

‘And what do you think you’ve been doing, young lady? Jinx by Jasper, you put my daughter down. Who locked me underground? Not
them
. They’d never dare. I broke out before and will again and again. No one chains me inside my own hollow. Where is Blythe? What is the meaning—?’

She must have seen the blood. Or Izzy’s pallor. Or the grief that transformed Jinx’s face into a death mask.

‘Get out of my way, demon,’ Brí hissed, passing through the
space between them in the blink of an eye. Azazel obliged, stepping back with a gracious bow. Brí ignored him completely. ‘Who did this, Isabel? I’ll eviscerate them. Was it Holly? Was it
him
?’

She turned on Jinx, but Izzy stayed her hand.

‘It was me.’

Brí let out a long breath, studying Izzy’s face. The resemblance was there when Izzy really looked. Like it or not, she could see herself in this fairy woman, this matriarch of the Sídhe.

‘You foolish child, what were you thinking?’

Izzy almost laughed, but it made her mouth fill with blood and she choked instead. Now Brí sounded like a mother. Izzy wondered if she realised that.

But Brí wasn’t in the mood for listening. She bent over Izzy, intent on her injury. ‘Hold still. Stop wriggling about.’

Yeah, like wriggling was on her mind right at the moment. Any kind of movement at all was agony.

Brí pressed her hand to Izzy’s side, just as Izzy had done instinctively to Jinx so long ago. It felt natural as breathing – something that suddenly Izzy found she could do again. The pain ebbed away and she sat up in Jinx’s grateful embrace. He buried his face in her hair, breathing deeply.

‘Dylan,’ said Izzy. ‘We’ve got to help Dylan.’

‘What do you think I am? One of your plug and play contraptions?’ Brí scolded.

‘Please,’ Izzy said. Brí’s gaze hardened. ‘Mother.’

For a moment Brí froze and then her features softened, just for a moment, before the gruff bluster returned.

‘Very well, but just this once. You’ll have to sort out your father by yourself. I’m not wanted there and you’re well able to do it. I showed you before. Those doctors – those
so called
doctors – have done nothing for him and
that woman
—’

‘Rachel,’ Izzy corrected her with a gentle note of warning in her voice. ‘His wife. My mum. Please, Brí, help Dylan.’

Best not to remind her that she’d met him before, who he’d been with. Best not to mention Silver at all.

Brí bustled over to him and they followed, Jinx never once releasing her, his arms forming a shield around her whenever he could.

He’d said he loved her. The thought of that made her glow inside. Not with the fires of Sorath’s obsession. This was warm and natural, a comfort. And so much stronger.

Dylan had made it to the foot of the pyramid. He leaned against it now, breathing hard without ever getting enough breath. His ribs were broken, Izzy realised, and one at least had pierced a lung.

‘You tried to save her, even hurt like this?’ asked Brí in a low voice. He nodded, staring at her in awe and more than a little fear. He knew what she was and what she could do.

Brí frowned and recognition swept her face.

‘You’re the one who was with Silver. But you’re not as you were. You’re full of power … What did she do to you, boy?’

‘She… she kissed me.’

‘Oh, she did much more than that. You’re a touchstone, a living touchstone. I’ve never seen the like.’

‘That’s not possible,’ said Jinx weakly. ‘Nothing mortal can be a touchstone. That’s the whole point. To endure.’

‘Are you calling me a liar now? What was that tree of hers originally?’ She glared up at him before turning her attention back to Dylan. For a moment she just stared, shaking her head softly. ‘You won’t last long like this. They’ll be after you like junkies. You’ll only be safe with her. And only for a while. Here, I’ll see what I can do.’

She bent over him and whispered in his ear as she pressed her hand to his chest.

Dylan leaned back, stunned, but then nodded. Brí stepped back with a dismissive snort and he struggled to his feet, healed. Or at least mostly healed. He was still bloody and bruised, the gashes still livid on his skin, but he was breathing again, standing, almost himself.

And he was changed. Completely changed, somewhere deep inside.

Brí turned away, muttering about the idiocy of people, Silver in particular, and the violation of her home and vanished into the trees without so much as a goodbye.

Not that Izzy wanted one. It just would have been nice to have an acknowledgement or something. But that was Brí, she supposed. It would take some getting used to.

Azazel had vanished too, all trace of him and his shades wiped away. He’d taken Sorath’s spark with him.

They were alone, the three of them, on the top of the hill.

‘We need to get to the hospital,’ said Izzy. ‘Get you looked at, Dylan. And I need to see Dad.’

‘What about you?’ Jinx asked.

She ran her hand down to the bloody tear in her shirt, through to the smooth skin underneath. No sign of a wound there. Not even a scar.

She took Dylan’s hand, and interlocked the fingers of her other hand with Jinx’s, leading them both down the hill. ‘I think I’m going to be okay.’

‘Does she always give so many orders?’ Jinx asked Dylan.

‘You’ve no idea, mate.’

‘Well, I wouldn’t get cocky. If you really are Silver’s touchstone now, she’s going to murder you for almost dying.’

The amused expression faded from Jinx’s face. If what Brí said was true, Izzy figured, he was in a lot more trouble than that.

They picked their way through the dark woods, past walls to no buildings and paths that led nowhere until, almost at the bottom of the wooded area, Jinx called for a halt.

Shadows moved amid the trees. Not shades or demons. Not now. Cú Sídhe. A bark went up and a young man rose up from the bushes. Izzy grinned as Jinx pushed her behind him. She was becoming incorrigible with all this
new-found confidence.

‘Blight?’

‘Jinx by Jasper. We’ve found you at last,’ Blythe’s brother said, bowing his head respectfully. ‘We’ve been searching for you everywhere.’ He spoke briefly to one of the other hounds, sending word to Blythe no doubt.

‘Brí isn’t happy. She wants to know where you were. Sorath locked her in the hill to stop her interfering.’

‘Did it work?’ Blight asked, surprised.

‘Only for a little while.’

‘They tried that a hundred and fifty years ago and it didn’t work then. But yeah …’ He ran his hand through his hair and breathed out in a long exasperated sigh. ‘Yeah, she’s going to be well angry.’

The largest of the black hounds loped into the path, growing as she circled Jinx. Blythe clawed the dry leaves and then changed into her Sídhe form, standing with her hands on her hips.

‘Where the hell have you been? We thought she’d killed you, or that the angels had tracked you down. They all vanished. Just like that. One minute Silver and I were facing them down and the next they were gone. What happened?’

‘It’s over,’ said Izzy. ‘They came here, but in equal numbers I think. And we’d already taken care of Sorath. So I imagine they had nothing to stay for. She’s gone.’

Taken to hell where she belongs
, Jinx wanted to add, but he didn’t.

‘Blythe,’ Dylan interrupted. ‘Where’s Silver?’

‘Ah, looking for you, I’d imagine. Although if you’d like to stay lost—’

‘That might not be a bad idea, Dylan,’ said Jinx. ‘Really. You should go home.’ Dylan looked away, his shocked expression fading with exhaustion and defeat. Clearly his instincts agreed, but something else made him hesitate. All that Brí had said, no doubt. Jinx couldn’t offer comfort though. He wouldn’t know where to begin. There had never been a human touchstone before. Rocks mainly, plants that had been magically transformed, things like that. Not people. Definitely not humans.

‘I should …’ he began, then nodded. ‘I should go.’

‘We’ll see him safe home,’ said Blight.

Dylan stiffened and glanced at Izzy. For a moment their eyes locked and something passed between them. Jinx frowned, and then recalled what Brí had said. That they’d all be after him as Silver’s touchstone, the source of her power. There was only one person he’d be safe with, and that wouldn’t last very long either. Silver needed her magic.

So should Jinx bring him to her? Or help him get as far away from her as possible? He didn’t know anymore.

‘No,’ said Dylan. ‘Not home. Not yet. I need to talk to her first.’

Blythe glared at Jinx. ‘And you … don’t leave it so long to visit again.’

‘Not sure Brí would like that,’ Jinx said, recognising the threat in her voice as only superficial. It was more affectionate
than that, the tone someone would use to a disruptive pup.

‘She’ll put up with it, for us. You are kin, after all. You proved it when you died. We all heard you. That’s what brought us to your aid. Even Brí couldn’t deny that.’

‘She didn’t try to stop you?’

Blythe stared at him. ‘She’s our matriarch, Jinx. She would never deny us what we want. There’s a gate over there. It’ll take you to the hospital. That is where Izzy wants to go. Kin being kin. Just remember, Jinx, you have a duty to her now. More than kith. More than kin.’

He bowed his head to his fellow Cú Sídhe. ‘I understand that.’

Izzy hugged him and he only just managed to stifle a smile.

The hospital grounds were empty, even the dual carriageway outside was desolate. The streetlamps fizzed and hummed as they walked up to the entrance. Izzy’s heart shivered with every sound.

Silver leaned against the security desk. On the far side the guard snored noisily. The Aes Sídhe smiled as she saw them and it was as if the fluorescent lighting flared briefly overhead.

‘I was wondering when you’d get here.’

Dylan hesitated, hanging back between Izzy and Jinx. ‘Silver …’ he said carefully.

Her expression changed as she took in his battered face, the
dried blood on his clothes, the mess the angel had made of him. ‘
What
happened? What did she do to you?’

She strode forward, her eyes blazing as she examined him, turning his face to one side as if he was a possession damaged by some careless handling. He pulled back sharply, irritation marking his features.

‘I’m okay. Really. Brí sorted it.’

‘Brí,’ she snorted brusquely. ‘You’re lucky she didn’t drain you dry.’

‘Like you will. She told me, Silver.’

‘
I
warned you. Right from the start. That’s how it works until eventually you’re gone. Your life force goes into my touchstone.’

‘The tree. But there’s no tree anymore. So what is there, Silver? What’s left? Apart from me.’