B00JX4CVBU EBOK (12 page)

Turner’s body stiffened. ‘So that’s … that’s me and you then …’

Ember didn’t know if she was making him uncomfortable, so she stepped back. Turner turned. He was breathing heavily, as was she. She lowered her eyes. ‘Yes. Me and you.’ She placed a hand on his chest, her eyes searching his. She could feel his need; it infused him. She swallowed. Her mouth was only inches from his. ‘I can feel what you’re feeling, Turner. I want—’

‘Ember!’ came Skye’s voice from the landing or stairs. ‘Are you coming to help with dinner? Or do you two need some more time?’ This was followed by a big laugh.

Damn! Skye would probably come up next. Ember searched Turner’s eyes for a moment, ‘Guess we’d better go.’ 

He let out his breath. ‘Yeah. OK.’

Ember sighed, turned and walked to the door. So close!

CHAPTER SIX

T
URNER
LOVED
THE
sounds and smells of a busy kitchen. It reminded him of Christmas when he was young, of his Mother and Aunty May preparing the huge family feast, of knives chopping, pans clattering, and the way a kitchen was transformed by the aroma of garlic in oil, or the noise of a food processor.

‘How’s your salad going?’ asked Ember, who was stirring something at the stove.

‘Ha,’ said Turner, slowly cutting a small tomato. ‘Can’t really go wrong with just tomatoes, feta and lettuce, can you?’

‘You’ll be a gourmet chef soon,’ said Ember.

Brooke stood on the other side of the small table, buttering slices of crusty bread. Until now she had hadn’t said much at all. ‘Like you, Em? That rice is a tricky gastronomic dish, isn’t it?’

Ember didn’t say anything, but the piece of bread Brooke was buttering suddenly burst into flames.

‘Hey!’ said Brooke, batting out the little flames with another piece of bread.

‘You wanted toast, didn’t you?’ asked Ember over her shoulder.

‘Yeah. She’s
wonderful
at toast,’ said Brooke quietly, between clenched teeth. A thin wisp of dark smoke rose from the bread, and the smell of burnt toast filled the room.

Turner laughed, which earned him a glare from Brooke. Jeez, there was no fun in this girl.

Chloe entered the room. ‘Well it sounds like someone’s having fun.’ She held up a couple of bottles of wine. ‘Got the special stuff from the cellar.’ She placed the dusty bottles on the table.

‘Have Mother Torhild and Aunt Sigrid gone now?’ asked Ember.

Chloe removed some wine glasses from a cupboard. ‘Yep. Celeste and I saw them off. They’re going to organise the Binding, and the High Vordene are going to start talking to the other Vordenes around the country, to let them know what’s happening.’

The food prepared, everyone helped set the table in the sunroom, but this time its windows were dark and mirror-like. 

Turner looked around at the five sisters. ‘Your Aunt Lani not eating?’

‘I took her some food about twenty minutes ago,’ said Chloe. ‘Some crackers, fruit and cheese. She was sleeping, so I left it beside her bed. It’s been a big day for her.’

The bottles of wine were opened and Celeste held up her glass of chardonnay. ‘A toast,’ she said loudly, and waited for everyone fall silent. ‘To Turner. Our Ring has come at last.’

Turner noticed Ember’s smile. It seemed to say ‘Sorry you’ve gone through a couple of rough days, but hey, it’s not all bad.’ Well that’s what he
hoped
it was saying.

There was a chorus of ‘To Turner’ and everyone took a sip.

‘Oh my God, I missed wine,’ said Skye.

‘Another toast,’ said Ember and held up her glass. ‘To Skye. Welcome back to our not-so-little-anymore sister.’

‘To Skye. To Skye.’

Turner’s eye’s widened. A small rainbow had formed over the table, a shimmering arch of colour, its apex a foot above the heads of the diners. With child-like wonder, Turner reached out and placed his hand through it. As quickly as it had appeared, it dissipated. Turner looked around the table at the smiling sisters and saw they were smiling at
him
and his reaction to the rainbow.

‘Skye’s way of saying thank you,’ said Ember, and nudged his elbow with hers. ‘You can close your mouth now by the way.’

Turner looked at Skye, who was smiling shyly. ‘Wow. I mean, wow. I know you girls don’t like the word, but that was magical. Thank you, Skye.’

‘That was nothing,’ said Brooke waiving a fork, ‘I can …’

Celeste held up a hand. ‘Let’s leave anymore parlour tricks until after dinner, shall we? With Brooke’s little demonstrations someone always ends up wet.’

Turner noticed Brooke stab at some tomato pieces. She kept her gaze on her plate and didn’t respond.

‘Yes,’ said Ember, taking a sip of wine, ‘and poor Turner here can’t afford to get wet. We weren’t able to get to his house to pick up any more clothes.’

‘Why don’t you take Turner shopping tomorrow Ember? London? Paris? Sydney?’ said Celeste.

‘Oh Paris! Can I come?’ said Skye.

‘I think just Ember and Turner this time, Skye,’ said Celeste, and gave Ember a small wink. 

‘What about that thing that’s after Turner?’ asked Chloe.

‘Damn, forgot about that. Maybe we
should
stick together. Or Em and Turner could just take a quick trip to London perhaps?’

Turner frowned slightly. ‘You girls don’t have a private jet, do you? So I take it you’re talking about your holy well tube?’

Celeste nodded. ‘We can go to any other spring anywhere. Even if it’s just to Paris to buy up big on clothes and handbags.’

Turner waved a fork. ‘But you can’t just appear in the middle of Paris or wherever, next to a spring or well. People would see you.’ 

‘We know of hundreds of hidden springs,’ said Celeste, ‘where we can appear without being seen. Plus, if we feel anyone at the other end, we just don’t go.’

‘The transporter beams canna work, Captain,’ said Turner.

In answer to Celeste’s raised eyebrows, Ember placed her hand on Turner’s shoulder and said, ‘He’s a nerd.’

‘Ah,’ said Celeste and returned to her meal.

Turner smiled. He was thinking about transporter beams and what you could do with them. You could zip into bank vaults and escape with gold ingots, for instance. ‘There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask. Where do you guys get your money?’

Chloe put down her wine and said, ‘History Turner. The Vordene are as old as civilisation, perhaps older. When a group has been around as long as that, it’s quite easy to build up a fortune. These days it’s real estate mostly. You’d be surprised at how much of the UK the Vordene, as a whole, own.
Really
surprised.’

‘Real estate?’ said Brooke. ‘I thought we boiled up kiddies for their gold fillings.’ When no one laughed, she added, ‘In our cauldrons …’

‘Yeah, we get it, Brooke. Still not funny,’ said Celeste. ‘Turner, Ember, if you leave in the morning, you can be home by lunch.’

‘Well, I look forward to a shopping trip using your mystic transporter beam then,’ said Turner. He noticed Ember smiling. ‘It should be …’ Turner stopped. His eyes went wide. Past the heads of the girls, past their reflections in the glass walls of the sunroom, Turner could see two yellow, glowing eyes in the darkness.

‘Turner?’ said Ember, turning to peer in the direction he was looking.

‘It’s … it’s another one of the not-Scathers, but this time inside one of the lion statues at the top of the steps out there. It’s watching us.’

Chairs screeched on the tiled floor as the girls stood up and started talking all at once.

‘Stop!’ yelled Celeste. ‘Nobody look at it!’ She placed her hands deliberately on the table. ‘Everybody sit down please. I have to think … Turner, don’t look at it.’

Turner took one last sideways glance. Those hideous eyes seemed to burn into his brain.

‘It’s not real though, Turner?’ said Chloe. ‘You said it was like a fell.’

‘Not real, no,’ said Turner, ‘but there’s something coming from it … just as wrong. It hurts my head.’

‘Blast the rotten thing away then, like you did with the other one,’ said Brooke, trying hard not to look out of the window.

‘No,’ said Celeste. ‘No. We need to buy some time, guys. Mother Torhild needs at least a couple of days to get things ready in Orkney for the Binding. We can’t afford for that thing to take or kill Turner, or drop us into a pit now it’s tracked him down. What if …’ 

Celeste frowned at her plate in front of her, and a small smile grew on her face. She whispered, ‘What if we pretend Turner and Ember are going to Paris, but actually go to …’ She paused, and her gaze darted in the direction of the glass doors. She placed one arm around her plate.

Turner’s inner child whooped with joy when a tiny, misty forest grew on Celeste’s plate. Minuscule transparent trees grew on the remains of her salad. It lasted a second before Celeste blew a gentle breath, and it dissipated like a fog in a breeze.

‘Really?’ said Ember. ‘Wow, Celeste, you must think it’s important, if you’re allowing us …’

Celeste’s clenched her hands into fists. ‘Can you think of anything more important than losing our Ring—the
Ellring
—now we’ve finally found him?’

‘No. Of course not. When then? And how will we know to return?’

‘Take this,’ said Chloe and lifted a leather cord over her head. A wooden bead hung from the cord. But when Ember held it on her palm, Turner saw it was actually a large seed. ‘You know where you’re going, right? The power of this will be amplified there. I’ll be able to call you home.’

Celeste said, ‘I think you should leave now. We’ll stand at the back door and wish you a wonderful trip to Paris.’ She lowered her voice once more. ‘And hopefully that’s where that thing will look for you.’

‘I have absolutely no idea what’s going on,’ said Turner.

Ember stood, and held out her hand to Turner. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll explain when we get there.’

*

Turner held Ember’s hand as they walked between the two stone lion statues at the top of the steps, one of which contained the spying eyes. He saw the yellow glow had almost faded from sight, as if it were hiding from him. But Turner didn’t have to see a Scather, or even a pair of eyes, to know it was there, and that it was watching.

The girls on the sunroom step began calling out. 

‘Bye!’ 

‘Have a great time!’ 

‘Enjoy Paris!’ 

‘I’m so jealous!’ 

Don’t overdo it guys, Turner thought.

Ember turned and gave them a wave. ‘See you in a couple of days. Paris here we come!’

They walked down the path and stopped just outside the well. They were almost in darkness as the only illumination was from an outside light on the back of the manor house. The well’s white stone walls shone ghost-like before them.

They entered the stone structure and stood before the square pool of water. Ember took both of Turner’s hands in hers. ‘You’ve never done this before so it might be a bit jarring. Probably best if you close your eyes.’

Turner closed his eyes and was about to ask how long it would take when everything changed. He felt like he had just tripped up a step. He knew they had arrived at their destination because there was brightness behind his closed eyelids, the air was different, the sound was different, and more than anything it
felt
different. All at once his body was tingling with energy. He felt powerful, strong and clear.

He opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Ember. She searched his eyes and waited for his reaction. Turner’s eyes widened. A red and orange glow billowed around her. A swirling, gossamer mist which emanated from her head and arms. At first Turner was afraid she was on fire.

‘Ember … there’s smoke coming off you.’

Ember smiled and the red mist around her became orange and rose up in excited ribbons. ‘It’s not smoke you ninny. It’s my aura. And, oh my God, Turner. You should see yours. It’s like a fountain of blue and gold pouring out of you. I’ve never seen anything like it.’

Turner held out his hand but didn’t see anything coming from it. It was then he noticed where they were. His mouth fell open and he turned around slowly as he took it in. They were surrounded by a forest. A forest of enormous straight trees. Sunlight streamed down in cathedral-like beams through the trees’ canopy, spot-lighting a leaf-carpeted forest floor. Light and shadow. The air was warm and thick with the heady odour of greenery and earth, like stepping from a chilly day into a large greenhouse. The forest seemed to extend forever, with no underbrush or small trees. Only the hundreds and thousands of pale behemoths, their brown arms reaching for the heavens, their mighty feet planted firmly among moss covered rocks and mounds of earth. 

Turner tilted his head all the way back, spinning slowly on the spot, until finally he felt Ember’s hand on his shoulder. ‘You’ll fall down, if you’re not careful,’ she said.

‘Where are we?’ asked Turner. He was half expecting the answer to be ‘another planet.’

‘This is the True.’

‘The True? The True what?’

‘Just … the True.’

Turner looked up again. ‘It’s daytime here.’

‘Darkness never falls in the True.’

Ember had spoken quietly, and Turner noticed another thing about this place; it was almost devoid of sound. Turner listened, but could hear no birds or other animals, just the gentle rustle of leaves rubbing against each other in the slight breeze. From somewhere nearby came the sound of water, a small stream or waterfall. The place looked like it had never seen the hand of man. A forest from the dawn of time.

Ember picked up a fallen stick and pointed at the trees. ‘Tree and true come from the same ancient word. This is a shadow world. The Grimshade of the Scathers is a shadow world too. Chloe thinks there may be other shadow worlds as well, ones we don’t know about, or have forgotten, and she’s researching all the old Vordene texts for them.’

‘You said this place is like the Scathers’ world?’

‘No, no, it’s a shadow world, but isn’t evil like the Grimshade. Quite the opposite. It’s a dimension of life, of life-force.’