Entwined (24 page)

My palms start to bleed as the chain cuts into the skin. The clasp breaks, and the necklace comes free so suddenly that I fall over backwards. It pulses against my palm like a faint heartbeat, and for the first time I can feel the full force of the energy it contains. It’s so powerful it makes me want to vomit, but I swallow hard and look up at Rose. Her body has gone limp in Rakwena’s arms and he’s doubled over, finally giving in to his wounds.

“Connie!”

“I’m fine.” I get up groggily, my head still pounding. “Are you OK?”

“Not for long,” he says softly. “We’re not alone.”

It’s only then that I notice the vibrating bulge in my pocket. My phone. Lebz! She must have been calling for a while, but I was a little distracted. I turn around. I can’t see them, but I can hear them crashing through the trees. They’re moving fast.

“We have to go.” Rakwena hoists Rose over his shoulder. “Can you run?”

“Do I have a choice?”

He sprints through the trees and I follow, each step sending pain shooting through my body. I keep my fist closed around the necklace and run, focusing on Rakwena’s back and trying not to listen to the footsteps behind us. At one point I have to stop to catch my breath. I lean my hand against the trunk of a tree for a second, then gather what’s left of my strength and keep running. We head back to Riverwalk, moving along the road and then jumping over the railings and running into the parking lot. We’re almost safe now. There are security guards and lots of cars, but I can’t forget that we’re being chased by maniacs. A few witnesses might not bother them.

We make our way towards Rakwena’s truck. When we reach it, he lays Rose on the backseat, and then we wait and watch.

They emerge from the darkness, stop in the parking lot and look at us for a while.

“What are they waiting for?” I whisper.

“They won’t come after us,” says Rakwena in a weary voice. “There’s no point – Rose is out. She’s not their problem any more.”

The four girls turn away and walk back into the mall. I’m strangely unsettled. It feels too easy. I reach for my phone and call Lebz to tell her where we are. I hang up, slide the phone into my pocket, and look up at Rakwena. “You look terrible, by the way.”

“You look worse. Your father will have a heart attack.”

I shrug and look at the spot where the girls were standing just minutes ago. “So that’s the end of it?”

“The end?” Rakwena laughs. “Connie, this is only the beginning.”

I hear a shout – Lebz and Wiki have seen us. I could use a shower and a holiday, but Rakwena is right. This is just the beginning.

“Connie!” Lebz is upon me like a small tornado. “Oh my God! What did you
do
?”

I wince and push her away. “I wasn’t very successful at defending myself.” I climb gingerly into the backseat beside Rose, who is slumped against the seat with her head lolling to one side.

“Rose did this?” Lebz shoots a wary glance at the limp body next to me. “Move over. I’m not sitting next to her.”

“She’s unconscious, and the necklace is off. She’s just Rose now.”

The engine starts and Rakwena pulls the car out of the parking lot. Wiki sits beside him, peering back at me with a dismayed expression.

“I’ll survive,” I promise him. “I’m not the one who got kicked into the air.”

“That was nothing,” Rakwena scoffs, but his voice holds an undercurrent of anxiety.

“What are we going to do with her?” asks Lebz, stealing another wary glance at Rose. “I know where she lives, but we can’t take her home like this.”

“We’re taking her to Ntatemogolo.” I feel a sharp jolt through my shoulder. “He’ll know what to do.”

“He’s not going to be happy that you disobeyed him,” says Wiki. He’s still staring at me as if I’ve sprouted another limb and he’s deciding how to amputate it before someone else notices.

I lean back and close my eyes. Right now I don’t care how angry my grandfather will be, or how upset my dad will be when he sees all my wounds. Rose is safe, I have the necklace, and we all got out of it alive. That’s what matters.

“So where is it?” Lebz’s voice is almost a whisper. “The necklace.”

I open one eye and grin at her. “You want it as a souvenir of your first supernatural mission?”

“
Sies
.” She shudders. “Probably has ground up human bones in the locket or something. I just want to make sure you keep it far away from me.”

I chuckle. “Don’t worry. It’s right here.” I slide my hand into my pocket and rummage around, but all I can feel is my phone and my house key. I sit up straight and check the other pocket. “It’s in one of these pockets, I’m sure.” No, I’m not sure. Not at all. “Crap,” I whisper, glancing through the back window. Riverwalk is far behind us now. “Rakwena?”

“I don’t have it,” he says, with unfathomable calm. “It must be somewhere on you, Connie.”

I shake my head. I remember. I was running and I stopped to catch my breath. I doubled over and put my hands on my knees. Then I raised my right hand – the one holding the necklace – and pressed my palm against the bark of a tree. The necklace must have slipped to the ground and I was too tired and hurt to notice.

“I dropped it. In the bush behind Riverwalk. Oh, crap…”

No one says a word. No comforting clichés, no unconvincing lines about how it doesn’t matter and it will all be OK. Everyone in the car knows the truth – I put us through this ordeal for a necklace I then dropped in the bush, where anyone could find it.

“We can go back and look,” suggests Wiki.

“No.” I lick my dry lips. “We have to take care of Rose.”

“We can go back afterwards,” says Rakwena.

“Maybe.” But I know we won’t find it. It could be in the hands of some innocent person, or it could be back in the hands of the Puppetmaster. The latter is the most likely. No wonder Amantle and friends were so quick to give up the chase. They’re probably already selecting their newest recruit.

Ntatemogolo is quiet. Rakwena has gone to drop Lebz and Wiki at home and I sit alone in the living room as my grandfather tends to Rose in the consultation room. He hasn’t said one word to me – he knows better than to lose his temper when he has a sick child to deal with. He uses his head, unlike his idiot of a granddaughter.

I hear soft sounds coming from the consultation room – the scraping of a metal spoon against a wooden bowl, the crackle of fire and a wheezing cough. Rose must be awake. I went to the bathroom and cleaned myself up a little, but my nose is swollen, I’m covered in bruises and Rose’s teeth left a deep mark in my shoulder. It’s stopped bleeding but the stains on my torn shirt will be difficult to explain to Dad. I could say it was a dog. He might believe that.

The door to the consultation room opens and Ntatemogolo steps out. He closes the door behind him and comes to sit in a chair opposite me, waiting in silence for me to plead my case.

“I’m sorry.” It comes out as a fractured croak. I clear my throat and try again. “Ntatemogolo, I should have listened to you. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“You were not thinking,” he replies in a steady voice. “You were just acting, impulsive and reckless and ignorant of the consequences. Look at your face. Look what you got yourself into. And your friends?”

“They wanted –”

“They wanted what?” he cuts in brusquely. “To risk their lives to keep you out of trouble? Did they ask to be part of your insanity, or did their sense of loyalty give them no choice?”

There are no words to redeem me. I hang my head. “I’m sorry.”

“I know you’re sorry, but it changes nothing. You went against all the advice I gave you. And after all that, you still lost the necklace.”

I feel a pang of guilt and frustration.

Ntatemogolo heaves a weary sigh. “The girl will be fine. She’s conscious. She can be taken home as soon as Rakwena comes back with the car. She’s weak,” he goes on, “and she has a lot of injuries. He pushed them hard, and without the necklace to give her strength her body is finally dealing with the abuse. It will take time for her to heal completely, but she will. The others might not be so lucky.”

I nod. “Should we tell her parents…?”

“Certainly not.” He looks at me as if I’ve suggested breaking into a bank armed with a water pistol. “Tell them you found her passed out in the parking lot.”

I nod again. “Thank you for helping her, Ntatemogolo.”

He grunts. “I did what I could. But helping her was easier than helping you, I’m afraid.” He fixes his steady gaze on me. “He knows who you are, Conyza. He can find you now, and I won’t always be here to protect you.”

I swallow hard and try not to dwell on that. “Are the traditional doctors any closer to finding out who he is?”

“Maybe.”

Maybe? It’s not like him to be so vague. “They have some clues?”

He doesn’t answer. “Conyza, you must make me a promise.”

I squirm. I don’t like making promises because I’m lousy at keeping them. “What is it, Ntatemogolo?”

“Please leave those necklaces alone. You have saved Rose, now leave the others. Do you hear me? No more heroics. Leave it to those who are older and wiser.”

Well. There’s no way in hell I’m promising
that
. I squirm some more. I glance out through the window, hoping Rakwena will turn up and interrupt. I become fascinated by the cuts on my hands.

“Conyza.”

I raise my eyes to his. “Ntatemogolo?”

“Do you trust me?”

“Of course.”

“Then believe me when I say this Puppetmaster will be brought to justice. But not through your brand of vigilantism. Through the proper procedures, by the proper authorities. Do you believe this?”

Is he joking? If the “proper authorities” were so effective, the Puppetmaster would never have survived this long.

My grandfather throws up his hands in surrender. “I don’t know what to say to you. Where is the girl who used to respect her elders? Is it this telepathy that makes you think you know better? Is it that friend of yours, with powers you don’t even understand? You trust him more than you trust your own blood?”

I’m dismayed by his sudden outburst, and my heart twists with guilt. “No, of course not! I trust you, I just don’t trust those traditional doctors!”

He gets to his feet. “Do what you want, then. Your path is your own. If it leads you into darkness…” He shrugs, washing his hands of me, and returns to the consultation room.

I hear the car pull up outside and the door slam.

“How is she?” asks Rakwena, as soon as he enters the house. He hands me a clean shirt. “From Lebz.”

“She’s fine.” My voice trembles.

“Connie?” Rakwena takes my hand. “Was it bad? With your grandfather?”

I nod dumbly, tears stinging my eyes.

“He’ll get over it.”

I don’t think so. I’ve screwed up tonight, more than all the rest of my mistakes put together, and I don’t know how to fix it. I pull my hands of out Rakwena’s and wipe my eyes. “We should take her home.”

He gets up and goes to knock on the door of the consultation room, then steps inside. I take the chance to slip off my stained shirt and put on the clean one. A minute later he emerges with Rose in his arms. She’s awake, but just barely.

“Hey.” I give her a bright smile. “How do you feel?”

“Terrible,” she mutters, but then the edges of her mouth turn up a little, and I know she’ll be OK.

Ntatemogolo doesn’t even look at me as we leave. I stuff the old shirt into the bag I left on the floor of Rakwena’s car. I sms Lebz for directions to the house, then coach Rose on the story we’re going to spin for her parents. I spend the entire journey chattering to her to keep her spirits up, but I can’t stop thinking about the look of utter disappointment on my grandfather’s face.

Rose lives in a nice, large house in Block 7, surrounded by a high brick wall. Rakwena carries her to the gate while I ring the intercom.

“Yes?” The woman sounds upset and impatient.

“Hi. I’m Connie, I’m here to drop Rose –”

The gate slides open and a woman comes rushing out in her pyjamas. “Rose! Where the hell have you been? Didn’t I tell you not to go – oh, Jesus Lord in heaven!” she gasps, when she sees her daughter in Rakwena’s arms.

“Hi, Mama,” Rose whispers.

“
Hi?
What happened to you? Bring her inside, quickly!”

We follow her into the house and Rakwena deposits Rose on the brown plush sofa.

“We found her in the parking lot at Riverwalk,” I explain. “She fainted, and we couldn’t find her friends anywhere so we thought we should bring her home.”

“Thank you.” The woman looks at us with narrowed eyes. “Do you go to Syringa?”

I nod. “My name is Connie Bennett.”

The woman peers anxiously into her daughter’s face. “How many times do I have to tell you to stop hanging out with that Amantle? That girl is nothing but trouble. And you shouldn’t have gone out today – you’re obviously still sick!”

Rakwena clears his throat. “Well, we should probably get going.”

“Yes, thank you,” says Rose’s mother, but she’s not paying attention to us any more. “Rose, where’s your necklace?”

Rose lowers her gaze. “I lost it.”

“Thank God,” her mother mutters under her breath, and Rakwena and I let ourselves out.

“All’s well that ends well,” he chirps as we get back into the car.

“And what ended well, exactly?”

“Your goal was to get Rose out,” he reminds me. “And she’s out.”

He’s right. It wasn’t a complete disaster.

“Do you want to go back and look for the necklace?”

I shake my head. “I’m pretty sure Amantle has it. Mark my words – by Monday it’ll be around the neck of some other poor girl. Rose is out, but someone else will take her place.”

“You don’t have to be so pessimistic.”

“Realistic,” I counter. “But we’ll worry about that later. We need to get home.”

By the time we reach my house, it’s after ten. Dad’s Volvo is in the driveway.

“Wish me luck,” I say as I climb out of the car.

“Good luck.” Rakwena grins at me. “Connie, you did a good thing today. No matter what else happened, don’t forget that.”

For a moment I feel a little better. “Thanks, Lizzie.” I laugh at his scowl and wave, then stand watching until his car is out of sight. Then I summon all my courage and walk towards the house.