Raven (14 page)

“
So...
I'm guessing you hacked at your hair yourself?”

She
clearly knew my answer before carrying on, “And I'm guessing you
bleached it yourself too. Well, the hair is in surprisingly good
condition but it is in some serious need of shape. Do you want the
colour back to its natural shade?”

I nodded
and she agreed it was the best choice for my colouring.

And so
as she went about returning my hair back to some kind of normality,
I relaxed and enjoyed the pampering while thinking about the
journey my life had begun to take. It was one that I would never
have imagined, not in a million years.

Growing
up the way I had, trapped within what appeared to be a loveless
family, not able to go out and meet people, not even able to see
the world through the television. My only glimmer of the world out
there was through the eyes of authors like the Grimms Brothers and
Hans Christian Andersen. When I read those magical tales, I'd had
no idea that their worlds had existed, yet here I was with the
knowledge that they did exist, yet within a veil of
secrecy.

A secret
world. And I knew about it. I was part of it. I
shivered.

“
Sorry, Lilly. Is the water too cold?” asked
Crystal.

I
assured her it was fine. The cold came from within. Within the
knowledge that I couldn't share. Not even with Oliver – the boy
that gave me goosebumps just by looking at him. And he felt the
same way that I did. His heart skipped a beat when he was with me
too. It was hard for me to fathom anybody could have feelings for
me in that way.

I was
young, I had never had a boyfriend. I had never been kissed. I
didn't know the meaning of love, other than the new love I felt for
my newfound family members. I had never even felt love for my
father because I had always had the impression that he didn't love
me. Not really. A feeling of shame enveloped me. All this time, of
course he had loved me. His only way of sharing that love was to
sneak those books to me. And I had never shown him that he meant
everything to me. Of course it was easy for me to say that now. Now
that I knew the truth. He was under a spell. Pure and
simple.

It didn't take Crystal long to
return me to my 'natural' beauty as she put it and when I left over
an hour later, Ben had been right, I did feel like a million
dollars. I felt pretty and I hadn't felt pretty in a long, long
time. In fact, I had never felt pretty because I'd never been told
I
was
pretty.

Crystal
had worked wonders and my new short crop was surprisingly a great
shape for my face. I was astounded how much it suited me,
considering what a mess I had looked before. As much as I wanted to
show the world my new style, I had no choice but to cover it up the
second I stepped outside because of the cold, so on went the beanie
once again.

As I
glanced back through the window, I waved goodbye to Crystal as she
waved back happily before attending to the other young woman who
had entered just five minutes before. I hadn't taken much notice of
the salon's entrance as we'd arrived so I looked up at her sign.
Crystal's Salon was in big bold black lettering on an orange
background with a catchy logo featuring a cat with big eyes and
long hair. It made me chuckle to myself as it matched her
personality perfectly.

I put my
hands in my pocket and felt a piece of paper. It was the map to my
father's land that Rose had drawn for me. I checked my watch and
figured I had plenty of time so I headed in that
direction.

As I walked through town, a
number of familiar faces smiled at me and said their hellos before
hurrying out of the cold. It was still so alien to me to be known
by so many people. In London, I knew the faces of the kids at
school. I knew the faces of the many teachers. I knew the face of
the postman but I didn't
know
anybody but December, my secret best friend.
Vivian had never allowed me to get to know anyone at all. I
couldn't even say hello to the neighbours without fear of being
grabbed and pulled away by her. Yet here I was surrounded by
friendly people that I could get to know if I wanted to. And who
wanted to get to know me.

Some
even stopped me in the street and made small talk, asking how I was
doing, if I was settling in okay and so on. It was rather nice
actually. It made me smile and again, I felt liked. I felt loved.
It was a feeling I would cherish.

Heading
out of town, I smiled to myself happily and checked the map again
before taking a turning off the main road. There was tarmac for a
hundred or so metres and then I had to take a left down a small and
winding dirt track. The track became even longer and narrower then,
giving an almost funnel effect.

I
continued walking until I eventually came upon a wide open space.
In the middle was a large concrete base. I had found it. This
should have been the place that I grew up. The happy years that we
could have all spent together. Should have spent together. Serena,
my father, Neleh... and me. How different my life could have been,
I thought as I walked slowly towards what would have been our
home.

I looked
around and noticed that it was surrounded by trees, hidden away
from any kind of prying eyes, perhaps that was the reason my father
had chosen it. He knew the family secret and he knew the importance
of keeping it just that: a secret. It was perfect and it was
peaceful. I understood perfectly why my father had chosen this plot
of land. Not only was it well hidden, but it also had a great
feeling to it. I tried to picture what the house could have looked
like. A large log home a bit like Gabriel's perhaps? No, this would
have been quite a bit smaller and even more cosy. It was
perfect.

As I
wandered around the base, I noticed a large pallet of logs which
had become ruined from years of neglect in the outdoors. I felt sad
as I approached them and gently rubbed my hand along one of the
logs.

I had
been so focused on what could have been that I didn't even notice
that it had started raining. I looked up as the storm clouds
collected over head. I pulled my beanie down further over my face
and as I turned away from the logs, I heard a tear and then a click
before an almighty crash.

A
searing pain went through my leg as I fell to the ground with a
thud. A log had come loose and had landed on top of me. I barely
remember anything, except that I screamed out in pain. I felt
nauseous all of a sudden and, barely conscious, I tried to shout
for help yet I knew nobody would hear me. As I had noted before,
the house was perfectly well hidden, after all. I could just about
feel my face becoming wet from the rain when I heard a loud of clap
of thunder.

I felt
trapped in a nightmare. One where I couldn't move. The more I
struggled, the worse it became. The log was too heavy and I was too
injured to move a muscle.

I've no
idea how long I was there.

Just as
I felt like giving up all hope, drifting in and out of
consciousness, I saw movement from beyond the trees and then before
I knew it, I heard the voice of an angel. “Don't worry, Lilly.
You're going to be all right. I'll make sure of that.”

I must
have been hallucinating as I remember being lifted higher and
higher into the sky before completely losing
consciousness.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

When I
came to, I noticed a pale green ceiling and green walls. A
distinctive smell hovered in the air. It smelled... clinical.
Hearing people moving around beyond my room, I realised I was in
the hospital. I had absolutely no idea what had happened to
me.

“
Lilly?” said a deep voice to the side of the
bed.

I turned
my head and saw Ben sitting patiently by my side, waiting for me to
wake up.

“
What
happened?” I asked.

Apparently it was a mystery to him too. After he had treated
his patients, he had been working alone on some paperwork in his
practice, when there had been a knock on the door and when he
opened it, he found me lying on the floor unconscious.

“
I had
absolutely no idea what had happened. At first I assumed you had
knocked on the door and then collapsed but when I tried to pick you
up, I noticed someone had roughly wrapped your leg with these huge
leaves. Someone had clearly helped you and then left you there. Do
you have any idea what happened?” he asked.

I shook
my head, which ached a little and I asked for Gabriel.

“
Don't
worry, he's here. He's just having a word with the doctor. Rose is
here too, and Sonya and Meredith are on their way.”

“
They
don't need to come. I'm okay... aren't I?” I asked, unsure whether
I was or not.

“
You've broken your leg and you've got a few bruises but
other than that I think you're okay so don't worry. Your hair looks
great, by the way,” he said, trying to make light of the
situation.

Gabriel
walked into the room and thanked Ben profusely for bringing me to
the hospital so quickly. “If you need to get back to work, Ben, go
ahead. I'll take over for now,” he said.

As Ben
nodded, he picked up his coat, leaned over and kissed my forehead.
“You had me scared for a while there, Lilly. I'm glad you're okay.
You call me if you need anything, okay?”

I nodded
as best as I could without my head throbbing and smiled
back.

“
Thank
you, Ben.”

The
moment he left, Gabriel closed the door behind him.

“
Oh
Lilly... what on earth happened? Did you go into the forest?”
Gabriel asked.

I
explained everything that I could remember, which wasn't much. Just
that I had gone to find the land that belonged to my father. I
remembered finding it but I couldn't recall much more than
that.

“
But
how did you get to Ben's?”

“
I
really don't know, Gabriel. But I wish I did.”

I was
uncomfortable lying flat on my back, so I asked him if he would
help me sit up a little and as I did so, I noticed I was clenching
something in my hand. I opened it and found a single black feather.
Strange, I thought, I don't recall picking up a feather and why
would I still have it in my hand?

Gabriel
saw the look on my face and followed my gaze.

“
I
must have found it there and picked it up, for some reason,” I said
innocently as Rose opened the door with a cup of coffee that she
handed to Gabriel.

“
Hello
dear. Are you feeling all right? I've been worried out of my mind,”
she said as she tiptoed over to me and leaned over to peck me on my
cheek. She hovered for a moment and I could have sworn she sniffed
at me a couple of times. As she straightened up she turned to
Gabriel and they shared a quizzical look.

She
walked over to my coat and picked it up. As she did so, another
black feather, a much larger one, fell to the ground.

This
time it was my turn to gasp as she crouched down to pick it
up.

Gabriel
took it from her and held it up to the light.

“
This
is the feather of a raven,” he whispered.

“
But
it is too large, Gabriel,” Rose whispered in reply.

He
nodded and they both turned to look at me.

“
Lilly, it's very important that you recall what happened to
you this afternoon. Is there anything, anything at all that you
remember? The slightest thing could make all the difference,”
Gabriel said hopefully.

I closed
my eyes and thought back to when I left Crystal's, looking up at
the sign and smiling, then I'd walked through town and had spoken
to a few people and then I'd followed Rose's map to find the land
belonging to my father. I remember the dirt track that had started
off winding and then had straightened out, giving that funnel
effect.

As I
walked in my mind, I walked into the clearing where the concrete
base was situated. I remember feeling sad. My eyes settled on the
logs where I had gently caressed the wood that would have made a
house for my family and me. As I explained all of this, Gabriel
nodded, waiting to hear more.

“
My
coat got caught on something and then the log fell on my leg... I
remember being trapped and there was so much pain,” I said,
flinching at the memory.

“
That's obviously how your leg was broken, my dear. It has
broken in two places. But if you were trapped, how did you get out?
And how on earth did you get to Ben's?” asked Rose.

I tried
hard to remember again but there was nothing. I had no memory after
that. I was so frustrated. But then as I looked at that huge
feather, something was triggered in my subconscious.

“
There
was a man's voice,” I gasped, “'don't worry, Lilly. You're going to
be all right. I'll make sure of that'. That's what he said but I
don't know what happened after that.”