Shadows (22 page)

That wasn’t going to happen. Eve tried the next door. Yes! She could see the balcony at the other end of the bedroom. She rushed over to the glass doors and out. The stairs were just as she remembered. She began to climb down.

You won’t ever escape him
, the shadows told her. At their words, Eve realized she was going the wrong way. She was heading up instead of down towards the patio. She turned, but the stairs behind her had disappeared. There was nowhere to go except up. She ran and ran, the staircase taking her up in spirals.

As Eve took one tight turn after the other, the
shadows felt heavier, heavier and stickier, around her body. It became harder to lift her feet high enough to move up to the next step. She noticed that she was still breathing in the wood-smoke smell. It was as strong as when she’d been right next to Mal. No, stronger. It was like the shadows were producing the odour, as if they were
made
of smoke. She risked a glance behind her, but didn’t see Mal.
He’s coming
, the shadows hissed.
He’s never going to let you go. Give up. Rest. You want to rest.

Eve
did
want to rest, more than anything. But stopping meant losing her soul. She gripped the stair railings, using both hands to pull herself onward. Up, up, up. How far had she already come? Mal’s house was three storeys. She had to have gone further than that. She felt as if she’d been running for ever.

As last she spotted a blue door at the end of the staircase. Maybe it opened onto the roof. If it did, maybe she could find a way to climb down. Eve forced her shadow-wrapped legs up to the door, then fought to raise her heavy arms high enough to open it.

She used all her strength to shove against the door. It flew open, and Eve stumbled forward. She had to grab the door frame with both hands to stop herself from plunging into empty air. The door opened into
nothingness. Far below – far,
far
, below – Eve could see a spot of sparkling aquamarine. It was the pool, but it was so distant it appeared to be just a tiny jewel.

Jump
, the shadows suggested.
There’s no other way out
. Eve teetered, her toes seesawing up and down in the air.
Jump. It’s easy
.

It
would
be easy. And maybe even though she would die, her soul would survive. That was better than Mal sucking it out of her.

At that moment Jess’s face flashed into her mind. Then Luke’s. They’d tried to warn her. They would want her to fight.

Eve spun round, expecting to find the narrow spiral stairway behind her. Instead, she stood in an empty octagon-shaped room with eight closed doors. What horrors lay behind them, waiting for her? Eve peered at them through the veil of shadows writhing around her face.

‘Enough!’ Eve shouted, white-hot anger pulsing through her. ‘No more games, Mal. Where are you? This ends now!’

Mal stepped through the door directly opposite Eve. His infuriating half-smile was still on his face.

Eve clenched her hands into fists, and felt electricity crackle along her fingers. She smelled the odour of
something being singed. Good. She hoped it was the shadows. They didn’t feel as heavy any more. Mal walked towards her, unconcerned, his smile turning to a smirk of amusement.
Amuse this
, Eve thought.

She shot her hands out in front of her, splaying her fingers wide. Ribbons of fire-edged lightning blasted at Mal, sending waves of heat through the room. He let out a yelp of surprise and tried to twist away. Too late. His body dissolved into a cloud of smoke. The shadows fell away.

I did it! I killed him!
Eve realized she was still holding her arms straight out in front of her. She let out a breath, giving a sigh so deep it felt as if it started in her pink-painted toenails. Slowly she began to lower her arms. They were still vibrating from the power that had been racing through them. It felt as if her bones were
humming
.

Before her arms were halfway to her sides, the cloud of smoke – all that was left of Mal – swooped and twisted towards Eve. She flexed her fingers. Did she have enough of a charge left for a second blast? But before she could try to activate her lightning bolts, the smoky cloud thickened, coalesced, forming Mal’s body. He stood between her outstretched arms, his face inches away from hers.

Eve didn’t even have time to react before Mal had her wrists trapped in his hands. Without the shadows encasing her, her body felt so light. And so warm. Mal’s body was radiating heat into her, warming her exhausted limbs.

Mal’s eyes flashed with desire, deep black pools of pure need. He needed her.

And she wanted to move forward the few inches it would take to close the gap between them. She wanted to rest her head on his shoulder. More than anything, she wanted the feel of his lips on hers. She wanted that first kiss she’d been denied for so long.

Mal gave a knowing laugh, as if he could read her thoughts and liked them. Still grasping her wrists, he guided her arms around him, pulling their bodies tight together. The delicious scent of wood-smoke filled her as he lowered his mouth towards hers. Eve’s lips parted with desire.

‘Eve, stop!’ Jess cried.

‘Get your slimy hands off her!’ Luke shouted.

They burst into the room, and the demonic spell broke instantly. Eve suddenly realized she was in the foyer of Mal’s house, not in some strange room hundreds of storeys up. Mal was the demon, and she’d almost kissed him.

‘Get out!’ Mal roared. He jerked towards Jess and Luke, releasing Eve.

‘Not a problem,’ Luke answered. ‘But Eve’s coming with us.’ He reached out for her. Eve took one step towards him, and then Mal began to laugh, spewing out the vile, twisting shadows again. They swooped towards Luke and Jess, circling them like a dark tornado. Once again, Eve heard the shadows whispering their horrible predictions and threats.

‘Don’t listen!’ Eve called.

Jess covered her ears with her hands and squeezed her eyes shut. Her lips went white with strain.

‘When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won,’ Luke said. ‘When I despair—’

Eve realized he was chanting one of the Gandhi quotes they’d put in their report. She joined her voice with Luke’s: ‘I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won.’

The shadows darkened in places, darkened and thickened, forming bodies. The bodies transformed from shadow to flesh. Eve gasped, recognizing three of the guys who had attacked her outside Mal’s house. The one she’d turned to smoke was missing. The realization gave her a jolt of confidence. The demon hadn’t recovered. She’d destroyed him with her power.
Her
power.

‘When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won,’ Luke and Eve chanted together.

Mal laughed again. The thugs now circling Luke and Jess laughed too. ‘Boy, you know nothing about history,’ Mal told Luke. ‘You’ve been alive for a blink. I’ve lived for thousands and thousands of years, and the “ways of truth and love” have
always been defeated by my brethren and by me.’

Luke’s only answer was to continue repeating the quote, his eyes never leaving Mal.
How could I have believed for even a moment that Luke was the demon?
Eve thought.
How could I have wanted Mal to kiss me? I was so wrong about both of them!

Raw fury filled her. Fury with Mal for the evil he had brought to her town, to her friends. And, even worse, fury at herself for being so deceived by him. Eve let out a shriek of rage. She flung her hands out. Bolts of pure fire – blue and white and orange – erupted from her fingertips.

The temperature in the room went volcanic. Eve’s hair crackled, flying out around her face. Mal whirled towards her.

But it was too late for him to react. The bolts of fire hit him in the chest, and he fell to his knees, coughing and retching. His shoulders heaved as he vomited up what looked like gobs of light – light in so many colours. Eve had to look away, the light was so brilliant.

As she turned, she saw one of the minions dissolve into a whirl of smoke … No, it wasn’t just one. All of them were disintegrating into dirty smears of air. The shadows, with their horrible whispering, disappeared.

He’s weakening. He has to be!
Eve spun towards Mal,
and saw him pushing himself to his feet. ‘You think to destroy me, girl?’ he rasped. ‘I command forty legions of demons.’

As he spoke, Eve concentrated on her power. There was some left, racing through her. She willed it to gather, and felt it begin to coalesce.

‘I am a Prince of Hell!’ Mal shouted. ‘I am Malphas, the new ruler of this Earth.’

It felt like Eve had swallowed the sun. All its light. All its yellowy goodness. Her power was a sun inside her. ‘Malphas. That is one stupid name,’ she told Mal calmly. She had no doubt left. She could do this.

Eve let her power fly. The bolts that burst from her fingers looked like molten gold, and they sizzled as they streaked towards Mal. He gave a scream of agony when they pierced his chest. Before the sound faded, all that was left of Mal was smoke – smoke that quickly dissipated, leaving the air crisp and clear. Eve took as deep a breath as she could, filling herself with the cleansing air.

‘It’s over,’ she whispered. ‘I think it’s really over.’

As the last word left her mouth, the floor began to shake. A crash came from behind her. Eve looked over her shoulder and saw that the mantelpiece of the massive fireplace had fallen to the ground.

‘We have to get out of here!’ Luke yelled. ‘Help me with Jess!’

The floor lurched under Eve’s feet as she raced towards her friends. She grabbed Jess’s hand and jerked her out of the way of a beam that had cracked in half, plunging towards them.

Luke took Jess’s other hand, and they ran from the house, pulling Jess along with them.

‘Keep going!’ Eve panted. ‘Get off the property!’

At the end of the driveway they stopped and turned back. Eve stared at the mansion in the moonlight. Pieces of the railing around one of the balconies rotted away in seconds. Bricks began to crumble from the closest chimney. A window fell out of its frame, and through the hole, Eve could see a tall stone arch. The style was gothic and didn’t match the rest of the place.

‘It’s going back …’ Jess whispered, blinking rapidly, coming out of her trance of fear. ‘It’s going back to how it was before Mal and his family moved in. Before they renovated it.’

‘He didn’t have a family,’ Eve said. ‘It was just him and his demons.’

‘But I met his brother at the party,’ Jess said.

‘It was one of the demons. I’m sure of it,’ Eve told
her. ‘They can take on different forms – like the forms of the guys who attacked me.’

The perfectly cut grass near the ruins of the mansion sprouted, and tangled weeds sprang up. In seconds, the garden was as wild and unkempt as it had been before the renovation.

‘You did it.’ Jess squeezed Eve’s hand. ‘You destroyed the demons. They’re gone.’

‘I couldn’t have done it without you. I—’ Eve was interrupted by the sound of dozens of birds cawing. Crows streamed out of the dovecote as if released from a prison. They flew off in different directions, black wings glistening silver in the moonlight.

‘I always knew you could do it,’ Luke told her.

‘I almost didn’t! Mal was pure evil,’ Eve said. ‘But I felt so drawn to him. How could I like someone so evil?’

‘Speaking of which – I can’t believe you two thought I was him, the demon.’ Luke shook his head. ‘I’m such a nice boy.’

Eve laughed at the sudden change of subject. ‘Well, you’re a player,’ she said. ‘If you hadn’t gone around kissing anything female you could get your hands on, we wouldn’t have suspected you.’

‘True!’ Jess exclaimed, sounding as relieved as Eve
felt to be talking about something so normal. ‘You even kissed Shanna’s mom!’

‘Oh, come on! I did not kiss Shanna’s mother!’ Luke protested.

‘According to a couple of football players you did,’ Eve said.

‘Well, they were lying,’ Luke answered.

Lying
, Eve thought.
Mal lied about everything, all the time.
And suddenly it made sense. ‘I know what happened. Mal started the rumour,’ she explained. ‘He overheard me and Jess talking about how we thought you were the demon—’

Luke let out a theatrical groan.

‘Yeah, I know, I know,’ Eve said. ‘But, anyway, he overheard us. I know he did, because he said something about brooches on boots – which is a comment Jess made in the same conversation.’

‘I like!’ Jess volunteered. ‘But it’s a look only the funky can pull off.’

‘So Mal knew we suspected Luke, and he decided to make sure we believed Luke was the demon by starting the rumour about Luke and Shanna’s mom,’ Eve said. ‘He plays football. He knows those guys. You know how everyone at school loves rumours. Mal knew I’d hear it fast.’

‘That’s just so wrong.’ Luke jammed his hands into his pockets. ‘Shanna’s mom? She’s old enough to be
my
mother. I would never have kissed her. Yuck.’

‘Sorry,’ Eve murmured. ‘I was so wrong. About everything.’ She didn’t know what else to say; how to even begin to make it up to Luke.

‘Yeah, sorry,’ Jess added.

‘I can see how the mistake could have been made,’ Luke admitted, with a grin. ‘I mean, you were looking for someone who’d kissed a bunch of girls, and I am very attractive. I can hardly keep the females off me. But that’s not a demonic power. It’s pure me.’

They all laughed, standing in front of the ruins of the mansion.
It’s over
, Eve thought.
That’s all that matters. It’s over.

‘Wow,’ Luke said as he, Eve and Jess started down the wooden steps to the beach. It had been transformed. A row of gauzy tents stretched out in front of them. Illuminated from within, the large tents looked like giant stars.

‘Oooh, I see Regis. One point for me!’ Jess called out.

Eve and Jess had a game they played at big Hamptons charity events like this one. They each tried to be the first to spot one of the A-listers who always
came, like Regis Philbin, Jerry Seinfeld, Renée Zellweger, Tommy Hilfiger and Martha Stewart. The charity of the night was HEART, the equine ambulance that provided transport for ill or injured horses. Deepdene hosted a ball on the beach every year for the cause.