Shiver the Whole Night Through (27 page)

And I
hurled
that locket – I swear to God, it told me to do this, it practically spoke to me. I threw it towards the portal just as the creature moved through fully, my arm almost wrenching out of its socket. I threw with every ounce of strength I would ever possess. Somehow it worked. That door to another dimension remained open, just about. It was buzzing crazily now, like a swarm of molecules in hot water, straining to pull themselves apart into chaos.

Sláine's voice died away. She realised what had happened. She looked at me, smiling in a sort of pleased amazement.

I shrugged laconically. ‘What? I have to contribute
something
to this effort, surely?'

She nodded once and tumbled through. The portal collapsed on itself and vanished completely. Sláine had vanished. The locket lay on the ground. I mechanically returned it to my jacket then gulped in dismay and brought chilled fingers to my sweat-soaked head and was about to scream myself, when suddenly light exploded from that spot, beginning as a minuscule point before enlarging rapidly,
whoooosh
, like a nuclear bomb. A flare of energy hurled me back, landing me flat on my ass, the light blinding me temporarily, shockwaves reverberating in my ears. I was sightless and deaf and completely ignorant.

And then her voice – celestial choirs never sounded so wonderful – distant and muffled at first but getting louder and sharper and nearer, and my vision cleared and I could see Sláine walking towards me, calling my name.

‘Did you  …  ?' I gasped. ‘Is  …  is it  …  ?' I was unable to say the words.

Sláine nodded, slumped to the ground and hugged me. I could almost feel it physically, her exhaustion, as though it were a black hole collapsed in empty space.

She said weakly, ‘It's dead. That
thing
is  …  I followed it down into the jaws of hell and I  …  I  …  ' Her head flopped back, she moaned in pain, her eyes fluttering. ‘Oh shit. I think that took quite a bit out of me.'

I squeezed her tightly. After a minute Sláine added, ‘It's over, Aidan. For good. I destroyed it. I destroyed it.'

Something immense had happened beyond the door – I had the strangest sense she had
aged
in that split second, changed in some elemental way – but Sláine wasn't being forthcoming with details, so I decided not to press it. There'd be plenty of time for all that later; we had the rest of our lives to talk together, or I guess, the rest of mine at least. I broke our embrace and smiled, about to thank her. And shit, she was
crying
.

I said drolly, ‘How can someone so badass get upset enough to cry?'

Sláine laughed. ‘Don't know. Tiredness? Feel kind of  …  emptied out.'

‘Take it easy. You must have  …  Just  …  just rest here for a minute.'

She nodded in agreement, like a child being willingly put down for her nap. I cradled Sláine's head in the curve of my arm. After another few minutes I said gently, ‘It's all right. Everything is all right now. Thanks to you.'

For the first time since I'd met this strange, marvellous girl, I felt like the senior one in the relationship, the more mature of the two. I felt like an adult. And that felt good.

Gradually, she got some of her strength back, enough to fill me in on recent events: how Joseph Kinvara had appeared at the lodge, in person, that evening – around the time I'd been dreaming about her, I reckoned – and laid out his intentions for their joint world domination. Sláine hadn't time to make any sort of plan herself, or contact me; besides, she assumed he'd be able to ‘read her thoughts', being in such close proximity. This was also why she didn't tell me anything en route to the lodge – he might have ‘heard'. For all she knew, Joseph could have been watching from the trees the whole way in.

‘It was a stupid move,' she sighed. ‘Thinking we'd a day or two to work something out.'

‘Yeah, but be fair, what would you expect? We're just two kids.'

She'd been forced to wing it, flying on blind hope, pretending to go along with Joseph's schemes – which included murdering me.

‘He was going to kill you himself, tonight probably,' Sláine said. ‘He'd already sent the walker to the cemetery, that poor O'Leary woman. I volunteered to do it instead. Prove my love for him, whatever. Which in turn was a set-up. I had to pretend to be –
interested
in him.' She shuddered. ‘Ech. The
sleaze
. Made my skin crawl. But I reciprocated his romantic suggestions.'

I said, ‘So you were tricking him? To get his guard down?'

She nodded. ‘Get his guard down, get him relaxed, even a little drunk. And get close. I had to separate them, Kinvara and the demon inside. That was the only way I could think to nail them. Too powerful for me to face together.'

‘You looked pretty powerful yourself, driving his dumb head into the ceiling.'

‘Nah, they would have beaten me. Probably. I mean Kinvara'd have powers of his own, like I do. And coupled with the demon's  …  ? Anyway. Doesn't matter now.'

‘No it goddamn does not,' I said with satisfaction.

She continued, ‘I figured, their strength lies in the cold, right? I mean that's what the thing
was
, essentially: coldness, come to life. And what better weapon to use against that than fire?'

‘Good thinking, Holmes. So this was your grand plan – set Kinvara alight and  …  '

‘Plan is too ambitious a word for it. But yes. Set him on fire and hope to God it'd loosen the bonds between them. Enough for me to pummel the shit out of the mortal man and basically beat that demon's ass out of him.' She shrugged, said, ‘It worked,' then smiled awkwardly. ‘I promised you I wouldn't kill anyone.'

‘I think in this case you get a pass, morally speaking. Counts as self-defence.' My own ass was freezing, I realised. ‘You mind if I – stand up? I'm in danger of getting glued to the ground.'

We both rose.

Sláine said hesitantly, ‘I think their souls – those souls Kinvara claimed? I think they're free now. At peace.'

‘Me too. You did good, girl.'

‘As did you. Throwing that disc – what was it?'

I pulled it out. She examined it, turning the locket in the moonlight. Eventually she said, ‘Would you believe, I think I know this. Think I've seen it in an old photograph.'

‘Yeah? No way.'

Sláine nodded. ‘Looks like  …  I can't be sure, but it looks like this locket my ancestor used to own. Eleanor.'

‘McAuley's wife.'

‘The very same. An old family heirloom, you know, passed down the generations. Lost years ago, but I've seen it in pictures of my great-grandmother. Eleanor's granddaughter, I guess? Not sure exactly.'

‘Maybe that's why it had – power,' I said, ‘for good, I mean. Maybe William John gave it to his wife as a symbol of love, and it represented, like, something good. Whatever decency was in him. This locket had held on to some of that, his love for Eleanor, his good side.' I thought of the ring Sláine wore, the one that creep had put there. ‘That ring of yours meant something to Kinvara  …  I guess the locket means something to me.'

‘Where'd you get it?'

‘From this very interesting old dear called Meredith. Runs an antiques shop. You think she  …  ?'

Sláine gave a little smile. ‘Maybe.'

I put the locket away and said, half-teasing, ‘You know, you were banking an awful lot on me understanding your purpose back there. I mightn't have clocked at all what you wanted me to do, with the scotch and the fag. Bit slow on the uptake, you know?'

She shook her head adamantly. ‘I knew you'd get it. I know
you
, Aidan. How you think, what you'll do.' She kissed me hard on the mouth. My fingers shot outwards in shivering bursts of delight. ‘I know you better than I know myself. And trust me, when you've got this much free time, you get to know yourself pretty well.'

We laughed and I said, ‘Why not just set him alight yourself? Out of curiosity. Why take the tiny risk that I'd be too dumb to follow your lead?'

She thought about this. ‘I needed you there when I took him down. I can't – I can't explain it  …  I told you before, you make me stronger, more powerful, like I can do anything. But I need you there to do it
with
. Does that make sense? It had to be a team effort. You and me, taking on the world.'

It made sense.

‘Aidan, I'm sorry,' she added. ‘About keeping you in the dark like that, but especially for saying those things tonight. I didn't mean any of it.'

‘I know that.'

‘Not one word.'

‘Not even one?' I smiled and kissed her forehead. ‘Listen, I have to know. Why would you give up all this power? Everything Kinvara promised you. Immortality, I mean  …  It's a lot to lose.'

Sláine frowned, annoyed. ‘I told you. Because I
love
you, you moron. What, is that so hard to believe?'

I smiled again, taken aback at how simple things often were, underneath everything. When you stripped away the horseshit and melodrama. When you stopped overanalysing and started feeling and living.

‘No,' I said. ‘Not hard at all.'

I stretched my back and gazed at the twinkling panorama of the night sky while Sláine told me that Sioda – Mr Smooth Operator, who in reality was a bundle of nerves – had arrived shortly before I did, apparently invited by Joseph. Little did he know what his demented brother was cooking up. Little did he know about any of it. I'd have to apologise again for suspecting him.

She must have read my mind because Sláine said, ‘Go back and check on that man. Make sure he's all right.'

‘What're we going to tell him? To explain all this. Explain – you.'

‘I don't know. Just make sure he hasn't
done
anything. To himself.'

Sláine embraced me again and I could feel that something had changed, a hesitation in her beaming out like radiation. I thought I knew what she had to say and why she didn't want to voice it. I definitely knew I didn't want to hear it, but I forced myself to speak anyway: ‘Go on. Tell me.'

‘I have to go away for a while. I'm sorry.'

‘Okay.'

‘I'm not sure why. I just  …  it's something I need to do. Be by myself.'

‘Okay.'

‘Is it?'

I smiled sadly. ‘Not really. How long? Do you know?'

‘I don't.' She looked at me with regret. ‘It's not like before. This is more  …  I can't describe it. It's like I have to find myself again, or something. Let some process of transformation take place, give it space to breathe. Be alone, and sort of  …  There's no point trying to explain it. I don't understand it myself. But it won't be forever. I will come back.'

‘Ha.
Okay
.'

‘Aidan, I'm so sorry for everything,' she said again. ‘All these bad things that've happened to you, it's because of me.'

She was crying once more. I wiped an icy tear from her cheek and said, ‘And every good thing, Sláine. Every good thing is you.'

We smiled at each other for a long time under the thin moonlight, the whole forest hushed as though paying its respects to the moment.

Finally Sláine said, ‘Will you wait for me?'

I laughed. ‘What? What kinda dumb question is that? You
know
I will.'

She laughed too. ‘I will come back to you. I
will
.'

‘I know that. And I'll be here waiting. As long as it takes.'

‘I love you, Aidan Flood. Endless, boundless.'

She kissed me again, ferociously. I was drowning in it, dizzy with it all.

‘I love you too,' I said. ‘Ever, forever, the size of a universe.'

Then she whispered, ‘Hearts talking across life and death,' kissed me one last time and with a rush of cold air was gone.

Goodbye, my love. Goodbye, my dream, my ghost, my guardian angel.

No, not goodbye. Farewell. Until we meet again. We will.

I hiked back to the lodge, further than I thought – I guess we'd run pretty quickly. I didn't quite know what to expect when I got there, but it hadn't much changed. Joseph Kinvara's charred remains still face down in the snow, the sight of them turning my stomach. Sioda still inside the room, although he'd moved back to the bed. The armchair was gutted but no longer aflame. Thankfully, the fire hadn't spread any further.

Sioda was lamping into a bottle of wine he'd found – another super-expensive brand Sláine had purloined somewhere – and looked drunk, red-eyed, torn up. But his speech wasn't slurred when he saw me and said, ‘You.'

I eased inside and found my tobacco.

‘The boy from the library,' he went on. ‘Mr Flood.'

Sitting on a stool, I made myself a cigarette, keeping a close watch on the man opposite.

‘Bravo,' Sioda said, taking another generous swallow. ‘Bravo.'

Was he being sarcastic? I'd been involved in killing his brother, and what was that he'd said about loyalty to family  …  ? I tensed.

‘It had to be done,' he said faintly. ‘He had to die, and I didn't have the balls to do it. Didn't have the
heart
. He was family. But Joseph was evil. I see that now.' Another drink. I lit my smoke. ‘I never realised the full extent of what he was doing. Thought he was just playing around with all that black magic rubbish. I love old books myself, but only as a reader. Never thought he took them
seriously
. Never thought that stuff was  …  Jesus.'

He had a look of utter disbelief, presumably not for the first time. The mind sometimes refuses to accept what the senses show it.

‘Am I to blame?' Sioda said. ‘I've always supported him, indulged him  …  Joseph wanted to move to this town, we moved. He asked me to check out such-and-such a library book, I did it. He spent his life skulking in the shadows – he avoided everyone – Christ, he'd even leave the house when the cleaner was due to call around – and I ignored his strange behaviour, no questions asked. Worse, I made it possible. Made all
this
 …  '