Shiver the Whole Night Through (28 page)

BOOK: Shiver the Whole Night Through
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He looked at his hands as if there were actual blood on them. The moment of intense anguish passed, for now. Sioda smiled warmly and said, ‘It's almost funny – how you thought it was me.'

‘Yeah. That. Listen, I gotta apologise. I was way off.'

He flapped a hand, dismissing my regrets. ‘Not at all, I can see why you thought it. The clues sort of added up there, didn't they? I'm  …  an eccentric man, in some ways.'

‘Hey, why'd you call the house ColdStar
?
That totally struck me as a reference to – you know. This.'

Sioda smiled bashfully. ‘Name of a racehorse I had a share in. Doesn't mean anything. I just liked the sound.'

‘You really didn't know the house once belonged to William McAuley?'

‘Never heard of the man until tonight. Coincidence, I suppose?'

‘Okay. And why'd you employ my dad?'

‘Another coincidence.'

‘Or “bravo”, telling me to check it out. It means “wicked stranger”. Thought that was a clue too.'

‘All coincidence,' he said. ‘Life is full of them. Didn't Jung or someone say everything is connected, every mind and event, through the great collective unconscious  …  ' His voice faded, embarrassed. ‘Or maybe  …  like Joseph thought. Maybe it was destined.'

I said, ‘Why did you invite me to your house that day? I thought it was a trap  …  '

Sioda scowled at me. ‘I told you, I'm no pederast.'

I said hurriedly, ‘I know. I didn't mean it like that. But looking back, when I thought it was you  …  I reckoned you were planning to  …  tie me up, kill me, feed to me to this bloody demon.'

He sighed. ‘I offered the use of my library because I knew your family was  …  '

I finished his sentence: ‘Poor?'

He seemed more ill at ease than me. ‘Yes. I knew your parents didn't have a lot of money. For books and so on. I figured you'd get something out of it.'

‘I would have. That was good of you.'

Sioda stood, swaying slightly. ‘No – 'twas my little brother all along. You had the wrong man, Mr Flood  …  He'd been stalking you for a while. He told me so, this evening. Said he met you on the road outside town, little while back?'

I nodded. I remembered. So that was Joseph. No wonder my Spidey-sense was tingling.

‘Saw you pass our house, got in his car –
my
car – and followed you. Hid the car, then walked towards you. Wanted to get up nice and close. And you know why? It
amused
him. He admitted this, like it was all a big joke  …  ' Sioda abruptly changed direction. ‘Is she your sweetheart, that lass who was here earlier? You're a lucky young man. She's one hell of a girl.' He took a swig from the bottle and laid it on the ground. ‘All the best to you, Aidan Flood. Give my regards to your dad.'

A chill ran through me as I saw he now held the gun. Did he have it all along  …  ? His thumb stroked the hammer which, I registered nervously, was cocked. Bad news. What did he think he wanted to do with that?

‘Mr Kinvara,' I said softly. ‘Do you  …  you wanna give me that?'

He ignored me and stepped outside, half staggering, gun swinging, a vaguely ape-like motion. The moonlight seemed brighter. Sioda moved towards it like an actor stepping into the spotlight. I gingerly stood and followed at a distance, anxiously awaiting his next act. The entire night waited, breath held.

That silence was broken by a hideous screech: the collection of burned flesh and black ash that used to be Joseph Kinvara, who I'd assumed was dead, suddenly lurched to its feet and came reeling towards me. He must have been in unbelievable pain, hardly conscious any more, driven by muscle memory and undistilled hatred of me. His blackened skin crackled as he lumbered across the snow, arms outstretched like a mummy, rasping, ‘Kill you  … 
kill you
 …  ruined all  …  Aidan Flood  …  '

I stared, aghast at this fresh madness. Would I have snapped out of it in time to crack him on the head with the bottle, or dial 999 and shimmy up the nearest tree to wait for the cavalry?

It didn't matter. The gun cracked, twice, three times, five, six, as Sioda unloaded that revolver into his brother. Two to the head, pretty much blowing it apart. More to the body. Joseph dropped like a sack of shit. This time he really was kaput.

Sioda let the weapon fall, still smoking, sizzling into the snow. He said flatly, ‘I love you, Joseph.' Then he walked off, nary a word or gesture to me, swallowed by the gaping black maw of the forest. I somehow knew he wouldn't be seen alive again. Only death could offer him peace now.

Alone once more but not lonely. I located my phone and texted Podsy:
ALL OK I THINK. YOU CAN DESTROY LETTER – EVRYTING GONN BE FINE. A

I tapped my parka, searching for smokes, and hit the famous locket once more. I'll do it now, I vowed – put in two pictures, me and Sláine. Maybe ask her mother for a nice photo on some vague pretence. Find something half-decent of me.

My phone beeped: message from Podsy.
OKAY  …  GREAT. PS EH EH EH  …  DONT KILL ME. I ALREADY READ IT. SORRY, CURIOSITY GOT BETTER OF ME
.

Ha
. Cheeky little fecker. I texted back:
YER ALL RIGHT. SO? THINK I'M CRAZY NOW PROBLY.

NO. MORE IN HEAVEN AND EARTH, HORATIO ETC ETC  …  STRANGE STUFF THO. MUCH TO DISCUSS
.

AGREED. NIGHT, PODS.

U TOO. NIGHT TO HERSELF ALSO
:)

I felt a squeeze of pain in my heart. I ached to be with Sláine. I knew I couldn't for now, and that made me sick inside.

But suck it up, soldier. Tough it out. Endure. Wait for her, as you promised.

I replaced the phone and zipped up my parka. I didn't have a cap but that didn't matter because I had warmth enough and this would do and I walked back to our Ancient Greek amphitheatre and found a soft spot and it was dry enough too and then I lay down and drew my arms closer to myself and pulled that locket out of my jacket and held it near to my heart with awkward frozen fingers and settled down to wait for Sláine's return.

My eyes cast around in the darkness and landed on a white shape, tiny against the black-green moss. A snowdrop, struggling to escape the ground, gasping for life. Reaching for it. Making it.

The thaw was coming. It'd take a while but now that Joseph Kinvara and his demon were gone, I knew the cold weather would disappear too.

You did it, Sláine. You saved the world. You saved me.

Tears filled my eyes, tears of sadness and longing, tears in her absence, yet I smiled, happier than I'd ever been. I will see her again, I told myself. I will. I'll lie under the dark pines for as long as it takes, and wait for her to come back to me.

And I thought, yes, I'll wait for you here, Sláine. As long as it takes  … 

in the cold and the blackness I'll lie here  … 

in our place in the pines I'll wait for you and  … 

shiver the whole night through
.

Read the book – and listen to the soundtrack

I've done up a Spotify playlist for
Shiver the Whole Night Through
. It's the music I listened to while writing the book, or that inspired it in some way. Music that I felt chimed well with the tone and mood of
Shiver
; that complemented the story, or expressed something inexpressible about the characters and themes. Music with a chilly, brittle, spooky or melancholy feel. Music that sounded like a strange, eerie nursery rhyme or lullaby. Music that captured the novel's wintry vibe. I guess I see the playlist as a sort of soundtrack to the book, so you can use it as an accompaniment to your reading, making the whole experience more  …  cinematic, for want of a better word.

It's a cool little add-on, an aural embellishment. Listen to it here by typing
http://bit.ly/shiverthewholenight
into your web browser.

Hope you enjoy both the book and the soundtrack,

Darragh

(P.S. You'll need Spotify for it to work  …  )

Darragh McManus

Darragh McManus is an author, journalist, playwright and screenwriter.
Shiver the Whole Night Through
is his first Young Adult book. He has previously published two crime novels: a vigilante thriller called
Even Flow
(2012) and noir-style mystery
The Polka Dot Girl
(2013). His first book was the humorous non-fiction
GAA Confidential
(2007), and he released a comic novel,
Cold! Steel! Justice!!!
, as an e-book under the name Alexander O'Hara (2011).

For more than a decade Darragh has written reviews, features and opinion columns for several papers, including
the Irish Independent
, the
Sunday Times
and the
Guardian
. Several short stories have appeared in literary journals, in Ireland, the UK and the US. He's also written a play, which has had cast readings in Manhattan and Belfast and will be recorded for radio broadcast this year.

Darragh lives in the west of Ireland and is currently working on some new YA stories. Follow Darragh at
darraghmcmanus.com
or on Twitter:
@McManusDarragh

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First published in Great Britain in 2014 by Hot Key Books

Northburgh House, 10 Northburgh Street, London EC1V 0AT

Copyright © Darragh McManus

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1-4714-0410-8

This eBook was produced using Atomik ePublisher

www.hotkeybooks.com

Hot Key Books is part of the Bonnier Publishing Group

www.bonnierpublishing.com

BOOK: Shiver the Whole Night Through
8.45Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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