The Violet Line (17 page)

I started laughing at his cautionary remark, his face still screwed up in pain. Picking mine up, I blew on it gently before taking a dainty sip. It was thick, creamy and tasted like real melted chocolate and something else.

“
Brandy?” I questioned him.

He looked surprised. “You knew; most people don’t get it. How did you know?”

I smiled. “Well, they go well together and normally it’s given to warm people up or if they’ve had a shock. It seemed logical plus I know what it tastes like; I have had it before.”

His grin broke through. “Ah right, grand. I was worried there for a minute in case I’d insulted you or something. I wasn’t too sure if you were one of them tee totallers or something, you know?”

I sipped mine again and we sat in silence for a few minutes as he watched the people around us. I knew he was the talkative type so he wouldn’t be able to keep silent and I wasn’t wrong.

“
So, I suppose you’re wondering how I know who you are and why I keep popping up at the most convenient of times ‘eh?”

“
Well yeah,” I answered his blunt question. “Although I wasn’t quite expecting you to just come out with it.”

He laughed. “Well I haven’t yet, now have I? But I suppose I’m going to have to tell you something. To put it simply, your aunt was worried about you.” He stared at me, I suppose expecting me to know what he meant but I hadn’t a clue.

“
I’m sorry, my aunt?” I sounded as confused as I felt. “I don’t have an aunt, just uncles, I did have one but she went missing years ago and I never got to meet her.”

He nodded. “I know that she’s worried about you; you might not have met her, but I have. She sent me to keep an eye on you, see if you needed any help. You see, my mom owed her a favour and our families are quite close, so I said I’d help.” A small smile played around his lips as he finished speaking, but my head was reeling.

“
So you’re telling me that all these years, my aunt has been alive and has a family of her own and she never thought to contact her own family to tell them she was ok or anything like that? Did she not think they might want to know?” I sounded angry and my voice rose a few octaves. I could see the surprise and embarrassment on Lorcan’s face but I didn’t care. “How the hell would my aunt know anything about me or my family when she clearly doesn’t care enough to lift the phone to make a call, not even one to my mom?”

“
Your mom understands, Jade. She knows, but she was the only one. You should ask her about it; she’ll tell you what you need to know. Your aunt wants to see you; she thinks she can help you and when you’re ready, I’m to take you to her.” Lorcan kept his voice low and neutral; I suppose he didn’t want to upset me any further. I stood up shaking my head.

“
Well maybe I don’t want to see her. She hurt my mom I can’t condone that; I won’t.” I fled the table and ran out onto the street; I had to get home. I had so much whirling around my head that I didn’t know what I was supposed to do first; nothing made sense anymore. Why did everything always have to be so complicated? I stopped. I needed to talk to my mom about all this first, find out what she knew about her sister and why she would want to see me after all this time of having no contact. It didn’t make any sense; but then, when did anything make sense now? I laughed out loud. It sounded slightly manic to my ears, but I didn’t care; I needed to get home. I began the trudge in the direction of my apartment.

Chapter Nineteen

Closing the door of my apartment, I let the silence soothe the turmoil in my mind. Why did everything always have to happen at once? Looking down, I noticed I was still wearing Lorcan’s jumper.

“
Serves him right,” I muttered as I banged into my bedroom, ripping the jumper off over my head and quickly slipping into pajamas. I lifted Sam’s jumper from the chair and pulled it on over everything and sniffed the collar; his smell was starting to fade and it was being replaced by the smell of my perfume. I wanted to at least have the smell from his clothes and now it seemed I wouldn’t even have that anymore. I headed back into the sitting room and picked my phone up from where I had discarded it. One text. My heart leapt at the thought that it might be from Sam but this was squashed quickly when I noticed it was from Annie.

“
What happened tonight? How’d it all go? How’s Aidan? Did he say anything about me when I left? You should come over.”

I toyed with the idea but quickly dismissed it. I needed some time so I could talk to my mom about what I had learned. Surely if she really knew anything, she would have told the rest of the family instead of letting everyone think the worst. I dialed her mobile number and listened as the phone rang and rang; surely she would still be up considering we hadn’t spoken yet today. After the sixth ring she answered.

“
Hello?”

“
Hi, Mom; it’s Jade.”

“
Jade, you never rang me. What’s going on? Is everything alright? I was worried; you didn’t even bother to send me a text. What’s been going on?” Her voice was more angry than panicked but I knew it was caused by relief.

“
Look, I’m fine.” I tried to sound as reassuring as possible; I didn’t want to burden her with my issues and I needed to get her talking about her sister. “It’s just something to do with Sam but it’ll all be fine; I’m sorting it out. Mom, I wanted to ask you about your sister.”

Silence greeted my question until eventually, “What did you want to ask me?” Her voice sounded colder and I didn’t want to push her for the information, but I knew I had to if I was going to get to the bottom of this whole situation.

“
What happened, Mom; what really happened? Do you know where she is?”

She sighed on the other end of the phone. “No, I don’t know where she is.”

“
But you know that she is still alive? Why haven’t you ever told anyone? Didn’t you think they might want to know?”

“
I did tell them. I told them about the letter she left for me but they wouldn’t listen; it was as though they were happier to just let her go.” Her voice began to crack. “When we discovered her bed that morning and the note saying she had gone to a better place, I wouldn’t believe it. And when I went back to my room, I found a note from her saying she’d be in touch; ‘look to your window,’ she wrote. I showed it to my mother but she dismissed it and I was told to just accept the fact that my sister was gone. Jade, they had a funeral for her, for goodness sake – with an empty coffin.”

I was shocked; she had never told me this much of the story before. “But did she get in contact with you?”

Her voice was low and sounded as if it came from far away. “Yes, she contacted me. When I woke one morning, I found her message written on my window in the fog. In it, she told me that if I ever needed to talk to her to write it on my mirror and she would get it and write back on the window. It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? I didn’t believe it myself, simply thought it was one of my brothers playing a cruel joke on me. So I tried it out, expecting nothing to happen, but within a few seconds of my writing ‘hello’ on the mirror she wrote back. It’s how we have stayed in contact for all these years. She never told me where she was no matter how many times I have asked her, begged her to tell me. She always says she cannot reveal her whereabouts to me but that she is safe and well. Jade, why have you asked these questions? Do you know something? She hasn’t contacted me in quite some time now but it has always worked.” Her voice sounded concerned as she thought there might be something wrong.

“
No, no, everything is fine; I’m sure. It’s just that I met someone who says they are friends with her, well his mother is. He came looking for me as a favour to her. He says she wants to meet me but I don’t know why she would; none of it makes sense.”

My mother was silent, before adding, “Well, maybe you should agree to meet her; she might have something important to tell you. She was always into the unexplainable; maybe she knows something about your gift.”

“
Mom, how would she? She doesn’t even know me. And I couldn’t do that to you.” I was almost certain I couldn’t anyway, but what if she knew more about the situation to do with Sam? It was quite strange how Lorcan turned up the moment Sam disappeared; it was all too much of a coincidence for my liking.

“
Jade, you should go or at the very least contact her. Do what I do, write it on the mirror. I promise you somehow she will get it; it has never failed for me and she won’t let you down. If anyone can help with your gift, she can. After all, it’s all she dealt in before she disappeared; I can only imagine that over the years she has gotten better at it. Trust me, Jade. Will you do this for me?” She pleaded with me and I couldn’t refuse her.

“
Fine, Mom, I’ll contact her. But I bet it won’t work; your mirror is probably special or something.”

“
It’ll work; don’t be so negative, dear. Light a white candle in front of the mirror and then write your message. Always sign it with your name; that way she’ll know who it’s from. Let me know how it goes.”

We said our goodbyes and I hung up. I was nervous about doing this. What if it didn’t work? In an odd way, I really did want it to work; I was curious about this woman who could just up sticks disappear and never contact any of her family. I was also curious after what my mother had told me. What if she really did know something about my gift? What if she knew something that would help me to find Sam? The thoughts whirled through my mind. I suppose if I didn’t try it I’d never know.

Getting up from the sofa, I crossed into the bedroom and opened the top drawer on my bedside locker. Rummaging inside, I searched for a white candle; I had to have one in here somewhere. Finally grabbing a small stubby one, I walked back into the main area of the flat. I wasn’t sure about which mirror I should write it on. Which one would be appropriate, I wondered before finally deciding on the cheval mirror in my bedroom. Grabbing the lighter from the kitchen, I trotted back into the room and picked up an eyeliner pencil. This would surely do and it should come off fairly easily too; not too much mess if it didn’t work out. I couldn’t believe I was actually going to go through with this; maybe I had gone completely mad after Sam left me and this was just my brains way of trying to cope. I shook the image from my mind and hastily began to scrawl the message on the mirror. ‘Hello, Aunt Emily, it’s Jade.’ That sounded ridiculous, I thought to myself but I certainly had nothing better to go on. I tried to think of something else, but everything sounded silly and pathetic to my ears. In the end, I settled for simple and to the point. ‘I met Lorcan. What do you know and why do you need to see me?’ Reading over it, I thought it sounded a bit rude, but then why shouldn’t I be a small bit rude? This woman had left her family years ago and never contacted them apart from my mother, but that still didn’t make it all right. I signed my name underneath and lit the candle. I wasn’t sure what I should expect. Standing up, I stretched my cramped and tired muscles; it had been a long few days. I walked slowly over to my bedroom window and gazed at it. Nothing. Maybe she hasn’t got it yet, the small voice in my head piped up; maybe she’s trying to figure out what to write back. I stood in front of the window for a few minutes more before giving up. I needed sleep. Maybe there would be something tomorrow.

Walking out to the kitchen I proceeded to switch off the lights and deadbolt the door. After I had finished tiding everything away, I hurried back into my room. The mirror remained unchanged and there was no difference in the glass of my windows. I sighed in disappointment. Why would I expect anything else? Clearly my mother’s mirror was somehow magic, allowing her to communicate with Aunt Emily. It was a stupid idea for me to have tried anyway. Crawling under the covers of my rumpled bed, clicking the bedside lamp off, I lay in the dark watching the patterns from the streetlights on the ceiling. I didn’t expect sleep to find me – I had so much to think on and ponder – but it did eventually and I drifted off into a fitful sleep filled with dreams of broken mirrors and Sam’s disappointed face.

I awoke with tears on my face. The pillow was soaked and I was once more tangled in the bed sheets. I lay there trying to slow my beating heart. what time was it? I rolled onto my side and picked my phone up from where I had left it the night before. Six forty-five. Almost time to get up anyway, I thought as I cuddled down under the covers, throwing the damp pillow across the room. The phone buzzed on the table beside me, making me groan. Reaching out, I groped around blindly until my hand closed around its smooth shape. I dragged it back under the covers with me and looked at the brightly lit screen.

‘
Want to get coffee?’

I typed the word ‘sure’ onto the screen and pressed send to Annie. Sighing, I lay there for a few more minutes before dragging myself out of the bed and heading in the direction of the shower. I glanced at the mirror and then the window as I passed them, but still nothing had appeared.

Emerging from the shower, I felt slightly more awake but my dreams were disturbing me. After last night’s escapades, I was sure that even if I found Sam he wasn’t going to be happy. Lorcan’s words came back to comfort me. He didn’t think it was my fault; he had assured me it was just the ‘Siren’ music the vampires were so fond of that had caused me to behave the way I had, but I still felt ashamed. Brushing my wet hair back into a ponytail, I pulled on my clothes for work. May as well go in today; I couldn’t pretend to be sick any longer. I picked up my bag from behind the sofa and grabbed my car keys as I headed out the door.