Winter of Discontent (Four Seasons Book 1) (15 page)

Chapter Twenty-six – Time and Space

Erik

I said nothing as I got back into the car and, as Jared knew me better than anyone – better than my dad and, I think, better than I knew myself – he stayed silent too. I’d wanted to go inside with Sarah, to be sure she was OK; this was as close as I’d gotten to doing a memory wipe on her since the day she’d followed me home. I couldn’t bear to think about what she must be going through after her ordeal. As I started to replay it in my mind, I could feel my Warlock side starting to surface again. I wanted to go back into town and find Enders. I wanted to rip him apart; I wanted to rip them all apart. Jared sensed this and just reached his hand out and placed it on my shoulder.

When we pulled up at home, Dad was waiting for us. I could tell by the look on his face he already knew what had happened. He and Jared were really good at Whispering over distance and it was only understandable that Jared would tell him, to prepare him for our return.

As I walked through to the lounge, I was greeted by Jess. I don’t know if Dad had said anything to her about where we’d been, what had happened, but her reaction to my return was very measured.

‘I’ve put the coffee on, Erik, and made you a snack. I’ll see you in the morning. Happy New Year, darling,’ she said, as she leant forward and hugged me tightly before going upstairs to bed.

I sat down quietly on the couch. To the outside world, I would have looked like any calm reasonable young man, but on the inside, a raging Warlock wanted to get out.

‘She’s all on her own,’ I said, when I finally broke the silence.

‘She’ll be OK, E.’

‘I’ve called her father. He’ll be back in a few days.’

I looked at Dad in disbelief.

‘What the hell did you do that for? We said we would protect her, look out for her. What the hell is he gonna think? I let her down, Dad. We handled this wrong; we should never have bought Jess back with us. I should have been with her tonight.’

‘Are you forgetting what happened in Canada, Erik? They want her dead as much as The Council want to capture her. You could well lead either one of them straight to her. You had to stay away from her.’

I shook my head furiously but I knew he was right; I was in a no-win situation. Without saying anything further, I just got up and went to bed. I knew if I remained downstairs, I’d end up arguing with Dad or Jared, or both. They had done nothing to deserve my anger, in fact quite the opposite. When I’d sensed earlier in the evening that something was gonna happen they didn’t hesitate to back me. Dad had offered to come with us but there was no need; there were very few situations that either of us couldn’t handle alone. I only agreed to Jared coming along because I couldn’t trust how I would react. I needed his calming influence and in the end it was a good thing he was there. When we realised what was happening, he just about threw me across the street in order to get to them first. He knew if it had been me I wouldn’t have the control that he did. It wasn’t just an age thing –Jared had always been better at controlling his power than I had. He never struggled through the ‘Warlock puberty’ thing that was plaguing me; well, if he did, it never seemed to manifest in him the way it did in me. Things had been getting worse over the past few months; I’d wake in the middle of the night with the urge to practise getting stronger and stronger. So far I’d managed to resist, but I didn’t know how much longer I could continue. In some ways it wasn’t that bad. I’d heard stories from Dad about young Warlocks who’d turned from decent young men into raving maniacs. Some had to have their power curbed completely in order to stop them causing damage to themselves or to others. It had crossed my mind to ask Dad to curb mine completely. If I’d no real power then it’d have been easier to continue a relationship with Sarah, but then how would I protect her if someone found her?

In the end, I decided that keeping my power and keeping my distance was the best way to protect her. A Warlock without his powers couldn’t sense, couldn’t Whisper and, he definitely wouldn’t have increased strength or speed. Jared had despatched Enders and his two accomplices within seconds – without his power, he might not have been able to stop them alone. Being a Warlock had its advantages.

The following morning, I took the well-worn route to Sarah’s. Once again, I sat quietly on the wall opposite. It was around 7 a.m. when her aunt got dropped off. I had to smile; she looked every bit as glamorous at that time of day as she’d no doubt looked the previous evening. I must have been grinning inanely for a few moments before I noticed her staring over at me.

‘Hey there, Happy New Year!’ she shouted brightly.

For a second, I thought about turning heel and running for home, but I didn’t. Instead, rather foolishly, I stood up, crossed the road, and greeted her like an old friend. I got the distinct impression by her warm attitude that Sarah hadn’t told her everything that had gone on between us.

‘Are you coming in for a drink? Sarah was staying over at Kacey’s last night so I don’t think she’ll be back yet,’ she said, clearly oblivious to the previous evening’s events.

I should have said ‘no’, I should have wished her well and just gone home, but I couldn’t. I could sense she was awake, I could sense she was upset and in need of support. I should have also sensed that I wasn’t the person to give her that support, but I didn’t.

‘Sure. That sounds great.’ I smiled warmly back at her.

‘Come on then. You can tell me all about how you spent your New Year’s Eve.’

I shuddered at the thought, but followed her in anyway.

‘What are you doing here?’ said Suzanne as we entered the lounge.

There, all wrapped up in a duvet on the couch, was Sarah.

‘What am I doing here? What the hell is he doing here?’ she spat back.

‘I’d better go. I just wanted to make sure you were OK.’

‘Well, I’m sure you didn’t need to come all the way round here to find that out. Now if you don’t mind, there’s the door.’

‘Yeah, I’m going.’

Suzanne saw me out.

‘Now that was very unfair, Erik. I didn’t know you two had had another falling out. You shouldn’t have come in when I invited you; it put me in a very awkward position.’

‘I know. I am sorry.’

‘Well, OK. Just give her some time and space, I’m sure you’ll work things out,’ she said as she closed the door behind me.

I heard the phone in their lounge ring as I walked down the path toward the road. I sensed it would be her father. In some way, this made things easier for me to leave; at least she had him to turn to. I knew they were close and I knew he would move mountains to protect her – what I didn’t know was where I would fit in now. He’d kind of implied that he was happy for me to watch over her and I guess he knew I was happy to do that rather than not see her at all. What part he wanted me to play in her life now, though, remained to be seen.

Chapter Twenty-seven – Pure Class

Sarah

I’d escaped being raped but I still felt violated. I didn’t know quite how I was gonna face Enders and my attackers when the term started but, for now, I was just relieved that Dad had been given additional R&R and was gonna be back in a few days. I couldn’t helping thinking how different it would have been if he hadn’t gone back at all or how different it would have been if I’d still been with Erik.

I went upstairs to shower, while Aunt Suze made breakfast. Apparently, she had partied all night, hadn’t been to bed, but still had the energy to cook and keep me company. I hadn’t managed to get a lot of sleep. I’d started off in bed but at around 5 a.m. I woke and came downstairs with the duvet. It was stupid really, but all of a sudden I’d felt vulnerable alone in my room – coming downstairs and putting on the TV I felt somehow safer, more secure.

The next couple of days went by quite quickly. I didn’t tell Aunt Suze what had happened, how could I? I’d have had to tell her who attacked me and who had saved me. I’d have had to tell her that although they attacked me they now had no memory of the events that happened during or afterwards. If I
had
told her, she’d have told Dad and he’d have called the police. How could they charge them with something they no longer knew anything about and, let’s face it, I couldn’t tell them about Erik and Jared. I don’t know how they knew about what was happening but I knew enough to figure it was something Warlock. After I’d had time to calm down, time to work things out in my head, the prospect of going back to school wasn’t quite so daunting. My attackers wouldn’t and couldn’t hurt me again, so the only thing I had to really face on Monday was Kacey. I couldn’t give a damn about Chris – it wasn’t like we’d dated properly – but Kacey was a different matter. We’d become friends and the depth to which I’d felt betrayed showed just how closely I’d held that friendship. I had no idea how I’d react when I saw her. She’d sent texts a couple of times trying to apologize, trying to make excuses for her behaviour, but I hadn’t responded to any of them. For a 21
st
Century girl, I could be a bit 20
th
Century when it came to the whole texting thing. I’d much rather pick the phone up and have a conversation. I found texting so impersonal, so cold. If we were gonna have this out, we were gonna have it out one on one.

I got to school early that first day. I wanted to compose myself; I wanted to see Kacey arrive so I could brace myself. However, it appeared Kacey must have had the same idea. As I walked across the parking lot up to the school entrance I could see her sat on the bench over by the bike sheds. I turned off the path onto the grass and walked over and sat down next to her.

We sat in silence, neither one looking at the other. In the end I broke first.

‘Drunken slut.’

‘Yes.’

‘Lousy friend.’

‘Yes.’

‘I forgive you.’

Kacey turned quickly.

‘Oh, Trump. I was so scared I’d driven you off for good. I am a lousy friend and a drunken slut but I’ll never let you down again, I promise.’

I smiled, I couldn’t help it. Any possible relationship with Chris wasn’t worth saving but in those few first minutes sat on the bench with Kacey I knew my friendship with her was.

We spent the next half an hour talking about anything and everything except the party; I think we both knew that was best left in the past. I didn’t mention anything to her about the attack and I felt strangely in control of things when Enders and his goons came and stood a few feet from us. It really was like they had no recall, but there was something about the way they said ‘hi’ as they passed that made me realise that what Erik had done had worked. There was no hint of the spite or malice in their voices that I’d experienced over the past couple of months. They would never be punished in law for what they had done but they had been punished. All three were counting on either a basketball or football scholarship to get into college but, after what Erik had done, I knew there was no way that was gonna happen. To be sure though, I decided I would be ringside this afternoon when the first game of the year between Carterbrook and another local school was due to take place.

‘Remind me, what are we doing here, Trump?’ Kacey asked, when we took our seats in the stand.

‘I just wanted to show some support, that’s all,’ I said somewhat sheepishly.

The game had been in play for only a few minutes when Enders was fouled just as he was about to shoot. Two free shots, I thought, as the referee blew the whistle. The look on Enders face was pure arrogance as he took the ball from the referee. He bounced the ball once, then bounced it again, aimed, and shot for the basket. It missed by a mile. The home crowd gasped its amazement; Enders had
never
missed a shot before, not one like this. You could see the look of shock on his face as well as the concentration when he came to take his second shot. The whole of the sports hall held its breath, he bounced the ball once, he bounced it again, took aim, and threw the ball; it hit the back board and went out of play. I thought for a moment I was the only one from Carterbrook smiling, but I wasn’t. There on the other side of the court, looking straight at me was Erik. He didn’t stay for the rest of the game. He didn’t see Enders miss shot after shot until the coach substituted him for one of my other attackers. He didn’t see him miss shot after shot either, but I guess he knew anyway. My third attacker didn’t get to play today but I didn’t need to see how he would perform, how he would fail, and the sense of satisfaction I got from knowing this was immense.

As I walked towards the bus stop I could see Erik just ahead of me. I stepped back and waited until he was out of sight, I wasn’t ready to talk to him yet. I knew how much I owed him but I couldn’t forget the way he’d treated me and I couldn’t forget how scared and how frightened I felt when he’d threatened to kill my attackers. It would have been easy to let him hurt them, to really physically hurt them, but I couldn’t have lived with that, not even knowing what they would have done to me. I wasn’t someone who harboured revenge when people hurt me but I thought the punishment Erik meted out was pretty awesome. Not only would they never fulfil their dreams but they would be incapable of ever hurting anyone else ever again. Class, pure class – even with the fear I still had of him, I couldn’t help but be impressed.

I waited to go to the bus stop until the next one had left; I knew Erik would be on that one and I wasn’t ready to be that close to him just yet.

I tried to put all thoughts of New Year’s Eve and Erik out of my head. Dad was due to arrive in a few hours and I couldn’t wait. I always felt better when I spent time with him and I needed to spend time with him now more than ever.