Winter of Discontent (Four Seasons Book 1) (19 page)

Chapter Thirty-three – Thinking Laterally

Erik

I spent the next few days spending as much time with Sarah as I could while we were at school, but as little time as I could bear without her outside of it. I figured that as long as we were around people, it was easier on us both to control our passion. Being alone presented too many temptations and I’d hurt her enough without having to push her away.

The following weekend, however, presented another set of challenges.

I’d decided that it would be safe to go round to the house when her aunt was in, so turned up just after 10 a.m.

‘Hey there,’ her aunt grinned, answering the door. ‘Behave yourselves,’ she said as she left and closed it behind her.

‘Erm … what’s going on?’ I asked.

Sarah threw her arms around my neck.

‘She’s going shopping for shoes and she’ll be hours yet.’

I know I should have pulled away there and then, but I couldn’t. I wanted to feel her warmth, I wanted to hold her close to me, I wanted to take her upstairs and show her just how she made me feel. As she started to kiss me, I knew upstairs wasn’t gonna happen – I couldn’t wait that long. I lifted her gently toward the couch and kissed her passionately, starting first with her mouth and then working my way across her cheeks and into her neck. By that time, she had already undone the buttons on her blouse and I could feel her heart pounding beneath me. I struggled to maintain control, shaking my head in constant battle between myself and the Warlock within. My growling intensified as I fought against my urges.

‘Don’t hide from me. I’m not afraid, you won’t hurt me.’

‘I can’t, I’m sorry, not yet.’ I pulled away, straightened my clothes and sat over on the chair by the window.

She looked upset, disappointed.

‘You know this isn’t you, don’t you, Sarah?’

She just nodded, did up the buttons on her blouse, and sat up straight on the couch, tucking her feet up underneath her.

‘OK. We’ll wait. I won’t try to seduce you again.’

She smiled but inside I knew she was hurting.

‘Come on, let’s go out,’ I said, trying to lighten the mood.

She forced a smiled and went to get her jacket.

She’d only been out of the room for a moment when I sensed him. Rising from my seat I went to the front door and opened it.

‘Good morning, Mr Trent, this is a nice surprise!’

‘Daddy! Oh, my God, I wasn’t expecting you!’

Sarah threw her arms around his neck in genuine excitement.

I felt like I was intruding somehow so offered to leave.

‘I won’t hear of it, Erik,’ said Mr Trent. ‘Besides, it’s about time I met some of Sarah’s friends. Why don’t you put the kettle on, Princess? I could murder a coffee.’

As Sarah dutifully went off to make a drink, her father came over and sat next to me.

‘I spoke to your father earlier, I know everything. I can’t say I’m happy, but it took guts to act the way you did.’

As he held his hand out to me, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted from me. I’d been quietly dreading facing him. I knew I’d have to eventually, but I didn’t think it would be this soon.

‘I won’t hurt her again, sir, I promise,’ I said, as I shook his hand.

‘I do hope not, Erik. Your father assured me you would all work this out; assured me you would not release her until I said she was ready. You have to understand that the timing of her release is of paramount importance. I can’t tell you more yet – you have to trust me on this.’

I nodded my agreement.

‘Of course. I won’t go against you, I promise.’

When Sarah finally came back with the coffee, things still felt a little strained,
and it didn’t get any easier when Mr Trent suggested he and I get to know each other better the following weekend. To be honest, the thought of spending any more time with him than I had to was pretty daunting. I imagine most seventeen-year-old boys wouldn’t relish the thought of spending time with their girlfriend’s dad but, when there were so many secrets and so many supernatural forces working against us, it was no wonder I found it all rather daunting. I stayed for another half an hour and then made my excuses.

‘I’ll see you Monday; you spend some time with your dad, OK?’ I said, as I hugged her goodbye.

I didn’t want to leave her; if I could, I’d have spent every waking minute with her. But I had to face the fact that she and I weren’t an ordinary couple; we faced difficult times ahead – I knew that, even if she didn’t.

As I walked back toward home I started to wonder what her dad had in mind for ‘getting to know each other’ as he’d put it. I’d been really impressed by his Warlock power but knowing I couldn’t match him was really intimidating. I wasn’t strong enough to stand against him – not that I wanted to – but if I had, I doubted that even the combined power of my dad, my brother and me would be strong enough.

The following week went by too quickly and before I knew, it was Saturday again. Sarah had said her dad wanted me to be at the house at 8.30 a.m. and to be sure I wore comfortable shoes!

Sarah was grinning broadly when I arrived. Her dad, she reckoned, was a real countryman at heart and he’d decided that he and I would spend the day fishing. I hated fishing! I didn’t mind camping, hiking, climbing; in fact, anything energetic, but I hated sitting at the side of a dull, boring riverbank casting a line into the water to catch fish. Why the hell people didn’t just buy them at the store like everyone else was beyond me! The problem was, though, I didn’t want to disappoint Sarah and I most certainly didn’t want to disappoint her dad.

‘Not really your thing is it, Erik?’ grinned Mr Trent after we’d been sat on the side of the bank for the longest hour of my life.

I thought about my answer for a moment and figured if I was ever gonna earn his respect, I needed to be honest.

‘No, sir, it’s not. Not my thing at all,’ I smiled.

He laughed at this, which at least was a good sign.

‘Fishing is good for Warlocks; it helps focus the mind, and helps clear it too. I’ve solved many a problem sat on a bank like this.’

I listened intently as he spoke. He was Sarah’s father and a powerful Warlock; I’d have been an idiot not to listen.

‘You see the small boat in the reeds on the other bank?’ he asked.

I looked out across the water.

‘Yes, I see it.’

‘Pull it over here.’

I was a little unsure of what he meant.

‘You mean, you want me to fetch it?’

He smiled at this and shook his head.

‘Oh right, you mean you want me to use magic. OK.’

I stood for a moment to check there was no one around. I could see about a quarter of a mile up the stream there was an old guy with a young boy, probably his grandson, sat opening sandwiches as they looked out on their poles.

I listened carefully but couldn’t hear anyone else, so I turned my attention to the boat. I held up my left hand and beckoned it toward us. I found myself concentrating harder and harder but the boat didn’t move, it didn’t move an inch. All the time I was doing this, Mr Trent was chatting away, about football, baseball, holidays, just about anything. I wondered for a moment if he’d done something to affect my power, so I glanced across to the right and beckoned for a branch that was overhanging the bank to lean against the breeze. Without any delay, the branch moved as I commanded it so I knew this was not of his doing.

‘So what’s the hold up, Erik? You moving that boat or what?’

‘I can’t. I don’t know what’s wrong but I can’t move it.’

I sounded like a whingeing kid; the only thing missing would have been a heavily stomped foot.

‘So what are you going to do? How are you going to move the boat if your magic’s not working the way you want it to?’

I joined him back on the ground and thought for a moment.

‘You’re holding the boat back. Right?’

He smiled, just slightly.

‘I’ll say it again, so what are you going to do? How are you going to move the boat if your magic’s not working the way you want it to, if it isn’t strong enough?’

I picked up the fishing pole at the side of me and cast the line out across the water trying to throw it out far enough to reach the boat. I stuck at this for over an hour. The line was long enough but I couldn’t get the line to catch on to any part of the boat to enable me to pull it over. Eventually I gave up on this and sat back down. I wasn’t gonna be beaten. Clearly Mr Trent was either trying to humiliate me or trying to teach me. I decided I wanted this to be a lesson so I treated the situation with respect. I hit on a plan, gave it a few more minutes, and then set it into action.

First I started to talk about Sarah, about how we’d met, how I’d wiped her memory. I needed to get his attention so I told him about The Wall, about the incident with the paint. When it was clear he was starting to relax I looked toward the other side of the bank to a battered old oil drum that lay up turned on the grass. Without any notice at all, I cast a notion. I turned my right hand gently toward the boat as I carried on talking but I didn’t beckon the boat just yet. I knew that the minute I started to do so, he would feel it. As we laughed and joked I braced myself, I knew what was coming. Without warning the oil drum on the other bank suddenly exploded and lifted from its position on the bank and landed just a few yards from where Mr Trent was sat. I’d known what was coming but it still made me jump. I didn’t hesitate though – the moment drum blew, I beckoned the boat to move. And it did.

Mr Trent grinned broadly.

‘Nice. I didn’t see that coming. Now,
that
is focusing the mind. It’s not all about the strength of your magic, Erik. Sometimes it’s just about thinking laterally, finding other routes. Do you see what I’m saying?’

I understood what he meant about finding another means to an end, but I wasn’t entirely sure what the lesson was. It didn’t matter though, not really. We’d actually had a good time, we laughed and joked and that was good. Apart from the whole finding out your dad’s a Warlock issue, Sarah would have loved this.

‘Come on, Erik. Let’s head back; I think that’s enough for one day.’

It wasn’t that late and I was actually quite disappointed to be leaving. In addition to the lesson with the boat, Mr Trent had also discussed other distraction techniques, other ways of putting off the Tracers, other ways of keeping Sarah safe. As we walked back toward the car, I was glad he’d ‘persuaded’ me to come. I was still pretty intimidated by him but I got the distinct impression he was warming to me.

Chapter Thirty-four – The Italians

Sarah

It still confused me as to why Erik and his dad had fallen out because of me, but I no longer lost sleep over it. For whatever reason, Logan had decided I should visit the house more often. Jared had taken Jess back to Canada and had gotten her settled back into an area of Ontario that she felt comfortable with. I have to admit, I did feel a little guilty about uprooting her, but I knew I was the one for Erik; besides which, she was now free to find someone that did actually love her as much as she’d thought she loved him. This was a good thing for both of us and things were starting to look brighter all round, more settled, more normal!

Dad had bought me two tickets to see Telly Leung in New York and I’d arranged to go with Kacey. Erik and I hadn’t been together at Christmas and no doubt if we had, I’d have suggested I go with him instead. However, I wasn’t about to let Kacey down after she’d been so supportive. I promised Erik I would call him as soon as we arrived in New York.

Having flown in quite late, we slept in until 9 a.m., showered, had breakfast, then left the hotel just before noon; we spent the next few hours shopping before heading back to get ready for the show. The theatre was just a five minute walk from the hotel and, after spending an hour getting ready, we made our way over. The show started bang on time and it was amazing! He sang all the old Broadway favourites as well as some modern classics. We spent a fortune on souvenirs, signed photographs and posters, and took more pictures than we knew what to do with. We didn’t get backstage this time but we had a great time; Telly was awesome.

After the show, we decided to go on to a little Mexican restaurant not far from the hotel.

We’d just ordered when my phone rang. It was Erik.

‘Leave it, Trump, for Christ’s sake; can’t he do without you for one weekend?’

I smiled; Kacey was much better than she used to be, but every so often her inner bitch would rear its ugly head.

‘I’ll make it quick,’ I said, as I answered it and went outside. ‘Are you checking up on me, Erik?’

‘Are you OK?’ he said quickly.

‘Yeah, of course I’m OK. We’re just having dinner. Why?’

‘It’s probably nothing. Jared just thought he’d sensed a problem.’

‘Well, you can tell him this is a little far to sense, even for him. Now I’m going back inside before Kacey loses it.’

I’d laughed it off but I actually felt a little freaked by his call. Jared’s senses had always been spot on, but we were fifteen hundred miles from him – surely to God he couldn’t have any degree of accuracy over that distance?

As I went back into the restaurant, I couldn’t help but smile. I’d been gone less than five minutes and Kacey had managed to pull some guy. There, sat at our table, clearly flirting with her was a rather gorgeous Italian; dark hair, dark eyes, Armani suit, and confidence that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a movie star.

‘Oh, that was quick,’ she said, as I took my seat. ‘Feel free to go make another call. Any time!’

It turned out that he was called Enzo and that he and his brother Stefano had been at the same concert; he reckoned he’d noticed Kacey, or so he said, when we’d passed by them on the way in. I wasn’t entirely sure I believed him as I was sure we would never have missed him, but I said nothing. Kacey was clearly revelling in the attention he was paying her and when his brother joined us a few minutes later, he was every bit as attentive and charming.

When we had eaten, they suggested we go on to a club. I wasn’t quite as keen as Kacey, but she was having so much fun, I couldn’t bring myself to bring her down by refusing. As we were leaving, I went to get our coats while she went to the ladies’ room. Enzo and Stefano waited for us outside the restaurant. Just then my phone went again; this time it was Jared.

‘Two men, 6 feet tall, dark, possibly European. Get out of there now Sarah. Take the back door of the restaurant. If Kacey doesn’t want to go, then leave her. It is you they want. Now move!’

I went cold. I looked around quickly and could see the exit signs for the fire door at the back of the building. Kacey was still in the ladies’ room. What the hell would I say to her? I could hardly tell her the truth.

‘Kace, quickly, this way. Shhh!’ I said when she’d finally emerged.

‘One of the waiters just told me those two are in here every weekend. They pick girls up and then rob them when they’ve gotten them drunk. Come on, let’s make a run for it!’

I started to giggle as if it was some big fun thing to do. Kacey looked really annoyed, really disappointed, but she fell for it.

‘Bastards!’ she spat, as we turned our coat collars up against the cold. ‘Bastards. I really wanted to go a club.’

‘We’ll open the minibar and get hammered when we get back to the hotel. My dad’s picking up the tab; I’ll be grounded for a month when his credit card bill comes in but, what the hell!’

This seemed to cheer her up; we finally managed to hail a cab and made our way back to the hotel. While Kacey was raiding the miniatures, I called Erik.

‘What the hell is going on? What did Jared mean, they wanted
me
?’

‘They could smell me on you. It’s a Warlock thing.’

‘What? You mean they were Warlocks?’

‘Yes. They will have picked up my scent on you and having not recognized who it was they would have taken you somewhere to find out. Jared couldn’t tell whether they were loyal to The Council, so we had to get you out of there. I’m so sorry. It’s ruined your weekend.’

‘No it hasn’t. We’ve had a great time but I have missed you. I have to go, though. Kacey is on a mission to empty the minibar and it’s my duty to help her,’ I grinned.

‘So what’s it to be, Trump; Black Russian or Harvey Wallbanger?’

‘What a stupid question. Both, of course!’

By the time we boarded our plane the following day, my hangover was just starting to kick in. Thankfully, it was a six and a half hour flight and we managed to sleep most of the way back. Kacey had bought a couple of pairs of Ray-Bans with her, so we settled into our seats after take-off, got out the travel pillows, put on the glasses, and nodded straight off to sleep.