You Are So Not a Fallen Angel

Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

The shout made me start and my fingers lost their grip on the edge. I scrabbled madly to avoid sinking, and managed to get a decent hold and haul myself from the water. I perched on the edge for a moment, panting, eyes searching for the source of the scream. It had sounded like it had been coming from the bottom of the garden, the bit beyond the swimming pool. That part of the garden was full of trees, which were casting the whole place into darkness. I could detect no movement there.

I stood up and went to retrieve my clothes. The shout had sounded urgent, but I was not going to be one of those stupid heroines would went off to confront terrible dangers dressed only in their nightgowns. Or swimsuits. I pulled my shorts and tee-shirt on again, and stuffed my feet into my sneakers. Then I jogged off to investigate.

The garden slopped down gently after the pool. There was a path that had been cut in the long grass to allow people to access the deep recesses of the garden without the inconvenience of getting their feet wet. I paused at the top of the slope and looked around again. There was no movement, but I thought I could hear scuffling that sounded like it was going from something bigger than a mouse or a cat.

“Lorris?” I called. Who else would be hanging around my garden and calling me in the middle of the night? There was no answer, but more scuffling sounds reached my ears. I wavered for a couple of instants, swore under my breath, and plunged down the slope.

As I reached the bottom, I was blinded by a blaze of light. I had forgotten about the motion activated lights my father had had installed down here as a security measure. I blinked furiously, trying to clear the colour spots from my eyes. As my vision slowly returned, I was faced by a strange sight. Lorris was kneeling on the ground between two other people, huge, evil-looking thugs, who were each holding one arm while another person stood in front on him, fist raised as if frozen in the act of punching him. We all stared at each other for several long moments, glued to the spot by the element of surprise. Then Lorris started to struggle, trying to break free of his captors.

“Get the hell out of here,” he hissed at me, his eyes meeting mine. The moment broke, and the third man made a leap towards me, hands outstretched as if to grab me. I screamed and jumped backwards, and his hands enclosed around my wrist...

My eyes flew open and I was confronted with darkness. For a few panicky moments I didn’t know where I was, and I thrashed about wildly, trying to escape what was holding me, then my burning lungs twigged the alarm system and I kicked off from the bottom of the pool without thinking. I broke the surface and sucked in a glorious lungful of oxygen. I trod water for a while, rubbing my eyes and wondering what had just happened.

“Eliza.”

I sank beneath the surface and swallowed a lot of water. I re-emerged spluttering, and near incandescent with rage.

“What are you playing at?” I yelled, swimming over to the edge, where Mr Perfect Angel himself was standing.

“Shhh,” he hissed. He stretched out a hand, probably so I would grab onto it and he could pull me from the water in a show of manly/angelic strength. Instead, I grabbed it and pulled hard, enough to make him loose his balance and fall into the pool with a loud splash. Childish, but satisfying.

“Happy now?” he asked as he shook water from his hair.

“Don’t shush me!”

“We are going to wake your parents, and I do not want to have to explain what I’m doing, trespassing on their property and hobnobbing with their daughter in the middle of the night.”

He had a point, but I wasn’t about to explain that.

“You have a lot of explaining to do.” I poked him in the chest. It was hard to see in the gloom, but I think he rolled his eyes.