Downfall - The Incorruptibles #1 (COMPLETE NOVEL)

Chapter 6: Surrender

There was a strange car in the driveway at the Old House. I found Albion in the tangled back garden, sitting at an outdoor table with two friends he introduced as Davy and Tara. They weren't his usual crowd. Davy had uncool, thinning hair and Tara had a habit of laughing at her own jokes. I liked them, and I liked how things were working out. This was going to be so easy. Albion gave me a glass of wine and a probing stare so I flicked wine at him from my fingertips. After socialising for a while I excused myself and went to my room. I found a skin-tight black singlet I normally wore under blouses I considered too low-cut and tried it on with a short, silky skirt I hadn't even known I possessed. Maybe some of Vanessa's stuff had gotten mixed up with mine. There was a deep red lipstick in Albion's makeup collection so I applied it to my lips and checked the mirror. My threatening smile shone back at me, the soft material of the skirt clinging to my legs.

When I re-joined the group outside Albion blinked and nearly spat his wine. "Who are you trying to impress?"

I gave him my best smoulder. I guess he approved because he didn't say a word but just handed me another drink.

"Frankie's seeing Jude McBride," he told Davy and Tara when the conversation turned to combining study and dating.

Tara looked at me with interest. "Jude's adorable," she said. "I thought he was with Olivia Ranford, though."

"Jude's not keen on Olivia," said Albion with a grin. "Not since Frankie came back to town, anyway. He always had a thing for her. An impressively big  thing for her, if the reports around town are accurate." He winked.

"Things have cooled off with Jude," I said. "I don't think we're seeing each other anymore."

"Where have you been going every night, then?" said Albion.

Epiphany. "I'll show you," I said. I felt dazzled, like I'd just seen a comet. "I'll show you tonight."

Albion's mouth fell open. "Are you finally taking us to meet your secret friends?"

"Yes, Alby, I am."

We all squeezed into the little pink car. Tara screeched with laughter with Davy in the backseat while I navigated and Albion drove, his face alight with anticipation. At Gaunt House I told him to pull off the road and park in the clearing. It was silent outside and the clouds had moved on so the moon lit the clearing like a spotlight. Four vehicles sat around the ruin: Jude's blue bomb, Liz's practical hatchback, Owen's old van, and Cain's motorbike. We climbed out and Albion looked from the ruin to the motorbike.

"Oh, wow," he said. "Motorbike guy, huh?"

"This place is creepy," Tara said.

"Whose cars?" Davy asked.

"Some friends," I said. "Invisible friends. Or maybe enemies after tonight."

The dark quiet of Gaunt House ruin made us all uncomfortable so Tara reached back into the car, switching on the headlights and radio. A pop song blared into the night. She turned it up loud, grabbing Albion and Davy's hands to make them dance with her. Ushering them closer to the ruin, I tried to find a spot above the main chamber where those below might hear the jumping and singing. I imagined them staring upwards, alarmed by the stomps and shrieks of laughter while grains dislodged from the sandstone ceiling and fell into their eyes.

Breaking from the dancing group, Albion dug a flashlight out of the back of his car so he could shine it over the ruin. I swiped the flashlight and took my cousin's hand, leading him around the back of the structure. It was darker around there, the crumbling walls casting a shadow in the moonlight. I scanned the ground with the flashlight until at last I found what I was searching for: one of the ventilation pipes leading down into the underground chambers. It was a rusty, brown metal tube, sticking out of the ground to about a foot high.