Unhappily Ever After

Chapter 75 - Foot in the Grave

Back from the dairy farm, lads. It's blimming hard work, so don't you take those glasses of milk for granted, alright? One of the calves gave me a little souvenir in the form of debilitating illness. Oh well. More time to sit on my arse and write while I wait for the vomiting to stop :)

Jess had stopped trying to reach me through the link. I had gone back to the right side of the warehouse, and I had pushed gently on the bond, but she hadn't pushed back. And that was that. There wasn't a damn thing I could do to make her hear me unless she wanted to.

She and Evie had grown up together. They had been as close as sisters, and now... What the hell could I say? I'd been the one who'd given Scott her name. Maybe Jess was furious at me — I wouldn't blame her. Maybe she was just too grief-sick to talk.

Either way, I didn't have time to pester her. I was sat with my back against a tree, casting for another bird. It was only a matter of time before a crow or a rook flew overhead, and then I could finish setting the firecrackers.

"Dumbass," Vik muttered every so often. "There ain't many faster ways to die."

"I'm not dead yet," I pointed out, "and I've been doing this all day."

"And how come? What the hell is so special about you?"

I opened my eyes a crack, just wide enough to stare at him, and then I closed them again. I was beginning to wonder if the possibility that he might eventually make himself useful was outweighed by the constant, relentless distractions.

I touched a hand to my side. It came away sticky. The bleeding had slowed in the last hour, but it was still significant enough to make the world spin every time I stood. Ebony wasn't faring much better. She was curled up in my lap, breathing hard and making pitiful, heart-rending noises. I had wondered if it might be kinder to snap her neck and be done with it.

My attempts to cast were falling flat. I could only get a few metres away before I felt the connection to my body shuddering. To give myself a break, I let my eyes wander around the undergrowth. Dusk was fast approaching. For now, it was still light, but the sky had acquired that golden-orange glow which told me I didn't have much longer before we were cast into true darkness.

I reached through the bond, almost instinctively. Nothing from Jess. Less than nothing from Bran, who was too young to help me reach him. I kept trying anyway, futile as it was, because I wanted to catch even the barest glimpse of his mind — to know he was okay.

There was no answer. No indication that he was even alive. The walls of the warehouse stopped me short every time. Worry coiled deep in my chest, tightening my lungs and making breathing harder than it should have been. Between that and the blood loss, I knew I wouldn't be able to keep this up much longer.

A frown crossed my lips unbidden. The shadows nearest my feet were trembling. The edges wavered and stretched towards me, like ... something was approaching. I looked around myself, trying to decide what was moving, but I couldn't see anything. The wind had died down to nothing, and the leaves were as still as the grave. By the time I turned back to the shadows, they were motionless again.

Great. Now I was seeing things. I took a deep, shaky breath and closed my eyes to shut out the distractions. I let my mind empty itself, preparing to cast out once again. It was only a matter of time before a bird flew overhead.

"What are you doing now?" Vik asked sharply. When I looked at him, ready to bite his head off, I was taken aback to see alarm written all over his face. The way he was blinking and squinting reminded me of someone stepping from darkness into bright sunshine.

"I'm not doing a bloody thing," I said.

"No?" he asked. "Then explain to me why your eyes are—"