A Pocket Full of Posies (Book 3)

Chapter Eight

I scramble for my t-shirt as Annabel's strained voice calls again. Shit. Shit, shit shit. Carmen's asking me what's wrong, but all I manage in my panicked state is to say my sister's name.

"Annabel? Felix, what is it, what--Wait, don't go far!" Carmen calls as I hurry towards the doorway.

She follows me, and I'm glad at least one of us hasn't forgotten about sticking together for the sake of the blessed stone. Annabel calls again, and I follow her voice out of the flat, and nearly trip over the stairs as I try to make my way out of the building.

"Whoa, Felix! Wait!" Ava shouts from behind me.

I hadn't noticed, but they must have still been outside the neighbours' flat when I left ours. All my brain can focus on as I leave the building is Annabel's voice. She's in trouble. I have to help her. The second I turn the corner of our building and emerge behind it, I freeze. No. This can't be happening. No, no, no.

"Ah! So you are here!" Christopher's voice drips with malice, and an unsettling hint of glee.

Annabel stands on the grass a few feet away from me, but she doesn't maintain my attention for long because inches away from Christopher, whose hands are wrapped around her throat, is Lucy. Tears stream from her eyes, and her whimpers are jarring against the stillness of the night. Christopher is leering at me, scanning me from head to toe as if I'm a clown, some kind of joke, when he's the one standing there in stupid, ugly cord trousers and a stupid, ugly striped shirt several decades out of date.

"You lied to me," Christopher mutters, turning his attention to Lucy. "He's here."

His grip tightens around her throat, and she yelps. Footsteps barrel behind me and come to a halt, but I don't turn around. How did he find me? How the hell did one of Connor's lapdogs find me?

"What is it? What? What's happening?" Tom asks from behind me. "Is it ghost shit, or are you just staring really hard at that bush over there? I don't--"

"Tom. Shut up," Ava interrupts.

I turn my attention to my friends. Tom, Jamie and Carmen are standing in a huddle with wide eyes, their backs pressed against the bricks of our accommodation building, while Ava stands beside me. Her eyes are shut, and it takes me longer than it should to realise she's trying to secure a connection with Christopher.

"A pleasure to meet you," Christopher says, his focus on Ava. He nods his head in my direction, which makes no sense given Ava can't see him. "He's an annoying twat, isn't he?"

"Let her go," Ava demands, ignoring Christopher's comment.

Christopher returns his focus to Lucy. He releases his grip from her throat, and just as I'm about to think this will be a lot easier than anticipated, he grabs her arm, twists it, then spins her around so her back is facing him. He pulls her into him as she shrieks in pain.

"I knew you were a traitor," he hisses into her ear. "I told Connor so many times, so many times not to trust you, but he didn't fucking listen."

Lucy won't stop crying, and I want to help her, but I don't know what to do or what any of this means for Connor's manhunt. Has he found me? Does this mean he knows where I am? I await the all too familiar panic to settle in, to cloud over me, but it's dormant. I take a measured breath.

"You don't need her," I argue without shifting my eyes from Christopher for a millisecond. "Leave her alone. Connor won't care about her, he just needs me."

"Felix, shut up!" Annabel snaps.

Christopher laughs. "True. But she's pissed me off. She's really, really pissed me off." His eyes move to Lucy, then back to me. "I'll get to you once I'm finished here. Patience, Felix."