The Heart of Arima. Read online

  I watched him thoughtfully. I hated to see him unhappy.

  We headed back out into the cold where tiny flakes of snow had started falling. There were lights strung along the narrow streets and all the little shops were decked out for Christmas. People hurried along, eager to get out of the cold, clutching packages and juggling overstuffed bags. In the cafés the customers clutched their coffee cups, trying to warm up frozen fingers and somewhere I could hear someone whistling an off key version of White Christmas.

  We passed a toy shop where a little girl, no more than two, was jumping up and down excitedly and pointing at a big stuffed Santa shouting, “Ho, Ho, Ho!”

  Rodney laughed and I grabbed his arm, pulling him in the direction of one of my favourite places in Perigueux. We’d just turned the corner when I noticed giggling coming from behind us. I turned to find a gaggle of teenage girls in our wake, all arm in arm and staring at Rodney adoringly with big mascara-caked lashes.

  I turned back hastily. “Um, Rodney.”

  “Yes, luv?”

  “Don’t look now but I think you’ve been spotted.”

  “What?” Naturally he turned around. “Oh bleedin. ‘ell, not again.”

  On seeing his face the girls broke ranks and ran up to him with squeals of “Johnny, Johnny, je t'aime !” I was elbowed quite viciously out of the way and had to go and stand by myself and wait while ‘Johnny’ signed autographs and posed for photos. It was a good twenty minutes before he managed to disengage himself from his groupies by which time I was freezing and tetchy.

  He walked back over to me looking just as irritable and I couldn’t help but laugh. I fished around in my bag for a tissue and handed it to him.

  “What’s that for?”

  “Pink really isn’t your colour.” I smirked.

  “Bleedin ‘ell.” He wiped his face clean and we carried on walking.

  “Does that happen a lot?”

  He shrugged. “Not locally but in bigger places, like this, yeah, all the friggin’ time.”

  I smothered a grin at his obvious discomfort.

  “Where we off to then?” he asked.

  “Well, I decided that there’s no point in wasting your new taste buds on broccoli.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  I took him into a shop, which in the summer was packed with tourists all standing, trying to choose from the dozens of amazing flavours of ice cream that were on display behind the glass counter. Now of course the place was deserted.

  “Ice-cream? In this weather?”

  I shook my head and grinned. We sat down at one of the little round tables and I showed him the menu.

  “This place does the most amazing hot chocolate, like real melted chocolate and all different flavours, it’s to die for.”

  He laughed. “Well, I’ll take your word for that, luv, but let’s give it a whirl.”

  We gave our orders and I sat, people-watching while Rodney started stacking the sugar cubes into a tower.

  “I was thinking ...”

  “That’s dangerous,” he muttered.

  “Ha bloody ha. Seriously, you said you don’t feel like yourself and you’re fed up with all the groupies, so why don’t you customise your car and yourself to match?”

  He looked perplexed. “Eh?”

  “Well, you dress like the old Rodney so why not all the rest, the hair, the earrings. Why haven’t you done all that?”

  The sugar cube tower fell, scattering all over the table just as the waitress appeared with our drinks. He apologised to her, giving a devastating smile and I watched in amusement as she flushed and stuttered and nearly spilled the hot chocolate in my lap.

  He had no idea.

  Once she’d gone I waited for his reply.

  “Well?”

  He looked into his hot chocolate cup gloomily. “I’m ... I’m frightened Amelia won’t like it, that she’ll be disappointed, like.”

  I choked on my drink. “Do you have any idea what Amelia was like when we thought you were dead? She’s head over heels for you, you moron!”

  He smiled and took a cautious sip of his drink. “Aww, I know she loves me, it aint that. It’s just before it happened she was always saying how gorgeous this Johnny bloke was and now here I am. I’m him an’ ... I dunno, it makes me feel funny.” He pointed at the mug of chocolate, eyes wide. “That is friggin’ gorgeous!” Finishing the lot in a matter of seconds he waved at the waitress.

  “Je peux avoir un autre s'il vous plaît?” She smiled happily and dashed off to get him another. “I guess you’re right though, Jéhenne, maybe it’ll make me feel more ...at ‘ome like. Especially if it stops all that silly arse carry on wiv’ giggling girls.”

  “It’s worth a try.”

  “Yeah, I know.” He nodded and then looked around the café anxiously. “Where’s she got to with me chocolate, I think I wanna try the chocolate fudge one next.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. I’d created a monster.

  Chapter 36

  By the time Rodney had tried every flavour in the shop and we’d finished our shopping, the temperature had plummeted some more and the snow was coming down in earnest. We’d done the shopping in record time, in no small part due to the fact I was pretty certain Rodney was on a sugar high. I was keen to get back before it got dark though, so I was happy to dash about. I didn’t want to miss a moment with Corvus. The thought that Cain would likely be waiting for me too was something I was trying hard not to think about.

  I wondered if I'd overdosed on chocolate as well. Three had been my limit but somehow I felt a bit hyper, so determined to enjoy today that it had begun to border on mania perhaps. I pushed down the flicker of unease as we got closer to home. I wouldn't spoil it, even though I could feel desperation snapping at my heels.

  I'd let Rodney choose the music, so the Ramones it was, and we sang along to I Wanna be Sedated at full volume. I did get a bit concerned when he tried to play air guitar and drive at the same time but other than that we were having a laugh. Suddenly though, he hit the brakes and we screeched to a halt.

  “What?” I asked, senses on alert, as I tried to prise my finger nails out of the soft leather seats.

  “I saw something.” He peered out the windscreen through the snow that swirled around us,blanketing everything in a bright white that hurt your eyes to look at it.

  “What did you see?”

  “Buggered if I know.”

  I unsnapped my seat belt impatiently and turned to look at him. “Well what did it look like?”

  “Like ... Like the ground sort of ...rippled.”

  “Huh? That’s insane the--” I didn’t get to finish the sentence as the earth shuddered beneath us and I braced myself against the dashboard to stop my head going through the windshield.

  “Start the car!” I shrieked.

  “I’m tryin’ aint I ...?" he yelled back. "It’s dead!”

  Before I could give any further instruction, the bonnet of the car headed skywards and I was slammed forcibly back into my seat.

  “Get out, Jéhenne, get out!” Rodney pushed me sideways and I pulled on the door handle, launching myself out of it and hitting the ground with a heavy thud. The ground shook harder and the earth seemed to be creating a mountain beneath my feet. I tried to scramble around the car to get to Rodney but the earth crumbled under me and I slipped and slid, unable to find purchase or stop my descent.

  “Rodney!” I screamed and then had to leap sideways as a tree tumbled down the newly formed mountain side and nearly flattened me on its way.

  “I’m ‘ere, luv,” shouted a voice to my left. I turned to see Rodney sliding down on his backside. He grabbed my hand and we hit the bottom of the mountain in a heap. We lay on our backs for a moment, gasping for air and wondering what the bloody hell was going on.

  “Bugger me, look at that!”

  I followed Rodney’s line of sight and craned my neck up to see his new car being devoured by the earth.

  “We need to get
out of here!”

  “Motion seconded,” he yelled, jumping to his feet and pulling me to mine as the earth began to shake anew and the ground around us began to form giant fissures. We leapt from one patch of earth to another, only to find another gaping hole forming in front of us.

  “This way.” I pulled him beside me as steam rose up from the cracks and a foul stench had us coughing and spluttering. We ran, flat out, trying to keep ahead of the openings that yawned behind us, weaving in our tracks like great snakes.

  “Jéhenne, wait!” Rodney yelled. “Look.” He pulled me to a halt and I turned to see that the cracks had stopped and the ground was quiet again. I wasn’t stupid enough to believe we had seen the worst of it though, which was just as well as the sound of laughter whispered through the treetops and set the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.

  “Jéhenne?” Rodney was looking at me, wide-eyed. “What the friggin' hell was that?”

  “Shit, shit, shit!” Panic welled up inside of me as I realised exactly what, or rather who, this was.

  “Jéhenne?”

  “Hekatê,” I whispered, as though she wouldn’t be able to hear me, as if I could hibernate like a little mouse in a tiny hole, hidden from the world, as if there was a place, in this world or the next, where she couldn’t find me. I had been living in fear of what the voice in my head would do to me and somehow, I had forgotten that he was not the only god who liked to play with my life.

  “Shit, Rodney.” I swung around, wild-eyed, searching the woods, but found nothing. I needn’t have bothered. Great purple clouds gathered in the white sky and I could hear the sound of dogs howling, echoing through the trees.

  “I believe you have something I want.”

  We both whirled around to find Hekatê standing behind us. She looked exactly as she had the last time I’d seen her, the white robes, the snake coiling around her waist in constant motion and the wreath of yew braches on her head, all identical, except for one tiny detail- she was about twenty foot tall.

  “I fell to my knees and bowed my head, and yanked at Rodney’s hand. He was frozen in place, staring up at the goddess in awe. I really couldn’t blame him. I pulled harder and he fell to his knees beside me, still clutching my hand and not taking his eyes off her.

  “Hekatê, I am preparing for my journey to the underworld. I know the key is yours, I swear I had no intention of keeping it.”

  A sneer marred her beautiful face. "And no intention of using it either, as you were forbidden to do so?" One elegant eyebrow arched and I felt sick with fear.

  "I ... I'm so sorry, Hekatê, I was desperate. I would never have done so, only ... Only I had no choice. I swear it will never happen again. You will have it back soon, I promise"

  "Too late. I warned you not to touch the key, Jéhenne, my dear, and now I tire of waiting for what is mine." She gave me a sweet smile before her face hardened. "I shall take it now.”

  I gasped, shaking my head. “If you take it now I will die!”

  There was a callous look on her face as she answered. “Then so be it.”

  “No!" I yelled, as my temper rose. “That’s not fair, I did what you asked me to. I defeated Tacitus for you, you are safe from him and I must pay Sariel a high price for that. You can’t kill me because you’re impatient!”

  “Can’t!” she roared at me with fury in her eyes, raising her arms to the sky as the purple clouds began to gather and twist around her. “I will show you what a goddess can’t do!”

  By rights I should have been terrified. I should have been prostrate, begging for my life but the unfairness of it all, after everything I had done for her, made rage boil in my blood. Rodney yelled out in pain and dropped my hand as flames exploded from my fingertips.

  “I will not die for you, Hekatê! I swear I will bring you the key if you will wait a little longer but if you try to take it from me I will make you pay!”

  She laughed, her head flung back with amusement. “You little fool! You think to defy me?”

  I got to my feet and stood firm as the snow fell softly around me. Rodney stood a trifle shakily beside me and gave me a weak grin. “Just you an’ me then, luv.”

  I shook my head and kissed him quickly on the cheek. “No, Rodney, you can’t help me this time. You need to get out of here.”

  “No, Jéhenne," he said, his face whiter than I had ever seen it. "I won’t leave you."

  I concentrated, searching for that part of me that had become so easy to find. The key sang quietly in my mind, a gentle, golden light that belied its terrible power. I heard the sound of birds - thousands of birds, screeching and cawing, wings beating through the now-darkened skies as I gently touched the power, a feather-like caress, nothing more.

  Hekatê threw her hands into the air and the clouds began to swirl around her. “No! You think you can use the key against me? You cannot wield such power as that, child, it will consume you.”

  “Watch me!” I muttered

  I turned to Rodney who shrank back as he looked at me. “Shit, Jéhenne ...your eyes!”

  “Run!” I commanded, except that it was no longer my voice. The power of the key burst through me and with one word the ground trembled and the air boiled. Rodney didn’t need telling twice, he turned and ran.

  The skies were filled with birds; they swirled and dipped as one, a great cloud of tiny beating hearts creating a whole. Hekatê brushed them away and laughed.

  “You are courageous, my Jéhenne, I will give you that, you always were, but this is just a parlour trick.”

  She was right of course. I couldn’t defeat her, not yet, not like this. I may have the power but I didn’t yet know how to use it. There was one thing I could do though, and once again I had my brother to thank for teaching things I thought I would never have a use for.

  The words had a strange sound, an ancient tongue that spoke of powers long forgotten but in my head I heard them clearly enough. “I banish you! Go back, back to the dark places, you do not belong here. I banish you from this place ... Take her!”

  The birds whirled, swarming, pecking and scratching and Hekatê shrieked with fury, the sound cracking around me like thunder. At my feet the roots of the trees thrust themselves through the ground and began to twine around me, twisting and pinching but too late. I would not be distracted. I banish you, I banish you, I banish you. I said the words over and over as the earth shook and split and opened its great jaws to devour the goddess, before slamming shut with such a roar that the following silence hurt my ears.

  I laughed out loud. It had been easy, too easy. The power of the key was a terrifying thing. I had barely touched it and yet the ground had swallowed a goddess with little more than a thought from me. What did that mean for me now though? Even supposing I was able to reach her and give her the key back before she killed me, what would she do to me once she had it? Hekatê might be gone for now but I was going to the underworld where she would be on home ground, far more powerful than she was here, and now she was going to be seriously pissed off.

  I dropped to my knees as the magic and adrenalin left my body. I felt the snow begin to seep into my clothes but somehow it didn’t register. I was freezing cold and I automatically wrapped my arms around myself as I sat shivering. The only thing I could focus on was the thousands and thousands of tiny black eyes, all watching me, heads tilting from one side to another, all waiting to do my bidding. I could hear their thoughts, such as they were, and I knew that they could hear mine. I had seen some creepy shit in the last year but this was the freakiest thing ever.

  “Jéhenne?” I turned to see Rodney watching me from a distance. “Shit, Jéhenne, what have you done?”

  I hugged myself tighter and shivered. “I just burnt my boats,” I said and then I laughed, because what the hell else could I do?

  I stared in awe and a little revulsion at the vast gathering. “One for sorrow, two for joy ...”

  “Luv, I don’t think there are enough verses to cover that lot.”
The fields and trees were packed with them, crows, ravens and magpies. “Corbeaux,” he whispered and I nodded. It hadn’t been the key that had called them- it had been me.

  “Come on, girl, let’s get you ‘ome.” Rodney bent and picked me up. I didn’t protest as there was no way I could have walked.

  “Wait.” I focused on the birds for a moment, thanked them, and sent them away. For a few minutes the sky was black with beating wings and then everything was quiet again.

  “Feel like I’m in a bleedin’ Hitchcock film,” Rodney muttered as he carried me back to the road.

  Too exhausted to speak, I laid my head against Rodney's shoulder and he carried me back to the Chateau. By the time we got there the last of the daylight was staining the sky and Corvus was pacing the hallway behind the front door.

  “What in the name of the gods, Jéhenne?” he demanded, snatching me out of Rodney's arms and holding me against him.

  “Hekatê," I said wearily, too tired to give any further explanation. He would know anyway, knew what it meant, that I was out of time.

  “Are you hurt?” he asked, fear in his eyes as he held me at arm’s length and looked me over.

  “No, not hurt, just tired, really, really tired, and I have a headache.” Corvus frowned and touched my forehead. His hand was blissfully cold and I sighed, putting my own hand over it to hold it in place.

  “Jéhenne, you are burning up.”

  “Oh good, does that mean I get to stay in bed?” I mumbled.

  He closed his arms around me and I felt safe again. I rested my head on his shoulder and shut my eyes.

  “You should ‘ave seen what she did,” Rodney whispered to him.

  Corvus shook his head. “I felt it, believe me that was quite disturbing enough.”

  “Aint never seen a witch with powers like that, never in me bleedin’ life.”

  Corvus looked at me thoughtfully and shook his head. “No, Rodney, neither have I.”

  Chapter 37

  Corvus insisted that I go straight to bed. The room was once more habitable and furnished with all the taste and discernment that I had come to expect from him. Not only that but the new bed had the most comfortable mattress I had ever slept on and to my intense disappointment, I’d slept the whole bloody night. Still I woke up feeling if not great then at least not sick, so it could have been worse. But now, I resented every lost moment. It was Christmas Eve tomorrow and I felt like my time was running out. I berated myself again for having wasted so much of it but I couldn’t turn back the clock. All I could do was make sure I made the most of every moment. Of course if we survived the Ekhidna, got out of Tartarus in one piece and then found a way to evade Hekatê and my psycho stalker, we’d have an eternity together.