One wrong step, p.42
One Wrong Step, page 42
“Holy shit,” I breathed. Scrambling to my feet, I dashed to the bedroom, ignoring any pain as my hand gripped the door’s frame. Half in, half out, I didn’t dare enter as I looked over the décor again.
“Swallowed in the inky black, it caressed her skin…” I quoted, horror filling my gaze as I snagged on the black silk bedsheets. Drifting to seeing the dozen flickering light from the modern crystal chandelier, more words eased past my tongue. “… Stars sparkled above her, watching as she fell…” And then to headboard where deep scratches cut the wood. “… clawed for release, trapped on the edge, suspended…Holy-fucking-shit.”
My breath grew short as I turned to the window beside the bed. Today, the cloudy sky spat rain, but months ago, it would have been a summer’s moon. Birds would have sung high above the lake, which silently lapped the shore beyond tall reeds, mocking me with its waves.
How many times had I been in Cas’s apartment upstairs, looking across it to the Academy and not seen it? Howe often had Cas walked my back from training along this very shore. How many times had I passed this very building? Seen how close it was to the cold water.
“Holy shit!” My mind couldn’t think of anything else to say, but I’d said it loud enough.
“Zara?” Silas’s distant voice called in concern.
“Shit, shit, shit.” I dashed for the bathroom, slamming the door closed and flicking the lock. Backing up, breathing hard, I bumped into the forgotten first-aid kit, sending it crashing to the bath’s basin. Glass smashed, the wooden draws clattered, and my heart thundered into overdrive.
“Weapon. Weapon.” I prompted myself, ignoring Cas’s first rule: don’t bring a weapon to a fight you can’t win with your hands. It didn’t matter that I locked myself in the bathroom with one way out. It didn’t matter he was a knight. It didn’t matter that I was more likely to hurt myself than him. Primal instincts took over.
“Zara?” Closer now, in the bedroom, I could hear Silas approaching. Darting to the mirror, I scanned its inner shelves again, desperate. Yet as my hand darted for some scissors, I froze, fighting back the bile that licked my tongue.
The rouge cheeks of Madam Quintessence smiled at me from the side of a ‘Drink it Clean’ bottle I’d overlooked before, as well as a ‘Rock my Night’ and ‘Five By Five Sensation’. Other bottles were there too. Reaching with a shaking hand, I pulled out an open red bottle, small with a black lid. “Cradle Rocker.” I gagged as Madam Quintessence winked. “To help those studs keep pace with their babydolls… oh God!” The bottle clattered in the sink as scrubbed my hand on my thigh.
“Zara?”
I yelped as the doorknob rattled. I imagined the man on the other side. Chivalrous. Roguish. Silver with age but bright eyes. Cas said he thought Cleo was seeing someone in the village. Someone who made her bounce on her toes. Smiling in the early hours of the morning as she left her teacher’s apartment…
“Oh, my god.”
◆◆◆
“Zara?” The bathroom door handle jiggled as Silas tried it again, his voice a mockery of concern. Murderers couldn’t be concerned. “Zara, are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” I tried to keep my voice even, gripping the hair scissors. “I-I just need a minute.”
I needed more than that. Silas had killed Cleo. I sure as hell wouldn’t be next.
The bathroom was six foot by six foot. There was one door currently blocked, and one window which was big enough, but had bars on the outside. I mean, really? Hicknall Village couldn’t be crime central? What if there was a fire? My mind couldn’t focus. I couldn’t think! Every time the door handle jiggled, my heart launched, and lungs squeezed.
“Zara, I’d really prefer it if you opened the door.” Silas tried again.
“Really, I’m fine. Please,” I begged, pushing myself back so far, I almost fell into the tub. “I’m just about to get in the shower.” I cringed, hating the idea of being naked in here like Cleo had been.
Had it only been the once? Had he persuaded her? Coheres her? Blackmailed her? My brain jumped from one question to the next. Why kill her? Did she threaten to turn him in? Did she want out?
“Stop it, stop it, stop it.” I muttered to myself. Motive and means were hardly important right now. I had to get out of this apartment. I had to find help. I had to show my proof…
The door boomed as it snapped back on its hinges, and a scream ripped free from my throat. Foot descending from booting the door, Silas froze, assessing me with quick eyes before his hands went up as if to calm a wild animal. “Put the scissors down Zara.” He whispered as I brandished them.
“Stay back.” I snapped, stepping to one side, caught between the tub and the loo. “Don’t come any closer.”
Yet he still inched forward. “Please Zara. You’re too strong for this. Too brave. I’ve seen it in you. I believe in you. This is not the way out?”
Blinking once through my fear, I glanced at the scissors and realised what this must have looked like. “I’m not going to kill myself. I wouldn’t.” And suddenly fury bubbled in my gut. “Is that what you said to her? Did you tell Cleo how you believed in her? That she was brave and strong too?” I hissed, catching Silas by surprise this time.
It was like time stilled and he stopped moving. Blocking the doorway, his expression gave nothing away, but his hands dipped, his concern for me wavering. “Wha- I don’t understand, Zara? Please, put the scissors down.” But the plea didn’t reach his eyes. He spoke with guarded words now, while the skin around his eyes tightened.
“Why?” I laughed, keeping the blades up. “So, you can slit my wrists for me? Make everyone believe I took my life, like how you let everyone believe Cleo took hers.”
An almost inaudible gasp breathed past Silas’s lips, and for a split second I thought I saw heavy grief flash through his eyes, but in a moment, it was gone. “Cleopatra’s death was a tragedy for her and her family. She took her life and-,”
“No, you killed her!” I bellowed, suddenly realising if I could scream loud enough, someone might hear. “I know you did. I found Cleo’s earing under your bath. The same set she wore the night you wrapped your hands around her throat and choked the life out of her.”
“I-I didn’t…” But he faltered, hands falling further. “I didn’t kill her.”
“And you weren’t fucking her, either?” I accused, flashing the scissors at the cabinet, still open from my raid. Seeing the exposed contents too, his eyes widened. “She was seeing someone in this village, someone who she stayed with overnight. Tell me again it wasn’t you?”
“It-it wasn’t… It could have been anyone, Zara.”
“No, it was you. You killed her and tossed her body into the lake.”
“Zara-”
“You let everyone believe she was suicidal. You even encouraged me to believe it.”
“No, I…”
“You let them drag her name through the mud.”
“That wasn’t-,”
“You threw her away like she was worthless.”
“She was not worthless!” His anger slice the air between us, sharper than the blades I carried. “She was perfect! She was mine…”
Yet even as I trembled against the wall, I needed to know. “Then why did you kill her?”
“I didn’t.” He snapped, but I watched Silas deflate, his voice an uttered breath. “I didn’t murder her. I didn’t … I didn’t mean to.”
His confession sealed it. Words free, I had no objections to bringing the scissors down, plunging them into his chest.
◆◆◆
Silas jerked, his reflexes just fast enough to twist out of the way. The scissors hit under his collarbone, but I didn’t wait to see the damage.
Shoving him aside, I dashed for freedom, running through the bedroom and lounge, crashing into the front door. Wrenching it open, the icy storm lashed my face while the wind snatched up my hair with menacing fingers.
“Zara…” My name boomed from behind me, and I didn’t second guess.
Plunging into the darkness, it soaked me instantly, but I pounded across the cobbled streets with primal fear.
“Help!” I belted it at the top of my lungs. “Someone help me!” But the streets were empty, the shops closed for the night and even the clubs hadn’t bothered to open because of the storm. “Help! Anyone!”
“Zara, stop!” Silas thundered behind me, forcing me to spin. Chest heaving, fury in his eyes, the scissors were gone and the material of his shirt turned pink with blood. The sight sent me running. Taking a left street, then a right, I didn’t pay any attention to the direction until I reached the village edge, blinking at the forest in surprise.
“Shit!” I seethed, realising far too late I’d run the wrong way. The Academy was far behind me, ahead were the Moon Dorms and Crypts, to the left, the bridge to the training Ground. Spinning around, I could see Silas hounding my steps, the distance closing as the storm raged harder. I needed to hide, gain my strength. Run to the pasture and Cas…
If that’s where Cas was. Silas told me that. What if he’d been lying…?
“Zara, you need to listen to me.” He bellowed. “Stop this, now. You cannot run from me.”
“Watch me!” I screamed, deciding to take my chances. Pelting across the grass, I flew into the trees, disappearing between the shadows.
Instantly the wind hushed, the rain eased into fat, heavier drops. My gasping breath was deafening as I breathed in damp earth and fresh greens. Scrambling through brush, over rocks and under hanging branches, I slid up against a tree to hide.
A crow cried overhead. A bush rustled behind me. A branch cracked in the distance. Hunkering, I willed my heart to rest, feeling it pounding in my throat. Ice water crept through the fabric of my trainers. The hoodie I’d worn to training hung heavy against my skin. I wouldn’t last out here, and I wasn’t the only one who knew.
“Zara, come back before you freeze to death.” Silas shouted, his voice carrying. But when silence greeted him, he tried a different tactic. “You don’t understand. Cleo… Cleo wasn’t just some student to me.”
I bit my tongue until I tasted blood. It didn’t matter who she was to him; she was his student. The abuse of power alone! The questionable consent! But steeling my fury, I kept my mouth closed, trying to pinpoint his position through the gloom.
“She needed me.” He continued, somewhere to my right. “I helped her. We talked all the time, through her fears and her worries. I supported her. We supported each other.”
“Right until you killed her, you bastard.” I hissed through chattering teeth as the darkness thickened. He didn’t hear me though and continued to bellow.
“She was important to me, so to see her tarnished afterwards, it hurt me so much.” He was moving further away, the brush moving as he knocked it aside, searching. “When she died… I couldn’t tell the truth. It would ruin her reputation further, and myself. I never wanted this, but the alternative...”
Easing back on my heels as his voice receded, I retraced the direction I’d come in my mind. Back over the log, around the boulder and down the slope…
“I panicked, okay? She died in my arms, and I didn’t know what to do.” His voice echoed far away, enough I felt safe enough to rise from my crouch.
“You knew enough to toss her naked body into the lake, you perverted bastard!” I spat at his back, no longer trembling from just the cold. “I’m sure the damage to your career, your respect, your ‘role’ had nothing to do with it.”
“You have no idea what my role demands.” The growl came from behind me, low and threatening.
Spinning, my back cracked against the tree trunk as Silas snapped his arm against my throat. He’d come from nowhere. I’d heard him walk away. Herad him leave. Yet, here he was, seething over me. “I am a Knight. I guard. I protect. The ramifications of this scandal would have tipped the balance of the courts!”
All I could feel was the blood pounding in my ears, my feet lifting off mossy roots. A gargled croaked free, but Silas pushed harder.
“The Night Court are the villains.” He spoke almost to himself than me. “I am of the Day … I am not a murderer. I loved Cleo. She was mine. I didn’t…” He rocked, shaking his head, releasing me enough I gained an inch of air.
“L-Liar.” I hissed, my eyes watering as I clawed at his arm. “Murdering b-bastard. I’ll tell everyone w-what you…”
“It wasn’t my fault!” He pressed in close, snarling. “You don’t under-,”
I lashed out. Fingers like claws, I went for the eyes just as Cas had taught me. Gouging deep, Silas roared, reeling. Sweet air swirled down my throat. But I didn’t leave it at that. A hand on each shoulders, I rammed my knees into his groin.
Leaving Silas to crash to the forest floor, I bolted, tears streaming down my face. Stumbling, my legs screamed as fresh cuts opened. My broken hand pulsed in agony. My chest tightened with every breath. But I didn’t slow.
It was too easy to imagine my body, limp, floating across the icy lake, just like Cleo. I couldn’t allow myself to become his next victim.
I would not let him break me.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Exploding into a clearing, I vaulted over a strung rope, missing it by inches. Tents and cream canvas flapped. There were several, all desolate, ringed around the Tower. It had changed since I was last here. Gone was the ivy that covered the outer edge, replaced by giant cranes and pulley systems as they’d left a gaping hole at the Tower base. I sprinted for it, crashing into its dark, chilly interior and out of the rain.
“You can’t hide, Zara!” Silas bellowed, already so close. “I won’t let you destroy me. I won’t let the Night Court win.”
“Fucking phyco.” I snapped, bewildered by his priorities. Yet from the tower’s ground floor, I could see him snapping back the canvas flaps, searching every tent. Vicious fury crumpled his face. Claw marks scratched down his face, more blood covered his shirt. I had seconds before his attention turned to the Tower.
Craning my neck, I search the inside. Stone pillars jutted out the walls, like steps that weren’t connected, spiralling up. Each one was at least five feet tall, but it was the only direction to go. With a running jump followed by a scramble, I clambered onto the first one. Then another jump, latching onto the edge, pulling myself up. Every part of my body protested the strain. Every leap left me dangling over thin air.
But I climbed, panting as I slowly reached the next level where I could hide, yell for help. Hope someone would come running.
“Zara!” Silas’s voice echoed inside the tower. My hands slipped, and it was a miracle I held on. “Come down and we’ll talk. You don’t understand the truth about Cleo. I can’t have you telling people lies.”
“Then I won’t tell them. I will scream it from the top of this tower, you bastard.” I bellowed, climbing back onto solid stone. “I will tell the world how you manipulated her, abused the trust she placed in you, and disrespected her right to choose. I will make sure everyone knows how you took advantage of her, right until you wrapped your fingers around her throat and squeezed the life from her veins. I will see your name dragged through the same mud I had to drag her body through!”
Hoisting myself through the open trapdoor above, I entered a room under construction, slamming it closed behind. The wind howled against the stone walls, and someone had scattered and stored boxes around the edge. In the centre, a ladder stood erect up to the next floor, and I flew up.
Distantly, I knew I was throwing myself at a dead end. The Tower went nowhere else. It was unlikely to have a parachute at the top, or a water slide. My only exit was down, and that would mean going past Silas. But still I climbed, level by level, via ladder, stairs, or crates.
Until there wasn’t anywhere else to go.
This level was empty. Untouched except for the wind and the rain that lashed through a six-foot hole. Racing towards it, I gasped at the exposed darkness. There was no rope or ladder. Just open air against pointed tips of black pine trees and lightning that crashed over the mountains. I’d reached my end.
Silas would be here soon, and he wouldn’t stop until I was dead. The only choice left was whether to die out there in the darkness or face the beast inside. But he made that choice for me.
“You are too good for this world, Zara.” He muttered, forcing me to spin. Too close. He was suddenly there, as if only ever a step behind.
Hand on the edge of the stone, I reminded myself not to step back even as he reached a hand forward to stroke my face.
“You have fire in your veins, a voice that challenges anyone who speaks louder than you. You do not laydown like the dogs or sail high with the royalty. You just are. That is a rare quality. It will be a shame to snuff it out.”
“You don’t have to do this.” I said, trying not to plea but finding my voice trembled. “You don’t want more blood on your hands.”
“There is no blood on my hands.” He spat, a crazy twitch moving the skin around his eyes. “I didn’t kill Cleo. She took her own life by jumping in the lake, just how you will take your own from the top of this tower. Your life here at the Academy was too much for you to take. The shame of that video being the final straw.”
Silently, I cursed the person who recorded me and Cas. I had a vague idea of who, but it wouldn’t help me now, nor did I think they cared.
“You won’t get away with this.” I retorted, trying to edge to the side so my back wasn’t to the endless sky. But Silas shifted too, keeping me pinned. “Others know what I know.”
“No, they don’t.” Silas countered, making my gut turn in fear. “You came into my place at ease. You knew nothing of my relationship with Cleo. Not until something in my room convinced you.”
