Darkness Watching (Darkworld #1) (28 page)

That didn’t stop me from Skyping Cara and ranting for a good hour about what a douchebag he was. Cara agreed wholeheartedly with my plans to pretend he didn’t exist, though at first I had to convince her coming up to campus and drop-kicking him in the face wouldn’t help matters much. However entertaining this might be to watch.

Alex and Sarah guessed I didn’t want to talk about him. They wanted to take me to Redthorne on a shopping spree that Saturday, which I agreed to, partly because it would get me out the flat, away from David. Although I didn’t have much money, it was still fun just trying on crazy outfits and making fools of ourselves. I was genuinely having a good time, before I walked out of H&M and right into a dark space.

I felt the odd sensation of seeing two worlds at once, one a bright high street, one a dark tunnel, before I passed through the space and saw, with a sinking heart, a pair of violet eyes watching me from an alleyway.

Alex and Sarah, having disappeared into the next shop, didn’t notice me halt.

“What do you want?” I hissed, after checking no one was near enough to hear me. I had a sense of déjà vu from the last time I’d been here, with Claudia. Was it the same demon?

I felt all the anger and frustration I’d been suppressing well up inside me. I clenched my fists, my fingertips growing numb.

“We want you
.
”

The voice was ice-cold, with the hint of a death rattle. I shivered, even though I knew the creature couldn’t harm me.

“Why? What do you want from me?”

“Your heart.”

I blinked, uncomprehending. “What do you mean?”

“You will know, if you can find it. But you’d better be quick.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

The demon grinned at me. “
It’s in your interests to come to us, before we come to you. Because at that time, we may have no choice in the matter.”

“You could take lessons from the fortune-teller,” I muttered. “What does any of that mean? Someone else is controlling you?”

The demon just grinned at me. Then, like a light fading out, the patch of darkness vanished.

Well, that did it. I was sick of living a double life. From now on, I’d concentrate on what mattered: my degree and my friends, and ignore the demons the way I used to. No more sneaking around libraries, no more secret meetings. I wasn’t getting anything out of them anyway, apart from an increasing sense of frustration. I could figure out my problems on my own.

Alex, Sarah, and I went to watch fireworks in Blackstone that night. There was also a bonfire in a nearby field, across the road from the ruins of the Blackstones’ house. The fire spread arms of searing heat out into the frigid air. Sarah and Alex wanted to huddle as close as possible to the flickering flames, but I hung back.

Then I saw them: Claudia, Leo, and Cyrus. Berenice and Howard stood a little farther away, playing tonsil hockey.

I blanked them completely. I had no desire to confront Claudia, certainly not in front of the others. The fewer people who knew about whathappened, the better.

Thankfully, due to the cold, Alex and Sarah didn’t want to linger. When I got back to campus, I noticed with a sinking heart that my window was ajar, my light on. Who had got past the protection on my room?

I rushed back into the flat, finding my door unlocked and slightly open; someone had wedged a book in the doorway.

And my room had been totally trashed.

All my belongings were strewn everywhere. Clothes and books littered the floor; lecture notes had been ripped from their bindings; and my jewellery box was upturned. Black marks stained the windowsill, on both the inside and outside. The intruder had done nothing to hide his trail.

But if they’d got through the window and my door was open, then that meant they’d come in through the flat.

My mind made the logical, if irrational, connection, and, before I knew what I was doing, my feet had taken me to David’s door and I was knocking loud enough to wake the dead.

“What the fuck were you doing in my room?” I demanded, as he appeared at the gap in the door, looking slightly alarmed.

“Huh?”

“Look, I know you don’t like me, but it’s no reason to destroy my things. What the hell were you even looking for?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Don’t lie,” I hissed, and cold anger swept through me, so sudden and so intense it took my breath away. I realised I’d stepped right up to the threshold of his room, and ice was forming at my fingertips, and I had no control over it.

He let out a faint noise of surprise as ice began to form on his hands too, spreading up his arms and across his torso. Ice flowed like water, encasing him entirely from head to toe.

I watched, half detached, half in fearful anticipation, as David turned to ice before me, still wearing an expression of surprise.

Then the spell broke. I dropped to my knees, a sob rising in my chest. What had I done?
How
had I done it
?
David was a living ice statue! I had to find a way to free him―but it was too late. He’d seen me use magic.

Whatever Claudia had done, Leo and the others didn’t deserve any more trouble from the Venantium. How could I ensure he kept quiet? He hated me.

As I hovered in indecision, I heard a knocking from within his room.

Claudia was knocking on the window. I knew from her face she’d seen it all.

got to my feet shakily and went over to the window. It took me several attempts to open it.

“Ash,” she whispered. “What have you done?”

“What does it look like?”

Claudia wore a pained expression. “Ash, I’m really sorry―the other night, it wasn’t what it looked like.”

“It looked like you slept with my flatmate,” I said coldly. “Pray tell me how I could have misinterpreted
that?
”

“Look, please let me in, I can put him right, erase his memory and everything―”

“Good for you.”

“Seriously, Ash! Look, I didn’t sleep with him, I was interrogating him. I told you I was going to investigate your flatmates.”

There was an awkward silence.

“I thought you meant Terrence,” I said lamely.

“Him, too, but this guy confused me. I thought I’d seen him before, and I was right. Can you let me in?”

“Oh, sure, whatever.” I ran to the door and out into the foyer. She met me there, having let herself back into the building.

David still stood frozen in the corridor. Not a drop of the ice had melted; whatever spell I’d put on him, it was good.

“You don’t do things by halves,” she said. “Why didn’t you just ask me about it?”

“That’s not why I did it,” I said. “He trashed my room.”

“What? No, that can’t be right.”

“Come and see.”

She swore when she saw the mess. “Who did that?”

“David,” I said. “It couldn’t be anyone else.”

“That’s illegal, though! The Venantium
never
break into someone’s property uninvited unless they suspect them of consorting with demons.”

“What makes you think it was―?”

Then it hit me what she’d said.

Claudia took a deep breath.

“David’s one of them. He’s an agent of the Venantium,” she said.

I said nothing, numb again.

“I’m sorry,” she said again. “I thought you should know. I think he was supposed to be investigating you, but he got cold feet about bringing you in for questioning. At the bar the other night, there was another agent supposed to be showing up, but he sent you away. I think that was why.”

“But how―how did you know he was one of them?”

“He talks to the harpies. I’ve seen him, leaning out of his window, sending messages. I didn’t realise you were friends, but I thought it would be quicker to get it over with. I told him to leave you alone. I think he was glad to do that; I imagine he was stuck in a moral dilemma for a bit.”

“So… is he going to report me?”

“He
wasn’t.
He might change his mind after this. I’ll use a subliminal magic trick, make him forget he saw you tonight. God, I hate Influence, but we can’t risk it.”

“What about this?” I indicated my strewn possessions.

She shook her head. “I have no idea. Is anything missing?”

“I haven’t checked.”

“Do that. This whole thing seems like a set-up. Right, I’ll unfreeze that guy.”

I followed her out of my room to where David stood. She contemplated him. “How’d you even do that?”

“I’ve no idea.”

“Right.” Fire sprang from her palms, and I felt both its warmth and the paradoxical chill that meant a connection to the Darkworld. Shadows spread along the corridor, gathering around Claudia as I watched.

She touched the fire to David. Nothing happened.

“Maybe you have to take it off yourself.”

My heart sank. “Really?”

Right now, I preferred him like this. At least he couldn’t cause me any more grief as an ice statue.

“Yep. No getting around this one. Come on, Ash. You faced down shadow-beasts.”

“Right.” I placed my hands uncertainly on David’s forehead, feeling uncomfortably like I was taking advantage of him or something. I reached for my connection to the Darkworld and tried to direct it to undo the spell. Shadows gathered around my hands, and the ice seemed to evaporate before my eyes, turning to smoke that dissipated almost instantly.