Guardian of the Dead (21 page)

Her words brought pain, a stinging impact that scalded my skin. I saw Iris pale and stagger against the doorframe, but Reka's eyes were trained on me, and her sheer presence pinned me against the wall. My skin felt as if it were being peeled away to expose the quivering flesh beneath.

The doorbell rang.

‘Speaking of useless,' she said lightly and rose in a rustle of skirts. ‘ 'Twere good he were spoken with; for he may strew dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds. Let him come in.'

Mark didn't wait for anyone to answer the bell. He came down the hall at a dead run and caught Iris under the elbow before she toppled. Her face was drawn tight with pain, but she steadied herself against the doorframe.

He yelled something in the heavy syllables of ancient Rome, and the scalding sensation vanished. I sagged against the wall.

‘I really should have taken Latin,' I said, and was surprised to hear my voice come out so evenly. Mark released Iris's arm and stepped slightly in front of her to stare at his mother. I didn't need to ask to see that something had gone wrong; his earlier confidence had vanished into a look of tight strain.

Iris slipped off her shoes and planted her tiny hose-clad feet on the floor with all the deliberation of a sumo wrestler.

‘Kevin,' Reka said. ‘Come here.'

The tap shut off. The air was suddenly dead with the absence of rushing water.

Kevin walked through the kitchen door like a toy soldier. I planted myself in front of him. ‘Stop,' I said firmly, and braced.

He tried to walk through me, but I strained my full weight against him, my hands solid at his hips, and he didn't have the momentum to push through. Behind me Iris squeaked with outrage, and something went flying past my ear, accompanied by Reka's surprised exclamation.

It was a shoe. Not a bad weapon, really; the chunky heel might have done some serious damage if it had actually hit her. Instead it scattered cards as it skidded across the coffee table and came to rest against the bowl of peanuts in the centre.

‘Kevin!' Iris cried with real anguish.

Kevin stopped straining against me, and his face flashed with lucidity. I put my hand up to his eyes. ‘Stop,' I said again.

‘Oh, sit down then,' Reka said as if it was a minor irritant, but I caught the strain wavering under her voice. It cheered me, even as Kevin blanked out again and walked mechanically to the couch. This much opposition wasn't in her battle plan.

Over Kevin's shoulder, the kowhai tree in the backyard was an inky outline scrawled against the dimming sky. I stared uncertainly. Was that water condensing outside, or just an illusion of the dirty glass?

Whether she was also aware of the coming night or not, Reka showed no qualms when I turned around. Iris was holding her other shoe and squinting speculatively.

‘Let him go,' Mark suggested. ‘Give up your claim. Before I make you.'

Reka sat down and crossed her ankles, still managing to suggest she was the tallest person in the room. ‘That would be very stupid. And even more stupid for you to make me. Don't you care for your people?'

He flinched. ‘Which people? You made sure I wasn't either.'

Reka slammed her hands against the coffee table and we all jumped at the sound. ‘You foolish child! You did
that
yourself! And now they will come for you!' Her voice came a little undone on the last words, and I realised that she was genuinely scared for him. But of what?

The question must have shown on my face, because Mark glanced at me and said something in fast M
ori.

Iris coughed. ‘It isn't the right place to speak about this,' she translated. I gave Mark a hard stare.

Reka smirked at her son. ‘Yours to explain to your accomplices,' she said. ‘Since you will not accept
my
help.'

‘Your help comes at a price.'

‘So does everything, Mark.' She thrust her hand out at Kevin, voice softening. ‘Look at him. He could be so strong.'

Mark didn't take his eyes off Reka's face, but as soon as she said it, I saw that she was right. Kevin's face was still eerily pleasant and blank, but the potential for power hummed in his bones like a giant cat purring in sleep. The right stimulus might wake him.

Tendrils of mist brushed against the window.

Reka's voice went on, smooth and calm. ‘I wouldn't harm him. And you could have brothers and sisters. A family.'

‘Shut up!' he shouted.

Her mouth hardened. ‘I must have him, Mark.'

His face settled into that stark, potent stillness and he began a low chant in another language. It wasn't Latin; that was about all I could tell. Iris tensed beside him. I half-stepped back, clearing room for an axe kick. If I hit with enough force, I'd break her neck. The thought clenched in my belly like a fist, but my balance was steady.

Reka flicked a glance over my shoulder at the gathering mists, then gasped as Mark's chant increased in volume.

‘Your foreign power won't save you,' she said, placing a hand on the coffee table for support. Her pale fingers gleamed against the glass. ‘They'll come for you. You lost what you were born with. You don't count to them. So they'll take your foreign power and your eyes and your life. If you don't want to die, you'll need my help then.'

‘No,' he said brutally. ‘I don't want anything you have to offer.'

Her eyes glinted with something that might have been grief, and then she moved, dolphin quick. Snatching up Iris's shoe, she hurled it with a breathy command – Iris squeaked – Mark shouted – and the living room window exploded outward into splinters of glass.

The mist rolled in. Long-nailed hands lengthening into the claws of legend, stone-hard eyes gleaming in her beautiful face, Reka came for Kevin.

But I was ready, turning to drop over him even as my vision blanked in the thick white air. I landed hard, with his knee slamming into my thigh and my chest awkward against his shoulder, but I landed in time. A clawed hand brushed my back, groping for a hold. I grabbed it and twisted as hard as I could. No finesse, no technique; but something broke with a wet-sounding crunch.

She snarled and tugged free, landing her slippered foot in my back. It knocked the breath out of me and hurt like hell, but I craned my chin over the top of Kevin's unmoving head and held on.

Mark was shouting again, more syllables I couldn't make into words. The smell of something burning, thick and sweet, hung in the air.

Reka screamed like a hawk and raked the nails of her good hand down my back. I kicked back, and her shriek cut off with a gasp as I hit something soft. I felt the wet flow of blood over my skin before I felt the pain, and then it was worse than almost anything; worse than breaking three toes with a bad front kick; worse than dislocating my shoulder in a tournament; worse than blistering sunburn after a ski trip. Only the migraine Mark had inflicted had hurt more. I hissed, because I didn't have the air to scream, and huddled tighter around Kevin.

Mark shouted the same phrase three times, his voice increasing in volume.

‘Have him, then!' Reka cried, as if the words had been torn out of her, and vanished, and the mist with her.

My eyes stung in the sudden light as I straightened and turned. Mark was sagging against the doorframe, looking like he'd run a marathon and lost. Iris was standing beside him, staring at me in horror.

‘Oh, God,' she whispered. ‘Ellie, your
back
.'

I twisted to see over my shoulder, the pain of the movement forcing air out through gritted teeth. The back of my blazer was shredded, stuck to my back with my own blood. I couldn't see the extent of the damage, but I was sure I didn't want to.

‘Who—' Kevin said, and we all shifted to stare at him. ‘Ellie! What's happened to the window?'

TOGETHER ALONE

I
RIS CROUCHED BY
K
EVIN
. ‘Are you okay?' she asked urgently. ‘How many fingers am I holding up? What day is it?'

I left her to it and stepped toward Mark. ‘Reka was scared for you.'

He pulled back, hair falling over his face. ‘That's not my problem.'

‘What “they” was she talking about?' I persisted. ‘They'll take your
eyes
?' A nasty suspicion was forming. ‘Mark! Does this have something to do with the Eye–slasher?' ‘What the hell is going on?' Kevin roared, attempting to get up. Iris sprawled half into his lap and made a small pained sound. Kevin patted her arm absently and jerked his chin at Mark. ‘What are you doing here?'

‘I think Reka drugged you!' Iris said, and peered into his face. ‘Your pupils are dilated!'

They weren't, but Kevin was diverted from rage into bewilderment.

‘I feel weird,' he admitted, and rubbed at his forehead. Mark was staring intently at him, fingers moving over the key charm on his bracelet.

‘Maybe you should rest?' I suggested. The pain in my back flared into agony as Kevin slung one arm around my waist, but he noticed neither my flinch nor the blood staining his green sleeve as I helped him into the bedroom and onto Iris's bed. Unlike the rumpled sheets of a normal person, it was neatly made, with crisp white linens and a pretty flowered throw.

‘Did something happen?' Kevin asked muzzily. ‘Something happened.'

I knelt to tug off his shoes and settled the throw over him. ‘You should sleep. You'll feel better if you don't try to think about it.'

He struggled onto one elbow. ‘Ellie? Tell me.'

I hesitated in the doorway, no longer able to avoid his eyes. They were full of confusion, and pain, and trust that I wouldn't leave him in the dark.

‘Sleep well,' I said, and switched off the light.

Iris was all spiky angles when I came back, thin elbows thrusting aggressively out from the fists on her tilted hips. She was still holding her other shoe. Mark was slumped against the back of the couch, pinching the bridge of his nose.

‘We should get going,' he said. ‘I'll give you a ride.'

‘Is it safe to leave him?' I asked.

‘It's fine,' Mark said. ‘I made Reka give him up. Once done, it's done. She can't claim him again.'

I frowned. ‘Iris, you're staying, right?'

‘No,' she said. ‘I want to know about the patupaiarehe.'

I deflected Mark's sharp look with an outstretched palm; directed him back to her.

‘Oh, come on,' she said irritably. ‘I'm a Drama and M
ori major. I read books.'

‘Books,' Mark said, raising an eyebrow at me.

I gave him the finger. He ignored me and stared out of the broken window.

‘Mark,' I said, softer. ‘I need to know. I'm stumbling around blind.'

‘And she promised she'd tell me everything,' Iris put in.

Green eyes bored into mine. ‘You said that if you found out this stuff was real, you'd try to stay the hell out of it.'

‘That was before I knew I was already in it,' I said. Whatever was going on, even knowing that Reka's irritating hints were designed to make me drag it out of him couldn't stop me. This
did
have something to do with the Eyeslasher. ‘It's too late. You can't stop now.' I'd meant it for me, but Iris nodded, folding her arms again.