Night Terrors (28 page)

Lilith snarls and glides closer. ‘He was not alone.’

Eh? I blink at her as something crawls uneasily through the pit of my stomach. ‘Do you mean Adam? What do you mean he wasn’t alone?’

She runs her tongue across her teeth. Her face hovers above me and realise that she doesn’t look any healthier than she did a couple of hours ago. If she fed from Adam, she should be slightly better by now.

‘He was being watched, Zoe from the quiet lands. But I see now you did not know this.’ She snaps her fingers and moves back. ‘So be it.’

The tension emanating from her evaporates – but I think it has simply transferred to me. My pulse quickens as I search her face. ‘Watched by whom?’

‘I am very hungry,’ she says. Her gaze drops and her expression is mournful. ‘I need to eat.’

‘I’ve stopped the damn monsters. You can go and feed from whoever you want. But first tell me who was watching Adam.’

Her eyes go round. ‘Anyone? I can go to anyone?’

‘Lilith…’

She sighs. ‘The watcher had pretty fingers. And a mark here.’ She points above her arched eyebrow.

My stomach sinks further. I know exactly who she means: the Department thug who grabbed me in the street and half-strangled me had a scar there. I’ve fucking done it again, I’ve landed Adam in danger once more. ‘What was he dreaming of? What was Adam dreaming of?’

She pats her stomach. ‘I’m going to eat now.’

‘Wait!’ I protest. If they’re watching Adam it’s because the cat is finally out of the bag. They know I’m the dreamweaver and they’ll be coming after me. I straighten my shoulders. Let them: I’m coming into my own. They’ll rue the day they tried to screw with me. ‘Where is he now? Is the watcher still inside Adam’s dream?’

She nods. ‘With the other one. Your friend.’

Everything around me goes very, very quiet. ‘My friend?’

‘Mmm.’

I close my eyes in pain. I can’t believe Dante was right all along. I had been so sure I could trust Bron. I’m normally a far better judge of character.

There’s an ache in my heart because I’ve been betrayed. I lean back against the wall and look at Lilith, as if I’m expecting her to tell me she’s making it up. Somehow I don’t think Lilith is the joking type.

‘I’ve seen him in the forest many times. He has a mark as well, you know,’ Lilith continues. She points to her cheek this time.

My tongue claws to the roof of my mouth. ‘Wh–what?’

‘Is it a club?’ she inquires. ‘Do many of your kind do it? Brand yourselves?’

‘His hair.’ There’s a tremble to my voice but I don’t care. ‘What colour is his hair?’

Lilith frowns at me. ‘Black, of course.’

There’s a roaring in my ears. I can’t breathe. No, no, no, no, no.

‘Are you alright?’

I think I’m going to pass out. Nausea rises up my gullet. ‘What…’ I gasp. ‘Did… No. What…’ Shit. I point to my mouth.

‘I do not like vomit.’

Something about the disgust in her tone helps me and I suck in air, filling my lungs. ‘I’m not going to be sick. Did they talk?’ I lunge forward and snatch her wrist, ignoring the freezing touch of her skin. ‘What did they say?’

‘They wanted you, dreamweaver.’

Breath rushes out of me once more. It’s not Dante. He knows exactly where I am.

‘Pretty Fingers wanted to know where the dreamweaver was. They knew  that it wasn’t Ashley and they’d been holding the wrong person.’ Lilith shrugs as if it makes no sense. ‘Black Hair said he had the dreamweaver but was keeping her until she came around to his way of thinking.’

No. ‘You’re lying.’

She considers this. ‘I do not lie. Make of it what you will.’ She blinks languidly and disappears.

I sag against the wall. Lilith is playing with my mind, just like the Sandman. I know from my discovery of the card with Adam’s details that the Department may have found him already. It was the Mayor’s record-keeping that led them to him, nothing else; they’ve been watching him in case he leads them to me.

Dante’s the only friend I’ve got and there’s nothing to point to his culpability. Bron’s not been around since I accused him of playing both sides. Ashley hates me and so does Esme.

I freeze. I only accused Bron at Dante’s behest. And there was something definitely wrong when I saw Ashley and Esme in the forest.

I straighten up. I have to talk to both of them and I have to do it now.

***

I circle round them. I’m aware it makes me look like some kind of predator but my pent-up emotion is going to burst out if I don’t do something to release it. The big stick Esme was holding before is lying by their feet and she drops nervous glances in its direction. I almost scoff. I can conjure up swords from nothing; a stick is going to bother me.

‘What’s wrong with the pair of you?’ I demand. ‘You’re antsy and worked up and I want to know why.’

They exchange looks. Esme runs her tongue across her teeth. ‘Do you know why Ashley was taken?’ she asks finally.

‘Because the Department thought she was the dreamweaver,’ I say impatiently. That’s hardly news.

‘That’s what they wanted us to think.’

I stare at her. ‘What does that mean?’

Ashley clears her throat. ‘They only thought I was the dreamweaver to start off with. They injected me with something that made my heart race. Every six hours they came and injected me again.’

I swallow. ‘Drugs to stop you from sleeping.’

She nods. ‘Most of them didn’t talk to me, but one of them was chattier than the others. I knew that I could die there if I didn’t get someone on my side so I tried to be nice. I tried to get him to help me.’

I’m guessing that didn’t pan out but at least Ashley continued to fight. None of us were going to let these bastards take us down. ‘Go on.’

‘He said that they’d been told to kidnap me. That someone knew I was the dreamweaver, someone from our zone. A few people had doubts but Inferno was sure.’

‘Inferno?’ I press the base of my palms against my temples and switch direction. Dante’s Inferno. It doesn’t mean anything though; it could be a coincidence. It could be a ploy to make us think he’s not one of us.

Ashley’s eyes are clear. ‘That’s what they said. I was too befuddled to think anything of it. Later the guard apologised. He knew the truth and that I wasn’t the weaver but they needed me to capture the real dreamweaver.’ She looks at me meaningfully. ‘That’s when I realised I was nothing more than bait. I tried to tell them I was the dreamweaver, to give myself a chance, but they didn’t believe me.’

‘Lack of sleep will make you hallucinate…’

‘I know the fucking difference between a hallucination and reality, okay?’ Ashley snaps.

I stop pacing and look at her. ‘I’m sorry,’ I say. She’s just been to hell and back; I should be more empathetic.

She nods. ‘I was getting sweats, screaming. Things were getting bad. The nice one left off a dosage. He said not to tell anyone but he was worried I was going to end up with permanent brain damage.’ As she says those words, she turns pale. ‘That’s why I managed to finally fall asleep.’

‘And I bumped into you?’

‘Yes. Then I woke up and some of the fog had gone. Dante was there. He said something to the guard and then picked me up and carried me out.’

I don’t move a muscle. ‘The guard knew he was there?’

‘Yes. Dante thought I was out of it but I saw him make some kind of gesture.’ She concentrates and then shows me, her thumb touching her ring finger.

I stare at it. ‘Dante did that?’

‘Yes.’

I’ve seen that gesture before. The Department thug who half-throttled me in the street made it before he started speaking. Is it some kind of secret signal? Maybe Dante learnt it and is using it against them but if that’s the case, why didn’t he tell the rest of us about it?

Esme puts a hand on her shoulder. ‘He used to work for the Mayor, Zoe.’

I shake my head. That’s proof of nothing. ‘And,’ I say, ‘he stopped when he realised how dangerous and evil the Mayor was.’

‘So he told us.’ She meets my eyes. ‘You forget that a lot happened before you showed up. Dante lurked in the forest. The few times that he came into the town, he sat in a corner and watched people.’

I saw him do that, the first time I was in the pub. I shake my head and re-focus. ‘That’s still not proof of anything.’ My protests are becoming feebler. I think of what happened with Ashley and seize upon it. ‘He’s the one who said the Department might have Ashley and would be forcing her to stay awake! He wouldn’t have done that if he was part of it.’

Esme’s expression doesn’t change. ‘What did you do when he told you that?’

I frown. ‘What do you mean?’

‘You left home, didn’t you? Even though you were terrified, you left the safety of your house and your town and travelled to Manchester.’

‘But Dante didn’t want me to do that!’ I burst out. ‘He wanted Bron and Rob to go, not me!’

‘But he knew that
you
would go. You wouldn’t be able to resist going after her on your own because it was your fault she was taken. You were in a strange place, on your own and entirely vulnerable.’

Except I didn’t go to Manchester on my own. I went with Rawlins. Doubt snakes through me. Dante wasn’t happy when he saw her.

‘No.’ I shake my head. ‘He was angry when he realised I was in Manchester. Really angry. There’s no way it was an act.’

‘Then he wanted to keep you to himself. Some kind of Department power-play shit.’

‘He wouldn’t do that.’

Esme sighs. ‘When was the last time you spoke to Bron? I know you had some kind of fight. Why did you argue with each other?’

I look away.

‘And,’ she continues, ‘I’m pretty certain Rob is out of the country. He travels a lot for his work. Neither of them was in a position to look for Ashley.’

If it’s true that Rob travels a lot, he would know a lot about the different zones. I could have asked him what the Department was like in other places – if I’d known. Dante didn’t mention his friend’s travels. ‘It’s coincidence,’ I say heavily. ‘Not evidence.’

Esme gives me a sad, knowing smile. ‘Dante only became friendly when you arrived, Zoe.’

‘He
wasn’t
friendly when I arrived. In fact, he was an arse.’

‘Until he discovered you were the dreamweaver,’ she says softly. ‘Then everything changed. He went from being Grizzly Adams to everyone’s best friend.’

I’m still not prepared to believe it. ‘He hung out on that forum! Somnolence.  He’s D.’

Esme looks confused but Ashley turns even paler. ‘He reads Somnolence?’ she whispers.

‘Ash…’

She shakes her head. ‘D is Bron. His last name is Daniels.’

I frown. ‘No. Bron is B52.'

‘You’re wrong.’ The truth is written all across her face.

‘That’s stupid!’ I explode. ‘Why the hell don’t you all use your real names? And how can you be sure? That doesn’t…’ I pause. Bron apologised to me for what he wrote on Somnolence. Someone had posted a question asking if I was pretty and ‘D’ had responded: ‘If you like that sort of thing’. I’d assumed it was Dante – in fact, he’d all but confirmed it. Have I really been so wrong about everything?

‘Rob’s a good person and Dante and he are friends,’ I whisper. I’m searching desperately for reasons to defend him. ‘The first time I saw him, Rob was trying to get Dante to rise up against the Mayor!’

‘So what? Rob’s friendly and he knows the difference between right and wrong. Dante’s not like that. I keep telling you, he used to work for the Mayor, Zoe. Think about it. Why would we invite him onto the forum that was trying to subvert the Mayor?’

‘But...’ It’s possible. Dante could have been monitoring the forum. ‘Stockholm Syndrome,’ I say suddenly. ‘You’ve got Stockholm Syndrome. You’re identifying with your kidnappers. You like this Department wanker who was nice to you and you’re looking for a way to pin the blame on someone else. Dante’s not that person. He helped me free the mares! He was working with Bron to take the Mayor down!’

Esme rolls her eyes. ‘Give it up. We all wanted to trust him but the truth is staring us right in the face. Dante is the Department. He wanted the dreamweaver all to himself, probably so he could get more power. When the Department found out there was a dreamweaver, Dante misdirected them to Ashley so he could get you on side. Seducing you until you’d do what the hell he wanted you to do.’

I open my mouth to tell her it’s not true but before I can speak, a twig snaps. We all freeze and turn. There, standing in the gloom, is the man himself.

Dante folds his arms. ‘Sorry,’ he says to Ashley. ‘It wasn’t personal.’

Chapter Twenty

The caged bird sings with fearful trill.

Maya Angelou

I disapparate in a heartbeat and leap off the bed. Rawlins is on the other one, gently snoring. I shake her awake.

‘What?’ she stutters, raising a hand to ward me off.

‘We have to leave now.’

‘Eh?’

‘Dante,’ I say through gritted teeth. ‘It was Dante all along.’

She blinks at me in sleepy confusion. ‘I don’t understand.’

I curse. ‘Rawlins, he’s responsible for Ashley’s kidnapping and he knows that I know. He’s outside in your car. He’ll be here in seconds. We need to get out now.’

She stares at me, then she springs up and grabs her bag. ‘Let’s go.’

We fling open the door and run down the corridor.

‘Lift?’

Rawlins shakes her head. ‘Too slow. Take the stairs.’

We fling open the door to the emergency staircase. I’m about to rush down but she snatches my arm. ‘No. If he really is going to after you…’

‘He is.’

‘Then he’ll expect you to go down.’ She jerks her head. ‘We should go up instead.’

‘We’ll be trapped.’

‘I’m with the police, remember? Trust me on this.’

I have no choice. I give a sharp nod and pivot on my heel. The pair of us race upwards. My spine is screaming and bolts of agony tear through my body but I can’t worry about that now.

I can’t believe it. Dante. All along it was the person I felt confident about. I’m such a fucking idiot.

We reach the top floor and Rawlins wrenches open the door, her hand on her phone as we run. Sprinting back down another corridor which looks exactly like the one we just left, we start trying door handles. None of them open. Rawlins dials while I feel terror rising inside me. There’s no way out of here.