Bronwen’s fingers grazed the bite mark again. Tom didn’t know what he was talking about. She wasn’t courageous. In fact, she felt weaker than ever.
“Is it true?” she asked meekly. “Am I a witch?”
He nodded.
“Does that mean I’m evil?”
“You’re not evil,” Tom answered in a gentle voice.
“Margo Bates was.”
“But the generations that followed her weren’t.” Tom pressed his palms to his knees while he deliberated his wording. “Your mother saw things,” he said at last. “Things that other people couldn’t see. A lot like Ada, really. And she used that gift to help others.”
“She saw things?” Bronwen repeated. “What kind of things?” Her thoughts wandered to the times when she’d glimpsed at herself in the mirror and, just for a moment, seen a face that wasn’t her own. She pictured her reflection staring back at her with eyes belonging to another.
“Messages, she used to call them. You know, if you ever really needed her, she’d find a way to help you.”
Bronwen grew quiet.
“You probably don’t want me to stick around,” said Tom, trying to gauge her expression. “But, with the Severan gone, I don’t have to run anymore.”
“Does that mean you’re planning on staying in town?” She couldn’t help but feel the tiniest swell of relief at the idea.
Tom’s warm brown eyes lit up hopefully. “If you want me to, I will.”
Bronwen stared down at the carpet. She wasn’t ready to answer that. Not just yet. “I need to go,” she mumbled instead.
His face fell.
“But I’ll be back,” she added.
For the first time in Bronwen’s life, she saw Tom smile.
****
Bronwen raced uphill, tripping over bracken as she forced herself to move faster. Her head spun with questions—questions she refused to answer. If she allowed herself to indulge in what ifs, she knew she’d change her mind. And that was just not an option. So she focused on the pounding of her feet and the beating of her heart, because that was all she could do.
“I need courage,” she appealed to the lonely night.
All of a sudden, an image flashed through her mind. It was as though she’d caught a glimpse of herself staring back at her, but through someone else’s eyes. As it faded from her consciousness, she felt an overwhelming surge of comfort.
She exhaled softly, imagining what it would be like to have her mother’s eyes looking back at her, watching over her from afar. And, for that single precious moment in time, it was as though that was exactly what had transpired.
The sensation was so present that Bronwen almost heard the voice in her mind, reassuring her that everything would be okay. All at once, it became clear. Her purpose in life was not to be anonymous. It was not to be hunted, either. It was to right the wrong that had been done all those years ago. To save a soul. And that was where her courage lay.
She neared the castle now and the ground began to level out.
The silhouettes of three boys lay at the roots of a tree. Bronwen knew at once that two of them were gone.
“Felix,” she said in barely a whisper.
He didn’t need to hear her voice to know that she was there. Without hesitation, he rose to his feet and slowly walked towards her. He had been waiting for her.
For a while they stood before each other, neither daring to speak. As the mist on their breath flowed between them, they were drawn closer until their fingers touched and their hearts moved as one. Far in the distance, somewhere beyond the trees, the sun began to rise.
“I want to stay,” Felix murmured at last.
Bronwen nodded. “I wish you could,” she returned.
Felix lowered his gaze.
“Thank you for saving my life,” Bronwen told him, linking her fingers through his.
“Thank you for saving mine,” he replied tenderly.
Her eyes began to pool with hot tears. “I’m going to miss you so much—”
“Don’t,” he interrupted. “Don’t miss me. Don’t mourn me. Don’t even shed a tear for me. Just live.”
The sting in Bronwen’s eyes grew, and her vision started to blur. “I can’t promise I won’t shed a tear,” she said, trying to smile through her sorrow. “I’m pretty sure it’s inevitable.”
Felix smiled back. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “Nothing is inevitable.”
She gazed up at him. The sun’s new light cast a brilliant glow behind him, immersing him in iridescent beams as though it existed only for him.
“I’ve lived many years,” he said, “but I have never loved so deeply, and so unconditionally, until this very second.” He paused. “Do you suppose I’m a romantic, after all?”
Bronwen nodded her head, unable to speak.
He sighed. “All these years, and this is the one thing I never planned for. A goodbye. How do I say goodbye to you, Bronwen? It strikes me as the hardest thing I’ll ever have to do.”
Without thinking, she rose to her tiptoes and kissed him. Her heart gave a leap as their lips met. Just for an instant, the world stood still for them and the morning breeze swirled around them, binding them together as it circled their bodies. It was as though their life force flowed as one, transcending the worldly plain and uniting them as everlasting souls.
Felix’s fingertips skimmed her face and his lips lingered on hers for just a second longer.
In her final act of bravery, Bronwen peeled back the collar of her top, exposing the patch of blood. She closed her eyes as Felix planted the smallest of kisses on the broken skin.
She knew that it would be enough.
Felix took her hand and they walked to Alistair and Loki. They sat side by side amongst the roots of the old tree.
In the building light, Bronwen turned to him. His eyes were no longer red, but now golden, flecked with warm shades of amber. He smiled at her, and she knew she would never forget that sight.
“If you’d have known it would end like this, would you take it all back?” Felix asked.
“No,” she answered immediately. “Would you?”
“No.” He grinned. “I’d do it all over again.”
“Maybe we will one day.”
Felix lifted her hand and kissed her fingertips. “How do I say goodbye to you, Bronwen?” he said again.
She squeezed his hand. “I think you just did.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
New Dawn
Alone and numb, Bronwen made her way to the castle. She walked in a trance-like state, scarcely present in her own body. The chains rattled as she stepped onto the drawbridge—a sound that was now so familiar to her that it had become the salute of homecoming.
Absentmindedly, she pressed her palm to shoulder, preserving the sensation of Felix’s touch. Something ached deep inside. And she supposed that, on some level, that ache would stay with her forever–not as heartache, but as a treasured memory. It wouldn’t consume her. Because if she allowed it to, then all their sacrifice would be in vain.
She crossed into the courtyard, breathing steadily as she held back the tears. She wouldn’t cry for him. It would be unfair. He had been saved.
As she ascended the stone steps, she closed her eyes and replayed her memories, envisioning his hand around hers until she truly felt it. She walked the corridor, relishing the morning breeze that kissed her skin just as he had done.
The living quarters were as they’d left them—full of the life that had existed within their confines. Bronwen took one last look at the fireside chairs and crumpled bedding. She left the room untouched, preserving the history of the three evanescent boys who’d lived there. But there was one thing she would take with her. Something that had been hers all along.
Back in the corridor, she approached an arched oak door and opened it onto a narrow, winding staircase. She climbed the stairs, waiting to hear the melody of ticking clocks. But today, there was no ticking. As she reached the top of the sta
irs, she knew the door would open to silence. The clocks had finally stopped. Time had finally stopped.
Bronwen’s heart tugged as she scanned the myriad of motionless clock faces, all resting on different times but united in their silence.
And there, atop a cuckoo clock exactly where she’d left it, was a pinecone. Bronwen cupped it in her hands as delicately as if it were a bird’s egg. She breathed in its fragrance, filling her lungs with the scent that would forever remind her of Felix.
Her time in the castle had come to an end. But there was one more thing she needed to do.
She made her way out into the courtyard and ascended the hillside, weaving through the trees as the light of the new day speared through their branches. Somewhere in her heavy heart she knew the dawn brought with it new hope, new beginnings, and new life.
Before long, she came to a stop at a black iron gate. The rusted hinges groaned as she let herself into the overgrown meadow. Long yellowed grass swayed around the old, weathered gravestones.
In memory of her departed friends, Bronwen scattered wildflowers over the family plots and pulled the weeds away from the stones. Summoning her last ounce of strength, she approached the three lone headstones standing side by side. She knelt before them and lay flowers on each. When she looked up, her breath caught in her throat.
The stones were not blank as they had been previously, but engraved with the names Alistair Wesson, Loki Ballatyne, and Felix Cavara. Beneath each name was the line to a poem. When the lines were read together, the poem was complete.
With mind strong…
and heart true…
I will live eternity loving you.
Blinking back tears, Bronwen touched her fingers to the indented print of Felix’s name.
“I will live eternity loving you,” she whispered. She set the pinecone on his grave, where it seemed to look back at her with faithful obligation.
And, with the die cast and her life ahead of her, Bronwen walked out into the breaking dawn.
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, thanks with all my heart to my mum and dad, who make everything fun and support me even at the most melodramatic of times!
Huge thanks to the rest of my family; Natalie, Rhodri and Baby Emily, Sheila for encouraging me to write, and in memory of Brian and his eleven books.
Thanks also to Elizabeth, who knows all the words and puts a stop to things like Sleazy Dillon!
Thanks to Lepores, Nelsons, Carters, Team Chadwick, The fabulous Saunders’ of Whaley Bridge, Oysten/Wynne Jones (you don’t), ‘The Beckys’ – Becky A, Becky X, Becki G and Nikki.
Special thanks to Gareth & Celia and Maureen (Mo Mo).
I love you all xxx
Last but not least, I would like to thank everyone at Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing for taking a chance on me and bringing this book to life!
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One Fireworks
Chapter Two Straight for the Jugular
Chapter Three Crockery Should Be Seen and Not Clean
Chapter Four Pinecones and Sympathy
Chapter Five Bad Different
Chapter Six No Rest for the Wicked
Chapter Seven We’re Going to Need a Bigger Net
Chapter Eight Big Dogs
Chapter Nine Ammunition
Chapter Ten Depth Perception
Chapter Eleven Be Like Me
Chapter Twelve Rushwood
Chapter Thirteen Time Keepers
Chapter Fourteen Incomplete
Chapter Fifteen Sweet Dreams
Chapter Sixteen Faster Than a Speeding Bullet
Chapter Seventeen The Bitter Taste of Victory
Chapter Eighteen Charmed Life
Chapter Nineteen Needs Must
Chapter Twenty No Regrets
Chapter Twenty Reflections
Chapter Twenty-Two New Dawn
Acknowledgements
Gabriella Lepore, Evanescent
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