Chapter 27

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

‘ Y ou know,’ Charles said, as we drove away at high speed, ‘Edinburgh Council will bill you for that mess if they ever track you down.’

‘I’ve heard they do that,’ I said drily, raising my voice to be heard over the cries coming from Baby Daisy, who was now wide awake and making sure we all knew it. Rose was slumped against Tash, Hugo was white faced, and Charles was ignoring every red light. We were in a mess – although Hester and Otis appeared exultant.

‘You showed him,’ Hester crowed. ‘You showed Athair who’s in charge!’

Otis added, ‘He’ll think twice before he tries to come at us again!’

I wished I shared their enthusiasm. ‘He won’t allow himself to be distracted in that way again. We got lucky this time, but those cars I dropped on him won’t hold him for more than a few minutes. He’ll already be back on our tail.’

Charles put his foot down harder on the accelerator.

Hester squinted at me. ‘What’s happened to your usual sunny optimism? We encountered Athair and lived to tell the tale!’

I looked at her flatly. ‘That’s not the only tale you’ve been telling.’

‘Huh?’

‘It was never clear how Athair knew to leave that letter for me in the Assigney mansion.’ I paused. ‘But now we know.’ I raised my eyebrows at Otis.

‘What?’ he asked, puzzlement clouding his face. Then his expression altered as he realised what he’d yelled at Athair and his shoulders dropped. ‘Oh.’ Guilt filled his eyes. ‘Oops.’

‘Otis!’ Hester shrieked. ‘You absolute idiot! You told Athair about the letter! You told him what to do! Why did you do that? You nincompoop!’

I glanced at her. ‘He’s not the only one with a big mouth.’

‘I didn’t say anything! Apart from the bit about turning up at Gordon’s house and…’ She stopped mid-sentence; now she looked as guilty as her brother.

‘There we go. Now you’re both starting to understand.’ I turned away from them and checked on Rose. Her pulse was strong but her eyes remained closed. Perhaps that was a good thing, although I was still awash with guilt for hitting her.

I returned my attention to the brownies; their hangdog faces tugged at my heartstrings. ‘It’s not all bad,’ I told them.

They still looked mournful.

‘Daisy is right,’ Hugo said. ‘We know more than we did before. In fact, it’s a relief to know that in the future Athair won’t be magically listening into conversations or tracking Daisy’s movements minute by minute. He’s a powerful fiend but he’s not omnipotent. He’s not a god.’

I thought of Vargas, who had wanted to be worshipped like a deity. Fiends could be defeated, they could be banished by a decent witch and they could be killed by me. Our situation was dire – but it wasn’t rock bottom, and we weren’t the losing team. This fight was far from over. I straightened my shoulders and grinned.

Hugo, who was watching me in the rear-view mirror, clocked my expression. ‘You’ve got a plan?’

‘Not yet,’ I said. Baby Daisy gave another loud cry. When I winced, she stopped and blinked at me. I smiled at her. ‘But I’m working on it.’

Our rushed escape meant we didn’t have a destination in mind so, as we left Edinburgh, we discussed our options. Hugo’s parents were keen on a city. ‘We know a lot of high elves who can find us accommodation. We won’t be alone next time Athair comes after us,’ Tash said earnestly.

Charles nodded. ‘There are more places to hide in a city, and a busy place will give us time to re-group and prepare before that fiend finds us again.’

‘But the vampires are in the cities,’ Hugo pointed out. ‘It’s safe to assume that Athair can call upon a whole network of the undead. It only takes one to spot us and he’ll know exactly where we are. We arrived in Edinburgh last night under cover of darkness, and that darkness is exactly why Athair found us.’

‘Also,’ I added, ‘if we hole up in a city there’s more chance that innocent bystanders will be caught in the crossfire. Athair is determined to grab Baby Daisy and he won’t care who gets hurt. Quite the opposite – he’ll kill anyone who gets in his way.’

Rose twitched.

‘But you survive,’ Hester said to me. ‘He doesn’t get you. Not baby you, anyway.’

Otis nodded. ‘We know that because you’re here now. You’re fine. ’

I looked at Rose, whose eyes remained closed. Tash glanced at her too, and Hugo. She might be my mother but she looked like a kid – she was practically a kid – and her fate was far from sealed. ‘Uh-huh.’

In the end we compromised and decided to head for the mid-sized town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Its location, just across the border with England, meant we had considerable options if we suddenly needed to flee. It wasn’t a huge place, and recent reports of vampire culls in the area suggested that we might go unnoticed by the denizens of the undead.

Tash had a cousin who owned a large property there, so we’d have somewhere to stay; even better, a large contingent of talented witches lived nearby. Charles was certain that they had experience with banishing fiends; in fact, he was sure they’d banished one recently, albeit a far younger and weaker fiend than Athair.

‘It won’t take long to get there,’ he said. He seemed happier now we had the beginnings of a plan. His eyes met Tash’s in the rear-view mirror and they looked at each other for a long moment before he continued. ‘An hour and a half, depending on traffic. I’ll have to fill up with petrol soon, though.’

Tash pointed to a sign on the side of the road. ‘There’s a service station a few miles ahead.’

Rose twitched again.

‘Perfect.’

A red car had been behind us for some distance now, but it was too far away for me to see who was inside it. I watched it nervously until Charles slowed down as he prepared to turn into the service station. Almost immediately, the red car indicated to overtake and speeded past. I released the breath I’d been holding.

We had pulled up to the nearest petrol pump when Rose finally stirred and sat up. She looked around, blinked then rubbed her head. I winced and tried to tell myself that hitting her so hard had been the right thing. It didn’t help. ‘Hey,’ I said, wishing I sounded brighter. ‘You’re awake.’

Her brief smile didn’t reach her eyes. She turned to Tash, took Baby Daisy from her and held her close. ‘Yes,’ she whispered. ‘I’m awake.’ She looked at me. ‘I’m sorry, Daisy. I’m so sorry. There’s no choice.’

‘It’s okay,’ I said, doing my best to reassure her. ‘We got away. But no more blood magic, eh? You can’t risk it. And I’m the one who should be sorry. I shouldn’t have hit you like that.’

‘You did what you had to,’ Rose mumbled and dropped her gaze. Baby Daisy gurgled and she hugged her closer. ‘She needs to be changed,’ she said quietly, then she rubbed her head again and groaned.

‘I’ll do it,’ Tash said. ‘There must be changing facilities here. Besides, I’ve changed enough of your nappies recently, Hugo. I can do it in record time.’

He groaned in mock horror and, I suspected, genuine embarrassment. Rose paid him no attention and grabbed Tash’s arm. ‘No. Don’t leave me.’

Tash looked surprised, but her eyes were filled with compassion. Her gaze flicked to Charles again, then she bit her lip and nodded. ‘If that’s what you want, Rose.’

‘It is.’ Rose straightened up and thrust Baby Daisy into my arms – who immediately started to cry again. Of course she did. ‘Can you do it?’ my mother asked.

Change my own nappy? ‘I’ve never…’

‘Please, Daisy. She needs it.’ Rose gave an awkward smile. ‘ You need it.’ She leaned forward. ‘I could do with some paracetamol as well. Hugo, could you get me some?’

‘No problem. We should pick up some other supplies if we’re camping out in Berwick for the next few days. I’ll grab some food. ’

Charles delved into his pocket, took out his wallet and withdrew a bank card. ‘Can you take some money out and pay for the petrol? The pin is 8749.’ Hugo nodded.

I shifted Daisy in my arms. Her face was screwed up and her soft cries were turning into loud squawks. Great. But I could hardly gainsay Rose after thumping her so hard. ‘Are you two coming?’ I asked the brownies.

Hester flicked a glance at the baby and pulled a face. ‘Nah.’

‘You’ve got this, Daisy,’ Otis agreed. ‘We’ll wait here.’

I couldn’t blame them.

Charles went to the pump and picked up the refuelling hose while Hugo and I walked across the forecourt. ‘I’ll get what we need while you change nappies,’ Hugo said.

No way. ‘I’m not doing this on my own – you’re not leaving me alone with myself, Hugo. Anything might happen.’

‘You’ve faced down vampires, fiends and dragons, Daisy. I think you can manage a baby.’ I gave him a long look. ‘Fine,’ he said. ‘I’ll help.’ He leaned over and sniffed. ‘I can’t smell anything. How bad can it be?’

‘Look at the pair of us,’ I muttered. ‘We’re both afraid of a tiny baby.’

‘She’s not just any baby.’

That didn’t make it any better. I adjusted my hold on her. ‘Come on. I can see a baby-changing sign over there.’

Thankfully the little room was empty, although it was a tight squeeze when all three of us were inside. Hugo rummaged around in the baby bag. ‘I don’t understand what half of this stuff is for.’ He looked at me for guidance.

‘What?’ I asked. ‘You think because I’m a woman I should know? I don’t spend time around babies. I’m as clueless as you are.’

He eyed me. ‘In this current form,’ he gestured to himself, ‘ I’m four years older than my mum and six months older than my dad.’

‘I’m ten years older than Rose,’ I reminded him.

‘And they can do this stuff without thinking about it.’ Hugo straightened his shoulders and did his best to look confident. ‘It can’t be that hard. If our parents can do it and they’re younger than us, then we can do it too.’

‘Sure. Although you’ve gotta wonder why they didn’t come and do it themselves to begin with.’ I froze, and so did Hugo. I looked down at Baby Daisy who stared up at me with huge, tear-filled eyes. She didn’t want me, she wanted her mum. ‘Hugo,’ I whispered.

He came to the exact same conclusion at the exact same time. Cumbubbling bollocks.

He dropped the bag of baby things and ran outside with me following on his heels. As soon as I saw the car with Charles, Tash and Rose inside it driving across the forecourt and out of the service station, I cried out, ‘No!’

Hugo cursed loudly. ‘I cannot fucking believe they’re doing this!’ He drew in a breath, preparing to throw magic after them and somehow stop them in their tracks.

‘Don’t, Hugo,’ Otis said in a tiny, sad voice. He and Hester were hovering anxiously a few metres away. ‘They don’t want you to stop them.’

Hester sniffed tearfully. ‘They’ve given us a message for you that we have to deliver word for word.’

Hugo growled as I stared at the brownies in growing horror.

‘“You don’t know what it’s like to be a parent”,’ Otis recited. ‘“You’d do anything for your child. You’d move heaven and earth to keep them safe. We are leaving. We will draw Athair away in the hope that he follows us and not you. You know what you have to do for Baby Daisy. You know what has to happen. We will find somewhere safe for Rose to stay. When Athair realises she no longer has Daisy, he might leave her alone”.’

I clenched my teeth in a vain bid to stop my tears from falling.

Hester took up the thread. ‘This message is from Rose.’ She swallowed hard. ‘“My darling Daisy. We both know this is for the best. I can’t stop myself from using blood magic when Athair is near, and I can’t protect you if I keep using it. If I stay, I could cost you everything. You will be loved and you will have a happy childhood with wonderful parents. You will grow into an amazing woman with more heart and bravery than I could ever hope for. I will always love you, and I will think of you, every single day”.’ Hester’s voice shook. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she mumbled. ‘We couldn’t stop them.’

I stared down the busy road and thought about some of the last words Rose had said to me: I’m so sorry. There’s no choice. She’d been speaking in the present tense. She had already known she would do this.

Hugo cursed loudly. ‘Fuck!’

The car was no longer in sight. My shoulders dropped. ‘They’ve gone. They’ve really gone.’

And we’d been left holding the baby. Literally.