Chapter 90 Elin

90

Elin

Parque Nacional, Portugal, October 2021

The first thing Elin hears when they get to the clearing is scuffling, grunts, the muffled sound of Etta crying in one of the vans.

Ahead of her, Isaac comes to an abrupt stop and turns, his face stricken. ‘Steed's there,' he mouths. ‘With Ned.'

As they push past the final line of trees, Elin sees them in front of Ned's van, rolling around on the ground, dust and dirt clouding the air. Blood spatter is everywhere: pocking their clothes and the soil around them.

The scene is frantic. There's no way of seeing who's who among the jumble of limbs thrashing against the ground, the flailing arms, fingers scrabbling to get purchase in the dirt.

It's only as a dull thud sounds out and the movement briefly stops that Elin gets a clear picture: Steed is straddling Ned, who is lying with his back flat on the ground.

A low moan punctures the air.

Elin watches, dizzied, as Steed wrenches his arm back and lands another punch. The sound resonates, and Ned's head jerks back, slamming against the dirt.

No moan from him this time, just shallow, ragged breaths.

You couldn't describe this as a fight, she thinks, looking at Ned, motionless, his eyes half closed. The only one still in the game was Steed, and it looked like he was just getting started.

As Steed rams his fist against Ned's face again, this time hitting his jawbone, Elin can't stop herself from gasping.

For a split-second, Steed turns to look her way, his eyes wild. Every bit of his face is filthy, blood pouring from a gash on his lip.

Fear slips through her.

It looks like Steed's crossed a threshold, lost whatever fragile grip he had on the world.

Watching him, Elin tries to calm the chaos in her mind to think about her next steps. Getting physical won't work, it'll only escalate things, add fuel to what is already a raging fire.

The truth , she thinks.

That's the only thing that will cut through: what he's wanted for months, what he's really here at the camp for. The truth not just about the camp but about Kier.

‘Look, we know the truth.' Elin moves closer. ‘About what happened to Kier. We got it wrong. The camp were helping Kier. Not hurting her. This, here … it's a refuge.'

But it's as if Steed hasn't heard her. He's in his own world.

Without even a passing look in her direction, he clambers off Ned and roughly hauls him to his feet before landing another punch that sends him tumbling sideways to the ground.

Ned makes no move to get up or protect himself, lying motionless in the foetal position, his face pressed against the dirt.

‘Please, stop.' A voice sounds out, thin with fear, desperation.

Elin turns. Maggie .

She hadn't even noticed them – Maggie and Leah – stood on the grass a few metres away, Leah violently trembling in Maggie's arms. Echoes, for them , Elin thinks. Everything they'd come here to escape.

‘Please,' Maggie says again. ‘Stop.'

From behind her, Isaac lunges forwards and tries to pull Steed off Ned, but Steed's too quick. Wrenching his arm back, he elbows him in the jaw.

Isaac cries out, staggering backwards.

‘Try that again,' Steed spits, ‘and I'll take you out as well.'

Isaac turns to look at her and Elin shakes her head. ‘Leave it.' In this state, Steed could be capable of anything. He's drawing not just on his strength and training, but rage. None of them will be a match for him.

‘He's a coward. Can't even bring himself to fight back.' Dragging him towards the van, Steed pins him against the metal, his right arm drawn against Ned's chest.

Beside her, Isaac takes a sharp breath as they catch the first proper look at Ned's face.

It's a mess.

Not just dirt and dust, but blood smeared over his cheeks and shirt. Her gaze travels upwards to a deep gouge above his eye. It looks bad, but his demeanour is worse. Ned's head is hanging, his eyes almost fully closed. It looks like only Steed's hand pressed against his torso is keeping him upright.

Elin feels a deep-seated sense of dread. She'd seen the blows Steed had already inflicted, and they're probably only the tip of the iceberg depending on how long they'd been brawling.

If Steed lands another punch like that …

Next to her, Isaac's having the same thought. ‘You want me to try again?'

‘Not while he's like this, it'll only make it worse. I'm going to try to get him to listen. Explain what we've discovered.'

She takes a deep breath and steps forwards. ‘Steed, you need to stop,' she says, louder this time, her throat hot, tight. ‘Think this through. You're going to do something you regret. We need to talk, so I can explain.' From the corner of her eye, she sees Bridie's panicked face through the window of the van opposite.

Steed cuts her off, his lip curling. ‘Do you honestly think we can fix this by talking ? That's the only thing you've done since you've got here and look what good that's done. These people, they're still out here, living their lives, when Kier …' His voice trembles. ‘They need to tell us the truth, Elin, and if they don't, I'll knock it out of them.' His face is shining with tears, pale lines streaking through the dirt and blood on his face.

Elin takes another slow step forwards. ‘Steed, you need to listen to what I'm saying. We know the truth. Ned hasn't hurt Kier. It's the opposite of that.'

‘Keep the fuck back.' Steed whips his head around to look at her.

His face is contorted into an expression of pure rage. I don't recognise him , she thinks, panicked. Not a single part of him is familiar to her. Although the thought is paralysing, Elin knows she has to keep him talking. If she can get him to listen, there's a chance something will cut through.

‘Look, if you'll just let me explain properly, everything we've found out these past few days—'

‘And how exactly do you expect me to believe what you "explain"?' Steed replies, a mocking tone to his voice. He keeps his hand pressed against Ned's chest. ‘You've been lying , Elin, ever since I got out here. Said you had nothing concrete, but I saw Kier's clothes up at the clearing, all burnt up. You saw that days ago, and you've done nothing since then but pussyfoot around, asking me questions about Zeph, when all along, it's them. This fucking place. They're the ones who've done something to my sister. You're just feeding me all this bullshit so I'll back off.'

Elin doesn't even get a chance to reply as Steed suddenly turns back to Ned. She knows as soon as he yanks back his arm, what he's about to do. ‘Please, don't!'

The sound of her voice throws the blow off course. Steed's fist only grazes Ned's cheek, but she can tell, from how Steed's torso lurches backwards exactly what kind of damage it would have caused had it landed.

He'd kill him , she thinks. In this state of mind, he'd kill him in a heartbeat .

Elin's eyes sting, the wave of sadness she'd felt before now a deep sorrow.

How had they got here? To this .

She watches him, unsure of what to do, then she remembers something that until this past week, she's always treasured about their relationship: how comfortable they were with each other. How easy it was to look at one another, hold eye contact. Something that didn't always come naturally with other people.

Slowly, Elin walks around the side of him so she's able to see him properly. Maybe, if he can see her face, read her expression, he'll understand that what she's saying is genuine.

‘What I said, it's true.' She holds his gaze. ‘We got it wrong. The camp is a refuge and they were protecting Kier, not hurting her.'

Steed's face twitches.

‘What do you mean … protecting ?'

‘Kier came here because of what Zeph was doing to her.' Elin steadies her voice. ‘Whatever happened to her, after that, it wasn't because of the camp. All of them here were trying to protect her.'

Steed's face registers different emotions all at once – confusion, shock, relief – and Elin feels the first flicker of hope that she's going to be able to talk him down.

Though it's hard to keep her voice under control, she keeps going, telling him everything they'd discovered. As she speaks, her words eventually finding a rhythm, she feels a sense of peace that's long eluded her. Relief: no more lies and unanswered questions. Everything, at last, out on the table.

When she finishes, an odd noise emerges from the back of Steed's throat. His face crumples, and the arm rammed up against Ned's chest begins to shake.

In one quick movement, Maggie and Leah spring forwards to stop Ned from slipping to the floor.

‘Please,' Maggie shouts at Steed, who still has hold of him, ‘let go so we can help him. '

Lowering his arm, Steed stands there, frozen, while Maggie and Leah grab Ned and move him towards the van door.

When Elin looks back at Steed, he's still locked in position. The emotion in his eyes has gone, replaced with an emptiness.

‘I'll take him back to the Airstream,' Isaac says, walking over to Steed. ‘Leave you to help with Ned.'

It's the right call, Elin thinks, glancing at Leah. Though she's helping Maggie with Ned, she looks like she did up at the falls. There, but not there. Detached from the world.