Misty Falls (32 page)

‘All right, Johan, kill me if you must … ’

‘Roger!’ exclaimed Miriam.

‘Pa, no!’ protested Jason.

‘But let Jason and Miriam go—they’re not part of this.’

‘Does Jason have a gift?’

Roger shook his head.

‘Oh well. Pity that. And I see you don’t beg for the girl here. What about Misty?’ Johan pierced Roger with his gaze.

Taking an awkward gulp, Roger glanced at me; I had no more significance than a piece of furniture to him but he understood that I was a kind of test. ‘I wish her no harm. She’s useful to you—spare her too.’

‘Ah, so you can learn. Before now you would’ve called for the eradication of any savant, claiming we were demons. I intend to show you what eradication feels like. I think you’ll find it a most memorable lesson.’ Johan’s bitter gaze slid back to Miriam, a snake twisting invisibly through long grass, enjoying seeing us all flinch and try to guess who he would bite first.

I sensed he was coming to the end of the showdown part of the agenda and would soon move to the killing. I couldn’t bear the thought of Alex walking in on a room of corpses. There was nothing to be gained by continuing to be silent. It would probably be the stupidest of my Misty moments but I was going for it nevertheless.

‘No.’ I stood up. ‘You won’t kill these people. I won’t allow it.’

‘And how do you intend to stop it, little girl?’ Johan also rose.

Giving no warning, I flung the carving knife at his throat with telekinesis. He deflected it with a sleeve but not without earning a cut to his forearm. The long-pronged fork I sent to his eyes but he ducked and it stuck in the wall behind. Jason grasped that we had to fight and swept the plate and glasses towards Johan with his bound fists. Roger lunged to head-butt his brother; Miriam bolted for the back door, trying to kick it open. I sent missile after missile hoping something would get through. Johan knocked his brother down and stamped on his stomach until shoved sideways by Jason. I rushed to help him, tripping over Roger in my haste.

In the commotion none of us noticed the rumble of a motorbike engine cutting out and someone entering through the front door.

‘What the—!’

‘Alex!’ My cry slammed the brakes on the tussle. We staggered to a halt, Miriam with shoulders heaving in wrenching sobs, Roger sprawled on the floor, creamed potatoes smeared on his face and chest. I had ended up on my knees between Johan and the kitchen counter. Looking up, I saw that Johan had got Jason in a strangle hold, using him as a shield.

‘Did you come alone?’ asked Johan urgently. ‘Remember, with Misty here you can’t fool me.’

‘Yes, I came alone. I persuaded some guy to lend me his bike.’ Alex’s voice was rich with steady sincerity. Fists clenched at his sides.

‘No tricks, no notes left behind; you slipped away without them knowing what you intended?’

A muscle ticked in Alex’s cheek, a sign he was biting back words. ‘I promised I would.’

Johan pointed a finger at Jason’s neck. ‘But did you?’

‘Yes.’

Johan mistook this for loyalty to him. ‘Good boy.’ He swept a triumphant look at the wreckage of the Thanksgiving dinner and his unwilling guests. ‘Welcome to Misty Falls. So pleased you could join us. I believe the main course is beyond saving but maybe we can have pie? You made pie, didn’t you, Miriam?’

The woman nodded but her eyes hadn’t left her oldest son’s face.

‘Then I suggest we all take a seat.’ He thrust Jason in a chair beside him. ‘Alex, maybe you’d like to greet your soulfinder?’

Taking that as permission, Alex crossed the room and helped me to my feet. He clutched me to his chest, burying his face in my hair. ‘Oh God, Misty, I thought I’d lost you.’

Just to put my head against his heart, scent his safe, warm Alex smell, was heaven amidst this hell. I wanted to climb inside him and escape. Mentally, I placed a little bit of myself in him with a kiss. My refuge.

‘I’m sorry—so sorry. Why did you come?’ I whispered.

‘He gave me no choice—he told me he’d kill everyone if I brought the police with me.’

‘How did he contact you?’

‘Telepathy. He guessed we were using telepathy so reached out to me after you left the motel.’

After I’d asked my question about Florence.

‘I’m sorry.’

‘It’s not your fault.’ A rub on my back seconded his words. ‘It’s better that I’m with you. I feel whole again.’

‘Now, now, Alex, that’s quite enough. Please, sit at my right. Have you met Jason? No, I don’t think you have.’

‘Is it really necessary to have everyone’s hands tied?’ Alex was looking at his brother. It was too much for him to take in—a family after so many empty years. Jason was equally fascinated and appalled. No one could have predicted this macabre reunion.

‘Oh yes. See what your little soulfinder provoked a moment ago.’ Johan pointed to the plates that had upended on the floor. ‘She’s quite the spitfire—fought me every inch of the way, tried to lull me into thinking she was cooperating but I could see the cogs in her mind whirling. You should be proud of her.’

‘I am,’ said Alex quietly, holding my eyes.

I love you
, I thought, wishing I could use telepathy but Johan was still nulling any attempt.

‘I’m beginning to wonder if she isn’t worth keeping alive. You’ll want your own children one day and she’s got the mettle to make a fine mother—protective, not like Miriam here, who, as we all know, proved inadequate.’ Johan turned his cruel attention on the woman trembling at the other end of the table from him. ‘Alex, I don’t think you’ll remember her, but this is your mother. She claims, by the way, to have left you for your own good, so that Roger didn’t try to beat your gift out of you in a mistaken attempt to save your soul. I suppose she may have a point; you did splendidly alone, as I have.’ His eyes slid back to me; he was reconsidering my usefulness after reminding himself of the virtues of being isolated. ‘I won’t bother to introduce you to your father—he is beneath your notice, no more than a piece of gum on the sole of your shoe. But your brother, Jason, shows some signs of decency. He helped Misty when I got a little angry with her. She just won’t do what she’s told.’

Alex swallowed. My cheek was probably bruised, and my lip was definitely split. He would be able to guess what form that anger had taken. ‘Thanks, Jason.’ His voice had a rasp I’d not heard before.

‘It was nothing … er … Alex,’ whispered Jason. I reached out and touched Jason’s thigh with my bound hands, adding my gratitude. He was holding up well considering how terrifying this situation was for all of us.

‘You may wonder why I’ve brought you all here today,’ said Johan, then laughed. ‘Listen to me, Alex, I sound like Hercule Poirot, don’t I? Well, I suppose that is fitting: this is a kind of denouement, a revelation of wrongdoing. Here are the suspects: the faint-hearted mother, the abusive father, the rejected brother, the favourite son, and the abandoned one.’

‘And Misty,’ added Alex. ‘The girl caught up in this through no fault of her own. Surely you can let her go now she’s served her purpose? She isn’t your family.’

Johan considered it for a moment, hovering yes-no, yes-no. ‘But she’s yours, isn’t she, Alex, so that makes her part of this. You missed the bit where I revealed that your mother was my soulfinder.’

Alex jerked back in his seat, gaze swinging to Miriam. ‘I didn’t realize.’

‘Only she and I were party to that secret. I tell you now so you understand that being a soulfinder isn’t enough for happiness. You may think Misty is integral to your future but she really isn’t necessary—not worth twisting your life out of its true course.’

‘And what do you think is my true course?’ Alex’s eyes were telling me he did not agree with a word Johan was saying.

‘To be the best you can be—conquer whatever field you choose to go into.’

‘And if I choose Misty as my first priority?’

‘I’m afraid I’ll have to step in. She lives only so long as she doesn’t get in the way. I’m doing this because I love you, you understand. I have your best interests at heart.’

It was chilling to hear Johan talk of love; he didn’t know the meaning of the word.

‘I want you to listen very carefully to me, Uncle.’ Even though I was in the room, Alex was trying to use his gift. If ever we needed a charmer, this was the moment. Think, Misty, how can you stop your gift messing with his? It had always been in conflict before now.

But then Alex had been debating for fun, not meaning what he was saying. Now he was a hundred per cent sincere. Surely my gift for truth could augment that, not diminish it?

‘Alex?’

‘Misty, please, let me talk to my uncle.’ Alex was keen to keep me out of Johan’s attention.

‘I just wanted to say that as it’s true, I can help you.’ I kept my voice low, hoping only he would catch my words.

His face creased then cleared as he got my meaning.

‘Uncle, I know you had a cruel start to life. I know enough about my grandparents to understand that they mistreated you.’

I could feel the waves of sincerity sweeping through his words; I let my power give them a push. I hoped that, like a rip tide, Alex’s and my gift combined were enough to pull Johan from his murderous goal even as he swam towards it.

‘And you came here to punish my parents for abandoning me,’ Alex glanced at his mother and father, puzzled by the signals he was getting from them—Miriam longing, Roger defensive. ‘They copied your own parents who rejected you.’

‘They were never there for me,’ agreed Johan. ‘Our father only cared for Roger.’

‘Over the last few days, I feel as though I’ve experienced some of the pain you’ve felt. You loved them but they turned from you. I love Misty and I thought I’d lost her. The pain is … is huge. Beyond bearing.’

Johan was listening, really listening for the first time.

‘But, please, the ones who started this are long dead. Everyone in this room is a victim of their cruelty. Jason has never been allowed to know his brother; that woman over there I don’t even recognize as my mother; your brother was taught to hate his own blood—and Misty just because she got tangled up in my life.’

Johan’s face softened. ‘I’m doing this for you, Alex. I’ve been looking for this family—for you—for so long so I could save you from them. Everything I’ve done, the money I’ve gathered, has been for you.’

‘I see that—you’ve done so much. But I’d like a chance to talk to my parents—judge for myself.’ Gift at full flow, Alex’s voice rang with sincerity, sweeping away objections.

Johan could not resist him. ‘Yes, yes, you should have the opportunity to question your parents. Then I’ll dispose of them for you.’ Johan made his callous announcement sound so ordinary, like putting out the rubbish for the bin-men on the allotted day.

Miriam moaned softly, praying, I think, under her breath.

‘But what if I think it they deserve to live?’

‘I’ll consider it. Sometimes it’s a better punishment to live with loss. I regret now my father did not last longer. Roger has to know what it’s like to suffer.’ Johan leaned forward, his fingers resting close to Jason’s bound hands on the table. I got a hint of what he intended a second before Alex. ‘Sadly, sacrifices are needed to drive the lesson home.’

His hand struck out for Jason.

‘No!’ Alex dived at his uncle a fraction too late to stop him.

But I was close enough. It was not Jason’s hands Johan touched first.

This was not like before. The other times Johan had touched me with his power, I had slipped from waking to unconsciousness in a blink; now I felt myself … 

Fade.

Misty going misty.

Ha.

Like a drowning person finally taking the breath of water that would kill.

Or hanging single-handed over an abyss, finding it easier to let go than bear the screaming pain in the muscles and joints.

My mind flicked through the images, the last pages in the book before it shut. Story over. Blank leaves.

Leaves.

‘You will bring her back right now!’ The conversation was very distant, voices heard on the street, not my business, fragments of another life.

But it was Alex—he was
my
life. My soulfinder had turned his persuasion on my killer—not the easy charm of the debates but a raw demand, visceral, impossible to refuse, hooks in the chest dragging out compliance. Even I could feel its power and I was dead.

So how could I hear this?

‘Calm down, Alex. I’m sorry about that … that accident, but I can’t bring back those I touch that way.’ Johan sounded so reasonable, offering nothing more than an ‘Oops, my bad’. ‘They become nothing—and nothing comes from nothing.’

I was not nothing.

‘You have to!’ I knew somehow that Alex was shaking him, crazy with desperation. ‘She’s not going to die.’

‘But I can’t reverse it. There are limits.’

Limits. I had reached one now. I knew that my body really was dead, the heart stopped beating, lungs no longer demanding breaths be taken. Part of me didn’t much mind. Sinking. Accepting. Falling.

But one tiny part of my soul refused to depart. It would not spin down the drain like a spider under the spray of the shower. That piece was the fragment I had entrusted to Alex, our soulfinder bond. My flicker of consciousness was with him, seeing what he saw. He was clutching our bond, bitterly determined not to let it go, screaming in his heart not so much persuasions as orders that I damn well better listen because he was not giving me up.