Seeking Crystal (19 page)

‘Not OK—but the threat is general. Not aimed at Trace.’

We watched in silence as Trace pressed the intercom.

‘
Si
?’ crackled a voice at the other end.

‘My name is Trace Benedict. Do you speak English?’

‘
No
.’

Trace swore under his breath. ‘OK. Moment. Crystal?’

I was already on my way out of the car, Xav shadowing me. I pressed the ‘speak’ button.

‘Hello,’ I began in Italian, ‘I’d like to speak to the contessa, please.’

‘She is not receiving visitors. Please go away: this is a private residence.’

‘I’m afraid I can’t do that; you see, you have my sister there and … and I need to speak to her urgently—a family emergency.’ Well, it was, wasn’t it?

There was a pause. The camera on top of a nearby pole swivelled to take a good look at us. ‘I will send a snowmobile to fetch you. You may come in.’

‘Tell them you’re not going in alone!’ hissed Xav.

‘My friends won’t let me come without someone else.’

‘You and one other. The older man—not the young ones.’ The channel switched off.

‘I’m not liking this one bit,’ Trace said as his father jumped out of the other car. ‘We can’t send her two more hostages.’

‘She already had her chance to take me. I doubt it’s hostages she is after but messengers.’

Saul put his hand on my shoulder. ‘Are you all right with this, Crystal?’

‘Of course, she’s not all right with it.’ Xav was working himself up to an eruption of temper. He hadn’t anticipated this twist and couldn’t accept that I’d head into danger without him. ‘You expect me to let her walk right into the lion’s den?’

‘Xav!’ I warned in a low voice.

‘What?’ He turned his anger-filled eyes on me.

‘I’m not of interest because I’m
not
a soulfinder, remember?’

Even when furious, he put my safety first. Moving away from me, he tried to look as if he wasn’t about to strangle us all. ‘Yeah, cupcake, it’s not as if you are our crown jewels or anything, is it? Jeez, I want to kick something.’

The buzz of snowmobile engines was heard before we saw the vehicles gliding down the driveway towards us.

Saul began firing orders to his sons. ‘Stay with the cars. I’ll keep in touch if I can but I wouldn’t be surprised if she has some kind of telepathic dampener around her.’

‘My kind of telepathy might get through that if it is unique as Xav claims.’ I gazed worriedly at his back. He was currently stomping on a rut of snow.

He wheeled round. ‘Not if it gives you away.’

‘Of course not. I’ll be careful.’

‘I don’t call heading in there being careful!’

‘Xav!’ Saul was losing his temper now, something that rarely happened in this family.

‘What?’ he snapped.

‘Look at me, Xav.’ My soulfinder raised his eyes to meet his father’s steady gaze. ‘You can trust me to look after her. I swear on my life I will make sure no harm comes to her—or your mother, or Diamond, Phoenix, and Sky for that matter.’

‘You can’t promise that,’ Xav said quietly, his anger stamped off into the snow.

‘What I can say is that if things go badly wrong, you have my permission, Yves, to blow the gates to kingdom come and all of you can charge in to the rescue. Just for now, let’s try talking our soulfinders out of there. It is the safest way.’

Zed swore while Yves gave a guarded nod. Trace hugged me tightly.

‘Take care, little sister,’ he murmured. ‘Diamond would not like me letting you do this if she knew.’

Two snowmobiles swept into view, turning so as to face back towards the house. The drivers did not get off, or even say anything to us, their faces obscured by their helmets. They could’ve been aliens under there for all I could see. With a little hum, the one half of the gate opened just wide enough for people to slip through in single file. The contessa wasn’t taking any chances, which was hardly surprising if she knew which gifts she was dealing with when it came to the Benedict family. Victor in particular was not going to be welcome at this particular party.

‘OK, guys, see you in a minute,’ I said with false cheerfulness. Following Saul, I squeezed through the gate. As soon as I was clear, it hummed closed. Xav was trying not to look at me but he did shoot me an agonized glance.

Saul was assessing the two men on the snowmobiles. ‘You go with that one, Crystal.’ He motioned me towards the bigger of the two drivers.

I was surprised. I would have guessed that he would steer me towards the other.

‘Brains not brawn is usually the threat,’ he whispered, helping me take my seat behind the silent man. ‘Your driver is reading as mostly harmless.’

Gingerly, I took hold of the driver’s waist. He didn’t wait for Saul to be seated, but set off at high speed back to the castle.

There was too much noise to ask questions so I did my best to note the way back in case I had to find it on my own. The drive was clearly marked by posts to show the track in the deep snow. On either side stretched fir plantations. Round the turn and we came upon the gardens, mysterious in their winter covering but I could just make out some terraces, hedges, and statues. Above loomed the castle, now a dark silhouette against the sky, crenellations clawing at the stars as if envious of their freedom from an earth-bound existence. I had tumbled out of everyday life into a fairy tale; it was very easy to believe that a rational discussion about releasing the girls would seem foolishness here, like trying to reason a werewolf out of savaging you.

The motor died. I swung off, not able to bring myself to thank my escort. Again, without a word, he drove off, taking the vehicle round the side of the building to where I presume the contessa kept her transport. There was a big turning circle where I was standing but otherwise no sign of cars. A moment later, Saul arrived on the back of his ride, visibly relieved to see me waiting. He descended and hurried over, taking my arm before anyone could separate us.

‘What now?’ I asked.

There was no obvious door to the castle. A deep arched passage led through the wall but neither of us fancied going that way—with the portcullis suspended overhead it looked too much like heading into a dragon’s mouth.

Then a man appeared in the passage carrying a flashlight.

‘I suppose that’s our answer,’ sighed Saul. Taking a firm grip of my hand, he led the way across.

‘I recognize him—he’s the butler from the contessa’s house in Venice,’ I whispered.

‘If sir and madam would like to follow me,’ the butler intoned.

‘This is not a social call,’ Saul said briskly. ‘I think you know why we are here and you should consider your own risk of criminal charges if you prevent us from getting back our girls and my wife.’

‘Very well, sir. This way.’

Oh he was good, this butler. He must have studied hours of classic film footage to get the subservient but sneering tone down to a T.

Our footsteps echoed in the passage. He led us out into a courtyard and across to where a door stood open. I could hear laughter and voices from inside.

‘Looks like the contessa has company. What does that mean for us?’ I asked.

‘Possibly witnesses. If there’s anyone not in her pay, it would work in our favour.’ Saul stopped on the doorstep. ‘OK, Crystal, I’m going to try telepathy. I know it makes you queasy, so I’m sorry.’

‘That’s fine.’ I moved away and built up my shields still further. ‘I’ll run interference with the butler.’ I crossed the threshold into a panelled foyer decorated with hunting trophies and swords—how unoriginal. ‘Hey, Jeeves, where shall I hang my coat?’ I called rudely. Out of interest, I tried dipping into the servant’s mind to see if I could sense anything about his connections like I did when I was looking for something for my niece—and got a shock. His brain was whirling but not in a random pattern as most people’s did; it was like getting on a roundabout, everything moving in an orderly circle: his duties, his loyalty to the countess, and his ties to his family. It was, well, almost robotic in its tidiness. I disconnected quickly, not wanting him to sense the invasion.

‘Madam can leave her coat here,’ the butler said, holding out his hand. I shrugged out of my jacket and passed it over. His expression did not change a jot—no smile, no glimmer of humanity.

Saul came in. I raised an eyebrow but he shook his head. OK, no normal telepathy. I pointed to my chest, asking if he wanted me to try. He shook his head again.

‘Let’s keep that in the locker,’ he said in a low voice, ‘for later if we need it.’

‘Can I take sir’s coat?’ the butler enquired.

‘You might as well.’ Saul passed it over. While the butler’s back was turned, I tapped my temple, pointed at him and grimaced.

‘Hmm. Interesting. Eraser?’ Saul asked quietly.

‘I imagine so. Not natural. It seems she can reorder the mind to suit herself.’

‘It would explain this set up.’

‘This way.’ Robot Jeeves headed towards a pair of fine wooden doors. He pushed them open to reveal a beautiful old sitting room, a huge fireplace with roaring fire, and a matching set of rose-coloured chairs and settees. None of that held our attention though for in the room were all the people we had come to find.

‘Di! Oh my God, are you all right?’ I exclaimed, hurrying over to my sister. She was sipping a glass of champagne, looking none the worse for her abduction. I didn’t recognize the old-fashioned dress she was wearing—or the expression on her face for that matter.

‘Sorry, do I know you?’ Diamond put her glass down and stood up, holding out a hand to shake mine as if we were chance met acquaintances. ‘Oh dear, your name has slipped my mind. I might have had too much to drink.’ She grimaced ruefully at her glass, inviting me to join the joke.

‘Diamond—it’s me, Crystal. Your sister.’

‘Don’t be silly: I’m the youngest in my family. Mama and Dad were too old to have another. Not that Dad will ever admit Mama is too old for anything: he dotes on her. Sweet really, at their age.’ She took another sip, her hand shaking as if her body knew something her brain did not.

‘But Dad is … ’ I let the last two words trail away because I knew they were useless. Her mental clock had been reset and she did not seem to know that our father was dead or that I existed. When I looked in her mind, I simply wasn’t there. Everything and everyone that had touched her relationship with Trace had been deleted and, as I had been there from the beginning, I had been completely taken out of the picture. Memories of me had been sealed off like nuclear waste buried deep in concrete to stop it contaminating the other recollections. She was not the only one to be so blank. Phoenix and Sky were looking my way with polite interest; Karla was staring into the fire, not noticing that her husband had entered. He strode over to her and lifted her out of her chair.

‘Karla, you will stop this now!’ He put his face right in front of hers. ‘Listen to me—find me in your head—your heart! It’s me—Saul!’

‘Good lord, what is he doing?’ exclaimed Diamond, abandoning me and hurrying over to the pair by the hearth. ‘Is he mad? Leave her alone!’

‘Saul? Saul who?’ asked Karla, her eyes dim. She looked as though she was drugged—I wished it was as simple as that but from the state of her mental landscape, she’d suffered the same erasing treatment as the butler—they all had; but with her, because so much of her adult life had been with her soulfinder, there was frighteningly little left.

The tiny dark clad figure in the winged chair on the other side of the fire now got to her feet. ‘Do you like my revenge, Benedict?’ she asked with bitter glee.

Saul released his grip on Karla’s arms and gently put her back in her seat. He was struggling with such strong emotions that he was in no fit state to reply.

‘As you can see, every soulfinder has been, how would you say? Lost,’ continued the contessa.

‘Nothing is more powerful than the bond between soulfinders,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Nothing.’

‘Except me.’ The contessa turned her attention to me. ‘Ah, Crystal, you got back much quicker than I thought. I am amazed to see you here this evening. I wasn’t expecting you to work out where I had taken everyone until, oh, tomorrow at the earliest. You have my congratulations. I underestimated you. Your lack of gifts made me think you lacked intelligence.’

‘Why have you done this to my sister?’ I swallowed against the lump in my throat. ‘What has she, what have I, ever done to you?’

‘Nothing—and it is unfortunate that you got involved in this. You see, my dear, to erase the soulfinder link you have to go so deep almost everything else goes with it. There’s not much left in their pretty heads. They’re not suffering; they are just … ’ she searched for a word with a flutter of her gnarled fingers, ‘vacant.’

I refused to accept that but the first thing was to get them away from her. ‘In that case, surely your revenge is complete. Can we take them home with us?’

She perched her head to one side as if she had difficulty hearing. ‘You are forgetting my son. I want him delivered to me—then you can have them back.’