Seeking Crystal (25 page)

‘Is everything OK here?’ I asked, struggling with the sense of loss like a pedestrian controlling an umbrella on a windy day. I couldn’t let my emotions go metaphorically inside out—not now.

‘As well as can be expected. Come on in.’ He stood back. I took off my jacket and boots and entered the living room. Karla, Diamond, Sky, and Phoenix sat in a little group up one end; Steve hovered by the door in case they made a break for freedom. I wondered what was going through his head. His life was doubtless strange, what with being a movie star, but I would bet he had never spent a night like this before.

‘Crystal’s back,’ Saul said with forced cheerfulness.

Diamond’s eyes turned to me, chillingly cold. ‘We met this afternoon, I believe.’

I nodded. It hurt to feel her utter rejection of me but I knew she wasn’t to blame.

Karla stood up, placing herself in front of the other three, mother bear protecting her cubs. ‘I don’t know what you think you are doing, Mr Bennett … ’

A muscle in Saul’s cheek ticked, the only sign he betrayed of his pain. ‘Karla, I’m Mr Benedict. You are Mrs Benedict. You’re my wife.’

She waved that away. ‘I don’t know what planet you are living on,
Mr Benedict
, but I demand you let us go immediately. We were enjoying such a lovely weekend with our friend, the contessa. I can’t imagine what possessed you to carry us out unconscious! I’ll be reporting you to the police.’

I dipped into my power to see what had happened to her soulfinder bond. It was like the mind of the butler all over again; everything that made her unique was spinning around like a mad carousel, or perhaps in this state, a swarm of bees. I couldn’t penetrate that cloud, couldn’t get near to see if the essence remained within the cloud.

‘Mr Benedict.’ Diamond stepped forward past Karla. I could feel she was exerting her peace-making powers on us. ‘I’m not sure what drove you to do what you did, but surely you can see this is wrong? We would appreciate it if you would just step away from the door and let us go.’

I slumped in a chair, fighting off despair. My power compared to the contessa’s was like a fly going into battle against Godzilla. ‘Go where, Di? The contessa is nothing to you. I’m your sister. We share a flat in Venice, remember? Do you mean to go there?’

Diamond looked at me as if I were a puzzle she couldn’t solve. ‘Sorry? A flat? In Venice? I know I have a flat inherited from my grandmother, but I don’t remember you.’

‘Yes, our nonna.’ Something clung on to the wreck of her mind. ‘So what about Mum? Silver, Steel, Topaz, Peter, and Opal? Your nieces are currently making themselves sick with excitement because they are expecting to be your bridesmaids at your wedding to Trace next weekend. If you don’t believe me, phone Misty.’

‘Misty?’

‘Your niece. She’s fifteen and she wouldn’t lie to you as her gift means she has to tell the truth.’

‘I remember Misty but she’s only little. I can’t be getting married. I have no idea what you are talking about. Stop it, stop it!’ Diamond put her hands over her ears and sat down on the settee.

Steve put a comforting hand on my shoulder. ‘It’s no good, Crystal: they really can’t recall anything about the people in their lives, not from the last few years at least. Saul’s been talking to them since they woke up and got nothing but this.’ He gestured to the defensive postures of the four women. Putting myself in their shoes, I guess I knew why they were like that: they’d woken up in a strange place with ‘strangers’ around them. At the moment they only knew each other.

But their powers were still functioning. That gave us a chink in their armour that we could use.

‘OK, let’s try this.’ A little energy returned to me as I grasped my new strategy. ‘Sky, you can sense a fib by watching my colours. Is that right?’

Sky nodded, her blue eyes suspicious. Good for you, girl, I thought. I don’t want you to trust me; I want you to trust yourself.

‘Watch everything I say. Phoenix, you can glimpse my thoughts?’

Phoenix glanced at Sky. ‘I can. How do you know?’

‘We’ve talked before but you don’t have access to that memory. That’s not important right now. Without doing your time-stopping thing, just see what I’m saying. Will you do that?’

Phoenix gave a curt nod.

‘OK, here goes. Your minds have been tampered with by the contessa.’ I held an image of the disastrous end to the hen party in my head. ‘Is what I am saying true?’

Sky bit her lip. ‘You believe it.’

That would do. ‘Diamond is my sister.’ I thought of all the years we had together, images of her playing with me as a little girl and her, the glamorous older sister; our recent history of flat sharing. ‘Phee, am I right?’

‘Yes, I can see she’s been part of your past.’ Phoenix folded her arms across her chest, brow wrinkled in thought.

Sky took Diamond’s hand. ‘She is your sister. She’s not lying.’

OK. That was the easy part. ‘Do you know what a soulfinder is?’

‘Of course,’ said Diamond. ‘We are all Savants.’ She was now looking at me with a kind of aching desire in her eyes to remember me, willing the barriers in her mind to fall.

‘So am I. So is Saul.’

‘And Mr Hughes here?’ Karla pointed to Steve. ‘I suppose he’s one too?’

‘No.’ Just a superstar. ‘He’s … our friend.’

Steve held up his hand. ‘Ma’am, I haven’t known these guys long but I can say that they are good people. Please trust them. That old witch up the mountain has screwed with your minds.’

‘Thanks, Steve. Now, please try to follow this very carefully. You were taken because you are the soulfinders of the Benedict men. The contessa wanted revenge for your part in the arrest and disgrace of her son in London earlier this year.’

Sky’s face drained of all colour. ‘She’s telling the truth—every word.’

‘Karla, your soulfinder is right in this room.’ Saul went on his knees before his wife and took her hand. ‘I’m here.’ He pressed her palm against his chest. ‘Every beat of my heart has been for you since the first day we met.’

Something in Karla snapped: she went from stiff spine to collapse in a second. Reaching out to touch his cheek, she asked plaintively:

‘So why can’t I remember you?’

Tears brimmed in Saul’s eyes. ‘Because your memories have been stolen.’ He kissed the inside of her palm. ‘We’re going to try to reverse it but I swear to you, Karla, that even if we can’t, we’ll make new ones. We’ll start again. I can’t live without my soul.’

Sky curled up on the settee next to Diamond. ‘Who’s mine?’ Her voice seemed to be coming from a very scared place deep inside.

‘Zed. He carried you out of the castle.’ I had to keep this simple for her. ‘He’s amazing—really devoted to you.’

‘And me?’ asked Phoenix. Her tone was angry. Good.

‘Yves. You are going to love him all over again when you meet him, believe me. You’re married.’

‘I’m what? But I can’t be more than eighteen!’

‘My son was very persuasive,’ said Saul proudly.

‘And me?’ Diamond held out a hand to me. ‘Crystal, isn’t it?’

I knew she hadn’t remembered but was just checking she got my name right. ‘Yes, Di. You’re my big sister—you’ve been looking after me since Dad died.’

She closed her eyes. ‘I remember him. The contessa didn’t take that from me but I don’t recall him dying.’ A tear slid down her cheek. I could kill the contessa for making her go through her grief again!

‘You remember the earlier stuff before he died probably because your memories are nothing to do with Trace, your soulfinder. I guess she took anything that has brushed up against the fact that you are getting married next Saturday, including me because I was there when you met.’

‘How can I get married?’ Her question was not one which asked for an answer. Yes, it did seem impossible right now. The girls might have accepted our version of the truth but none of them were fully themselves. The spark had been snuffed leaving a hollowed-out candle behind.

‘What are we going to do?’ Sky asked but I was relieved to see her question now included all of us in the room.

Saul stood up. ‘One of our sons is in hospital, Karla; the others are in jail. We can’t leave Will alone. He was stable when Lily drove him to hospital but I can’t bear the thought of him lying there without a member of the family with him.’

‘My son’s in hospital?’ Karla shuddered.

‘Will. Your fourth son. The contessa shot him.’

Karla sprang up out of her chair. ‘Saul Benedict, what are we doing here if he needs us?’

Saul smiled. ‘Now you sound like Karla. Steve, Crystal, can you help with the others?’

‘We’ll look after them,’ promised Steve. He checked his watch. Two in the morning. ‘I guess we should get some sleep now and go to the station as soon as possible in the morning. I’m sure the movie company will know a good lawyer or two.’

‘Movie company?’ asked Diamond shrewdly.

‘Steve’s an actor in films,’ I explained. ‘Steve Hughes.’

‘No!’ Phoenix’s eyes rounded in surprise. ‘I know you—I’ve seen your films. You’re amazing. God, it’s so good to remember something normal.’

He gave her a salute. ‘Glad I could be of help.’

‘I just didn’t expect you to be here. You’re not as tall as I thought.’

‘I think you’d better stop there, Phoenix,’ I warned. ‘Steve has been a total star tonight and we don’t want to crush his ego now.’

Karla had momentarily been sidetracked by the news that their rescue had been more bizarre than she had dreamed; now she returned to her priority. ‘Mr Benedict—Saul. You have a car and directions?’

Saul patted his pocket. ‘Yes, dear.’

‘Then let’s go. Diamond, look after the girls for me.’

My sister nodded. ‘I will.’

Steve got out his phone. ‘I’ll just text Lily and let her know you’re on the way. She says he’s still in theatre but should be out soon. The doctors are surprised that the wound was beginning to heal so soon after the trauma.’

‘Xav’s doing,’ explained Saul, helping his wife into her coat. ‘Your fifth son is a healer. He’s Crystal’s soulfinder.’

‘A healer? How lovely.’

The door closed on their conversation.

‘I have to say this is the strangest night of my life.’ Steve gave me a hug; somewhere during the adventure we had moved from being chance acquaintances to tried and tested best mates. ‘would you like me to stay or go back to my hotel?’

‘I think we’ll be OK now. Can you be back at seven thirty?’

Steve grimaced. ‘James isn’t going to like that but, hey, what’s the point of being me if you can’t ask for a delay in a shoot from time to time. I’ll get Lily to tell him.’

I had a sudden flash of insight. Steve might not be a Savant but his brain wasn’t so different from ours and a lot of his attention was given to the little blonde costume designer.

‘You know, you should ask her out.’

‘Who?’ He tried to look innocent.

‘Lily. She’s your best friend, isn’t she?’

‘I … I suppose.’

I tapped my temple. ‘I do have a gift and it’s telling me that she’s the one for you.’

Steve looked as if I’d just taken a plank to the back of his head. ‘How do you know about that?’

‘As my friend would say, it’s my special spidey sense.’
Xav, I wish you were here for this
.

What’s that, Crystal?
I got a glimpse of a concrete cell and a hard bed. The boys had been processed and locked up for the night.

I’m matchmaking. Steve and Lily.

Yeah … yeah, that’d work. Anything to get rid of my rival. How are the girls?

On our side but not yet recovered their memories.

Well done.

‘Crystal.’ Steve snapped his fingers in my face. ‘I’m talking to you.’

‘Sorry. Can’t do this telepathy thing without checking out of the here and now. You and Lily—it’s obvious. You’ve just not gone there because your publicist has been running your life and Lily’s too real.’ I remembered what he had said about liking meeting people who did something proper, made stuff with their hands; that comment took on a whole new meaning. ‘She may not buff up your image but from where I stand, I doubt you need much buffing.’

He gave me a sheepish grin. ‘Crystal, if you weren’t already spoken for, you’d be in danger of being on my list too.’

‘Yeah, but I’m way down there after Lily. She’ll be good for you—keep your ego in check.’

He zipped up his jacket. ‘I’ll give it some thought.’

‘You’re just worried she’ll turn you down.’

‘No!’ He sighed. ‘Yeah. She knows me, you see.’

‘A life of bimbos in awe of you or a real woman who sees through the razzmatazz? I rest my case, m’lud.’

‘Jeez, you’re sharp. I hope Xav’s got some good defensive moves.’

‘Believe me, he gives as good as he gets.’

With a nod to the others in the room, Steve left for his hotel, hopefully in the right frame of mind to download his weird experience on to Lily—forging another link between them.