‘What about me?’ Ainsley said, shoving Olivia forward.

  Lila threw the bottle at Wax, who made an excellent last-second catch. ‘Fill it again,’ she ordered.

  For a moment, I thought he was going to refuse. Then he looked at his mother and knelt and did as he was told. He was clearly bewildered and trying to figure it all out. ‘I don’t understand. How does it work for you and not anyone else?’ He stood back up and threw the bottle to Lila, equally aggressively.

  She only just caught it and narrowed her eyes at him. I wanted to cheer. I guess the honeymoon was over, already. She uncorked it and passed it to Ainsley.

  We had huddled together. Even Wax’s father was standing with us. It said a lot. He was looking anxiously at his wife while Ainsley drank the contents of the bottle.

  ‘It only works on the living,’ Lila said with a smirk as if the answer should have been obvious. ‘It prolongs life, heals and rejuvenates. It doesn’t bring the dead back to life. In other words, it can’t make life where there is none.’

  Olivia let out a wail like a wounded animal. Wax’s dad growled in anger and Wax put out a hand to stop him when he went to take an aggressive step towards them. They’d all been tricked.

  Tallulah sniffed and Ollie put his arm around her. ‘We’re stuck being Shades for ever.’

  I wanted to comfort her, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the scene. Something was happening with Ainsley. He almost dropped the gun and shook his head as if he was dizzy.

  Lila pushed Olivia roughly towards us while she went to Ainsley’s aid. She grabbed the gun so he didn’t drop it and held his shoulder with her free hand. ‘Ainsley, is that you?’

  I was confused, watching him stagger as if he was warring with himself. It was so bizarre, no one even thought to make a move on the gun. ‘What’s happening to me?’ Ainsley wailed. His face was ugly and contorted with pain.

  Then the truth, when it came, was as clear as the fountain waters. ‘It’s the old Ainsley,’ I said, more to myself, but Wax heard and nodded. ‘The original Ainsley is taking over his body. It’s been the plan all along.’

  Ainsley looked at Lila, startled, as if it was news to him, and then, with a final wail of ‘Noooo!’, he collapsed to the ground. He writhed and twitched, until eventually he stilled. No one knew if he was alive or dead. Then he slowly unfolded, blinked, rolled onto his side and shakily got to his feet. He held out his arms to Lila and she went straight to him and they kissed. ‘Ainsley,’ she whispered, but it seemed to amplify in the cave.

  When he eventually looked over at us all, his features remained unchanged, but the way he stood and carried himself and the light behind his eyes seemed different. He was darker, crueller, somebody else. Wax’s uncle had gone and his body had been filled by the spirit who had helped mastermind the curse that had ruined every one of our lives.

  I had to admit that I was surprised how pleased and in love Lila appeared to be with him. I didn’t think she had it in her. Still, there was no guarantee she’d stay that way when he’d outlived his usefulness.

  Our group stayed riveted together, not taking our eyes from Ainsley, who took the gun from Lila and pointed at us again. He seemed harder, stronger and even more confident than Wax’s uncle. He was the proven killer who’d murdered Jedediah. No doubt the very aphrodisiac that attracted Lila. He was as ruthless as her. It made me sick.

  It was also clear he could see us all. Maybe it was something about death that meant it clung and gave them the ability. Lila stood triumphantly next to him, smirking, lording it over us like a queen.

  It was then I understood how miserable and superfluous we all were. It was a stomach pitting moment when it dawned on me that everyone I’d grown to love could die. A great wave of emotion went out from my chest, like I wanted to scream and tear it out, with a gut wrenching, ‘Nooooo,’ I screamed. I was useless in the mirror. I was trapped in its airless confines. Suddenly it felt too claustrophobic. I couldn’t breathe. I wanted to reach out a hand to hold Tallulah’s, but I knew it was hopeless. Although something had changed. I felt light-headed and strange. I looked down at my arm and it was pale and chalky, just as I’d seen Lucinda’s.

  I looked up and I was there in the cave with everyone else.

  Tallulah turned her head and looked down at my hand taking hers, then her eyes widened at me in shock. Without turning her head, she tugged on Ollie’s arm next to her for him to look too. ‘Beccah?’ he said, like he couldn’t believe it.

  Everyone turned to look at me at the same time. I put up my hands as if I’d been caught doing something wrong. Except my eyes were distracted by them, powdery, pale and translucent. I was there, but I wasn’t. I was somehow out of the mirrors but only partially. Maybe it was the fountain waters, or maybe my desperation had simply willed it, but I was there with my friends in spirit at least. My heart lightened with a renewed strength and I stood straighter to face my enemies with them.

  Wax had us all huddled behind him, shielding us with his father. Our fidgeting whispers, and the surprise in Lila’s eyes, made him glance over his shoulder. Then, just as he was about to turn back and speak, his eyes found mine. There was only a brief moment of shock and then a wonderful split second of warmth where a strange understanding passed between us. It said, There you are, you’re here, with me, I’ll protect you, I’m so sorry, all in one moment of wonderful, smouldering communication.

  Ainsley, however, wasn’t waiting and cocked the gun, forcing Wax to turn back and focus on him again. We huddled tighter behind our wall of Wax and his father.

  ‘How has she done this?’ Ainsley said, in an angry, cheated voice that sounded so different to Wax’s uncle. ‘I thought she was trapped?’

  The smirk didn’t leave Lila’s face. ‘Clever girl, she’s just found a way to project an imprint, that’s all. She’s no more here than that tiresome sister-in-law of yours, Lucinda.’ She tipped her head to me as if I’d impressed her in some way.

  Ainsley renewed his grip on the gun and Wax shouted, ‘Wait! and put up a hand defensively. ‘You have what you came for. Just go. No one here will stop you. You can go anywhere now. Do anything.’

  ‘Loose ends,’ Ansley said, in a far more gravelly voice than we were used to. ‘I have no use for my great great-great-great nephew, is it?’ he said, intrigued, more to himself, as if he was trying it out for size. ‘You’re just an added complication.’

  ‘Wait! Can you afford to take the chance!’ I shouted, stepping out from the barrier of Wax’s body. ‘What if you still need him to get the waters?

  Ainsley’s eyes narrowed while he took a moment to consider what I said. ‘It almost makes me miss my unfortunate brother, Jedediah.’ The more he spoke, the more different he sounded and the smile he wore like a mask was more a grimace than anything kind. He smirked and pulled Lila closer with his free arm.

  ‘The older boy must live … for a while, anyway,’ Lila said.

  Ainsley nodded. ‘Just till we break Jedediah’s hold on this place.’

  I finally allowed myself to breathe. Although I didn’t relax. I was still terrified. Ainsley was unpredictable and I wasn’t exactly sure what I could affect in the physical world. My attention was drawn again as he rattled the gun pointing it again. ‘We only need one of them.’

  Olivia whimpered and Wax’s dad pulled her into his chest so she wouldn’t see what was coming. Josh straightened, Archie held Nicola and Joe did the same with Sam. Everyone knew someone was about to get hurt. ‘No!’ I shouted, holding onto Tallulah’s hand and Wax’s jacket so neither could move. Wax’s dad tried to soothe Olivia with a jumble of words.

  Then everything seemed to happen at once.

  Chapter 28

  My hand had no grip and Wax and Ollie both pounced towards our captors and shouted. ‘No!’ Tallulah screamed. Everyone shouted at once in protest, sounding like there was a hundred of us in the acoustics of the cave. Emotion was so high, I was sure it could be heard on all three planes.

  There was a great rumble and a loud groan like the depths of the earth were opening. The ground shook and dust and small rocks began to rain down from the roof. Everything began falling around us.

  Then, just as suddenly as it came, the torches dimmed, the rumbling stopped and all that was left was the dark, foreboding figure of Jedediah. The whites of his eyes cast their eerie light as he stood between us and them, fixing Ainsley and Lila with his terrifying glare. He was an awesome sight and although my adrenaline was pulsing through my nervous system, I wasn’t nearly as afraid as I probably should be. I wanted to dance and shout, How do you like me now, assholes! in a victory chant.

  But no one moved a muscle.

  The quake had died down and all that sounded was the wind through the tunnels and the running of the water.

  ‘Jedediah,’ Ainsley stated, simply, as if he wasn’t surprised to see him at all.

  I needed to move so I had a clear view. Tallulah went to grab me, but her hand passed right though me. I apologised with a look and edged around the shield of Wax’s body again. I wasn’t going to miss this.

  ‘Jed, oh Jed,’ Lila said, making as if to take a step towards him. Ainsley put out a hand and immediately stopped her. For a moment, she looked between them, unsure, weighing her options.

  Ainsley only had eyes for Jedediah. ‘It’s too late, Brother. You put up a brave fight, but you have lost. We have the Elixir of Life. I am no longer a spirit with no form. I have a live body that can be youthful again and Lila is free of the curse.’

  Jedediah remained eerily still. With only some sort of cosmic wind buffeting the black of his robe, it made me convinced that he was no more really there than I was. That he was manifested by his sheer strength of will. He never spoke, he didn’t need to. Arguments with Lila and Ainsley were said many years ago. Instead, he simply raised his arms and the cave began to shake.

  This time, no one waited to watch. Seizing the opportunity, Wax’s father grabbed Olivia and Wax and pulled them towards the way they came. For a moment, Wax hesitated.

  ‘Go!’ Ollie shouted. Shooing him out with his arms. ‘We’re OK. We’ll meet you back there.’ Then, just as the bigger rocks began to fall, with one final, agonising look at me, Wax allowed his father to pull him out into the tunnel.

  The rest of us huddled in a natural alcove at the edge of the cave. It was strange, because we were all pretty much dead, anyway and yet we clung to that small glimmer of life, but it felt real enough. I couldn’t even imagine what would happen if a boulder hit one of us. We clung together in a scrum to get as close to the wall as possible. Tallulah screamed and ducked, and, with an ‘Oh my God’, and with a loud crash like thunder, I got a clear view of a gigantic part of the ceiling fall directly on top of Ainsley, surely killing him outright. An arm and a foot just visible in a growing pool of blood. No one could survive that. Lila dithered, this way and that, until she ran back the way she came.

  With both of them gone, the earth seemed to settle and the deafening rumble stopped. We slowly uncovered our eyes and tried to focus through the settling dust. Jedediah had gone but it was by no means over. ‘Get out of here!’ I shouted. We moved fast, picking our way through the rubble to the tunnel as quickly as we could. Another huge clap of thunder sounded behind us as the cave completely collapsed. We were all running for the safety of home, but I had no thought of that. Lila could not get away. Somehow I’d managed to merge my world with theirs, and I didn’t know how long it would last. My head was splitting and instinct told me I couldn’t hold myself there for much longer. I bit down the urge to rest and navigated the windy paths with my friends quickly, squeezing through the fissure, not stopping until we were in the tunnel between the two houses.

  We caught our breath. Archie hugged Nicola, Ollie kissed Tallulah and Joe bent at the waist, spat and put his hands on his knees. Sam laughed in relief. It did feel like we’d pulled off a great escape.

  I hovered a little apart, waiting for someone to bring up my altered state, but no one said a word. Instead; ‘Which way?’ Archie asked, hand firmly gripped in Nicola’s.

  I was going to say something when a moan brought our heads round in the direction of my aunt’s house. Jed. And we were all soon off again. Except, this time, we were following the sound instead of running away from it. I knew he was calling us. He didn’t want Lila to escape, any more than I did. We came to a sliding stop at the door to the house. My heart thrashed in my chest. Now we’d caught up with her, I had no idea what we’d do.

  Lila grinned as if she knew and turned to go inside. However she pulled up abruptly.

  Jedediah stood motionless, barring her way.

  For a single moment, her composure faltered and fear flashed across her face. Then, just as quickly, she seemed to gather herself together. ‘Jedediah, my love. It doesn’t have to be like this. I forgive you. I understand. You should know that it’s always been you.’

  Then I got it. I remembered Lucinda telling me about the barrier spell stopping Waxley-Blacks entering the Blackwood house. Lila knew about it, probably because she herself put it there to stop Jedediah coming after her. It was the day Lucinda hid with me in the secret passage. Jed had searched for us until he finally broke through. The angry spirit was a master of finding loopholes, stretching curses to mines and shrinking spells to main rooms and not passageways. Lila didn’t know that. She underestimated him just as she always had. Jedediah could get through and was more powerful than she could ever imagine. At the last moment, I held out my arms to stop my friends stepping forward. ‘Wait! … Watch.’

  They did as they were told. Ollie looked at me, puzzled, but no one moved. Lila, full of the smugness I was expecting, grinned. She was already thinking she could skip round him and escape into the house. Except Jedediah moved to reveal Lucinda barring her way. Lila let out a single blast of laughter and rolled her eyes. ‘Out of my way, you silly bitch. You couldn’t stop me back then and you can’t stop me now. I’m alive and this is my house. You’re not even a Blackwood,’ she spat, venomously.

  She didn’t even give Lucinda a chance to get out of the way before she stepped right through her like she didn’t exist.

  Then, before any of us knew what was happening, the evil blackness I recognised, whipped up lightning fast from the doorway, cloaking her in a whirlwind of black smoke. It billowed and engulfed her, smothering her screams. Her agonised face reappeared, the ceiling split with a single, blood-curdling shriek that stuttered and gurgled and the silky smoke shot into her mouth and suffocated her. She dropped to the floor in a convulsing heap and the smoke simply evaporated into the air. She eventually stopped twitching and her eyes, red with blood, stared vacantly into the distance with her skin ashen and lifeless. She was dead. We could all see it. It made me think of her own words: that the fountain waters only worked to prolong and rejuvenate life that was already there. It didn’t give immortality. Here was the proof.

  By the time we tore our eyes away, Jedediah and Lucinda had gone.

  ‘Oh my God,’ Tallulah said. ‘What was that thing?’ She comically picked up the compact still attached to the strap of her bag, looked at it and then directly at me for the answer. It was as if it had only just occurred to her that I wasn’t in it. ‘Did you see it?’

  I grinned and nodded. I couldn’t help myself. There was no one quite like Tallulah to bring a girl back to earth.

  ‘Yeah,’ Ollie said. ‘It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.’

  ‘I have,’ I said more to myself. ‘Well, I’ve sensed it.’ I couldn’t be absolutely sure, but I had a deep-seated feeling that it was the thing that had followed me into Wax’s IP. ‘I think it escaped from the Dark Web with me. I thought it had gone, but it must have escaped into the real world or the curse. I don’t really know anymore.’ And I didn’t. I was here, but I wasn’t. It was confusing.

  ‘Bloody hell,’ Archie said, pulling Nicola closer.

  We all felt uneasy that it could now literally be anywhere.

  ‘I think it’s over,’ Sam said, bringing us back to the present.

  For now, I added in my head. But she was right. I was too tired to face anything else. A bone-deep fatigue swept through me. I looked down at my hand and it was barely there. I was slipping away and I had to fight with every ounce of my being to stay. I couldn’t leave yet, until I knew Wax was safe.

  We trudged back in the direction of the Waxley-Black house, subdued and in shock. I suppose everyone was exhausted and no one could fully believe it was over. I was too tired to put a dampener on it, but it wasn’t over for me. Nor was it for Lucinda and Jedediah. The Shades were still Shades and we were all trapped on our separate planes – even though the lines had blurred a little today. Strangely it was Tallulah who eventually voiced it as we reached the house. ‘It’s not really over, is it?’

  She was actually quite intuitive at times.

  We piled into the hallway as Wax was helping his father bring his mother in through the front door. They all looked bedraggled and covered in dirt, but Olivia looked the most frail of all. Like an earthquake victim brought shakily from the rubble, which she kind of was.

  They helped her into the sitting room and sat her down on the small sofa. Wax’s father poured her a small glass of brandy and knocked one back himself. Seeing Olivia sink blissfully into the soft chair seemed to compound my own feelings of exhaustion. My eye was drawn to the mirror above the fireplace and it called to me like a crystal lake on a hot day. While my friends all had their attention on Olivia and congregated in a group on the expensive rug, I took a quiet step back from everyone else. I wanted Wax to notice me, but he was more concerned about his mother; finding a thick throw and tucking it in all around her knees. It was selfish of me, I knew, but I suddenly felt needy, not knowing my place anymore. My eyes strayed to the mirror again, like it was pulling me. Suddenly its power seemed far stronger than my will to stay. I was simply too tired. For a second, panic seized me that I wasn’t there at all. I felt weird, like in the moments before you went to sleep. Perhaps they could no longer see or sense me. After all, everyone had taken the waters. We weren’t exactly alive and no one knew how it would affect them.

 

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