‘Please,’ he whispered.
The air was so cold now. The whole room. All the heat had been sucked out of the air, out of him as well. Even as he watchedit, the handle rattled twice, then turned and the door swung open with an agonised creak.
‘Thank you,’ he whispered, breathless, shivering.
Nick bolted from the room, down the hallway to the top of the stairs, lungs burning, heart hammering. There was nothing there. No one visible anyway. But the air was still like an icehouse and he still couldn’t quite catch his breath, not now. For a moment he heard the echo of laughter again, childish and bright. But there was nothing innocent in that sound. He knew that. Nothing whatsoever.
The house went still. Horribly still. He could feel it watching him, that oppressive sense of being examined, of something waiting to see what he would do. The expectation.
He looked down.
He didn’t want to but he had to. It was just like that night. The night Sally?—
A figure lay, sprawled, at the foot of the stairs.
‘Alex?’ he whispered, as if he could deny it. As if he could make it not real, not true. As if her name was a talisman that might save them both.
She didn’t move. This couldn’t be happening. Not again. It simply couldn’t be happening. It had to be a nightmare. Another one. But it wasn’t Sally this time. It was Alex.
Nick thundered down the stairs to her side, his heart louder than his footsteps. ‘Alex?’ He dropped to his knees. Not that he was sure he had any strength left to stand anymore.
It was just like Sally. Exactly like the night she?—
He pressed his hand to Alex’s throat and let out a sob as he felt a pulse. Strong, certain. She was alive. She was still alive. Thank Christ!
‘Alex? Dr O’Neill? Shit, Jesus, Alex, can you hear me? Please, try to open your eyes. Say something. Anything.’
CHAPTER 16
ALEX
Alex was aware she wasn’t awake, but that this wasn’t the same dream she relived night after night.
Something reached up from the foundations and the rocks on which Wildewood Hall was built, from the earth itself, from the water deep underground, and coiled around her. It dragged her down, clawing at her skin, pulling her into darkness.
The cold arched roof of stones and the stench of mulch. The taste of blood in her mouth, choking her, and the world blurring through tears and terror, shadows covered her, crawling over her. Inside her.
She stared at the ceiling, blinked at the ornate plasterwork, at the leaves and the vines and…and it wasn’t the house anymore. It was a forest, a vast, ancient forest. It was lush and verdant. And alive.
She felt him coming through the trees and undergrowth around her, felt the forest shiver with his approach. A man, crowned with antlers like a stag. He was life, warmth and everything the darkness was not. His very presence drove it away. She remembered that old story Gran used to tell, the walker in the woods.
Alex was in Wildewood Hall, lying at the foot of the stairs. She was in the heart of the wild wood, in that ring of stones. Both of them at once. And he was with her. She struggled to focus through the blinding pain in her head.
The floor was cold and hard beneath her body as only marble could be. When she opened her eyes, she expected to see endless faces peering at her over the bannisters of the landings above. Laughing at her. Mocking her.
But, God, her head hurt when she tried to move it. Her skin was sticky.
‘Don’t move. Try not to – I’m going to call the doctor, okay? Just stay with me.’
Was that Nick?
His voice sounded shaken. Scared. Far from the gruff and grumpy rumble she expected from him. She reached out and grabbed his hand. Such a big hand, his palm and fingers calloused from physical work. He was real. That was something. Touching his hand, feeling the warmth of his skin, that was good. She tried to squeeze but her own hand didn’t seem to want to cooperate. So she just clung to him as best she could.
His voice went on, not talking to her now. Or at least she thought not. She wasn’t sure. He wasn’t making any sense. Or maybe she wasn’t understanding him. Was she missing moments?
‘Yes. No, she passed out. No, not for long. But she’s dazed. I found her…found her at the foot of the stairs. I haven’t moved her. She hit her head when she fell. She’s only in and out of consciousness. Barely. Yes. Please. As soon as you can. Yes, just bring her with you. I will. I will. Thank you.’
There was something like a sob in his voice. Alex tried to squeeze his hand again to comfort him. It was like squeezing stone.
