‘Work gloves? Why?’
‘I don’t want to touch anything down there. Do you?’
The statue was hunched and misshapen. More like a rock than a figure. And there was definitely a glint of gold. Nick wasn’t sure. Something felt off, like it was luring them in, teasing them, offering them riches if they were brave enough, or foolish enough, to try to take it.
It was an idol. There was no mistaking it. A hunched figure, just like they had thought. Alex had said it was called Crom, that her grandfather had identified it in his notebooks. And it definitely looked to be covered in gold, if not completely made from it. He wasn’t sure and part of him didn’t want to examine it too closely. It left him cold. Cold to the core.
The small hunched figure, squatting in the corner of the undercroft, more or less under the drawing room now, with a gaping mouth and round eyes, knees up and splayed wide, clawed hands gripping the base on which it crouched.
Nick stared at it and tried to shake off the immediate feeling that it was staring right back at him. All he wanted right now was to get out of the dark.
Alex, who had been examining it in the same kind of solemn silence, took out her phone and photographed it from every angle. Then stared at it for a moment longer. Nick frowned. It was like she couldn’t tear her eyes off it and that was a troubling idea.
‘Alex,’ he said, and lightly touched her shoulder. She brought her hand up and closed it over his, the gloves keeping them apart. But it was a contact, an anchor. Just that touch. ‘Let’s go back upstairs.’
Slowly, without saying a word, she nodded.
Alex emerged from the secret door behind him, closing it firmly.
‘Crom,’ she said at last, staring at the photos on her phone. Then she sent them to her group chat.
‘Looks like it,’ Nick agreed reluctantly.
‘I wonder which one.’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t really care. I’m still not sure we shouldn’t have put it back in the hole.’
‘I’m not sure we should leave it down there,’ Alex murmured softly. He didn’t know what to make of the tone of her voice. ‘It’s strong in the darkness.’
Her voice trailed off again and Nick saw her shiver, her shoulders tightening.
Carefully, quietly, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back against his chest. She melted against him and he felt her exhale, a sigh of both relief and release.
‘Thank you,’ he whispered. ‘For finding Maeve. And for Sally too. You saved her. You and Theo. Maeve told me.’
She didn’t turn around but he felt her fall still as if she was holding her breath.
And strangely he found that he wasn’t able to breathe either. Not anymore. She was there in his arms, her body soft against his.
Nick held her a little tighter, and pressed his lips against the top of her head.
CHAPTER 41
ALEX
His kiss on the crown of her head was unexpected, the warm rush of air, the closeness, the tenderness of it all.
Alex felt her eyes sting with sudden tears and she closed them tight.
An image flared in her mind and the idol was still there, staring sightlessly at them with its bulging golden eyes. A low sultry laugh shook the air, just for a moment, for her ears alone.
She must have flinched because she felt Nick pull back. Her eyes snapped open. The idol was still beneath them, out of sight if not out of mind.
‘I’m sorry, I?—’
Alex turned her back on the door, facing Nick instead. It was a much better view for starters. But he had already put distance between them and his arms fell to his sides. He looked so awkward and unsure she just wanted to pull him to her and kiss him properly this time.
‘There’s nothing to be sorry about,’ she told him firmly. He didn’t look entirely convinced. ‘That wasn’t because of you.’
