Tears glazed her eyes and all she wanted was for someone to gather her up in their arms and tell her that she’d completely misunderstood what he’d been saying, which was what she might’ve done.
She pushed her way through the crowd towards where he was now standing, talking with Scott and Keren.
“Hey, Rayah,” he said as soon as she was close enough.
She saw he was drinking what looked like lemonade and remembered he was on an early shift tomorrow.
She smiled, trying to push away her nerves. Being clueless wasn’t something she was used to, apart from with this man, she’d been clueless around him for years. “Do you have a minute to talk?”
He met her eyes and nodded. “Tomorrow.”
She noticed Keren giving her a puzzled look and Jonny looked away towards where Alex was being crowned again in some stupid ceremony by Jake and she needed air.
The room was suddenly far too small and cramped, and she needed to get out of there before she cried the first tears in her brother’s presence since she was eight.
No one noticed as she headed to the door; all the attention was fixed on Alex who was being prompted to make a speech. She didn’t want to hear it, not yet. Someone would record it and she could watch it later, but right now she needed the sky with its stars and the moon to give her that room to calm.
Never had she considered changing anything about herself. Even for Jonny or Sadie or Harry or Charlie. Even now. But she wasn’t the girl who jumped from the top of cliffs into water cold enough to stop her heart anymore. She saw the consequences. She felt fear. And passion. And love.
Hurting, she started to walk down the street towards the war memorial, just needing to take a minute to find some strength in case he’d decided a future wasn’t going to be theirs. Physical distance would help, the quietness. She paused by the road, the sound of an engine roared in the distance, ripping through the quiet. A car, a black expensive car, came into view and shot passed her, disappearing up the road towards Felley Manor and the church.
Rayah felt pinpricks down her spine and over her head. She knew that car, she’d seen it before. It was the same one that Sadie Grace had seen twice before, when Lena’s sister was taken and in Severton.
She questioned herself as she started to run, following the direction it had taken. This was what Jonny had been worried about, his words zipped through her head. This wasn’t hers to investigate. This was someone else’s job, but she didn’t even know if it was a job. Maybe this was all a coincidence and the car was nothing to do with anything, just Sadie Grace’s imagination, but something in her gut told her it wasn’t.
Pausing, she reached in her pocket for her phone, deciding that phoning Jonny or someone to let Alex know was the best idea, but her phone wasn’t there. It was on the table back in the bar.
Fuck.
She carried on running, the regular ten kilometre races she did paying off, the rock climbing and anything outdoors giving her the strength to steadily run up the hill towards where the cult was based.
A loud bang stopped her in her tracks, just as she arrived at the open gates. The buildings were lit up, lights on, curtains and blinds mainly closed. Two men began to kick at the main doors, trying to batter it down, but they weren’t for moving. One looked tall, wiry; the other smaller and more muscular but any more detail was hidden by the dark.
“Where the fuck is he?”
She heard the taller of the two men shout. Rayah moved to the side of the building, keeping to the shadows, trying not to be seen. Silence reigned and she wondered where the members were, having no idea about their routines and rituals. It had been kept wrapped in secrets and for all she knew, no one actually lived there and it was all a ruse.
The sound she heard was almost lost beneath the rustle of the wind through the bushes. Almost a whisper, the pitch resonated with her and she turned her head.
A tiny figure moved. A leaf fell.
“Kayleigh?” Rayah kept her voice low, hoping that the men were nowhere near.
“Miss. I’m scared.” Somehow Kayleigh Farnworth wasn’t crying.
“Where’s your mum?” Rayah crouched down, further out of sight and closer to the girl.
“At church. I was in bed. It’s a special night so they’re all in the church.”
“Listen. I need you to run to town. Don’t stop. Run to the post office and wake up Gran. Tell her to get Alex here. Can you do that?”
Kayleigh nodded, the moonlight catching her terrified expression.
“Go.”
She figured she knew where the church was; the newest building with the spire that didn’t quite suit the rest of the manor, too modern.
Kayleigh started to run, her little legs almost cartoon-like in their speed.
