Paul insists on walking me back to the house. This would normally be a dream come true, but I need this handsome bastard to go away.
‘Thanks, I’ll be fine,’ I say, standing by the neighbours’ hedge.
‘You not going in?’
‘I need some air. Seriously, all good.’ I offer a thumbs up.
He frowns. ‘OK, see ya later.’
I wait until he’s turned the corner, then run down the street in the opposite direction.
I phone Meg, but she doesn’t answer. I’ve no idea where I’m going as I follow the light. I’m already out of breath by the timeI get to the to the bottom of the estate and head left, towards the city centre.
The light towers above me now, higher than any skyscraper I’ve seen in London. The Morrigan still calls in my ear. I can pick them out now. Three voices as one.
The crows circle above.
Caw. Caw. Caw.
She’s calling me and I can do nothing but go to her.
The smell is stronger than ever – salt, earth, blood.
My phone rings. Nanny Bet. Can she see this too? My finger hovers over the answer button. I want her to tell me what to do and make this all go away.
But I can’t trust her.
The crows’ cries become louder and I silence the call.
Wind pushes at my back, guiding me towards the tower of light. I pass a group of men on the street, oblivious to what’s happening to me as they walk in the opposite direction. A few glance my way. I put my head down and walk on.
Police sirens echo in the night as I turn down a street I don’t recognise. The light is beyond it.
I trip and, as I break my fall with my hands, a thick fog forms around me. I push myself to my feet and it coils around my legs, my feet lost in the swirling grey. It flows around me like mercury. The metallic smell is in my throat, choking me with the taste of blood that isn’t mine.
Then rain falls, hard bullets that sting my skin. All the while, the crows call out.
Caw. Caw. Caw.
I turn into another street. The tower of light is beyond the next set of buildings. It’s pulsing now and the crows call out to meet its rhythm. No, they are the rhythm. The wind beats on my back, like powerful wings pushing me on as the light pulls me closer.
The fog rises up around my legs and I catch glimpses of people in the mist. Warriors holding swords and axes. Women with guns. Fallen bodies. Crows feasting on eyes.
I stumble on. At the end of the next street I see a mural of a soldier with a rifle pointed towards me. I hear my dad in my vision, crying out.
Murderer.
Then I am there. Standing in the middle of the street, staring at the tower of light filling the width of the road. A sign on a wall tells me it’s Acre Street. I’ve never been here before.
There are tall walls on my left. A peace wall. Houses on my right, lights on. I see people inside, completely unaware. But the street itself is empty apart from a green car parked on the road, the driver’s door open. I know that car. It was in the vision outside Nanny Bet’s house.
Shit.
The tower is dizzying, painful and terrifying. I should want nothing to do with it. The old me is screaming at me to turn back. But the Morrigan is stronger and new me knows that. Rain and wind pelt my back and push me step by step towards the pulsing light.
Before it is a figure. A shadow?
No, a man.
