Will paced in his room until he heard the front door close, then rushed downstairs to peer out the window and make sure they were really leaving. When they disappeared into a clump of bushes partway down the driveway, he let the curtain slip closed and turned to face the stairs.
And then Rose buzzed the monitor.
He shook off his nerves, his worry – what if Jena had dropped the files to Rose before she’d left? – and walked down the hallway, opening the door to Rose’s room.
‘Hey, Rose, what can I help you with?’ He tried to keep his voice measured, cheery, even, but it was hard. His fingers felt like they were twitching, so he gripped the door frame to keep them still.
‘How long until dinner?’
Dinner. How could he forget?
‘Not long. Are you hungry?’
Rose licked dry lips, and Will automatically moved across the room, lifting her glass and helping her drink.
‘Getting that way. Is it going to be another one of those ordeals?’ Rose raised an eyebrow.
‘No, Jena and Cade have gone to the neighbours for dinner, so it’s just you and me.’
You, me and the truth.
‘Good. It’s better that way.’
‘You need to talk to her soon, Rose. The doctor said—’
‘I was there. I know what they said,’ she snapped. ‘Now go and get the food organised.’
Will retreated, closing the door behind him. With Rose already in a bad mood, this was going to be harder than he’d thought. But still, if he could find the laptop ….
He headed for the kitchen and grabbed two meals from the freezer, pricking their plastic tops with a fork before throwing them into the microwave. And then he headed upstairs, not bothering to take the quiet path. He went straight for Jena’s room. Even though she’d come into his without permission, he still felt a tiny bit of guilt about doing the same to her.
He shouldn’t. He knew that. Fair was fair, and it was his ass on the line here. He needed this job, and this roof over his head. He literally had no idea what would come next, but he might need to think about that if Rose had her way and got them all off the farm.
He left the door open and started a search of the room. Under the bed, the mattress, in the drawers and the wardrobe. He hesitated when it came to Jena’s and Cade’s bags, but then he got to his knees and went through those as well.
Nothing. And it wasn’t like there were a lot of places she could have hidden it here, either. He zipped up the bag he’d been looking in and headed for the landing, closing the door behind him.
Perhaps Rose’s room? He shuffled down the landing and swung that door open. Now, this room was the perfect place to hide something. It seemed like Rose had kept everything she’d ever owned: belts of all sizes, her husband’s shoes, her worn-out slippers, curling irons from before he was born that would no doubt fry someone’s skull if put to use now.
It was like the rest of the house, really. There wasn’t a single drawer that didn’t contain at least one item fit for the dump.
But it wasn’t his house, and it wasn’t up to him to make those decisions. That would fall to her family, once Rose had passed.
He sighed, that thought weighing heavy on him. As much as he knew she was getting ready to die, he still found it strange. He’d been here, done this, so many times before, and yet there was something about Rose.
Maybe it was the way she’d said ‘you know’ to him. The way she’d recognised something in him that she had herself.
The monitor at his hip vibrated and his hand went to it automatically.
‘Where’s dinner?’ Rose’s voice sounded creaky through this line, echoing strangely from downstairs as well.
‘I’ll bring it now. Sorry, I got distracted.’ He scanned the room again, resigning himself to having to tell the truth.
It would be better coming from him than Jena, right?
‘No surprises there ….’
Will shook his head and clipped the monitor back to his belt as he left the room and went downstairs. In the kitchen, he fished the dishes out with an oven mitt, and arranged the contents onto plates so that it looked a little nicer than the plastic packaging.
Mmmm, instant roast dinner ….
He shook his head and cut Rose’s into smaller portions before carrying both plates through to her room. She wasn’t going to eat much of it anyway, but it felt like the presentation mattered. Like it was a small piece of care that he could show to her, whether she appreciated it or not.
‘Dinner is served, madam,’ he said, presenting her plate with a small flourish.
She didn’t look up at him, her focus fixed on something else instead.
He put her plate on the side table on top of a book, and turned to see what had captured her interest.
It was an old photo. One he hadn’t seen before. Rose was much younger here, standing with a man he didn’t recognise from any of the other photos in the house. He had a dark, frizzy afro, and dark skin, the opposite of Rose’s fair English complexion.
‘What have you got there?’ he asked. ‘It doesn’t look like this place.’
‘No, it was from before.’
Australia; that must be her lover.
‘Is that Ronaldo?’ he asked.
‘Yes.’ She exhaled the word like it was a sigh. ‘With everything going on here, it’s made me think about him. I miss him still, even if he was partly to blame for what happened.’
‘Look,’ he said. ‘I need to talk to you about something.’
Rose tucked the photo back into her journal and placed her hands over the top before looking at him. She narrowed her eyes, as if she were peering inside him, and then she nodded. ‘Spit it out then.’
‘I knew,’ he blurted out. ‘When I came here, I knew what had happened, and that’s why I wanted this job.’
She nodded again, for longer this time. ‘And?’
Will frowned. That wasn’t the response he’d been expecting. ‘I knew about the fire, and the deaths, and I thought there was more to it than that. Thought … thought it was like what had happened with my mother.’
‘And it was.’ She pursed her lips. ‘When you told me about that, I knew there was more to your story. And I don’t care. I won’t tell anyone so long as you promise to keep Jena safe.’
‘What?’ He rocked back in his chair, leaning against the back of it, his shoulders sagging.
She sighed, like he was a silly child who wasn’t listening properly. ‘Keep her safe. Get her away from here before things go wrong. I don’t have the energy to be mad at you for lying to me. I need to keep my focus on what’s important. On making sure nothing happens to her, and you’re the key to that. You know.’
‘But I don’t know, Rose. I don’t know anything. You still haven’t told me enough.’
Her lip quivered. ‘There is something in our family that seems to draw darkness. I knew if she was here it would take her, and I never wanted that to happen. The only way to ensure it wouldn’t was to send her away and not allow her back.’
‘But she’s here now.’
‘If I hadn’t let her return, she’d have done it after I’d gone. At least this way I can keep an eye on her. See whether the darkness has taken control.’
‘And has it?’ Will didn’t think so, not after what he’d seen Jena go through, not after the things she’d told him, her vulnerability, her hurt, her ability to be compassionate despite everything.
‘I don’t know. She’s so angry.’
‘And for good reason. It’s not like you showed her kindness when you could have. Do you really think the best way to ensure darkness doesn’t take root is to hide it away? Skeletons in the closet always come out, one way or another.’
‘Don’t you think I know that?’ She snapped the words out, her lips pursing into a thin line before she spoke again. ‘I just didn’t want to worry about it. When I was the only one here, I knew I was safe, that nothing would happen. The watch was gone, and I certainly wasn’t going to go looking for it.’
Will leaned back in his chair. He needed to know more. This might be the missing link. ‘This watch … why is it important?’
‘It was my father’s, an heirloom.’ She locked her eyes on his. ‘When I said there were darker things at play, I meant it. This thing attached itself to the watch after I freed Ronaldo from its clutches. It came here with me from Australia when I ran. It infected Ernest …. And when I thought it was safe, buried in the ground, it found its way into Mark’s hands.’
Rose took in a shuddering breath and Will waited, giving her the time to finish. He could trace the line of this evil now, all the way back to Australia, shadowing Rose and tarnishing Jena’s life, too.
Finally, she spoke again, her eyes travelling to the window, looking far away. ‘I put it in the swamp. Made sure no one would go there. Hoped it would be enough ….’
Will frowned. ‘And what if I had a sudden urge to go jaunting across the farm and stumbled upon it?’
She levelled an even stare at him. ‘Then I would have ended you the same way I did the others. This thing, this dark entity, has wanted the light inside me for more than half a lifetime, and I’m not going to let it take me now.’
‘You’re a tough woman, Rose.’ Will couldn’t help but grin at her. She was fierce, despite death all but knocking on her door. He didn’t know what this light was, not yet. But if he was doing the maths right then this entity felt it was worth the fight. ‘I think it’s time to let Jena in on what you know, though. If this watch really is possessed, if it caused your husband and then Jena’s father to change, then we need to deal with it once and for all. We can’t just leave it out there waiting for some unsuspecting soul to find it.’
‘Before I go. It might be the last thing I do.’
‘Or you could let Jena do it for you.’ He licked his lips, wondering how she might respond to that. Whether he was asking one question too many. But he had to know. There was something about the magpies. ‘Because you did something to her, right? Something with the birds. Something to help protect her against the darkness.’
‘You’re cleverer than you look,’ Rose said stiffly, though her voice held warmth. ‘My people come from a line of druids and clever folk. I abandoned my heritage when I left, but I thought perhaps I could tap into that, combine it with the magic of this land to create something new, something to maybe keep her safe.’
‘Why birds?’
‘Why not?’ Rose raised an eyebrow. ‘We don’t have many creatures to choose from here, and there are always birds. Magpies are common and drawn to shiny things. Whenever she might need them, they won’t be far.’
‘Rose,’ he said, exasperation returning. ‘You have to tell her. You might have done all this to protect her, but sending her away and keeping her in the dark is more likely to put her in danger. There are other things in this world than what you brought with you. My mother had something that twisted her too, pulled at her, warped her in unexpected ways. You’re not special, not the only one susceptible.’ He gripped the arms of the chair, his knuckles white.
‘I’m sorry, about your mother,’ Rose said. She reached out with her fingers and patted his hand. ‘I’m glad it stopped at her.’
He shivered. He hadn’t thought about the fact that whatever had taken his mother might jump to him, because her violence had mostly been directed towards herself. But then, he’d just been a kid, hadn’t known what he knew now.
‘She has to come into it on her own, Will. I planted the seed but if she doesn’t feed it, it won’t grow. Has she figured it out yet? Any of it?’ She looked him in the eyes, her gaze unwavering.
He shrugged. He thought Jena was beginning to see, but the fact that Rose wouldn’t just tell her straight was infuriating. ‘I don’t know. I want to help, but I need to know more.’
She patted his hand again. ‘It will happen. Just wait. I barely know her now, but she’s of my blood. I think she’ll get there.’