‘You know why he came here,’ Daisy says, clipping her words. A strand of red hair falls over her freckled cheek. ‘He came to make sure we’ve got the situation handled.’
Rafa scoffs. ‘And if we don’t? Is he sending us back-up?’
‘I don’t know what he was planning, Rafa, but everything’s changed, now, hasn’t it?’
‘Why, because the truth’s a lot more complicated than any of us would like?’
‘It’s changed because now we all know how much we’ve been lied to.’ Daisy’s voice is getting louder. She doesn’t look at me, but she doesn’t have to. I’ve already seen how deeply it cuts her that I didn’t tell her what was going on last year.
‘Then why don’t you run back to the Sanctuary?’ Rafa says.
‘What’s the point? Nathaniel’s a liar too.’ Her eyes graze over the rest of the Rephaim. They’re restless now. Agitated and unsure. Tightening weapon straps. Flexing fingers. ‘Nobody else here got anything to say about all this?’ Daisy demands.
Taya glances at Malachi and then away, cradles her bandaged hand. Jones fiddles with the leather on his sword hilt. Micah watches me and I can almost see him putting the pieces together, assembling the bigger picture. Mya is tensed, ready to fight or shift, and Jess’s hand rests on the butt of the pistol holstered against her ribs.
‘What do you want to hear, Daisy?’ Zak’s deep voice fills the clearing. He’s on the far side of the camp, gripping his sword so tight I can see the tendons on his forearm. ‘You want us to turn our backs on Gabe and Jude now? Is that it?’
‘That’s not what I’m saying. I want to know how you lot feel. What are you thinking, Zak?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Me neither and that’s my point. We’re about to go into a battle—maybe the biggest and shittiest of all time—and the trust is gone. How are we supposed to do that?’
‘What’s the matter, Daisy? Scared to go into a real fight without Nathaniel to hide behind?’ Mya snaps. She’s hanging here by a thread and still she can’t help but pick a fight with Daisy.
Daisy turns on her, eyes blazing. Rising to the bait. This is a feeling she understands. ‘No, Mya, I’m scared to go into a fight if you’re the one covering my back because you’re a traitor.’
Mya takes the insult. Feeds on it. ‘Yeah, well at least I don’t just play at being rebellious when there’s nothing at stake.’
‘What am I doing right now?’
‘Whining like a bitch.’
Daisy draws her twin-bladed sais a good second before Mya unsheathes her katana. They lunge towards each other—and then Ez is between them. Shifted from beside Zak. Her knives are out and she points one at each of them, brings them up short. She’s breathing hard, eyes wild.
‘Don’t move, either of you. I fucking mean it!’
They both falter and I sense the shock around the camp. Ez never loses her temper. Never. Even Mick looks startled, and he barely knows her. He lays his shotgun on the roof of the ute, slowly, nods at his boys to do the same.
‘I am sick of all this fighting.’ Ez stands firm, arms outstretched and blades steady. Daisy and Mya lower their weapons. ‘No wonder Jude and Gabe tried to force an outcome last year. Yes, they kept secrets they shouldn’t have. They weren’t alone.’ She glances at Mya. ‘But ripping each other apart doesn’t change any of that, any more than it brings us closer to the truth.’
Relief ripples through me. Ez hasn’t wiped us yet.
‘The last twenty-four hours have been tough on all of us, and the last twenty minutes have not helped.’ Ez finally relaxes her arms, although she doesn’t sheathe her knives. She scans the group: Outcasts and Jess, Sanctuary exiles, the Butler crew. Rafa, Jude and me. ‘Everyone needs time out. So go do whatever you need to for a few hours. Get some sleep, train, eat, hook up, I don’t care. Just get your heads straight.’
I have no right to ask anything of anyone right now, but I have to. ‘Listen, no matter how you feel about Jude and me—or Mya—Zarael’s still coming and we need your help.’
Ez is the only Rephaite who meets my eye. Nods. She checks her watch and holds up a hand to the others. ‘Zak and I will be in town at five, at a bar called Rick’s. If you’re still in, you can join us there.’
There’s shuffling and muttering, and then half the group is gone without saying goodbye. Mya glances at Jude—he doesn’t meet her gaze—and reaches for Jess. They disappear.
‘Thank you,’ I say to Ez.
‘Don’t thank me yet.’ She says it over her shoulder on her way to Zak. ‘I need time too.’ Zak nods at Rafa and then he and Ez shift. My stomach dips as more Rephaim leave. Malachi, Micah, Taya. Daisy and Jude have a tense, silent exchange and then she’s gone too.
Now it’s only Rafa, Jude and me, and the Butlers.
‘Think they’ll show at Rick’s?’ Rusty asks, climbing down from the flatbed truck.
‘I don’t know.’ Jude leans back on the car, glances at Rafa. ‘I have no clue how this is going to play out.’
Weariness washes over me. I need a shower and another hour or so of sleep. But there’s something else I need to do first.
‘I’m going to see Dani.’ I check Jude was listening and then lock eyes with Rafa. ‘I’ll be back at my place later if you want to talk.’
‘What do you—’
I shift without waiting for him to finish.
I arrive halfway down the mountain, next to a large Moreton Bay fig tree.
It’s quiet here too, but without the tension and recrimination of the campsite. I reach out, press my palm against the cool trunk. Run my fingertips across a patch of dried moss.
Thick, twisting branches stretch out overhead. Here, the forest shelters. Embraces. Morning light flickers down through the canopy, dappling the ferns. It seems impossible that a hellion could lumber out of these shadows. But it’s going to happen—here, or on the beach, or right in the centre of town.
I see the faces of the Rephaim again. Watch them absorb the truth about Jude and me. If Zarael’s pending attack really is the start of something much bigger, we need to find a way to fight together, but I have no idea how that’s going to happen.
I reach for my phone, text Jason to tell him I’m coming. I wait for his response and then shift to his first-floor suite at the resort. The French doors onto his balcony are open and the room smells of the sea and guava juice.
Dani already knows what I’ve come to tell her. She was watching.
‘I couldn’t help it,’ she says, sitting cross-legged on Jason’s couch. ‘I needed to know what was happening.’
She’s wearing a sleeveless chambray shirt-dress and white knee-length leggings with tiny blue starfish on them. From the freshly cut labels on the coffee table, it looks like she’s been shopping downstairs. From the prices, I’m guessing Jason paid.
‘Do you know what’s going to happen?’ I ask her.
‘No, but I remember everything from before, like you do.’
‘Did something happen in the shift?’
She shakes her head. ‘I don’t think so, but I remembered it all when we got here.’ She glances at Jason. ‘I wasn’t going to say anything, but I didn’t want to lie to Mom and Jason. They know everything now.’
Jason is in the open doorway, blond curls framed by a cloudless sky. Anger radiates from him. At least Maria’s in the bathroom, so I don’t have to withstand accusing stares from both of them.
‘They’re not very happy.’
‘I don’t blame them. We should never have involved you.’
‘I explained that I made you take me—’
‘You were eleven, Dani,’ Jason snaps. ‘And they are Rephaim. How could you make them do anything they didn’t want to?’
She twists around on the couch to face him. ‘The same way I get you to. I’m a pest.’
He shakes his head and goes out on the balcony.
‘Are you still taking me to see a koala later?’ she calls out.
‘Yes,’ he says, not turning our way. Even mad at her, he can’t say no.
I sit on the arm of the couch, nudge an oversized cushion out of the way with my runner. Check her eyes. Try to see if the memory of the forest has stolen anything from her. ‘What do you remember?’ I ask gently.
‘I didn’t see what happened but…I heard it.’ For a second she’s back there. I hear it in her voice, see the colour leach from her cheeks. The terror. ‘I hid, just like you said. A hellion found me’—she swallows, glances at the bathroom door—‘but then everything turned bright… I don’t remember what happened after that.’
I reach for her and clammy fingers find mine. She still trusts me, even now. What sort of monster am I, putting her in the path of demons again?
‘I see the Gatekeepers on the beach every time I close my eyes. It’s going to happen soon.’ Dani traces a starfish on her leggings. ‘Do you think everyone will stop fighting before they come?’
‘You don’t know?’
She shakes her head. I sigh, sink back into the leather couch.
‘Me neither.’
And I can’t bring myself to think about what’s going to happen to Pan Beach if nobody shows up at Rick’s this afternoon.