Chapter Seventeen

Eirik stood at the edge of the tree cover to get a better look at Ash as she raced across the street and knocked on Arthur’s door. After a minute, Arthur opened it. The Viking was still standing there, waiting to see what would happen next, when Stace arrived home.

‘Oh, hi Eirik!’ she chirped happily, stopping on her shortcut across the green. ‘How are you?’ Stace had had a trying and difficult day. It had been the start of her mock examinations, which meant sitting Irish and Biology papers – neither of which was a favourite subject of hers. The last forty minutes of the day had been set aside for study time but, following the disastrous couple of exams, she certainly didn’t feel like sticking her head into another textbook. She left school early and strolled home slowly with her iPod blaring in her ears. She actually felt energised after the time to herself and, on seeing Eirik, felt even better.

The Viking grunted in response, then decided to creep around the shrubbery and out of the estate instead of back into it. He definitely didn’t want to give away his hiding place to Stace.

‘Wait,’ Stace said. ‘Where are you off to?’

Eirik stopped and looked at her, struggling to come up with an excuse or even a way to communicate with her.

‘Let’s go for a coffee,’ she suggested, ignoring his befuddled expression. ‘I could do with a coffee right now. It’s been a stressful day.’ She linked her arm through his and started leading him away from the green towards the main road. Eirik looked around desperately, hoping Arthur would notice and come to his rescue, but his luck was out. ‘We’ll just go to that nice little place around the corner.’

And that was how Eirik went on his first ever date.

‘You can’t be serious, Ash!’ Arthur reproached her when she told him what she’d seen.

Before the doorbell had rung, he’d been sitting on the couch. He’d switched on the TV but couldn’t concentrate on it. He just kept thinking about the last thing Ellie had said before she’d left. That she was very understanding, that he could tell her anything. But would she understand, he wondered. He considered the implications of telling her what was going on. If she knew, it would be a whole other person involved, a whole other person at risk from Loki’s insanity – in fact two other people, as Ellie and Ex seemed to be inseparable. On the other hand, Arthur was moving home soon and it might be good for Ash to have someone in Dublin to confide in.

The doorbell had rung then and as soon as Arthur opened the door Ash brushed in past him like a twisting tornado and ran up to his bedroom. By the time he reached his room, he found her waving around the little webcam she’d given him. She told him all that she’d witnessed – Ellie snooping around, checking his laptop, causing the strange flashes and finally pretending to use the bathroom.

Arthur just stared at her agog during the whole onslaught, then said finally, ‘You can’t be serious, Ash!’

‘Deadly serious.’

He took a breath and sat on the edge of his bed. He didn’t know what to think. He just hadn’t a clue. Eventually he looked up at her.

‘Did you record it?’

‘No,’ she answered, looking away, frustrated. ‘I haven’t fixed the recording function yet.’

He stood back up and paced the room. ‘I think you’re being a bit paranoid,’ he said.

‘What?’

‘Look at it from my perspective, Ash,’ he continued. ‘Earlier today I don’t trust your dog; then this evening you’re suspicious of my new friend.’

‘Your new friend?’

‘Yeah, actually, my new friend. I’m allowed more than one, aren’t I?’

Ash put the webcam in her pocket and sat down on the swivel chair by the desk. ‘I didn’t know you were that close.’

‘She’s a nice girl,’ he said. ‘You should get to know her instead of making accusations–’

‘They’re not just accusations! It’s true! She was in here.’

‘So what if she was in here?’ he shouted back, suddenly angry. ‘So she’s nosy? She’s curious. Big deal.’

‘What about the flashes?’ she said. ‘Five or six bright-white flashes. It was like she was taking photos. Maybe of the hammer?’

‘Or maybe your webcam malfunctioned.’

‘It did no–’

‘You said yourself the flashes blurred the picture. Have you considered for a second the possibility that something was wrong with the camera?’

Ash looked out the window, feeling too angry with Arthur to even look at him right then. When she turned back, he was sitting on the edge of the bed again.

‘Look,’ he said, his voice even and reasonable, ‘with this whole Loki thing, we’ve all been really paranoid and jumpy lately. We keep waiting for Loki to show up and it’s putting us all on edge. Take Max, for example, guarding the door the other day. It’s understandable, really. But we can’t both be right.’

‘Maybe we’re both wrong,’ Ash muttered. She got up and sat on the bed next to him. She offered her hand. He wrapped his fingers through hers and held it there on the mattress between them.

‘Ellie’s nice,’ he said. ‘Granted, Ex is a bit weird.’ They both chuckled, thinking of him kicking at pebbles. ‘But Ellie’s nice. Give her a chance.’

‘I’ll try,’ she promised.

‘Anyway …’ he went on. ‘I was thinking of filling her in on Loki.’

At that, Ash let go of his hand and stood back up. ‘What!’ she shouted. ‘Why would you do that?’

Now Arthur stood up and faced her head on. ‘So that you’ll have someone to talk to when I–’ He stopped mid-sentence, realising that he’d said too much.

‘When you what?’ Ash asked.

‘When I move back to Kerry,’ he murmured, sitting back down on the bed. ‘In two weeks.’ He stared at the carpet, unable to look his friend in the eye. ‘Dad quit his job, so there’s nothing to keep us here now.’

‘Two weeks,’ she repeated slowly.

‘Yeah.’

‘Nothing to keep you here. OK.’

‘Ash, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m …’ He looked at her. Her eyes were glistening with tears. ‘Sorry.’

‘It’s fine,’ she lied, turning away from him. ‘I’d better go home.’ She walked out the door and then ran down the stairs. He heard the front door open and shut, followed by Ash’s footsteps as she ran home across the estate.

He lay back on the bed. I messed that up big time, he thought with regret.

The café had low lighting, a blessing that Eirik was thankful for. Despite that, he kept what he thought of as his best side facing the girl, leaning back all the while into some shadows. Stace ordered them a large latte and a brownie each. When she put them on the table in front of Eirik, he looked at them bewildered. He picked up the brownie and sniffed at it. Then he licked the hard chocolate crust on top and smacked his lips, savouring the strange flavour. Next, he took the mug of coffee and blew at the foamed milk on top, sending it toppling over the lip of the cup.

‘Is it too hot?’ Stace asked, then took a sip of her own. ‘No, just right.’

He shrugged his shoulders and dived in head first. (Well, he dived in head first metaphorically. If he’d dived in head first literally, he would have made quite a mess of the date.) He took a tentative sip, seemed to enjoy it and then glugged back more. The whole mug of coffee was drained in one go. He slammed it down on the table proudly.

Stace laughed. When he saw that she was studying his face, he once more leaned back into the shadows.

‘Acne scars, huh?’

The Viking raised an eyebrow in confusion.

‘Acne scars,’ Stace repeated herself, twirling a finger about her own face. ‘You don’t need to feel self-conscious, you know. I had really bad acne a couple of years ago but some tea-tree oil really helped clear it up. There was this one girl in my class who …’ She noticed his bemused expression. ‘Sorry. I tend to ramble sometimes. If I’m nervous or with someone I … never mind … I just always end up saying the wrong thing. And I shouldn’t have brought up the … uh …’ She bit her tongue, eager to change the subject. ‘So where do you come from?’

‘Grrr,’ Eirik muttered, leaning his head to one side as he tried to come up with an answer.

‘Oh!’ Stace seemed to understand. ‘You move around a lot!’

Eirik nodded frantically.

‘You must travel quite a bit with your job.’

The Viking gestured in the affirmative.

‘I bet it’s fun working with horses.’

‘Mmm,’ Eirik agreed.

‘I enjoy talking to you, Eirik,’ Stace announced suddenly. ‘Most guys are all “me me me”. But you’re a listener. That’s good. I like that.’

And behind the thick layers of make-up, Eirik managed to blush.

Ash was lying face down on her bed, tears soaking into her pillow, when Ice started barking downstairs. She had gone straight to her room when she got back to her house, feeling very sorry for herself. How would she manage without Arthur? She always knew he was only staying for a year, but had never imagined him leaving so soon. She liked him more than any other friend she’d ever had. And now he would only be around for two more weeks.

‘Ice!’ Ash called down, rolling onto her back. ‘Stop the barking!’

But the dog didn’t stop. In fact, the yapping just got worse. She could hear her snarling now as well. With a sigh, she trundled off her bed and went to investigate. As she descended the stairway, she could tell from the way the sound reverberated that the barking was coming from the living-room.

‘Ice, please stop,’ she said again. ‘I’m getting a headache.’

She pushed the living-room door open. Five of Loki’s black raiders were waiting for her inside, decked out in their Lycra uniforms and matching reflective helmets. Ice was standing in the centre of the carpeted floor, barking up at them. Before Ash had any time to react, a sixth raider crept up behind her and shoved a black cotton sack over her head.

Ash kicked her feet and punched her fists. She tried to scream out in the complete darkness of the bag, but one of the raiders wrapped his strong arms around her and clamped a hand over her mouth before she got a chance.

Meanwhile, Arthur was in his living-room, back watching TV. He was still annoyed with himself for upsetting Ash, but the television helped to take his mind off it. It was some Australian soap opera and, even though he couldn’t follow the storyline, it was nice to soak up other people’s problems for a change. He was getting hungry so was glad when he heard a noise from the kitchen.

‘Dad?’ he called out. He hadn’t heard Joe come in but, since the TV volume was up so loud, he could easily have missed him. He looked at the time. It was just turning 6.30. ‘Dad?’ he called again, getting up and moving in the direction of the kitchen. ‘Did you forget about the parent–teacher meeting?’ There was no response. ‘Dad?’

Arthur swung open the kitchen door. The light was on but no one was inside. Must have been my imagination, he thought, turning back towards the living-room. He heard something swish through the air and then felt the collision as it knocked into the back of his skull before his legs gave out from under him. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.