The sound of boots on stone, getting nearer. Jen looked across at Finn and saw that he’d opened his eyes. He was looking at them. Ethie put one hand over Jen’s mouth, her other finger to her lips and she opened her eyes wide in warning. Finn blinked in acknowledgement. The steps were close now. Light steps, moving quickly – someone young and fit, someone running.
The door opened and Eg walked into the room. He stopped just inside the door. He glanced at the untouched breakfast tray, then at Finn lying with his eyes open. His back was to the girls.
Eg said, “They’re not interested in us, you know. There was no point in you following her. They don’t want you or me.”
Finn said nothing.
“They’re only interested in one thing. You’ve seen the robes your girl is wearing. What do you think they mean? You’ve lost her. She’s gone, given herself to Jesus. Lucky bastard.”
Finn blinked, but still said nothing.
“Have you seen her muttering something? Words with no sound, her lips moving like she’s got something really important going on?”
Finn shook his head. His eyes were watching Eg’s face. He didn’t send even a flicker of a glance towards Jen and Ethie.
“Well, she will. Just you wait. First the robes, then the muttering, then she’ll start locking herself away and won’t have anything to do with you.”
Finn’s lips parted and he appeared to be trying to push himself up with his arms.
“It’s called the Jesus Prayer. Once she starts with that, it’s curtains for you, mate.”
Finn licked his lips and stretched his neck a little.
“So, I have to decide what to do with you.”
“Sa da skies,” said Finn.
“What? I can’t tell what you’re saying.”
Finn stretched again and swallowed.
“I could kill you. If I were my father, I’d kill you.”
Finn shook his head.
“I’m not my father. I’ll probably just let you go, but that does seem a bit boring.”
“Skies,’ said Finn. “Not Jesus.”
“Skies? What are you on about? I might have to kill you just for being so weird. Spit it out.”
“Jen. She’s in de skies. Not a nun.”
Eg frowned, then suddenly laughed out loud. “Disguise. I thought you were off your head or something. Disguise. Is that what she told you?”
“Let her go.”
Eg walked across the room and sat down beside Finn’s legs. The girls could see him properly now, and if he turned his head he would see them too. At the moment he was looking at Finn.
He was wearing leather trousers and a loose tunic. His hair was cut carefully to look dishevelled and his ears were pierced with small gold hoops. Jen could see that he had shaved – there was a small cut below his ear – but his skin was very smooth and she didn’t imagine he had to do it often.
“I could let her go. I mean, I don’t need her, not really. But she has something of mine.”
His head turned slightly in their direction. Finn coughed, shuffled onto his elbows, and Eg looked back at him.
“The drug is wearing off, I see. Sorry about that. A bit cowardly I know, but I’ve never been one for knocking people out by brute force. In fact, sorry about your head too.”
Finn lifted the fingers of one hand to his face. There was dried blood on his forehead and his hair looked wet and sticky.
“It’s probably not as bad as it looks,” said Eg. “Heads bleed a lot.”
Just then three things happened at once. Finn sat up, as though he’d suddenly regained the use of his limbs, a bird landed on the windowsill, and Eg turned his head towards it, catching sight of Jen and Ethie.
There was silence.
The bird called out, flew into the room and landed on Eg’s shoulder. It was a falcon and Jen thought it could be the same one she’d seen on the beach further north.
“Jennet,” Ethie said, under her breath.
Eg walked across the room and pulled Ethie up by her hand, so she was close to his chest. The bird cried out again and Ethie glanced at it briefly, then back at Eg. For a moment it seemed as though they were going to kiss, but Ethie pulled back.
Eg ran his finger along the neckline of her blouse, bent his head and kissed her throat.
Jen slid up the wall into a standing position.
“Eth,” said Eg. His voice was husky. His hands held her upper arms. Ethie could have easily broken out of his grasp.
Jen edged around the room towards Finn, who was on his feet now.
“Eth, these clothes...”
Jen expected Ethie to knee him in the groin, slap him hard, but she didn’t. Her eyes were full of tears and she lifted her hand to Eg’s face, stroked his cheek.
“Nothing’s changed,” she said softly. “The clothes don’t mean anything.”
Eg made a choking noise. He pulled her tight against him again, lowered his head and kissed her hard. Ethie was trapped.
Jen had reached the stone shelf and held out her hand to Finn. He took it and pulled her gently towards him.
At first Ethie was wooden, but gradually she responded and Eg’s grip on her loosened. They pressed together in a mutual embrace.
Finn and Jen shuffled across the room, trying to make no noise, no sudden movement. The bird watched them with its golden eyes. Neither Ethie nor Eg paid them any attention. Then Ethie pulled away. She put her hands on Eg’s shoulders and pushed him to arm’s length.
“No,” she said.
“But you love me. You know you love me.”
“I’m not free to love you. I belong to another.”
“Eth…”
She put her hand inside her blouse and brought out the medallion, held it in front of Eg’s face.
“I still wear this.”
Eg turned away, walked across the room to the bed then back again. He didn’t seem to notice it was now empty.
“Why? Why can’t you put all that behind you and stay with me?”
The bird spread its wings and flew onto Ethie’s shoulder.
She was crying. Eg came back to her and traced her tears with his fingers. She stood still, the medallion in her hand at chain’s length, looking into his face.
“See, Jennet wants you to stay too.”
She shook her head.
“Eth, I love you.”
She choked. “I love…” she said. He reached for her, but she stepped back from his grasp. “I love God.”
She suddenly darted forward and grabbed at Eg’s back pocket. She was holding a syringe.
“Your turn,” she said to Eg.
“You don’t have to,” he said. “I’ll let you go.”
“You’ve never let me go,” she said.
“That’s because I can’t give up hope.”
“Well, give it up now. We’re going. And you are going to have a nice sleep. Hold him.”
Jennet flew up in the air, flapping her wings. Jen and Finn stepped forward from the door and grabbed hold of Eg’s arms, one each. He didn’t put up a fight. Ethie pushed back his sleeve and injected the contents of the syringe into his arm. Almost immediately, his body slumped. He fell towards Ethie, who caught him and softened his fall. The syringe clattered on the stone floor. Jennet flew out of the window and up into the sky.
“Will he be alright?” said Jen.
“Presuming it was the same stuff he gave us, then yes, in a few hours,” said Finn.
Jen looked at him in surprise. “You can talk.”
“I was bluffing,” he said.
Ethie was kneeling on the floor next to Eg. She touched his hair, which had fallen across his eyes.
“Ethie, we need to get going.”
“He’s seven years younger than me, you know.”
“Ethie!”
She let her fingers trail down his face and stood up. “My first husband was an old man,” she said.
Jen and Finn were outside the door. Ethie gave one last look at the unconscious figure on the floor and followed them.
“Are you going to lock him in?” Jen asked. Ethie shook her head.
They crept back down the stone stairs, listening all the time for footsteps, but there were none. They could hear gulls, the ever-present noise of the sea, and children’s voices, playing.
Jen didn’t remember the stone steps being so worn when they came up. In some places they’d crumbled away to almost nothing and they had to step down two at once. They came to the window ledge where she and Ethie had hidden earlier and it was open. The view through the slit was of a broad sweep of grass, and there were children running through the castle ruins, their parents walking behind them.
At the bottom there was a rope across the entrance to the stairwell, and instead of coming out into a stone passage, there was grass, broken stone, sunshine and daylight.
Ethie hopped over the rope, but Finn and Jen stood holding hands and staring.
“Come on,” said Ethie, “before anyone sees.”
Jen stepped over the rope and Finn followed. Ethie was already walking across the grass towards the castle entrance. There was a gift shop, a ticket office, people milling about. Ethie walked straight through the exit and onto the small road which led to the castle. On the right were some gothic-looking houses. On the left, past a graveyard, houses tumbled down the narrow streets to the sea front. They could hear the noise of the beach travelling up through the town, children’s shouts and laughter, and the low rumble of traffic moving along the coast road.
In the graveyard Jen removed the nun’s habit and offered it to Ethie, who shook her head. “I think it’s easier without it,” she said. “Leave it here, someone will get rid of it.”
Jen frowned. Surely, apart from being litter, there was something sacrilegious about just dumping it. She rolled it into a ball and placed it behind a gravestone.
“Anne,” said Ethie. “I like her. She’s more fun than the other two.”
Jen looked at the inscription on the stone. Anne Brontë. She looked quizzically at Ethie, but didn’t ask.
Finn was leaning against the wall. He looked terrible, with dried blood all over his face and clothes.
“Come on, let’s find a bus,” said Ethie.
“We don’t have any money.”
“I do.” Finn pulled a couple of ten-pound notes from his pocket.
“Excellent. This way then.”
Ethie seemed to know where she was going, so Jen took Finn’s arm and followed in her wake. Before long they reached a crossroads. The train station was on the other side.
“Actually, we could get a train to Filey,” said Ethie. “The bus driver might not let you on.” This was directed at Finn, who was leaning against Jen. He looked as though he’d been in a drunken fight, and it not long past breakfast. Ethie was looking pretty dishevelled too, so Jen bought the tickets and they found some seats on the platform.
“Your brother will be wondering where you are.”
“Oh fuck! Danny!” Finn checked his phone and found a bunch of messages.
“Tell him to meet us at Filey Station with the car,” said Ethie. Finn peered at the screen, but seemed to be having difficulty getting his fingers to press in the right place.
“Give me the phone,” said Jen. “I’ll call him.”
Danny was frantic. “What the fuck!” he said. “Can you stop with the disappearing acts?”
Jen gave him the instructions. “And Danny, can you go to Boots and get some first aid stuff? Finn’s hurt.”
“What do you mean?”
“Antiseptic wipes, bandages, painkillers. Oh, and a clean t-shirt would be good.”
“What’s happened to him? Where have you been?”
“Don’t forget, Danny. We’ll be at Filey in about an hour. Oh, and we’ve got a friend with us who needs to get to Norwich.”
“Norwich?”
“Can you drive us there?”
There was a pause. “Fuck, Jen, whatever!”
She ended the call and turned to Finn. His eyes were closed now, but he had colour in his cheeks. The wound wasn’t bleeding.
“It will be the drugs making him woozy,” said Ethie.
“What about us?” asked Jen.
Ethie shrugged. “Maybe they gave him more.”
Danny was waiting when they pulled into Filey Station.
“Bloody hell,” he said, looking at Finn.
“Did you bring the stuff?” Ethie asked.
“Who are you?”
“Let’s get going,” said Jen.
Jen got in the back with Finn. Danny drove and Ethie directed. Jen used the wipes to clean Finn’s face and dabbed at the edges of the wound. He smiled at her.
“Does it hurt?”
“Not much.”
The t-shirt Danny had bought had a picture of the Buddha on it. Jen slipped Finn’s bloodstained t-shirt over his head, being careful not to let it touch the wound, and threw it into the back of the car. She touched his chest with her fingers, and their lips touched.
“Hey, you two, how about you stop that and tell me what’s going on? I paid the woman at the B&B but she was very suspicious. I brought your stuff.”
“Will Eg come after us?” Jen asked Ethie.
“Hang on a minute, are we being chased?”
“I don’t think so,” said Ethie. “He doesn’t usually.”
“Usually?”
“But there’s also Beau. He won’t give up easily.”
“Do I need to break the speed limit?”
“Probably best not to get stopped,” Finn said.
Jen dabbed at the blood on Finn’s neck, then slipped the Buddha shirt over his head.
“What’s that noise?” said Ethie. “Is it meant to do that?”
A loud squeal was coming from the bonnet, followed by a cloud of black smoke.
“Fuck!” said Danny. He pulled over to the side of the road. There was a bang followed by more smoke.
“Is this your car?”
“No, I borrowed it.”
“Well, whoever you borrowed it from isn’t going to be too pleased.”
“Actually, it had failed its MOT and was on its way to the scrap heap. They didn’t want it back.”
“Good thing,” said Finn, as there was another loud bang and the engine died.
They all scrambled out and stood on the verge looking at the car, which seemed to have shrunk. They were on the edge of town on a residential street with bungalows, detached and semi-detached houses with gardens and hedges sealing them off from the traffic.
“What now?” said Danny.
“We’ll have to walk,” replied Ethie.
“Walk? To Norwich? Are you mad?”
“I’ve walked further,” she replied.
“What about the car?”
“Someone will get rid of it.”
Jen looked at Ethie. Did she know what she was talking about? A habit in a graveyard was one thing, but surely they couldn’t just abandon the car here on the street.
Danny opened the boot and retrieved Jen’s backpack and jacket, and a pack each for him and Finn. “At least we’ve broken down by a footpath,” he said.
Across the road, a track led between the houses. There was a signpost next to it with an acorn on it.
“Are we back on the Cleveland Way?” asked Jen.
“No, the Yorkshire Wolds Way. Look – the Humber Bridge, seventy-nine miles.”
“Oh good,” said Ethie. “That’s the right way.”
“Seventy-nine miles! That’s going to take forever.”
“Three days if we get a move on.” Ethie crossed the road and started walking up the track. There was tree branch lying across the path. She bent and picked it up, stripped off the few leaves, then walked on with her new walking stick. “This is great,” she called over her shoulder, “you should all get one.”
Danny swung his pack onto his shoulders. Finn frowned as he put his on. He was still looking pale, and as they crossed the road his legs shook.
“You going to be OK?” Jen asked, taking his hand.
He nodded. Ethie was way up the path, swinging her stick and her hips as she walked.
“What’s in Norwich anyway?” asked Danny. “And who the hell is that annoying girl?”