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Sara scrambled across the grass, heedless of the dirt sticking to her clothes and fingers. Her elbow was agony but she pulled herself along, ignoring the worried part of her mind that screamed it could be fractured.
“It’s not possible,” she said. Her voice was fragile and splintered. “How could you find me?”
A flash of lightning lit the sky and she saw Greg’s smile as he advanced on her. “I’ll always find you, babe. You know that.”
She did know it. Somehow she’d always known it. No matter how much she had wanted to convince herself she was safe here, there had always been the fear, the knowledge, that it had been too easy to get away. All the kind words and support from the nurses, counsellor, and her grandmother meant nothing in the end. She’d tried so hard to get away from that life and start anew and yet here he was, pulling her back in. Why did she think she could escape?
The world seemed to narrow around her, hazy, heavy, and hot. Her chest was tight and her head felt fuzzy, the way it did when Jereth’s mind control had taken her into the bush and almost forced her to unlock the portal. The ache in her lower back reminded her of the pain she’d been in the last time she’d seen Greg.
When she’d lost their child.
The thought was an electric shock running up her spine. It galvanised her. She would not let Greg or the Fae control what she chose to do with her life. She would not let her child’s death be in vain. Her response surged up from her abandoned womb, from her gut and her soul. “No! Leave me alone!”
She surged to her feet and ran. She had escaped him before, she would do it again. Her breath was raw in her lungs as she heaved one foot in front of the other, her aching elbow clutched close.
Greg’s footsteps were close behind and Sara’s mind raced ahead, seeking the safest path. Even as she headed for the house, she knew its safety was an illusion. She reached the porch and vaulted the stairs. The door was ajar but even if she could get inside and close it, there was no way the old lock would withstand much force. She passed it by without even slowing, hoping that the move would confuse her pursuer, even if only for a moment.
She reached the end of the porch and jumped, gripping the railing hard as she did so. She sailed over it and onto the lawn beyond, and, as it had done with Moana a few weeks earlier, a chunk of rotted railing broke away in her hands.
Greg, caught off guard and not expecting to jump the railing, was trapped on the porch and would have to back track to the stairs.
Sara threw the broken piece of wood in his general direction and ran toward her car.
She never saw if it connected but heard him swear and a clattering sound as it hit the floorboards of the porch.
The few moments the manoeuvre had bought her were wasted when she realised her car was blocked in. Moana’s car, Greg’s car, and Nate’s ute were all in a row like deadly beads on a string, keeping her trapped.
“Shit.” She ran for the last one in the line, Nate’s ute, and grabbed at the door handle, hoping against hope he had left the keys in the ignition. The door was locked.
A small, brown face appeared at the window.
Sara yelped and jumped back. “Abi?” She glanced behind her. Greg was gaining ground. Behind him, a flash of light, like a torch, bobbed in the distance, near the generator. Probably a will-o’-the-wisp. She couldn’t trust it. Nothing was safe. Except maybe Abi if she stayed in the car. She turned back to the girl. “Stay there,” she said and ran for the road.
The gravel crunched underfoot like teeth chewing through bones. Larger, heavier teeth crunched ever closer as Greg gained distance behind her. The hesitation at the cars had eaten into her lead.
A car horn blasted through the air like an air raid siren. Abi was signalling for help. There was no way it would come in time.
Nate’s house rose out of the darkness ahead and Sara swerved toward it, hoping that her knowledge of the grounds would work to her advantage.
The lights in the house flickered like visual static, the bulbs barely holding a charge before fading out only to brighten up again, like dying glow worms clinging to life. The air crackled with the energy flowing out from the portal pool. The fae were reaching out into the world. She could feel it. Their energy scraped across the landscape, seeking purchase. The wires in Nates house were responding to their call.
She ran around the side of the house, ducking through the garden gate and into the courtyard at the back. There was the verandah where she and Nate had eaten dinner together. The wash of warm memory flooded over her with the scent of freesias and daphne.
Her footsteps faltered. Could Nate be home? Could he help her escape? No. His car and daughter were at her house. And there was no point bringing danger to him now. Greg was her problem. Running was the only solution.
“Gotcha!” A rough hand gripped her shoulder and shoved.
Sara lost her balance and stumbled. Her shoulder grazed along the side of the house and she fell.
Greg loomed over her. “No more running,” he said.
Sara felt the wall against her back, hard and unforgiving. She was cornered. She swallowed. Her chest was tight and her pulse pounded in her ears. She pushed back, somehow hoping the planks would part and let her through. “Don’t,” she said, her voice soft. “Just...don’t.”
The flickering lights showed the smirk on Greg’s face as he opened his mouth to reply. Before he got the words out, his eyes bulged and he screamed. “What the fuck?” He swatted at his back with his hand, spinning away from Sara, deeper into the courtyard.
On his back was the tiny, black and white form of Oscar, the kitten, clinging tightly.
A deep yowl came from the direction of the fence and a big ginger tomcat launched itself at Greg. A grey blur of fur brushed past Sara and began raking Greg’s legs with its claws.
More and more of the cats that’d been loitering around her home swarmed Greg, with claws and teeth and hisses. It was as if he’d kicked open some feline hive and the cats were defending their queen.
Sara stared, open mouthed for a moment, then got to her feet and ran back to the road, leaving Greg and the cats behind.
She rounded the corner and Bridget was there. But this time it wasn’t just Bridget.
Sara squinted her eyes. There was another figure within the shape of the ghost. “Abi? Oh my God. What have you done?”
The ghost and girl both nodded. Sara could now see Abigail’s body clearly inside the translucent Bridget. “She is safe,” Bridget-Abi said. “I could not reach you this far from the house without a vessel.”
“A vessel? You’ve possessed her?”
Bridget shrugged. “In a manner of speaking. She is her mother’s daughter after all. She has the gift.”
Something clicked into place in Sara’s mind. “The woman she said used to live at my house. She could see you.”
Bridget nodded and the double-image waved a hand impatiently. “You must return to the house. You must reactivate the spell.”
“But Greg...”
“Is nothing compared to the horror that is waiting to break through into this world. Be brave, my child. You must hurry.”
Sara fiddled with the gemstoned ring on her finger. The fae engagement ring. Bridget had sacrificed so much to protect the world from Jereth and the creatures beyond the portal. How could she give up now? “Okay.”
Lightning flickered across the sky, casting the combined figure of Bridget and Abi into sharp edged colour. In that moment, the magic that bound them schismed. The little girl screamed and clapped her hands over her mouth. Bridget’s eyes widened. “Behind you!”
Then something hard hit the back of Sara’s head and everything was black.