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Ethan couldn't get over Skye’s blindness about Hunter. He thought he’d be able to open her eyes on the drive to school, but that creep really had his hooks sunk into her. Ethan’s pulse raced with anger when he thought about it. And about what Hunter and his clan had done to Thea.
Thea had suffered so much and yet she wanted to help Liam, a human, and one she didn’t even know. She was incredible but Ethan seemed to be the only one in her corner. Right now, he was the only one in the world who knew she existed. He was for sure the only one who cared about her. Her own clan had tried to kill her after Hunter betrayed her.
The brutality she had experienced at their hands made him sick. He would do anything to protect her, but being a surf rescuer didn’t equip him against a horde of possibly invisible, blood-thirsty sea spirits. Everyone could see Hunter well enough. Hunter. What Skye and the Lauders saw in that guy... Thea had to be right. He’d infected them with some kind of mind control.
Well, it wouldn’t work on him. But that didn’t help him against the rest of her clan, especially if he couldn’t see them. Thea didn’t know for sure if Ethan was the only one able to see her. She was too scared to let anyone else see her. She didn’t trust anyone except him.
But she couldn’t leave the water, so he couldn’t get her away from them. The only solution was to keep them away from her. And there was no way he could do that. He had to do something to help. Which is why he’d agreed to do this.
Much as he hated doing this, he had to make someone else understand there was an evil force in the ocean that needed to be stopped. That sounded insane, even in his head. And she was right. The ‘someone else’ he had to tell had to have the motivation and resources to take action. He puffed out his cheeks with a quick breath, trying to pretend Alan Noble was something less scary, like a shark.
At the doors to the Towers and stopped. He craned his head back to look up at the lofty apartment building towering over him. Just one, but named as a plural, a promise that there were more on the way. They would ruin the village. He couldn’t help a mental sneer at the rampant ambition. Then guiltily made himself remember Thea, and how she had convinced him that the best way to help Liam was enlisting the help of his father Alan. Why she cared so much was beyond him, but he couldn’t argue with that much compassion.
Steeling himself, he pushed through the doors, crossed to the elevator, and pressed P for penthouse.
The elevator muzak was even more irritating than it was when he tried to enlist Liam’s help in exposing Hunter a few days ago. It was probably his fault Liam was missing now. He could be pouring salt on this grieving father’s wounds by coming here.
But if Thea said Liam could be alive and with the creepy sea people, he could be.
He felt a stir of discomfort at the sudden memory of Thea's beautiful chocolate brown eyes gleaming when she first saw the shell around his neck that day he found her on the rocks at Ciarlan Cove. He’d seen Morgan notice it too, at Skye’s birthday thing, and look kind of grim. So maybe Morgan knew something about what was going on?
In fact, now that he thought about it, he was almost willing to bet money she knew more about this whole mess than it seemed. They’d all been out there on the beach at the same time he was. Hunter, Morgan, and Skye. After he’d come out of the water. He shuddered and closed his fist around the shell ring on the leather cord. He needed to find out if it was connected, and how.
He didn't understand how it worked. But perhaps somewhere buried in his memory, there was a reason he had kept the shell around his neck. Sometime between when he’d gone out looking for Amber and when he’d come to his senses in the water, this shell had appeared on his finger. He wished he could remember how.
The elevator reached the penthouse floor and the doors silently opened. Ethan could feel his pulse racing, and the reality of the insane, dangerous conversation he was about to have with the most detested person in the village crashed in on him. This was a bad idea. It wasn’t too late to back out. Yeah, backing out was smart. He reached for the ‘close door’ symbol just as Alan Noble stepped into the elevator with him. Startled, Ethan let out a noise, like he was trying to cough, and felt his face burn. Alan didn’t seem to notice. His haughty expression was unchanging but he held the door for Ethan, raising his eyebrows in a silent question, clearly meaning ‘are you getting out or what?’.
Ethan shook his head and shoved his hands into his sweater pockets. Alan pressed L for lobby, the doors closed, and they descended.
“Excuse me, Mr Noble?” Ethan surprised himself by speaking. Alan Noble looked at him, his gaze blank, his thoughts clearly a million miles away. He had aged more than the number of years since Ethan had last seen him, and despite the stony face, Ethan reminded himself that this guy was probably grieving, desperate for news of his son. He forced the words out. “This is going to sound crazy. I don't know how to say this, but I might be able to help you. You know. To find Liam.”
A hand shot out to an emergency button, and the elevator stopped in its tracks. Alan Noble turned back to Ethan, his piercing grey eyes so present that Ethan felt their touch like a physical presence. “Speak.”
The elevator was deathly silent apart from the muzak playing, a synthesiser soundtrack that felt jarring in the tense, close space.
Ethan swallowed, already wishing he’d kept his mouth shut. “I - uh, I know someone who has information on the...the people Liam might be with.” He pushed away the uncomfortable feeling that there was something wrong with what he was doing. “She might be able to help find him.”
“She knows where he is?”
Ethan felt an odd sensation, as though Alan Noble’s intense gaze was going past his eyes, crawling over his brain. “Not exactly.” His throat felt dry. He wished he hadn’t come.
“Then what is it she is offering, exactly?”
With an effort, Ethan looked down, still feeling pinned, aware of wanting to give him whatever answers he needed. The sensation reminded him of something. And it stirred a base instinct in him to resist. Then Thea’s beautiful eyes flashed through his mind, and he heard her compelling voice again, urging him to help Alan. She was right. Helping Alan was the right thing to do.
He looked up at Liam’s father again. “She says that there are people in the village who might be able to help you.”
“Such as?”
Ethan hesitated. But he couldn't give him Skye’s name. “Hunter.”
“Hunter? Is this a person or an occupation?” Alan said tersely.
“He works for the Lauders in the café.”
Alan seemed to freeze, and the excitement in his eyes was frightening. Ethan remembered that, as their landlord and employer, Alan had taken advantage of Morgan and Rowena. Once again, he wondered if he should be here, telling him anything. But he was in too deep now to stop.
Alan gave a little dry cough. “I believe I’ve met him,” he said quietly. “Twice, recently. He is relatively new to the village?”
“Yeah. No one knows where he came from, or when he arrived here. But maybe he didn’t get here by any road we know of. Maybe he came by sea.”
“On a boat?” Alan sounded drolly sceptical, but Ethan could feel his powerful, eager attention bent on him. Ethan shook his head, and he saw Alan’s chest rise and fall more rapidly. “Are you saying he swam ashore?” he asked.
“Yes,” Ethan boldly met Alan's eyes. “And I think Rowena might not know what he is.”
“And what is he?” Alan didn’t disguise his hunger for the answer.
Ethan thought back to the bruises and cuts on Thea's skin, and her vulnerable plea for his help. The protective instincts she raised in him surged so violently he couldn’t hold back. “Not human. They are an evil race foreign to us. They have no scruples and no humanity.”
“Really?” asked Alan. “Do you have evidence of this? Can you introduce me to this girl?”
“No,” said Ethan, suddenly conscious of the ruthlessness of desperate men. Thea hoped Alan could make Hunter help find Liam, but she’d warned Ethan no one must know about her. It could be the death of Thea if Alan had access to her. “She only trusts me,” Ethan said. “But there are a lot of scared people in the village who might know something. Who might offer information if you ask them to.”
“Are you talking about recent events in the village? Like the returned? And the rumoured collapses from a gas leak?”
“There was no gas leak,” Ethan said angrily. “I checked that out myself. And the collapses were more than rumours. My brothers, all three of them, were dead according to my mother. She and my sister were conscious the whole time it happened. I know it sounds crazy. It is crazy. I sound like an insane person,” he said, almost to himself.
“Do you think that there is any truth to this?”
“All I know is there are some weird freaking things going on. And yeah... I think there is some truth to this.”
Alan studied Ethan, his cold, serious face making Ethan squirm. He felt almost like Alan was reading his mind and persuading him to share everything he’d ever hidden from anyone. It was a push too far. Feeling like he was fighting back against something he didn’t understand, an unequivocal ‘all out of helpful, sorry’ rebellion burned in him, helping him resist the pressure he could feel from this man’s potent presence.
As if sensing his reluctance, Alan nodded once. “Thank you for your help. What is your name?”
“Ethan. Ethan Armstrong.”
“Thank you, Ethan Armstrong. I won't forget your name.”
Once again seeming to disregard Ethan’s presence, he released the emergency brake, and the elevator continued in its descent, the two men silent.
As soon as the doors opened, Liam’s father walked away across the lobby, then stopped, turning back to face Ethan. Ethan felt pinned again.
“I will call on you for further information as the need arises.” He didn’t wait for a reply, turning on his heel and striding away, out of the building.
