“Fuck,” Sam curses. “We could have died, Autumn. We could have fucking died.”
“We didn’t. We freaking survived,” I croak.
She looks upwards and frowns. “Look. There’s nothing by the side of the road where the car was. What was holding it up?”
I follow the direction of her gaze. She is indeed right. The car was hanging at an impossible angle over the edge. We thought it must have been caught on a tree stump or overhanging rock, but I can see now that there was nothing there.
“Maybe it was a rock and it got swept down with the weight of the car,” Sam concludes.
“Yeah, maybe,” I agree quietly, but I watch the car plunge into the darkness. I never saw a large rock falling ahead of it. The area in front of the car was lit by its headlights.
“Let’s get back on the road,” Sam says, standing up, and switching on the torch on her cellphone.
Together we scramble up towards the road. “What do we do now?”
“Well, if we go up to the house, we might get stuck there until they clear away the boulder so I suggest we walk back down and get a cab to pick us up at the base of the mountain. The walk shouldn’t take us more than an hour.”
Sam nods. “Okay, we definitely don’t want to miss our flights in the morning.”
Silently, we begin to walk down. We are both shaken, but I’m haunted more by that blur of black that had risen as if from underneath our car… and then disappeared.
For some crazy reason the shadow seemed familiar.
Chapter 35
Rocco
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU9p1WRfA9w
-She’s Like The Wind-
I push my burnt hands into the pockets of my jacket as I reach the house. William opens the door and I tell him there has been an accident involving Autumn and they are now walking down the mountain, but there is now an obstruction on the road. He is to get the men to clear it immediately, then send Raoul to pick up the girls and send them home. He could probably pick them up before they get to the bottom of the mountain.
My back was still hurting before, but it is now throbbing with renewed vigor after I strained it by holding the car up. I dragged my pain-ridden body up the stairs to my bathroom, and hold my palms under the cold water. The skin has been burnt off and the flesh looks raw and bloody.
From behind me a face floats onto the mirror. I meet her sly eyes and try not to show the intense hatred I feel for her. The less she knows me, or how I feel, the better. I understood a long time ago, my sister has no limits. She will let nothing stand in her way.
“You could have killed her,” I say expressionlessly.
“There was never a chance of that happening.”
“What if one of those shards of rock had pierced the windscreen and crushed her?”
She shifts uncomfortably. “It didn’t, did it?”
I close the taps and turn around to face her. She is leaning casually against the door frame and cradling a glass half full of whiskey. “What would you have done if she died?”
“Don’t be so silly. There was no possibility of that. I chose the area with the softest landing. I just wanted to test if you would be able to feel when she was in danger.” She shrugs. “If you had not turned up I would have ‘saved’ her myself.”
I want to explode, to hurt her, but I cannot. Ancient rules forbid such actions. “You put her life at risk to test me?”
She strokes the sides of her glass with her long, slender fingers. “Well, that was one of the reasons.”
“And the other?”
She smiles. “I was actually trying to help your cause.”
“My cause?” I ask softly.
“You’re losing your touch little brother. That was your opportunity to show yourself and be the savior. Every girl wants to be rescued by a knight in shining armour, a hero. And you are that, aren’t you, little brother. A hero.”
I walk up to her and stare into her unrepentant, cruel eyes. “I don’t need help from you. I have my own way of seducing a woman. I will give her the choice. Until then, butt out of my business. Do you understand me?”
She smiles a victorious smirk. “Yes, I understand, but don’t take too long. We’re all suffering here.”
I shake my head with disgust. “Do you ever consider anybody else’s needs but your own?”
“Have the moral high ground if it keeps you warm at night, I just want my hair back.”
I side-step her and start to walk away, but as I pass her I smell it. Underneath her expensive perfume… only faintly, but nevertheless present is the smell of putrefaction. I wonder if I am extruding the same stench of corruption and decay.