Part 37 (1/2)

Perhaps it was to flee from her own descending madness. But it was the terrace door she headed for, as though the night itself might offer refuge, and Thom thought she might even throw herself from the parapet in her panic. Gla.s.s shards and fragments crunched beneath her feet and shadows swirled around her as if giving chase; her mouth and eyes were wide with horror. Thom leapt from the bed to follow her, barely registering the sound of Jennet's voice calling him back over the noise of the rus.h.i.+ng wind.

'Nell!' he yelled uselessly. 'Stop, Nell!'

He pa.s.sed through the doorway and the rainless gale struck him with its full force. He struggled against it, bending low, the wind carrying away his shouts.

She turned as if she had heard him - or perhaps it was to see If the dream-hags had followed her - and looked directly at him. The horror was still there on her face and

her lips moved incessantly as though she were mumbling some protective incantation. Something fluttered beneath the parapet behind her and Thom could just make out the flapping wings of a bird. A magpie. The same magpie? The creature, he suddenly realized, that was Nell's familiar. It shrieked at her.

But Nell ignored its cry. Buffeted by the wind, she stood on the rooftop terrace with legs apart, and slowly lifted a hand to examine it in the poor light thrown from the room behind Thom. He lingered in the doorway, unsure of her, scared for himself. The commotion inside seemed to have stopped and he felt other eyes watching Nell Quick, although nothing tried to get past him.

Nell's hand went to her face. Her fingers felt her skin. Her body sagged.

But her head slowly lifted to the skies.

He thought he heard her wail.

Then lightning streaked from the troubled black clouds to strike her.

Nell's poor marionette body spasmed as the violent bolt of electricity seared her flesh and roasted her innards. Her meat sizzled as she jerked and smoke rose from it; smaller blue-white charges danced over her skin and her hair and clothes, and the crumpled piece of paper in her other hand flamed as her arms shot high in the air and her feet turned black.

There had been no time for her to scream, and in that brief initial flare Thom had witnessed something more to haunt him for the rest of his days.

The lightning had revealed a sudden change in Nell, for her body had appeared old and withered, the skin ravaged by ruts and blemishes, the once-beautiful face a hideous mask of deep-etched wrinkles and weeping sores. Her nose was crooked, her teeth blackened and stunted, her lidless eyes filled with madness. Even her b.r.e.a.s.t.s had become formless pouches.

That was why Thom had observed her studying her own fingers and arm by the dim light. In the few moments preceding her death, Nell Quick had finally become a h.e.l.l-hagge herself.

The rain returned, but it did not have the same force as earlier.

On the rooftop terrace, the charcoaled husk that had once been a beautiful, if devious, woman became spattered with raindrops.

A solitary and bedraggled magpie flew off the roof to disappear into the night.

ENDS TIED.

THOM BROUGHT the Jeep round in front of Little Bracken without having to use the steering device on the wheel. He looked along the short path towards the cottage door where Rigwit sat on the stone step. They waved at each other.

It was a gloriously bright day, with the clear blue skies that tend to follow a storm. He opened the car door and stepped out, leaving the walking-stick discarded on the back seat. He paused to listen to the birds' chatter, a small smile on his face. A bee droned by. Flowers along the path somehow seemed more vivid than he remembered.

He had just returned from the hospital in Shrewsbury where Katy Budd lay conscious but sedated in the intensive care unit. She was going to be okay. The duty doctor explained to Thom and Katy's parents, who had travelled up from Hamps.h.i.+re to be with her, that while Katy had sustained many broken bones and bruises in the accident,

including a fractured pelvis and a left lower ribcage that was pressing against a lung, there were no serious head injuries, even though she had taken a hard knock that had left her concussed. Her body would heal in time (ironically, given her profession, she would require a substantial amount of physiotherapy).

Katy's parents had thanked Thom for his concern, telling him that they had spoken with their daughter twice during the night. She had not even complained about the pain she was in, but had seemed drowsily annoyed that she could not remember how the accident had happened. As soon as she was well enough, they informed Thom, they would take her back home to Hamps.h.i.+re to recuperate. They had let slip that hopefully, when Katy was fully recovered, she would stay with them, or at least find somewhere nearby to live. They missed their daughter very much.

It had left Thom relieved, but still saddened that Katy had been caught up in something that had had nothing to do with her. He had told the physiotherapist's parents that he would be a constant visitor while she remained in hospital and they seemed delighted to hear it.

Thom walked up the cracked stone path, the half-smile still on his face, his limp hardly noticeable.

Rigwit rose from the step and grinned at him. 'Howsdegil Ratty? he garbled.

'Slower,' Thom told him, even though he had caught the elf's drift.

'How's the girl Katy?'

'She'll mend. It'll take a while, but she'll be fine.' He sat on the step and Rigwit clapped him on the shoulder. 'I don't think she'll come back to this place though. When - or if-she remembers what happened,' Thom added. 'Probably for the best,' the elf said with a sigh. 'Jennet is waiting for you in the woods.'

'She was here?'

'No, but she's waiting for you.'

Thom made ready to get to his feet, but Rigwit's little hand now exerted pressure on his shoulder.

Wait,' Rigwit said. 'I've got something for you, something that will help to make you well again.'

'I feel fine.'

'I know. But it's time for you to speed up your recovery. There's a lot of work ahead of you.'

Thom turned his head to follow Rigwit as the elf went through to the kitchen. What did Rigwit mean by that last remark? Had he read his mind? Thom was only just formulating his plans, so how could the elf know? Magic, he told himself, not for the first time over the past few days.

Rigwit was soon back and in his hand was a small round bottle with a longish neck, a hazelnut pressed into its top as a stopper. The elf removed the nut and proffered the bottle to Thom. The thick liquid inside was a deep green.

'Drink half of this now,' Rigwit advised him, 'the rest tonight when you go to bed. Leave the empty bottle by your bedside and it'll be full for the morning, when you'll drink half again, the rest at night-time.

Same routine after that.'

'It'll fill itself?' Thom asked in surprise.

'Don't be daft. I'll refill it during the night while you're sleeping.'

Thom held the liquid up to the light and regarded it uncertainly. There appeared to be bits floating in it.