Blood Ties (16 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

C
assie didn’t bother with the lift. Bolting across the marble atrium of the Academy, ignoring the stares of other students, she tore off her gloves and scarf as she ran. Shoving through to the fire escape stairs, she took them two at a time. It was faster. At least, it was at the speed she could run. And she needed to run, to work off this terrible anger and fear.

Ranjit’s room was on the fifth floor, but she reached it barely out of breath. That was Estelle again. She was beginning to know how much she relied on Estelle. How much she needed and appreciated that powerful presence.

She didn’t bother to knock. When she burst in, Ranjit was just pulling off his shirt and the shower was running. In nothing but his designer jeans, he stared at her dumbfounded. His smile, when it came, was forced, trying to cover something else.

‘Well. This is unexpected but nice—’ He stopped short as soon as he saw Cassie’s furious expression.

She took a ragged breath. ‘What happened to you?’

‘Your Council meeting. I know it was tonight—’

‘So where were you, Ranjit? I waited for you!’

Screwing his expensive shirt into a ball, he twisted it between his fingers. His gaze darted over her shoulder at the door, then back to her. ‘There was … Something came up – something that meant I couldn’t come, Cassie. I wanted to tell you, honestly I did, but if—’

‘Not good enough!’ She was too angry to cry. ‘You promised. You said you’d be there!’

‘And I wanted to, more than anything. Please, Cassie, you have to believe me. But I—’

‘I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear what was more important, OK? I just want you to know,’ – she swallowed hard – ‘that you might not have seen me again.’

Ranjit sank down on to the bed, shoving his hair out of his eyes as he stared up at her. The room was filling with steam, but he didn’t move to turn off the shower. When he spoke, his voice was shaky. ‘What happened?’

‘Ms Brigitte Svensson was in the chair,’ spat Cassie. ‘And I avoided the Confine by one vote.’

‘Cassie. Oh, God, Cassie. I didn’t know it was her. I wasn’t told … Listen—’

‘No! I don’t want to listen. You left me to face that alone. So now, you owe me some answers, Ranjit. The Confine – what is it?’

‘The Confine …’ He stood up, pacing the room. She couldn’t help watching, her gaze drawn to his damp, naked torso. Yesterday she’d have been leaping on him like a tiger. Yesterday she’d have eaten him alive, in a good way.

But now she felt numbed by the leaden weight in her chest. ‘The Confine, Ranjit.’

He half-glanced at her. ‘Didn’t they tell you?’

‘It sounded like a prison to me, but apparently my feeble understanding of a prison is not what this Confine is. So maybe you can explain it?’

‘It’s – listen, you don’t have to go there, right? Just try and put it out of your mind.’

‘I don’t have to go!’ she yelled, tears stinging her eyes. ‘But Jake does!’

‘Jake?’ Ranjit scraped his hands through his black hair, damp from the steam.

‘Yes, Jake! He’s been sentenced to the Confine. I heard them! I doubled back after they sent me out and I heard them!’

‘You eavesdropped? On the Council?’

‘You bet your bloody life I eavesdropped!’ She sighed. ‘Ranjit, you have to help me now. What are we going to do?’

Swiftly, as if making a decision, he seized her arms and gazed into her eyes. ‘Nothing. We’re going to do nothing, Cassie. We can’t go against the Council.’

For a fraction of a second she was stupefied. ‘What?’

‘Listen to me. What the Council told you was true – the Confine isn’t like a prison, it’s more like a … a luxury hotel. It’s where the Elders keep people who know too much about the Few and can’t be trusted to keep quiet. Jake won’t be a prisoner. He’ll be a guest, Cassie, a guest of the Few.’

She stared at him, unable to believe her ears. ‘A guest for ever? A guest who can’t choose to leave?’

‘Well, yes, but—’

‘That is a prisoner, Ranjit!’

Lost for words, she slumped on to the bed. Hesitantly he moved beside her, stroking her cheek. His fingers trembled, as if he was reluctant to touch her but couldn’t help himself. Despite the steam, she shivered.

‘Cassie, there’s nothing we can do. I’m sorry.’

She couldn’t look at his face so instead she focused again on his lean, muscled chest. It meant nothing; she felt nothing. Must be shock.

Quietly she said, ‘I haven’t told you the worst.’

‘What? What else could there be?’

‘Brigitte. And a man called Vaughan. He’s FBI – Isabella and I saw him taking Jake away – but he’s also Few. One of the Elders. They’re planning to double-cross the Council.’

Ranjit laughed. ‘I’d like to see them try.’

‘You damn well will, then! They’ve done it before! What Brigitte is planning for Jake – I overheard that too. They have a whole system in place. It sounds horrible, Ranjit. Horrible. She takes people from the Confine to something called the Living Soil.’

Ranjit sucked in a breath, and his face paled. Then he shook his head violently. ‘No. No way, Cassie. You misheard.’

‘I did not!’

‘Then she was bluffing! Showing off! Posturing! It isn’t going to happen, Cassie. Please, you have to trust me.’

His eyes were pleading. She opened her mouth to say, Of course I do! But the words wouldn’t come. Instead, she broke his stare. ‘I don’t care if you don’t believe me. She’s definitely got something planned for Jake and it isn’t the Confine. We’ve got to—’

‘No! No, Cassie, listen. You mustn’t get involved in this. Seriously, I’m really frightened for you.’ He put a warm arm around her. ‘Brigitte will not do anything to Jake, not against the Council’s wishes. But she is hugely powerful. It’s you she’ll target.’

‘She already did! Or Katerina did anyway. Grand Central? It was her who tried to push me on to the tracks.’

‘What?’

‘Forget it. Look, Ranjit, we just need to help Jake. Please. If we get him out of the Confine then maybe—’

‘You can’t interfere with Council business, Cassie.’

‘No, but you can! Ranjit, I’ve seen the way they look at you here – the other Few, even Sir Alric. You’re powerful, you must have some influence.’

‘No. No, Cassie, I can’t. The Council’s decision is final. None of us can go against them.’

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘You could try!’

‘Maybe I could, but I won’t. Jake is a danger to us. He knows too much. He could expose us at any time. Get the Academy shut down. I don’t want any part of that.’ He turned aside so she couldn’t see his eyes. ‘I don’t want that any more than the Council does.’

Ranjit’s words took a second or two to sink into her brain, burning like hot lead. Then, with a deep, ragged breath, she tore his arm from her shoulder, pushed him away and stood up.

‘That’s it, isn’t it? It’s Jake. You want to get rid of him. That’s what this is!’

‘No. No, that’s not it.’

‘Yes! From the way you’re acting, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was you that tipped off the FBI about those files – led your buddy Vaughan right to him!’

‘Come on. Be realistic, Cassie!’ Ranjit snapped, rising to his feet to face her. ‘What do you know? You are newly Few, or part-Few at least! You’re one of us now. Do you have you any idea what would happen if the Academy were to close? The Academy is the Few’s deal with the world. It’s how the spirits find new hosts! It’s how we teach those hosts control! Without the Academy, the Few will descend into chaos and random killing. Is that what you want, Cassie? If Jake destroys the Academy, he won’t destroy the Few. He’ll unleash them on the world, unchecked. He’ll destroy more lives than you can count!’

The blood had drained from her face. She felt as if she was truly seeing him for the first time. ‘You destroy lives! We destroy them! It isn’t Jake, it’s the Few. Why should Jake, or anyone innocent, be punished for our existence?’

‘Because there is no punishment for the Few!’ he roared. ‘How do you punish an immortal spirit? How? I’m sorry about Jake, but there’s nothing I can do. He’s unlucky, that’s all!’

‘Like his sister was?’ hissed Cassie.

‘Don’t you dare bring that up again, Cassie. Don’t you damn well dare!’ Ranjit’s expression twisted viciously, his eyes narrowing. ‘In fact, I’ll tell you how to punish an immortal spirit. By splitting it! Leaving half of it in some disgusting void!’

The silence between them was electric. Cassie could hear her own heart thrashing, and she was sure she could hear his. On his shoulder, she could see the familiar markings of the Few begin to smoulder red.

‘How dare you!’ she screamed.

I am split! Divided! He UNDERSTANDS! I told you, my dear, he’s the one for us! Grab him, take him …’

‘Estelle!’

The power surged through her so hard she almost stumbled, as if Estelle had physically thrown her towards Ranjit. When she jerked up her head, her lips were drawn back from her teeth and the world was tinged with scarlet.

Ranjit was crouched, as if he was ready to defend himself. But he was straining towards her, too, about to attack. No, not attack. Just to leap on her, seize her, own her …

His irises glowed vermillion. As the colour deepened to scarlet, it spread across the whites of his eyes. The colour, seen through her own red mist, was the most intense red she could imagine. He let out a starving, longing snarl.

‘NO!’

Ranjit put his hands to his face, clenched into fists. His whole body shook, as if with a fever, but somehow, somehow he regained control. When he brought his hands down, his eyes were no longer glowing red.

They stood for a long moment, shaking, both of them gasping for breath. When Ranjit spoke again, his voice was barely above a whisper, almost as though he was talking to himself.

‘This was such a goddamn mistake. Such a stupid, stupid thing to do. I should have known better.’

‘Better than what?’ She was dazed, off balance.

Ranjit looked up at her. ‘I shouldn’t have done it. I should never have got involved with you, Jess!’

She reeled back as if he’d struck her.

Oh.

God.

His face was immediately stricken, realising his mistake. Almost as stricken as hers must be. When he reached out a hand, she slapped it away.

‘Cassie—’

‘You won’t help me,’ she said in a voice that didn’t belong to her. ‘You don’t even know who I am.’

‘Cassie. I’m so sorry, I—’

‘I’ll handle this myself. I always have. Goodbye, Ranjit.’

She turned and stormed from the room, but he caught the door before it could slam. She heard his voice ringing after her as she ran down the corridor, but it might as well have been the sound of a barking dog.

‘Please! I’m sorry! Don’t get involved, Cassie! Leave it! PLEASE!’

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

S
he could barely see straight. Must be something blurring her eyes, and she couldn’t stop to rub it away. She had to keep running or she’d disintegrate.

‘Cassie, whoah!’

She cannoned into an obstruction. Large, solid, warm. A human being. Books clattered to the floor and arms went round her, just to stop her crashing to the ground too.

‘Bloody hell, Cassie Bell.’

‘Richard! Let me go!’

‘Like hell I will. I might be killed in the stampede.’

She tugged her arms out of his grip. ‘Get lost.’

‘Cassie, what’s wrong?’

‘Like you care. Get out of the way, or so help me I’ll—’

‘Look, Cassie, about the other night, when you saw me outside—’

‘I said get off !’ She flung his hands away, and rubbed her face fiercely, trying to fight back the tears. Great. The one time she could do with being angry, not upset . . .

‘Cassie, come on, tell me what happened. I … I know you had the Council meeting.’

Cassie gave an incredulous laugh. ‘What, tell Katerina’s puppy dog my problems? So you can run off and tell her ladyship?’

‘Cassie, my angel,’ he said smoothly, looking not the least bit shamefaced, ‘I’m friends with everyone and I talk to everyone. You’ve seen how weak I am in comparison to the others. It’s a survival strategy. I’m not going to apologise for it.’

‘How bloody diplomatic of you.’ She sniffed furiously, trying to move around him. He wouldn’t budge.

‘Have my handkerchief.’ He produced it with a flourish: Hermes, of course. She’d have been reluctant to use it, but then he added with a wink, ‘Don’t for God’s sake wipe your nose on your sleeve, scholarship girl.’

She blew her nose pointedly into the silk.

‘What’s going on, Cassie?’

‘Look, I need to go, OK? I’m not here to fuel your gossip machine. Thanks.’ She shoved the ruined hankie back into his hands.

‘Hey.’ There was something very different in his voice. ‘Is it Jake?’

He sounded uncharacteristically … serious. Hesitating, she turned on her heel, frowning slightly. ‘Yes.’ Slowly she walked back to him, suspicious. ‘Yeah. It’s Jake. What do you know about that?’

‘I know he was arrested. Everybody does.’ He hesitated, and lowered his voice. ‘Katerina set him up, you know. She and her mother. She told me. They fed him a trail of crumbs until he’d incriminated himself so far that they could get him arrested. He’ll go to the Confine, of course, but Sir Alric won’t be fooled for long. He’ll get Jake out, you see if he doesn’t.’

Cassie sneered. ‘For someone who talks to everybody, you have a piss-poor idea of what’s really happening.’

‘What do you mean?’ For the first time Richard looked uncomfortable. ‘You don’t think he’s going to the Confine?’

‘I know he isn’t.’

‘What did you hear?’

‘I’m not having this conversation any more.’

‘Cassie!’ Richard’s voice was deadly earnest. ‘What was it?’

She wheeled on him, exasperated. ‘The Living Soil. OK? Katerina’s mother is taking him to some cottage where she can feed him to the Living Soil.’

She turned away, but in a flash he was in front of her again, gripping her arm. His face was deathly white.

‘Are you sure?’ he whispered, horrified. ‘That’s … Katerina never mentioned that. Cassie, I’m so sorry, Look, if it’s true, I think I might know—’

Suddenly he broke off and stiffened, then gave her a beatific smile.

‘Well listen, darling, next time you and the Rajah have a fight, you know where I am,’ he said loudly.

‘What?’ Cassie gaped. ‘Come on, Richard, what were you going to say?’

‘Oh, now that would be telling.’ His old nonchalance was back, but there was something new behind it. Cassie looked around. At the end of the corridor stood Sara and another Few girl. They were eyeing her and Richard closely.

‘If you know what’s going on, Richard, please tell me,’ she mumbled through gritted teeth.

‘Hmm … I can be bought, but I’m terribly expensive.’

She stared into his eyes but they were shuttered now, guarded. What was it with him? One minute he wanted to help her – out of guilt, probably – the next he was his impenetrable, flippant self, saving face in front of those Few bitches.

 Fear, perhaps. Covering his arse, more like.

He knew something – she was certain of it. But he wasn’t going to tell, and she didn’t have time to get into some bidding war. Making a dismissive gesture, she walked away.

‘Cassie?’ he called after her.

‘What?’ she snapped, turning. ‘Don’t waste my time, Richard. I don’t have any.’

‘This one’s yours.’ He thrust a book into her hands and walked away.

Taken aback despite her turmoil, she started to shout after him. ‘I never dropped a—’

Too late. He was already gone. 

 ‘Isabella, we don’t have much time. Come on, we have to find where they’re taking Jake.’

‘But I thought he was in custody with—’

‘Come on!’ Cassie shoved Richard’s book into her bag – she could return it to him later – then grabbed Isabella’s arm in one hand, her cashmere coat in the other, and pushed the two together. ‘It’s worse than we thought.’

Isabella fumbled her arm into the coat sleeve, her voice trembling. ‘Omigod, Cassie. What is it?’

‘It’s going to be all right,’ said Cassie, ‘we just have to find Jake as soon as possible. Come on, we need to go.’ 

‘Cassie – stop. Stop!’ Isabella wound her scarf around her neck and grabbed her phone and her money from the nightstand. ‘You’re not making any sense!’

‘You’re right,’ Cassie admitted. ‘But I need to think, and I can’t think straight in this place. Let’s get out of here.’

‘OK, OK, let’s go. Then you can tell me everything.’

Cassie breathed a silent prayer of gratitude for Isabella’s practicality as they hurried down the fire stairs. Isabella didn’t know what Cassie was on about, but she didn’t waste time asking. She took Cassie on trust. God, that felt good. Especially after Ranjit’s betrayal … Cassie gave a shudder, but shook it off.

‘Soon as we’re out of this building we can start to plan. I just don’t want to be anywhere near the Few. There’s none of them I can trust.’

‘What about Ran—’

‘None of them.’

Outside on the streets, breathing in the frosty air, Cassie felt a wave of relief. Thank heavens. She’d thought she was going to suffocate.

‘Right, come on, Cassie. Give!’ Isabella panted as they strode briskly away from the Academy. ‘Something’s really wrong. You have to tell me.’

It didn’t take long to give her a résumé of the Council meeting. Isabella listened in silence, but Cassie could almost feel her fuming. When she reached the part about Jake’s sentence, Isabella gasped.

‘But they … it’s obscene! They can’t just imprison someone for life – it’s not possible.’

‘It is,’ Cassie told her grimly. ‘But listen, even that isn’t bad enough for Brigitte. She’s got something else planned, Isabella. Something worse, something the Council don’t know about.’

‘What?’

‘I wish I knew.’ She rubbed her cold face with her gloved hands. ‘But it’s got something to do with a cottage and something called the Living Soil.’

Isabella blanched. ‘That sounds … Cassie, that sounds bad.’

‘Yes. And I’ve a feeling Richard knows something about it.’

‘Richard?’ Isabella’s breath plumed in the air. ‘Tell me.’

‘I can’t, he wouldn’t tell me. One second he was talking properly, the next he’d pulled back into his shell like a little crab.’

‘What did Richard say?’ Isabella stared across the road, into the shadows of Central Park.

‘Nothing. I told you.’

‘Richard often sounds like he’s talking about nothing.’ Isabella had a steely, thoughtful look in her eyes, and she seemed uncharacteristically rational. ‘But he always knows more than he lets on.’

Cassie gave a deep sigh. It all seemed suddenly, impossibly difficult. If only bloody Ranjit had come good, how different this all could have been. ‘I told you. He clammed up, so I walked off. Oh, and then he shoved a book at me, even though it was him that dropped it, and before I could give it back he ran away.’

‘He – ah!’ Isabella clapped her hands. ‘That’s it. That’s it! Where’s the book?’

‘Here.’ Cassie patted her bag. ‘But I told you it isn’t mine, it—’

‘Ye of little faith!’ Isabella snatched the book from Cassie’s hand as she drew it out. It was an old guidebook to New York City. Riffling through, Isabella gave a sharp cry of triumph and brandished the volume in her friend’s face. The page where she’d opened it was folded down at the corner.

‘Cassie! Don’t you see? Richard told you where they’re taking Jake!’