Infinite Spring Page 9

  When she finally extracted herself an hour later, she had got through four chocolate cookies and seven silver photograph frames, not to mention hearing all about Mrs Smithson’s two sons, who were both having girlfriend trouble. As she put it “It’s a shame you like the girls because it would have been nice to set a nice young girl like you up with my Harry.”

  She decided that as she had had no luck with Winnie, she might as well try speaking with James, after all. She found him still with Aldrich in the surgery. He seemed pleasantly surprised to see her.

  “Anais, I never did thank you properly. I feel like you saved me. I’d probably still be down in the cellar if it wasn’t for you.”

  Anais noticed Aldrich looking ashamed, but she directed her words at James.

  “Actually, I was hoping you’d come back into the cellar with me. I’d like to talk to you about Sabine. As you know, we are trying to locate her, but with nothing to go on, it’s quite tricky. We thought you might shed some light on the subject.”

  “I’m afraid I’ve already told you everything I know. However, I’d be happy to join you. A bit of brainstorming never went amiss. Aldrich, would you be ok without me for a while?”

  “Yes, yes, off you go. Finding Sabine is a priority.”

  Anais led the way back through the courtyard to the kitchen, followed by James. She still walked extremely slowly, but he did nothing to rush her, instead slowly keeping pace by her side.

  She marvelled at how much better he looked, even from the day before. His cheeks seemed fuller, and he had a little colour. He was still thin, but it was slimness rather than gaunt. She supposed a few more meals, and he would be looking a picture of health. He had shaved, too, which made him look at least fifteen years younger than he had the day before.

  Alex was still down in the cellar, beavering away at the computer.

  He looked a little stressed and it was only when they were almost right next to him that he noticed them.

  “Oh, hi, you two. I’m afraid I’m drawing blanks on every search I make. I wish Andrew was up to helping us. He’d probably have a much better way of sifting through all these search results. How did things go with Mama?”

  “Not so good there, either, I’m afraid. She couldn’t tell me anything about why Amber and Abel left. She did mention that Amber had left a note about something changing, but Winnie didn’t know what exactly it was that had changed.”

  “Really? How strange. Come to mention it, she was acting a bit odd in the days up to her leaving. One minute she was grinning, the next she was weeping over something and nothing. It was very unlike her. Amber never ever cried over anything. She was a tough cookie.”

  “Do you think she could have been scared about anything? What if Jago was around even then? Perhaps he threatened her in some way?”

  “Amber? No, not a chance, nothing fazed her. If Jago had tried anything with her, she’d have been furious as hell, but she wouldn’t have been scared. Besides, Jago couldn’t have threatened her. He wouldn’t have been around.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We all thought James here was Jago, at least the Jago we were looking for. James has been around as long as we have. We all assumed that he wanted the Elixir for a friend, a girlfriend, an army, who knows, but we knew he didn’t need it for himself because he had already taken it. Now, however, we know that James isn’t the man we are looking for, therefore, the man whom we know as Jago must be mortal, just a normal human being. It makes more sense that he would want the Elixir for himself, anyway.”

  Anais looked at Alex in shock. Why had she not thought about that herself? She had come up with the theory that Jago wasn’t James but she had not thought beyond that. Of course he would be mortal. What else could he be? She’d been so consumed with trying to find Amber, Abel and Sabine that she’d forgotten about Jago himself. Alex was right, he must be an ordinary person but that begged the question…

  “If he is a normal human, how did he know about the Guardians and the Elixir in the first place? Who knew about you?”

  “Only Mike, as far as I know, and he’s now dead. We kept ourselves to ourselves as much as possible. We all try and be discrete, but I suppose there is a chance that someone could have let it slip.”

  Anais had a thought. She turned to James who now sat on the sofa.

  “Did anyone know about you?”

  “No, like you, I told no one, only my dear Margueretta, and of course, Sabine. I did not even know that you existed until you kidnapped me. I assumed I was the only person to have taken the Elixir. It is not possible that this Jago learned about you from me. The name Guardians of the Light meant nothing to me until I got here. I do not know how this Jago knew about me at all.”

  “It’s a mystery alright,” answered Anais, “Another one! We will add it to the rest of our problems to solve.”

  Anais sighed. It was just one mystery on top of another. Every time they figured out one problem, it seemed like another twelve turned up in it’s place.

  She hoped that James would shed some light on Sabine’s disappearance, but an hour later, they’d not really learned anything new. He talked about life with Sabine in the Florentine countryside and how idyllic it was and how he’d not noticed anything amiss in the days and weeks leading up to Sabine’s kidnapping.

  Eventually James went back to the surgery and Anais, not wanting to be alone with Alex, feigned tiredness and made her way slowly to her room.

  Lying on the bed, she picked up one of the books she had borrowed from the library and read for a while. Finally, she began to feel sleepy for real and lay down on the bed for a nap. Sleep came easily after the busyness of the day and it was only when a sound like a bump came from above her, that she finally woke up. She checked her watch and realised she’d had a longer nap than planned and was in danger of missing dinner. Looking up, she wondered what it was that had woken her. She listened again but no more sound came. Shrugging it off as something falling over in the attic, she made her way down to the dining room as quickly as her bad leg would allow. Thankfully, dinner had just been served and she’d not missed out. She ate a huge amount before finally retiring back to her room for the night to finish her book. The attic above her was silent for the rest of the night.

  Chapter Eight

  The next morning she was awoken by a soft knock at her door.

  “Anais.”

  “Aethelu?” Anais lazily opened her eyes to find Alex in her room. “Alex? What are you doing here? What time is it?” She felt unusually sleepy.

  “It’s 4am. I’m sorry to wake you, but we have a problem,” Alex kept his voice down as he spoke. He obviously didn’t want anyone else to hear him.

  Anais wondered what kind of problem would bring Alex to her door so early. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, revealing her nighty, which she quickly covered up by bringing the duvet up to her chin.

  “Whatever is the matter?” She noted his look of urgency and began to feel worried.

  “Is Aethelu ok?”

  “What?” He looked slightly irritated. “It’s not about her. Here, look at this.”

  He handed her his phone which was clearly showing a text message.

  Hey, Bro. Took the plane to Kenya from Heathrow, instead. I missed her too much. Sorry.

  Rafe had developed an infatuation on Andrew’s girlfriend, Judith, when she was at The Manor, but Anais had never expected him to do something like this. Judith lived in Kenya and it was obvious that the ‘her’ of the text message referred to her.

  “He’s gone to see Judith? What the…? What is wrong with him? She’s Andrews’s girlfriend! He knows how upset Andrew is about Judith going back to Kenya.”

  “I guess he thought that they had split up. I mean, they have split up, really, haven’t they? He’s not really doing anything wrong.”

  “Not doing anything wrong?” She had never been so angry in her life. She was still whispering but only just. Her voice was getting louder with each word. “
How can you defend him? Andrew hasn’t come out of his room in weeks. He is heartbroken! And in case you hadn’t remembered, Rafe was supposed to be getting Audsley’s pendant.”

  “I’m not defending him, I just thought they’d split up, that’s all. I know we need Audsley’s pendant. I’ve already booked two tickets to Las Vegas for you and me. We fly in four hours. You need to pack.”

  “What?” She didn’t even try to keep her voice down this time.

  “Shhhh, you’ll wake Andrew! What’s the problem? We fly out, get the pendant, and come home in a few days. Job’s done.”

  “We can’t fly to America for a few days. Are you insane? Aethelu will be home soon. What will she think if I’m not here?”

  “She’ll think that you’ve gone to America to get a pendant. We might even be back before she is. Don’t worry.”

  Don’t worry? Here he was waking her up in the middle of the night, telling her that she was going to be flying to another continent before breakfast. She didn’t trust that she would be back before Aethelu, despite what Alex said. She desperately searched her mind for an excuse to get out of flying to America with Alex.

  “Who is going to do the security when you are gone?”

  “I hadn’t thought of that.” He thought for a couple of seconds. “Andrew will just have to come out of his bedroom and do it. We can’t tell him about Rafe, obviously.”

  “Why couldn’t you have just bought a ticket for me? It really doesn’t take two people to fetch a pendant back.”

  “Because your leg is still not fully healed. I thought you’d need some help.”

  “So why didn’t you book a ticket just for you?

  “Because I’d miss you if I went alone.”

  It was the last answer Anais wanted to hear.

  She was still seething an hour later as she stood at the main doors with an overnight bag packed waiting for August to bring the car around.

  The whole house had been woken up to let them know of the situation. Alex had lied to everyone as to the truth of where Rafe was. He told them all that Rafe was having a little trouble with the American Customs thanks to his false passport and needed Alex to help him out. Anais was going to pick up the pendant from Audsley whilst Alex helped Rafe. Anais was amazed that everyone had believed this, but she supposed it was best that no one knew the real reason they were going. Quite what Alex planned to tell everyone when they got back without Rafe was anybody’s guess. Winnie had insisted on making breakfast for Anais and Alex, and August had offered to drive them to the airport in his Range Rover.

  Anais had decided to speak to Andrew herself, not trusting Alex not to put his foot in it.

  She knew that he would find out about Rafe and Judith at some point, but it was imperative that he didn’t know just yet. Once again, the safety of the house and its occupants was under threat, and Andrew was the only person who really knew all about the security systems, mainly because it was he who had installed them in the first place. She had to be careful with what she said. If Andrew had any idea that Rafe was in Kenya with his ex-girlfriend, well, he’d probably never come out of his room again.

  She knocked loudly, enough to wake him but was still surprised when he answered the door.

  He looked equally surprised to see her there, so early in the morning. His pale face was almost concealed by his hair which was extremely messy as he had obviously just gotten out of bed. He brushed the most of it out of his face uncovering bleary eyes. He gave a wide yawn before speaking.

  “To what do I owe this rather early pleasure?” He yawned again.

  “Alex and I have to go to the airport, Rafe ran into some trouble getting Audsley’s pendant and we need to go help him.”

  “Nothing serious, I hope.” He looked entirely uninterested in what she was saying, despite his words.

  Anais could feel the colour come to her cheeks. She was a terrible liar and felt awful about having to do it. Still, the alternative of leaving the house without security was much worse. She mentally cursed Alex for putting her in this position in the first place.

  “Nothing to worry about,” she skated over it quickly “I was wondering if you would be able to resume your post as chief security officer? Obviously, finding the pendants is of prime importance and what with Alex being away, well…”

  She knew she was rambling, but he didn’t seem to notice. On the contrary, he suddenly appeared fully alert.

  “Of course, the pendants yes, it is of the utmost importance, you are right. Of course, I’ll help. What else can I do?”

  “We have been searching for the last remaining pendants. As you know they belong to Amber and Abel, who haven’t been seen for a hundred years. We’ve had no luck at all in locating them. Perhaps, you could try a few searches. See what you come up with.”

  “Of course, I’ll get right on it. The quicker we find those pendants, the better!”

  Anais was surprised at how eager he seemed. It looked like he was finally getting over Judith, and just in time. She thought about Rafe again and felt guilty.

  “We also need to find Sabine. She has been missing for weeks and James is beside himself with worry.”

  “I’m sure she’ll be fine, but I’ll see what I can do.”

  Anais didn’t share his optimism with regards to Sabine, but as long as he was searching and keeping the house safe, that was all that mattered.

  She had left Andrew to get dressed ten minutes ago, and now she stood in the chilly morning air waiting for both August and Alex. Dew wetted the ground and the air was damp. As she breathed out, she could see her breath form a cloud in front of her and disperse into the air, showing just how cold it was.

  It was still dark, but as she waited, she could hear the birds start their dawn chorus. Buds were just beginning to appear on the cherry trees at the front of the house and she could just make them out through the darkness. The sound of an engine cut through the night, taking her attention away from the trees, and August’s Range Rover came into view. The headlights blinded her for a second, causing her to blink. As he pulled up, she jumped in beside August and was very thankful to find that the car’s heating was already on. She had only packed enough clothes for a couple of days and so her bag fit neatly into the foot well. Alex appeared a moment later with a stylish grey travel suitcase, which he loaded into the car boot and then got into the back seat.

  The atmosphere in the car was as frosty as the weather, and neither Alex nor Anais spoke the whole journey.

  August attempted some small talk but gave up after a while when he realised he was talking to himself. Eventually he put the radio on, for which Anais was grateful.

  Once at the airport, they joined the queue for Heathrow.

  The local airport didn’t have direct flights to Las Vegas, so like Rafe, they had a change at the London Airport. Alex passed the airport agent their travel documents and checked his bag in for the flight. Anais’ bag was small enough to count as hand luggage, so she kept hers with her. It was only when the agent handed them back their documentation that Anais noticed that her passport was not hers.

  Having been born in America, albeit to British parents, she owned an American passport. This one was in the deep burgundy of a British passport. She opened it up to find her own image staring back at her.

  All the details were correct except her date of birth. This passport made her two years older.

  “What’s this?” she hissed at Alex, careful not to be overheard by any airport officials.

  “I couldn’t use your passport, so I made up a fake one. Don’t worry, it’s very convincing. It will pass even the strictest scrutiny. We’ve had to fake all our passports for years to keep ourselves off the grid.”

  “Why couldn’t you use my passport?”

  “It had your age down as nineteen. You have to be twenty-one to do anything in Vegas. I just didn’t want you to miss out on any fun. I’m afraid I only know how to make the British ones, so you’ll have to fake an English accent.�
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  “Fun?” Her voice had become shrill. She noticed a security officer looking at her, so she lowered her voice. “We are not going to Las Vegas for a party! We are going to get a pendant from your cousin, and then we are coming straight home.”

  “I just thought, while we were there, we could make the most of it. I’ve never been to Las Vegas before.”

  “Is this why you took so long getting ready and had me waiting outside for you?”

  “Yeah, sorry about that, but it’s kinda tricky to make a fake passport. Luckily, we had everything needed. I just had to cut the photo of you from your own passport and add it to this one.”

  “You cut up my passport?” she hissed quietly, aware that a security officer was looking in their direction.

  “Not literally. I scanned it into the computer. Your passport is fine, stop worrying, and for goodness sakes, keep it down. You don’t want us to get caught.”

  Anais was so mad with Alex that she didn’t speak to him the whole flight down to London. Once in Heathrow, she found a shop selling novels and bought the longest one she could find, so she wouldn’t have to speak to him for the next part of the journey, either.

  Once on board the Las Vegas flight, she settled back into her seat and opened her book. She wasn’t actually reading it but pretending to kept Alex from trying to communicate with her. Despite the fact that they had been booked into first class and had the most wonderful seats, Alex still managed to sulk for most of the journey.

  Anais, for her part, was thinking of once again stepping on American soil, the land in which she had grown. She hadn’t been home for over a year, not since her parents had brought her to live in York, before she had found out she was nearly immortal, before Aethelu. It seemed like a lifetime ago. Since being in Britain, her life had been hectic and crazy, so she hadn’t had much time to think about her homeland. Now though, she realised just how much she missed it. She’d never actually been to Las Vegas before. Alex had been right about the fact it was pointless to go before the age of twenty-one. If there wasn’t so much at stake, she would have taken some time and gone to visit her old friends in Los Angeles. Thinking of them now, though, made her realise just how much she had changed. She realised then that she could never go back. Her childhood had been innocent and carefree. Her old friends wouldn’t understand her any more than she could now fit back into their lives. They were at an age where they were at college, having fun, thinking about boys, their futures.