The Order of Chaos: In dreams do secrets lie (The Order of Chaos Trilogy Book 1) by Ben J Henry

Author:Ben J Henry [Henry, Ben J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Ben J Henry
Published: 2021-03-29T22:00:00+00:00

A final bid

Why did you barbecue your phone?

‘Alicia, get back in the car.’

On either side, dark woodland encroached upon the country road, heavy boughs shouldering the black scar that man had laid upon it. Alicia stood between two aspens at the roadside, her arms folded like a petulant child.

‘You kidnapped my brother.’

Her voice was hard yet she sounded younger than her years. Melissa cut the engine and silence flooded the woodland. The headmistress exited her vehicle, closed the door with a soft click, and brushed creases out of her white jacket as if entering a boardroom meeting. She walked around the car to where Alicia waited on loose stones at the edge of the tarmac.

‘And I would do it again if it brought me closer to Ryan.’

She was careful to meet Alicia’s eyes. It was her intention to drive the point home, to present the facts. A black bird emerged from the shadows, swooping over the road and into the trees on the far side.

‘Is that what this is?’ Alicia asked, keeping her voice low and adult. ‘An exchange?’

‘Would it matter?’

Alicia dug a hand into the pocket of her jeans as though her phone might materialise if she continued to search for it.

‘I’m calling the police.’

‘If you thought that there was any sense in that, you would not have said it aloud.’

Their heads turned at a light in the distance. A car approached the bend that led to their stretch of the country lane, its full beam scattering through the bushes like torchlight through a colander. Melissa’s gaunt face tightened.

‘Why do you think I’m still alive?’ she whispered.

Alicia knew why her great-grandparents had spared Melissa: she had struck a deal with the Crows. Following Anna’s death, she would take Alicia under her wing, caring for her when her disabled father was unable to. She would invite Alicia into her home and into her confidence, convincing her to hand over the stolen book.

‘If Rainn has Anna’s letters,’ Melissa continued, ‘then she knows that I was trying to help your mother. There are more than cars on these roads tonight, Alicia. They know where I am heading and if they find me before I get there…’

The car turned the corner and its headlights struck the surrounding trees. Alicia expected heavy shadows to splinter into thousands of feathers: crows bursting from the boughs. But the branches were as bare as the pines in Vivador. Melissa watched the vehicle slow and spoke through clenched teeth.

‘If you want me to take you to your brother, get in the car.’

Alicia had painted Ryan’s image on Melissa’s wall to coerce the woman into taking her to David; if her son was leading Alicia through Vivador, Melissa must know where David was held in the waking world. But Melissa was not working with Ryan. Ryan was working for the Crows and his mother’s name was on their list. The headmistress had not broken speed limits and ran red lights, racing to the Lake District before Alicia came to her senses and called the police.

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