Page 111 of The Light Within

Darcy grinned at Julien.

He crossed the room to kiss both her cheeks.

Ten minutes later, Cinn returned, looking slightly cleaner, although the gash on his forehead looked more prominent now that his skin was grime free. He scowled when he caught Julien staring at it, tugging his beanie down to hide it. “No, it doesn’t need looking at. Neither does my arm.”

“So, you guys really took out two people?” Elliot said, then whistled.

That particular delight already felt like a lifetime ago. Julien leaned his head against a bookshelf, his eyes slowly closing.

“He did,” Cinn confirmed. The pride in his voice made Julien feel nauseous, the image of the bullets unexpectedly exploding ricocheting around his mind. Cinn could protest that the fragment that hit his arm caused ‘just a scratch’ all he liked. Julien wouldn’t forget it in a hurry.

“So, it wasn’t only you two off having all the fun.” Darcy closed her book shut with a snap, then leaned forward. “Tell them, Elliot.”

“Yeah…” Elliot began. “So I tracked down that dude who was stalking us. The one Cinn overheard Eleanor tearing into. He’s been tailing us for months. It was a really weird exchange. He claimed he wanted to be caught. Introduced himself as well. Admitted everything.”

“That’s weird as fuck. Does he not want to work for Eleanor any more? She sounded proper pissed at him,” said Cinn.

“Well, I asked that, but he said some random rubbish I didn’t understand. Then he left it by telling me to wait for a message.”

Darcy laughed. “But the best bit is—”

A loud cough from Elliot cut her off.

“What?” asked Julien.

The other two side-eyed each other, then kept mute. Without warning, Darcy’s fire crackled intensely, sending sparks dancing across the cottage floor. One landed on Julien’s trouser leg, singeing it slightly—as if his poor clothes hadn’t been through enough.

The flames flickered and danced. A small piece of parchment slowly materialised within the glowing embers, rising from the hearth, pulled from the depths of the fire itself. It drifted gently onto the stone.

Elliot dove from the sofa to snatch it up, knocking Julien rather rudely out of the way.

“Hey!”

Ignoring Julien, Elliot poured over the note, his face falling slightly. “It’s not that interesting. Just a location and time.”

“How is that not interesting?” Julien seized the paper. The note read:Midnight. Where the shadows guard the ancient whispers.

“Oh, come on.” Cinn read the note over Julien’s shoulder. “What’s that supposed to mean? Is he having a laugh?”

“What? It’s pretty obvious,” said Darcy, in that infuriating know-it-all voice she knew they hated.

Julien refused to ask her, so instead said, “Should we go, though?”

Elliot’s head whipped towards him. “What? Why not?”

“Well, Cinn and I have almost died twice in the last two days. This might be a third time unlucky sort of thing.”

Cinn frowned. “Elliot said this guy is on our side.”

“What? Whatside?” Julien retorted. “Our ‘side’ is just us wanting to live.”

“I agree with Cinn.” Elliot claimed the parchment back, to flap it in the air. “We have to see what this is all about.”

“Alternatively, let’s all pack our bags and do a beach holiday in the Bahamas. I hear it’s nice this time of year.”

Darcy bopped Julien on the head with her book. “Stop. We’re going and that’s that. You’ve got twelve hours to get over it, or you can stay here and sulk.”

Julien pouted at Darcy, who sounded confused about how things worked around here. “I thought I was the leader of this ragtag group of merry men.”

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