Page 9 of The Midwinter Mirror
“It will be all right,” he says. “She'll love you. I mean, I love you, Zayne, even if you did try to eat me once.”
“Thanks, bro.”
“And Amber would be pleased we're getting a sister,” he says.
“Yeah, I think she would.”
There must be six or seven cars parked outside the manor as we walk up the drive. The people are milling at the top of the steps and just about to enter the house as we approach. I recognize all of them. Someone spots us, and the word goes around, and they all slowly turn to look. I think it's true to say that I was never particularly popular in the village. I never tried to be. I thought they were a load of tossers, and they thought I was trouble.
And after my dad supposedly killed my mum and then killed himself, well, I was definitely persona non grata. As though they might be infected by my family's madness just by being nearme. They were never the same about Tansy. She was always accepted, and I'm glad about that.
I search the group, but I can't see any children. I'm not even sure what she'd look like now. The last time I saw her, she was hardly more than a toddler. Chubby cheeks, always smiling. But there are no children at all in the group.
My heart stops for a moment, and then starts beating faster. I come to a halt and take a deep breath because there is someone else there that I recognize.
She’s staring. A flicker—joy?—gone so fast I probably imagined it. More likely horror. Or guilt.
I take a step closer. And we gaze at each other for long moments. Everything and everyone else fades away.
“You,” she murmurs as though she can’t quite believe I’ve got the nerve to come back here, even though when I left, she just about begged me to stay. Her hands are fisted at her sides, and she’s glaring like she could burn a hole straight through me.
My chest tightens, but I force a smirk onto my face. “Nice to see you too, princess.”
“Five years,” she snaps. “And that’s what you open with?”
Five years and she still makes my chest ache. Five years and I’m still a smartass. “What were you expecting?” I give a nonchalant shrug. “Flowers?”
She shakes her head. “You haven’t changed.”
Hah, that’s what she thinks. “You’ll be amazed at just how much I’ve changed, princess.”
The air between us crackles, sharp as the frost all around us. It feels like no time has passed at all—except every word tastes like old bitterness. Before I can think of something better to say—something real—a woman comes to stand in front of me. Arms tight across her chest, lips in a thin line as she glares at me. My aunt.
“Well, look who crawled back with the storm,” she snarls. “And now my Tansy is gone. Quite the coincidence, isn’t it?”
For a moment, the words don’t make sense. “What do you mean ‘Tansy is gone?’ Gone where? What’s happened? What have you done with her?” I can feel my beast rising up inside me, and her eyes widen as she backs away. She always said all the men in our family were monsters. I’d love to show her just how right she is, but maybe not right now.
Holly hurries toward me, rests a hand on my arm, and a sense of calm washes through me—she could always quiet my rages. I look down at her—there never used to be such a difference in our heights; she was always tall for a girl. Now I tower over her. I like it. “Tell me,” I growl.
“It’s the children,” she says.
“What children?”
“All of them. They disappeared sometime last night. Well, except Milo—he’s got a broken leg. He said he couldn’t keep up.”
“Where did you find him?”
For a second, I think she’s not going to answer; something flickers in her eyes. “Silvergate.”
Shit. Fucking Silvergate. I should have known it. The bells I heard were real—no dream.
“He must have wandered there when he lost the others,” she adds.
I have a flashback…blood in the snow. No. Not going there.
But…shit. Just like old fucking times.
Except for me. I’m not the same victim I was back when I was last here. I’m not the scared, grief-stricken boy who lost everyone to the snow. To the Hunt.
