Gabriella Poole - Blood Ties (Darke Academy)

‘This way, Cassie!’ Isabella’s hushed voice was fraught with anxiety.

Cassie shook her head free of doubts and ran on after her friend into the shadows and through pools of streetlight on the 79th Street

Transverse. She knew this path: she’d walked it in the daylight, that time two weeks ago when she’d gone skating at the Wollman Rink with

Ranj—

Not now, she thought, shoving him out of her head.

She convinced herself she wasn’t scared going into the darkness under the East Drive bridge – why should she be? she thought – and

on the other side she saw a suggestion of water. A distant flash of lightning made the Turtle Pond gleam like a mirror for an instant, then

darkness closed in again. She could feel cold rain on her face, but as the wind rose it didn’t slow her. Isabella was out of breath, lagging

behind her now, but Cassie felt she could run for ever.

‘How much further?’ she barked.

‘Right there!’ Stumbling to a halt, Isabella grabbed her. ‘That’s it – the Swedish Cottage. It’s a puppet theatre.’

An American flag and a Swedish one hung on the roof of the large wooden building, wet and whipped by gusts of wind.

Cassie let out a mirthless laugh. She should have realised Brigitte wouldn’t have been taking Jake to one of her own properties. Besides,

she couldn’t imagine Katerina’s family owning anything smaller than a mansion.

Cassie felt her muscles tense as she prowled closer through the trees. ‘Looks quiet,’ she murmured.

It was raining in earnest now, the drops stinging like ice on her skin. The building itself wasn’t lit, but she could make out a faint glow

from behind it. She narrowed her eyes, silenced her breathing. Behind the rising wind and the roar of the rain, she could hear something.

Voices. Movements. The scrape of a shovel blade on soil. Low laughter.

Lightning exploded directly above them, turning the world white. In the fraction of a second before the thunder shook the earth, Cassie

saw what was happening: saw the figures and what they were doing, frozen in the light like a tableau.

The lightning bolt was followed instantly by a second flash. Cassie was aware of a distorted, inhuman form rising up before her.

Flinching reflexively, she stumbled back.

Then it was right in front of her, a hideous face screaming into hers, its eyes burning red with hate and power.

There was no time to react. Lifted off her feet by a ringing blow, Cassie felt herself flung through the electric air, her skull thudding hard

on to the solid earth as she landed. Struggling to right herself, another lightning bolt flashed through the night without warning and

crashed into a nearby tree. Cassie had a moment of clarity as she saw the branch rip off like a disused limb and hurtle towards her. And

then the night went truly black.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Consciousness returned like a cold slap. Trying to get to her feet, Cassie felt the heavy tree branch pinning her to the ground. Mustering

all her strength, she managed to heave it off, but felt a searing, piercing pain as she took a breath. At least one rib was broken. She

coughed and gasped again as pain shot through her once more. Around her the rain howled; lightning, more distant now, crackled across

the skyline.

‘Silly girl. Silly, stupid scholarship girl, to think you were a match for us, even with your freaky powers. And greedy old Mother Nature had

to take her turn too. That lightning bolt nearly lit you up like a Christmas tree.’

She didn’t recognise the expensive black boots, but she knew the voice.

Katerina.

Desperately, Cassie lashed out with a fist, but the feet in front of her skipped lightly back. The Swedish girl’s evasive manoeuvre revealed

silhouettes behind her. They looked human and yet … not. There was something distorted about the figures: as distorted as Katerina’s

grotesque form. Oh, Cassie recognised that, all right. She’d seen it before, at the Arc de Triomphe – Katerina, letting her true evil Few

colours shine through. The peeled-back lips, the red eyes, the teeth that weren’t down to any all-American orthodontist …

The girl was still stylish, though. Chic, despite the casual ease with which she held Isabella’s unconscious form, tucked under one

sinewy arm.

‘Gods, you three have the luck of the devil,’ Katerina laughed. ‘I’ve tried and I’ve tried to get my revenge a little more elegantly, but it all

comes down to fisticuffs and flying tree branches in the end.’

‘Isabella!’ Cassie reached for her friend. ‘Don’t hurt her!’

‘Don’t worry about your roomie, dear. I’ll take care of her.’ The grey lips stretched further. ‘Once and for all.’

With a snarl of rage, Cassie tried to lunge up and snatch at Isabella, but Katerina dodged her with laughable ease. One of those

expensively shod feet lashed out, catching Cassie’s temple and sending her reeling back.