Thyla - Kate Gordon [58]
And that was when I knew.
That’s what Perrin had been talking about when he said I had no ‘cuff’ to control my powers. The bangles were how they controlled it.
I didn’t have a bangle. I had no control.
‘Why are you out here tonight, Perrin?’ asked Ms Hindmarsh. ‘I mean, really? You told me you were just patrolling. But there are so many of you. You’re not hunting are you? For humans to … turn.’
‘No, of course not,’ Perrin said. ‘Why would you say that, Cynthia? You know we don’t do that. You’ve told us before that you know what happened with Raphael was just an accident.’
‘What happened to Raphael was not just an accident,’ Ms Hindmarsh snapped. ‘You beasts did it. You did it on purpose. Forget it. You’re not on my side. You never were. I believed you could help me, for a while … but now I have someone else. Someone much more powerful than you are. Someone who is going to help me get Raphael back. Properly back. The way he used to be.’
Vinnie. Ms Hindmarsh must be talking about Vinnie.
‘What do you mean?’ asked Perrin.
‘I have friends in high places now,’ said Ms Hindmarsh, a bitter laugh behind the words.
‘No,’ said Perrin, his voice hard now. ‘No, Cynthia. You haven’t …’
‘I have powerful friends who are going to get Raphael back. And you are going to help us.’
‘Cynthia, think about this. You know how evil –’
Perrin was moving towards Ms Hindmarsh, his hands held palm-up. He looked over her shoulder at the other Sarcos hidden in the bush. His expression was unreadable.
‘No, Perrin,’ she said, holding her hands up in front of her. ‘They are not evil. They want to help. They’ve helped me enormously with the school and they’ve helped the girls – most of them. The ones who deserved it. The ones who didn’t, well … they got what they did deserve, I suppose. Small sacrifices. For a greater good. They are not evil. They are benevolent. It’s you beasts who are evil.’
‘But I thought … you knew we wanted to help you find Raphael. We want it as much as you do.’
Ms Hindmarsh nodded. ‘Well, that would suggest that I believe that Raphael is missing. I don’t. I know where he is, just as I know what became of those girls that were taken from my school. Ha! Don’t look at me like that, Perrin. Like I’ve sold my soul to the devil.’ Ms Hindmarsh paused as if waiting for laughter after her joke. When there was none, she continued. ‘Sometimes, sacrifices must be made in the course of higher purpose. Raphael is my purpose. I will have him back, just as soon as Lord is finished. It’s better this way. Do you have any idea how difficult it was for me, pretending he was missing, when really he was with you brutes? How it felt knowing he wanted the wildness; that he wanted to be away from me? Perrin, I’ve known all along where Raphael is. I only pretended I didn’t. Lord thought that was best. He needed you to trust me. Ted Lord has been very helpful to me, Perrin. And he only wanted one small thing in exchange.’
‘And what was that?’ asked Perrin.
‘You.’
Ms Hindmarsh whirled around and called out to the darkness around her, ‘They’re here! Come and get them! They’re here!’
The next few moments were some of the most terrifying of my life.
After Ms Hindmarsh yelled out, the forest exploded in a flurry of yelling, rushing figures, breaking branches and screaming.
Men burst from the trees behind Ms Hindmarsh.
I call them ‘men’, but it was obvious immediately that they were not ordinary men. Their faces were pale and almost metallic-looking, with a sheen that glimmered in the moonlight. When they opened their mouths, instead of teeth, they had fangs, as we did.
But their fangs were as silver as polished knives. In their hands they carried daggers, long swords, axes. And guns.
‘No!’ Rhiannah cried. ‘Ms Hindmarsh! No!’
‘They’re here! Lord, they’re here!’ Ms Hindmarsh repeated, calling the men forward.
And they came. So quickly, they came. There must have been at least fifty of them, moving through the bush in a way that was not walking, nor floating, but something in between. At their head was a man in his forties,