Having detected no other noises, Lachlan decided to risk some movement. He shuffled towards the breathing and flinched when his hands came into contact with silky hair. An angry, muffled exclamation followed. It was definitely Fionn.
Lachlan ineffectually tried to voice a reply; the wad of fabric in his mouth made it impossible. Fionn seemed to recognise his voice, however, and gave an answering grunt.
Okay, good. We’ve established contact,Lachlan thought.Now what?
Listening intently, he couldn’t hear anything to suggest Meredith was nearby. He wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or not.
Lachlan focused on the last thing he remembered before blacking out. They’d been walking over the dunes, when a circle of light had flashed around him. It made everything go hazy. Then a person had stepped into the light. Just as wooziness was dragging him under, Lachlan saw—
‘Ah, I see you’ve rejoined us,’ said Bryce.
Lachlan stiffened. Bryce’s voice had come from a few yards away. Now his footsteps approached. When rough hands untied his blindfold, Lachlan was too startled to take advantage of the close quarters.
The fabric fell away, revealing… Bryce. But not exactly Bryce. Not how Lachlan remembered seeing him last. The eyes were the same. And so was that smirk. Both features were cold and cruel underneath a veneer of warmth.
The rest of his face had aged, even changed shape a little. Lachlan saw in it a resemblance to Cam which hadn’t been there before. He knew Bryce had used a glamour to disguise himself before now—was this what he looked like without it? Or perhaps it was merely a new mask for him to hide under.
‘Sogoodto see you again, lad.’ The false sincerity in Bryce’s voice was nauseating.
Lachlan struggled into a sitting position, refusing to be spoken to like a dead fish. Bryce crouched down to his eye level, keeping an arm’s length between them.
‘I wasn’t expecting to bag myself a little revenge today,’ Bryce continued, almost conversationally. ‘I was here for the Minchman. They’re stupid enough that one of them would have answered the summons if I’d made it. They did for you, after all.’
While trying not to let his eyes stray from Bryce’s face, Lachlan concentrated on details in his periphery. They were in some kind of shallow cave. Probably facing east, based on the direction of shadows he could see beyond the entrance. The landscape out there was fairly barren, similar to what they’d driven across to reach Red Point. He could smell salt in the air. It was possible they weren’t far from the beach where Bryce had captured them.
Bryce stroked his beard, a mocking glint in his eye. ‘Still, I thought I might have a hard time luring the merman out of the water. Imagine my surprise, when I found you’d done my work for me. One might think you were making a habit of it.’
Lachlan choked on a surge of disbelief. He couldn’t let Bryce derail him. Concentrate, concentrate. He could see the edge of Fionn’s legs stretched out next to him. No sign of Meredith. Some kind of pattern on the floor around them…
A leather satchel of supplies was spilled over the ground by the cave’s entrance. Bryce caught Lachlan’s eyes flitting to it and glanced around. ‘Yes, can’t chat long. I’m rather busy.’
Bryce retreated several paces and picked up a stick of white chalk. He began adding to an intricate pattern etched over the cave floor. Lachlan realised he and Fionn lay in the middle of a circle, surrounded by runes and symbols he didn’t recognise, and Bryce was in the midst of constructing the border.
‘You’re the reason I have to go to all this effort, you know,’ Bryce announced. ‘The reason all those people died for nothing. How does that feel?’
The confusion must have shown on Lachlan’s face. Bryce put down his chalk, his false-friendly stare turning mean. ‘If I could’ve had Cam, all this would have been delayed another decade or two. I would’ve had a chance to perfect it. To eke more than a spoonful of life from your average, pathetic human.’
His glare flashed briefly over Fionn. The merman hadn’t yet moved. Lachlan was sure he was awake, but perhaps Bryce hadn’t noticed. ‘I suppose you’re here because of the Minch boy I took recently. Not half as successful as I would have liked, but a worthwhile experiment.’ Lachlan felt Fionn stiffen beside him. Bryce continued as though musing over a mere cookery project gone wrong. ‘If it were a Walker, I’d have direct access. The fire’s in our blood. It links us all. Easy to tap into that source of magic, once you know how. But a mundane creature has so little power to offer, and it’s buried deep. One has to muster an entire ritual in order to draw it out. Tiresome.’
Bryce wagged a finger. A yellow flame danced on the tip of it. He pressed it to the symbol he’d just drawn, causing it to glow. The light spread across the rest of the circle, toward Lachlan and Fionn. Lachlan tried to shuffle back in alarm. The whole circle flared briefly around him, then the light died.
Bryce sniggered. ‘Don’t fret, lad. You’ve a while to wait yet. We need a good moon to activate the rest.’
Bryce stuffed the remaining items back into the satchel: Lachlan spotted a pouch of salt, a large athame knife, and several half-melted black candles. He felt like a sacrificial goat on an altar.
Is this what Bryce had done to his other victims? A heated oath gurgled in Lachlan’s throat, capturing Bryce’s attention again. ‘Quiet now, lad.’
Lachlan squared his shoulders and glared back.
Bryce chuckled. ‘Your face, what a picture. Gained some spine since I last saw you, hmm?’ His mirth died suddenly. ‘I thought it would keep me warm, the memory of your misery, after you wrecked my plans that night. You were so pathetic. Giving up immortality to save your boyfriend, who you’d doomed in the first place. Poetic irony. Hah!’
Bryce approached again, this time with a more menacing air. ‘But the greater irony is you don’t know just how badly you wronged me. What youtookfrom me.’ Bryce grabbed a fistful of Lachlan’s hair, dragging him up on his knees. His left eye twitched. ‘Without Cam, there’s nothing left. The fire isgone.There’s no Walker blood left to carry it. Did you know that’s what you were doing, when you sealed him in that infernal loch?Did you know you were stealing it from me?’
Bryce ripped the gag off Lachlan so violently that his nails caught on Lachlan’s face, drawing a line of blood along his cheek. Lachlan hissed against the sting of it, only for Bryce to painfully grasp his jaw with hard fingers.
‘Answer me,’ Bryce snarled. He looked utterly unhinged. With a flash of fear, Lachlan realised Bryce was still holding the athame knife in his other hand.
‘I don’t know… what you mean…’ Lachlan rasped back.
