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“That’s Will, is it?” he said and opened the door.
I introduced the two men, and they shook hands, which seemed dignified and fitting somehow.
But then Will turned to me. “We’d better go back, Malph. He’s gone mental, called the cops and everything.”
“Aleks?” I asked. “Why?”
“Babe, you’ve been gone all afternoon. No one’s seen you, and your phone’s still in your room.”
“I have to go,” I said to Jackie as Will sent a text to Aleks.
“Aye,” the old man acknowledged, coming outside with us. “There’s a way through there.” He pointed to a gap in the trees at the side of the garden. “Watch out for the stream. The path will tak ye past the pool. Ye both ken it. Noo, lassie. Listen to yer haert. It winna guide ye wrong.” He stopped and looked at Will. “And mind fit’s important. The rest disna matter.”
“Is he like, barking?” asked Will as we started into the wood.
“No. He’s nice. He understands the circle.”
It was so dark in among the trees that Will used his phone to light the way. It illuminated bent and gnarly branches which looked a bit like ancient arms reaching out towards us. I gasped as we came to the pool. It seemed to be reflecting the castle, all orange and smokey and on fire, the waves like flames, licking up the walls.
I pulled Will into a run, ignoring the swollen complaints of my ankle and leg, until we reached the end of the woodland path. The many thin windows of the castle blazed with yellow light that blended into a low hanging mist. But there was no fire, no disaster, no actual danger.
“Come on,” said Will. “He needs to know you’re all right.”
“Will.” I needed to say something to him, needed to make sure no one was hurt or damaged by my actions. “Everything’s going to change when I go back in there. There’s something I have to do, and I don’t want you to feel you have to do it too. I also want to say thank you. Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for saving my life. But you must make the most of your training here. You’re so very talented, and this is the best, better than college would ever have been.”
He squeezed my hand, and we stepped out of the forest.
Chapter 40
Wewalkedpastthepolice car and ambulance that were parked on the gravel, and then I cringed as many people turned to look at us in the foyer. Aleks sort of sagged as he saw me. The two policemen sought assurance that no harm had come to anyone. The paramedics were not pleased to have had their time wasted, but then the emergency services departed.
“You are never to do this again!” shouted Aleks once they had gone, sagging no more. “Wandering off, no phone. I am so angry with you.”
He really was. And it was sort of magnificent. Gone was the tentative, and oh-so-careful, Aleks of recent days. Here was a raging beast. I studied him as if he were a work of art which, in a way, he was. His beautiful face was etched with fury and fear and sorrow. This was very different to the man I saw in my mind, in the foul and familiar film. That man was being charming and polite and social. Had Aleks ever been like that with me? I thought back as I looked at him. Yes. When he asked me to take part in his class, that day at college. Though he had also been a bit impudent. During our day in Covent Garden? He had been rather quiet then, but honest when he did speak. Not charming. Not really.
The thought stream was interrupted by everyone else making a lot of noise. Holly berated Aleks for shouting, as did Will. Lots of people wanted to know where we had been. Will explained some of the afternoon to them as I regretted not getting to explore more memories. I had been about to recall the details of that first date, the dinner in the restaurant, where Aleks had actually been a bit rude to me. But the collective chatter dragged me back to the foyer of the castle, and the present moment. It was, frankly, annoying.
Aleks said sorry. I shook my head, because he shouldn’t be sorry. I placed my hand on his chest because here at the end, I could do that. I could feel his heart beating under my palm. “You are so very real,” I said, because this flesh and blood Aleks really was, and then my words reminded me of words he’d said to me. Long ago, not here, somewhere else. Before this. Before it all.
“Let’s go upstairs,” I said to him and took his hand.
We walked the curving staircase together in silence and then sat on my bed.
The conversation should have been simple, but it wasn’t. I told him that I had to go, but he kept interrupting and, it seemed to me, deliberately misunderstanding. When he could evade my meaning no longer, he cried. I watched and felt nothing.
“I was rude to her, and then I left you down there,” he said. “How could you ever forgive that?”
I shook my head. “It wasn’t your fault. It was all about her obsession with Amalgamation C. It must never be done here again, Aleks. Promise me you’ll never allow that to happen.”
“Of course I won’t.”
He touched my cheek. I let him. It would all be over soon.
“Would it help you to tell me all?” he asked. “To unburden yourself of everything.”
“I don’t think so.”
“But it might?”
