Page 93 of A Dusk Of Stars

Did he just…

I put my tray back and find myself rushing to catch up with him. It’s just as he’s about to walk out of the cafeteria that he stops and turns around, as if he’s sensed me burning a hole in his nape.

It’s with his usual smirk that he watches me slow to a stop in front of him.

“Did you justpayO’Connor for the passes?” I demand with a frown.

The smirk slides off his face. He shrugs. “England and Germany aren’t besties at the moment. The usual, legal routes aren’t an option.”

“I think I told you I don’t want your dirty money involved.”

For a second, he just looks at me, his jaw clenching. Then he blows out a soft scoff, smooths his features out and comesto whisper in my ear, this defiant tension in his voice, “Pity, because right now, ‘my dirty money’ is the only way for you to get to England without wearing out that high horse of yours.”

And he steps back, folding his arms, waiting.

I practically have to squeeze the word out. “Fine.”

“No need to go overboard thanking me,” he says coldly.

I open my mouth to tell him where to shove it, but then his phone pings and he takes it out to check the message.

“Oh look,” he says as he locks eyes with me again, his voice saccharine, “we’re good to go.”

“You’re not coming,” I reply through gritted teeth.

“Try and stop me,” he grits out, too.

***

I stumble out of the Pull, landing near a crossing of two village paths, the wind whipping my face as it howls across the otherwise silent English countryside sprawling around me.

Bane is already standing in front of me with his back turned, surveying our surroundings. I throw a look over my shoulder to check that Alaric and Raven are there, but as soon as I do, I turn my eyes back ahead. The beating of the wind making it jerk left right ever so slightly, there’s an old wooden signpost at the center of the crossing in front of us. The arrow with the name Kinwick painted in peeling white is pointing ahead, to the crumbling little village faintly outlined against the gloomy sky. It’s all stone houses with thatched roofs, moss-covered drywalls and drops of freshly fallen rain glistening from everything.

It’s when I feel Alaric and Raven come to stand around me that I take a deep breath, put on a smile and say, “Let’s go, shall we?”

Bane throws a look over his shoulder and locks eyes with me. When I told him why I wanted to come here, he wasn’t pleased, and he hasn’t stopped showing it. But he doesn’t say anything.He just breaks eye contact and starts walking, motioning for us to follow.

I’ve no idea what to expect, but it’s only when we come closer to the village, and I spot a man in his sixties walk out of his house and stop midstep when he sees us, that I realize that the village had kind of seemed deserted to me.

The man squints and this feeling of dread suddenly overtakes me, so I’m glad when I realize that Bane is planning on just walking past the man’s house.

I keep walking behind him, wondering what the hell I’m doing, going out of my way to make it easier for trouble to find me.

Before we even pass him by, the man’s squint turns into a warm smile and a friendly wave. “Hi, how’re ya?” he says in a quite unintelligible English accent.

I slow down, returning the smile and then coming to a stop.

“Hello there,” I say with warmth in my voice, feeling the eyes of all my companions on me as I sense them stop. “We’re good, how are you?”

The man smiles again. “You lost, luv?” He glances around. “We don’t get many visitors around here, that’s for sure and certain.”

I take a step closer, smiling. “Actually,” I start, an idea brewing in my head, “we’re journalists.” I rush to add, “Don’t worry, not the nasty kind.”

I catch a frown from Bane’s direction, but I don’t care. I just keep smiling, trying to make myself seem as harmless as possible.

The man scratches his head, smiling a little self-consciously. “Heh, well, what’re you writing about?”

“It’s kind of silly, actually,” I say with a laugh. “We’ve been tasked to write a piece on cursed villages.”

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