I sat bolt upright. Bloodstains?
‘It’s open!’ Mike crowed. He shot me a nasty look. ‘No thanks to you.’
I ignored him and scrambled to my feet. Maybe it wasn’t blood. Maybe it was something else. I ran over and knelt down, taking care not to touch the dark patch with any part of my body. Bringing my nose down, I sniffed then recoiled. It was definitely blood. Not just that – it smelled rotten, an almost exact match for the reek from the zombie-thing that Winter had killed only last night.
I sprang up in a panic. ‘We have to get out of here.’
The others didn’t hear me. They’d already gone into the small hut, although one of the cameramen had stayed behind to film me. I walked right up to him and spoke into the camera. ‘It’s not safe here. We have to leave now.’
He simply carried on filming. Gritting my teeth, I tried a different approach. ‘I need to see Barry now.’
There was a crunch of footsteps on bracken and I turned to see the man himself approaching. Clearly he’d been close by the entire time. ‘Good job, Ivy! I’m impressed you made it here so quickly.’ He wagged his finger at me. ‘You shouldn’t steal though. It’s very wrong.’
I ignored the twinkle in his eye that told me that I’d been right about the boat being a set up and grabbed him. ‘We’re in danger!’ I shouted. ‘There’s blood there! It’s the same as from the thing that killed Benjamin Alberts! If you don’t want any more deaths on this show, you have to get us away from here as quickly as possible!’
Barry’s eyes widened. ‘Blood? Where?’
I twisted round, pointing at the patch I’d just discovered. ‘There! And there was a sheep! Call Winter and get him here now. And get those three away before someone gets hurt!’
Barry darted over and crouched down, following my finger. He seemed to take his time. It was a wonder that the smell didn’t put him off. He really was a brave soul.
‘Ivy,’ he said slowly. ‘There’s nothing here.’
The other three, who’d heard my yelling, came back outside and stared. ‘What’s the problem?’ Lou asked.
‘You need to leave!’ I screeched at them. ‘You’re in danger!’
Lou’s hand went to her throat and she looked alarmed. Mike turned several shades paler under his orange tan, while Harriet swallowed and leapt towards the cameraman as if for safety.
‘Everyone needs to calm down,’ Barry said. ‘There’s nothing there.’ He glanced at me. ‘You’re seeing things, Ivy.’
‘I am not!’ I marched over to where he was and looked down. I blinked. He was right. What I’d seen as blood was nothing more than the shadow cast by a nearby bush.
‘What?’ I shook my head. ‘But the smell…’ I sniffed. There was nothing other than the rich scent of earthy goodness.
‘You’re tired. You’ve done a lot of magic today and you’re probably just hallucinating.’ Barry’s expression was kind. ‘We’ll get one of the medics to check you over.’
‘There was a sheep as well,’ I protested. ‘Lou saw it. She knows.’
The older woman shrugged. ‘It was just a sheep.’
‘But…’
Barry put his arm round me. ‘Don’t worry. We’ll get you looked over and get you some rest and then you’ll be right as rain.’
I stared dumbly at him. ‘I was so sure….’
‘You’re letting your imagination run away with you. The person who hurt Benny is dead, Ivy. There’s nothing to worry about.’
It was the dead part that frightened me. I ran my hands through my hair. ‘Maybe I should lie down,’ I said shakily.
‘That sounds like a good idea.’ He patted my cheek soothingly.
An engine rumbled towards us from the nearby dirt road. One of the show’s doctors jumped out, followed closely by Belinda and Bellows. When I spotted Winter in the back, his blue eyes fixed on mine, a wash of relief came over me. At least someone was here who knew what they were doing.
The cameraman kept filming while the doctor pulled me over to one side. He checked my blood pressure and looked into my eyes. Belinda watched with a concerned expression. ‘Can you tell us what the problem is?’ she finally asked, when it appeared that he had finished his ministrations.
‘She’s exhausted,’ the doctor pronounced. He raised his eyebrows in what I could only presume was admonishment. ‘Lay off the unnecessary magic spells and you’ll be fine.’
I mumbled an agreement. It didn’t make sense. I’d tired myself out on more than one occasion by going overboard with spells but I’d never hallucinated before. And the spells I’d conducted today hadn’t been all that elaborate, even if there had been more of them than I was used to doing. I’d been up half the night being attacked by a zombie up a mountain, though, so there was that.
‘Can she continue on as a contestant?’ Bellows enquired.
‘I don’t see why not,’ the doctor replied.
I could swear Bellows looked disappointed. I glanced over at him. ‘No cat?’
He pursed his lips. ‘It’s run off somewhere. It’ll be back. It knows it’s onto a good thing with me.’
I only just managed to stop myself snorting. Catching Winter’s eye as he finally got out of the car, I muttered something about a call of nature and struggled up to find a handy bush to hide behind. Fortunately Winter got the message and followed, albeit at a discreet distance. Going to the loo seemed to be about the only chance I’d have to avoid being filmed.
I walked as far I dared, realising my legs were remarkably shaky. The others’ voices drifted into the background. They’d be preoccupied for a while discussing my condition, so I reckoned we had a bit of time.
I halted and turned, waiting for Winter to catch up to me. It didn’t take long. He might not have been running but he was still striding towards me with the speed of an Olympic walker.
‘Are you alright?’ he asked, as soon as he reached me. He took hold of me as if I were about to collapse, grasping me by the shoulders and gazing into my eyes.
I passed a hand over my face. ‘I think so.’ I shook myself. ‘I don’t know. I was so sure that what I saw was blood.’ I bit my lip. ‘Do you think I was hallucinating as well? Am I just tired?’
‘Has it happened before?’
‘No.’ I paused. ‘Well, I might not know if it has happened before. I don’t think so. Is your magic telling you anything?’
His expression was alight with concern. ‘Something’s not right. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is, but there’s definitely something different.’ Something akin to anger flashed in his eyes. ‘There’s more to this than exhaustion.’
I swallowed. That didn’t sound good.
‘Has anyone given you anything strange to eat or drink?’
I scratched my head. ‘No. Everything I’ve had has been from the canteen. I had coffee this morning with Amy but she drank it too.’
‘Could she have slipped something into your drink?’
It was highly unlikely. I grimaced. ‘I doubt it, though right now it feels like anything’s possible.’
‘I’ll check this Amy out. If she’s done anything to you, given you something to drink which is spiked or brushed some kind of herb mixture against you which has hurt you, then I’ll make sure she never sees the light of day again.’ His voice was low but I was taken aback by his vehemence. I’d never seen Winter so irate. He kept clenching and unclenching his fists as if he wanted to punch something. I watched him, half fascinated, half concerned. Then his words trickled through.
‘Wait,’ I said slowly. ‘I did touch something.’
He stilled. ‘What?’
‘Belinda’s vial. When I was on stage, I changed her clothes so I could get a better look at it.’
‘I saw. You’re lucky you got away with that. It looked highly suspect to me.’
‘That’s because you knew what I was up to. Everyone else was watching Belinda,’ I said dismissively. ‘Anyway, I touched her vial. Not the contents but my skin definit
ely brushed against the outer glass.’
‘Plenty of poisons and herblore spells work through touch.’ His expression shifted. ‘Did you manage to work out what was inside it?’
I shook my head. ‘No. Just that it’s some kind of silvery liquid with orange and black threads moving around inside it.’
Winter’s eyes grew sharp. ‘Moving independently?’
‘As far as I could tell.’
He nodded grimly. ‘Okay. I’ll see if I can get hold of the rushes for today and we can use them to get a closer look. There were plenty of cameras pointed at the stage. One of them must have a decent shot of the vial. If we can get a good picture, together with your description, someone back in Oxford is bound to know what she’s keeping so close to her chest.’
‘Why would a fêted celebrity want to raise the dead?’
Winter gave me a long look. ‘Why would anyone?’
Indeed. ‘I should get back. If I’m too long, they’ll send someone after me.’
‘Good,’ he growled. ‘They should be looking after you better. Drink lots of water. If there is anything untoward going on here, that will help to flush it out of your system.’
‘Am I going to be alright?’
‘As far as I can tell.’ He tilted his head. ‘You’ll still be annoying though. And your hair will still do that weird thing where it sticks out at the side like…’
I thumped his arm. ‘You can stop that now.’
Winter grinned briefly before sobering up. ‘I won’t let anything happen to you, Ivy. I promise you that.’
I licked my lips. All of a sudden I felt very hot. It was probably another side-effect. ‘You know,’ I told him, looking serious, ‘if this isn’t poison, and if I really am just tired, then it’s clear that work of any sort is very bad for my health.’
Winter leaned forward and brushed his lips feather-light against my temple. ‘If you say so, darling.’
I pulled back and looked at him. ‘Rafe…’
‘I know.’ The blue depths of his eyes turned a shade darker. ‘We need to have a proper conversation. Not about magic or dead people rising from their graves but about us.’ He licked his lips. ‘This isn’t the time though.’ His hand touched my cheek. ‘You said you liked me.’
‘I do.’ Even with the weariness permeating every bone in my body, it took almost everything I had not to jump on him then and there. He was right though; this really wasn’t the time. ‘When all this is over…’
He nodded. ‘We’ll talk.’
Barry’s voice drifted over from down by the cabin. ‘Ivy? Is everything alright?’
‘It’s fine.’ I offered Winter a crooked smile. ‘I’ll talk to you again soon.’ I held up my pinkie towards him.
He stared at it. ‘Is something wrong with your finger?’
‘Pinkie promise!’
His brow furrowed. ‘Huh?’
‘Never mind.’ I reached up on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. Then a wave of dizziness overtook me and I swayed. ‘I really do need to lie down.’
Winter took my arm and helped me stumble back down the slope. I should have felt rage or worry or something like that. All I felt, however, was brimful of delight.
***
I couldn’t have said with any certainty how long I was out for. When I woke up, birds were already tweeting the dawn chorus and light was streaming in through the cracks in the timber frame of the cabin. Harriet was snoring just as loudly as she had on the boat yesterday and, as far as I could tell, both Mike and Lou were also still out for the count. For a long moment, I revelled in the chance to finally stretch out and doze. Unfortunately the pressure in my bladder wouldn’t permit me to stay in that position for long.
Groaning, I stretched and got up before wandering outside and greeting the latest cameraman, who was lounging on a rock nearby, with a grunt and an admonition not to follow me. I curved back round the cabin in the same direction as I’d taken to talk to Winter the day before, pausing briefly at my hallucinated bloodstain. It was still just a shadow. Not blood. I breathed out; with any luck, I was now completely back to normal.
I hunkered down behind a bush for a pee then, just as I was standing up, I heard a rustle and heavy footsteps plodding towards me. Alarmed – and suddenly wondering whether this was really happening – I straightened up. Hallucination or not, I’d meet it head on. My magic reserves were back to normal so, even if this were another damn zombie, I reckoned I could manage.
There was a heavy sigh followed by a curse. Then the familiar face of Gareth, the farm helper who’d found what was left of Benjamin Alberts, came into view.
I dropped my hands and broke into a smile. ‘Gareth! How are you?’
He froze, obviously startled to see me. ‘What … what are you doing here?’
I gestured towards the cabin. ‘Filming.’
He relaxed slightly although his lip still curled. ‘I might have guessed. I skirted round the perimeter and avoided the security guards but I thought all the action was taking place further downstream. There were a lot of cameras there.’
Another team had probably set up camp down that way. ‘There are a lot of us about,’ I told him cheerfully. ‘Why are you sneaking past security to get here anyway?’
‘I’m not sneaking. All Scottish lands give right of way. It’s not illegal for me to be here.’
I held up my hands. ‘I wasn’t trying to suggest it was.’
He seemed slightly mollified. ‘I’ve lost another sheep,’ he said. ‘My…’ he hesitated ‘…my mum is getting pissed off. I thought I saw tracks leading down this way but now I’m not so sure.’ He glared at me. ‘All your lot have muddied everything.’
Given he’d already told me that he wasn’t much of a tracker, I doubted it would have made much difference. All the same, I tried to look apologetic. ‘I saw a sheep over the other side of the river yesterday. It was on its own.’ It was probably not a good idea to tell him I’d decided it was an evil omen. Gareth was sensitive enough as it was, without thinking he might end up falling across another dead body.
He cursed under his breath. ‘Bloody creature.’ He paused. ‘Thank you.’
I curtsied. ‘You’re welcome.’ He gave me a half smile in response.
I looked him over. I didn’t know him well but he certainly appeared healthier than the last time I’d seen him. Maybe those gym workouts had helped after all. I grinned to myself. Nah. Not a chance. It was more likely that the counselling sessions I’d helped arrange had done the trick. It might have only been a couple of days but spilling out your heart to a stranger could have a remarkable effect. It really did help to offload.
‘You look better,’ I told him.
‘I feel better,’ he admitted. ‘Thank you for your help. It’s made a difference.’
I beamed at him. ‘Good.’
He shoved his hands into his pockets. ‘I should get off,’ he muttered. ‘Your lot must be at the cabin, right?’
‘Right.’
He wrinkled his nose. ‘I’ll cross the river further upstream.’
That was probably a good idea. I was about to wave him off when another thought occurred to me. ‘Actually, Gareth,’ I said, ‘do you happen to have a phone on you?’
‘Yeah. Why?’
I tilted my head and did my best to smile sweetly. ‘Do you think I could borrow it? Just for a moment?’
‘Where’s your one?’
‘I’ve been promoted to contestant. I’m not allowed any communication with the outside world.’
Gareth raised his eyebrows. ‘What are we doing right now then?’
‘You’re not supposed to be here.’
He considered this. ‘True.’ He reached into his pocket and tossed me his mobile. ‘There you go.’
I grinned my thanks and quickly put in Iqbal’s number. My scholarly friend had better bloody answer. It took several rings and when Iqbal finally did pick up, he sounded particularly unfriendly. ‘Who is this?’
‘Ivy
of course!’
He breathed out. ‘Oh. I’ve been trying to get hold of you for ages. This isn’t your number.’
‘Nope.’ I remained cheery. ‘I’ve borrowed someone else’s phone. Is everything alright with you? You sound kind of … antsy.’
‘My supervisor’s after me,’ he said morosely. ‘He keeps threatening to pull my funding unless I show him some evidence of what I’ve done so far.’
I winced. ‘Idle threats?’
‘Alas no. I think he’s serious this time.’
‘I’d offer to help,’ I said, ‘but I’m not sure I’d be much use to you. If there’s anything I can do though, let me know.’
‘Oh, I will, don’t worry.’ He sighed. ‘Anyway, I suppose you’re calling because you want to know what I’ve found out about that vial.’
‘Yep. It’s not easy for me to call these days so I’ve got to take every opportunity I can.’
‘Sounds intriguing.’
I snorted. ‘More like hard work. The real world seems to be encroaching on both our lives.’
‘We should form a commune and live in the wilderness where no one can bother us.’
I looked around. The wilderness didn’t offer much in the way of creature comforts. One day in and what I wouldn’t give for some quilted toilet roll… ‘Somehow I think that would be even more like hard work.’
‘You’re probably right.’ At least Iqbal sounded a bit happier now. ‘Anyhow, who did you say was wearing that vial?’
‘Belinda Battenapple.’ At my answer, Gareth’s head jerked up. Maybe he was more interested in the celebrity goings-on of Enchantment than he made out. ‘I’ve seen it close up this time.’ I described it in more detail for Iqbal.
When I’d finished, he hissed through his teeth. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘that answers one question.’
‘What?’
‘There was a good chance it was a decorative piece. I found reference to some necklaces which the Victorians used that contained mercury and were supposed to ward off evil spirits.’