Downfall

  Chapter 16: Revelation

  One night, after dining at the Main House with Uncle Max, I went to sit on the balcony with Vanessa. She’d met a guy at the gym. She speculated about whether she could ask him to go for coffee. Envy probed around the edges of the pleasure I felt for her. I closed my eyes to listen and only opened them when she said, “Frankie. Frankie.”

  My sister had her eyes trained on the driveway below us. I followed her gaze. Jude. My first instinct was to run and hide inside the house but it was too late for that. He came forward cautiously, like he thought I might scarper. I felt so stupid, sitting in a trendy outdoor lounge chair next to my sister as though I were safe from being found. I got to my feet.

  “Hey, Frankie,” he said, gazing up at me. “I’ve come over a few times. Did you know we’ve been trying to get in touch with you? Has Albion been passing on phone messages?”

  I was silent. What was the point in answering? He’d found me. And he knew perfectly well I’d been trying not to be found.

  He continued awkwardly. “Will you come with me? I’m just on my way out to, um, see everyone ... I could give you a lift ...”

  “No, I won’t!” I shouted, suddenly furious. “Are you dense? If I wanted to go back, I’d go by myself, Jude McBride.”

  Albion burst out onto the balcony and saw Jude. “Oh, fuck,” he muttered.

  Vanessa stood close to me. Could they see the change in him―how different Jude looked since he’d transformed?

  “Come on, Frankie,” Jude tried again. “Just come and get in the car. You have to come. We need to talk to you.”

  “Go away.”

  Jude ascended the outdoor staircase to the balcony, not once taking his eyes off me. Albion moved closer and Vanessa put her arm around my shoulders as if to hold me beside her.

  “Jude, you have to leave,” Albion said.

  Jude still stared at me. He didn’t even seem to hear Albion. The hairs rose on my neck. He made an unexpected lunge at me and grabbed my arm, dragging me out of Vanessa’s hold. I cried out but, an instant later, Albion and Vanessa were pushing Jude away from me. He let me go and raised his hands in defeat although I was pretty sure he could have dealt with them both easily if he’d so chosen. I cowered behind my cousin and sister, trembling with the shock.

  “What the hell, Jude?” Albion exclaimed.

  “Get out of here!” Vanessa yelled. “Who do you think you are? Get out of here now, or we’ll call the police!”

  “What’s going on?” That was Uncle Max, stepping out onto the balcony.

  Still, Jude hesitated; even outnumbered, four-to-one. When he finally turned away it wasn’t because he couldn’t win. He could take me if he wanted. Vanessa hugged me to her clumsily as Jude crossed the street and got back into his old car. We were both shaking.

  “What in hell’s going on here?” Uncle Max demanded.

  I gave Albion a pleading look over Vanessa’s shoulder.

  “Oh, gawd, Dad,” he said, allowing a breezy laugh into his voice. “Jude McBride’s got it bad for Frankie, that’s all. When he gets drunk he tries to get her to go out with him.”

  “I don’t think he was drunk, Albion.” Uncle Max peered after the car as it drove away down the street.

  “Well, maybe he’s stoned, then,” Albion said stoutly. “Honestly, Dad. He’s just an idiot, not dangerous.”

  Uncle Max frowned at Albion. “That wasn’t normal. And it wasn’t acceptable either. Francesca? Has this happened before?”

  “No,” I said. “I ... I stood him up. He’s pissed at me because I told him I’d go out with him and then I didn’t turn up.”

  Uncle Max stood thinking for a few moments while we all awaited his verdict. “I don’t want you to mix with that boy anymore,” he said. “I don’t like the way he behaves.”

  I nodded. “I won’t.”

  “Don’t tell Uncle Don, Dad,” Albion said. “He’ll freak out, you know he will. He’ll give her a curfew and limit who she can see. Frankie’s eighteen. She should be able control her own social life. I’ll make sure Jude gets the memo she’s not interested,” he added.

  “You do that, son,” Uncle Max said. “I won’t alarm Don while he’s touring, but if anything else happens you let me know. Frankie, you really should stick with Albion or Vanessa when you go out from now on. You never know what a boy like that’s going to do.”

  “Okay,” I said.

  Albion and Vanessa ushered me back to the Old House, checking behind us every few steps. Albion locked up and turned on the new perimeter alarm.

  “Frankie,” Vanessa said. “This can’t go on anymore. Why do they want you back so bad?”

  “I don’t know.” I wasn’t lying this time.

  “Listen to me, Caravaggio,” Albion said, “this is bullshit. I played along, for your sake, but I agree with Dad! I don’t care what the deal is with that crowd, if they’re going to threaten you like that, we need to report it.”

  “Please, don’t call the police,” I begged him, tears springing to my eyes.

  He and Vanessa exchanged a long, silent glance.

  “Why don’t you go for a shower, Frankie,” Vanessa said. “It will calm you down.”

  While I got ready for a shower, they settled in the lounge room to mutter together unhappily. I was furious at myself for sitting out on the balcony at the Main House. All those weeks of hard work to perfect my disappearance story, gone in one badly-planned decision to admire the evening sky.

  Okay, so the game was up, but I still wasn’t going back. There was no way I would expose myself to Cain’s face again, not after all my efforts to put some distance between us. The ache resurfaced. It had been so hard just to develop some equilibrium. I wasn’t at all over him―not even close―but I’d learnt to function and I didn’t want that undone.

  After my shower I shut myself in my bedroom and looked at my emails. Five from Starr. One from Owen.

  Hey Frankie,

  Jude just told us he saw you at your uncle’s house. Please don’t be scared―we won’t come to your house anymore, but I’m begging you to come see us. We need to talk to you urgently.

  Owen Zheng

  Then, in the morning there was another email.

  Dear Frankie,

  Can you please come and see us? It’s critical that we speak to you. I promise you that Cain won’t be there.

  Owen

  I read it through several times, and then I went to college where I spent the whole day steeling myself for the evening. I would do as they’d asked. I didn’t believe Owen would lie and, without Cain there, I could go along, find out what they wanted, and then tell them to get the hell out of my life. Then, perhaps, they would finally leave me alone.

  Staying after classes to study in library, I messaged Albion.

  Take care―special care, he replied. Get a security guard to walk u to the car when u are finished.

  I was so scared when I drove out to Gaunt House in the evening that I had to pull over in a truck stop to slow down my breathing. All the cars were there in the gravel clearing when I arrived but no motorbike. So far, so good. I paced the clearing for a while, thinking of the moment I’d first seen Cain stretched out asleep on his sofa. What if he was in there? But, I reasoned, Owen had transformed into a holy being now and I didn’t think he was even capable of lying. His whole reason for being was to protect people from pain, not trick or trap them. Neither he nor Jude was capable of intentional harm.

  Heartened, I made my descent into the chamber beneath the ruin, opening the door. The first thing I did was check Cain’s sofa. Empty. Then I gave the chamber and its inhabitants a careful examination. Neither Nadine nor Liz had transformed since I’d last seen them. Liz sat with her hands clasped, looking worried but hopeful. Scowling Nadine was the opposite. It seemed she’d made up her mind about me. I stepped in and sat on the mattress nearest the door.

  “Thanks for coming back, Frankie,” Owen said.

  “It’s just for
tonight.” I was so nervous, my teeth chattered.

  Liz shot an alarmed glance at Jude and opened her mouth to speak but he shook his head at her.

  “Have you seen Cain recently?” he asked.

  I frowned. “What, you think I’ve been meeting him behind your backs? Of course not. I don’t even know where he lives.”

  Owen nodded. “Frankie, we need to tell you some things and we’re hoping you can help us.” This wasn’t what I’d expected. Owen launched straight in like he suspected I would try to leave at any moment. “Cain’s important. More important than the rest of us ... critically important. He was the first of us to develop abilities. He’d already transformed when he found us. He saw our faces and made it his mission to find us. He took care of us, helped us while we waited to transform.” I nodded, unsure where he was going. “Our visions were fragmented and weak but his were clear and whole. Sometimes the fragmented visions gave us enough information to help somebody, but mostly they didn’t. However, Cain’s visions did. He saw places, times, and details that allowed him to go and help the person in danger. It’s been the same for Jude and me since we transformed. We started getting full visions as well.” Owen paused and looked at me intently. “Frankie, your presence here stopped Cain from having visions. From protecting people.”

  I glared down at my hands, trying not to cry. Something like a derisive snort came from Nadine but Owen ignored her and went on.

  “He still didn’t have any visions, you know, even after you left. When Cain realized you’d gone away for good, things just got worse. He thought about you obsessively. He couldn’t rest until he’d found you. He went in search of you.” I looked up, startled. “And now we’ve got another problem because Jude and I haven’t had any visions since he left.”

  It felt like the air got knocked out of my lungs. “What? When did he go?”

  “A month ago,” said Jude, and my head swam. “He said he wanted to find you, and vanished. We haven’t seen or heard from him since. His phone just goes straight to voicemail. Like Owen said, we don’t have visions anymore. It’s just Liz and Nadine now and the things they see don’t make any sense.”

  My brain struggled to catch up to my ears. “Cain’s missing?”

  Owen nodded. “Searching for you.”

  Nadine shifted impatiently. “She’s got no idea what’s going on. She doesn’t know where he is. I knew it.”

  Jude shot her a warning glance and came to sit beside me. “Frankie.” His face was beautiful. It made me feel better just to set my eyes on it. “Can you think of anywhere Cain might have gone to look for you? Some place he might think you’ve gone?”

  I shook my head dumbly, tears filling my eyes.

  Nadine sighed loudly. “Think harder, you stupid bitch,” she snapped. “We need him back to help us transform. And there are others like us still waiting to be found.”

  “I don’t know where he is!” I cried. “I didn’t even know he was missing.”

  “You should never have let her stay when that jerk brought her along,” Nadine snarled around at them all, stopping to glare at Jude.

  “Nadine!” Liz said. “Stop it.”

  “Can you at least come back, Frankie?” Jude said. He took my hand as though trying to revive that serenity from a moment before. “Maybe you can help us with the visions. You were good at helping us put them together. And if you’re here with us maybe Cain will come back, too.”

  “No!” I jumped up. “I’ve done enough damage. Staying will only make things worse.”

  Nadine laughed shortly. “First smart thing I’ve ever heard her say.”

  “Please, Frankie,” Liz begged, eyes full of tears. “You’re the only one who can help us. We don’t understand the visions. Nothing makes sense. We’re not helping anybody and Cain’s gone. It feels like we’re going to go back to how we were before he found us―” She stopped with a sob while Nadine swore under her breath.

  I got angry. “Look, I’m sorry I stuffed this up for you. I never asked to be part of this. Jude invited me, and then Cain said I could stay. By the time I found out what was going on in your little club it was too late. The damage was done. That’s why I left! I’m sorry I hurt Jude and I’m sorry Cain’s gone looking for me but I can’t control any of it. I can’t change a thing.”

  I’d reached the door but Owen stepped over and touched my arm. It didn’t change my mind about leaving but I instantly felt calmer.

  “Give it a couple of days,” he said softly. “Please, Frankie, think about what we’ve asked. We need you, at least until he gets back. People could be protected with your help.”

  I was cold again by the time I got into the car. I had a feeling of bloodlessness, my lips icy and numb. I wouldn’t have been surprised if my face had gone a frostbitten blue. When I hit civilization, the bright streetlights and shopping center signs hurt my eyes.

  Cain was gone. Missing.

  Maybe, when this sense of doom and guilt fully articulated itself in my head, I would collapse into blissful insanity; fall into the chasm opening in front of me, and spend the rest of my life catatonic in a hospital ward. These melodramatic thoughts were a comfort, because worst of all was the thought that I might actually have to deal with it and go on living my life like anyone else in the world.