“Here we go again! You can’t change into an Arash if you’re such a coward! To tell you the truth about Rebecca I have to show you something, but you mustn’t see it before we arrive.”
“Well, I don’t want to,” I murmur stubbornly. Suddenly the temperature drops and I feel very cold. Ruth is standing in front of me, pouting.
“Fine, if you want it that way, we’ll return home and I’ll tell Cassius that you cheated on him.” I can’t think logically in this moment. Returning sounds a great idea but telling Cassius is not an option. I’ll have to finish what I foolishly started. Ruth notices my hesitation and quickly binds the handkerchief behind my head, covering my eyes. “Trust me!” she whispers and I can tell that she’s laughing at me.
Slowly she leads me forwards. The ground under my feet changes, it’s much softer now. My stomach ties itself in a knot, and I nearly cry out when some plant or other brushes my bare legs. I start to shake, I can’t do this, even if she tells on me. I stop walking, determined to remove the handkerchief, when I notice Ruth letting go of my hand. Clumsily I try to remove the blindfold with one hand, the other feeling for Ruth. “Where are you?” My voice is strangled, I’m on the verge of tears. Suddenly I hear a strange singing, surely no human sound. Finally I manage to tear off the handkerchief and freeze. I’m in the middle of a nightmare but I know I won’t wake up. Tears start streaming down my face and my body convulses in shivers.
Chapter 42
It is already afternoon when Cassius runs to the beach. “Natalie, where’s Livia?” he shouts from afar. Sleepily the girl sits up.
“Probably in your room, I haven’t seen her since this morning.”
“No, she’s not there,” he pants, skittering to a halt.
“Why are you back so soon?” Natalie frowns at him. “I thought you were going to organise the journey to Edinburgh.” Cassius shakes his head impatiently.
“Already done. But where is Livia?” Natalie laughs up at him.
“Oh, keep your hair on! Maybe she went for a walk. What could possibly have happened to her? Or are you afraid that she’s going to leave you again?” Cassius shoots her a filthy look.
Together they ubilocate back to the house where Will and Rupert are sharing a bottle of Sancerre in the kitchen. “A pre-dinner drink?” Will asks, but his face falls when he notices Cassius’ expression. “What’s up?”
“You haven’t seen Livia, have you?” Cassius asks, pouring himself a glass of wine.
“No, but have you looked to see if the Jeep is still behind the house?” They run outside to check. The backyard is empty.
“She must have gone into town,” Natalie mumbles, but doesn’t sound very convinced.
“Yes, of course,” Rupert nods reassuringly. “Maybe she needed to be alone for a bit. Have you asked Ruth if she’s seen her?” When Cassius shakes his head Rupert starts yelling Ruth’s name.
“Call her mentally, for heaven’s sake,” hisses Natalie who is rather anxious now.
“It appears Ruth’s not in the house,” Will frowns after a while. “I can’t reach her mentally either.”
“Is she refusing to hear your call or is it your fault?” Cassius snaps. Will rolls his eyes.
“If I can’t reach her, she obviously doesn’t want to be reached.” Cassius’ face darkens.
“Then she’s blocking us. I bet she’s with Livia,” he whispers. The others stare at him.
“That’s surely not so terrible, is it?” Rupert asks innocently.
“Ruth hates Livia. She’d do anything to harm her, just think back to our riding party,” Cassius hisses through clenched teeth. Natalie nods, her eyes round with fear, but Rupert simply shrugs.
“What could she do to her? If she really hated Livia that much she could simply veto her.”
“And incur the hatred of Natalie and myself?” Cassius laughs disparagingly. “She wouldn’t dare. In any case, it’s not her style, she’s too cunning to block her openly.”
“Oh, shut up!” Rupert exclaims angrily. ”You’re always picking on Ruth, that’s not fair!” But Cassius doesn’t take any more notice of him.
“As she knows about Livia’s flower phobia, I bet she’s taken her to the orchid forest to scare her off,” Cassius explains to the other two. His mouth is set in a hard line. He’s suspected all along that Ruth had a part in Livia’s first disappearance too, although he can’t prove it and Livia won’t say a word. Natalie grabs his hand.
“Quick! We have to find her!” The next moment the two are gone.
I’m stranded in a sea of flowers: orchids of all shades, from white to purple. They twine up the trees, their petals up to the size of a hand. Their piercing fragrance fills the air, taking my breath away. Smaller ones cover the ground. Just the thought that I walked through them makes me shiver. How will I ever be able to get back? Panic grips me as I turn around. And then this weird singing sound, maybe emitted by the orchids. “Please stop it, leave me alone!” I sob, but my voice is drowned out by the noise. My brain knows that I should run away, back to where I came from, but I can’t move. My breathing is shallow and my heart is beating frantically. Ruth has gone, she’s just left me alone. I should have guessed that it was a trap, but I walked straight into it with open eyes.
Suddenly there’s a rustling behind the trees, and the singing stops. Something brown and rather large jumps towards me and I stumble back, stepping on one of the flowers. In a panic I scream loudly and hop back again. The huge brown frog that’s sitting close to me now opens its ugly mouth and the strange singing starts again. Wishing it would turn into a prince, into my prince, I whisper desperately, “Please help me!” But deep down I know that I’ve lost this time. Ruth has tricked me, and nobody will come to my rescue. I put my head in my hands and squat down, trying to make myself as small as possible. I can’t help thinking about Rebecca and wondering if she had been faced with similar horrors. Is this why she killed herself? But then why would she urge me to come here? My thoughts are churning and I can’t think clearly anymore. The next moment the frog stops singing and hides behind a tree again. The sudden silence is eerie. Now I’m all alone and I can’t suppress a whimper.
“Touch the flowers, they won’t hurt you,” suddenly I hear a voice that I recognise as Randolph’s. I shake my head, not looking up. I’m clearly losing my mind. But the next instant he comes towards me, he’s really here. I’ve never been so glad in my whole life to see someone. “Why can’t you accept that Rebecca’s death was not your fault?” he says in a low voice, holding his hand out to me. “If it’s anybody’s fault, then it’s mine. She simply couldn’t bear the fact that I’d lied to her and left her.” Finally I comprehend the meaning of his words. It’s not my fault, he’s right. I glance down at the orchids at my feet, mesmerised by the red dots on their petals. They look like drops of blood. My hand reaches towards them and carefully I touch one of the petals. It feels cool to the touch, like velvet, fragile and delicate. It certainly can’t harm me. “Don’t be afraid anymore, everything will be alright,” Randolph murmurs, pulling me to my feet. Slowly my fear abates.
“What are you doing here, Randolph?” I whisper, looking up at him. I can’t bring myself to call him father.
“I’m here to keep an eye on you until the eclipse of the moon.” He smiles at me. “You are after all my daughter.” I scrutinise his handsome face, looking into his amber eyes.
“You know, I don’t think it was your fault either. She would have killed herself sooner, if it was because you left her, not over a year later.” Randolph lowers his head.