Page 90 of Infamous

‘Are you reallysulkingbecause of a name? I’ll call you Eddie, if you like. I’ll call you whatever you want.’

His voice was slow, and slurred around the edges. He was reaching for her again, but Eddie shrank away, feeling a tree retaliate and scratch her hard across the cheek as she did.

‘Edie –Eddie– you’re bleeding. Stop being ridiculous and come here.’

‘No,’ said Eddie.

She didn’t much care if she was being ridiculous. She suddenly wanted to be as far away from Nash as possible, so she didn’t have to hear any more of his honeyed words or outright lies. She pushed her way through the branches, aiming for the shore; at first she simply wanted to get some distance from him, but some sort of animal instinct took over when she heard him attempting to follow, and she started running in earnest.

She could hear him calling her name –Edieagain; was his memory really so short? – and she glanced behind her as she moved, noting that he was no longer in her line of sight. She could hear odd chattering sounds – angry squirrels, perhaps, or interrupted birds. They seemed to be getting louder and louder, as if excited by the chase. Somewhere, somebody was laughing.

When she turned around, she slammed immediately into something warm and solid. All the wind was knocked from her, and as she gasped and wheezed, she realised who it was: impossibly,Henry.

‘Miss Miller?’ he said, looking concerned. ‘What are you doing out here? Do you .?.?.? Are you in need of assistance?’

‘Henry?’ Eddie said, dazed.

The effects of the fungus she had consumed only seemed to be getting more acute over time; the light shifted, and for a split second she swore she was looking at a rather man-shaped tree, but then it was Henry again, blinking down at her in consternation.

Nash called out after her from somewhere nearby; it sounded almost like a howl.

Henry’s head snapped up. He narrowed his eyes, and then glanced back over at Eddie.

‘If you’ll follow me,’ he said, unfailingly polite, even as she stood there with her chest heaving, her shirt untucked, her eyes unable to focus properly on him.

Eddie did follow him. He led her silently through the trees, clearly knowing exactly where he was going, holding branches out of the way so that they would not whip back and maim or decapitate her. They emerged onto the stony beach, and Eddie saw that there was a small boat tied up at the dock, bobbing violently in the dark water.

Eddie sat down heavily on the rocks.

‘Why are you here?Areyou here?’

‘Am I .?.?.? Yes, I am here. There was something I needed to .?.?. something of mine that I left here. It belonged to my mother.’

‘That’s nice,’ said Eddie, running her hands over the rough surface of the rock beneath her and wondering if she was leaving handprints in it, as one would in snow. ‘It’s nice to have a mother.’

‘Yes,’ said Henry. ‘Did Nash – Mr Nicholson .?.?.? He didn’t .?.?.?’

He gestured generally at Eddie, who looked down at her dishevelled appearance and then slowly shook her head.

‘Good,’ said Henry. ‘That’s good. I can take you back to the mainland tonight, Miss Miller. There’s a house down in the village, if you need somewhere to stay.’

‘Back to the mainland?’ said Eddie, baffled. ‘But why?’

‘Because you are in danger, Miss Miller,’ Henry said, as if this should have been obvious. ‘Mr Nicholson .?.?. he’s not a good man. He does not particularly like to take no for an answer.’

Eddie was struck very suddenly by a crystal-clear memory of Nash and Henry, standing much too close together in the woods, Henry’s face aflame. Why had they been there at all? Looking for Juno. Yes – they had been looking for Juno, but Henry had been furious. There had been shouting. It had almost come to blows.

But .?.?. no. That wasn’t right. It was muddled, somehow. Eddie just couldn’t quite put her finger on why.

‘Let me .?.?. I have a cloak. You’re shivering.’

Henry vanished from her line of sight. Eddie had absolutely no idea where he might have gone. He had a boat, she knew that much. A boat that would take her across the water, if she asked him. A boat that would take her to Rose.

The moon emerged from behind the clouds. The waves lapped at the shore.

There was something in the water.

Whatever it was out there in the lake, it was pale and drifting, tugged back and forth by the tide.