“Originally yeah. But then thought — what if one of those creatures or somethin’ like it attacked another man’s family? What if another dad came home to find his life in ruins? I wanted to help others avoid the pain I went through when lost my girls. My plan was to protect her and save everyone I could until the day one of them things finally kills me. But I failed. I failed to protect her, just like I failed my family.” He put his head in his hands.
His words shook me to the core. I’d pegged this man down as a mindless thug, when he couldn’t be further from it. I’d judged him before I got to know him. The very same thing that people had been doing to me all my life. I felt ashamed of myself.
“You didn’t fail anyone Midnight. You did the best you could. You’re not God. But I’ll tell you one thing. You’re a good person and Sophia is lucky to have you to care for her.”
Midnight looked up at me. He seemed to contemplate what I’d said for a moment. Then he leaned forward and offered out his hand. I shook it.
I pointed towards the locket wrapped around his neck. “Is that what you took from the house?”
He placed a hand around it, as if shielding it from my question. “Yeah. It was an anniversary gift for Cass, ‘cept I swapped my picture for hers after she…you know.”
“May I see?”
Midnight seemed to contemplate the request for a moment. Then he lowered his neck and slid the locket over his head. I stretched over and he placed it in my hands.
The case was silver, polished to a shine. The initials MW amp; MW had been engraved on the back. I pressed a clasp on the side and the locket opened. Inside were two small photographs. One showed a very pretty woman with curly blonde hair. She wore a smile than seemed bordering on a laugh, which lit up her whole face. The girl in the other couldn’t have been more than six when the photograph was taken. Even so, she looked so much like Sophia, they could have been sisters. Right down to the rosy cheeks. Looking at the photographs, it was easy to see why Midnight had once been so happy. “They were both beautiful,” I said, closing the locket and handing it back to him. “Thanks.” He slipped the locket back over his neck and tucked it into his t-shirt. “I have a picture of my dad that I carry around with me too.” Midnight held out a hand. “Only fair.”
I rummaged through my bag and pulled out the handbook. I slipped the picture from the pages and handed it to him. He looked at it and nodded, before passing it back to me. “Looks a lot like you.” “You think?” “Now yeah. Maybe not so much back when you were a massive nerd.” We both laughed. His was a deep rumble that rolled through his chest. “So how did you get out of prison?” I asked. “You kiddin? One call from the HASEA to the right people and I was out within a day, record as squeaky as an Eaton schoolboy.” “Wow. I’ll keep that in mind next time I’m planning on robbing some newsagents.” Midnight started to laugh again, but stopped dead when Sophia cried out in pain.
“It’s okay pint size. I’m here,” he said in a voice so soft I wouldn’t have thought it possible. He busied himself once more with removing the cloth from her forehead and dipping it in the bowl of water.
Gabriella and Delagio returned, armed with mugs of coffee. Gabriella had to say Midnight’s name three times before he turned his attention away from Sophia. She passed him a coffee and he downed it in a matter of seconds, even though there was steam curling from the top. She placed hers on a table near the door. Delagio took a long sip of his, set his cup down next to Gabriella’s and returned to his position in the corridor.
The sombre reality of the situation returned with a ferocity. I leaned back into my chair as Gabriella stroked Sophia’s cheek gently with the back of her hand. Time dissolved as we stayed locked in our positions. Midnight removing, rinsing and replacing the cloth. Gabriella stroking Sophia’s cheek. Delagio standing vigil outside. Me sitting on my chair, feeling useless.
Then something happened.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Gabriella looked on the brink of tears. I stood up and placed a comforting hand on her back. As soon as my hand connected, a giant wave of energy exploded in my chest and rushed up my arm. Gabriella arched her back and cried out. Instantly I felt drained. My knees buckled and I collapsed to the floor.
“Alex!” Gabriella gasped. From my position on the cold linoleum, I watched as Midnight jumped to his feet and Delagio burst into the room. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. Several sets of hands lifted me up and positioned me back on the chair. The room was spinning and I could barely focus. “Are you okay buddy?” Delagio asked, leaning over me. I raised a hand. “I’ll be fine, just give me a minute.” Slowly, everything seemed to return to normal. “What just happened?” asked Gabriella.
I was about to reply when I saw Sophia’s eyes flutter open. They searched around the room, not seeming to understand where she was. Stunned into silence, I could only point. Everyone turned to face the bed.
Midnight dropped the rag clutched in his hands. It landed on the floor with a loud splat. He tried to speak, cleared his throat and tried again. “Hi sweetheart. How you feelin?”
Sophia gave a little nod of her head and tapped at the oxygen mask attached to her face. Midnight gently lifted her head and slipped off the mask. Her lips struggled into a tiny smile. “Better,” she whispered.
“Guys, look at her skin!” exclaimed Delagio.
We all looked. The red lines of infection were retracting back into the bite wounds, as if they were threads of a fishing line being reeled in. The purple puncture wounds turned pink and shrank, until they disappeared completely. Her skin changed from grey to white and then back to her normal tone. Her cheeks bloomed last of all — as if an artist had applied the finishing touches.
Midnight’s mouth hung open in disbelief as Sophia dragged herself up into a sitting position on the bed. He stared from her, to me, to Gabriella and back to me again. “I don’t understand.”
I looked down at my hands and then up at Gabriella. “I think I just healed Sophia.”
Midnight barged his way past the medical equipment and scooped me up into a crushing bear hug. He spun me around in a circle and my feet sent both cups of coffee somersaulting off the table. He was laughing hysterically and tears of happiness flowed down his face. When he finally set me down, he did the same to Gabriella and Delagio. Sophia was laughing from the bed. If it weren’t for the fact that she still looked too skinny, it would be impossible to tell she’d been ill at all.
Delagio clapped his shoulders. “Put me down you big idiot,” he laughed. Letting him go, Midnight moved back over to Sophia. “You sure you feelin better darlin?”
“Yup. I feel a bit tired, but that’s it.”
He placed his forehead gently on top of the smiling girl’s head and let out a long sigh as tears continued to slide down his face.
We stayed with Sophia for hours, fussing over her and revelling in her miraculous recovery. The atmosphere had changed so quickly from misery to joy.
“Right, I think I should go let Faru know,” said Delagio “He can send a message through to Rachel and bring her home. I don’t want her to be there any longer than she needs to be.”
“We should go too,” agreed Gabriella.
I gave a tiny shake of my head and stared at her. Me and Delagio together in a room with Faru? Bad idea.
Gabriella seemed to understand my concern. “Actually, on second thoughts, Alex is due to meet Selene and the rest of the Coven soon. We’ll head down there now and let them know that they don’t need to worry about the spell. We can deal with how it happened later. The main thing is that Sophia is feeling better.” She turned to face the bed. “You promise you’re feeling better mia bambina?”
Sophia lifted three fingers. “Witches’ honour.”
The room broke out into relieved laughter.
“Okay, well I’m gonna go speak to the head honcho, I’ll see y’all later” chuckled Delagio. He rotated his hand and the oxygen mask that Midnight had removed levitated from the bed and ruffled Sophia’s hair with a blast of air. “Hey!” she giggled. He gave her a wink and disappeared from the room. “You two will be okay here if we head off too won’t you?” asked Gabriella.
Midnight wiped away a fresh set of tears. A grin spread from one ear to the other. “You kiddin? I got loadsa stories to bore her with. Get going.”
Gabriella walked over and kissed Sophia on the forehead. We waved at each other. As I was leaving the room, Midnight called out my name. I turned back.
“I’ll never forget what you did mate,” he said.
