She stepped out the car. “I hate you too,” she replied.
Jason looked at her over his sunglasses, giving her a mischievous wink before putting the car in gear and driving away with a squeal of tires and exuberant acceleration.
Allyra wound her way through the crowd, heading toward the ticketing counter. She tried to gather the shattered slivers of her hungover mind to reach for her Gift, tracking Jason’s increasingly familiar thread as he drove away. She held on to him until he was well away from the airport. Reassured that he wasn’t following her, she turned abruptly from the ticketing counter, heading instead for the rental cars. It was time to carry out the carefully laid-out plan Rob had prepared for her to get to the safe house. Her only deviation would be a quick detour to the pharmacy for some high-strength painkillers.
Chapter 19 – Jamie
The sun had nearly reached its zenith, but the dirt track remained stubbornly empty. Jamie had taken up a position by the window that gave him a clear view down the road leading to the little beach house set in amongst the sand dunes. He had sat there on and off throughout the day, mostly ignoring Rob’s and Laureline’s attempts to draw him into any conversation. Bored, the two of them had taken to the beach for some sunbathing though Laureline’s version occurred under the ample shade of a large and obscenely colored umbrella.
Despite his vigil, the view had remained unchanging save the occasional seagull dotting the sky. Not that he’d really expected any different—the Rising had chosen the safe house for its isolated position. The little beach house was the last dwelling serviced by the bumpy dirt track that pretended to be an actual road. Their closest neighbor was at least ten kilometers away, and even then, the people who came to such a remote place weren’t the type to drop by for a cup of sugar and a spot of conversation. Despite the unspoiled white sand beaches and clear blue water, this was no holiday resort—it was too out of the way, too untamed—and people only came here to be alone or perhaps disappear altogether.
By some miracle of timing, his weekend break had coincided with the weeklong break in The Five Finals following the conclusion of the first two Finals. It would be the first time he’d see Allyra in over two months. The passing of time had dulled any hurt and anger he’d felt at her deception, and now, he found that he couldn’t wait to see Allyra once more.
Jamie had arrived at the safe house in Rob’s trusty Land Rover, its headlights picking out the deep, unpredictable ruts in the lane, late the previous night. The difficult road conditions meant that the trip back to Pete’s place in Cape Town would take the best part of four hours, so he’d have to leave by midday tomorrow to make it back in time. Even if Allyra arrived now, they would have less than twenty-four hours together.
Given the secretive nature of The Five Finals, they hadn’t been sure exactly when Allyra would arrive, so Jamie knew it was useless to worry, but he couldn’t help the almost instinctive knot of tension that had taken up permanent residence in his chest. It didn’t help that Laureline had arrived with the news that the Second Final had claimed a number of lives. She had been certain that Allyra was not amongst those who’d lost their lives, but Jamie felt like he couldn’t quite breathe until he actually saw Allyra.
He would know. He tried to convince himself that the bond between them ran so deep that he would know if Allyra had died. Somehow, he fell short of certainty. So, he continued his solitary watch over the dusty track.
* * *
Jamie had to blink twice when he saw the cloud of dust that hinted toward movement in the distance. After his long vigil, it was difficult to instantly trust his eyes.
The dust cloud moved steadily toward the cottage, but the road’s uneven surface meant that its progress was slow, and it was only twenty minutes later that Jamie could actually confirm that its source was indeed a car. With a shout to Rob and Laureline, he rushed to greet Allyra.
He didn’t wait for the car to fully stop before opening the door and enveloping Allyra in a huge bear hug, half in and half out the car. It was only after he’d confirmed that she was whole, and real, and safe, that he took a step back and really looked at her.
Rob took his place in wrapping Allyra in a giant hug, and Jamie couldn’t help but note the contrast of her pale skin against Rob’s healthy tan. Allyra’s skin had always been pale, strangely immune to the effects of the fierce African sun. But it was more than that—there was something wrong. It was in the way her smile failed to reach her steel-gray eyes. It was in the tight line running down her neck. It was in a million tiny details that he could read as easily as words on a page—each one telling him that she was holding on to some yet unspoken pain. She was doing what she did so well—retreat into herself, somewhere so protected that few people had ever been allowed access.
Jamie couldn’t help feeling a sudden flare of frustration. The knowledge that he was no more than an onlooker, peering through the curtains at a play in which he’d once been an actor.
“Okay, I have to ask,” Rob said, his voice carrying a teasing lilt. “Did you happen to fall into a vat of alcohol?”
Allyra grimaced and then a grin slowly made its way onto her face, like a flower blooming under summer rain. It transformed
