‘They’ll get cold if you don’t eat them soon.’ My father, a twinkle in his eye, winks at me.
Blushing, I grab the sandwiches and head upstairs again.
* * *
‘Oh.’ It’s an intake of breath rather than a word, full of yearning. We’re trundling along a broad, deserted highway, the road curving downwards, the land rising to one side. But Sophie’s focus isn’t on the road; rather, it’s higher. Almost at the crest of the hill is a jumble of huge stones. It’s somehow familiar. I rack my brains.
‘Oh my God!’ I squeak. ‘That’s Stonehenge. It’s really, really old! We should stop!’
‘Yeah.’ Another word carried on a breath. Sophie changes gears, slowing the coach down.
‘I’ll be back.’ I leave the cabin, taking the stairs to the living room two at a time.
‘Is everything all right?’ My father surges up from the sofa, hand to his hip as though he’s wearing his sword.
‘It’s fine.’ I pause, catching my breath. ‘I just … Stonehenge is out there, and I want to see it up close.’
My father grins. ‘We can stop wherever you like.’
I race back upstairs. Sophie has already pulled off the highway, taking a narrow road that curves back around in the direction of the monument. I can’t see it anymore. Then it appears again, larger this time, the huge stones greyish-brown against the grass.
‘This road should probably be more choked off than this,’ Sophie says. ‘And the forest … it should have taken over.’ Tension threads her voice.
‘Humans still come here, don’t they.’ It’s not a question.
‘They have been, for millennia,’ Sophie says. ‘And now we get to do it, too.’
A few minutes later she pulls to a stop. The wide plain is green and brown, hills rising in the distance, the dark mass of the forest all around. The sky is gold and grey, wind ruffling the grass. Which is trimmed and tidy around the stones, as though there’s still a guardian of this place.
We head downstairs. My parents and Varin are already in the next room, the door closed against any stray fingers of light. I knock as I go past. ‘We’ll be back soon.’
Sophie opens the coach door, and we step out. For a moment we just stand there. It’s so still, so quiet. So wide open. Then she takes my hand and we run towards the towering stones. We slow as we get close, walking between the grey uprights into the circle itself.
The air in here is still, despite the breeze cutting across the plain. It feels … ancient. And very, very human. My chest aches, a pressure building I can’t ease.
‘Wow.’ Sophie turns, her phone out, panning around the ruins.
‘There’s still power here,’ I say.
‘Yeah. And to think humans built this, all those years ago.’
We perch on one of the central stones, taking it all in. I try to imagine what it must have been like when people came here to celebrate. Something to do with the sun, I think I read once. No wonder vampires don’t bother coming here.
Sophie puts her phone away and sits back, her hands braced against the grey stone. Her blue gaze is distant, and I wonder what she’s thinking. It feels comfortable, though, sitting here together. Just two girls, perched on a rock.
‘Can I ask you something?’ Sophie’s voice breaks the silence.
‘Sure. Ask me whatever you want.’
‘What’s it like, being the Raven?’
‘Huh.’ I’m not sure how to answer. I decide to be honest. ‘I didn’t want it, at first. I even ran away.’
‘You didn’t?’
‘I shouldn’t be telling you this. Sorry.’ I’m an idiot. At least I had a choice to leave. No other humans have that.
‘That’s not what I was thinking.’
