‘Good, push it as hard as you can.’
Scarlett began to try and rock it with both hands; it gave a little but no more. She kept pushing and shoving then turned around and pushed it with her back, pressing against it with all her might. There was a loud crack, and she felt a sharp pain in her side. ‘Ouch.’ She fell to her knees the pain was so intense. Feeling sick with pain, she lifted her hands to her body and felt around.
‘Oh, God. I’m going to be sick, it’s sticking in.’
‘Pull it out.’
‘I can’t, it hurts.’
‘Scarlett, listen to me, you have to grab it and pull it out. It’s just a splinter.’
‘Huge fucking splinter.’
‘I know, but you’re at a disadvantage and you don’t want that. We need to be ready to fight if he comes near us, and you can’t with that inside you.’
Scarlett felt the tears pool in the corner of her eyes; this was so unfair. She didn’t deserve this, none of them did. Anger giving her some strength, she grabbed the shard of wood sticking through the flesh and pulled it out.
‘Ahhhhh, fuck.’ She gasped and then she started to cry as she slid to the floor, gripping the sharp piece of wood. A metallic, coppery smell filled the air and she realised the splintered, broken end was slick with her own blood, then she began to laugh. Loud laughter that echoed around the room.
‘What’s so funny?’
‘I just got myself a stake, my wound is probably going to get infected, and I’ll probably end up paralysed, but at least I have a weapon. I’m going to use it the minute he enters this cell.’
Janey clapped her hands together. ‘Yes, that’s more like it. Can you get the rest of the wood out so you can slip through it and open my cell door?’
‘I don’t know, give me a few minutes and I’ll try. It fucking hurts.’
She felt like she had lost her mind as she laughed, cried and then curled up on the damp mattress. Her side a burning ball of fire as it pulsated and throbbed, she pushed the piece of wood underneath the mattress, out of sight. When the creep came back, she was going to have to sit or stand in front of the broken piece of wood to hide it, but the minute he tried to hurt her, she was going to have a huge surprise for him.
She knew they didn’t have much time left, but she wasn’t going down without a fight.
FORTY-TWO
The woods were eerily quiet, no birdsong, no chatter from Max and his new friend, but it was dry, which was a good start to the day and Ettie was determined to make it a fabulous day. She almost got out of the pretty lilac garden gate before she heard the faint trill of her phone and realised it was still on the kitchen counter charging.
Ettie’s voice was out of breath as she said, ‘Hello, are you okay, Morgan?’
‘I’m good, how are you?’
‘Good, I was just leaving and had to run back inside for my phone.’
‘Where are you going this early?’
‘Brunch with Ernest.’
‘Oh, that’s lovely.’ She paused. ‘Is he with you now?’
‘No, he left an hour ago. I’m meeting him in town.’
Morgan grinned, her aunt had just let slip that her new man had spent the night and she couldn’t be happier for her. As far as Morgan knew, or at least since she’d found out she had an aunt, Ettie hadn’t been romantically involved with anyone. She deserved to have all the happiness in the world. ‘I’m sorry, Ettie,to keep asking you, but have you talked to anyone recently about this watcher legend?’
‘No dear, why?’
‘No particular reason.’
Ettie paused, and Morgan knew she was trying to figure out what was going on.
‘How many people do you think know about it? I mean I couldn’t find anything online, is it a local lore type of thing? How did you even know about it in the first place?’
