29
Seraphine
DANNY CRASHES HISknee against the coffee table as he barges out of the room, setting the empty mugs and glasses on the tray rattling. I scramble after him, calling his name. He doesn’t slow until he’s out of sight of the house, round by the back of the stable block. The shed door hangs open, and when he slams it with the heel of his hand, it bounces back at him. He slams it again, harder.
“Danny.” I touch his shoulder, but he shakes me off.
“Go away.”
He presses his forehead onto the shed door, breathing heavily. Bees drone in the lavender hedge, and one bumbles out and zigzags toward me. I shoo it away.
“Danny.”
“She’s a liar. She wants—she’s trying to worm her way into our family. I don’t want to hear any more.”
I swallow. “I’m sorry.”
“Why is she doing it? Why is she saying these things?”
He turns to look at me, slumping against the wooden door. I shake my head, watching him.
“Why did you go looking for her?” His voice is quieter now but deeper, scratchy. “Why did you do this to us?”
My vision blurs suddenly. “I just want to know who I am! Can’t you see? I’m not Seraphine. Alex took Seraphine. I still don’t know who I am.”
Danny’s chest rises and falls rapidly. Even though we’re a couple of meters apart, I reach out a hand to him. “Come back with me.”
He laughs without humor. “No way.”
“Please, Danny. I can’t do this by myself.”
“Don’t then. You started this, remember. You don’t need me. I’m not even your—”
“Don’t say that.”
“We’re not related.” He makes the same laughing sound again, but there are tears on his cheeks now too. His voice comes out as a harsh whisper. “I’m not your brother.”
We stand facing each other for the longest moment, our breathing in unison, our eyes locked.
“You are,” I say.
He shakes his head, his mouth forming a grimace that looks almost apologetic.
“Go,” he says. “Go on, go back in. You need to hear the rest. Maybe Alexisyour father. Maybe he isn’t. Go back in and ask her.”
“Not without you.”
He chews the inside of his cheek. “I can’t.”
“Please, Danny.”
He growls. “Don’t.”
“Please. I can’t do it without you. I need to hear the rest. I need to know.”
He closes his eyes, and I wait. The scent of lavender is overwhelming. We are meters away from where Joel told those students we were the Summerbourne sprites. If Danny doesn’t say something soon, I’m going to lie down on the warm grass right here and never get up.
“Okay,” he says eventually. “Okay. But after this I never want to see that woman again.”
