Page 111

“I don’t know what it is.” I pull him closer, so we’re face to face, and I’m whispering into the tiny space between our lips. “But while they’re focused on me, they’re making one error.”

“Which is?”

I pat his cheek, my wedding ring gleaming dully in the strange light. “You, macushla. You need to dig, Levi. Dig really quickly and don’t come to help me. Whatever you hear or see, you have to keep digging.” His mouth opens to protest, and I shake my head fiercely and say, “I’m not trying to get you out of danger while putting myself in it. That’s not what this is.”

“Well, that’ll change the soundtrack to our lives.”

“What you’re going to do is the important part. I can handle myself, so don’t stop, babe. Not for nothing. Promise me.”

He stares at me for a long second and then drops a hard kiss on my mouth. “Mind your back,” he says and strides towards the magistrate’s grave.

“Now, that’s an exit,” I call, smiling as he raises his middle finger at me.

I try a tentative step but it’s like quicksand. As soon as I move, I sink farther down. The earth is cold and wet on my shins, so cold it gets inside my bones and I start to shiver. The mist washes over my skin, leaving a feeling of desperate sadness and complete emptiness. A tear tracks down my cheek.

“Hungry,” comes the whisper from beneath my feet. “Empty.”

“Fuck,” I breathe. “Hurry up, Levi.”

He looks up and nods. He has his backpack off his shoulders and he’s unfolding the portable spade we bought from a DIY store this afternoon. The lady had said it was useful in allotments. I don’t know much about allotments, but I’m pretty sure they don’t have a lot of dead bodies waiting to eat you.

Levi stabs the spade into the earth, and we both freeze as the ground rumbles and shakes like a mini earthquake. A wind gusts through the graveyard and blows back my hair, sending the fog eddying. The stench is disgusting—coppery and rank, like blood congealing in the heat. I can feel it in my nostrils and down my throat.

I hack again and swallow repeatedly, trying to get some saliva in my mouth.

Levi looks over at me. “Okay?”

“Fine, babe. Just dig,” I say hoarsely.

At first, he strikes the soil quickly, but then he settles into a rhythm. The metal spade hitting the occasional stone is like a percussion soundtrack to the whispers rising around me. I know it’s coming but when the volume increases, the hot spikes in my ears make nausea bloom. It’s like the worst migraine ever and I want to put my hands over my ears, tear at my hair. But I can’t move. Cold fingers hold me immobile, the nails breaking the skin and the cold burning me.

Levi shows no sign of hearing it. He keeps digging.

“Stop,” I breathe as the whispers rise to a scream. My ears pop and hot liquid runs down my neck. “Stop.” The noise is like a whirlwind, a thousand people screaming inarticulately until it all coalesces into one word. Shame.

Then it all stops. I sway, my feet still half buried in the ground, my panting breaths loud in the sudden quiet.

“Blue?” Levi calls uneasily.

“Keep digging,” I say.

Levi’s made good progress and only his shoulders are above ground. He’s taken off his coat and jumper, and his T-shirt is wet with sweat.

“You okay?” I ask.

“Me?” he says in apparent astonishment.

“Yes, you. Who else?”

“I’m fine,” he says as he continues to steadily dig. “You know this is not the honeymoon I saw myself having.” He pauses and I smile despite everything going on. “But it is the one I should have expected,” he finishes gloomily.

I snort. “You know you’d find anything normal a bit boring now. You’re an adrenaline junkie, Levi Billings-Black and I find it hard to keep up with you now.”

“How come your name goes first?”

“Alphabetical. It’s a thing.”

I narrow my eyes as the mist thickens between us and begins to glow. What the fuck?