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“He said it’s near here,” Levi says, the first words he’s uttered for a few minutes. He points to a low stone wall that’s so covered with ivy that I’d missed it in the dim light. “That must be it.”
We edge towards it and peep warily over.
“The sculpture garden,” I breathe. “Shit.”
It had been mildly creepy when we’d first seen it in the daylight, but in the moonlight it’s incredibly eerie.
The numerous statues seem to gleam in the moonlight, but everywhere else is cast in darkness. The copper beech tree moves, the shadows of its leaves jumping in the breeze and making the statues look awfully like they’re moving. I can feel something else pulsing in the darkness—something malevolent and wicked. Something that’s already aware of us.
I take a breath and look at Levi. “Ready?”
He nods but grabs my arm as I go to climb over the wall. “Wait.”
I raise my eyebrows, and he drags me close and drops a hard kiss on my lips. Then he cups my face in his hands. “Be careful,” he whispers.
“I always—”
“Don’t even bother with that bullshit. You are rarely careful.” He holds up my hand and the moonlight gleams on the gold wedding band. “This means something, Blue. You’re mine and I’m yours and we take care to go home with each other.”
“I will,” I whisper, and the promise is utterly solemn this time. “I can’t swear it will go okay.”
“Just promise that you will try your hardest to leave with me.”
“Levi, I will always leave with you.” He releases me and I steal another kiss. “As if I’d let anyone else go home with you,” I mutter. “How fucking stupid do you think I am?”
I look at him for one more second and then turn and scramble over the wall. The stone abrades my palms as I pause at the top. I look out over the garden, analysing where each statue stands. There’s a scrabbling, and Levi pulls himself up to perch next to me.
“Which one do you think?” I ask.
“I think the angel. It’s where Lord St Claire was standing when we saw him, and the dead grass was all around it.”
The angel statue stands towards the back of the garden, its marble gleaming with a cold light. The angel is fucking huge, easily seven feet tall. Her hair is caught back by a band, her sightless eyes gazing coldly ahead, and she’s holding a torch.
I groan. “Of course, it would be the creepy angel. Of course, it wouldn’t be a cute little puppy statue.”
His lips curve in a crooked smile. “That is not the way our luck goes.”
“Nope.”
I drop down from the wall and into the garden. My boots hit soft ground, and I look up in time to catch the bag he throws me. Setting it on the ground, I brush my hands over my jeans, getting rid of the moss on my fingers as he lowers himself next to me.
He shoulders the bag and we step out. The grass crunches under our feet and it’s so loud in the quiet stillness. This spot is a place in this world that’s more of the dead than the alive. There’s an inherent wrongness to it, but we’ll have to wait to see what shape that wrongness will take.
Levi’s breath billows white on the air. I frown. There isn’t a frost tonight. He looks over at me, and I offer him an encouraging smile.
He immediately grimaces. “Don’t do that,” he hisses.
Despite everything, my mouth twitches. “Okay,” I say peaceably.
We step around statues of a centaur, a snarling wolf, and a couple of lions. Each one is coated with a fine layer of moss that absorbs the moonlight and makes the shadows dense.
I stumble as I trip on a tree root and Levi snaps out a hand to stop me faceplanting. I’m just about to thank him when I see it. A dark figure leans against the sculpture of a horse.
I immediately shove Levi behind me.
“What the fuck?”
“Hush,” I snap.
