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CHAPTER SIX
‘THREE... FOUR... FIVE...’
Delphi ran lightly through the ranch house. She felt happy and free and excited. Hide and seek was her favourite game.
Ed would find Scott first. Her middle brother was too laid-back to bother hiding properly. Will was way better, but she was the best.
And the smallest.
Except she wasn’t small anymore. She stared down confusedly at her body in a glittering golden gown. When did that happen?
‘Six... Seven... Eight...’
The hairs on the back of her neck rose. Behind her, Ed’s voice was fading. Across the room, the familiar stone fireplace was collapsing, the walls dissolving to mist, and now she was in an overgrown graveyard, standing in front of a lipstick-covered headstone.
Heart drumming against her ribs, she forced down a scream and stumbled backwards, staring wildly in every direction. Her skin was burning as if she had caught the sun, but the mist was chillingly cold. She could hear other voices now, different, unfamiliar, rising and falling, drawing nearer on every side. They sounded harsh; they sounded hungry, and she knew she had to get away.
Run, she told herself. As fast as you can.
Only it wasn’t her speaking, but Dan.
‘Nine... Ten... Here, I come. Ready or not...’ the voice chanted, close by now.
Whimpering, she spun away, slipping sideways, brambles clawing at her dress, but she couldn’t run because she was holding a baby: she was holding Khalid.
She stared down into his liquid, dark eyes, waves of hot slippery panic surging over her skin. Around her, the mist was closing in, growing brighter, sharpening into a flash of light, then another, and another.
‘Ianthe, this way—’
‘Over here, Dylan—’
The voices were getting louder...the light was dizzying, swallowing her up.
She felt her grip loosen, felt Khalid start to slip from her fingers. She opened her mouth, and the sound of screaming filled her head...
‘Delphi! Delphi, it’s okay.’
Another voice, this time close by.
Her eyes snapped open, and she jerked upright, gasping, breathless, arms flailing, snatching for the baby. But he wasn’t there.
‘Khalid... Khalid...’ She croaked his name, her body rigid, shuddering with fear and panic, and then a hand touched her arm and she lashed out wildly.
‘Delphi, it’s okay. You’re okay.’
Omar was leaning over her, the outline of his body blurred in the moonlight filtering through the half-closed curtains. After the dizzying blaze of lights in her dream the soft darkness felt surreal and, inching up the bed, she stared past him, her heart still pounding, trying to make sense of her surroundings, and then she remembered.
‘What are you doing?’ She tried to clear her throat from the last of her panic. ‘Why are you here?’
‘I was walking past your door, and I heard you.’ He hesitated just for a second. ‘I heard a noise. I just wanted to check that you were okay.’
Okay?She let out a shaky breath, somewhere between a choke and sob. She had lost their baby. Her heart was broken. And her marriage was over. She doubted anything would ever be okay again.
‘I’m fine,’ she lied.
Actually, she felt exhausted, and horribly cold that she was having to hold herself rigid not to shake. But then she was still wearing her dress and evening sandals.
‘You didn’t sound fine.’
