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Liam stared at her. Waiting. Confused.
“Be careful…” she heard herself say.
Coward!
Liam nodded with a determined look on his face. He closed the door behind him and waited for her to lock the car from the inside. And just like that, he disappeared into the darkness of the field, leaving nothing else for her to watch but a silhouette in the distance.
She pressed her face against the window to get a better look, but his car had some sort of a dark film attached to it. On one hand it was great as it made it almost impossible for her to be seen from the outside, but on the other hand it made it harder for her to keep an eye on Liam. For the thousandth time, her eyes kept staring at the radio clock. It was almost nine thirty. Liam still stood in the middle of the field, and her eyes were about to wander off to her phone, when she saw Dan in front of the lavatory standing under its dim, flickering light for the whole world to see.
Cold sweat formed on her forehead. This was really happening! Just as they’d planned, Dan looked from left to right, pretending she was making sure she wasn’t being followed. She stepped out of the light to wave at Liam, who did a pretty good job waving back like a lady would, barely moving his arm and shaking his hand instead.
Dan slowly made her way over the field. Isabella bit her lips, manically pacing as she felt her veins jumping under her skin. But there was no sign of Ghost. She felt her heart shrinking in a mixture of disappointment and relief.Where the bloody hell was he?This might be her one chance at catching him before the police would, making it impossible to ever get in touch with him. Her mind played with that idea for a moment. Wouldn’t that mean that she couldn’t go back home? That she wouldhave tostay? In that case, she had tried everything in her power to find a way back to 1881, but had simply failed. A strange feeling of relief overcame her. Ghost was nowhere to be seen and Dan was only a few meters from Liam now, both safe and sound. Yes, this was it. This would mean she could stay. She tried hard but still failed. Instead of returning to a life of misery at the side of Lord Warrington and her unbearable mother, she could now stay here. With Dan…and Liam! And maybe he would start to come around as soon as all her time travel drama had stopped. Of course she still felt terrible for her brother, and always would, but it was not like she didn’t try—quite the opposite!
A smile crossed her lips, followed by butterflies in her stomach. She felt light on her feet, wanting to burst out of the car and run as fast as she could toward them. She grabbed her phone, ready to call Dan and tell her this was it, this was finally it, she could stay and that everything would be okay, when she caught something moving in the corner of her eye. Her heart jumped against her chest, pounding loudly on her ribcage. She jerked around, trying to get a better view in the darkness, pressing her face against the window as the lights in the distance flickered on and off. On and off. On and—there! There he was! Ghost! The shadow of the night that had an entire neighborhood on the edge.
There was no mistaking. This was his silhouette, pressed against the dark corner of the building, blending in with the night, slowly sneaking his way up onto the field. Isabella leaned closer, staring with blinking eyes. Something felt off. Had they even noticed him? But then, Liam would surely be aware of him, considering his elite training. Isabella’s whole body was cold, feeling the sharp pulses of her heavy beating heart. Ghost was several feet onto the field, inching his way toward them. It was only a matter of time before he got close enough for Liam to tackle him down. But all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Ghost stopped. Before Isabella could even blink, he turned around and ran off, disappearing into the dark again like the shadow he was. Dan and Liam still stood on the field as if they hadn’t even noticed he was there.
Isabella unlocked her phone to ring Dan, but Dan didn’t pick up. She just stood there waiting like a desperate fisherman trying to bring home the catch that was never there in the first place.
“Please, why aren’t you answering…” she mumbled hectically. Dan still didn’t bother to pick up. Was her phone broken? She had to tell them. Let them know he was just here. What if he's still close by?
She placed her hand on the door handle, but froze as Liam’s words invaded her mind as if it was a spell that had just taken a hold of her. NO MATTER WHAT, DO NOT GET OUT. “Bloody hell,” she cussed and opened the door, placing her foot on soiled ground. She was about to get out with a hand still on the handle opening the door wider, when something dragged her back inside, pulling her entire weight like it was nothing. The door slammed shut in front of her, drowning every possible noise that managed to escape from her mouth, until that too was shut tight. She felt a heavy hand pressed onto her mouth from behind her, holding it tightly shut. “I won’t hurt you,” she heard a whisper as if those words were never spoken. Or were they?
The car shuddered. The headlights turned on. It took a second, still facing the passenger’s window, until Isabella noticed that Ghost was sitting behind her on the driver’s seat. Using his free arm that was not holding her in place, he started the car and put it into drive, hastily hitting the gas pedal. He was dressed all in black, even wearing a black mask. The car revved in an angry, loud growl and shot a few feet forward, ready to drive off. But all of a sudden, the car stopped again, growling and slowly rolling forward to a complete halt. Isabella finally realized that Ghost had released her from what felt like a deathly grip and jerked around to find the driver’s seat empty and the car door wide open. She scrambled to open the door to her side and quickly jumped out to see Liam, without the dress, holding a tall dark figure to the ground, illuminated by the blaring bright headlights that flashed before them. Ghost bellowed in pain, tried to roll over to get back up, but Liam had him by the neck with the other arm held on his back, pushing him down with his full weight on top of him.
“Are you okay?” Liam shouted over to Isabella without taking his eyes off his catch. In the distance, Dan was slowly making her way up from the field. Liam must have outrun her like a cheetah would a sloth.
“Yes, I’m fine,” she managed to speak. She wasn't so sure of that moments ago. Her heart was still racing, but at least she was alive.
“Who are you?” Liam yelled at Ghost in a deep soldier type of voice that sounded threatening and scary at the same time. Ghost didn’t answer, which resulted in Liam tightening his grip around his neck. Ghost tried every move possible to wiggle his way out of Liam’s iron hold, but it didn't budge at all. Isabella couldn’t help but be in awe of how strong Liam was. His veins were popping out from his wrist running through his entire steel-like arm.He truly is a Spartan.To come to her rescue so quickly and outrun a car, then to tackle this man like a tiger would overwhelm a rabbit, it was nothing short of jaw dropping.
“I won’t ask you this nicely again,” Liam tightened his grip even further, causing Ghost to scream out in pain and agony. Isabella gasped. Never had she seen Liam this angry before.
“Why are you trying to hurt me?” Isabella yelled.
“I—ough—,” Ghost suddenly coughed much to everybody’s surprise, “I’m not trying to hurt ough—”
Wait! Was that a British accent? How did they miss that the first time?
Ghost continued, which wasn’t easy with Liam’s hand wrapped around his throat. “Not trying to hurt you—ough—Lady Astley…”
LADY ASTLEY? Her hand shot up to her mouth, utterly flabbergasted. “What did you just say?” she shouted, stepping closer.
“Isabella—ough—Astley. Sister—ough—of the former Duke of Aberdeen…”
This couldn’t be! What was going on? Liam loosened his grip, obviously confused as well, but not confused enough to just let go of him. Ghost gasped for air, coughing wildly, but focused his attention onto talking again.
“I’m not here to hurt you," he gasped in short quick breaths.
“Who are you?!” Dan said in a harsh raspy voice like she was ready to cast a curse on him, but Ghost kept quiet.
“Well, let’s start with this.”
Liam tore off his black mask, revealing a young blond man who looked no older than twenty. Some would even consider him rather handsome. Isabella raised her eyebrows, blinking away a peculiar thought. She had the strange feeling that she knew this man. Well he obviously knew who she was. But how? Did her mother send him?
“It’s okay, Liam.” She gently placed a hand onto his steel-hard arm that held Ghost in place.
“You sure?” Liam said with a pinched expression.
