Читать книгу Hunt and Power - Stephen Hayes - Страница 11

“What?” I said, confused.

“You have to go now,” she said, looking left and right as she spoke. She was becoming more frantic by the second. “Go straight home, don’t stop for anything, and don’t talk to anyone. Go! Go!”

“Why? What’s going—”

“Go!”

“Okay,” I snapped, thoroughly disconcerted.

I turned and walked away from her. Not wanting to draw attention to myself, I kept an even pace as I walked. Looking over my shoulder, I saw that Stella had vanished from where we’d been before, and I couldn’t see where she’d gone. I met nobody until I reached the door, where I was waylaid by Daniel.

“John,” he called out to me, “I forgot to tell you before, really important—”

“Tell me later,” I called back as I went through the door.

Once I was around the corner in the long hall, I broke into a sprint; down the hall, up the stairs, through the door in the tree and out into the stretch. The big Hammerheart was still manning the door, but he made no effort to stop me as I sprinted away into the night. I could tell that many of the party goers had sought privacy in the bushes, because I could see silhouettes of couples doing lord knew what and hear various noises coming from all around me. Ignoring them all despite my curiosity, and devoutly hoping that Tommy and Natalie weren’t hidden in any of these bushes (it’d be far too late to step in if they were), I ran until I reached the path, turned for the gate, and tore out onto the street. I didn’t stop running until I reached the front step of the Playman residence.

I hesitated at this point, knowing that I ought to go inside, but I saw something I hadn’t expected—a light coming from somewhere inside the house. I’d expected everyone to be asleep, in which case the lights should be off, but apparently Amelia’s charm had failed at its job. I slipped quietly inside and saw that the light was coming from the kitchen. I couldn’t get to the stairs without being seen by whoever was in there.

I crept across to the stairs, but as I had expected, I was spotted. I looked around and saw, to my surprise, Nicole, sitting alone at the kitchen table with a piece of paper in front of her.

“Wha’ … how long have you been here?” I asked in a whisper, coming in to sit with her. “What’s that anyway?”

She sniggered as she pushed the piece of paper in front of me. I saw that it was a note from Mum, explaining how everyone in the house had seemed to simply get too tired to stay up, and needed to go to bed because they were getting nothing done. The note said how they would be asking us all about it in the morning, but to wake them if anything serious had gone wrong.

“They hung it on the banister, obviously the first place we’d look,” said Nicole, still sniggering.

“How long have you been here?” I asked her, pushing the note back at her.

“’Bout fifteen minutes,” she said.

“How come you left so early?” I persisted, watching her and thinking of what I’d done on the dance floor earlier.

“Oh, I just didn’t feel like partying anymore,” she said, looking a bit miserable as she stared at a spot just next to the note on the table. “Still, it was a pretty good party, considering who was around.”

I could tell she was trying to keep my attention off the first point she’d made, but like earlier, I wasn’t going to take the bait. “You don’t look like you enjoyed it too much.”

“No, really, it was fun,” she said, looking up at me now. “I just don’t know what I expected to happen, that’s all.”

“Yeah, well none of us did,” I said. “But that’s okay. It looked like most of the Young Army took it upon themselves to have as much fun as possible, from where I was anyway.”

“I noticed,” she said, and I was unsure for a moment if I’d broken the tension or intensified it. “They wanted to dance with as many people as possible before the end of the night.”

“I’m not sure if it was that,” I said. “I just think most of them were brought closer together by the occasion.”

Nicole snorted derisively. “I don’t think I saw anything particularly tasteful out there.”

“No, perhaps not,” I conceded, thankful that she probably hadn't been there to see what Kylie had done to Peter in the closing moments. “But it looked like several—er—relationships had formed in the bushes as I was leaving.”

“If you call them relationships,” she said quietly.

“Well they might turn into relationships,” I said, finally realising what she was getting at.

“I saw you with Stella,” she said, looking up at me. “How come you didn’t stay with her the way the others did?”

“I’d never intended to,” I said, taken aback. “She wasn’t interested in that anyway—”

I told her what had happened, that Stella had told me to leave at once, without stopping for anything. Nicole looked alarmed.

“But why would you be in danger?” she asked, looking frightened. “Did she tell anyone else?”

“I’m not sure,” I said. “There weren’t many people left in there by then, and I doubt she would have searched the bushes for everyone. I did see her talking to Marc, though.”

Nicole bit her lip, thinking hard.

“She said she’d tell me later,” I said, shrugging.

“Oh, well I suppose we’ll see her next week.” She lapsed into silence, and I saw her misery returning.

“You sure you’re okay?” I asked her.

She looked at me again, apparently weighing up her options. Then she said, “Is it just me, or does it feel pathetic to come home early from a party, alone?”

“A bit,” I said, thinking of what Peter and James were probably doing at that very moment, not to mention Natalie and Tommy. “But it shouldn’t, not if you were expecting to anyway.”

Nicole shrugged, looking as though she was already regretting what she’d just said. Knowing what was going through her mind, I said, “It feels a bit worse tonight ‘cause all our friends are probably out their rooting as we speak.”

Nicole snorted; apparently I’d broken the tension properly this time. “Did you see our dear brother out there on the dance floor?”

“Oh Peter … what’re we gonna do with him?”

We both laughed. Really, Peter’s misfortune was just so amusing, or maybe it was just the way he dealt with it.

“He’ll enjoy it though, even if he can’t quite handle it,” I said. “I don’t think he was expecting her to be so … scary.”

“Scary!” she snorted. She was laughing so hard now that I worried our parents would be down here at any moment, but at least she wasn’t upset anymore.

“Well come on,” I said reasonably. “How often do you see a chick acting like that? And she’s never been like that before; I thought the idea was to play hard-to-get?”

“Normally it is,” said Nicole, clutching her sides. “But you know everyone’s different. Some girls are just—”

“Hoes,” I supplied, smirking.

“Well, they’re different again,” she said. “I mean, Erica was like that a bit on camp with James, but she’s settled right down now since he’s accepted her. Maybe if Peter’s smart enough he’ll either tell her what she wants or tell her to go jump quickly so she can’t get too carried away.”

“I don’t think telling Erica to go jump would have done much good,” I sniggered.

“Maybe not,” said Nicole. “Still, Kylie ought to pull herself together once Peter—”

She seemed to trail away, although I was sure her mind was still ticking over. Knowing that there was really not much more to add to the discussion of Peter and Kylie, I said, “I saw you with Marc earlier. How come you let him get away?”

Her head shot up so fast that she looked as though she’d cracked her neck. Rubbing it, she said, “I know, I just … he wanted a break, and I needed to go to the lady’s anyway, and the next time I saw him he was up there dancing with Stella.”

She looked as though she was fighting tears, and I put my arm around her. My support seemed to give her the strength to say what she was thinking. “He couldn’t have cared much. He only wanted the—the slimmer girls. None of them were interested in me.”

Now she really was crying, and I tightened my arm around her. It struck me how similar our positions were; she had been after Marc for so long, only to have him choose another girl over her, while I’d been interested in Natalie for such a long time, and now she was with another guy.

“I know what that’s like,” I said gently. “The advice I got was that it’s not worth pursuing someone who isn’t going to return your feelings. You might as well keep looking.”

“You know?” she sobbed, looking up at me through tear-filled eyes. “How—who did that to you? I’ll kill her!”

I sniggered at the way her grief had turned so suddenly to outrage. She looked like she meant it, and I was so proud at that moment that Nicole was my sister. But I had no intention of telling her it was Natalie, not her best friend. “It doesn’t matter,” I said. “The important thing is I’m going through the same thing, and it’s possible to get over it.”

Nicole laughed miserably. “You won’t have trouble. Stella looked like she was having a good time with you, and Lena—”

“Don’t talk about her,” I said warningly. “She’s as scary as Erica and Kylie.”

“Yeah, she is,” said Nicole, thoughtfully now. “So perhaps you should either tell her where to go or—”

“It’s hard to imagine being with someone like her,” I said honestly, but as I said it, I had a clear mental image of me and her in a room alone together. “I always imagined someone a bit … shorter.”

That was true, but it wasn’t the whole truth. I’d never allowed myself to consider Lena while my mind was set so solidly on Natalie. But it was time to end that; Daniel had said I would miss opportunities such as this if I refused to take them, and Lena was someone who was truly taken with me. Of course, I’d thought the same about Natalie a few days ago, and look how that turned out. Plus I knew Sebastian had the hots for Lena. It was all so confusing, but Nicole’s next words seemed to put all my thoughts into perspective.

“If you’re really feeling the same rejection as I am, then maybe Lena’s comfort’s what you need,” she said earnestly.

“It’s slightly different,” I said, suddenly realising what was holding me back. “The whole reason you ought to give up on Marc is because he doesn’t seem to share your feelings—at least I don’t think he does, based on tonight. I’m the same for—well, I don’t share Lena’s feelings, so what’s the point starting anything?”

Nicole seemed to have no answer to that. We both sat in silence for a few moments before she said, “I suppose you’ve got options, but I reckon I’d pick Lena even if I didn’t share her feelings, just ‘cause of her feelings … maybe I would grow more fond of her. You can't know that won't happen unless you try it. It’s worth taking a chance, plus you’d get the satisfaction of making her happy. Look how happy Erica is these days.”

“That’s true,” I said. In fact, Nicole’s advice was more or less the same as Daniel’s had been when we’d talked about Lena and Erica on camp. “And according to Lena’s brother, she really needs that sort of cheering up. Apparently she’s never had a boyfriend before. I wouldn’t believe that, but maybe part of it’s true.”

“I’d believe it,” she said, surprising me. “I know the boys like to look at her, but most of the ones who’ve tried to talk to don’t bother for long—like they think she’s boring or something. She’s never really been outgoing. She seems to study as hard as Lisa except that she’s so much quieter about it, tries not to draw any attention to herself. I reckon she’s a bit low on confidence, probably not realising that all she needs to do is be a little louder and she’ll get as much attention as she wants.”

“Low on confidence,” I repeated incredulously. “You reckon she’s low on confidence?”

“Yeah. Well, maybe not when it comes to you,” she said. “I don’t know. Maybe she’s so used to having guys go after her that she’s not exactly sure how to do it herself, or maybe this is just her way.”

“So you reckon I should make her day?” I asked, staring at her. It was so odd to be having a conversation like this with my sister. Normally these topics were reserved for male ears only, but now that it was happening, I appreciated the other point of view.

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “I guess it’s your choice, but you should probably be quick about it, before she moves on too.”

“Thanks,” I said, patting her on the back and standing up. “I think I’ll go to bed. Perhaps you should too.”

“Soon,” she said. “I think I’ll wait up for the others, just in case.”

“Good thinking,” I said. “See you later then.”

Upstairs in my room, I changed out of my best clothes and into my pyjamas, then sat down on my bed, my mind racing with everything that had happened during the evening. It looked as though Peter and James were both taken now, although I’d have to wait to ask Peter about that when he came home. I also thought Natalie was probably off the market, taken by the guy I had once had no problem with, though I’d known he felt the same as I did about her. Marc had rejected my sister and probably hit it off with Amelia, and worst of all, I’d helped him do it … Of everything else that had happened, that was one of the worst things about the night. Nicole did not deserve that.

I had been lying in bed for nearly an hour, unable to sleep, when the door opened and Peter slipped inside. He looked over at me and, apparently deciding I was asleep, proceeded to change into something more comfortable. Only when he’d put his clothes away and was about to get into bed did I speak to him.

“What took you so long?”

“Oh!” He jumped and looked around. “Did I wake you? Sorry mate.”

“It’s okay, I was already awake,” I said, glancing at him but not sitting up.

I was unsure how I felt about Peter at that moment. I knew I ought not to have any bad feelings against him, but I did; he’d abandoned me when I needed support most, going off to dance with another chick while my love life was in turmoil, and had probably been with Kylie in the bushes the whole time I was at home comforting Nicole and then lying awake in bed. He seemed to have no idea how both of his siblings were falling apart.

“It wasn’t a bad party, really,” said Peter. “Don’t worry, we all got back okay. Felicity and Jessica were a bit behind me, but I know they were okay.”

Something about the tone of his voice told me clearly that something was going on in his mind and troubling him. I waited for him to say it. He hesitated for a moment, then, apparently wanting to settle the matter, said, “Did you see Tommy—”

“Yeah,” I said shortly.

Peter had been with me when Tommy had asked Natalie to dance, but it apparently become clear to both of us that they’d then been together the whole night.

“Was James okay with you?” I asked in a would-be casual voice.

“James?” asked Peter, clearly confused. “Why wouldn’t he—oh…”

He seemed to realise what I was getting at. James had seemed fine with the idea that Kylie was interested in someone else, but would he feel the same if he actually saw it? I saw Peter’s shadow shrug and he said, “I think so. I’m not sure how much he saw—”

“Believe me, he would have seen; it was hard not to,” I said, bitterness now clear in my voice. I didn't like it, but I seemed unable to stop it.

“I dunno,” said Peter, seeming not to notice the tone of my voice. “But I think he knows I would have said no if he still wanted her for himself—the bro code, you know. But he was pretty caught up—”

He trailed off at this point, and I wondered what he was thinking.

“What?” I asked, sitting up at last. “What’s going on? What were you guys doing all this time anyway?”

I watched as he seemed to suffer some sort of internal struggle. I thought I saw a look of deepest shame cross his features as he croaked, “I was so stupid.”

“What?” I asked, even more curious now.

“I—I couldn’t get rid of her,” he gasped, sinking onto his bed. “I couldn’t deflect her, I couldn’t keep up with her.”

“I’m aware of that,” I said, only a little darkly. “So what? Didn’t you enjoy it?”

“It’s worse than that,” he said, looking at me most seriously. “She—I wasn’t ready. We hadn’t planned it. Well, I don’t know what she’d planned, but she hadn’t done it well, and she didn’t seem to care. She had no boundaries—I told her no, but she insisted it would be fine, and I just—let her do it. We didn’t even have any protection.”

I whistled, finally realising what must have happened. I’d expected the loss of Peter’s virginity to be a joyous occasion (well, a happy one at least, for him), but Peter didn’t seem to think it had been fun at all. He had his face in his hands and was shaking. When he looked up at me though, his eyes were dry—like he was determined not to show too much emotion.

“What about the others?” I asked, wanting to pull his thoughts away from Kylie, for the time being anyway.

“Well, I saw both Harry and Simon chucking away used condoms as I was leaving, probably not the first time for them though. And I saw James and Erica coming out of some bushes too. They looked happy with themselves, so maybe they’d been planning it. Most of the others in the bushes were Hammerhearts, I think.”

“You think?” I asked, staring at him. “I could hardly see anyone from the Young Army in the room when I left.”

“Well, I know Jessica was with Craig and Felicity with David,” said Peter, “but I don’t think they did any more than dance a bit. And Liam—I think I saw him kissing—kissing Serena (he shook his head as though trying to scare off a fly) and Jane and Darcy were together too, but I don’t know if they did much. That’s pretty much it, I think.”

“You didn’t see—Tommy and—and—”

“Oh,” his face fell. “Yeah, I did. I don’t know what Natalie did, but I don’t think they ever got to the bushes. She’d passed out by the time they got out of the place, and I’m pretty sure I saw Tommy carrying her out. He looked disappointed, so I reckon he’d been planning to do whatever in there. She was absolutely wasted, though.”

“I know,” I said stonily, “and I reckon he planned it that way. Glad to see it backfired.”

Peter nodded, apparently unsure what I was getting at, but knowing not to argue. In any case, I had no particular desire to discuss my situation any further, so I said, “So are you on with her now?”

I almost sniggered at the look on Peter’s face. He thought for a moment, then said, “I’m not sure.”

“How can you not be sure?”

“I’ll catch up with her tomorrow or Monday,” he said. “In a more casual atmosphere. But it’s probably easiest to just say yes.”

“Only say yes if you think she’s worth it,” I told him, remembering my own feelings for Lena.

“She is,” he said. “I think she is, and if Serena’s really gone off with Liam—I don’t want to have to be alone while I handle that rejection.”

I lay back down in bed, and Peter did the same. “Your choice,” I said quietly.

My mind was ticking over again. Peter’s point had been more convincing than any of Nicole’s. I didn’t want to be alone either, while I watched Natalie pashing Tommy, or James and Erica, or Kylie and Peter, or Marc and Amelia. I felt a stab of sympathy for Nicole; she may not have a choice in the matter, but I did. In fact, if Stella was as genuine as Lena, I had two possible options.

I lay there in the dark and listened to the pressing silence. I thought I could hear, somewhere outside, a distant siren, like a fire engine, but it made no impression on my thoughts. My insides were churning, not with pleasure or determination, but with guilt about Marc and Amelia, loneliness, dread, and many other miserable feelings I couldn’t quite identify. My final thought before dozing off was that, once I got the Light Crystal back in my possession, I was going to make sure that nothing else could happen to make me feel any worse.

* * *

If I’d thought I could sleep off my bad feelings and make them go away the next day, I realised very quickly how very wrong I was. Things took a drastic turn during breakfast the next morning. Our parents had needled us for information and anecdotes for ten minutes before finally falling satisfied that we’d behaved and nothing had gone wrong. I was on the point of getting up and heading upstairs with James and Peter to start on some homework when my phone rang in my pocket and I pulled it out to see an unfamiliar number on the screen.

“Hello?” I said curiously when I answered, and the whole table fell silent to listen.

“Hi John, Liam here,” he said, and his voice sounded strange, quiet and shocked. “How’re you?”

“Er—fine,” I said, a little anxiously. How did Liam get my number? I had no recollection of ever giving it to him. “We had no problems. What’s up?”

“Well,” he said, and I could tell he was struggling to find the words to describe what he wanted to say, “not everything’s good. Not everyone knows yet, but something went wrong.”

“What? What happened?” I asked urgently. The silence in the room was oppressive now, as we all waited for his answer.

Liam took a deep breath and said, “It’s Daniel. We found him a couple of streets away from where he lived. We think they must have thought he was Marc; they do look alike.”

My stomach lurched at his use of the word 'lived' instead of 'lives'. I also remembered how Moran’s ghosts had attacked Daniel for no reason other than the fact that he looked like Marc.

“What did they do?” I asked, dreading the answer. “Where is he?”

“We think it must—have b-been—quick and c-clean, ‘cause his b-body looked—un-unharmed.”

My mouth fell open. I felt light-headed; my world was spinning out of control. It couldn’t be—it couldn’t. Everyone was looking at me, terrified of what they didn’t yet know. When I could speak again, I said, “Do they know? Marc? Amelia? Stella?”

“Marc does,” he said. “He was the first one I rang, and maybe he’ll have told the Sorcerers by now.”

“What’s going on then?” I asked. The initial shock had worn off enough for me to realise the magnitude of the crisis. “Is there going to be a meeting, or—”

“Perhaps,” he said. “But Marc will let you know in the usual way. Don’t do anything just yet, okay? Just tell the others, and—and—yeah.”

I could tell he was in complete shock and didn’t know what to say, and I was little better. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll see you later, maybe.”

“Yeah. Bye.”

I ended the call and looked up at my family, who were still staring at me, terrified.

“What’s happened?” asked Jessica in a small voice.

I took a deep breath, much as Liam had, and said, “Daniel’s dead.”

The reaction was much as I had expected; gasps echoed around the table, hands clapped to mouths and many eyes filled with tears. Shocked exclamations were the initial reaction, but soon came the realization of what the Hammersons had managed to do, and our mothers were onto it right away.

“I thought you said they’d set up spells to stop them using magic. How could they possibly—”

“Maybe it was because they attacked him so far from the party,” suggested James.

“Or because the party had pretty much finished,” said Felicity.

“I don’t care,” said Marge, standing up and towering over the whole table, which was incredible seeing as she wasn’t normally a very large woman. “It’s settled. None of you are going anywhere near those Sorcerers anymore, do you understand?”

“What?”

“You heard me!” she shrieked. “No Hammersons! No Woodwards! No Morans! No nothing!”

“This is my fault,” sobbed Nicole, and I realised now that she was crying harder than anyone. “All my fault. I made him do that reading, and we know he saw something bad, and we—we—”

My stomach lurched again. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what Nicole must be going through right now, on top of what she’d been going through last night. There was no denying it; she was more to blame for Daniel’s death than anyone other than whoever had actually delivered the final blow, and of course for Daniel himself, who had been happy to comply. Jessica, who was sitting next to Nicole, put her arm around her and whispered something that was probably meant to be soothing.

“You lot are spending time with the wrong people,” said Mum, standing up to join Marge. “I don’t care what points you’ve got to defend yourselves. This is proof of what we’ve been saying all along. It isn’t safe.”

“Daniel wouldn’t have minded,” said Peter suddenly and loudly.

Everyone looked at him. “What are you—” James began.

“He said he’d been expecting it,” said Peter. “Remember, he said it should have happened long before now, and he said he’d make sure he died with style.”

I could remember that too. Now that I thought of it, it was more Daniel’s fault than anyone else’s, if he’d been killed for doing magic at that party. After all, he’d done that reading for Nicole, when many of us had warned him against it. On top of that, he’d chosen Nicole, not the other way around, so it wasn’t Nicole’s fault at all. That also explained his behaviour at the party; he’d been prepared to give me a psychic reading, not because he didn’t think it counted as performing magic, but because he knew he had nothing to lose. He’d already done one, so the damage was done. But had that really resulted in his death?

I looked at our parents. Mum and Marge were the only ones who seemed to be determined to hold us down; Hilda and Violet were watching the scene, looking alarmed, while Dad, Charlie, William and Carl looked shocked at the news of Daniel’s death, but they didn’t seem to have changed their mind about our position, which I appreciated greatly.

“Is there a funeral or something?” asked Felicity in a small voice.

“Liam didn’t say,” I said. “He said we shouldn’t do anything yet. Marc will—”

I looked around, unsure whether or not to mention the meeting in front of our parents. Mum and Marge’s eyes had narrowed at the mention of Marc’s name, though, so I changed direction. “We should just stay here 'til they’ve got more information on exactly what happened.”

I gave the five of them significant looks and was sure they knew what I really meant.

“I don’t want any of you leaving this house until you set off for school tomorrow,” said Marge loudly, cutting across all our trains of thought. “Honestly, I might just go down there and suggest they suspend those Sorcerers; keep the rest of the students safe.”

“How do you think Arnold Hammerson would react if he found out his daughter was suspended just because of her magic? And that you were the one who turned her in?” asked Dad. “I don’t imagine he’d be very happy about it.”

His words made both women recoil, but Peter undid all his good work by saying, “Why would he? It’s not like he cares what’s best for her.”

“I wouldn’t believe that,” said James. “But even if he didn’t care, he certainly wouldn’t want her at home, hanging out and learning all their plans.”

“Better there than in your faces,” said Mum stubbornly.

“I don’t think the school will suspend students just because of something like that,” said Charlie. “If they did, they would never have let Stella in at all. In any case, they’d be too scared to cross the Hammersons. I doubt either her or Amelia have ever been disciplined properly at school.”

“Nothing is to change yet,” said Carl, getting to his feet. He was quite tall, and when he towered over all of us, his authority seemed unquestionable. “Frederic Woodward will know what to make of this, and what the right course of action is. I think all of you should stay inside the house today, at least, so that you’re safe.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Peter, also getting to his feet before any of us could stop him. “Come on John, James; we should do some homework.”

* * *

It was an odd sort of day after that. The shock of Daniel’s death spread through the two houses as though the buildings themselves could hardly believe it. This was worse than what we’d experienced with Lisa’s botched death; on that occasion, it had been easy not to think about it, because we had been so preoccupied by the obstacles guarding the Sien-Leoard crystal, and when the danger had passed, we had been reunited with her.

Now, however, I came to the realization that there was no way to be prepared for something like this, never enough time to say what should be said. The abruptness was so complete that I half expected Daniel to come striding through my bedroom door, laughing and ready to show us American football moves. All of us were generally quiet, and the three girls were often seen to be rubbing their eyes, but none were coping worse than Nicole, who seemed unable to accept our reassurances that it wasn’t her fault.

I was rather preoccupied myself. I didn’t hold myself responsible for anything; I knew that none of us had influenced Daniel’s decision to be bold. What bothered me was the thing I would have to live with for the rest of my life—my last memory of Daniel. He had tried to catch me on my way out, and I had as good as ignored him completely. He had wanted to tell me something important, no doubt related to what we had been discussing earlier. Now, I would never know.

Nicole and I met up a handful of times away from the others throughout the day. She seemed like she wanted to cry, and though she had no shame in doing so in front of the rest of the family, there were a lot of other things pushing down on her that she didn’t want to tell the others. It seemed that something had happened between us the previous night, as though we had somehow built some stronger bond of trust than we had ever had before. It wasn’t stronger or weaker than that I had with Peter and James, just different. I wasn’t sure if her view of the matter was the same as mine, but I gathered it probably was.

Shortly before dinner, we received a text message from Marc, announcing that an urgent meeting was to take place at midnight that night, in the usual location. He also said that we were to tell no one that we were leaving. Other than the word urgent, he didn’t say anything about the meeting’s contents. I had the distinct impression that there was more to it than Daniel’s death. Something else had happened, and something else must be done.