Blood, Glass and Sugar

  Blood, Glass

  and

  Sugar

  Also by Lyndsay E. Gilbert

  SUN, MOON AND SHADOW

  CHERRY PETALS FALL

  IN THE HOUSE OF LILITH

  Blood, Glass

  and

  Sugar

  Lyndsay E Gilbert

  Wings of Isis Publishing

  WINGS OF ISIS

  First published in Northern Ireland by Wings of Isis Publishing, 2009

  This paperback edition published 2009 by Wings of Isis

  Copyright © Lyndsay E Gilbert, 2009

  This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.

  No reproduction without permission.

  All rights reserved.

  The right of Lyndsay E Gilbert to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

  To my Mum, Linda, who finds me when I’m lost beneath a faerie tree and keeps on leading me home…

  Acknowledgements

  First of all I would like to thank my friend and crazy muse, Helen Falls. Helen encourages me to have faith in my writing, and myself. She has been, and continues to be, an endless source of aid and inspiration.

  I am eternally indebted to the wonderful Elaine Jennings for keeping me sane when I needed to be, and allowing me to be insane when I needed to be as well!

  I am grateful to all the people who read this novel in its various states of growth, and offered encouragement and feedback.

  And finally a thank you to Takeshi, who made me want to save a boy with a thousand faces in the first place.

  Chapter One

  The moment the teacher left the room the wolves began to circle. Evie Edlin watched as Bella Morris, leader of the pack, slid off Mr Crammer’s desk, her too-short skirt sliding up to reveal her honey tanned thighs. Bella had spent the first half of class flirting with the art teacher, probably in an attempt to get a higher grade. From the scowl on her face, it seemed she had been unsuccessful. Her moss green eyes scoured the classroom and caught Evie watching her.

  She began to hunt. Her pack fell in around her as she stalked to Evie’s desk. Evie looked down and concentrated on the raven she’d been drawing on her wrist.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Bella snapped, hovering over the desk, hands on hips. “Shouldn’t you be finishing the decorations for the Christmas Ball?”

  Evie added a few more strokes of shade to the raven’s wings. The ink sketch looked animated, like it might ruffle its feathers and fly from her skin into the afternoon sky. She wished that she could join it.

  “We’re talking to you, Edlin,” another voice snapped. It was Jessica White, her voice gruff and boyish.

  Evie didn’t look up, she just sent up a little prayer that her friend Trix would come back from the toilets, or that Mr Crammer would return. From the corner of her eye she saw the rest of the class making an effort to ignore her.

  “I finished the decorations last week,” Evie said, and hated the way her voice was a raggedy little whisper.

  “Oh you did?” Bella mimicked her whisper. “Why didn’t you mention that at the meeting?”

  “I’m not on the committee,” Evie answered. Bella knew she wasn’t.

  Bella laughed, and the others echoed her, as if they were a personal Greek chorus. “Of course you aren’t on it. You know it's a vote. You should have sent a message though. This is the last day of term. Did you think we were going to go running after you when the holidays started?”

  Evie pulled her shirtsleeve down to cover the raven, and then dared to look up at Bella. She was smiling, though it seemed to hold more fangs than pearly white teeth.

  “I left the banners in the assembly hall already.” Evie shrugged. She had worked hard to complete them, and that morning checked her locker to see if they had left the tickets they had promised her. They hadn’t. She was so tired that she had cried, and now she felt like a fool. Who the hell would she have gone with anyway? She was sixteen, and she’d never had a boyfriend.

  “Shouldn’t you be off wriggling your ass at Mr Crammer?” Trix slumped down in her seat beside Evie. Evie exhaled an audible breath, relief flooding over her like a wave. Trix glared up at Bella and the others. A tight grin twisted her dark plum lips, and she looked like a cat about to pounce.

  Bella’s eyes flashed as she looked Trix up and down. “Keep out of this,” she sneered.

  Trix laughed at her, flipping open a compact mirror and drawing another ring of eyeliner around her eyes. It was eyeliner she definitely didn’t need, and it added an extra darkness to her glare. “Piss off, ladies, before I go find your hunky boyfriend and tell him Mr Crammer’s his new competition.”

  Bella fluffed her model-tussled blonde hair and shrugged. “I don’t think his radar would actually pick up a talking tramp,” she said.

  Trix hissed. It was sudden and animalistic. Evie tried not to laugh as the five girls stepped back together. Trix stood up and reached across the desk. Jessica White gasped, and then a bright blush coloured her whole face as Trix pulled the fabric she’d been sewing for her art project towards herself.

  “Don’t make me bite you,” Trix said. Her eyes brightened in a way that said she really wished they would make her bite.

  Bella screwed her nose up as if she could smell dog shit and walked back to her own table. They usually backed off when Trix was there. Trix was tall, thin and willowy. Underneath her uniform she had a firmly toned body from dancing but the other girls didn’t know that. What they did know was that she had five massive brothers and had claimed to be a high priestess of witchcraft since second year.

  The bell rang and the class began to pack up and head for the door. Excitement buzzed around them. A sort of sick longing settled in Evie’s stomach as she listened to party plans and chat about the school dance as her class mates mulled out to the car park.

  Evie gathered up her art coursework, a series of sketches inspired by Milton’s Paradise Lost. She’d found out her practical grade today. She was a top A. Bella was failing and it didn’t give Evie nearly as much pleasure as it should have. She would have traded in all her good marks for a single day where Bella and the others just left her alone.

  “Emo girl, what was that all about?” Trix asked, unwrapping a bubblegum flavoured lollypop and sticking it in her mouth.

  Evie slung her bag onto her back. “They were just asking about the decorations for the ball,” she said.

  “I can’t believe you did that for them,” Trix growled, pulling another lollypop from her pocket. “Want one?” She offered it to Evie who shook her head.

  “God, you really are depressed. No candy for Evie?”

  Evie suppressed a small smile. “I’m a connoisseur of sweets, and that is a fake sweet.”

  Quick as a viper Trix darted forward and licked Evie’s cheek.

  “Eww!” Evie rubbed at the sticky trail now running up her face. “You are so gross, sometimes.”

  “I try,” Trix said, laughing.

  They headed out to the car park after every one else. Evie’s eyes immediately sought out Bella and the Beautifuls. They were standing under the bus stop shelter, a safe distance away. A battered Ford Cortina pulled up beside Evie and Trix with a rattle. Evie heard the mocking laughter from the bus stop as Trix pulled open the chipped red passenger door. It made a loud, rusty creak but she didn’t even seem to notice the derisive comments shooting down towards them.

  “I’ll call you tomorrow, babe,” Trix said, and she blew Evie a kiss and slammed the car door shut. She popped the lolly back in her mouth, tucking her long brown fringe behind her ear to avoid eating it as well.

  Her brothe
r Michael waved at Evie from the driver seat before forcing the car into gear and rattling away through the car park. Evie watched them turn out onto the main road, and dread settled on her chest like a cold, hard stone. Her stepmother was late and Bella’s gang hung around for ages after school closed. Without Trix about, Evie was an easy target again.

  The last of the pupils trickled out through the gates and disappeared quickly, eager to get home and start the Christmas holidays. Soon it was only Bella and the Beautifuls left. They stalked slowly closer to where Evie stood waiting, clutching her art folder against her chest for warmth and comfort. She pulled her mobile phone from her pocket and typed a text with slow, half frozen fingers.

  I’m outside the school now. Where are you?

  She scrolled the contact list, but before she could select Louise’s number the phone was snatched from her hand.

  “I thought your dad was supposed to have money. This thing’s a brick for God’s sake!” Bella held the phone up for her gang to inspect.

  Evie tried to grab it back but Jessica White shoved her hard in the chest. Her art folder slid from her grasp and sketches and paintings fluttered out, landing in a puddle of grey slush.

  She forgot the stupid phone and knelt down, gathering up her work. Her latest watercolour was destroyed, the white wings of a fallen angel bleeding down the page, and blending with the roof of Lucifer’s palace.

  “What the hell is all this?” Bella prodded the pages with the tip of her pointy shoe. “Really Evie, I didn’t know you were satanic.”

  Rage bubbled like a potion in Evie’s stomach. She wanted to jump at them and tear them into pieces as small as how they made her feel. But she only bit her lip to stop it quivering and peeled the rest of the ruined drawings from the puddle. She stood up and threw them in a trashcan beside the school gates, her eyes burning with tears. If she cried it would make their day.

  She blinked rapidly, walking back to her school bag and holding her hand out to Bella for her phone. “Just give me it.”

  Bella must have seen the anger in Evie. She shrugged her shoulders, smiling tightly as she handed over the phone. Just as Evie’s fingers brushed it, Bella let go and it toppled onto the pavement with a smash.

  “Oops,” Bella whispered, her green eyes bright. Evie wanted green eyes like that, unusual and striking. Aside from them she was classically pretty, with a body to die for, swelling in all the right places, flat in all the others. She tossed her ice blonde hair over her shoulders, and peered down at the disjointed bits of plastic that had once been Evie’s phone.

  “It was time for an update anyway. I did you a favour. Oh, and here…” She plunged a perfectly manicured hand into her blazer pocket and pulled out a gilded white envelope. “It’s an invitation to the Yule ball, sweetheart. We need a Goth to play the snow Queen. We’d ask your girlfriend, but we don’t want tramps there.”

  Evie’s hands shook as she stuffed the invitation in her pocket, wishing she had the guts to stuff the stupid thing up Bella’s snooty nose. She gathered up the pieces of her phone and tried to reassemble it. The screen was cracked, but the case clicked together. She held the power button down but it had no effect. She breathed deeply, trying to banish her frustration.

  There was nothing she could do. At sixteen she had stopped dreaming about primary school where she’d had lots of friends, and lots of confidence. Being in her sixth year of high school should have made her entirely used to being the loser that she was now. But the loss of her entire art portfolio was the worst thing that they’d ever managed to do to her. She’d rather that they’d broken her nose again, like they had in first year.

  She dashed a tear from her eye before it could fall and tried to pull herself together. It was the Christmas Holidays. She had plenty of time to replace her ruined art coursework, plenty of days that wouldn’t involve being stuck inside the same building as Bella and her bitches.

  She slipped the broken phone in her pocket and hauled her bag onto her shoulder. Bella sauntered on down the pavement, hips sashaying. She still managed to look like a catwalk model in their frumpy uniform.

  Louise’s silver car zoomed into the car park then and Evie hurried toward it. The boot popped open as the car pulled up beside her and she tossed her bag in a little too violently.

  Louise looked her over suspiciously when she slunk down into her seat, but didn’t ask any questions. She was cool like that. She was cool in a lot of ways.

  It had taken a long time to get used to sharing her dad with another woman. Mostly because she saw so little of him as it was. The fact that Louise was barely ten years her elder had made it even worse. But she’d replaced the need for live in nannies, and within a year had become Evie’s friend.

  They left the school premises. A red sports car overtook them as they pulled out onto the main road. Evie recognised it as belonging to the captain of the Rugby team, Christopher Carson, the most popular guy in school, and Bella‘s boyfriend. Somehow, even though he didn’t have any real academic merit, he was head boy of the Upper Sixth.

  They stopped at a red light, and Evie could see that they were arguing, Carson’s face kept turning towards Bella in the passenger seat, and his mouth moved fast and viciously. Bella was crying, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her blazer. The lights turned to green and their car didn’t move.

  Louise beeped her horn, and Evie tried to slide further down in her seat, but Carson glanced in his rear view mirror and saw her. He glared, revved his engine and sped off just as the lights turned red again.

  “These high school kids can’t drive.” Louise complained, pulling up the handbrake. “Especially the ones in fancy cars.”

  Evie wriggled back to an upright position. Louise glanced at her from the corner of her eye. “You okay, Evie? You’re very quiet.”

  “Yeah, just a long afternoon. I thought it was never going to end.” She pulled the sunscreen down and checked herself in the mirror. Her dark hazel eyes were bloodshot and still a little watery.

  For some reason Bella’s voice came into her head. Three years ago she’d said seeing Evie from a distance was like seeing a ghost with two black holes in its face instead of eyes. The stupid comment had hurt, and sometimes it haunted Evie when she looked in the mirror.

  “We could stay home, leave the shopping for tomorrow morning-” Lou began.

  “No!” It came out more forcefully than she’d intended. But she’d been looking forward to their shopping trip all week. “Sorry Lou, but I’m absolutely dying to spend some money.” She grinned as impishly as she could, and Louise laughed, putting the car into motion and driving in the direction of the high street.

  Evie relaxed, leaning forward and switching on the CD player. ‘Down with the Sickness’ started to blast out mid track. The fact that her step-mum was cool enough to listen to rock bands of her own free will never ceased to amuse Evie. They sang loudly together until they pulled up outside their house. They’d been living in Camden Town centre for just over a month now and it was great. They could shop right up until closing time, and wander home within a few minutes.

  It was freezing when they climbed out. The slush that had formed during the afternoon was starting to harden as the light disappeared. A faint crescent moon hovered above them like a spirit, watching with a cold calm as the sun struggled to cling onto the sky.

  “Do you want to get changed out of your uniform?” Lou asked, nodding towards their bright red front door.

  Evie shook her head. “It’s okay, my blazer’s pretty warm anyway.”

  Louise chattered her teeth and buttoned up her black woollen coat, throwing the hood up to cover her blaze of red curls. “Suit yourself, honey. Where to first?”

  Evie huddled close to her, hooking their arms together as a sharp wind tried to slice through them. “Whichever shop looks the warmest.”

  They hurried down towards the crowded main road, but Louise veered off into a quieter street as soon as they reached it. In the shelter of the rambling
terraces they were safe from the wind. Old family owned shops lined the crooked avenue, as empty and miserable as the space between the stars. It appeared that everyone else was shopping on the main street.

  The warm lights were homely, shining out from the front of the shops and the windows above, where many of the owner’s actually live. Evie thought it was sort of romantic, living above a shop.

  “Hey, dreamer.” Louise laughed. “What are you thinking about?”

  Evie smiled. “It’s nice down here. Why don’t we have a little look?” She stopped outside an old antique shop, and pointed at a steaming cauldron in the display. It looked like it was left over from Halloween, but was wrapped in red and silver tinsel. A little sign beside it offered a free glass of mulled apple wine.

  “Intriguing,” Louise said, peering down into the shop behind the display. “We might find some nice things for the house in there.”

  Evie rolled her eyes. “Yeah right. All you want is the wine.” She gave a teasing wink and pushed the door open. An electronic Santa laugh announced their arrival.

  The shop smelled like cinnamon and old, old books. As the door closed behind her she felt a shiver dance down her spine. The air felt crisp and breakable, as though breathing it in would cause it to crumble and fade away, along with the shop around it.

  Curtains at the back of the room rustled, and an old woman shuffled out from behind them. She was prehistoric, her face a patch of arid wrinkles clinging onto her bones. When she smiled at them, Evie thought her lips might just flake off and float away on the dusty air.

  “Welcome, welcome,” she crooned, coming closer.

  Louise smiled and stepped forward to meet her. Evie followed, glancing about the shop at all that was on display. It was hard to focus on any one thing, tables were pressed together and piles of ornaments and trinkets heaped on top. There were shelves and shelves of oddments nailed to every wall, and bulging cardboard boxes scattered around that could only be described as clutter.