________________________

________________________

THE RAIN GAVE way to a moment of peace when the eye of the storm hovered over the forest, the wind stilling and the downpour coming to a stop. The thunder quietened as it rolled off into the distance at last, the lightning disappearing with it, and silence fell like a curtain dropping at the end of a performance. The fire crackled, flames dancing in the rain-streaked window pane, and a roar exploded when a ball of newspaper lit up with a sudden flash.

A drop of hot chocolate sizzled in the grate, sloshing out of the mug in Ainslie's hand when the fire made her jump. She cradled the mug, mirroring Caleb's position with her elbows resting on her knees and her eyes on Adele, who wouldn't settle. Her hands raked through her hair, clasped at the nape of her neck as she paced around the kitchen. There wasn't much space for that, and she came a stop against the sink. Behind her, pale light fell through the window like a halo.

"I have to go," she said. She had said that several times in the past few minutes, as though trying to convince herself to do something she'd rather not.

"No you don't," Ainslie said. She had said that every single time.

"It's a bad idea," Caleb added.

"It's not safe, Adele."

"I have to," she said again, shaking her head. "I have to talk to Jade. Just because we have a crappy relationship doesn't mean I can keep this from her. She needs to know, guys. Katherine's her sister too."

"But it's dangerous," Caleb said. "Creighton is there. I don't want you to hurt again. He can't hurt you again, Adele."

Ainslie jumped back in, nodding her agreement with Caleb. "And he will if he sees you in his house. I just think this is a bad idea. Will it even make a difference if he's got Jade under his thumb? She won't even listen to you."

"No," Adele said, "but at least she'll hear. I need her to hear me, even if she doesn't believe me. For her sake and for the baby's, she really needs to hear me."

Ainslie and Caleb shared a look. She was the first to turn back to Adele, setting her hot chocolate down on the threadbare rug.

"You're not going to take no for an answer," she said. Adele shook her head: she wasn't asking. She had already made up her mind. Ainslie sighed. "Then you need to be careful, and you better make sure no-one sees you. Well, you better make sure Creighton doesn't see you."

"Don't get hurt," Caleb said. "Please."

"I'll be careful." She dropped her hands from her neck and wrung her wrists.

"And don't be long."

"I won't." She swallowed the shiver that entered her voice at the thought of bumping into Creighton gain. She couldn't bear the thought of seeing him again, but she couldn't bear not to at least try to help her sister one more time.

"And Adele?" Ainslie got to her feet.

"Yes?"

"You might want to do something about this." She touched the scar on Adele's neck. The redness was fading but it still looked like an aggressive love bite. "If anyone sees that, they won't think twice. They'll assume you've been turned and they'll shoot you."

Caleb leapt up. "You can't go," he said, his head shaking. "You're not going out, Adele. It's too dangerous. You can't die. You can't go."

"I'll wear a scarf," she said, taking one from the rack on the back of the door. She wrapped the thick wool three times around her neck, hiding the obvious mark. "I'll be ok. I'll be careful, don't worry."

Caleb took her hand, lacing his fingers with his. "I am worried," he said. "And I don't like this. But you have to do it."

"I do," she said, letting in his warmth for a moment. "And I understand where you're coming from, but Jade is my sister. She needs to know. Even if she doesn't believe me, I can't not tell her."

He nodded and pulled her closer until their lips met, holding her to him in a gentle kiss. One hand pushed under her scarf to touch her mark, the other resting on the small of her back to hold her steady when his touch weakened her. Both arms wrapped tightly around her and he buried his nose in her hair. When she pulled away, she kissed him again and let go.

"I'll be fine."

"You should take a gun," Ainslie said. "Just in case."

"No! I can't take a gun, Ains. I'm not a murderer: I'm not going to stoop to his level. And anyway, if I get caught trespassing on his property with a gun, he would shoot me and he'd get away with it. If I'm not armed, he won't have an excuse to shoot me."

"This is insane," Ainslie muttered, shaking her head. "This shouldn't be a conversation we have to have! You're only trying to see your sister. She's your family. Oh my goodness. We should go to the police."

"We can't," Adele said. "They wouldn't listen and all we have is our own suspicions about him – we don't have hard proof, and he would know it was me. We wouldn't be safe. We can't go to the police." She shook her head, her shoulders sagging. "That would only make things worse."

"That's so wrong!" Ainslie cried, flinging her arms out. "Oh my goodness, this is all so broken."

"Yup." Adele nodded. She couldn't dwell too much on the unfairness of the system that her town existed in, how much it stifled her; she couldn't let it get to her else she would sink under. "There's nothing we can do about that."

"Be safe," Caleb said. "I love you."

"I love you too," she said with a smile more confident than her heart. "You guys should stay in the bunker while I'm gone. Lock the garage and keep your phone on you. And keep your ears peeled." Then she faltered. "I should take you home, Ains. You shouldn't be here."

"No." She sat down. "I'm staying. We're going to wait for you to get back. We're not going anywhere, so don't even try to fight me."

Adele backed down, the ferocity of Ainslie's words sticking into her. "Ok," she said. "Alright. Well, I'm going. I'll be fine. You need to be too."

Caleb put his arms around Ainslie's shoulders. "We will be fine. Come back soon."

Her hand on his chest, she kissed him again. "I will."

*

It was already dark outside. The sun had sunk, an eerie haze hovering in the air as twilight settled in. It wasn't quite five o'clock yet but it felt like midnight already, the moon high in the sky surrounded by a handful of pale stars that sat muffled behind the clouds. The roads were slick with rain in the aftermath of the storm, tyres splashing through deep puddles that settled against the kerb.

Adele didn't crunch up the looping driveway to Keir manor. Instead, she pulled her truck to a stop a hundred metres down the road, tucked into a dark nook of the forest. The car wouldn't be seen unless someone was looking for it, shaded by the thick, snowy bracken and the dark trunks of rain-soaked trees.

Sturdy winter boots trampled down the forest floor, crushing bracken as she walked slowly and carefully. Her soles gripped the snowy hill, her gloves lined with rubber ridges to help grab the trees for support. It was a long enough drive in the car, a couple of tedious minutes of curving round the loops, and it would take a lot longer to trudge up the hill that would lead her to the side of the house.

The bitter air nipped her cheeks, freezing her skin through her layers. She tightened her scarf and tugged her hat down further over her ears. Through the tightly clustered trees, she could see the glow of the manor like a sickening beacon on the horizon. Someone was home at least. She was certain Jade would be inside, that she didn't have much of a choice when it came to leaving.

Twenty minutes dragged by as Adele hauled herself through the dark woods, fighting the thorns that clung to her damp jeans. Her legs were numb, her breaths shallow, and they quietened as she approached the edge of the woods. An owl startled her with its hoot, the sudden rustle of branches when it flapped its wings and swooped out of the trees. Clutching a narrow trunk, she pulled herself closer to the cusp, scanning the driveway.

Creighton's car was gone, a dry patch of gravel where he usually parked. Jade's was tucked around the side of the house. Adele was surprised she still had one at all, that Creighton allowed her to drive. Probably just to keep the baby out of his car, she thought as she edged to the side. The trees cloaked her, hiding her form as she snuck around to the back of the house. The front door locked automatically but the back didn't, the door used so infrequently that Adele hoped they didn't both to check.

Silence reigned as evening sank in. The woods settled. Her heart rate didn't. It spiked when the gravel crunched beneath her feet, the sound seeming so much louder when it was the only one around. Holding her breath, she crept out of the woods and darted across the drive to the back door with her heart in her throat and she wrapped her fingers around the back door handle.

It creaked open without protest. The warmth of the house hit her as hard as the wind had slammed into her when she had got out of the car, a sudden gust of heat escaping as she slipped in through the back and heeled off her boots. The brightly lit house was as quiet as outside, amplifying every breath she took and every step she made. The carpeted stairs softened the sound of her feet as she heaved herself up to the first floor.

It was eerily quiet. A chill settled over her, the feeling that she was somewhere she shouldn't be. Discomfort sat heavily on her shoulders, dreading what could happen if she was wrong. Creighton could still be in the house. He could be waiting for her, sneaking around just like she was. On instinct, she checked over her shoulder but there was nothing. No-one.

Even the nursery was silent. But it wasn't empty. Fiona lay in the crib, awake and staring at the mobile above her bed. Horror filled Adele at the sight of her niece alone in an unlocked house and she raced over, scooping the girl into her arms.

"Hey, baby," she whispered, swaying Fiona as she clutched her close. "What're you doing all alone? Where's your mummy? What's happened to your mummy?"

Nausea filled her at all the possibilities until the silence was ripped from under her when Fiona began to wail and there was a crash down the hallway, the slam of a door and the thud of footsteps, and Adele froze. Her feet were rooted to the spot, her eyes wide, and she held onto the baby as she cried.

Jade careened into the room, swinging through the door with alarm on her face that turned to confusion when she saw her sister. "Adele? What're you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you," Adele said, beyond relieved to see her sister's face. That was a new feeling. "I thought you'd left Fiona all alone."

"What? What kind of mother do you think I am?" she cried. "I was in the bathroom. I only left her for a couple of minutes. She was safe."

"I know," Adele said. "It's fine, she's fine. I just thought you weren't here."

Jade sat down in the armchair as though her bones had turned to mush, her body sagging as she let herself relax while someone else held her daughter for once. "Well, I am," she said. "I would never leave my baby, Adele."

"I know. Sorry."

"Why're you here?"

"We need to talk." Adele eased herself down onto the rocking chair, cradling Fiona against her chest as though she was her own daughter. The little girl settled with a hiccup, nestling her cheek against her aunt's shoulder.

"What about?"

"Katherine."

Jade sighed and shook her head. "There's nothing to say, Adele. She disappeared nearly twenty years ago. I don't know anything about her."

"I know you don't, but I do," she said, one hand stroking Fiona's soft hair, and she glanced up at her sister. "Where's Creighton?"

"He went to the pub," she said. "Why?"

"Because he'll kill me if he sees me here, so I need to be gone before he gets back."

"Oh." Jade didn't question her. "He might be a while." Her eyes dropped to her daughter before she looked back up at Adele with a smile on her lips. "She likes you. You must be a natural. Who'd have thought it?"

The words weren't meant in spite. Adele had talked in the past of her reluctance to ever settle down and have a family, but she had already broken one part of that pact with herself. She was with Caleb for the long haul: only death would part them.

"What were you saying?" Jade asked. "You said you know something about Katherine."

"She's our sister," Adele said. It was easier to just spit the words out. Jade hardly reacted at first, until her brow pulled into a frown and she shook her head.

"What? No. She was Creighton's sister."

"She's his half-sister," Adele said, "and she's our half-sister too."

"What are you on about? Adele, really? You sound crazy right now."

Adele shook her head, her cheek rubbing against Fiona's soft hair. "Rose had an affair with our father. Katherine is our half-sister, Jade. We share a dad. He had an affair with Creighton's mother and after he died, Rose had Katherine."

"Where's this coming from?" Jade clasped her hands over her stomach, sinking into the chair that cocooned her. She needed a break.

"I found some of Nana's old things," she said. "She wrote about it. Katherine's our sister too, Jade, and she's out there somewhere. I need you to know this. I need you to understand what I'm saying. Creighton knows all this. He knows that our dad had an affair with his mum; it's why he hates our family. It's why he killed Nana."

"He killed Nana because she was turned," Jade said. "And he doesn't hate our family. We're engaged. We have a child."

"A child that he forced you to have even though neither of you wanted a baby," Adele said. She covered Fiona's ears and kept her voice measured. It would be impossible to get through to Jade anyway: there was no harm in spitting the truth.

"Fiona's my everything, Adele. Just because I was scared of having her doesn't mean I don't love her." She sat forward, hurt lacing her face. There was no anger or indignation: she just looked upset.

"I know you love her. I'm not saying you don't love her. You're a good mother, Jade," she said with a slight smile. "You and Fiona deserve better. I can help you. I need to help you before he hurts you. He's controlling you, Jade, and he wants to break up our family. I'm scared that he's going to do something. You need to get out, and we need to find our sister."

Jade stood. She took Fiona, cradling her baby and kissing her hair before she sat down. "I'm not going anywhere. Even if Katherine was related to us, she's been gone for nearly twenty years. She's dead, Adele. There's no point dragging this up now."

"She's family. We owe it to her to find her."

Jade shook her head. "I have my own family now. I have my daughter to look out for."

"I am your family. Fiona is your family; Katherine is too. Creighton isn't your family, Jade. He's a bully and you're not safe." She sat on the edge of the rocking chair, her nails digging into her palms, imploring her sister to listen to her but she was hardly even reacting.

"I'm safer on his good side."

The words struck Adele like a slap to the face. It was the first time Jade had even come close to admitting what she knew was true. "Jade, you know you're not safe. Do you feel safe? Do you really feel like Fiona's safe?"

She swayed in her seat, rubbing Fiona's back and kissing her hair. "She's safe with me," she said. "I'll keep her safe."

"I can keep you safer. Come with me."

"No." She met Adele's eye. "I'm safer here, Adele. And you're safer there."

"He's lying to you. He's been lying for as long as you've known him. Are you hearing me?"

"Yes." She leant back, adjusting Fiona in her arms, and let her baby wrap her tiny hand around her finger. "You think Katherine is our sister and she's alive even though she disappeared when she was four. I think you're crazy. I think my daughter and I are safer if we stay her. You think I'm crazy. I'm not coming with you, Adele. We're staying here."

Adele stood. She didn't know what to say, knocked for a six by the sudden clarity in her sister's voice. Her mouth hung open, words failing her until she caught a flash of light out of the corner of her eye. The beam of a headlight coming up the drive.

"Shit!"

"You should go," Jade said. She stood and laid Fiona down in the crib, bending over to kiss her forehead.

"Don't tell him I was here. Shit. I need to get out of here. Seriously, Jade, don't breath a word to Creighton."

"I won't," she said. "You go. I'll talk to him."

Adele flew down the stairs, racing to the back door while Jade took the steps slowly, greeting Creighton at the door. With her heart thudding out of her chest, Adele tugged on her boots and slipped out of the back door, pulling it shut as quietly as she could before she tore across the drive to the woods. The thorns snagged on her knees, her laces catching in the bracken, but she persevered. Even when she tripped over a rock, tumbling head over heels into the snow-covered stones, she picked herself up and limped to the safety of her truck.

Her pulse didn't settle once during the thirty-minute drive back home, constantly checking the rear view mirror and half-expecting to see Creighton's car looming behind her. But it never did. It was only when she unlocked the garage door, clicking it shut behind her, that she felt any semblance of safety once more.

The second she stepped into the bunker, she was almost knocked over by Ainslie's running hug, barrelling into her at full speed.

"Thank goodness!" she cried out. "You've been ages. We were getting scared!"

"I'm here, I'm ok," she said, though her wrist was aching after she had put out her hand to break her fall. Her hands were littered with scratches, adding a couple of grazes to her cheeks below the yellowing bruise around her eye.

"Is Jade ok? Creighton wasn't there was he? What happened? What did Jade say?"

Before she could answer any of Ainslie's barrage of questions, Caleb pulled her to his chest and held her tightly, tucking her cheek against his chest and gripping her so tightly that she could hardly breathe. She didn't resist.

"Don't go again," he said.

"I won't."

He led her to the nook, where she sat down on the mountain of blankets with her legs crossed, her hands in her lap to hide the scratches that would no doubt panic Ainslie. Caleb sat beside her; Ainslie sat opposite as though she was about to be interviewed, perched on the stool by the fire that she and Caleb had kept alive.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I spoke to Jade," she said. "I didn't get through to her and she's insistent that Katherine's dead by now but she let it slip that she knows Creighton's not safe."

"She did?" Caleb asked. "Why is she there then?"

"I told her to come with me. I told her I could keep her and Fiona safe, which I know is stupid but I thought it would be better than her staying with him, but she wouldn't come. She said she's safer staying on his good side."

"So she knows he has a bad side," Ainslie said. "That's awful. Does she know she's in danger? Does she realise that her baby is too?"

Adele nodded and dropped her eyes to her lap, resting her temple against Caleb's shoulder. "She knows," she said, "and I think she has a point. She's safer on his good side."

"What do we do now?" Ainslie asked, her eyes flitting between the two of them. It was Caleb who spoke up, voicing the words he knew were on Adele's mind, the same words that had lingered at the forefront of his thoughts for weeks now.

"We find Reed," he said, "and we go."

________________________
________________________

wow, i miss one day of updating and it feels like a week since i last posted! i hope you liked this chapter!

so, thanks to your enthusiasm, i think caleb may well be the narrator of book two, holding point. the book will follow on directly from the ending of turning point, and will be posted in january. only seven chapters to go now so how about a tiny little peek of what's to come (and a refresher on how hot & cute caleb is of course)?