The Lies Behind That Smile

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Josh walked in with a scuttle full of coal, wincing against the volume in the kitchen. He was beyond fed up of the carousel they'd been mindlessly riding as they rehashed the same issues over and over. From the corner of his eye he noticed Nikki's empty space and sighed. What had they said to her now? A snippet of conversation rose above the din, grabbing his attention.

"Who says she didn't do it on purpose? We can't just accept what you've been told, I don't care what you say, she's manipulated you before and she could have easily done it again." Roxy was clearly annoyed and her voice had risen to painfully high tones to convey her anger. Josh watched Sam with intrigue.

"This was nothing to do with Nikki! If she was planning anything she would have told us."

"Oh like she did last time?"

"Are we talking about the same time Jake told you what would happen and you chose to keep it quiet?" Sam roared, his temper finally snapping.

Josh crouched down and busied himself with the fire, he was sick and tired of these arguments, Roxy wasn't going to forgive and forget and Josh wasn't about to either, in his mind there was no way they could progress. Poking at the embers he sighed, what ever someone had said or done it was enough to send Nikki from the room and that was unacceptable to him.

"So who said what?" he asked, dropping the poker.

At once silence claimed the room as every pair of eyes turned to stare at him. Sam pulled his hand nervously through his hair and flicked his eyes to Juliet.

"Oh, I should've known!" Josh bit, squaring up to the old woman. "What did you do now?"

Looking anxious, Sam cleared his throat. "Nikki disappeared. She was sat in her chair one minute and gone the next - chair and all. We've no idea what happened she just ... vanished."

For a split second Josh's mind went blank before his instincts kicked in. "No! No, no, no, no, this can't be happening. What do you mean she disappeared, where? What the hell? She can't just vanish into thin air." He ran around to where Nikki had been sat to see for himself that her chair was indeed missing. "Where the fuck is she?"

"We don't know--" Sam started but Juliet interrupted.

"There's a possibility it might not have been the demons doing."

Sinking down into her seat, Juliet wrapped her bony fingers around her teacup and sipped at the cooling liquid. "It could have been Scarlett."

"What could have been Scarlett?" Mikey's calm question cut through the confusion.

"What are you talking about?" Josh hissed, glowering at Juliet.

"Scarlett, she's, well, she's special. She's ... " Her words trailed off.

"Have you any idea where they may be?" Mikey questioned, taking over from Sam who was obviously wrestling to control his temper.

"They could be anywhere but I can call her back ," Juliet hesitated. "Only, if she's not touching the demon, she'll come back alone."

"When you say they could be anywhere?"

"I mean they could be absolutely anywhere, Mikey. Upstairs, Russia, even Mortemb for all I know."

Josh opened his mouth to curse but Mikey cut him off, gesturing for him to sit down.

"Okay Juliet, tell us what you know."

"You all know I'm a Guardian but none of you thought to question what exactly I'm guarding. You see, Scarlett isn't just here by accident and neither am I. She was a Charge and she's been passed down through the generations of my family along with this house. What?" Juliet pulled her eyebrows up and glared at the faces staring back at her. "You think I like living here, all alone and shut away from the rest of the world? You think I chose this? Huh," she huffed loudly. "I'm a Guardian but I'm not like you lot. I age and I'll die, I've never been to the pen and I never will. My job is to keep Scarlett inside the house and away from prying eyes."