Free A Hollow in the Hills by Ruth Frances Long Page A

everything. And neither of them knew how much. Silver didn’t like it one bit, which made him distinctly uncomfortable.
    Being a touchstone made him a target, he understood that. It also gave him power over her and it didn’t seem to matter. She fascinated him the way a flame enticed a moth. His world was so much bigger now. The music that poured out of him, the magic that allowed him to create it, he couldn’t bear to be without that.
    Life without Silver wasn’t a life.
    That was why he always ended up coming back to her. He needed her. Like an addict needed a fix, perhaps, but it was still need.
    ‘You don’t know that. No one does.’
    ‘Why are you here, Dylan?’ she sighed.
    ‘I saw my sister. Or her ghost. Or … or something. And Izzy said there were angels at her house, looking for one of their brothers. He’s missing. Silver, what is going on?’
    She stared at him for a moment, her gaze too intent, too lingering. Then she seized his hand and pulled him after her. Several of her people started towards them, disturbed by her sudden movement, looking for a way to be of service. Each one shied away at the last moment on seeing her expression,which told him everything he needed to know. She was royally pissed off now.
    They stepped into the one luxurious room she called her own and she pulled the curtained door closed behind them. ‘Tell me everything.’ She sat down on a low chaise longue, the one he remembered from her club. She must have brought it here. One last piece of her shattered home in the one place that was purely hers.
    She perched there like a queen on a throne.
    ‘What I said. Izzy said the angels came to her house, looking for one of their brothers who’s missing. I saw Mari outside the gates to the college on Westland Row, opposite the station. And then … then she was gone. A ghost?’
    Silver shook her head, frowning. ‘Are you certain?’
    ‘Of course. Silver?’ She looked even paler than usual, sickened, as if she’d been punched in the stomach.
    ‘I fear that a door has been opened. A door that never should have been unlocked. That something got out. We have to tell Jinx.’
    ‘Why Jinx?’
    ‘Because something new is out there, stirring up ghosts like that. Or something very old indeed.’ She shuddred suddenly. ‘It’s not just Samhain. It can’t be. Amadán asked us to look into a murder, an impossible murder. And now missing angels? No. I need to talk to Jinx. He could be investigating the very same thing. They have to be connected. It can’t just be a coincidence.’

    There wasn’t a queue or anything. Not at this time of the evening. The guy at the desk gave them a funny look, probably because he was hoping to close up as soon as possible. But Dad didn’t bat an eyelid – just laid down the cash. When he took the tickets they headed on in through a narrow corridor lined with leprechaun memorabilia that made Izzy cringe with every glance.
    ‘Seriously?’ she said again, but Dad shushed her.
    They waited for the door to be opened. The man who stepped through to greet them was a giant, ducking his head as he did so. When he straightened, he recognised Dad. Izzy saw the alarm in his sunken eyes, instantly quelled by willpower alone. He tightened a jaw that could crack walnuts.
    ‘Mr Gregory, what are you doing here?’
    His deep and echoey voice rippled through Izzy’s chest in a disconcerting way. It wasn’t loud, not as such, but it ought to have been. It ought to have her covering her ears and cowering, she knew that instinctively, but it didn’t. As if it didn’t quite sound the same in her world as it would in his. Another one of those tell-tale signs she was learning so much about.
    ‘Just here with a few questions, Grim,’ said Dad with such an air of nonchalance, Izzy almost believed him. If he hadn’t been so worried about coming here. ‘Nothing to be concerned about. Will she see us?’
    Grim didn’t look too sure. He glared at them both, clearly