Free Kiera Hudson & The Lethal Infected by Tim O'Rourke Page A

daughter…
    …perhaps it was just a dream, Kiera…
    I pushed that voice of doubt – reason – from my mind. I didn’t want anything to destroy the feelings of happiness that now washed over me.
    “So where is this party taking place?” I asked Potter.
    He looked at me, his wings looking tatty and torn as they rippled in the wind. “The party is being held at a place called Hallowed Manor.”
    “Hallowed Manor?” I breathed, trying to contain my shock.
    “Yeah, it’s a big place, set in its own grounds. It has a fucking moat going all the way around it and a drawbridge.”
    “It sounds like some kind of fortress,” I said, pretending I had never been there before. But I had. It was where I had first met Kayla and Isidor, and where Potter and I had shared our first kiss in the gatehouse. I thought it had been Luke I’d been kissing, but it hadn’t been. Potter had said that I secretly knew that it had been him all along and not Luke. But I‘d always denied that, but perhaps Potter had been right.
    “I guess it is like a fortress,” Potter said thoughtfully.
    “So who else is going to be at this party other than me and you?” I asked, needing to know. Not only had I first met Kayla and Isidor there, but my friends Doctor Ravenwood and Lord Hunt had been doctors there. Hallowed Manor was where they’d had a secret hospital wing hidden in the attic. It was where they had nursed the sick half-breeds like Meren and Nessa. It was where Ravenwood and Lord Hunt had developed Lot 13.
    Potter looked sideways at me.
    “Who else is going to be there?” I asked again, my heart summersaulting in my chest.
    “Friends,” Potter smiled, holding my hand tighter still.
    Looking front again and feeling more excited than I could ever remember feeling, I raced through the night sky with Potter at my side once more. On the horizon, I could just make out the hulking shape of Hallowed Manor. Desperate to know which of my friends would be joining me for my secret birthday party, I raced toward it.  

 
    Chapter Thirteen
     
    It had started to rain by the time Potter and I swooped out of the night and settled on the gravel drive that twisted its way towards Hallowed Manor. Did it feel good to be back? I wasn’t sure. It was like I’d already spent much of two lifetimes here. Some of the memories I had for the manor house were good and others not so. I looked back toward the trees which led to the clearing and the summer house. I had only good memories of the times I spent there with Potter. Beyond the summer house hid the tiny cemetery beneath the weeping willows. I couldn’t help but wonder if all those tiny graves of the dead half-breed children were still there. I hoped not.
    The wind had picked up and there was a sudden chill in the air. I shivered, pulling the shawl tighter about my shoulders. The rain came down heavier now, driving into the branches of the trees that bent to and fro in the wind. I looked back down at the gatehouse and the drawbridge. It had been pulled up, shutting off the outside world from Hallowed Manor and its secrets. I wondered what secrets were hidden behind its walls in this world. I guessed I was soon to find out as Potter took me by the hand and led me up the drive to the large wooden front door.
    “You said there were friends here?” I asked him, feeling little apprehensive now. “Will I know any of them?”
    “You might,” Potter said, as if not wanting to give anything away.
    I glanced sideways at him, rain dashing the lapels of his suit. He could be an arse at times, I knew, but it appeared he had dressed up for the secret birthday party he had obviously arranged for me. Together we climbed the steps that led to the front door. He pushed it open. I glanced inside. There was only darkness. I lingered on the top step.
    “Are you okay?” Potter glanced at me, as if being able to sense my unease.
    “Just a little nervous, I guess,” I shrugged.
    “You have nothing to be nervous