Free Beneath by Gill Arbuthnott Page A

released him.
    “How do you know my name?” Jess repeated. She relented a little. “You can walk while you tell me.”
    “I watch you. I watch your family,” he said unwillingly. “I’ve watched you for years. I’ve seen you sometimes look round as though you knew I was there.”
    “I
did
know,” said Jess slowly. “All those times I’ve had the feeling I was being watched it must have been you.” She slapped an insect away. “But why did you watch us?”
    She wasn’t sure she wanted him to answer.
    “At first it was because… we’re kin.”
    “We’re
what
?”
    “My father is your grandmother’s cousin.”
    She gaped at him in disbelief.
    “What? What’s his name?”
    “Euan.”
    “Your
father
? But he must be almost the same age as my grandmother.”
    “I told you, time runs differently here. I’ve seen your grandmother. My father is much younger here.” Finn said soberly. “But it’s best you don’t see him. He’ll try to stop you, the same as everyone else.”
    Ten minutes passed in silence, and the trees began to thin. Finn put a hand on Jess’s arm to stop her, the first time he had touched her in human form. He snatched his hand away as though he’d been burned.
    “When we get to the edge of the trees you’ll see my family’s home. Wait in the trees and I’ll bring Freya to you. My mother will sense something happening as soon as you touch her, so be ready.”
    As they walked on, Jess could hear the sound of falling water. She was listening so intently that she walked straight into Finn’s back.
    He took a sharp breath, turned and realised the contact had been accidental. “There it is,” he said after a few seconds, andshe looked round his shoulder to see his home.
    Now that it was fully light, she saw the Nykur world properly for the first time, and drew a breath in wonder.
    To right and left, a rippling plain of grasses stretched to the limits of her vision, lush green shading away to blue in the distance. In front of her lay a boggy meadow, covered in tussocky grass and rushes and starred with tall yellow flowers that she didn’t recognise, but whose scent reached her, even here. A river flowed through it, silver water bounding from pool to pool. Behind the meadow was a procession of crags stacked like steps, water launching itself from the topmost one to tumble down to the river in a series of waterfalls, rainbows dancing above them where the air sparkled with water droplets.
    Jess blinked again and again, astonished by the clarity with which she could see things. Not just see; she could hear the breeze pushing against the grass stems, smell the scents of flowers and water, even of stone. She was suddenly aware that under the bark of the tree she was leaning against, sap moved like slow blood.
    “What’s happening?” she asked Finn uncertainly.
    “Nothing,” he said. “You’re just seeing my world properly now that it’s light.”
    “But it’s all so… sharp. So bright.” She couldn’t express it properly. It was as though, back in her own world, she had spent years seeing everything through a cloudy, muffling veil. Here, the veil was gone. “So beautiful,” she murmured.
    She turned her attention to Finn’s home. At first, astonished, she thought the house was afloat in the air. As she looked more closely, however, she realised that it sat on a series of wooden piles that held it clear of the water. Built of wood, it almost looked as though it had grown from its surroundings, not been built at all.
    Instead of a single structure there was a series of circular buildings, linked by little bridges and covered walkways. On the side that faced them, large windows stood open to themorning sun, but Jess could see no sign of any occupants.
    “Wait here,” said Finn quietly.
    “No – stop,” Jess hissed.
    With a resigned sigh, Finn turned back.
    “Promise me you’ll bring her. Promise me you won’t give me away.”
    He closed his eyes briefly.
    “Don’t