(continued from II.I)

‘I’ll share something with you,’ Dragomir said, as, behind him, Charlie raised himself up onto his hands and knees, reaching out for the discarded metal pipe with one trembling arm. ‘Tonight, I’m going to take what’s most precious to you up those stairs, and I’m going to make sure you can hear his screams from all the way down here in the basement. How does that –’

Dragomir did not finish his sentence. Creeping up into Dragomir’s blind spot, with the metal pipe gripped in both hands over his shoulder like a bat, Charlie had swung for the soldier’s head with all his strength and, in one strike, knocked him out cold on the ground.

Vasco was gazing up at him, open-mouthed, his dark eyes alive. ‘Charlie …’

Charlie shrugged, a roguish grin spreading unbidden across his face. ‘I told you, didn’t I? I know what I’m doing.’ Seeing a pair of handcuffs hanging from Dragomir’s belt, he attempted to secure the soldier to one of the pipes on the wall nearby, only to find that his hands were still shaking too violently to be of any use.

‘Let me,’ Vasco said gently, taking the handcuffs from him. ‘I’ll do it.’

Charlie went to stand in the far corner of the basement, making sure that he could still see the door. When Vasco returned, Charlie had crossed his arms tightly in front of his body, and his eyes were tracing patterns in the flagstone floor.

‘Charlie, you’re shaking.’

‘I’m fine,’ Charlie said at once, leading the way out of the basement. ‘Come on, let’s get out of this dump.’

‘Where are we going?’ Vasco asked, following him up the stone steps onto the ground floor and then up a broader, sweeping staircase that was lined with a plush red carpet.

‘I heard there’s a party,’ Charlie said, feeling almost lightheaded as they climbed their way to the upper levels of the house, following the sound of loud music. ‘I could use a drink.’

‘Are you sure you –’

At the top of the staircase, Charlie rounded on Vasco. ‘Don’t look at me like that! I said I’m fine.’

‘Will you please wait for me here?’ Vasco said, watching Charlie with his steady gaze as Charlie leant against the wall, his shoulders shaking as he fought to get his breath back. ‘I need to find Alexandra.’

‘Fine.’

Charlie waited until Vasco had disappeared through a set of tall mahogany doors at the end of the hallway before he allowed himself to brace his aching ribs with his hand. The sound of the music blaring from the New Year’s Eve party was thumping in his head, blending with the pounding of his heartbeat. Despite the fact that he was alone on the corridor, Charlie felt as though there was not nearly enough space for him there. Whenever he looked at the walls, they seemed to shift, as though they were slowly closing in on him.

Panic started to twist in his chest. He did not know where Vasco had gone. It was not safe. He could not stay here. He was still in danger. Without thinking twice, he staggered to the end of the hallway, where there was a window large enough for him to slip through. With a glance over his shoulder to check that no one was watching him, he forced it open, and found himself standing on a narrow balcony enclosed by an ornate iron railing.

Being out in the cold helped. He stood there, breathing deeply in the night air, watching the first of the fireworks as they began to light up the cloudless black sky, as, little by little, his panic started to subside.

‘I thought I might find you out here.’ Vasco was climbing through the window too.

Charlie frowned at his hands, which he had laid to rest, open-palmed, on the iron railing in front of him. ‘They won’t stop shaking.’

Vasco nodded, his eyes on Charlie’s hands. ‘You’ve been through hell, haven’t you?’

‘I couldn’t let him hurt you.’ Charlie brought a fist to his eyes, the fireworks blurring.

‘I’m here.’ Vasco was holding him again. ‘Let me help you now.’

‘He was going to –’

‘It’s over. You’re safe.’

‘I can’t do this anymore,’ Charlie said, his eyes screwed up tight, bracing his clenched fists against his forehead as the cascade of emotions he had held back for so long broke upon him. ‘Why won’t it stop? I just want it to stop.’

‘Can’t we do something to stop it?’ Vasco was rubbing small circles between his shoulder blades, and Charlie felt himself slowly steadying under Vasco’s reassuring touch.

‘Like what?’ Breaking away from him, Charlie returned to the iron railing and leant over it, folding his arms as another firework exploded in the distance. ‘If I go back to the Spike, that’s all there is waiting for me, for the rest of my life.’

‘Do you have to go back?’ Vasco asked, very quietly.

‘There’s nowhere else for me to go.’

‘There’s the whole world, Charlie. You could go anywhere, do anything you want.’

Charlie thought back to the wish he had made when they had stood together under the stars on Christmas Day, and a small, sad smile crossed his face. ‘Not anything.’

Vasco was silent for a while. From somewhere further along the hallway, they heard an excited voice announce that it was almost time to begin the countdown to midnight.

‘There’s a new year coming,’ Vasco said, his eyes on the sky. ‘That means there’s a chance for a fresh start – for both of us.’

His eyes wide, hardly daring to believe what he had just heard, Charlie turned to face Vasco, as screaming voices from a nearby room began to count down from ten.

‘Vasco, you … you can’t tell me you still …’

Vasco was smiling at him, his head tilted slightly to one side. ‘It’s almost time, Charlie.’

Sure that he must be in a dream, Charlie took a tentative step forward, and found himself gathered up into Vasco’s arms. His toes brushed off the ground as Vasco lifted him up and their lips met in a kiss. At that exact moment, an explosion of fireworks burst across the sky all around them, and jubilant shrieks of ‘Happy New Year!’ came from the party down the hall.

Vasco was laughing as he spun Charlie around before carefully lowering him to his feet. ‘Charlie, you’ve been trapped in a cage for so long, you’ve forgotten you have wings.’

Charlie was laughing too, even as he brushed the tears from his eyes. ‘When I’m with you,’ he said, his heart fluttering in his chest, ‘it’s almost like I remember how it feels to fly.’

They stood hand in hand, watching the fireworks burst across the sky as the winter fog rolled in over the mountains. A small smile on his face, Vasco’s eyes lingered on the brightest star above their heads. Charlie felt hope spark within him. For that one moment, he believed that, whatever the world threw at them now, they would somehow find a way to get through it.

It was a new year, and it was time for them to start writing a new page – together.

THE END