Spiral (The Salzburg Saga Book One) Page 9

  She thought of Alex and grimaced. She hated to admit it, but he’d be useless in a crisis like this. She hadn’t thought of him since getting on the jet. A testament to their unfulfilling relationship. She’d given the relationship everything she had. In the past, she’d always made a point of calling him when away for work. Just as she had her sister Hazel. She wondered if he’d read anything into her lack of communication now.

  She realized then that she'd kept her ski boots and gloves on. Did she need to take them off? It was warm in the cave, but she wondered if she would be cold if she removed them. Ange had taken hers off; she saw and sat up to remove her own. She wiggled her bare fingers, gratified to see that for the most part, they looked the same as normal, only the skin peeling a bit at the tip.

  As for her feet…she looked down at them as she wiggled her toes in the bright red socks she’d kept on. The heels of her feet were sore due to all the walking, but they were warming up due to the warmth of the cave. She pressed her fingers to her right temple. The banging that had been there earlier had receded. The Saranax was doing its job, but she had only two left in her purse.

  “Neen…you’re still awake?” It was Angela, sounding groggy and only half awake herself.

  Surprised, Nina turned her head and tried to see into the dim light. “I thought you were asleep?”

  “I was, but I can still hear you worrying.”

  Nina couldn’t help smiling as she lay back down. “How can you possibly hear me worrying when you're asleep?”

  “Go to sleep, Neen.”

  “I’ve been trying.”

  “Try harder. We’re likely to have a hectic day tomorrow so we need to conserve our energy.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Nina placed her arm under her head to make a pillow and closed her eyes. Ten minutes later, she actually did succumb to sleep.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “I thought you’d finished the maths assignment?” Rebecca Davies leaned against Hazel’s open dormitory door and munched on a carrot stick.

  Hazel stopped doodling on her notepad and smiled at her fellow university housemate. Rebecca, better known as Becky, was her friend and fellow maths grad. Dressed in a dark green t-shirt and white jogging bottoms, Becky had pulled her curly ginger hair back in a ponytail that highlighted her slender jaw.

  Their student house accommodated four, and their two other housemates, Paula and Katie, had yet to return from class. Hazel glanced out her small bedroom window. A dark cloud of fog covered the horizon. Katie and Paula had better get back soon as it looked like another torrent of snow was on its way, thicker than it had been yesterday.

  “I’ve finished the assignment,” she told Becky. Stretching her arms over her head, Hazel yawned. “I emailed it to Mr. Philips yesterday. I was just thinking.”

  Becky eyed the open Further Linear Algebra textbook in front of Hazel then arched a brow. “About orthogonal diagonalization? Really? Wow. That’s dedication to a worrying level, Haze.”

  “No.” With a chuckle, Hazel nudged the textbook aside. “I was thinking about my sister.”

  “Nina?” Becky glanced at the gold framed photo of Nina, Hazel, and their twin brothers, Seb and Alastair, which sat on Hazel’s desk. “Didn’t you say she was off on a business trip this weekend?” She finished off the last of the carrot and wiped her hands on her thighs.

  “Yeah. A skiing one.” Hazel leaned back against her chair. “She left yesterday morning. She usually calls to let me know that she’s arrived safely. She hasn’t yet.”

  Becky smiled and shrugged. “She’s probably having too much fun tumbling down a mountain to call.”

  Hazel sighed.

  Becky’s smile widened. “You worry too much.”

  Hazel pouted. “I do not.”

  On a laugh, Becky pushed herself off the doorframe to come and sit on the edge of Hazel’s bed. Tucking her feet underneath her, she made herself comfortable. “Did Alex go with her?”

  Hazel grimaced before she could stop herself. “No. He’s still at the flat. It was a client trip so he wasn’t invited.” She smirked. She knew it was mean to find it amusing, but she couldn’t help it. “You need to have a job to go on client trips.”

  “He doesn’t have a job?” Becky examined her chipped thumbnail. “How come?”

  Hazel shrugged again, reluctant to poison the atmosphere by discussing the sorry excuse for the man who sponged off her sister.

  Rising to grab the nail file off Hazel’s sink, Becky began filing her nails. “If Alex didn’t go with her, then maybe she called him to let him know she’d arrived. Have you checked with him?”

  Hazel gave a mental shudder but reached for her phone. “I’d rather call the ski resort directly.”

  “I thought you said she’s staying in a private chalet?”

  Hazel paused and then sighed. “Jeez, you’re right. Good thing I told you.” She frowned. “I guess the ski resort won’t have any information on who’s traveling to the area?”

  “Unlikely.” Becky continued to file in long even strokes. “My Uncle Harry goes skiing.” She pouted. “He never invites me along, though.” When Hazel said nothing, Becky lifted her eyes from her nails. “You’re worrying about nothing, babes. She’s a big girl, she’s fine, and she’ll call when she can. Besides, she’s only gone for a few days, right?”

  “Yeah, I know, but …” Hazel frowned. Neen always calls the same day she arrives. She doesn’t let the night go without making contact.

  Becky’s eyes shone with ill-concealed amusement. “You guys are so funny. I swear you need to all relax. Give it a couple of days, Haze. Let the lady do all the business stuff that she needs to do.”

  “A couple of days? That’s too long. Besides, this is the first time Neen’s been skiing. She could’ve hurt herself on the slopes.”

  The nail file stopped. Becky stared at her in fascination. “Erm…Haze, honey…”

  Hazel flushed at the Are-You-Serious look that Becky was giving her. “Look, Bec–”

  “Honestly, relax. You know, for a younger sister you worry a lot. Let Nina worry about you.”

  Hazel rolled her eyes. “You have a strange sense of logic, Becky. What does age have to do with it? You’re an older sister; you must know that your younger sister, Stacey, would worry about you if you acted out of the ordinary?” She put her phone aside. She really didn’t want to call Alex. Please call, Neen.

  “Stacey doesn’t worry about me, period, and vice versa.” Becky turned her attention to her third nail. “That’s Mother’s job. Where did she go skiing, by the way?”

  “Kitzbűhel.”

  “Ooh, nice. Uncle Harry goes there whenever he wants to impress a new girlfriend.” Becky sighed. “It never makes any of them want to stick around though.”

  “The client Neen’s going with owns a chalet there.”

  Becky whistled. “Bet you wished you could’ve gone instead of doing orthogonal diagonalization.”

  Hazel laughed. “Naturally, but I would’ve preferred piloting them there.” Her voice and eyes became dreamy. “Before they took off, I got to go inside the jet they’re flying in. It was a full-fledged Challenger 605, Becky.”

  Becky, eyes focused on her task, missed Hazel’s dreamy expression, but she heard it in Hazel’s voice. “That’s good, then?”

  “Are you kidding?” Hazel leaned forward eagerly, her voice filled with awe. “The Challenger series is like, one of the best names out there.”

  Becky looked up briefly. “If you say so. How did you manage to get inside when you weren’t traveling with them?”

  “The nice copilot and captain let me nose around.” Hazel sent Becky a meaningful look and sat back. “The captain studied at Brunel for his BEng in Aviation Engineering. I told you that it’s the best university for it.”

  Becky groaned. “Please. I can’t bear the thought of doing another degree after finishing here.”

  “You’d do it in a heartbeat if it was something you really wanted to do.
”

  “If you say so.”

  Hazel grinned, looked at her phone again, and scowled. Neen should know better than to not call. She’d give her a piece of her mind when she did. She lifted her eyes to see Becky watching her; the nail file paused in midair. “What?”

  “You guys worry easily, hmm?”

  Hazel looked away. She felt embarrassed and exposed and had to fight to push both feelings aside. “Maybe. I don’t know. I guess you get anxious…when…when you’ve lost someone before.” Rising from the desk, she paced around her small room, arms crossed over the pink polo neck jumper she wore. She’d stuck photos on the wall above her bed; pictures of Nina, the twins, and her deceased parents. “I guess you’re right, we do worry a bit.”

  Becky gave a soft smile. “Whether it’s Nina, one of your brothers, or any of us here, you get fidgety if anyone’s unexpectedly late back.”

  Hazel went to the window, saw Katie and Paula making their way up the path, and felt her stomach muscles loosen a little with relief. It would seem Becky was right. She turned to face her friend. “I guess somewhere in the back of my mind is always the fear that I could lose someone I care about again, like I did with my parents. I think Neen and the twins are the same.”

  Becky’s face flooded with sympathy and she put the nail file down. “You told me you lost them when you were little.”

  “Yeah…when I was four.” Hazel’s voice was distant, just like the memories of what had happened all those years ago. “Neen probably thinks I don’t remember much of it or of my parents, and she’d be right. I don’t remember much, just bits and pieces.” She swallowed. “I remember knowing something had changed in the family dynamic, even at that young age. My parents weren’t there. I could no longer smell the talcum powder my mother used to put on after her bath, or the soap my father used to use. I could no longer hear their voices.” She smiled.

  “The best smell on a man is definitely soap, as far as I’m concerned.” Becky grinned. “I agree. That way you can be sure he’s washed all his nooks and crannies.”

  They both collapsed into laughter, and this time, Hazel was able to smile fully.

  “I remember the house feeling strangely empty, though,” Hazel said a moment later. “And quiet. Unnaturally quiet.”

  “Kids are pretty perceptive, even at a really young age, I guess.” Becky’s eyes had darkened with empathy. “Did Nina explain what had happened?”

  “She tried. I remember her always being there. But at that age, the family dynamic had changed. So had she.” She heard Katie and Paula make their way into the house and head straight for the kitchen, chattering all the way.

  “What do you mean by Nina changing?”

  Hazel gave a restless shrug. “She became more anxious, busier, stressed.” And those memories stayed with you, Hazel knew, until it became a habit. “She was in charge now, and looking back now, I can see that she had been forced into that. She was always running around trying to be everywhere at once.” She swallowed again. “She got into a car crash because of me.”

  Becky’s mouth fell open. “What? How?”

  Hazel studied the tips of her red-socked feet. “I was nine. I had a lead part in a school play.” It seemed so silly now to remember how much importance she’d placed on that play. She looked up. “Neen had to pick up the twins from football practice, and I told her that she just had to be at my play.”

  Becky winced, and Hazel nodded. Becky knew what was coming.

  “Neen said she’d drop the twins off at their friend’s house then drive over to see my play. I doubt she’d even eaten because she would’ve had to collect the twins straight after her law class. We made her our parents without realizing it because it was what we needed, what we knew. We were too young to know any different.”

  “She would have been what…twenty-two?”

  “Twenty-three.” Hazel moved back to her desk and sat down on the cushioned wooden chair. “I remember being on stage and not seeing her.” She met Becky’s eyes. “I remember wondering where she was. I saw an audience full of faces but not Neen’s. My teachers were there, my next-door neighbor whose daughter was in my class was there, but not Neen.”

  “When you’re a kid, you always want the people who mean the most to you to be there.” Becky nodded in understanding.

  “Exactly.” And Neen would have known that, which was why she’d done everything she could to make the play. “The last part of the play was coming to an end, and I remember seeing two men in dark uniforms appear at the back of the room. They were talking to two of my teachers. I realized the men were the police.” Hazel paused, trying to conjure up the image again. It was always at this part that her memory shut off as if aiding her to forget the pain. She’d never decided if that was good or bad. “The teachers looked horrified. They kept looking in my direction. When the play finished, I avoided them.” Her eyes filled with shame.

  Sadness had filled Becky’s eyes. “You were a kid. A kid who had lost her parents a few years earlier. It makes sense that you’d be frightened.”

  Hazel’s fingers twisted in her lap. “Maybe. But I hid. I hid until someone found me a little while later under the large curtains of the theater hall. The policewoman asked me to come with them. I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew it wasn’t good because the police had been at our house when my parents died.”

  “Oh, Haze…”

  “The police had sad faces. Just like after my parents died. I didn’t want to be asked to sit down again as I had been asked back them. I didn’t want to be told to leave the room as I had back then, and I didn’t want to have my head patted like I was a good little dog.”

  “That’s understandable,” Becky whispered. Blinking back tears, she reached out and gently squeezed Hazel’s chilly hand. “You were a baby. That’s a perfectly normal reaction for a baby. Jeez, even for an adult, it’s a normal reaction.”

  Hazel’s thoughts had turned inward even as her struggles swam very clearly to the surface. She took a deep breath and expelled it on a long shudder. “In the end, I was taken to the hospital where Neen was. I can’t remember all of it, my memory’s hazy, but I remember someone telling me that the twins had been told and were going to stay at their friend’s house for a few extra days until Neen was stronger. Neen had been able to drop them off without any problems. It was when she rushing to see my play that she got into the accident.”

  “What happened?”

  Hazel paused for a moment before finally answering. “She fell asleep at the wheel.” She had to force the words out through reluctant lips. “She crashed into another car.”

  “Oh, my God.”

  “Yeah.” Removing her hand from underneath Becky’s, Hazel scrubbed them over her face. “The man in one car was rushed to the hospital. He was okay, though. He was released three days later.”

  “They were lucky.”

  “I know.” Hazel could barely breathe now, the effort of retelling the story taxing her of all her energy. “They had both been wearing a seat belt so the damage wasn’t extensive. That’s what the doctor said anyway. “

  “How long did Nina take to recover?”

  “Just over three weeks. She was shaken for a long time afterward. Wouldn’t drive for a while. The twins and I took time off school and helped keep the house clean.” She gave a lopsided smile. “We wanted Neen to be happy, and not worry about the housework and things.” She looked at Becky beseechingly. “Do you know what I mean?”

  “Of course.”

  “I never pressured her to make another silly school play again.”

  “You’ve carried a lot of guilt about it. I’m sure Nina wouldn’t want that. Besides, when are your brothers back from New Zealand?”

  Hazel smiled, relaxing for the first time. “Next month. Alistair sent an e-postcard last week; frothing at the mouth about how much fun he and Seb were having. They actually enjoy backpacking out in the middle of nowhere.” She shuddered.

  Becky laughed.


  “Hey, you guys.” Paula appeared in the doorway. Tall like Becky but with dark chocolate skin and an afro, which her boyfriend loved to sink his hands into, she tucked her slender hands into the pockets of her jeans. “What are you guys having for dinner? Katie’s got pizza with lots of cell-clogging cheese, but…” She made a face.

  Now they both laughed.

  “Pizza with lots of extra goat’s cheese,” Katie corrected as she joined Paula at the door. Her dark brown hair was pulled back in a bun atop her head, a pencil stuck through it; she hummed and waved the large pizza box she held enticingly. She hadn’t changed into sweats yet, still wearing jeans and the gray woolen jumper she’d left in that morning. She winked at Paula. “So, you’re not game?”

  “Count me out, babes.” Paula shook her head. “My aunt, who is a colonic hydro therapist, would never approve.”

  Hazel chuckled; Paula was the undisputed health guru in their student house, and she had the dewy skin that went with it; ever rarely getting a pimple. Hazel rose to her feet, eyeing the pizza box warily. She only had to look at a pizza and gained five pounds. Paula and Katie never seemed to have that problem. “I’m good. I have leftover rice and salad in the fridge.” Hazel tried to sound enthusiastic about it but wasn’t sure she pulled it off. The heady smell of the hot, spicy whiff of pepperoni from the cardboard box taunted her... and then she remembered cellulite.

  “Becky?” Katie cajoled. “You know you want to...”

  “Oh heck, why not?” She grinned over at Hazel. “I did snack on a carrot earlier; didn’t I, Haze? That’s got to count for something, right?”

  “Right,” Hazel agreed as she followed the others from her room. And Becky was right about Neen, too; there was nothing for her to worry about.