Read The String Diaries for Free Online

stubble sprouted on hollow cheeks. His eyes startled her the most. They shone bright, green, and wicked, sparkling with the flicker of reflected flames. The instant he noticed her he froze, and they stared at each other, both of them still.
    The dog skittered a paw across the glass and tilted its head. It barked once and began to whine, the thin sound discordant over the wind’s voice. Without taking his eyes off Hannah, the stranger raised a hand and caressed the animal’s ears. Immediately it fell silent.
    Hannah retreated a step towards Nate, grateful that the high back of the sofa concealed his presence. As if sensing her thoughts, the dog glanced over at where he lay.
    The old man lifted up his hands. ‘Didn’t mean to startle you,’ he shouted. His voice was strong, as dry as straw, and his accent was strange: an influence of Welsh laid over something less identifiable.
    Could this really be him?
    She could think of nothing that would have allowed him to find them so quickly. Had he simply made a fatefully lucky guess?
    ‘What do you want?’ Hannah surprised herself with the steel in her voice. She forced herself to avoid looking down at Nate. There was nothing he could do; she was in this alone.
    ‘Saw your lights approaching from my place. Just seeing if everything’s all right, is all.’ The old man moved towards the door. As he passed the window she risked a glance down. Nate had lapsed back into unconsciousness. The oxygen regulator lay useless on his chest.
    Her eyes snapped back up. ‘Why wouldn’t it be?’
    ‘Not been people at Llyn Gwyr for a long while. Sometimes when a place lies empty around here, you get trouble turning up. Making itself at home when it’s got no business doing so. Damn fool time of night to be making a visit, if you ask me.’
    ‘I wasn’t.’
    He continued to stare at her, his intentions unreadable in the furrows of his face. ‘There’s a young girl sleeping in your car. She yours?’
    Hannah felt a scream building. At least it would relieve some of the pressure. Nate was waning, his life trickling away every moment she delayed. Leah was stranded in the Discovery, cut off from Hannah by this outlandish stranger and his creature. Her throat throbbed with clenched emotion. ‘My daughter.’
    ‘Are you trouble?’ he asked. If truly this was Jakab, the odd exchange of words was nothing she had previously contemplated.
    ‘No. We’re not trouble.’
    He nodded. ‘Maybe you are, maybe you aren’t. Maybe you are, and just don’t know it. For a moment I thought you might be robbers, or at least people up to no good. But now I’ve seen you. Well, there never was much of value here to start with, I suppose.’
    Hannah sorted through her options. She had no weapon to hand. Nate had told her of the shotgun, but the kitchen door was unlocked, and in the time it took her to get into the pantry, he would be inside the house. If she needed more than a second to locate the weapon, or if Nate’s recollection was wrong, then it would all be over. Yet what if the old man was genuine?
    He turned his eyes up to the skies, as if losing interest. ‘This storm’s going to roll in any moment. Just figured if you were alone, you might need help getting the power on.’
    Hannah forced herself to make a decision. She could not trust this stranger’s identity or his intentions. But if he was really from a neighbouring farm out on a mission of charity, she could not risk rousing his suspicions. More than anything, she needed help.
    You have to take a chance. Please God let this be the right one.
    Senses screaming, she walked to the kitchen door, and before she could change her mind she opened it. Wind eddied into the room, baring teeth of ice. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘You just startled me. Let’s start again. It’s good of you to check up.’
    Fanned by the air rushing into the room, the flames in the hearth set emeralds dancing in the old man’s eyes. ‘Don’t need an apology.