The door being smashed in was the last sound she heard before the back door slammed and they ran. The garden was just large enough to fit a chair and mum’s ashtray in, although both were conspicuous by their absence. What was it with the scary healthy thing? They ducked through the gate and down the alleyway, heart hammering in her chest.
Skinny Scarlet was away like some crazy running fiend and Scarlet attempted and failed utterly to keep up.
‘Hold on, please, blimey, just hold on would you?’
Her counterpart turned and looked at her. She recognised that look, she’d seen it in the mirror enough times. Part sadness, part contempt, all Scarlet. She hissed and stopped as she caught up, bending over to heave in great lungfuls of air.
‘God, where did you learn to run?’
‘I’m track champion for sector six.’
‘Track champion? God, when did I become such a dick?’
Skinny Scarlet folded her arms and gave Scarlet another of her favourite looks. She blushed. ‘Sorry, didn’t mean that.’
‘Mmm.’
Skinny grabbed her hand and set off running. ‘They’ll be finished in the house in a couple of minutes and start on the streets. We need to find you somewhere safe.’
‘What about Martin’s?’
‘Who’s Martin?’
She stopped dead in her tracks but skinny kept running and she was dragged off balance, landing on one of her knees. She yelped and bit her lip. She’d cried enough for one day. Actually, she hadn’t cried nearly enough, there was plenty of time left. A drop ran down her cheek and she scrubbed it away. Skinny was staring at her. ‘What, bloody what?’
‘Why are you so upset?’
‘Why am I… What do you think? I’m, what did you say, in another dimension, my master’s just buggered off to Australia, my girlfriend broke up with me and some weirdos are chasing me for no good reason. Seems pretty reasonable to be upset actually.’
‘Oh, goodness, you’re gay?’ Skinny glanced around, eyes wide again. She put her finger to her lips. ‘Keep that quiet, it’s dangerous here.’
‘Lucky you told me that, cos I was going to tell all my other-dimensional friends. You know, all those people that have queuing up to say hi since I got here.’
‘I mean it.’ Her brows came together in a way that was almost comical. Then a sound from behind that was almost certainly the garden gate being slammed got her off her knees and running again. Scarlet took the lead, heading for Martin’s place and crossing her fingers.
The estate was the same, except the grass was cut and there was no rubbish. At all. It was a bit creepy, though not a patch on the shouting voices that were chasing them between the tower blocks.
‘Why do they want me?’
‘You’re other-dimensional. I think you must be. Coming through must have triggered an alarm.’
‘So why do they want me?’
‘You’re different.’
‘You mean fat.’
Skinny actually laughed. It sounded a little like a horse throwing up, but it was better than the condescension she’d had so far. ‘No, I mean you’re different. You sound different and look different and you definitely think different.’
They reached Martin’s before she could respond and she pushed through the bin doors. Skinny followed her with a look of trepidation. Scarlet shoved open the door to Martin’s and stepped in. It was empty. The floor was bare concrete, the walls bare concrete. In fact, the theme was entirely bare concrete. The bedroom was equally bare. She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself.
‘What were you expecting?’
‘My master lives here.’
‘Your master?’
‘Um, yeah, you know, the guy who teaches me… magic.’
‘You have a master?’ Her voice carried the same level of awe Scarlet had when Lara told her she’d been on the Harry Potter studio tour. Having a master couldn’t compare, though, surely?
‘How many students does he have?’
‘It’s apprentice, and just me, I think.’
Skinny did the thing with her eyes again and Scarlet leaned back against the wall smirking. Then a thought struck her. ‘Hang on. You do magic?’
‘Of course, doesn’t everyone?’
Okay, that wasn’t fair. She’d come to a dimension without Martin, where she was skinny and could run and actually looked really hot and now everyone did magic. She’d called this upon herself, thinking her day couldn’t get any worse. This was her fault.
What was she thinking? Of course it wasn’t her fault, it never was. This was Martin’s fault. If he hadn’t buggered off to Australia the whole thing would never have happened.
‘So everyone does magic?’
Skinny nodded. It was her turn to smirk. It looked bad on her, really bad.
‘Of course. How else do you think we learn things?’
Scarlet scrunched up her face. She was about to say it wasn’t fair then saw Martin’s face and stamped her foot instead. The skinny her was really annoying. And not gay. Weird. ‘How does magic help you learn things, I mean, other than magic?’
‘How do you learn things in your dimension?’
Scarlet shrugged. ‘A combination of TV, shouting and youtube.’
‘Youtube? All that’s good for is government promotional stuff. There’s nothing useful on there.’
Where was she? She’d come to an evil, terrible place. And she’d been to hell, so she was qualified to say. Skinny was still talking.
‘We learn using spells. You cast your memory lock and read for an hour and you’ve got it.’
‘Why not just use wikipedia?’
‘What’s wikipedia?’
‘Right, just imagine all of the smartest people you can think of and put them all in the same room. Then imagine you can ask them any question you like and they have to answer.’
‘So like the Forum then?’
Scarlet ground her teeth together. Fine, she wasn’t going to win this. Actually, the spell learning thing sounded like a really good idea. She’d have to bug Martin about it when he got back. Or when she got back. Speaking of which.
‘How do I get home?’
‘How did you get here?’
‘I used a seeking spell, for my bed. Only, my bed turned out to be your bed.’
‘That’s very odd. Did you follow the spell properly?’
‘Did I follow the spell properly?’ Skinny glared at her as she mimicked her voice. ‘Probably, mostly, yeah. Maybe a bit careless with the ingredients.’
She looked at her feet and scuffed one shoe against the other. Martin had talked about laying them out right at some point. Maybe. But he hadn’t stressed how important it obviously was. Clearly his fault. She dug through her bag for the right ingredients and began laying them out on the floor. Skinny watched, hands on hips.
‘So that’s it, you’re just going to leave?’
‘Why the hell would I stay here?’
‘Um, well, maybe because I just rescued you?’
‘Well, yeah, thanks for that. But I mean, there’s already you here so why would I stay?’
Skinny bit her lip and Scarlet paused, sage gripped between finger and thumb and watched herself. She recognised the awkward shuffle and the downcast eyes. She knew what was coming next and winced as Skinny opened her mouth. ‘We could, you know, hang out.’
Crap. Now she was feeling sorry for herself and herself. This was just stupid. She was torn from her thoughts by a crash just outside. She grabbed for the ingredients, shoving them back into her bag and stood. Skinny watched the door, hands shaking. Scarlet took her hand and squeezed it.
‘Thanks for the rescue.’
Skinny looked at her, as if trying to decide whether she was being sarcastic, then smiled. ‘Not very good, though, was it?’
‘How did they find us?’
‘My tracker.’
‘Your tracker?’
Skinny tapped her neck where Scarlet could see a lump, about the size of a dice, protruding beneath the skin. ‘What is it?’
‘Everyone has a tracker. You get them at birth.’
‘How come?’
‘We might be terrorists.’
‘So how come you learn magic?’
‘Everyone learns magic, you just do. It’s like learning to talk.’
That was so cool. Imagine if everyone could do magic. The streets must be filled with illusions and crazy money-seeking clouds and all sorts. The door flew open and men rushed in. They wore dull grey uniforms and riot gear, helmets with plastic face masks. She was about to put her hands up when one grabbed her by the hair and threw her on the floor.
‘Hey, what the hell?’
‘Shut it. You’re under arrest. Keep quiet and do as your told.’
Her head was spinning and she looked to her left. Skinny was face down beside her, chewing on her lip, tears streaming down her face.
Next Installment Wednesday 9th April
