‘We can leave now, Scarlet, but your computer stays here.’
The breaths were coming fast, her blood hammering in her ears like a fire alarm that blocks out all else. She stared at her hands, twisted into claws that threatened to reach up and tear her eyes out. She had been offered everything she wanted and now this came, to take it all away.
‘Why?’
Her voice was faint and she had to say it again before he heard. She wanted to scream it but she had no air with which to fill her lungs.
‘Why?’
He cleared his throat. ‘The Council is a place of learning. The learning we do, requires a mind clear of distractions. The likes of Myspace and Readit are unnecessary and will only get in the way of your learning.’
She took a deep breath. ‘Right, first things first, Myspace is dead, okay. Second, it’s Reddit and I don’t use it anyway. Finally, they aren’t unnecessary. How am I supposed to stay in touch with the world?’
‘Newspapers.’
‘I mean the real world, not that rubbish. Newspapers don’t have any fan fiction in them, or posts, or status updates, not unless you’re Angelina Jolie. Not that I mind pictures of Angelina. Newspapers are too slow and boring and just, not Tumblr.’
‘You will be living with other students. Your ‘status updates’ will come from them.’
She hissed. ‘You don’t get status updates from Tumblr.’
‘I’m not sure that’s really the point. You have been given an incredible opportunity. Leaving your computer behind really isn’t the biggest sacrifice to ask you to make.’
He didn’t understand. He would never understand. He was like Martin, only without the coolness or loveliness. She ground her teeth together. She’d have her phone, they weren’t going to search her. She could do most stuff through that. It wasn’t the same, but it would have to do.
She stood, asked for five minutes, and stalked from the room. Red had finished the peanut butter and was now eating dry bread by the slice. ‘Don’t you have, like, butter and stuff at home?’
Red gave her a blank look, talking past a mouthful of bread. ‘There is no pantry here, where would you keep the butter?’
Scarlet opened the fridge with a flourish and giggled at Red’s look of awe. She approached the fridge like it was going to offer her immortality. Not that she needed it. What was going to happen to Red and Skinny? She’d brought them here and now she was going to bugger off to the Council and leave them alone.
‘What do you want to do now?’
Red looked about the kitchen as though seeing it for the first time. ‘Explore, discover this wonderful new world into which you have brought me.’
‘Okay, right. Hang on.’
Scarlet ran back up the stairs. Skinny was asleep on the bed, mum stroking her hair. Scarlet gestured from the door and mum sneaked out, taking exaggerated steps.
‘Is she okay?’
‘I think so. She’s really shaken up. It sounds like someone tortured her.’
‘Yeah, that’s why I brought her here.’ She paused, waiting for mum to take the signal. She didn’t and Scarlet didn’t know why. ‘Look, sorry about, you know, this.’
Mum shook her head. ‘Don’t be. She needed rescuing. I’m proud of you.’
Scarlet almost fell down the stairs, but caught hold of the bathroom door and stayed standing. Mum had the sort of smile on her face reserved for people Scarlet thought of as smug and rude, but it didn’t feel like that coming from mum.
‘Um, thanks.’
She was blushing, her cheeks hot. She flapped her hand in front of her face. ‘So, yeah, anyway, the Council want me to go today. So, like, is there any chance that, like, Scarlet and Red could stay here, just for a while?’
Mum’s face lit up and she nodded briskly. ‘Of course. It’ll be lovely. When will you be coming back?’
‘Um, don’t know, didn’t ask.’
‘Well go and ask, I’ll pack for you.’
‘No you won’t, not a chance. This is my first, well, my first decent chance to actually make friends. There’s no way you’re deciding what I wear.’
She pushed past mum into her room and crept about, grabbing clothes from her drawers, holding them up, then stuffing them back into her drawers. Did they have washing machines at the council? She’d need to wash a lot cos she’d found about three things she could actually imagine wearing.
She stopped beside her bed. She glanced at her skinny self stretched out and snoozing happily. Weird. On her table was her computer. She ran her hand over the cover, caressing the lines. She didn’t know if it could hear her, but she whispered anyway and promised she’d be back.
She sneaked back out with her bag, shoved the clothes in and put her two spell books on top. As she wandered down the stairs she tried to soak up the smell of her house. There was a tiny part of her, buried deep, that was terrified. This was the first time she’d left home, like, properly. Going to hell was tough and a different dimension hadn’t been all that much fun, but leaving home was on another level.
Did they have pizza at the Council? She should ask. These things were important and too often overlooked. The lounge was busier than it had ever been, a whole four people in there and she walked between mum and Banner to cosy in next to Red. They were talking so she whispered to Red.
‘You gonna be okay staying here?’
Red shrugged. ‘Is your double staying here, also? I only ask because she is annoying.’
Scarlet snorted and nodded. ‘Yeah, she’ll be here. You can work on her, make her less annoying.’
Red raised an eyebrow. ‘Thank you, I’m sure that will be most enjoyable for me.’
Scarlet gave her a hug and smiled when Red responded straight away. She stayed just a second too long and Red pulled away and Scarlet stared at the wall. She missed Lara. She should tell her what had happened. She pulled her phone out and stared at the screen. It was dead and probably had been for hours.
She picked up the charger and shoved it in her bag. She could text Lara when she got there. Banner stood, straightening his horribly smart trousers and his scary black tie and kinda sorta bowed to mum. It was freakish and creepy but mum liked it, simpering and giving Scarlet one of those cringey lonely-older-woman looks. God she missed Lara.
They left together and Scarlet found herself waving to mum and Red who watched from the front door. It felt more permanent than it should, as though more than just her address was changing.
Banner was silent as they walked to the tube and she found herself throwing sideways glances his way, waiting for him to speak. When he did, she stumbled and righted herself only at the last moment.
‘Joanna, people don’t cross dimensions. It just doesn’t happen. How did you do it, exactly?’
‘My ingredients weren’t laid out quite right. I was upset and not really thinking about things and I just threw them out. I thought about my bedroom—’
‘Your bedroom?’
‘Yeah, I was trying to get home.’
‘From where?’
‘Harrow.’
He coughed into his hand. ‘You needed to get home from Harrow so you deployed, what sort of spell?’
‘Um, a seeking spell.’
He stopped walking. ‘You use seeking spells to get home. Is this just when you’ve been out clubbing, or maybe after school as well?’
She caught the note of sarcasm all too well, but decided that of the two of them, as she was the one jumping dimensions, she could be the bigger person. ‘Of course not. It was just this once, because I was so upset.’
‘What upset you?’
She hesitated, mouth half open. She didn’t know Banner, like, at all, and these questions were getting kinda personal.
‘I’d rather not talk about it. Anyway, I thought about my bedroom and stepped through the light and landed on my bed, only it wasn’t my bed.’
‘It was your bed in another dimension.’
‘Yeah.’
He shook his head and resumed walking.
‘What?’
Banner sighed. ‘Crossing dimensions is not only extremely hazardous, it also requires a great deal of practice and skill. I know of only a handful of magicians capable of such a feat.’
‘So now you’ve got, like, a mutated hand, you know, with six fingers on it.’
She smiled brightly and he blinked. ‘Yes, quite.’
They got on the tube and she stared at the adverts, reading and rereading the words until they made no sense. Shampoo makers advertise a lot. What is it about shampoo that means it needs to be pushed in people’s faces all the time? It’s not like people forget they have hair, or suddenly decide one day to stop washing it. Well, actually, there was this kid at school whose mum decided washing hair made it really weak so she stopped washing his and it got to the stage where he could model it into shapes and it would stay there all day, just from the grease. Happy times.
She doubted there would be any of those sort of people at the Council.
They climbed out after far too long into Trafalgar Square and headed for the toilets. Through the dodgy shortcut, earning both of them funny looks, and down the tunnel. She stood again before the massive doors. They were open this time, people coming and going.
Banner turned to her. ‘It’s market day today. Once a month we host the local market. It travels around, but spends most of its time in the Underworld.’ He leaned closer, putting one hand in front of his mouth. ‘To be honest, it gives us the chance to keep tabs on the undesirables, make sure no one’s getting too confident.’
He flicked his eyebrows up and down like they were on springs and strode in. The massive wooden hall was just as she remembered it, only busier. He led her to the end and through one of the doors. Beyond lay a colossal chamber. How had she missed this the last time?
The roof reminded her of a cathedral she’d visited with school, all painted in golds and whites and covered in wooden carvings. What was it with powerful men and compensating? The walls were of the same gorgeous red-brown wood that gleamed beneath the lights. The lights themselves were glass orbs, hanging in mid air with no obvious means of staying up. She stared at them, looking for the wires. That was cool.
The voice that interrupted her viewing was gravelly and rich and fitted right in. It was also very familiar.
‘Hello, Scarlet, fancy meeting you here. Where’s your master?’
She spun and saw Seeker, smiling at her from behind a market stall. The stall was empty, a blank desk. She put her finger to her lips.
‘My name’s Joanna.’
‘Is it? My my, how fortunate.’ He smiled. ‘I do believe I owe you a favour. How about we call it quits and the people here don’t have to know your real name?’
His smile grew sly. ‘Actually, that seems a little cheap, considering the information you gave me wasn’t 100% accurate.’
Scarlet blushed, looking around for Banner.
‘How about you do me a small favour and then we’ll call it quits.’
‘I can’t now, I’ve just started.’
‘Started what?’
‘At the Council.’
His face changed, the skin shifting and moving until she realised he was angry and trying to control himself.
‘Why? Why would you tie yourself to these people? I thought Martin taught you better than that.’
‘Yeah, well, Martin’s not here.’
Another shift. ‘Where is he?’
‘Australia. For a long time.’
Seeker nodded. ‘I see. Well, in that case, my small favour just got bigger. You do what I say, or your name is common knowledge, understand?’
Next Installment Friday 9th May
