‘STOP.’
Scarlet blinked, wondering why her head was still together. Red stood between her and the champion. ‘I will stay. I am more than a fair trade.’
The champion lowered his sword slowly until the tip touched the floor. Scarlet stared at Red’s back, at the long dark hair still tied in a neat plait and shook her head. She put her hand on Red’s shoulder but her friend shrugged it off as she turned.
‘This is right. You saved me. I didn’t know I needed saving, but just a week of freedom in your world has been worth more than a hundred years in my own. I am here because of you and I cannot thank you for that, not properly. Not unless I do this.’
Scarlet tried to argue. And she told herself she was arguing as well as she could, but the truth was, she didn’t want to die. And she could tell from the look in Red’s eyes that she meant what she said. Red blurred as tears sprung up in her eyes.
‘You’ll die.’
Red smiled and pulled her blade from its sheath. ‘I am a champion also, remember. Nothing is guaranteed.’
She bent, bringing her face closer. ‘Thank you, Scarlet.’ She placed a kiss on Scarlet’s forehead and she felt suddenly very young and very stupid. Then her friend turned away and set her legs.
‘Will you accept me in return for Scarlet?’
The champion was silent for a horribly long time before nodding. ‘I will. Scarlet, I am not the only one you have changed. Remember your power and the responsibility it brings.’
Then it was over. A light bloomed behind them and Martin took her arm, pulling her slowly back until the light became too bright. Just before she slipped through, Red lifted her knife high and lunged.
Then she was standing in the round room and flames flickered around them. They had to get out, but she couldn’t see anything through the tears and all she wanted to do was lie down. So she did. The wood was warm through her trousers and she rolled slowly onto her side. Martin shouted at her, but she couldn’t hear him.
Then he grabbed her and hoisted her into the air and she found herself over his shoulder, head bouncing against his back. She had a second to reflect on how utterly humiliating it was, that everyone who saw them would get a shot of her huge arse, before she started coughing.
They escaped the room, both hacking as Martin raced down the corridor. A few minutes later they came to the entry hall with its numerous door ways. He chose the one that led to the exit and moments after that they emerged into the cavern. It was crowded out here, the students and teachers of the Council evacuated already. How nice for them.
Martin bullied his way through the crowd and kept moving. Scarlet raised her head enough to see the curious faces that followed them. Beyond the black clad watchers, smoke began to snake out of the door they had left open.
He put her down to get through the door and they hurried out the toilet and into the summer sun that baked Trafalgar Square. She blinked, eyes watering, and took a few shaky steps before she folded up and sat on the pale stone, wrapping her arms around her knees and burying her head.
Martin’s arms went around her and stayed there until heat rose to her face. ‘Why did she do that? I didn’t ask her to do that.’
Martin shook his head, features drawn and pale. ‘She did what she thought was right.’
‘That wasn’t right, I didn’t want her to do that.’
‘Or course you didn’t, but the choice wasn’t yours to make.’
‘But it was my choice to take us…’
She buried her hear again and tried to keep inside herself. She longed to let it out, but the tourists would probably freak out if she started howling and spewing all over Nelson’s column. Her teeth went through her lip and the pain made her stiffen, head popping up again.
Martin looked tired. His forehead was lined and his eyes rimmed with dark red patches. ‘Can we go home?’
He nodded, lifting her gently off the floor and leading her over to the road. A taxi pulled up at his waved hand and she slumped into the back seat. Typical that the first time she got to ride a black cab, all she could think about was the person she’d just sentenced to death.
‘You saved a lot of people today. It’s quite possible you saved the world.’
She heard him but the words felt empty. She stared from the window at the people rushing by, heading for important meetings or important lunches or whatever it was people did when they were at work. They didn’t know what she’d done and they didn’t care. What would they say if she told them she’d just killed Red Riding Hood?
They’d laugh and pat her head and probably ask what she wanted to be, as if she wanted to be something other than human. What was it with people asking you that? Why did she have to want to be anything? Couldn’t she just do stuff, without having a label attached. She hadn’t wanted to be a fire woman for, like, eight years, and that was the last time she remembered thinking like that.
Did all these people really want to just be something? Her lip ached where she sneered. She knew it made her look horrible but she couldn’t help it. Not until Martin put his hand on her shoulder and her lip wobbled and she started crying again.
She wiped her eyes with a vigorous scrub of her sleeve. She was something now, she had a label. Two actually. She was a murderer and a magician. She wasn’t sure she was proud of either right now. She turned to look at Martin and the compassion on his face made her want to cry again. Instead she sniffed and patted him on the leg.
‘So, how was Australia then?’
He frowned and shook his head. ‘Nothing. The entire thing was a ruse. They took me when I got off the plane. Out of the airport and bundled straight into a van.’
‘So how did you escape?’
‘Four days ago a man opened my cell and explained that Seeker had sent him. The Council were in a flap, talking about a war, and we slipped away.’
‘Mmm.’
The sneaky bastard. She couldn’t decide whether that made the whole spy thing better. Then she glanced over at Martin. Yeah, it did a bit.
‘Martin, you said you made some vows, back there. What were they?’
Martin looked at his hands and Scarlet realised they were cut, one with a dull cream bandage wrapped around it. She took it gently. ‘What happened?’
‘There was a window. It got in the way of my escape.’
He managed a wan grin. Then let out a long sigh.
‘I told you I was a warrior for the Council, and that’s true. But I wasn’t just any warrior. I was a Hunter. There aren’t, weren’t, many of us, maybe five at any one time? We would find people, do what needed to be done.’
He looked down again. ‘I was a dimension jumper. There were people on other worlds they’d want. I’d cross dimensions and find them, bring them back.’
‘Is that why I’m good at it?’
‘I haven’t taught you anything to do with dimensions, for the very reason… Look, the reason you’re good at it is because you’re powerful. Very powerful.’ He frowned.
‘What? Why is that so bad?’
‘It’s not, not really. But it means people will want you and that makes you a target.’
‘Feels that way already.’
‘Indeed.’
They were out of the city now and heading through Kensington, the late morning sun painting London in a favourable light. Everything looked different though, run down and tired. Or maybe it was just her. She put her hand in her pocket and felt the book. She wanted to ask about that, too, but if she mentioned it he might take it away. Right now she didn’t have much to cling to.
She pulled her phone from her pocket and stared at it. ‘Don’t suppose you’ve got an iphone 4 charger have you?’
He shook his head. ‘I’m glad Lara stayed clear of all this.’
‘Yeah, well, me too I guess.’
Silence. Martin cleared his throat and rubbed his neck. ‘Is everything okay with the two of you?’
She might have burst into tears but he was so obviously awkward having to ask the question that she giggled instead. She was doing a lot of giggling at the moment. It wasn’t the good sort either, but it was better than crying.
‘Yeah, well, no. Her dad found out, you know, that she’s gay and everything so he totally freaked out. He’s trying to send her to boarding school and get her to confess her sins and stop being sick or whatever.’
‘That doesn’t strike me as a very fatherly response.’
‘Yeah, well, not all fathers are like you.’
It was out before she realised what she was saying and her cheeks burst into flame. She went to say something but the look he gave her made her want to stay quiet. So she smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. London crawled slowly by and she closed her eyes. All she could see was Red, leaping as the light engulfed them. She shuddered and he patted her shoulder.
They lurched to a stop, Acton High Street beckoning her as no other could. God she hated this place. They climbed wearily from the taxi and took a slow walk into the estate. At the door to her house Martin bade her farewell and kept going. She realised he was limping, ever so slightly. She should have asked more about Australia.
Mum was in and worried, though not freaking out as expected. After hugs and awkward discussions about dimensions and saving the world, she hauled her tired arse upstairs and into bed. Skinny was nowhere to be seen, which was just fine right now, and she fell face-first onto her mattress.
She groaned in frustration, picked herself up and dug her phone from her pocket. She plugged it in and lay back down. The phone buzzed as it came alive. A text arrived, the phone vibrating against the table. And again. And again.
Sleep.
Lara.
Sleep.
Dammit.
She sat up, shoving a pillow against the headboard and leaning on it. She lifted the phone, the charger keeping it near the table, and squinting at the screen. In the notifications she saw the word help and her exhaustion faded away. She unlocked it and clicked on to the texts.
There were a few asking where she was and why she wasn’t responding. Then a couple explaining that her girlfriend was having a posh panic attack because she wasn’t answering. Then a long one, that featured both the word help and school, and her blood ran cold.
I don’t know what I’ve done and why you aren’t answering, but dad’s sending me away. Help me, please. He’s sending me to boarding school tomorrow. It’s the one in Worcestershire and I’m staying there for months. I miss you so much, I’m so sorry. X
Last Installment Wednesday 28th May
