Scarlet stood up, blinking and stamping her foot. ‘I’m cold, I’m hungry and tired. Everyone I’ve met has lied to me, or wanted to kill me, so could you just speak normally, please?’
The maid reached out, resting her hand on Scarlet’s arm, and pulling her back down to sit on the sofa. She smiled, and Scarlet noticed for the first time that her teeth all ended in points. ‘Sit down, sweetheart, and relax. You have asked our names, and what we are. You have only three questions you may ask, so think about the last carefully.’
Scarlet’s mouth opened and closed, and she clenched her fists, bringing one to her mouth where she bit down hard on her knuckles. How the hell was she ever going to put this in a status update? Thank god she wasn’t on Twitter, there’d be no chance.
She took some deep breaths, and closed her eyes, and pictured her bedroom really hard. When she reopened them, the gently-swinging lamp was still there, and three pairs of eyes still bore into her, waiting. She groaned, wrapping her hands over her stomach. Only one question. She knew what she had to ask, but she was so desperate to ask more. Who were these people?
The Crone was still knitting, hands moving slow and steady, and for the first time, Scarlet realised how quiet it was. She could hear the steady breathing of the women around her, the deeper scratch of air being hauled slowly into the Crone’s weak lungs. She was safe here, possibly. It felt safe, but it also felt safe like standing on the edge of a long drop. Where she stood was fine, but one step in the wrong direction and everything changed.
‘I’m looking for my teacher. He’s called Martin. Where is he please?’
The sisters looked at one another, the Maid rocking her head from side to side. ‘Tell me, what does he mean to you?’
‘He’s teaching me how to use magic. I saved mum from hell, like, last month? So now he’s showing me how to do all the stuff.’
‘That’s what he is to you, but what does he mean to you? Who is he in here?’
The Maid leant forward and tapped her on the chest, above her heart. She bit back the smart retort about hearts being some random bodily organ, that everything that mattered took place above the neck. That was one of those steps in the wrong direction. And she wasn’t sure that down here, it was completely true, either.
‘He’s a friend, I think. I mean, I came here, to find him, so I must care about him, I guess?’
‘But you don’t know?’ The Crone leant forward, hands speeding up, top lip curled in a sneer. ‘How can you not know something so important?’
‘I just, I haven’t thought about it, I mean…’
She trailed off, and the Mother stepped in. ‘Leave her be, poor thing, she’s tired and hungry, and come all this way. I’d say that tells us everything we need to know.’
Scarlet flashed her a grateful smile and sat back into the sofa. The Mother nodded, leaning forward to pat her leg.
‘Your friend is no longer here, although he was.’
The Crone placed her sewing on the arm of her chair. ‘Your teacher is with The Council, answering questions he’d would rather not be asked.’
‘Your man is not long for this world, although not through his own design.’
Scarlet blushed, staring at the Maid. She shook her head. ‘He isn’t my man. I’m not even…’ she trailed off, her cheeks growing redder. ‘How come he’s with the council? They came looking for him, they couldn’t find him.’
‘Sorry, dearie, you’ve had your three. Perhaps the men who came looking weren’t from the Council.’
‘But…’
She stopped, blinking, feeling the cold drips of water as they struck her shoulder, sinking through her t-shirt. The lamp was no longer swinging, and was in fact, a street lamp. She was stood, beneath the awning at the front of Dingwalls, staring up at the light. A couple of passers-by were staring at her, muttering something about drugs and she blinked again, dropping her head and wrapping her arms about her.
The night was colder now, later, though how much later she didn’t know. The rain had slackened off, a thin drizzle that promised to last for hours. She sighed, shaking her head, ropes of wet hair slapping gently against her cheeks. She knew where he was. Sort of. What now?
‘Ello love, you’ve been bloody ‘ard to track down, I’ll give you that. You wanna come easy then?’
She didn’t have the chance to answer, as an arm came around her chest, and a hand pressed against her nose, and the light blurred, then faded altogether.
