‘Have you ever heard of Red Riding Hood?’
As far as questions went, it was about the last thing she expected to be asked. She blinked and took her sage from behind her ear. Maybe this stuff was hallucinogenic. Maybe it leached through the skin. She kept it there more than she should. Martin kept telling her off for it. She looked at the sage and put it back behind her ear. It was too late now anyway.
‘Sorry?’
‘Red Riding Hood. Most dimensions know it as a fairy tale.’
‘Um, yes. I mean, I have heard of it and it is a fairy tale.’
He nodded, coming around the table to sit on the end. The other three looked bored and impatient. He clasped his hands before him, eyes lit up.
‘There are dimensions where it is more than a fairy tale, though in truth, most fairy tales have some basis in reality. Red Riding Hood has more than most. You know the story, yes?’
‘Um, girl wears red hood, goes to granny’s house and finds wolf instead, chops him up.’
‘That will do. What we are interested in is what she used to chop him up. The blade had been gifted her by her father when she was still in the cradle. It may not surprise you to hear that her father was an assassin, mostly absent from her childhood due to the demands of his unusual occupation. Red was adept with the blade before she became a teenager. A wolf is difficult to kill, but still no match for cold steel and the skills that she possessed.’
Scarlet burst out laughing. ‘Okay, this is too cool. You guys are completely mad, but it’s still cool. Any chance of getting something to eat please?’
The man waved to those behind him and one pulled a phone from his pocket. The man brought her attention back with a wave of his hand. ‘The knife wasn’t just a good blade. It was enchanted, engraved and blessed by one of the gods and highly valuable. We would like it.’
Scarlet was nodding, trying to keep the smile from her face. ‘So you’d like me to go and get the knife from Red, right?’
‘Exactly. She isn’t fond of men, but you are not much younger than she and you have power.’
‘Oh. Hang on, Red Riding Hood happened ages ago, surely she’s ancient by now?’
The man shook his head. ‘Stories do not work like that. Once someone is immortalised in story, well…’
‘Wow, that sucks. Is she old enough to buy beer?’
His face reddened and he flapped his hands. Scarlet smiled and walked past him to sit in his chair. She leaned close into the other three and whispered in a loud voice. ‘Is he the only mad one? I mean, do you guys think he’s mad or are you in it with him?’
She finally got a smile from one of the others but the man himself laughed and turned to look at her. ‘They think I am unhealthily obsessed. But mad would be a little too strong a term I believe. You will do it?’
She shrugged. ‘Why not? Where is she?’
‘You will need to travel to another world, a different dimension.’
‘Oh bloody hell. Can’t you just put me in the van and drive me there?’
A uniformed guard entered with a plate of food and she fell on it, trying to ignore the strange green stuff that might have been salad but could easily have been an alien species trying to attack her. Same difference. She finished and pushed the plate back. ‘Before I do this, you have to show me that Scarlet isn’t being, what did you call it, reconditioned any more. Sounds like something you do to a car anyway.’
One of the men pulled out a tablet and tapped on the screen. When he showed it to her there were four screens, CCTV cameras if she was any judge. Which she was, cos school had a bunch and these had the same dodgy-budget-horror-movie quality to them. On one, Skinny Scarlet was sat in a cell staring at the wall. Her hands were clenched tightly together in her lap and she looked tired, but otherwise alright. The camera wasn’t adding any fat at all.
‘Okay, let’s go. Quick.’
Before I have the time to change my mind or realise how stupid an idea this is and bottle out and just go home. She thought about her bed and sighed. She could go, right now. Why should she save her anyway? If they hadn’t run, she’d be at home, wallowing in a nice normal, comforting pit of depression. These guys seemed perfectly nice anyway, not like she’d said they were.
She remembered the weird sick feeling in the back of the van and the smile Martin who wasn’t Martin had worn. Yeah, okay, they were evil. Maybe not Hitler evil, but just as bad. How could you have magic and ban people from using it?
The ingredients were already mostly laid out and the man who’d convinced her to do this incredibly stupid thing finished them off while she stared at a photo he handed her. It was of a forest, sunlight streaming through the trees to illuminate a hut. Hut wasn’t the right word. This was a hut as much as Harrods was a shop.
It had levels and a thatched roof and veranda and granny had been seriously loaded if this was where she lived. She stared at it until her eyes began to water. Then she checked the ingredients. They were laid out perfectly. She made sure she had everything in her bag to get back and pulled her phone out. She had about 20% left so she took a photo of the room and switched it off.
With a deep breath she cast and the light appeared. Beyond it the four men smiled. That probably wasn’t good. She stared at the photo and stepped through until the concrete beneath her feet became the crunch of the forest floor. She still held the photo and moved it up before her, matching the house on it to the one right before her.
She was here, wherever here was. She was about to meet Red Riding Hood. Possibly. Or a very confused old lady. Far more likely. She took a step toward the cottage and froze as a howl split the air. Suddenly, the peace of the forest struck her as more of a hush, a pregnant pause as though everything was waiting for something.
She spun, sweat trickling down her forehead and saw a pair of yellow eyes, huge and staring straight at her. This then, was the something. The wolf howled again.
Next Installment Wednesday 16th April
