‘Tell me, Joanna, when did Martin teach you to spy?’
She opened her mouth, trying to decide whether she could claim ignorance. Then she decided she didn’t want to. She couldn’t fight these guys, there was no way. And if they’d set things in motion, those things would occur, no matter what she did.
‘He taught me you shouldn’t turn your back if you saw something bad happening. He said that everyone needs a little help sometimes and things are never so bad you can’t offer it. And he said you guys were a bunch of tossers who need to be brought down a peg or two.’
There was stunned silence before they burst out laughing. The one who’d spoken, a hulking guy whose chin seemed to come before everything else, nodded. ‘And you are the person to do that, I assume?’
She folded her arms. She’d seen what they did to Martin and she could handle it. A tiny voice in the back of her mind started to scream, calling her all kinds of names, but she ignored it. ‘Actually, I think I may be. You certainly think I’m powerful enough to trap me in here before the war begins.’
‘She knows.’ Another of the four hissed and the voice made her start. It was guy from last night. She hadn’t imagined it, it was true. Lucky, really, or she’d be looking very silly right now. A shiver ran through her making the hair on her arms and neck stand on end. It was actually true.
The other three glared at him, but Scarlet managed a smile, trying to look smug. This was like a scene from a Bond movie, she had to play it right. ‘That’s a shame. I wasn’t sure until now you guys could be quite so unbelievably evil and stupid. Turns out I was wrong. Is it really worth starting a war just so you can take power?’
Chin man turned away from his companion and stared at her. It had the effect of being stabbed by a stubbly knife and she giggled. It was like Desperate Dan had learned magic. She pictured a cow pie on the table and giggled harder.
He glowered. They taught it here, they had to. Unfortunately, it only made it funnier. It was like Desperate Dan if they took his cow pies away and fed him whiskey instead.
‘Child, you have no grasp of what is happening to this world. You see us trying to change it and make your judgment without any facts, without any idea of why we’re doing what we are.’
‘Um, my guess is you’re a bunch of power-mad boys who never got any when you were younger so now you’re making up for it by throwing your toys out the pram. Sound about right?’
As their eyebrows crept skyward and Chin man gripped the table edge with white knuckles, she thought maybe she’d gone too far. Maybe. It was fun though. There was nothing like being certain you were going to be locked up and tortured to free you from those boring things like fear and restraint. Actually, she’d never been good with restraint.
Chin man’s voice was trembling. ‘That was a very bad thing to say.’
‘Bad boy, bad boy, down boy.’ She waved her finger at him, mock scowling and his face reddened. This was getting funnier every second. Her eyes flicked around the table. One of the others was chanting and she winced just before the power slammed into her. She slid across the floor, arms flailing until her back struck the wall. The air rushed out of her and her head smashed against the wood, lights flashing before her eyes.
She dropped to the floor, groaning as a drum kit began playing in her head. Another shiver ran through her. What had he done? That was like a fist, bigger than she was, and she knew without a doubt he could have made it powerful enough to put her straight through the wall. She groaned, rubbing her elbows.
She realised for, like, the umpteenth time in three days that she could die here and no one would know. Her eyes filled with tears. The floor blurred and she blinked them away. This wasn’t fun anymore. What would Bond do? Screw Bond, what would Harry do? Hah, he’d get help from his friends. She could always text mum and ask her to send Red. Scarlet would be dead by the time she got here though. And this wasn’t her fight.
She got to her feet, grinding her teeth together. ‘You guys never got good at taking criticism then?’
‘Why would we?’
Another of the four stood. He was good-looking in an evil mastermind kind of a way. She recognised him from the last time she was here. He was the one smiling at her ‘alternative methods’. How had she not realised then they were bad news? She blushed. She had realised. The question was, how had she forgotten?
He stalked around the end of the table, gesticulating with a thin hand. ‘Why should we even listen to what others have to say? We are the most powerful people in the country, Joanna, and that is soon to be formalised. Because that’s all this war is, you understand? A formality, nothing more.’
‘Hsst.’ Chin man hissed at Evil Mastermind. ‘We don’t know what she knows.’
‘It doesn’t matter, calm yourself, Matthew. She isn’t going anywhere.’ He smiled and though she understood how irrelevant she’d become and how young and small she was, she still recognised the arrogance. He really thought he was untouchable. That had to be useful, somehow.
He turned the smile on her and she shuddered, trying her best to rally. ‘Why do it then? If it’s just a formality why do people have to die?’
‘Ahh.’ He sighed, as though the weight of the world was on his shoulders. She recognised the sound all too well. ‘Well, it’s remarkable how blind people are to the ways of the world until they are shoved into everyone’s face. Sometimes a few people have to die so everyone else understands what it means to live.’
‘You mean like on Skinny’s world?’
‘I don’t know who this Skinny is, but if she lives in another dimension that is ruled by the Council, then I imagine it will be very similar.’
He came across to her, bending at the waist until his face was near hers. ‘We have been doing this for rather a long time, my girl. Longer perhaps than you can really understand. But don’t worry, it doesn’t matter.’
He stood, marching away toward the table. His voice rose, booming out across the dining room. ‘What matters is that the time is here. You are going to witness something quite wonderful and that is more than can be said for many people in this world.’
He spun and perched on the end of the table, smug smile back in place. She thought about spitting at him, but Martin really wouldn’t approve. He would approve of some magic though. She muttered the chant under her breath, watching the four men. Perhaps their arrogance would be enough that they wouldn’t expect her to do something as obvious as this.
She finished and the fog dropped. She froze, amazed it had actually worked. Scarlet took a step back, feeling for the door. A burst of laughter cut through the mist and she froze again, swallowing. It was the Evil mastermind and she knew, as clearly as she knew Hermione should have ended up with Harry, that she wasn’t leaving the room.
The force struck her again and as she flew back the fog twisted before her, angry ghosts flung this way and that by the spell. She hit the wall sideways, her arm going dead before she struck the floor. Her teeth slammed together and she screamed as she waited from them to drop out, cracked and broken.
The fog went, as quickly as it had come, and the four came to stand above her. Chin man nodded. ‘That was impressive. Arrogant and stupid, but impressive.’
Evil mastermind chanted and she rose from the floor, kicking her legs as she lost all control. ‘Put me down, let me go you bastards.’
She received a couple of raised eyebrows. The fourth man, who had yet to speak, was buried beneath a beard the size of London, but now a set of neat white teeth showed between the curly black hair. ‘You are lacking in both respect and manners. I would advise you to change that when we return to speak to you.’
He waved a hand and she hurtled across the room, through an open door and down a long corridor. The door at the far end opened as she approached and she flew into a round room. Abruptly, she dropped to the floor, shouting in pain as her arm struck the stone. She looked down the corridor and saw the four staring at her, smiling. Then the door crashed closed before her face and she was plunged into darkness.
For a few minutes she alternated between wanting to punch something and wanting to cry. The crying won out for a second and tears scored her cheeks. Then she wiped them away and stood. The darkness was fading. An orange glow emanated from the floor and walls, making her hands look like she had some crazy disease.
She made a slow circuit of the room. It was empty, the ceiling far above her head. The door had disappeared or was at least very difficult to see. She pulled out her phone and pressed the button. Nothing. She held down the power button. Still nothing. How had it run out of battery already? Bloody iphone.
Okay, fine, this was simple. She had to have a door opening spell somewhere. She pulled out her spell book and searched carefully through it, peering closely at the pages in the gloom.
She was getting bored of knowing stuff before it happened. She knew long before she reached the end there was nothing in there, nothing of any use. With a hiss she slammed it down on the floor and rocked on her bum, holding her knees in tight to her chest.
She pulled the other book out, flicking idly through the pages at the strange letters that twisted and wound before her eyes. It gave her a headache. She was about to slam it shut when a voice spoke, right beside her ear.
‘Oh no, don’t shut it, please, I haven’t see those words in so long.’
She spun around, but the room was empty.
Next Installment Monday 19th May
