Part One is here

‘The ashes are what’s left of the children.’

What the hell was she talking about? Scarlet swallowed, staring across the clearing to the cottage. An old woman stood out on the porch, one hand waving a stick in the air. ‘What children, what do you mean?’

‘I’m not the only person around here who does the same thing every day. There are two children who come walking here. Some days they go home with candy, other days…’

She rubbed her face with her palms. Scarlet’s mouth dropped open. ‘Please tell me they aren’t called Hansel and Gretel.’

Red looked at her with wide eyes, mouth open in a circle. ‘How did you know?’

Scarlet shook her head. ‘Don’t ask. But what about your granny, you know, when they go home with sweets?’

‘Those are the days she is out.’

‘Are you sure, I thought…’

Did she need to say that? Probably not. ‘Right, okay, so, we should go then.’

Red took her shoulder and they turned away from the cottage, heading deeper into the forest. They paused in a clearing and Scarlet laid out the ingredients, paying close attention to where she placed them. She was about to cast when she realised she couldn’t take them back to the boardroom. She pictured the gates through which she’d watched them drag Skinny Scarlet.

Could she remember it well enough? She closed her eyes, trying to find the details. They were made of metal with sort of chicken wire stuff inside the frame. What had the floor looked like? She hunched her shoulders and let them drop. She didn’t have time to mess around. In the distance, granny’s voice came again, but it was getting closer now. And she sounded pissed.

She cast, holding the picture in her mind as she spoke. The light appeared and she reached out her hand until she felt Red’s slip into it. She took a deep breath and walked them through.

The breath came out in a huge rush as she saw the gate before them. Red stared about, eyes wide and hands held before her. She looked oddly nervous and her gaze settled on Scarlet. ‘Where did all this metal come from?’

‘Um, dunno, they probably bought it.’

‘But where did those people get it from? There’s so much.’

‘Isn’t there always?’

Red shook her head, eyes still wide.

‘Right, so, how do we break in?’

‘I didn’t know there was steel here. This could be difficult.’

Scarlet sighed. One of those days. She glanced over her shoulder. They stood by the side of a road, empty of cars. Over the other side was waste land, tall grasses waving in the breeze. The fence ran in both directions as far as she could see. It was the gate or nothing.

Red knelt before it, staring at the lock, head still shaking back and forth. There was no handle, just a keyhole in the metal. She stood and wiped her hands on her hips. ‘We’ll have to go over.’

‘Over?’

Scarlet looked at the top of the gate. It was so high. She looked down at her feet and up again at the gate. ‘Yeah, that’s not happening.’

Red glanced back, eyebrows raised. ‘It isn’t that difficult, watch me.’

She took a step back and raced at the gate. She sprang off at the last second and hurtled upward, her hands grabbing the top. In the next second she hauled herself up and perched on top of the gate. ‘It is your turn now.’

Scarlet burst out laughing. ‘Right, funny. Can you open the gate from in there?’

Red gave her another confused look. What was she missing? ‘Look, Red, I’m really not jumping up there.’

Another look, but she dropped down behind the gate. A few seconds later it swung open and Scarlet sauntered through, giving her new companion a wide smile. She tried her best to look calm and casual and ignore the sweat that was drying on her neck from her moment of panic.

They hurried down the concrete path between more waving grass toward another hanger. They were exposed, visible to anyone wanting to watch them. She shuddered. It was like being on a catwalk, only without the flashing cameras and all the people lusting after her. In fact, it was nothing like a catwalk and everything like going up to the front in assembly. Even down to the threat of what might happen when she got there.

The front door swung open at Red’s touch and they crept inside. The hanger was filled with buildings, the corners hidden in darkness. The two of them rushed into the shadows. Scarlet struggled to draw breath. Where were they, where was Martin who wasn’t Martin? Why hadn’t they stopped them? It was a trap, it had to be a trap.

She was about to say so to Red when men’s voices cut through the silence.

‘There are too many here, and not enough of us.’

‘Do we need another cull?’

Silence for a moment. Wasn’t cull what you did to sick cows? She grabbed Red’s hand, eyes flashing in the darkness. They wouldn’t, they couldn’t.

‘That’s a definite possibility. I’d rather avoid it if we can though. The clean up can be complicated.’

Red moved, pulling Scarlet along with her round the side of the building so the men’s voices faded away.

‘How are we going to find her?’

Her voice sounded loud in the still and she gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth. Red shook her head. ‘I don’t know. Perhaps we should get inside?’

Scarlet nodded and they walked around the building until they found a door. This entered into a long hallway. On the wall to one side a huge white board was covered in scribbles. It reminded her of mum’s handwriting, only mum didn’t write the names of people who were about to be culled. She stared at the words, trying to sort through the names.

She wasn’t there. Dammit. They ran back out and went to the next, repeating the process. They’d gone through five buildings before she started to panic. They were never going to find her. They were going to be culled and she and Red would have to sit and watch and there was nothing they could do.

They ducked out of the building and raced toward the next. Her heart hammered, the blood thumping in her ears. She was around the corner before she realised the voices had returned. The two men froze, staring at her as her mouth dropped open.

‘Escapees. Well, this is unusual. Please wait there, ladies.’

His hand went into his jacket and emerged moments later. He pointed the gun he held straight at her. ‘Please, stand absolutely still.’

Part One is here

She stared into the wolf’s eyes as it howled. The sound split her in half. It was, in many ways, similar to mum shouting. It had the same inhuman edge and carried the same note of insanity that came with a real flip-out. Unfortunately, this was unlikely to end with her phone being taken away and no pizza for a week.

Scarlet took a step back and bumped into a tree. At least she had something to her back, something she could lean against as it tore her throat out. She would die standing up. Why was that good? Given the choice, she’d spend her entire life lying down, preferably on something soft and warm. Maybe she should lie down.

The wolf moved, faster than she could follow, and stood before her. It was close enough to feel the warm breath on her cheeks. And the smell. This bad boy wasn’t big on the teeth cleaning. Trying not to breath she slipped a hand into her pocket, resting it against her spell book. There had to be something she could use.

Her mind was trying to race but in reality it raced much as she did. So her mind was far behind the pack, stopping every three paces to draw breath and gasp. She had nothing. The eyes were still staring at her, massive and eerie. The irises were yellow run through with thick black veins and they were almost luminous, drawing her in so the forest around her blurred and disappeared.

She took a step away from the tree, one hand held out. Now that she was really looking, she could see the love in those eyes. The wolf didn’t want to kill her, it wanted to mate with her and such an honour she’d never thought to have bestowed upon one so lowly as she.

‘One so lowly as she?’

Hang on, what the hell was she thinking? She blinked and the eyes lost their grip. Unfortunately, so did she and she screamed and dived to the side. One enormous paw caught her on the head and checked her dive, slamming her to the floor. She landed with a howl of pain and curled up, waiting for the teeth.

She heard the crunch of feet on the pine needles and sticks and the wolf grunted and moved away. She sat up, arms wrapped around herself and stared in wonder. A girl was clinging to the side of the wolf, one hand wrapped around its long fur. Her other hand gripped the handle of a knife that was buried deep in the beast’s side.

The girl was wearing red. Tight-fitting crimson leather. Oh boy. She wiped the imaginary drool from her lip and forgot for a moment all about the nearly dieing thing. Then the wolf charged her and all her thoughts, naughty and otherwise, fled as she scrambled back. Her heels shoved through the loose forest floor and she moved by all of a few centimetres.

Fortunately it made little difference. Red Riding Hood pulled her knife free and slammed it in again to the same place. The wolf stopped in his tracks, head thrown back and howling. He shook like a dog, shaggy fur whipping around until his attacker was lost among it. Scarlet thought she saw the knife come out again and once more dig deep into its side.

The shaking slowed, then stopped altogether. The wolf dropped to his knees. Had she ever seen a tree fall, she imagined this was what it would look like, ponderous and sad. It slumped onto its side, final breath rushing from it like a popped balloon.

Red Riding Hood, and how cumbersome was that for a name, pulled her knife free and dropped to the ground. She wiped her blade on the wolf’s fur and slipped it back into a sheath that hung at her side. Scarlet stared. She had long black hair and pale green eyes and a face that could only really come from a fairy tale. Scarlet whistled softly under her breath, trying not to pant. Only then did Red Riding Hood look up and apparently see Scarlet for the first time.

‘Who are you?’

‘Joanna… Actually, I’m called Scarlet.’ What was that about?

‘Well, Joanna Scarlet, you shouldn’t be here.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because you aren’t ever here.’

‘Um, except I am, like, right now.’

‘Which is why you shouldn’t be here.’

Riiight. Scarlet rubbed her arm where life was just returning after her trip to the ground. This hadn’t started well. ‘You’re Red Riding Hood, right?’

The girl nodded. ‘How do you know my name?’

‘Honey, everyone knows your name.’ If I knew you looked like this I’d have visited sooner. Too soon to say that? Probably.

‘Who is everyone? Do you mean the villagers?’

Scarlet had one of those moments. They were called clarity, possibly, or maybe insanity. Swap a few letters round, what’s the difference? Red Riding Hood had no idea she was in a story. To her, this was normal.

‘How come the wolf was still alive?’

The girl sighed and leaned against the massive corpse. ‘He is always alive. Every morning I wake up and every day I come here and slaughter him. Tomorrow I will wake and do it again.’

Man, that sucked. ‘That sucks. Why do you do it?’

Red sighed and waved a hand toward the mansion cottage across the clearing. ‘Because my grandmother lives there and without me, she would die.’

‘Why doesn’t she move? I mean, it’s a nice house, but surely if this is happening every day she could just move somewhere safer?’

Red frowned and shook her head. She squinted at Scarlet, as though making her blur would make more sense of what she’d just suggested. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t understand.’

‘Mmm.’ Could fairy tales be stupid? Apparently yes. ‘So, look, I’ve come here to ask you for your knife.’

Red put a hand to the hilt and turned her body to put it between Scarlet and the knife. ‘My father gave me this knife. The only way you’ll get it is after I put it in you.’

Scarlet shuddered. The squint was gone and the beautiful lines of her heart shaped face were set as she scowled. Still hot though. Scarlet held her hands up before her. ‘Hey, fine, don’t kill me, I’m not a wolf.’

Red relaxed a tiny bit and her hand returned to her side. She came closer and Scarlet smelled her. There was a hint of wood smoke and pine and lots of something indefinable that made her neck hair stand up and her insides go funny. She wasn’t actually going out with Lara, not right at this moment. The thought made her blush, shame and lust warring within her. Shame lost. It would be fair to say shame snuck out before the battle even began.

‘So, um, do you live alone out here?’

Red cocked her head to one side. ‘I live in the village, with my mother. Who are you, why are you here?’

‘I told you. My name’s Scarlet, and I’m here because I need your knife.’

‘Why?’

The scowl was back. Scarlet told her about the other her and the council and tried to do it in words that didn’t mean lots more explanation. The phrase ‘other worlds’ was pretty safe. She tried dimension once and got a blank look. Which was fair because she was only going on what she’d got from old episodes of Star Trek.

When she’d finished, Red was frowning again. Her hand wasn’t on her dagger, so that was a good sign, but the frown was scary on its own. And hot.

‘Why did you not just rescue her?’

‘Um, excuse me, how? Not some hot fighting goddess like you, in case you hadn’t noticed.’

Red’s cheek turned the same colour as her outfit and she looked everywhere but at Scarlet. That was cute, just completely adorable. She felt the urge to slap herself round the face. Red nodded. ‘That is true.’

Okay, maybe it was, but she didn’t need to say it. Scarlet folded her arms, waiting. Red frowned, which seemed to be her default expression. Scarlet was pretty certain she was thinking, looking past her into the forest. She came to a decision, because she put her hand back on her knife and nodded.

‘Fine, well, I think we should return to this other world and rescue her.’

‘What, together?’

‘Is there something wrong with that?’

Scarlet shook her head violently. ‘Not at all, no, that’s fine, great, really. Um, are you sure?’

Red nodded. She was about to say more when a voice came across the clearing like the detention bell.

‘RED! RED, ATTEND ME AT ONCE.’

Red groaned, putting her face in her hands.

‘Is that granny?’

Red nodded. ‘Can we go, please?’

‘Shouldn’t you talk to her?’

‘She doesn’t want to talk. She wants me to get the ashes out of her oven.’

‘That doesn’t sound too bad.’

‘It is when the ashes are what’s left of the children.’

Next Instalment Friday 18th April

Part One is here

‘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

Part One is here

Martin turned away and she was pulled from the van by her legs, kicking all the way.

‘MARTIN, WAIT, WHAT’S GOING ON?’

She surprised herself, her throat giving way as she screamed. The man she thought she knew paused, turned and came back. The inspectors dropped her, literally, and backed away. Martin watched as she got to her feet, fighting the urge to cry and rubbing her elbows where they’d hit the ground.

‘Why are you calling me Martin?’

‘That’s your name.’

He shook his head. ‘My name is irrelevant. My title is Head Ward of extra-dimensional studies.’

‘Catchy.’

He raised his eyebrows, fractionally higher than before. ‘You know me, in your dimension.’

It wasn’t a question, but she found herself answering.

‘You’re my master, you’re teaching me magic.’

‘Ah.’ A smile split his face. It wasn’t quite right, like milk left out overnight. You wanted to trust it, but you knew it you put it on your cereal you’d regret it later. ‘How quaint. Things are a little different here.’

‘Why?’

‘Why?’ He put his hands behind his back, settling onto his heels. It was such a familiar gesture that a lump formed in her throat. ‘It has been this way for sixty years and it is this way because it has to be. The world was lost, for many years and we cannot let it become lost again.’

‘I’m not sure how you could lose the world. I mean, I’ve lost mine, but that’s just me. Surely you couldn’t all lose it at the same time, that would just be—’

‘Terror invaded our world and millions died. This is not something to joke about.’

‘But why does it have to be like this?’

He sighed as though she were really stupid. ‘Because we have to maintain control.’

‘What, over all those sixteen year old school girls who are just poised to take over the world?’

‘Scarlet knew what she was doing.’

‘She’s sixteen.’

He shook his head. ‘Make no mistake, age means nothing. There are plenty of sixteen year old capable of terrible things.’

‘Well, yeah, you should have seen this text post on tumblr the other week, serious trolling, but I mean—’

‘You mean very little and say a lot.’

‘Why are you in charge?’

He looked surprised at the change in tack but took it well. ‘I am a member of the council.’

‘The Council? You mean the magic council?’

‘Of course. Who else do you think runs the country?’

Her mouth dropped open and before she could say anything else, the inspectors returned. They dragged her through the massive gate before which she’d been standing. Martin came in also but headed in a different direction. She was lugged along the main road, past open fields. It was like being on an airfield and the massive hanger they were walking toward did nothing to dispel the feeling.

The doors were already open and they strode out of the evening sun into the gloom of the hanger. There were buildings inside it, long flat grey boxes with tiny windows and flat roofs. They put her down enough for her to use her feet and the three of them approached the nearest. In through the door and down a corridor that looked like a hospital and smelled like a gym.

Another door and when it swung open, she saw within a cell, not much larger than Martin’s bedroom and bearing a remarkably similar bed. And nothing else. They shoved her in and slammed the door. She turned, about to commit the terrible sin of cliche by thumping on the door and demanding to be let out. But some things were beneath even her, so she settled for trying out the bed.

The mattress was made of something resembling wood, with about as much give, and she gave up lying down pretty quickly. Mum would be worrying by now. Well, not worrying, but certainly wondering. She could pace. People paced in jail cells, didn’t they? She gave it a try, taking the three steps from one end to the other and turned, before giving it up as a bad job.

The light was already fading and soon the cell was plunged into complete darkness. This could be a good time to panic. But she’d run today and cried more than usual. She stretched out on the bed, wriggled around for half an hour and finally fell asleep.

The door opening woke her. Apparently she didn’t wake up quick enough, because they slammed it against the wall a few times until she sat up and waved a hand. She looked around for a mirror and was relieved to see there were none. If she was going to be dead or in another dimension soon, she really couldn’t care less about how she looked.

The inspector in the doorway tapped one hand against the door frame and his foot on the stone floor.

‘Could you be any more of a stereotype? Just calm down, alright?’

He sneered at her and went on tapping. She stretched and yawned. And stretched some more. And yawned a bit. Another stretch. He grabbed her arm and pulled her out the cell while she gave him her sweetest smile. She had somehow woken up in a good mood. That never happened, unless Lara was there and that had only happened twice. The thought made her insides tighten and her smile widen.

Then she remembered everything that had happened yesterday. Weird how being in another dimension still didn’t take away from the hurt of being dumped. Her smile faded as the guy in the uniform dragged her down endless passageways until they reached a double door inlaid with blacked-out glass panels.

He pushed one open, shoved her through, and she found herself in a massive room. That it was big was about the only interesting thing she could say about it. That and the narrow table that filled the centre and was sat at by four men. All staring at her. She put her hand to her hair, feeling the inevitable post-sleep wind tunnel effect and groaned.

‘Come forward.’

She stepped closer to the table, trying to stand up straight. ‘There are four of you. Are you the head of the Council?’

‘Do you really think the head of the council would be here to deal with a nobody like you? We are the heads of council for extra-dimensional occurrences.’

‘You guys just love the crap titles don’t you? Where’s Martin?’

They looked at her blankly. The same one spoke again. ‘You are here to be judged.’

‘Yay.’

‘And it would behove you to take it a little more seriously as the sentence may well be death.’

She feigned a yawn. What was with her today? Of the four men, three frowned at her as if they had special powers in their foreheads. The fourth sat back, watching her with a wry smile. Three against one. She was going to die. But somehow, she still couldn’t bring herself to be too bothered.

‘Please, come and stand at the head of the table.’

She headed around until she could see all their faces without them having to turn.

‘Name?’

‘Joanna Slater.’

‘Why are you here, Joanna.’

‘My friends call me Jo. I was using a seeking spell to get home and accidentally went to the wrong house.’

‘How did you do that?’

‘Um, well, I may have been a bit careless with how I laid out the ingredients.’

She couldn’t decide if the creased brows and open mouths were amazement or disgust, or maybe a bit of both. ‘I see. Why did you run when we came to collect you?’

‘The people in the house thought I should. And they were right. You threw me in a van and put me in prison for the night. That’s not very nice, you know.’

The relaxed one smiled again, but the other three glared. ‘She will be dealt with. You will go home. We can send you, or you may perform the spell yourself.’

‘What, I can go home? Right now?’

He nodded and she busied herself with her bag. She had most of the stuff spread out around her and her bundle of sage tucked behind her ear before she stopped. Dammit.

‘What about her?’

The men turned back to stare at her. ‘Who?’

‘Scarlet, the girl who tried to save me?’

There was silence for a moment, before the smiling man spoke. ‘Why do you want to know?’

‘I think you’re doing nasty things to her and she doesn’t deserve it.’

‘Nasty is a very subjective word.’

‘Assuming that means what I think it does, I gotta disagree. Nasty is nasty.’

He rocked his head from side to side. ‘She is being reconditioned, to ensure she fully understands what is expected of her.’

‘And then?’

‘If we believe she is suitable, she will be allowed back into society.’

‘Yeah, see, that’s not good enough. Can I save her?’

The men chuckled. Actually chuckled. Spitting at them probably wouldn’t help her get what she wanted, so she ground her teeth together and waited. They were making eye contact, raising eyebrows and being all mysterious. Maybe she should pretend to go home and go to the gate instead. She could remember what it looked like.

‘What would you be willing to do?’

‘Ewww. Not that.’

He shook his head, still smiling. ‘I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, how far does your intention to rescue her go?’

She shrugged. ‘I dunno.’

‘Hmm.’ What did that mean? He was looking at the others and one by one they nodded. He turned back to her. ‘Perhaps there is something you can do. There is something we need, maybe you can get it.’

‘Yeah, sure, what is it?’

‘Tell me, have you ever heard of Red Riding Hood?’

Next Instalment Monday 14th April

Part One is here

As the inspectors bundled them into a van, Scarlet couldn’t take her eyes off her counterpart. Her eyes flicked about like a deer in the headlights and she kept mumbling under her breath. What was she going to do?

The van was dark and smelled of sweat. It reminded her of the changing rooms at school. She was shoved in first, but Skinny resisted and spoke louder, her mumble becoming a casting. Scarlet gasped just before a night stick cracked across Skinny’s head. She slumped forward as the man who had hit her growled into her ear.

‘Don’t even think about it. You ain’t done anything wrong yet, so why ruin it now?’

Skinny was dumped on the floor of the truck and the doors were slammed shut. Scarlet slid off the seat and lifted Skinny’s head into her lap. She had a moment to think about the insanity of having her own head in her lap before the van lurched away and they both slid until they hit the back doors.

Skinny’s eyes fluttered open and she stared up at Scarlet. ‘They’re taking us to a camp. They’re going to hide us.’

From the shaking in her voice and the quivering chin, Scarlet assumed that was a bad thing. Being hidden didn’t sound all that bad. ‘What does that mean?’

Skinny sat up quickly, groaned, and put her head in her hands. ‘It means we disappear. No one hears from us again and that’s it.’

‘So what actually happens to us?’

‘I don’t know.’ She started to cry, big heaving sobs that Scarlet recognised only too well.

‘How can you not know?’

‘Because no one ever finds out. No one ever escapes or comes back.’

She buried her head and Scarlet moved back to the seat. This wasn’t good news, but having to deal with the sound of her own crying, which was horrible at the best of times, was too much. She stared through the tiny barred window on the side of the van. The streets they drove through were familiar, save the lack of people. Those she did see were going about life quite normally. Where was the magic?

How, in a world where everyone did magic, was no one doing it? The van halted and she examined the road outside. There were more cameras, CCTV on, like, every lamppost and shop and even the bins. Someone was watching everything. It could be big brother, it could be father Christmas. Then again, it could be more of the nasty sods that had chucked them in the van. Inspectors. This was a strange world.

She blinked. She’d just thought this was a strange world. Not, oh my god I’m in another dimension and how the hell did I end up here? Oh no, just, this is a strange world. When did this become normal? She really wanted to be freaked out but it was the coolest thing ever. Except for the being in the back of a van. Maybe she should leave.

They moved again and she pulled the ingredients out of her bag and laid them out. The shifting floor made it tough but she got it pretty close to right. She began to cast, but seconds into the chanting her head swam and she badly needed to vomit. The casting faltered and she swore. She took a few breaths and tried again. Same thing.

Skinny smiled sadly. ‘The vans are coated. No one knows what they use but you can’t do any magic.’

‘And you’re only telling me this now because?’

Skinny shrugged. ‘What’s the point? It’s over. We’re dead.’

Scarlet squinted at her and shook her head. Was she really this dramatic? ‘Why?’

Skinny almost leaped from her seat, hands shaking, before she subsided back against the door of the van and laughed in that way people do just before they shoot themselves. ‘You don’t come from here, you don’t know what it’s like.’

‘But you can all do magic. Why haven’t you changed things?’

‘How? We’re tracked, every second of our lives. Everything we do is monitored. They test us, whenever they want, just to make sure we’re still loyal.’ She spat out loyal and looked down at her hands. ‘I could make a pretty good illusion when I was six. I could make fire when I was eight. Only I couldn’t do it in class, because it was dangerous, and I couldn’t do it outside because magic’s forbidden on the street and mum gets pissed if I do it at home…’

Scarlet looked at the floor of the van, frowning. They could all do magic. How did this place suck this badly if they could all do magic?

The van lurched to a stop and the doors dragged open. Skinny was taken beneath the arms and pulled out and the doors slammed closed again. Scarlet threw herself against the doors, thumping on them with her fists. ‘Let me out, bloody let me OUT.’

The van pulled away and she moved to the window, pressing herself against it. She just made out a struggling body being carted away through a gate bordered on both sides by high fences. She slumped down from the window onto her knees. The van turned a corner and she was flung sideways and slammed her hands against the floor.

A cold settled over her, like she’d come out without a coat. Actually, she had come out without a coat. She should have learned by now. Where had they taken Skinny Scarlet? That was her fault, completely her fault. And maybe Martin’s, but mostly hers. She sniffed, admitting for the first time that now might be a good time to be scared.

She pulled her phone from her pocket. No signal. No 3G. She shoved it back in, resisting the urge to chuck it at the van wall. This wasn’t fun any more. The van came to a halt, the doors opened and a face appeared. Warmth flooded her as the familiar sight of Martin filled her vision.

‘Thank god, it’s you.’

His eyebrows raised slightly before he spoke. ‘Welcome to the extra-dimensional holding cell. You will remain here until the decision is made regarding your termination.’

‘Martin?’

But he’d turned away, not an inch of recognition on his face and the masked men appeared, hands reaching for her.

Next Instalment Friday 11th April