Part One is here

‘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

Part One is here

‘The war begins, we send out the terror guards and just like that, we’re running the show.’

The other person grunted and their footsteps clacked away down the hall. She put her back to the wall and slid down it, eyes staring at a spot on her bed where the quilt was folded under. She leaned forward, pulled it free and twitched the quilt until it resembled something approaching straight.

They were going to start a war. Her laughter came in a burst that made her duck her head and glance around, as though the two outside would hear and come charging back. They had brought her here, not to learn, but to keep her out the way for whatever they were going to do. They were going to start a war.

What were terror guards? Her brain was spinning and she picked up her phone and typed in everything she could remember of the conversation. She texted it to Lara, not expecting an answer, but wanting her to know something was going on. Sister dimensions? So they did visit other dimensions. The handful of magicians Banner had talked about obviously still did it.

Were they doing what had happened in Skinny’s dimension? It sounded like it, but why were they starting a war? She’d said the second world war lasted for like, twenty years or something. Why would they do that?

She checked her phone. Three forty. She sighed and clambered back into bed. She was so awake, how the hell was she supposed to sleep after that? Her head hit the pillow and her eyes closed.

She woke this time with the bell, the same vomit-inducing sound that had signalled the beginning of lunch. She hadn’t minded yesterday but now it reminded her of the place she’d found Skinny. She could imagine they had those kind of bells everywhere, to let you go to the toilet or stop thinking. Bells were like whistles, they were just insulting, like, as though you can’t look at a watch and figure it out yourself.

She was halfway out of bed before she remembered what had happened last night. She touched her feet to the wooden floor, finding it pleasantly and unexpectedly warm, and stood. There was no mirror in here. They were going to start a war. She needed to stop them.

She almost vomited. She was going to stop them. That was very stupid of her. Almost as stupid as visiting Red Riding Hood and asking for her knife.

Did Seeker know about this? Is this why he wanted her to snoop around? He’d been so disgusted when she said she was a student here. Maybe he could help. She picked up her phone, pulled the card from her pocket and went to text. Then decided it would be easier to call.

She hated talking on the phone, except to Lara, but this time it was, perhaps, worth making the effort.

He picked up after two rings.

‘Seeker.’

‘Hi, this is the speaking clock. The time is we’re all screwed and everyone’s going to die.’

‘Scarlet, so lovely to speak with you.’

‘Don’t use that name.’

‘You think someone is listening?’ He sounded hugely amused.

‘Okay so, like, right now, I think someone is both listening and watching and probably monitoring my heart rate as well. Why did you ask me to snoop for you?’

‘Come now, you know why. This is my job, Joanna, it’s my livelihood. What might seem like a little piece of gossip to you may be worth considerable money to someone else.’

‘That someone being you, right?’

‘Does it matter who’s getting rich?’

She took the phone away from her ear and stuck her tongue out at it. ‘Okay, well, how’s this for a piece of gossip. The council are about to start a war. Then they’ll release these people called terror guards, who’ll, like, make the war go on and on until the Council have to take over and run the country and it’ll be all like that really crap movie, 1984 and stuff.’

She panted, hand on her hip. She was talking rather loud and she already knew these doors weren’t the best for soundproofing. There was silence on the other end of the phone.

‘Seeker?’

‘I’m here. How sure are you about this?’

‘I don’t know. I woke up at, like, stupid o’clock this morning and heard these two guys outside my door talking about it. They said they’d got me, well, they didn’t say my name, but they were talking about me, because I’m powerful…’

‘Who were they?’

‘It’s funny you should ask that, because my x-ray vision kicked in last night so I could see them perfectly I don’t know, not a clue. One of them sounded…’

‘Yes?’ He was impatient.

‘Not human.’

‘I see.’

‘Seeker?’

‘Yes?’

‘Can you help me?’

Silence. She could hear him breathing and something else which she realised was the sound of dripping water.

‘I’m not sure that I can. But some food for thought. If this is all in progress, what is the likelihood that Martin is being kept in Australia against his will? And what can you do that has made them bring you in?’

‘How is that useful?’

‘I’m not sure it is, but as you’re the one working for me, I’m not going to let it bother me overmuch.’

‘You complete—’

The phone went dead. She looked at it for a moment, then placed it carefully on the bed. Then she punched the wall. It was, in retrospect, a very silly thing to do. She moaned and doubled up over her bruised knuckles, dropping to her haunches and biting her lip. This was also foolish. In order to stand up, she fell forward onto her knees and crawled up the side of the bed.

Martin was being kept prisoner in Australia. It clicked then, the thing that had niggled her when she read his email. How had she not noticed at the time? He’d been using contractions, like, I’m instead of I am. She’d been with Lara long enough to be hyper-aware of things like that. Martin wouldn’t know how to use slang if it bit him on the arse.

She sighed and shook her head. This was, although it pained her to admit, almost certainly her own fault. On the plus side, she was here and knew what was going on, so that was good. For some reason.

Her stomach growled and she wandered to the canteen. She tried to simultaneously be casual while looking in all directions at once. It turned into one of those comedy movie scenes where she looked like she was trying to catch her own tail and look cool. She gave it up when she got to the canteen.

She grabbed some cereal and headed for the table where Sandra and Josh were sat. They gave her a smile and continued eating, as though having a social pariah in their midst was no big thing. She waited for either of them to tell her to go away and when they didn’t, she dug into her cereal trying not to smile stupidly.

‘So, when did you guys arrive?’

‘Yesterday.’

‘Me too. Umm, did your parents pay?’

Sandra nodded. ‘Yeah, mine were desperate, they’d have paid anything. Granddad was this big time magician but he was so in-debt he couldn’t send mum here. They’ve been planning on sending me for like, since forever.’

They both looked at Josh and he shrugged. ‘I’m on a scholarship.’

Alarm bells rang in her head and she leaned closer. ‘When did they get you?’

His eyebrows came together and he shook his head. ‘I got a letter a few weeks ago, but mum and dad applied years ago.’

‘Oh.’

She stared down at her cereal. She’d heard them, she knew she had and she knew they were talking about her. She turned, sitting on the bench with her back to the table and surveyed the canteen. The place was close to full, hundreds of students eating and talking. Anyone in here could be the ones they were talking about, but she had no way of finding them.

It didn’t matter. The Council would have a plan. Her cereals were getting soggy. She turned back and finished them, shoulders hunched as she waited for the inevitable hand to drop. It didn’t though and she found herself joining in with the other two, talking about what magic they’d seen and what they wanted to learn. It was only as she pushed her bowl away that she remembered she wasn’t going to learn anything.

It was like going to Legoland and finding all the pieces were stuck together with glue, or made from one big block with lines painted on. And the guys who ran the place were evil psychopaths. Actually, that may be true of Legoland as well. I mean, how long can you hang around and build Lego before something inside goes a bit funny?

She pushed herself up from the bench, mumbled something about seeing them later and wandered out of the hall. She needed a shower. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a shower, which was both terrifying and a teensy bit liberating. There was something about life or death situations that made grooming seem less important.

She tucked her nose under her arm and sniffed. Shower. She could save the world, or like, the freedom of the world, or whatever after she stopped smelling like a locker room.

A half hour later she emerged from the showers, wondering whether the fate of the world was all that important when she could have showers like that every morning. She dressed quickly and set off, heading back to the room of doors. The canteen was almost empty, the place deserted as people got ready for class.

She stood in the middle and thought back to her last time here. It was a guess, if she were honest, but she thought she’d chosen the right door. She pushed through and walked down the long corridor. The wood was darker here, classier, and the lights were lower. Kinda nice, kinda creepy.

She reached the end and pushed through the door and nodded. She was in the right place. The room was as big as she’d remembered, the four empty thrones sat at the far end. The last time she’d been in here students had filled the chairs that sat around the central circle. Now they were empty and she was one of the students.

Would she have sat while some poor girl was bullied? She didn’t want to answer that so she scurried around the side of the room, keeping to the plentiful shadows until she reached the door she’d pictured in her mind. This was where the four had come from, well the three of the four who bothered show up.

She cracked it open and voices wafted out. She paused, but they were too far away to hear and with a lurching in her stomach, she slipped into the corridor and took baby steps along the thick carpet. It muffled her approach and she got close enough to see three men sat around a table at the far end of the corridor.

It opened into a room that was part scary magician, part mum’s kitchen. There were flowers on the table. Actually, they didn’t come from either place. Mum killed flowers like the Champion killed, like, anything. There were pictures on the walls and carpet on the floor, but the table was huge and made of black wood that sucked in the light. Probably showed stains something rotten.

Something shoved her in the back and she stumbled and staggered into the room. The men whom she could only assume were the heads of the Council, the dreaded three, looked up from their breakfasts. The fourth came around from behind her and took his seat.

‘Well, well, our newest student has decided to explore a little. Tell me, Joanna, at what point in your lessons with Martin did he say it was okay to spy?’

Next Installment Friday 16th May

Part One is here

The three of them surrounded her, leering with movie-bad-guy grins. How had she not seen this coming?

‘Hi guys, long time no see. How are you?’

She smiled brightly and was rewarded with glowering. They’d clearly been practising, cause it was almost scary. Almost. Unfortunately, it was the side of scary that was funny and she giggled.

‘What’s funny?’

He tried to growl, but his deep, deep, voice cracked halfway through and she burst out into full-blown laughter.

‘Come on, what’s so funny? What, still laughing over kicking me in the balls?’

Scarlet took a deep breath. She had to control herself and calm down. She giggled again as she saw in her mind the guy’s face after she booted him. ‘Honestly, I haven’t thought about it for months, but now you mention it, it was quite funny.’

He growled and came closer, his face a few feet from her own. ‘You aren’t welcome here.’

‘It’s funny, cause that’s not what the guy who offered me a full scholarship said.’

All three looked like they’d been stung by something large and venomous and she worked to keep the smugness from her face. What the hell. She let it all hang out, beaming at them as they exchanged looks. The third sat on the bench beside her and put a hand on her leg. She shoved it off and he tried to put it back.

‘We can make life very uncomfortable for you here.’

She grabbed his hand and banged it against the table. One of the fingers caught and bent back and he howled, yanking it from her grasp. It was like being back in infant’s school, only worse cause these guys wouldn’t run away and tell teacher. They’d keep it secret and keep doing it again and again.

She stood, getting in their faces. ‘I’ll make it simple. Screw with me and I’ll take you to see a friend of mine. He lives in The Shadows and won’t take kindly to someone stepping on his turf.’

She was super aware of threatening to do to them what had been done to her, but hopefully they wouldn’t actually make her do it. Judging by the doubt on their faces, they didn’t believe her anyway.

‘No one’s ever been to The Shadows.’

Scarlet smiled. ‘I have. It’s not the only dimension I’ve visited, but it’s certainly the coolest. How about you guys, get around much?’

They still didn’t believe her, not completely, but there was doubt there now. ‘Hey, check with Banner, he knows.’

‘I think we’ll do exactly that.’

He sneered and stomped away across the canteen, followed by the other two. They even walked funny, like they were in a gangster movie. It was like watching Lara try to talk street. She’d done it a bit when they started dating, throwing the odd ‘swag’ and ‘blud’ in there and Scarlet had been in stitches.

She looked at her hands. They were shaking. The three had left the canteen, but that was by no means the last of it. She sat on her hands and took some deep breaths and thought about Lara some more. Dammit, phone. She had to send a text. She had to work out how to get into her room.

The thin lady came back to the hatch and raised an eyebrow at Scarlet. ‘You want food?’

With a sigh of relief Scarlet grabbed a tray and plated up, noting with approval the fish fingers and slices of pizza. She’d heard from Lara about this private school that cost, like, twenty thousand pounds a term or something and they served fish fingers and beans for every meal. The parents went crazy but the students loved it.

She wondered how much it cost to come here as she tucked into her meal. How did people know about it? What sort of students came here anyway?

A bell rang somewhere outside the canteen, but the sound carried in, loud enough to make her wince. In dribs and drabs, students and teacher came in and got food. She was surprised at how like her school it felt. There were people here from all over, lots of nationalities, and she heard at least three languages just in the queue.

Magic, it appeared, was an international thing. That boded well for someone crazy enough to be gay and magically inclined. No one came to sit with her and she finished quickly and headed for the door. Maybe she could try to make friends in class. Maybe better to avoid it altogether and not be disappointed by rejection.

She reached the door and was stopped by a conversation at the nearest table.

‘So did you manage it?’

‘Yeah, but it took me ages. He kept saying ‘think about the entrance’, but I was just confused.’

The mention of entrance was enough to turn her head and she saw a boy and girl sat at the table. They were her age, probably, or maybe younger. And they looked as out of place as she felt. Digging her nails into her palms, she went over and cleared her throat.

‘Um, look, sorry to, like, bother you, but are you new?’

They nodded and the girl gave her a smile. ‘You too?’

Scarlet nodded back, shocked at how relieved she felt by the admission. The girl shifted up and indicated she should sit. Scarlet looked across at the boy, who also smiled and held his hand out. ‘Josh, hi.’

‘Hi, Joanna. Nice to meet you.’

The girl was called Sandra and apparently also very pleased to meet her. She wasn’t convinced they still would be once they’d talked to her, but for now she had warm and fuzzies.

‘So, like, were you talking about getting into your room?’

Josh nodded. ‘How did yours go?’

Scarlet blushed and shook her head. ‘I haven’t managed it yet. They didn’t give me any hints at all. I’ve been learning a bit out of school so they just assumed I’d know what to do.’

Sandra patted her hand. ‘It’s easy. It’s not really a spell. You have to make the door your own by imagining your bedroom door instead of the one that’s there.’

‘Huh?’

Josh took over. ‘So look at the door and imagine it’s yours and it opens.’

‘That’s it? No casting or ingredients?’

Sandra giggled. ‘We haven’t done any of that stuff yet.’

‘Oh.’ Decision, decisions. She could either act like a dick and be really cool, or just play it safe. This was the first time, like, ever, she’d had this opportunity. But these guys actually seemed quite nice and if she started talking about hell and the Underworld and stuff…

‘I’ve gotta get back to my room, I have to text my girlfriend. Well, my ex, well whatever. Thanks, I’ll see you in class, I guess?’

Josh’s mouth was open in a little circle and Sandra nodded, still smiling. They were nice. Maybe a little special, but nice. She headed back down the corridor until she came to 42. She stared at it, seeing the Little Mermaid sticker and the metal handle on her door and the dents at the bottom where mum had kicked it after a particularly energetic disagreement between them.

She heard the soft click and the door changed. She glanced down the hallway and gasped. All the doors were different, some wooden, others painted. Lots of them had names on, done in stickers or painted on cutesy little signs. That was cool.

She pushed the door open and grabbed her phone. It seemed to take forever to power up but eventually the screen lit up and she unlocked it. She opened the text and stared at the screen. What did she want to say? Hey, been to another dimension, almost died, please come back to me?

Hey, I miss you…

Delete delete delete

Hey, how you doing?

Delete delete delete

Hey, I miss you. I think your dad’s a dick, sorry. I’m at the Council, I’ve enrolled to learn here. Martin’s not coming back from Australia. I went to another dimension, it was really scary. I miss you x

She stared at it. It wasn’t right, but she didn’t know what was. She could look at the screen all night and not know what was right. Her finger hovered above the send button. It was so easy, all she had to do… she pressed send and sat on the edge of the bed. Waiting.

What if she was having dinner? Or her dad was giving her a lecture about the evils of girl on girl action? She giggled, then stifled a sob. Why didn’t she feel better about being here? This was amazing, it was like Hogwarts only without the beardy guy in the back garden. Actually, maybe he was here.

Was there a dark arts master? Maybe she’d actually learn how to hurt someone who was going to kill her. She blinked, staring at the wall. What had happened? When did she reach the point in her life when she wanted to hurt people? Actually, she’d always wanted to hurt people. Not for a while though, not since Martin and Lara. She sniffed, her phone vibrated and she dropped it.

She scrambled, holding it in shaking hands.

I miss you too. It really hurts. I want to be with you so badly but my dad, well, he’s being a dick 🙂 I’ve been to church three times this week and we visited the boarding school yesterday. It’s in Worcester, three hours away 🙁 I’m so sorry. I thought you hated the Council? Why isn’t Martin coming back? xx

She sounded…alright. She sounded like Lara. If people were movies, she’d be something from Disney. Jungle book maybe, or Tangled. She read the message another seven times and wrote her reply. How was she not mad Scarlet hadn’t texted at all in the last three days? Guess the dimension thing was pretty convincing.

She had to plug her phone back in while they were chatting and she fell asleep with it in one hand. She woke up when it hit the floor but dozed off straight away.

She wasn’t sure what woke her the next time and lay in bed, trying to decide what time it was. Then she heard them. Two people were talking outside her door, just loud enough for her to notice. She slipped out of bed, glancing at her phone. Half three. Gah.

She groaned. Half three didn’t look good from either end but she was feeling oddly spritely. She crept to the door and crouched down, looking in disgust at her rumpled clothes. She put her ear to the door.

‘She’s the last.’

‘Are you absolutely sure? I’m not asking that as a formality. If we aren’t sure, we cannot proceed.’

The first voice sounded gruff and not entirely human. ‘She’s the last. If there was another as powerful as her, I’d know.’

‘Then we can begin.’

His voice shook slightly, though whether with excitement or fear, she wasn’t sure. The gruff voice came again.

‘And I’m done.’

‘You are. Your payment will arrive in the next few days. He is definitely virgin, we checked.’

How do you check those things? I mean, with a girl, yeah, sure, there are ways, however gross it may be, but with a boy? She shuddered. What were they beginning and were they talking about her? She knew they were. She was powerful. Right now, she wasn’t sure that was a good thing. When the gruff voice came it carried a note of doubt.

‘Are you sure you want to do this?’

‘It’s already worked across a number of our sister dimensions. It isn’t as though we don’t have a track record. The war begins, we send out the terror guards and before you know it, we’re in control.’

Next Installment Wednesday 14th May

Part One is here

‘You do what I say, or everyone in the Council will know your real name.’

His huge mouth split open, the yellowing teeth within catching the light shining down from the floating lights. She was transfixed, staring at the shifting skin, the way it rippled slowly over his bones. Then the reality of his words sank in and she began to shiver. It was cold here and the market no longer felt like a friendly place.

She looked about for Banner but he’d disappeared into the crush. What the hell was she supposed to do? Seeker held out his hand, beckoning her closer. ‘Please, come nearer so we can talk without others hearing.’

She glared at him, but crossed the space between them and stood before his empty desk. ‘I like the display, you put lots of thought into it.’

‘More than you imagine, my dear. So Martin has headed around the world and left you all alone. That must be most upsetting. And now your new friends have raced to your rescue. What a remarkable bit of timing.’

‘I’ve been in another dimension.’ Why did she say that? Maybe she thought it might intimidate him, enough that he’d give up on the blackmail. Or maybe it was the best she could manage. The excitement of being here had faded leaving her wrung out and desperate for sleep.

Seeker inclined his head in a slow nod. ‘Well, that’s impressive. Shame you didn’t stay there, you’re probably thinking. They don’t let computers in here, I hear. You must be missing yours about now. It’s helped you in the past, I believe.’

He knew far too much for her liking. ‘I get along just fine without my computer, thanks all the same. What do you want?’

‘Ah, is that it, the polite chat done with already?’

‘Polite chat?’ She could hear her voice rising, but didn’t have the energy to control it. ‘All you’ve done is threaten me and take the piss, so you can shove your polite chat.’

His mouth spread in a strange imitation of a smile. ‘Your confidence has grown, even without your precious Martin at your side. Pity. You should have been more generous when I asked for your help, maybe we wouldn’t be here now.’

She stuck her tongue out at him. ‘What do you want?’

‘I have a great interest in what happens within the Council. Unfortunately, their blocking spells are most powerful. But if I had a pair of eyes inside, someone who could keep tabs on things and let me know…’

‘How would I let you know?’

‘You have a phone, do you not? Text me with anything you think might be of use.’

‘How long do I have to spy for you?’

He shrugged, the movement sending miniature landslides down his bare arms. ‘We’ll see. Let’s see whether you can find anything useful for me, first. If you can’t then maybe the deal will change. Or maybe I’ll just share your name anyway.’

She bit her lip. There was no way out of this. Why hadn’t Martin warned her about the name thing? As long as this guy was around, she’d have to do whatever he wanted. She shuddered. He’d called her the entertainment, the first time they met. Turned out he was right.

‘What’s your number?’

He handed her a small, plain business card.

SEEKER

Finder, information, miscellany

Mobile: 07835 543728

Twitter: @BigBadSeekerMan

She sniggered. ‘Thought you said you weren’t on twitter.’

He cleared his throat, the sound bouncing off the far wall. ‘Yes, well, too good for business to resist.’

‘Big bad seeker man?’

‘Better, I think, than my real name.’

‘Depends what your real name is. Have to be pretty shocking to be worse than that.’

He folded his arms and bent back, groaning as his back clicked. ‘I need water. Time to leave. I expect to hear from you.’

The market stall collapsed and he folded it until he could carry it beneath one arm. Then he strode from the room without a backward glance. She watched him go, wondering how long it would be before she learned a spell that would actually cause damage to someone.

As if by magic, which wasn’t out of the question, Banner emerged from the crowds. ‘Wonderful isn’t it? Normally I find it a little overpowering, but it’s just so real, so alive.’

‘You know, you really are a strange man.’ She held her hands up in apology, face burning. ‘Sorry, I need sleep.’

He shrugged and gestured for her to follow. They wound their way through the market and into a long corridor, marked by the silence within. She hadn’t realised how loud the market was and let out a long breath as they walked deeper into the earth.

The corridors were sloped, gradual enough for her not to notice, only the pictures on the walls didn’t quite line up with the floor and ceiling and it bugged the OCD side of her. Her need for neatness began and ended with wall hangings, and her hands were itching as they passed picture after picture. The effect made her slightly dizzy. They reached a door with the number 42 engraved on it in neat silver paint.

‘This is your room.’

He placed his hand on it and murmured something and the lock clicked open. ‘You will need to reset that. It’s normally the first challenge for those wishing to study here, but I don’t suppose you’ll find any difficulty in such a mundane task.’

She shook her head, looking past him into the tiny room. Bed, basin, bookshelf. All the essentials then. She stepped in and panicked for a moment before she saw the solitary plug socket by the end of her bed.

‘There will be a meeting for new students, back in the main hall, tomorrow morning at eight. Until then, follow this corridor back and turn left when you reach the main hall for the canteen. Any other questions?’

She opened her mouth but he was already striding away. She perched on the edge of the bed and stared across the three feet to the opposite wall. Well. Scarlet plugged her phone in and lay back on the bed, staring up at the equally uninspiring ceiling. This was exciting.

She climbed off the bed and out the door. As it closed, she heard a faint snick and she turned back, heart sinking. Sure enough, it was locked. Oh, bloody hell. She placed her hand against it and tried a few things.

‘Open sesame. Expelliarmus. Open, open, OPEN!’

She looked both ways down the hall, blushing. No one looked out their doors and she turned back to it. It was a spell of some sort and he’d said they used it as a test. She hated exams. Exams were, without a shadow of a doubt, the stupidest things known to man. How was sitting in a hall for two hours staring at paper supposed to prepare you in any way for real life?

She pulled her spell book out and trawled through it. There was nothing about opening doors or unlocking things, which was an oversight on mum’s part. Only the pages filled by her were now outnumbered by Scarlet’s so she couldn’t really blame her. Actually, she could. She wasn’t here so it was almost certainly her fault. Her’s or Martin’s.

She set off down the corridor. Time to snoop and see if she could find something for Seeker and maybe solve the problem of the door at the same time. The thing with Seeker had left a bad taste in her mouth. Despite his threats on their lives the last time they met and the whole ‘scary thin guy with a knife’ delivery service, she thought they’d built some kind of a rapport. He always seemed so friendly and he obviously respected Martin. But the first chance he got he blackmailed her and put her in this situation.

It was strange because she hated everyone, but it still sucked when someone treated her like crap. She should have learned by now. She stopped, one hand resting against the wall. Where was Lara? All she’d thought about for the last few days was her life without Lara, how terrible it was…

She blushed and pushed her clenched fist against the wall. What about Lara? Her parents just found out she was gay and were threatening all this horrible stuff and she must be so sad. Her lip wobbled and her eyes grew wet. She deserved to be blackmailed, she was evil and heartless. She wanted her girlfriend, so she could hold her and tell things would get better.

She pushed away from the wall and took a deep breath. She would text her immediately. She reached for her phone and remembered it was tucked at the end of the bed, plugged in. Dammit. She’d text her the moment she got back in her room. Now she had to find out what the spell was.

She kept going down the corridor, resisting the urge to bang on all the doors and run. That made her grin. How many students were there here? Were any of them as young as she was? She reached the door to the great hall and turned left, through an open door and into the canteen.

The place was massive and horribly school-like, long benches sat under long plastic tables. It smelt good though and her stomach rumbled. She didn’t touch the food at school, except the cookies of course, but she might have to eat something here. She ambled over to the hatch. An angular woman with big owl eyes stopped just short of scowling at her.

‘Not open for another ten minutes. Why aren’t you in class?’

‘I’m new, just got here, I don’t start until tomorrow. Hey, I don’t—’

The woman was gone, disappearing into the steam-filled kitchen behind. Scarlet stuck her tongue out and found a bench to perch against. The food was in the hot tubs, why couldn’t she just serve it? Her stomach growled again.

She heard footsteps behind her. ‘Well, well, we heard you were coming here. Joanna Slater, if I’m not mistaken.’

She turned, heart sinking at the silly, deep voice. It was so hard to sound threatening when you were trying to sound like James Earl Jones. But when she saw them, the three boys she’d beaten last time she was here, the voice didn’t seem so important. They wore the same black, but six months had added height and breadth to them, and their faces promised something worse than words.

Part One is here

‘We can leave now, Scarlet, but your computer stays here.’

The breaths were coming fast, her blood hammering in her ears like a fire alarm that blocks out all else. She stared at her hands, twisted into claws that threatened to reach up and tear her eyes out. She had been offered everything she wanted and now this came, to take it all away.

‘Why?’

Her voice was faint and she had to say it again before he heard. She wanted to scream it but she had no air with which to fill her lungs.

‘Why?’

He cleared his throat. ‘The Council is a place of learning. The learning we do, requires a mind clear of distractions. The likes of Myspace and Readit are unnecessary and will only get in the way of your learning.’

She took a deep breath. ‘Right, first things first, Myspace is dead, okay. Second, it’s Reddit and I don’t use it anyway. Finally, they aren’t unnecessary. How am I supposed to stay in touch with the world?’

‘Newspapers.’

‘I mean the real world, not that rubbish. Newspapers don’t have any fan fiction in them, or posts, or status updates, not unless you’re Angelina Jolie. Not that I mind pictures of Angelina. Newspapers are too slow and boring and just, not Tumblr.’

‘You will be living with other students. Your ‘status updates’ will come from them.’

She hissed. ‘You don’t get status updates from Tumblr.’

‘I’m not sure that’s really the point. You have been given an incredible opportunity. Leaving your computer behind really isn’t the biggest sacrifice to ask you to make.’

He didn’t understand. He would never understand. He was like Martin, only without the coolness or loveliness. She ground her teeth together. She’d have her phone, they weren’t going to search her. She could do most stuff through that. It wasn’t the same, but it would have to do.

She stood, asked for five minutes, and stalked from the room. Red had finished the peanut butter and was now eating dry bread by the slice. ‘Don’t you have, like, butter and stuff at home?’

Red gave her a blank look, talking past a mouthful of bread. ‘There is no pantry here, where would you keep the butter?’

Scarlet opened the fridge with a flourish and giggled at Red’s look of awe. She approached the fridge like it was going to offer her immortality. Not that she needed it. What was going to happen to Red and Skinny? She’d brought them here and now she was going to bugger off to the Council and leave them alone.

‘What do you want to do now?’

Red looked about the kitchen as though seeing it for the first time. ‘Explore, discover this wonderful new world into which you have brought me.’

‘Okay, right. Hang on.’

Scarlet ran back up the stairs. Skinny was asleep on the bed, mum stroking her hair. Scarlet gestured from the door and mum sneaked out, taking exaggerated steps.

‘Is she okay?’

‘I think so. She’s really shaken up. It sounds like someone tortured her.’

‘Yeah, that’s why I brought her here.’ She paused, waiting for mum to take the signal. She didn’t and Scarlet didn’t know why. ‘Look, sorry about, you know, this.’

Mum shook her head. ‘Don’t be. She needed rescuing. I’m proud of you.’

Scarlet almost fell down the stairs, but caught hold of the bathroom door and stayed standing. Mum had the sort of smile on her face reserved for people Scarlet thought of as smug and rude, but it didn’t feel like that coming from mum.

‘Um, thanks.’

She was blushing, her cheeks hot. She flapped her hand in front of her face. ‘So, yeah, anyway, the Council want me to go today. So, like, is there any chance that, like, Scarlet and Red could stay here, just for a while?’

Mum’s face lit up and she nodded briskly. ‘Of course. It’ll be lovely. When will you be coming back?’

‘Um, don’t know, didn’t ask.’

‘Well go and ask, I’ll pack for you.’

‘No you won’t, not a chance. This is my first, well, my first decent chance to actually make friends. There’s no way you’re deciding what I wear.’

She pushed past mum into her room and crept about, grabbing clothes from her drawers, holding them up, then stuffing them back into her drawers. Did they have washing machines at the council? She’d need to wash a lot cos she’d found about three things she could actually imagine wearing.

She stopped beside her bed. She glanced at her skinny self stretched out and snoozing happily. Weird. On her table was her computer. She ran her hand over the cover, caressing the lines. She didn’t know if it could hear her, but she whispered anyway and promised she’d be back.

She sneaked back out with her bag, shoved the clothes in and put her two spell books on top. As she wandered down the stairs she tried to soak up the smell of her house. There was a tiny part of her, buried deep, that was terrified. This was the first time she’d left home, like, properly. Going to hell was tough and a different dimension hadn’t been all that much fun, but leaving home was on another level.

Did they have pizza at the Council? She should ask. These things were important and too often overlooked. The lounge was busier than it had ever been, a whole four people in there and she walked between mum and Banner to cosy in next to Red. They were talking so she whispered to Red.

‘You gonna be okay staying here?’

Red shrugged. ‘Is your double staying here, also? I only ask because she is annoying.’

Scarlet snorted and nodded. ‘Yeah, she’ll be here. You can work on her, make her less annoying.’

Red raised an eyebrow. ‘Thank you, I’m sure that will be most enjoyable for me.’

Scarlet gave her a hug and smiled when Red responded straight away. She stayed just a second too long and Red pulled away and Scarlet stared at the wall. She missed Lara. She should tell her what had happened. She pulled her phone out and stared at the screen. It was dead and probably had been for hours.

She picked up the charger and shoved it in her bag. She could text Lara when she got there. Banner stood, straightening his horribly smart trousers and his scary black tie and kinda sorta bowed to mum. It was freakish and creepy but mum liked it, simpering and giving Scarlet one of those cringey lonely-older-woman looks. God she missed Lara.

They left together and Scarlet found herself waving to mum and Red who watched from the front door. It felt more permanent than it should, as though more than just her address was changing.

Banner was silent as they walked to the tube and she found herself throwing sideways glances his way, waiting for him to speak. When he did, she stumbled and righted herself only at the last moment.

‘Joanna, people don’t cross dimensions. It just doesn’t happen. How did you do it, exactly?’

‘My ingredients weren’t laid out quite right. I was upset and not really thinking about things and I just threw them out. I thought about my bedroom—’

‘Your bedroom?’

‘Yeah, I was trying to get home.’

‘From where?’

‘Harrow.’

He coughed into his hand. ‘You needed to get home from Harrow so you deployed, what sort of spell?’

‘Um, a seeking spell.’

He stopped walking. ‘You use seeking spells to get home. Is this just when you’ve been out clubbing, or maybe after school as well?’

She caught the note of sarcasm all too well, but decided that of the two of them, as she was the one jumping dimensions, she could be the bigger person. ‘Of course not. It was just this once, because I was so upset.’

‘What upset you?’

She hesitated, mouth half open. She didn’t know Banner, like, at all, and these questions were getting kinda personal.

‘I’d rather not talk about it. Anyway, I thought about my bedroom and stepped through the light and landed on my bed, only it wasn’t my bed.’

‘It was your bed in another dimension.’

‘Yeah.’

He shook his head and resumed walking.

‘What?’

Banner sighed. ‘Crossing dimensions is not only extremely hazardous, it also requires a great deal of practice and skill. I know of only a handful of magicians capable of such a feat.’

‘So now you’ve got, like, a mutated hand, you know, with six fingers on it.’

She smiled brightly and he blinked. ‘Yes, quite.’

They got on the tube and she stared at the adverts, reading and rereading the words until they made no sense. Shampoo makers advertise a lot. What is it about shampoo that means it needs to be pushed in people’s faces all the time? It’s not like people forget they have hair, or suddenly decide one day to stop washing it. Well, actually, there was this kid at school whose mum decided washing hair made it really weak so she stopped washing his and it got to the stage where he could model it into shapes and it would stay there all day, just from the grease. Happy times.

She doubted there would be any of those sort of people at the Council.

They climbed out after far too long into Trafalgar Square and headed for the toilets. Through the dodgy shortcut, earning both of them funny looks, and down the tunnel. She stood again before the massive doors. They were open this time, people coming and going.

Banner turned to her. ‘It’s market day today. Once a month we host the local market. It travels around, but spends most of its time in the Underworld.’ He leaned closer, putting one hand in front of his mouth. ‘To be honest, it gives us the chance to keep tabs on the undesirables, make sure no one’s getting too confident.’

He flicked his eyebrows up and down like they were on springs and strode in. The massive wooden hall was just as she remembered it, only busier. He led her to the end and through one of the doors. Beyond lay a colossal chamber. How had she missed this the last time?

The roof reminded her of a cathedral she’d visited with school, all painted in golds and whites and covered in wooden carvings. What was it with powerful men and compensating? The walls were of the same gorgeous red-brown wood that gleamed beneath the lights. The lights themselves were glass orbs, hanging in mid air with no obvious means of staying up. She stared at them, looking for the wires. That was cool.

The voice that interrupted her viewing was gravelly and rich and fitted right in. It was also very familiar.

‘Hello, Scarlet, fancy meeting you here. Where’s your master?’

She spun and saw Seeker, smiling at her from behind a market stall. The stall was empty, a blank desk. She put her finger to her lips.

‘My name’s Joanna.’

‘Is it? My my, how fortunate.’ He smiled. ‘I do believe I owe you a favour. How about we call it quits and the people here don’t have to know your real name?’

His smile grew sly. ‘Actually, that seems a little cheap, considering the information you gave me wasn’t 100% accurate.’

Scarlet blushed, looking around for Banner.

‘How about you do me a small favour and then we’ll call it quits.’

‘I can’t now, I’ve just started.’

‘Started what?’

‘At the Council.’

His face changed, the skin shifting and moving until she realised he was angry and trying to control himself.

‘Why? Why would you tie yourself to these people? I thought Martin taught you better than that.’

‘Yeah, well, Martin’s not here.’

Another shift. ‘Where is he?’

‘Australia. For a long time.’

Seeker nodded. ‘I see. Well, in that case, my small favour just got bigger. You do what I say, or your name is common knowledge, understand?’

Next Installment Friday 9th May