Part One is here

Skinny Scarlet stood before them, tears running tracks down her cheeks, gun pressed to her forehead. Martin who wasn’t Martin was smiling, though the expression went only as far as his mouth. His eyes were dead and his breathing shallow. His arm shook and the blood was still wet on his shirt.

Red took her knife out and placed it on the concrete. The champion turned to her. ‘Is this the man?’

‘Yes, but don’t do anything, he’ll kill Scarlet.’

‘This is the girl you wished to rescue?’

She nodded, trying to remain calm as her pulse reached drum and bass velocity. The champion nodded and turned back. He pulled his sword from the scabbard and every person in the alley gasped. The blade was black. No, that wasn’t right. The blade was the absence of light, like something had cut out a sword-shaped hole in reality. She felt dizzy just looking at it.

He placed it on the ground, the sound it made as it scraped along the concrete reminding her of the sound mum made when dad left. A sort of keening howling sob that seemed to go on forever. She shivered. Red took a step closer, muttering in her ear.

‘Can you do the fog again?’

‘Yeah, should be able to. They’ve got lots of guns.’

‘We have a champion the likes of which neither this nor any other world have ever seen. Bring the fog, Scarlet, and we’ll do the rest.’

She dug through her mind, placing her fingers against the spell book and began to chant.

‘I wouldn’t advise that, young lady.’

She stopped, glaring at the council member who’d stepped past Martin who wasn’t Martin and was watching her like a hawk. Did hawks watch a lot? What did they watch? TV?

‘We have put spells in place. Your magic will not only malfunction, but also cause you some considerable pain.’

‘What do you want?’

The man looked shocked, spreading his hands open before him. ‘What do we want? We want peace to return to our lovely city. We want to be rid of the two of you who have taken it upon yourselves to break a number of laws. You who were so generously allowed to leave our world despite breaking those laws.’

‘Okay, I didn’t break any laws, not the first time. But the point is, you can’t just lock someone up for helping someone. Scarlet’s not done anything wrong.’

The man turned to her skinny counterpart, eyebrow raised. ‘She has done a great deal wrong, haven’t you my dear.’

Skinny shuddered and grasped her hands before her. Scarlet ground her teeth together, muttering under her breath. ‘What the hell can we do?’

The champion spoke, so quiet she thought he was talking to himself. ‘Should I kill them now?’

‘Sorry?’

‘Should I kill them? You will be unharmed.’

‘What about Skinny, I mean Scarlet?’

‘That is who I meant. She is you. The dimension means nothing to me. I look at her and I see every you.’

‘Oh god, you poor thing. Don’t tell me they’re all skinny.’

She could feel the look, even with his back turned. ‘Well?’

She glanced at Red. She gave the slightest nod and Scarlet sighed. She was being asked if it was okay to kill someone. Of course it wasn’t.

‘Please come forward. Should you come quietly, we will find a pleasant way of ending this affair.’

Scarlet heard what Red had been talking about earlier. The man had death in his voice. The pleasant way of ending the affair would be death. It might be a simple quick death instead of something grisly and horrible, but it would still be death.

‘I have little patience for you. Please step forward.’

‘Do it.’

Everything seemed to happen at once, probably because it did. The champion moved, one hand scooping up the sword. It scraped as he lifted it from the ground and the sound made her knees wobble. She heard a shot and her eyes went to Skinny. The world slowed down. She blinked and the champion was there, his sword going straight through Martin who wasn’t Martin’s face.

Scarlet screamed, her eyes fixed on Skinny who fell forward, hands outstretched. Another gun roared and another and Scarlet felt something shove her in the back. Red leaped over her, blade once more in hand. Seconds later the council man who’d been talking was staring at the stump of his wrist as blood blossomed from it like flowers.

The champion was a blur, but his sword was crystal clear, flashing this way and that. Something hit her on the face and she jerked, touching it. Her fingers came away red and she scrubbed at her cheek. Skinny was crawling across the floor toward her and she did the same.

They met in the middle and Scarlet pulled her into her embrace and covered her head. There must have been bullets flying above, but all she could see was the sword, painted red. Somehow the darkness was visible, even through the blood. The sound as it moved through the air was the sigh of a parent when they received the letter from the front line that told of their child’s death.

She didn’t know where the thought came from, but it was all she could focus on. Then it was over. Red stood among bodies, shoulders and chest heaving, eyes fixed on the champion. He was still again and she was relieved to see his sword back in the scabbard. He turned to Red and nodded, just enough for Scarlet to understand something very cool had just gone on.

She looked at the body nearest them and realised it was Martin who wasn’t Martin. Half his face was obscured, ripped away and blessedly drowned in blood. But one wide open eye stared at her. She swallowed, saliva flooding her mouth, then pushed Skinny away and threw up onto the concrete. She wasn’t unhappy when Skinny did exactly the same thing.

Red took her gently beneath the arms and hoisted her to her feet. She took a step, wobbled and sat down. The smells burned her nostrils and it was strangely hot. She fanned her face and spat, trying to get rid of the taste of vomit. The champion strode over and stopped before her.

‘It is done.’

‘Yeah.’

‘I will return. I am needed.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Well met, Scarlet Rose.’

‘Yeah.’

Hang on, how did he know her name? She watched him step through the portal and realised it really didn’t matter. He probably knew her bra size as well. She turned to the others and raised her hands. ‘Ready?’

They both nodded. Skinny was pale and shaking and Scarlet knew exactly how she felt. The smell made her stomach do cartwheels. She laid out the ingredients and stepped back, checking her work. Content she’d got it right, she cast, holding the image of her room firmly in the front of her mind.

The light grew and grew until the three of them could walk through it. She took one hand in each and stepped through. Her computer whirred from her bedside table, as though pleased to see her and she threw herself face down onto the bed. She stretched out her arms, trying to hold the entire mattress. If she held on hard enough they couldn’t remove her. She could spend the rest of her life here. Mum could spoon feed her and operate the computer for her.

Red cleared her throat and Scarlet sat up, blushing slightly. ‘Sorry, it’s a thing.’

Skinny stared about, eyes wide in wonder. ‘This is my bedroom.’

‘Actually, it’s mine.’

Skinny looked at her and burst into tears.

‘What’s wrong, what is it?’

‘I want to go home.’

‘You’re kidding me.’

Her shoulders hitched, great balloons of snot exiting her nostrils. ‘I, I, have to go home. I need my mum.’

‘Okay, now you really are kidding me.’

The crying didn’t stop and Scarlet shared a glance with Red. The leather bound champion, mmm, leather, had found her Disney teddies and was inspecting them curiously. She thought for a moment about being embarrassed and decided against it. When you lost the magic of Disney, you got old. There was no shame there.

Her counterpart was still crying, building to hysteria, and Scarlet groaned. Then a knock sounded at the door and all three of them jumped. Baloo the bear rolled across the floor and fetched up at her foot, staring up at her with wide cotton eyes. She nodded to him, chin in hand and shouted ‘Come in.’

The door pushed open and Mum walked in. She took in Red and raised an eyebrow, looked across at Skinny and her face went pale, before she finally turned to Scarlet.

‘Busy day, love?’

‘Mmm.’

‘Well, there’s a man downstairs who says he’d like to talk to you.’

‘Who is he?’

‘I’m not sure, really. He said he’s from the council of magic. Did you know there was a council of magic? How did they keep that one secret?’

A shiver ran down her back. She was home, this was a different council. ‘They go underground. It seems to work for some reason. What does he want?’

Mum, whose eyes still flicked between the three of them and whose hand shook where it gripped the door knob, smiled. ‘He said something about a scholarship. Apparently you’ve visited them before? He said they want you to come back and study and that this seemed a good time now that your Master has moved on.’

Next Installment Friday 2nd May

Part One is here

Red moved, one hand pushing Scarlet out the way. She pushed back, keeping herself between the two of them.

‘Hang on, just bloody hang on.’

She looked from Red, knife held out before her, teeth clamped together, to the champion, his hand poised over the hilt of the sword hanging at his waist. This was stupid.

‘This is stupid. We were sent here by some nasty guy from a dimension neither of us even live in. We don’t want to be here and have no intention of staying. If you’re bored, I get it. This isn’t the most exciting place in the world, but do you really need to kill two innocent girls?’

He looked at her, eyes leaving Red for a moment. His brows moved, like two millipedes creeping slowly toward one another. ‘You are trespassers.’

‘No we’re not. We’re victims of a crime. We were sent here against our will. Your beef is with the guy who sends people here, just so you can kick their asses. He’s, like, totally taking the piss out of you.’

She held her breath, head tucked into her chest. His hands moved slowly away from his waist and folded before him. Red didn’t move a muscle. ‘Stop it, put the knife away.’ Scarlet hissed at her and she hissed straight back. ‘This is a trick.’

Scarlet shook her head vehemently. ‘It’s not, now put it away.’

Red raised her eyebrows and smiled slightly. ‘You have teeth. Very well.’

The knife slid into its sheath and Scarlet let out a slow breath. She turned back to the champion. ‘We didn’t mean to trespass, honestly. This guy’s, like, some sort of killer for the government. He was supposed to kill us but Red kicked his arse so he sent us here when we were trying to get home.’

‘Can you show me the world you were on?’

‘Um, I could take you there.’

‘That is unnecessary, just show it to me.’

‘How do I do that?’

Another of the looks. She smiled sweetly and imagined him wearing a lolita dress. That worked. He waved his hand before him and the darkness vanished. Above her was a night sky like she’d never seen before. Millions of stars so bright they was blinding. She stared, open mouthed. There was only one thing to do at this point.

She sat down and lay back, spreading her arms and legs so she was bathed in starlight, the only thing she could see.

‘Which world were you on?’

‘Um, the one just to the left I think.’

Red giggled, which was weird coming from her. The champion shifted. She knew because he sounded a bit like an avalanche.

‘Think of the world you were on and watch.’

She stared up, picturing the warehouse and the van and house that looked just like hers but wasn’t. One of the stars grew suddenly brighter and seemed to come closer. Then she realised that the rest of them were getting further away. As they faded she could make out planets orbiting the star, or sun, or whatever. One of them came closer and she pointed at it.

‘That, I’m guessing, is the right one.’

The champion grunted his assent and the stars were gone, plunging them back into darkness. She groaned, clutching her chest. That was the most beautiful thing she’d seen in, like, forever. ‘Bring them back.’

She sat up, but he wasn’t listening to her. He was drawing huge circles in the air before him. With each wave of his hand a pale blue line appeared, growing stronger with each repetition. Soon a circle made of glowing energy hung before him. It was, she had to admit, a pretty clever trick.

‘Who’s your boss? I mean, who puts you here to stop trespassers?’

The champion turned away from the circle. Scarlet caught a glimpse of it from his side and saw Skinny Scarlet’s world through it. A really clever trick.

‘Do you really need to ask that question?’

‘Uh, yeah?’

He seemed nonplussed and stared at her. She glanced at Red who shook her head and shrugged. Finally he answered.

‘I don’t know.’

She got the feeling this was the first time he’d been asked. His brows were furrowed, the millipedes finally meeting and doing their best to mate. She had the sudden and probably suicidal urge to give him a hug. Which was really weird cos hugging anyone other than Lara and occasionally Martin when he was recovering from something close to fatal, really wasn’t her thing.

‘I mean, it doesn’t matter, I was just curious. Really, don’t worry about it.’

He grunted and turned back to the… what was it? A portal? Sounded cool. His shoulders hunched. ‘You’re going to worry about it, aren’t you?’

There was no response for a moment, then he sighed and nodded. She tried to pat him on the back, but only managed to reach his bum. She patted that, trying to imagine where he got clothes from. Or shoes. His boots were large enough for her to live in. ‘Really, it doesn’t matter. I mean, you’re happy with your job, right?’

He growled and she took a hurried step back. Red was beside her, hand on her knife, but Scarlet grabbed her arm. He turned, his face screwed up.

‘What is happy?’

Scarlet laughed. ‘Excellent question. Some people say it’s found in a slushy, others chocolate. For me, it would have to be a cup of tea where the cup’s quarter filled with sugar. There’s just something about it, the way the spoon stands up straight and you feel your arteries thicken as you drink it. How about you, Red?’

They were both giving her the look. It was like being with two Martins at the same time, only neither of them did pompous quite as well. She felt something she thought might be regret, though it could be wind. His face creased up, the implacable thing done with and replaced by someone who looked a little bit like a school boy. Only with a really big sword. And if that didn’t sound like some dodgy innuendo, she didn’t know what did.

‘Look, maybe it’s best if we just forget I asked. We can—’

Red put her hand on her shoulder and shook her head.

‘What?’

‘Don’t deny yourself.’

‘Huh?’

‘Scarlet. You came into my world and took me away and everything has changed. You came to this place and affected its champion. You are a Focus, a centre point for change. Don’t deny it, be proud of it.’

‘Huh?’

‘This being needs your help, just as we need his. Who are you to deny it?’

‘But doesn’t that mess everything up? What if he needs to be here?’

‘If someone needs to be here, the being that created him will just create another.’

Scarlet put both hands to her head. This was way too much responsibility. She could handle a goldfish, maybe, she’d got that far, but she’d need Lara’s help. This was just silly. Mmm, leather. She blinked, dragging her eyes away from Red’s chest and turning back to the champion.

He was frozen, gazing through the portal, but his mind was clearly on another planet. Hah, that was good. She put herself between him and the portal so he had no choice but to look at her.

He asked again. ‘What is happy?’

‘Can you tell me how you feel?’

She was a counsellor, like the weird lady at school who thought she was everyone’s friend. Only Scarlet wasn’t wearing enough bad jewellery. The lines on his forehead were deep enough for her to lose a finger in and his head rocked from side to side.

‘I feel… nothing.’

She sighed. This wasn’t going to be as easy as she’d hoped. ‘Okay, well, that’s fine. In that case, don’t worry about happy, cos it ain’t gonna happen. But on the plus side, you’re never going to be depressed either, and trust me, that’s way better than any happiness. Absence of depression is about the best we can hope for.’

Did he know she was talking crap? Was she? She’d give up all her happiness just to not feel the nothing that came every now and then and made her hide in bed all day and get scared of people seeing her. That was real, and true. And the happiness she did have didn’t make those days any better. It wasn’t like she could store it up and use it when she needed it…

Dammit.

‘Look, happy is when you do something nice, or when someone says something nice to you, or… here, try this. You are the scariest champion I’ve ever met, I bet you do your job amazingly.’

He nodded slowly. ‘I am the best. There has never been a survivor from my realm.’

‘How do you feel?’

‘Nothing.’

She groaned. ‘Can we just go and rescue Scarlet now?’

He shook himself, the bizarre topography of his dreads resettling like vines after an earthquake. ‘We will deal with the man who sent you here. It is not my place to become otherwise involved.’

‘But think of how good you’d feel…’ She trailed off, blushing. That wasn’t going to work. ‘Let’s go and deal with Martin who isn’t Martin.’

They turned to the portal and the champion stepped through. Red and Scarlet grabbed hands, more from habit than anything else, and followed him. They emerged in the back alley from which they’d come and Scarlet gasped, staring at the last place she’d seen Martin who wasn’t Martin. He was gone, a smear of blood left on the brickwork, the only sign he was ever there.

A light came on, harsh brilliance that made her cover her eyes. ‘You’ve returned. And so soon. That saves us the wait, so thank you.’ The voice was smug and punchable.

‘Champion, can you take them all out?’

His rumble boomed off the alleyway walls. ‘I can level worlds.’

‘Okay, well, maybe just knock a few out so we can get away, that’ll probably be fine.’

‘Please, lay down any weapons you may have. Including the knife, Miss Red.’

Scarlet laughed and the light vanished. Her laughter stopped. The three council members she’d spoken to were at the end of the alley, surrounded by gun-toting inspectors. In front of them stood Skinny Scarlet, gun held to her head by Martin who wasn’t Martin.

Part One is here

The ground disappeared and they fell. She heard Martin who wasn’t Martin’s voice, the sonorous chant she recognised all too well. She should probably be panicking about the whole falling thing but all she could think about was Martin’s voice. What had he cast?

The falling stopped. Unfortunately, it stopped due to the floor appearing and the air burst from her lungs as they struck. Her knees slammed against the hard floor and she shouted as spikes lanced up both legs. What was it with falling and hitting and the whole painful impact thing?

Red scrambled to her feet, knife already in hand. Scarlet rolled over, rubbing her boobs. Was there any part of her that hadn’t hit something hard today? She did an inventory and decided her bum had been pretty safe most of the time. This at the exact same moment Red’s foot caught her square in the backside and shoved.

She tumbled forward, catching herself with her hands. The sounds of fighting erupted. Red was fighting someone. Or something. She squinted, trying to see in the semi-darkness into which they had fallen. The thing she was fighting definitely wasn’t human. It was too short and too green. Green meant goblin or orc, though she wasn’t sure they existed. Or the Hulk maybe, only he was much bigger. So goblin then. Where the hell were they?

Red’s knife flashed in the darkness, moving like a moth that danced and spun in its quest for the moon. The knife vanished, once, twice, and a third time and the fight was over. The body dropped to the floor and Red heaved a sigh. Scarlet crept over and stared down at the corpse. Definitely a goblin, definitely dead.

‘Since meeting you I have stabbed more things than I would choose to in one day.’

‘Do you have like a quota then, like – I may stab seven things this week, but only one on Monday and Tuesday?’

‘I can quite happily leave them for you if you would like.’

Red grabbed Scarlet’s hand and shoved the dagger into it, closing her fingers around the warm hilt. With a squeak Scarlet threw the knife on the floor but not before the warm blood had covered her palm. She wiped it furiously against her legs and glared at Red. Her new found friend was wearing the sort of infuriating smile a teacher wore when they knew the answer and you didn’t.

Scarlet huffed. ‘Fine, far enough. Sorry.’

Red inclined her head. ‘It’s okay. I don’t enjoy this you know?’

‘But you’re really good at it. I mean, how cool is it to be able to do that?’

‘Cool? What is that? If you mean it is a good thing, then not really. It took my father away and means I am the only one in my village who fights the wolf. Every day, I fight the wolf. You think that is cool?’

Scarlet bowed her head and looked at the floor. How could all these people be so pissed about where they lived? Red lived in this gorgeous forest and could fight and stuff and Skinny lived in a place where they did magic all the bloody time and she just lived in crappy old London with a dysfunctional mum and a smart-arse computer. And a girlfriend. And a guy who wanted to teach her magic. Hmm.

She looked up, hoping her face was suitably contrite and Red chuckled. ‘Don’t worry, Scarlet, I am not mad. Where are we?’

Darkness stretched away in every direction, like shadows cast by something too big too see. The floor was hard like concrete, but undulating like sand. There was nothing else. ‘Um, like, no idea.’

‘Can you get us out of here?’

Scarlet looked in her bag. ‘I can, but I’ve barely got any ingredients left. I’ve gotta leave enough to get us both home.’

Red nodded and turned away. Her hands were held behind her back but they were twitching and Scarlet wasn’t surprised when she turned back to face her. ‘Can I come with you?’

‘Huh?’

‘Can I come back to your world?’

What she should have thought was ‘that won’t go down well with Lara’, but what she actually thought was ‘mmmmm, leather.’ She nodded. ‘I suppose so. I mean, I can’t guarantee you can stay with us, we’d have to ask mum, but, like, how old are you?’

Red shrugged. ‘A few hundred years, something like that. I lost count.’

‘A few hundred… Aren’t you tired?’

Red rocked her head side to side. ‘A little. Mostly I am bored. I don’t think my village will miss me. I think they will find another way to kill the wolf.’

‘Poison maybe, or a big pit.’

Red nodded absently, her eyes going past Scarlet to stare at something. Which probably wasn’t good. She turned slowly, scrunching up her face. But there wasn’t anything there. Hold on, there was someone, coming toward them from a long way away.

‘Why the one goblin?’

‘I’m sorry?’

‘Why when we got here did one goblin attack us? Where did he come from?’

Red nodded. ‘That is a good question. Perhaps we can ask this person.’

‘Or perhaps they can try and kill us. Didn’t think of that, did you?’

Red chuckled and wiped her dagger on the body of the goblin. Scarlet tore her eyes away from it, back to the figure coming ever closer. It became a he, and he became a bad-ass, sword wielding medieval dude with armour and dreads. His nose merged with his cheeks like he’d been squished at birth and gave him the facial appearance of a cliff. He managed to be both cool and terrifying at the same time. Life seemed to be going more and more in that direction.

He stopped before them, crossing arms the size of small children over a chest she could probably have climbed inside, were it ripped open. Now where had that come from? Once she was done grossing herself out, she opened her mouth. ‘Um, hi, nice hair.’

As his head turned slowly so he could fix his eyes on her, she thought there were maybe times it was better to keep her mouth shut. This wasn’t something she’d entertained before, despite receiving it as feedback on more than one occasion. Didn’t they say you had to learn a lesson, like, a bunch of times before you got it?

His eyes were so dark brown they looked black, surrounded by the whitest of whites. She fidgeted beneath the stare. ‘Um, hi, I’m Joanna.’ She stuck out a hand. His gaze finally moved to look at it. She held it toward him before deciding he probably wasn’t interested in shaking.

‘So, we were just wondering, where are we?’

‘You are in the Shadows.’

He said it with a capital letter and enough bass to get a pretty good rave going. She felt it in her chest. ‘Okay, great. What are the Shadows please?’

She said it politely and everything but he still looked at her like she was stupid. That seemed to be happening a lot. ‘Look, you can be polite you know. Give me one reason I should know what the Shadows are?’

‘You are a magic user, are you not?’

Again with the bass. She needed to sit down. But she was couldn’t help smiling. He’d called her a magic user and he hadn’t seen her do any magic, unless you counted coming here and anyone could have done that. So that meant he could just tell, like she was giving off an aura or something. Cool.

‘Yes, but even so, I—’

‘Every magic user visits the Shadows. Your power comes from here.’

‘No it doesn’t, it comes from words and ingredients.’

‘Whoever told you that is lying. Or ignorant.’ He stared down at her, making it clear which he thought it was. Martin wouldn’t lie. So he was probably right. How could Martin be ignorant, he knew, like, everything? Actually, he didn’t know what Tumblr was, so he was missing at least one of the basics.

‘The words and ingredients are merely conduits, routes through which your power travels. It is your link,’ he thrust out a finger and stabbed her in the chest, knocking her back a step, ‘to the Shadows that brings the power through those conduits.’

‘Oh.’ She turned to Red. Her friend stood in a fighting stance, knife held high, eyes fixed on the huge man. ‘What is it?’

Red didn’t move a muscle as she replied through gritted teeth. ‘He is a champion.’

‘What’s one of those?’

‘I am one. His role in life is to fight and kill.’

Scarlet turned back to the man. ‘Is that true?’

He inclined his mountain-sized head. ‘Cool. Who do you kill? Is it like the wolf, cos Red just completely kicks a—’

‘Trespassers.’

‘Oh.’

Scarlet pushed her head forward, hopeful look on her face. ‘So, like, where do they trespass?’ Some days, she felt like a genius. She knew all the answers before they were said.

‘The Shadows.’

Red hissed behind her and the champion shifted his stance, feet moving apart and hands going to his sword. Red pushed past her, knife held out in front. Her hand, Scarlet couldn’t help noticing, shook.

Next Installment Monday 28th April

Part One is here

Martin who wasn’t Martin came for her, hands outstretched like the bad guy from the old Bond films. In fact, if Martin got himself some serious braces he might look a bit like him. Nah, not her Martin. It was amazing how much difference a scowl could make.

She whimpered, pushing herself back until she hit the van. Red lay beside her groaning. She cast, the words spilling out as fast as she could say them. The fog came down and Martin who wasn’t Martin disappeared. She slid up the van, her thighs groaning and Martin who wasn’t Martin’s hand came through the fog. He grabbed the front of her t-shirt and she twisted.

His grip slipped and she jumped to one side. Her feet caught on Red’s legs and she tumbled over, hands jarring on the concrete. She moaned, swallowing down the urge to cry. She’d fallen over too many times in the last two days. Her arms hurt and her hands hurt and every thing hurt and she wanted Lara.

She sniffed and tried to get up but her legs gave way and she sat down with a bump. Everything was silent and she stopped sniffing, listening. Nothing. Where was he? She looked around, but the fog was like a wall between her and the rest of the world. She put a hand down and felt the leather on Red’s leg. The urge to try somewhere else was strong, despite the sweat running down her back.

She was in lust. She’d never been in lust. She thought it only happened to men, but there was no denying it. This was awkward. Red shifted beneath her hand and sat up.

‘What happe—’

Scarlet clapped a hand over her mouth. Well, it was over her nose first but she moved it down quick enough. The silence returned but she heard, very faintly, the rustle of cloth and pulled Red down onto her lap. Martin who wasn’t Martin’s fist came flying out of the fog and slammed into the side of the van.

Red grabbed his arm and before Scarlet could react had yanked her knife out and hacked a great gash through it. She gasped, pulling away to avoid the blood that poured from the wound. Red lunged, her knife following the line of the arm until it hit flesh and sunk in.

Scarlet swallowed, seeing only Red, muscles taut and arm outstretched. But she could hear Martin who wasn’t Martin grunt and gasp as Red came back into view. She grabbed Scarlet’s arm and pulled her down the side of the van. They came round the front and set off into the fog, the only sound the crackle of their shoes on the concrete.

She stumbled, catching her balance at the last moment. Seemed like she was being pulled around a lot recently. For someone with serious personal space issues, she was dealing with it very well. She’d find some privacy soon and have a massive attack of the wriggles.

They emerged from the fog and Scarlet stopped, hands on her knees. ‘Hold on, just…’

‘He will still be coming.’

‘You stabbed him.’

Red nodded. ‘He was going to kill us. What would you have had me do?’

Scarlet shook her head, gasping for breath. ‘I don’t know, just, urg.’

She put her head down and tried to breathe normally. The sight of Martin who wasn’t Martin’s arm streaming blood had taken her back to the Underworld, to him lying on the office floor with a knife in his chest. She shook her head, suppressing the need to vomit. She could do this. ‘We need to find somewhere to do the spell.’

Red dragged her into the nearest alleyway. It smelled of… actually, it smelled fine, just concrete and the vague scent of summer. She pulled the ingredients out for what felt like the hundredth time that day and laid them out. Red stood at the end of the alley, peering round the corner.

The blade of her knife was red with blood and now and then a drop would leave it and strike the floor. The splat was loud even with her huffing and puffing and every one made her shiver. The spell was ready and she chanted, focusing on her bedroom. She was halfway through when she faltered.

‘Red.’ Why was everything so quiet? Her voice boomed in the alleyway, but where were the sounds of traffic and people? They were in west London, or sector six or whatever it was called. Why couldn’t she hear anything?

‘Red. We can’t leave, what about Scarlet?’

Red shook her head. ‘I don’t know. We cannot return to that place, they will be waiting for us.’

‘Will they? They probably think we’re dead by now. And even if we aren’t, they wouldn’t expect us to go back there anyway.’

Red hissed through her teeth and crept back to where she stood. ‘You are so desperate to rescue this girl. Why?’

‘She’s me! Why is that so tough to understand?’

‘It isn’t, but we tried to rescue her, got caught and nearly died. So I think doing it again is foolhardy.’

Scarlet frowned, wrinkling up her nose. ‘You talk like Martin. Look, I know it sounds a bit dumb, but I can’t just leave her.’

‘So what are you going to do once you get her out?’

‘I…’ excellent question, well put. She couldn’t take her back home, that would just be too weird. Although, maybe she could learn the secrets of being skinny. And she could go to school and pretend to be her. A smile spread across her face. That would be amazing. She sniffed and shook her head. Mum would go ballistic.

So she’d have to leave her here, only the inspector guys would just find her again. She had to go somewhere different. Scarlet looked at Red, smiling. ‘She could stay with you.’

‘With me?’

‘You know, back where you live.’

‘I live in a two-room cottage with my mother. We have just enough room to stake out a corpse, certainly not enough for another person to live with us.’

‘Stake out a corpse. Ew, why would you want to do that?’

Red looked confused. ‘Drain the blood, dry the skin, remove the innards, all sorts of reasons.’

Scarlet put a hand over her mouth, swallowing down the saliva. Maybe Skinny shouldn’t go there. But she couldn’t just leave her. Red put a hand on her shoulder. ‘We have to leave her. In the long run, it will be for the best.’

‘But…’ She bit her lip. This place sucked. She really thought it was going to be amazing, but it sucked. She didn’t want to live here, so why should the other her? She? Whatever. Aside from the whole skinny, everyone-does-magic thing. Except actually the magic thing sucked too, cos no one seemed to do any and it was banned everywhere except in the bathroom on Tuesdays between twelve and one.

‘No. That’s not good enough. She helped me and yeah, maybe she’s really annoying, but she helped me and we need to help her.’

Red frowned. ‘I think this is a very bad idea.’

‘Yep, me too.’ Scarlet grinned up at her and began to cast. The light appeared and this time she focused on the darkness in the corner of the warehouse. No point in going through all that trouble with the front gate again. She reached for Red’s hand and they clasped and took a step.

She heard a voice, mumbling and low, and looked over her shoulder. Martin leaned against the stones at the end of the alleyway. Something flashed from the end of his fingers and struck her in the back and she was thrown forward. She gripped Red’s hand as hard as she could and then they were falling.

Next Installment Friday 25th April

Part One is here

‘Stand completely still or I’ll shoot you.’

‘Shoot us? Why not use magic?’

The man frowned. ‘You know very well why not, young lady. Name and ID number?’

‘Um, Joanna and I don’t know my number. I don’t think I have one. How about my exam number, I remember that.’

She gave him a winning smile that for some reason failed to impress him. He stalked across the space between them, eyes leaving her to look at Red. They opened a little wider as he took in the leather and the gorgeous face. Scarlet felt a pang of jealousy before Lara flashed through her mind. She bit her lower lip and stared at the gun.

Why hadn’t she argued? She should have told Lara’s dad to stop being a dick and deal with it. He had been there, it would have been easy. She looked at the gun. She had to get home safe because she was going to see Lara again. She was.

The man moved closer. Scarlet muttered from the corner of her mouth. ‘If I blind them can you take the gun?’ She almost burst out laughing. She was in some sort of spy movie. Only with magic. And Red Riding Hood. She giggled, earning herself an odd look from the man with the gun. Red touched her back and she took that to mean she could stop them.

She remembered the spell. It was one of the few she did. She began to mutter, casting as subtly as possible. The man with the gun was still staring at Red and didn’t spot her, at least not at first. Then the gun came up and he shouted something, but she was too deep into the spell and didn’t hear him.

The fog came like, well, a fog really, and in seconds the room was filled with it. She couldn’t see past her hand, couldn’t see anything. One of the men chanted, some sort of counter, but his voice cut off suddenly, following a dank thud. There were a couple more and a hand grabbed her arm.

Scarlet jumped, shrieking and was met by a dry chuckle. ‘It’s me.’

She let out a long breath, fanning her face with her hand. ‘Come on.’

Red pulled her along. Her foot caught something soft on the floor and her stomach turned over. ‘What did you do to them?’

‘Nothing they won’t recover from. Come, we need to find you.’

Red seemed to be dealing with the whole different dimension thing much better than she had. Not surprising really, what with the mad knife skills and leather and curves and… she blinked and pinched herself. They burst free of the fog and she stared at the girl next to her. Dammit, still gorgeous.

She needed to focus. Right, find Skinny. Leather. Skinny. She bit her lip and set off after the girl, working hard to keep her eyes on the back of her head. They entered another building and checked the board. The name jumped out at her and she yelped, hammering it with her finger.

‘There, it’s her, it’s her.’

Red nodded and they charged down the corridor. Up a couple of flights of stairs and to a room halfway down the hall. The door was the same as the gate outside and when Red turned the handle it swung open. Scarlet ran in and wrapped her arms around Skinny as she rose from the bed.

‘Oh my god, what are you doing here?’

The tone of her voice was half grateful, half accusing, all annoying. ‘Um, like, rescuing you.’

‘Oh, well, that’s stupid of you.’

She bit her lip and decided that she could be the better person. She wasn’t skinny, nor was she living in a world where everyone could do magic, but at least in her world they didn’t lock you up for no reason.

‘Scarlet, this is Red.’

The two smiled at one another and they turned to leave. Out the door, back down the stairs and they headed for the exit. She was almost there when the man with the gun lurched through the door. The blood running down his head was bright in the fluorescent light, but the hand and the gun he held in it were steady.

‘That was rude.’ She didn’t understand what he said next, it was a spell in a completely different language. She had just long enough to wonder whether it was from the spell book Martin had given her, before her limbs grew heavy. They were normally heavy, but now they felt like lead. She tried to lift a hand but nothing worked.

She squealed as her knees struck the floor and she fell face down. She barely felt the pain as her nose struck the ground, but the blood that oozed out was warm. She couldn’t move, not an inch. It was like waking up with a cat on your arm, only this was lots of cats, lying on every part of her. And there was none of warm cute fluffiness to go with it.

‘I don’t know who you are, nor do I care. The prisoner who is with you will be returned to her cell and you will be sentenced. You have made a grave mistake, young ladies.’

His foot steps clicked away. A few minutes later hands grabbed her and hauled her up. She was rested on her feet then two of them dragged her along the floor and out of the hanger. The sun was down and blue lights ran along both sides of the path back to the gate. The men dragging Red came past them and she saw her eyes burning in the darkness.

Outside a van waited and they were thrown in the back. Her chin was caked with blood but she couldn’t lift a hand to wipe it clean. The van pulled away and she slid across the floor, bumping against the doors. Red joined her there and they lay together in paralysis and misery. It felt like a fitting end to what had become a completely crappy day.

When the van stopped, the doors stayed closed. She tried her arm again and realised she could move it, just a little.

‘Red, spell’s wearing off.’

Red grunted. Scarlet tried again and moved a little more. Why were they still in the van? It was dark and entirely uncomfortable, but she still managed to slide into sleep.

What was it with opening doors around here? It slammed against the side of the van and jerked her awake. She groaned and covered her head. She covered her head. She could move!

She sat and stared around, blinking. The doors were open and a man stood outside and despite knowing it was pointless, she still cried ‘Martin.’ He raised an eyebrow and she blushed. Red was awake, sitting on the seat, her eyes fixed on Martin who wasn’t Martin. Scarlet sniffed, wondering if she looked terrifying enough to scare people away.

‘What do you want?’

‘The heads want to see you.’

‘Ooh, I’m important.’

‘Not yet. Who’s this?’

‘Just a friend.’

He folded his arms and waited. She beamed at him. She could wait. ‘What’s happened to Scarlet?’

Martin who wasn’t Martin shrugged. ‘Not my concern. Not yours either.’

‘I was sent on a mission to—’

‘You broke into a facility and injured two agents. Any rights you may have had are done with. Come with me.’

He walked away from the van and she went to scramble out. Red caught her arm. ‘We don’t want to go with him.’

‘Huh?’

‘He has death in his eyes.’

‘Oh.’

Red nodded solemnly. ‘We will not return. Can you still do the spell to take us away?’

‘Yeah, but I need to lay out the ingredients.’

‘I will buy you time.

‘What, now?’

Red was already moving and Scarlet jumped out the van after her. Martin who wasn’t Martin was waiting, arms still folded and Scarlet gasped as Red threw herself at him. He didn’t look ready but as she jumped his hand lashed out and caught her in the face. She flew back past Scarlet and hit the van with a crunch.

Martin who wasn’t Martin walked toward her and Scarlet glanced about. The van was parked in a dead end, tall grey buildings soaring on three sides. He cracked his knuckles and reached for her.

Next Installment Wednesday 23rd April

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.’