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

Part One is here

‘I didn’t know Martin had moved on, I thought he was still teaching you?’

Scarlet felt the blood drain from her face. Her hands dug into the sheets and made great fistfuls of them, squeezing until her forearms hurt. ‘Mum, could you, maybe, I don’t know, be Skinny’s mum for a bit.’

‘Skinny?’

‘Sorry, um, Scarlet.’

‘Huh?’

Scarlet shuddered. It was never easy when she was reminded how similar the two of them were, but the look of confusion on mum’s face matched her own far too well.

‘Yeah, she’s me, from another dimension.’

‘Another dimension? Like in that Prodigy song?’

‘Huh?’

Mum did this weird dancing, head-bobbing thing that made Scarlet both cringe and giggle at the same time. Then she ran away.

Red came with her and the two of them raced down the stairs. The front door was letting a cool breeze in, welcome release from the warmth of the house. Summer was here, and it actually felt like summer. Which sucked.

Scarlet could list the ways in which summer sucked, but it always came down to clothes. She wore jumpers and trousers and stuff that was baggy and concealing. So she was looking at months of either sweating like a paedophile on a school bus, or never leaving the house. Neither choice filled her with glee.

She stopped at the front door and eyeballed the man standing there. He was wearing a black suit, with a black shirt and black tie and she giggled. ‘You guys really don’t live in the same house as subtle, do you?’

‘Hello, Joanna. Your mother was most confused when I asked if you lived here.’

‘Yeah, well, she’s confused most of the time. What can I do for you?’

‘May I come…’ He trailed off, his eyes fixed on Red. Scarlet grinned. ‘Yeah, that was my response too.’ He didn’t react and she thought just maybe he was thinking something other than ‘mmm, leather’. He finally raised a shaking hand.

‘Who are you?’

‘Red Riding Hood. A pleasure.’

For some reason, her stiff European tones seemed stranger here, back in real reality. The thump back into normality took a sudden turn to the left as Scarlet glanced at Red and saw someone completely at odds with the world around her. Then she saw the leather and turned hurriedly back to the council member.

The man’s mouth opened and closed, but only a vague sort of hissing sound emerged.

‘Um, were you going to say something?’

‘She is… that is to say… The Red Riding Hood?’

It was so rare to be on the knowledgeable end of things. Scarlet folded her arms, leaned against the door frame and grinned. ‘Yep. Cool, huh?’

The man blinked, eyes wandering now. When they settled on Scarlet she wondered whether he was about to faint. ‘You okay?’

He nodded, absently. ‘How did you find her?’

‘Um, I just went to another dimension, you know, as you do, and there she was. Killed the big bad wolf, too, very bad ass.’

‘You just went to another dimension, just like that?’

Scarlet’s grin turned sheepish. ‘Well, I kinda messed up the ingredients lay-out and ended up in one. But after that I just thought about going to a new place and there I was.’

The man shook his head, his full attention back on Scarlet. ‘My name is Banner. I have come to offer you a scholarship to the council. Following your success the last time we met, we have discussed your future and believe it should be with us. We can teach you a great deal and you will be in a place with like minds, where you no longer have to keep your clearly-exceptional talents a secret.’

She had at least fifty questions, not least of which was whether she had to wear black (bad for her skin tone) and talk in one of the silly low voices. But the first one that came out was more of a disagreement. ‘I have a master. I don’t need the council.’

The man glanced down at his hands as they folded and unfolded before him. ‘Yes, well, I am sure once you check your email you’ll discover that your master is unlikely to be back soon. Our people have spotted him in Australia, with a woman who bares a quite remarkable resemblance to his wife.’

Her mouth went dry and she tried to smile. The corners of her mouth did turn up ever so slightly. He’d found her! She wanted to be thrilled for him and was sure she would be, any moment now. ‘’Scuse me.’

She took the stairs two at a time, which left her ready to vomit when she shoved open the door to her room. Mum was on the bed, cuddling Skinny who’s sobs had become quiet sniffles. Go mum. Ignoring them, Scarlet grabbed her laptop and sat on the floor.

She checked her messages, ignoring the seven that informed her she’d won the lottery. The Belgians seemed to have a lot of lotteries and almost all for, like, eighty squillion euros. She imagined these warehouses filled with money from all the genuine emails that dropped into spam, or were ignored.

There was one from Martin.

Dear Scarlet

I hope you are well and not suffering too much from your lack of lessons. (was he being sassy? He was, just a bit.)

I’m thrilled to inform you that I have found my wife. She fled here a couple of years ago in fear of her life and couldn’t risk exposing herself. I’m going to stay here with her for a while. It may be a long time before our next lesson. 

I would advise you to stay safe and be careful. I will be in touch when I have a better idea of how long I intend to remain here.  

Yours

Martin 

Scarlet stared at the screen, one finger nail tapping gently against the side of the keyboard. Something wasn’t right here, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Maybe it was that her master had buggered off to the other side of the world and wasn’t coming back. She put her head back against her bed side table and closed her eyes.

Mum tapped her on the shoulder. ‘Everything alright, love?’

‘Martin’s staying in Australia.’

‘Oh goodness. What did the man downstairs say?’

‘Wants to offer me a scholarship.’

‘So they’ll pay? Do they do A-levels?’

‘It’s not that kind of school, mum, but yeah, I think that means they pay.’

‘Well that’s nice then.’

‘Yeah.’

She pushed the computer off her lap and headed down stairs, considerably slower than the previous time. The man waited in the doorway, but Red was gone. Scarlet poked her head in to the kitchen. Red froze, one hand gripping a jar of peanut butter, the other holding a spoon midway between the jar and her mouth.

‘You alright?’

Red nodded, eyes flicking down to the jar and back up to Scarlet. ‘Knock yourself out, really.’

She left the room, trying to decide whether the day could get any more surreal and went back to the front door. ‘So, a scholarship, yeah? Do we have to pay anything?’

He shook his head. ‘Not a penny. You have extraordinary powers, Joanna, quite extraordinary.’

‘Well you know, they aren’t actually mine, I’m just the con-thingy to bring them through from the Shadows.’

His eyes widened again and she sighed. It really was one of those days.

‘Conduit, you mean conduit.’ His voice was faint and flat and this time she was sure he was going to pass out. ‘Do you wanna come in and sit down?’

He nodded, staggering gratefully past her and slumping into a seat in the lounge. She sat on the sofa and rested her elbows on her knees. ‘So tell me. Last time I was in the council you captured and tortured my master, and set me some crappy, unfair test. Why the hell would I want to come to the Council?’

He blinked and cleared his throat. His voice started out sounding strained but he soon got into his stride. ‘Yes, well, that was a series of most unfortunate incidents, wasn’t it? However, you are invited this time, and not by some common thugs. Those watchers who brought you really are the lowest form of scum.’

‘Powerful though.’

‘Yes, one of them did carry some fairly impressive power. But he chose to work outside the auspices of the council and that will always put him at a disadvantage. When you become part of the Council, you have our full support in anything you do. You are never alone again.’

She found herself nodding. That sounded good. Something was niggling, burrowing into the soft bit beneath her ear but she shrugged it away. ‘What will I do?’

‘You will learn. You will learn the history of magic and how it came to be in today’s world. You will learn about some of the greatest magic users the world has ever seen—’

‘Okay, so far? Not really selling it. I’m hearing writing and history and dull stuff. Where’s the fun?’

He nodded, a ghost of a smile lifting the corners of his mouth. ‘You will have practical magic lessons six days a week in which you will have the opportunity to learn every spell known to man. You will take part in weekly casting contests and specialised workshops for your chosen area of focus. You will learn combat and self-defence.’

She nodded harder, eyes alight. That sounded amazing. ‘Okay, when do I start?’

The man waved a hand at the door. ‘You may come with me now, if you desire. If not, any time in—’

‘I can be packed in, like, five minutes. I’ll just grab my laptop and a few clo—’

‘You may not bring your computer.’

The world closed in and her breathing grew ragged. No computer… that meant no Tumblr. She knew, now, how soldiers felt when offered an honourable death or life as an cursed outcast. This was no choice.

There’ll be a brief interlude in Scarlet’s Web on Monday as I’ll be blogging about my current writing project and my writing process. It’s a bit different from the normal way of things here, but hopefully you’ll find it interesting. 🙂

Next Installment Wednesday 7th May

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.