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.’

Part One is here

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

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

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

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

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

‘One so lowly as she?’

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘Who are you?’

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

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

‘Why not?’

‘Because you aren’t ever here.’

‘Um, except I am, like, right now.’

‘Which is why you shouldn’t be here.’

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

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

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

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

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

‘How come the wolf was still alive?’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘So, um, do you live alone out here?’

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

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

‘Why?’

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

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

‘Why did you not just rescue her?’

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

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

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

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

‘What, together?’

‘Is there something wrong with that?’

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

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

‘RED! RED, ATTEND ME AT ONCE.’

Red groaned, putting her face in her hands.

‘Is that granny?’

Red nodded. ‘Can we go, please?’

‘Shouldn’t you talk to her?’

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

‘That doesn’t sound too bad.’

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

Next Instalment Friday 18th April