Ravensborough (22 page)

A dark figure was already slouching in the shadows. I felt a moment of fear. What if it wasn’t Gethan? Nobody knew where I was after all. My hand moved involuntarily to my locket. Then the shape moved, and I saw to my relief that it was him. He was looking at me with hard and guarded eyes.

‘Hi’, I said. ‘How are you?’

‘I’ve been better.’ He said, avoiding direct eye contact. He was obviously still hurt, despite the fact that he had agreed to meet me. ‘How are you?’

My mouth struggled to make the words. ‘I’ve been better too,’ I admitted.

‘What?’ he said mockingly. ‘Even though the love of your life has come visiting?’

‘That’s not fair,’ I said quietly.

He nodded, acknowledging the truth in my words. Then he jumped. ‘Do you hear that?’ he hissed.

I put my head to one side. I couldn’t make out anything at first, but then I heard it. In the distance there was the sound of a car moving slowly. It sounded like it was in our direction.

‘Quick, we’ve got to climb over the gate!’ Gethan grabbed my arm and dragged me towards the gate.

‘But it’s locked!’ I protested.

He rolled his eyes. ‘Well there would be very little point climbing over it if we could open it, would there?’

He made a cradle with his hands. I put my foot on it and let him push me upwards. I’d never been good at gym in school and the gate was at least ten foot tall. Luckily, it was heavily decorated with iron leaves and vines which I managed to use as footholds. Gethan pulled himself up after me, climbing to the top of the gate, much quicker than I was managing it. He leaned an arm down and grabbed my hand, pulling me upwards. I scrambled upwards, managing to get one leg over the top of the gate.

‘You’re going to have to jump, we don’t have much time,’ Gethan urged.

‘I can’t jump’, I whispered furiously, ‘I’ll break something!’

Gethan jumped down from the gate into the park, landing easily in a crouch. He turned around and held his arms up to me. He wanted me to jump into his arms. I supposed that would break my fall, but even so, it was a long way down to the ground below.

‘Quick’, he urged. ‘Jump!’

I didn’t know what it was that he was afraid of, but his tone said we were in serious danger. I jumped into his arms, and the impact made us both fall onto the hard ground. Gethan broke my fall to some degree, but I still felt a burning pain where my right leg had banged against the hard ground.

The car was still moving slowly, but the sound was getting louder. They had to be very close by at this stage. Gethan jumped to his feet and pulled me up. We ran behind a large hedge and hunkered down. Just seconds later a large beam of light shone through the gates illuminating the whole entranceway. My heart was hammering hard in my chest and when I looked at Gethan’s face it was drawn and serious. It seemed like an eternity, but it can only have been around half a minute before the lights dimmed and disappeared. Another couple of minutes passed before he risked talking to me.

‘Are you ok? You’re not hurt are you?’

I rubbed my leg. ‘I’m a little bit bruised, but I guess I’ll live. What was that?’

He sighed. ‘That was the army patrol. Remember, my kind aren’t welcome in Rationalist areas by night. The government patrols areas like this, to make sure that we keep out.’

‘What are they afraid of?’ I asked.

‘That we’ll graffiti some prominent politician’s house, that we’ll conjure up a cloud of demons. That we’ll steal their women...’ Gethan looked sideways at me and grinned. Then stood up, giving me a hand to get to my feet.

‘Let’s walk a little further into the park,’ said Gethan. ‘That way we won’t be caught by any passing patrol cars.’

The atmosphere in the park was totally different at night. The trees were shadow black against the star-studded night sky. The wind blowing through the trees sounded ominous, like whispered secrets. Occasionally I heard a rustle and jumped. Gethan gave a throaty chuckle. I glared at him, but my ire was wasted. It was so dark that he couldn’t see my face.

Eventually we reached the pond in the centre of the park. My ears suddenly registered the silence. It hit me that nobody knew where I was, not even Aradia. I couldn’t escape if I needed to, and I doubted that I was athletic enough to outrun Gethan. I was all alone, in the centre of an empty park with a guy who said he could use 'dark magic' and had a link with a group of violent individuals – more than that, murderers – and I only had his word that he was any different. And, while I'd previously been sceptical about the existence of magic at all, recent circumstances were conspiring to make me think otherwise.

We sat down at the edge of the pond, which was navy blue with gold flecks, reflecting the sky above. For a long time we sat together, just inches apart, staring out at the water.

Finally I found my voice. ‘What would they do if they found you here?’

‘With me being half dark-elf? They’d take me into custody. Question me a bit. If my record is clean, they’d let me out after a few hours.’

‘And is your record clean?’ I asked.

‘It’s fairly clean,’ he whispered softly.

‘Only fairly?’ I asked. Again I felt a shudder of unease.

‘They’d take me in, question me a bit to see if I have any information that they might be interested in,’ he continued, ignoring my question. ‘Then they’d let me go. Probably. It’s something I’m keen to avoid in any case.’

‘But why would Rationalists be bothered by what you do? As long as you’re not actually breaking the law or vandalising something, why would they care? I mean, it’s not like they
believe
in magic.’

‘Oh Scarlett,’ Gethan laughed, though he didn’t seem amused. ‘They
do
believe in magic.’

‘What?’ I said, confused. That couldn’t be possible. Rationalists came out on television regularly denouncing Pagan claims that such a thing as magic actually existed. Why would they come out and say that something didn’t exist when they knew for a fact that it did? It just didn’t make sense.

‘The government want to distance themselves from the superstition and the rumours. They think that the rest of Europe look down on us for believing in the occult. But power is at the root of our problems here. You see magic is a talent. In a Pagan society, power goes to those who have the most control over their magic. You are either talented, or you’re not, it’s not something that you can buy your way into. Rationalists want to use their money to control people, and magic complicates that. If they discredit magic, then their way will always win.’

‘Speaking of magic, apparently I have some?’

‘It would appear that way, yes. There’s no other explanation for the way that you managed to push back against me.’

‘I thought that it was the locket that did the repelling, and that I was passive behind it?’

‘You’re operating through it,’ he explained. ‘I’ve come across protective charms like these before. Most Pagans wear silver and iron bracelets that hurt dark elves. But to actually push back against me and attack me? You’d have to have some sort of magical ability in order to do that.’

‘But, how is that possible? I thought that magic was inherited?’

‘It is,’ said Gethan.

‘But, that can’t be possible. I mean, I’m not from Avalonia.’

‘You don’t have to be. Avalonians aren’t the only people that can practice magic, you know. People do it in every country in the world.’

‘My parents don’t practice magic though.’

Gethan shrugged. ‘Maybe it skipped a generation then. I don’t know, genetics aren’t really my thing. But in the here and now, what really matters is the fact that you have magic. And someone, or something, has given you an object for a purpose, that you can use because you have powers. But why? That’s what you have to try to work out.’

‘My head
hurts
from trying to work it out,’ I sighed. ‘And I’m a little nervous everyone’s casual assumption that something awful is going to happen.’

Gethan grinned. ‘On the bright side, you’d be in a worse position if you were in the same position without the charm. You should count yourself lucky.’

‘If I have magical powers, could I possibly be able to use some of the spells that were in the book that came with the locket?’

‘That would make sense, yeah.’

‘How...how would I even begin to attempt to use magic?’ I asked. ‘Like, how do you do it?’

‘How do you move your arm? You think about it, and you make it happen. In the same way, when you want to perform magic you think about it, and you do it.’

‘That sounds almost too easy.’

‘It’s not easy,’ he said. ‘Like anything, it will be hard at first because your muscles and your brain aren’t used to doing it. You’ll have to start slowly, and work your way up to bigger things. The more you do it, the easier it will become. But magic takes a lot of energy, so be careful not to overdo it.’

‘Can you show me how to use magic?’ I asked.

Gethan shook his head. ‘I’ve no idea how your powers work, or what you’re able to do. There are so many different types of magic, and I don’t know which type you’re able to practice. Your best bet is to examine the spells in detail, and try and feel your way through it from there. The easiest way would be to track down people with the same powers as yourself, they could teach you. Have you tried to do that?’

‘I haven’t had time to,’ I sighed. ‘Juggling homework and Sam means that I’ve very little time to myself. I just haven’t had time to look through the spell book, let alone do anything else.’

‘Are you sure that you shouldn’t tell Sam about the locket?’ he asked, looking at me intently.

I shook my head. ‘I don’t think so. I’m not sure if he’d believe me. To be honest I’m really not sure if I believe all of this myself.’

‘Maybe you should tell him. It could get hard having to lie to him all the time.’

‘It will probably get even more complicated if I tell him the truth,’ I pointed out. ‘I told you – he wants to stop me hanging around with Pagans. I haven’t worked out how I’m going to prevent him telling Mum and Rupert. If they find out that I have Pagan friends it’ll make it very difficult for me to see you and Aradia. I’m hoping I can find a way out of this, but if I let him know about the locket and the spell book he’ll definitely tell them.’

‘Keeping secrets has a way of getting complicated though,’ he warned.

‘My life will be complicated now anyway though, won’t it? I mean magic has complicated your life. Were you ever tempted to just give it all up and not practice magic anymore? Did you never think that maybe your life would be easier if you gave it up altogether?’

‘Maybe I should have. But then, you’ve complicated my life,’ he said grimly, ‘and I haven’t given up on you either, have I?’

Just at that second a cloud moved and moonlight spilled into the Willow Garden. I looked at Gethan. The silver light caught the lines of his face and made the expression in his eyes unreadable. It was still there. That dark pull that I felt towards him, intoxicating and addictive. The differences between what drew me to him and Sam was like the difference between day and night. I leaned against his shoulder, warm and strong beneath my cheek. He stiffened slightly at first, as if made uneasy by the contact.

Gently I leaned up and kissed him. His mouth was as cool as the night air, and I felt the heady mix of passion and danger. I knew that I shouldn’t be here, that I shouldn’t be as trusting as I was letting myself be. But I couldn’t help but let the feeling of him wash over me like water. He kissed me back for a second and then pulled away, a look of pain etched upon his face.

It took me a moment to work out what was wrong. Silently I undid the clasp of my locket and lay it in the grass beside us. I looked at him, and my lips found his again. I couldn’t say how long we kissed for. When we were beside the lake our kisses had been gentle, but there was an intensity and pervasiveness about this that left me lightheaded and unsure where I stopped and he began.

Eventually we drew apart, and we sat side by side, his arm still around my waist and me leaning against him. After a while, the moon dipped back behind a cloud. My mind was churning with mixed emotions. Magic, Sam, Gethan, my Rationalist friends, all churned around in my mind as I struggled to make sense of my situation. The light wind blew strands of hair against my face.

Gethan moved his mouth down to my ear, and I could feel his warm breath against my skin as he whispered, ‘You can’t play both sides, Scarlett. Sometimes you have to choose.’

The next day was a whirlwind of party planning and activity. I never functioned well without enough sleep, so trying to get by in school on just two hours and try to reply enthusiastically to Cat’s non-stop questioning about the party was hard work. Luckily at lunchtime she was distracted by running through her outfit options, and trying to decide which one her new boyfriend would like the best. She was so engrossed that I managed to get away with answering with a mere nod and a smile.

When I got home I found that Sam had made a start on getting the downstairs rooms ready for the party. He had cleared out a lot of the more valuable breakable items from the bottom of the house. When I made my way into the living room he was in the process of trying to take down an expensive picture from the wall.

‘Hold on, I’ll help you with that,’ I said, throwing down my schoolbag and walking towards him. He took one end of the painting and I took the other and lifted it gently off the wall. With him walking backwards we walked through to the hall and up the stairs. Once, Sam stumbled slightly and we nearly dropped the painting. He looked at me, horror etched onto his face, and I giggled.

‘How much would this cost to replace if we damage it?’ he asked worriedly.

‘It would wipe out our earnings for the first five years after we leave college. It’s best not to think about it,’ I said. ‘Now, stop slacking and let’s get this thing safely upstairs.’ We managed to stow it safely away in Rupert’s office without any further mishaps.

‘There we go, that’s what I call teamwork!’ I said with satisfaction.