Shift (22 page)

“Like what? Getting young Shifters hooked on dreams they can never have?” Aubrey asked, bitterly.

Zac paused for a moment, interrupted in his speech, then started strolling back and forth in front of us, like an actor. A bad actor at that. “We want people to question the forces of control. Guide them towards seeing that government is not necessary for civilization and that it is nothing more than a parasite eroding our very humanity. The powers want us to conform, obey, to give up our youth and slot into their little boxes, with a job, a house, crippling debt. We want people to have fun. To play! To stay young.”

“‘We don’t stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing,’” I quoted. “You spray painted ARES HQ?”

“Yes, that was one of mine. But you mustn’t tell anyone. I am doing a good job of remaining anonymous.” He winked at me and smiled to the rest of his gang, who were gazing at him, hanging on his every word. “So you see, we would never be so obvious as to blow up a train. Although we could. Sean here is an expert in explosives.”

Sean held open his long jacket and revealed a wad of what looked like plasticine strapped to an inside panel.

“Plastique?” Aubrey asked. “I thought you said you weren’t violent.”

“Sean will only be allowed to use his experience as a last resort in bringing ARES to its knees.”

The SLF members clapped and I just knew Zac was doing everything he could to stop himself from bowing at their applause.

“Look, I’ve had a pretty crappy evening and I’d really like to just get home. So if you could just tell us why we’re here.”

“Why so eager, brother?” he asked, laying a hand on my shoulder. I shook it off.

“I’m not your brother,” I snapped.

“We are all brothers here,” he said, raising his arms out and spinning around.

I looked around at the statues and the paintings of saints and sinners. I felt their eyes on me. “I’m surprised, Zac,” I said. “I never thought you’d be a God-botherer.”

“God?” Zac laughed and the sound echoed off the domed roof. “We don’t believe in God. We are the only gods here.”

“So what do you believe in?” Aubrey asked, impatient.

“Freedom.” He let the word sink in. A couple of the gathered members whooped in agreement. “Freedom from those who want to crush anyone who questions their authority.”

“I think you give them a little more credit than they’re due, Zac” Aubrey said.

Zac stepped in close and stared into Aubrey’s eyes. “Who do you think controls the stock market?” he said, softly at first. “Them. Who decided which political party gets into power? Them. Who goes to war? Them! Who wins? Them, them, them!”

“That’s crap!” I shouted. “The First Law: Shifters can only change their own reality.”

“And they have Shifters in every level of government, in every country. On the board of every major corporation. Delicately manipulating their reality until it aligns with ARES’ image of the ‘Ideal Reality’,” Zac said, a sneer on his face.

Aubrey looked at the other members of the SLF and shook her head. “And governments and armies are taking advice from a bunch of kids now are they?” she laughed.

“Not all Shifters are kids. They’ve worked out a way to stop entropy. I know it. I just don’t know how yet. But there are adult Shifters and they’re the ones pulling the strings. Controlling everything.” Zac had a dangerous gleam in his eyes. “We’ve been talking with someone who has evidence–”

“Henry Heritage by any chance?” I cut him off, remembering the photos.

Zac looked surprised for a moment and then recovered. “As a matter of fact, yes, he told us he has vital information that will bring ARES down.”

“Well, I don’t think he’s going to be doing much talking, given that he’s dead.”

His eyes widened and his mouth formed a perfect “O”. Rosalie and Sean both flinched and took a step towards Zac. “How?” he said.

I had been about to blame them for his death. But judging by the expressions of shock on the faces of Zac and the rest of the SLF they’d known nothing about it. “Well, we’re pretty sure that it was Greene who did the actual killing. And eating.”

“Eating?” Zac asked.

“He eats people’s brains,” Aubrey said. “He said he can consume their Shifting energy.”

“So he definitely is a Shifter?” Zac said, looking over to Rosalie.

“Seems we were right,” Rosalie said, smiling, standing up from her seat on the pew.

“I knew it!” Zac slammed his fist into his palm. “Don’t you see? Entropy is a lie, a lie to keep us down!”

“Come off it,” I said. “Greene is completely barking mad.”

Rosalie left her brother and came to stand by her leader’s side. “Just because he’s mad doesn’t mean he’s lying, Scott. He might be the key we’ve been looking for.” Rosalie looked up at Zac, her eyes burning with that same fire. He smiled at her and then turned to Aubrey.

“ARES have been lying to us all our lives, Brey. They only tell you the truth when they know they’ve brainwashed you enough so that you will do everything they say. Why else do you think they threw me out?”

“Because you broke into top secret files!” I said. This guy was seriously unhinged. He thought he was some kind of saviour. Great, I thought, two dangerous nutters in one day.

“It was what I found in the files that scared them,” he said, taking another step towards Aubrey and ignoring me. “They’ve been running programmes dedicated to stopping entropy. I tried to tell you, but you wouldn’t listen to me.”

Aubrey was looking up at Zac a confused look on her face. She wasn’t seriously buying any of this stuff was she?

I threw my hands up in the air. “You know what, I don’t care. I’ve had enough of this wannabe Che Guevara stuff.”

I turned to leave and Sean gripped my shoulder. “You don’t want to do that,” I said, looking down at his tattooed hand. Small shamrocks were inked into his knuckles.

Sean tightened his grip and smiled. It took me two moves and he was lying on the floor in a heap groaning. I hadn’t even needed to Shift. I looked at the others, daring them to take me on.

“Let him go,” Zac said. “He won’t tell anyone we’re here. Not as long as Aubrey is with us, isn’t that right, Scott?”

“Aubrey?” I said. I looked at her confused. “Let’s go.”

“Scott,” Aubrey said, in a hushing tone.

I looked at her. “You’re not… You don’t believe him, do you? You’re the one who said he couldn’t be trusted.” I pointed at Zac who stood perfectly still, his chiselled face turned to a beam of light, looking like another statue of a saint. I wanted to punch him.

“Scott, I don’t know what to believe after what Benjo said. And if ARES were really running these programmes. If there’s a chance that we don’t have to…”

I didn’t even bother letting Aubrey finish. I stormed away, disgusted, and headed for the doors. They shut behind me with an ominous thud. The statue of Mary gazed down at me. She looked as if she was about to cry.

“What are you looking at?” I snapped and slumped down the stairs and into the drizzle-filled night.

“Afternoon, Scott,” a brisk voice said.

I jumped, spilling the can of Coke I was nursing. “Afternoon, Mr Morgan,” I said, righting the can and trying to mop up the spill with a sheet of paper.

I hadn’t slept all night. I’d wandered the streets for hours, rage and worry chasing themselves around my head like moths around a light bulb. I was angry with Zac for, well everything, really. Annoyed at Aubrey for buying Zac’s crap. And disappointed in myself for leaving her there. I should have stayed. On top of that, I was battling with the fact that I should tell Morgan or Abbott exactly where they all were. But Zac had been right. I wouldn’t. Not until I knew Aubrey was well away from them. I’d tried calling her four times today, but she wasn’t picking up. When I asked one of the other Bluecoats where she was, I’d been told she’d called in sick.

“Everything all right?” Morgan said. “You’re looking a little pale.”

“No, sir. I’m fine. Just a little tired.”

“Well, I have some news that should perk you up.” He flashed me his toothiest smile. “Abbott and his team have tracked down the SLF’s HQ. They’re going to raid it at 6pm today.”

His hearty slap on the back disguised my gasp of shock.

“There,” Morgan said. “You’ve got more colour in your cheeks. I knew the thought of catching those Tubebombing bastards would cheer you up. Carry on.” He slapped me on the back again and wandered off to go and push some paper, or whatever he did all day.

I pulled out my phone and selected Aubrey’s number. After three rings it clicked through to her voicemail.

“Hi, this is Aubrey. You know what to do.”

“It’s me, Scott. This is really important. You have to call me as soon as you get this.” I hung up and dialled again. It went straight through to the voice mail. “This isn’t about them, I promise. Well it is. But you have to call me.”

I fired off a text to her number, just in case. It was 4pm. Only two hours before the Regulators descended. Not that I cared about what happened to the SLF, they deserved to get locked up as far as I was concerned. The only person I cared about was Aubrey. I had to find her.

I pushed my head around Morgan’s door. “Sir, I’m not feeling that well after all. Is it OK if I go home?”

He looked up from his screen. “Sick, Scott? You didn’t strike me as a sickie sort. You know, I have never had a sick day in my life. Not one. But if you have to…” He grinned at me, showing a full row of his too white teeth. “Just make sure you fill in a sick form tomorrow.”

“Sure,” I said, letting the door swing closed. I grabbed my coat from my chair and walked to the lifts. I punched the down button and waited. The lifts were taking forever. I punched the button again and again, in that stupid belief that letting a machine know you’re in a rush will somehow make it hurry up. After the sixth impatient punch, I headed for the stairs.

The stairwell smelt of bleach, and the steps were slippery having been recently washed. I skidded and almost went hurtling down the steps three times, once knocking into the cleaner. He shouted muffled abuse at me as I raced on, taking half a flight in one leap.

Once out on the street, I waved down a taxi and leapt in. I gave them Aubrey’s address. If I was lucky she might be at home.

I wasn’t. Thirty-five infuriating minutes later I arrived at her place and got no reply from the buzzer. I tried calling her phone again and still it went straight through to voicemail. The first time I’d heard her answer message I’d thought it was really cute. Right now, I hated it.

She must be still at the church. But the problem was, I couldn’t remember exactly where it was. I’d made my way home in a haze of bitterness and misery, jumping on the first Tube I’d come across. All I knew was that it was somewhere near Holland Park.

The cab I’d got here was in the middle of trying to perform a three-point turn, which was slowly becoming a seven-point turn. The cabbie was swearing at a rubbish truck blocking his path in one direction and the mass of mopeds blocking him in the other. Before he straightened out, I ran after him, flailing my arms like a drowning man. He was doing a good job of ignoring me, but when I threw open the door and flung myself in he didn’t have much choice but to acknowledge my existence.

“Do you know a church near Holland Park?” I said, breathlessly.

“There are about fifty churches around there, mate,” he said, “mate” clearly being cabby short hand for “moron”.

“It was an old, white church. Abandoned now.”

“St Sebastian’s?” he suggested.

“Yeah. That one. Drive.” I didn’t know if it was the right one or not. But at least if he got me to the area I might remember something.

I watched the meter tick closer to £20 – all I had left in my wallet. I might have to stop before we even got there. Thankfully, it was still at £19.20 as he pulled into a street I recognised, with tall, double-fronted houses and expensive cars parked outside. I saw the church up ahead.

“Here! Thanks.” I threw him the £20 note and jumped out. I raced up the steps, ignoring the sad look on Mary’s face, and charged into the doors. They were firmly shut and I landed flat on my backside.

I dragged myself up, shaking my spinning head and started banging on the doors. After a few minutes, I heard a gruff voice from the other side. “Password?” it said.

“What is it with you lot and passwords?” I shouted. “It’s me, Scott. I need to speak to Aubrey.”

I heard a muffled conversation, followed by a rattling of bolts and chains and the doors opened. Sean waved me in. Rosalie was sitting on one of the pews, looking back at me. Zac and Aubrey were standing annoyingly close to each other, next to the altar. There were four other faces I recognised from last night and a couple of new ones huddled over some papers. Jake was nowhere to be seen, hopefully safe back at ARES, which was a good thing. The kid didn’t need to get caught up in the mess.

“Aubrey,” I shouted, walking towards her.

“What do you want, Scott?” Aubrey said, her voice carrying down the length of the aisle. She sounded annoyed.

I didn’t have time to answer before the doors behind me were kicked open and ten members of the Regulators poured in, screaming and shouting. They had their guns raised, covering the group of kids. Sean put up a fight and took one of them down before they got the cuffs on him. Their first man neutralised, the Regulators turned to the rest of the group and started walking slowly towards them.

I looked back at Aubrey, Rosalie and the others. Their initial expressions of shock had been replaced with looks of concentration. Yes, I thought, willing them to Shift. If they Shifted, none of this need to have happened. I could have banged all day on the locked doors and there would be no one here to answer. I’d not stopped for a second to think about what I was doing, so the Shift would have to be down to them.

One by one, they looked up, then at each other and finally at the Regulators walking towards them. I saw the little wrinkles appear on Aubrey’s forehead that meant she was confused. Nothing was happening. None of them could Shift.

The Regulators reached them and started shouting at them to get down. I started to run towards Aubrey as one guy pushed her heavily to the floor. But a hand on my shoulder stopped me. It was Abbott. I looked up at him, hoping that he would explain what the hell was going on.