by D. J. McCune
Adam glared at her – or rather glared through her. He knew why Nathanial was in such a rush. He wanted his sons to come of age and get Marked so they would be full Lumen. He wanted to get this out of the way while he was still High Luman, before Darian brought him down – or before he was forced to become a Curator just to keep the Frenchman at bay.
‘Don’t shoot the messenger!’ Auntie Jo looked startled and Adam realised that his expression must look murderous. ‘You should be proud. It’s a compliment.’
‘Yeah, of course it is,’ Adam muttered. He grabbed his juice and headed for the door, gritting his teeth to stop himself blurting out anything incriminating.
As the door swung closed behind him, he heard Auntie Jo’s parting words. ‘You’re a victim of your own success, Adam. Try to be happy about it, will you?’
Chapter 8
oing into school the next morning, Adam was keenly aware of what he might lose. He sat on the bus, head tilted against the window, gently stroking the cuff of his blazer. He was probably the only sixteen-year-old in London who got up every day happy to be putting on his school uniform. Every time he pulled on his blazer and knotted his tie it was a statement to the world. I am normal. I get on a bus and I go to school and I hang out with my friends and do my homework. No weirdness here.
Now he already had a feeling of nostalgia as he crunched up the stony driveway leading into the school. As the main building loomed ahead of him Adam’s throat tightened. Yes, he’d had to lie and yes, he’d had to cover up a lot but somehow he had managed to forge a life of his own here, away from his family and the Luman world. In all the years he had felt lost and useless at home, he had never felt that way here. He had told his friends so many lies but strangely this was still the place where he had been most truly himself.
There was no sign of Melissa in registration and somewhere beneath his concern Adam felt a guilty twinge of relief. He needed some time to put the weekend behind him. Plus Melissa wasn’t easy to lie to, even by omission. Nothing had happened with Caitlyn but he had to admit: part of him had wanted something to happen. Melissa’s eyes sometimes seemed almost supernatural, like lasers, able to see straight through him. Luckily she was a private kind of person and didn’t pry too much, even though she thought his family sounded weird.
Thinking this gave Adam a pang of loneliness. His family were weird by normal standards but not in a bad way. They were good people. Melissa would like them, he was sure of that – but she could never meet them all. (She had encountered Luc before but had somehow managed to resist his charms – a fact that only made her more lovable.) What was he going to do when he had to leave school? How would he keep seeing her then? His heart scrunched up in his chest, a small, unhappy ball.
He could try and make it work. After all, Luc managed to have a fairly active social life in spite of working full-time as a Luman. His encounter with Morta had kept him closer to home for a while but he had slipped out the night before after his phone had beeped frantically all afternoon. If he could pull it off maybe Adam could too. He could pretend he was going to visit other Lumen families in Britain. Maybe there was a daughter he could pretend to like … for a week or two, until he got rumbled and ended up betrothed to a stranger to avoid a scandal. Adam scowled. Luc made it all seem easy but that was just the Luc effect. Adam usually managed to make things harder than they needed to be, not easier.
As he trudged towards the library at break he tried to think positively. Auntie Jo hadn’t said he would definitely have to leave. Maybe she had misunderstood. And even if he did have to leave he would still get to go to Japan first. He would have a whole week with his friends and Melissa. Maybe they could come up with a plan. He could run away with her. Spike could probably hook them up with some fake ID so they could start all over again. It would be brilliant and they could dance off into some kind of Hollywood sunset …
Adam snorted and opened the library door, smiling at Mrs Nostel, the librarian. She raised her cup of herbal tea in salute as she talked on the cordless phone, her sparkly skirt twinkling under the library lights. He made his way to his usual table, looking forward to a bit of banter with his friends, but they were sitting round the table with funereal expressions. Archie was colouring something in with savage concentration while Dan had suspended his nut consumption, choosing instead to poke his almonds listlessly into a heap. Even Spike was glowering.
‘What’s wrong?’ Adam’s voice was shrill with alarm. He tried to imagine what could have reduced his friends to such despair and came up with the worst thing he could think of. ‘Have they cancelled the Japan trip again?’
‘Worse,’ Archie said, tearing a page out of his sketchpad and flinging it across the table at Adam.
Adam stared at the page in incomprehension. It showed some kind of monstrous troll rampaging past skyscrapers Godzilla-style. Only there was something familiar about the troll …
Dan gave a quivering sigh. ‘We’re still going to Japan. But the Beast is going too.’
Adam stared at them for a long moment, praying that it was all an elaborate hoax. Six eyes stared mournfully back at him. ‘But he can’t. He’s not in our year. It’s only people in our year going!’ There was an edge of hysteria in his voice that he didn’t like. ‘The guy who’s paying for the trip said it’s only for fifth year! He said it was too late for the sixth form because they’d already picked all their subjects for next year. Just fifth years!’
Spike sighed and gave him a disgusted look. ‘The Beast is The Bulb’s son. He’s getting to go as a special treat. He’s even allowed to bring one of his ickle friends to keep him company.’
‘Weasel,’ Dan said, his face the picture of gloom. ‘He’s bringing Weasel with him.’
Adam groaned and put his head in his hands. So much for the Hollywood sunset. A new film was playing out in his head and it was less romance, more dodgy horror … He tried to see a silver lining. ‘Well, at least The Bulb is going. I mean, he won’t let the Beast do anything too mental.’
‘Yeah but Lumpton’s coming. The Bulb’ll be too busy having a love-in with her to even notice what the Beast is up to.’
‘Yeah, it’ll be all John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the bed for days and days,’ Dan said, then shrieked resentfully when Archie flung his pencil at him. ‘What was that for?!’
‘OK, when you’re a “visual learner” there are some pictures you can NEVER get out of your head!’ Archie glowered.
Adam tried to erase the mental image of The Bulb and Lumpton tucked up together and restore some sanity to proceedings. ‘Yeah, but even if Bulber is busy I doubt the Japanese police will let the Beast go round maiming people. I think they’re pretty strict.’
Dan looked more hopeful. ‘Yeah, maybe they’ll see he’s pure evil and go all Samurai on him.’
‘How do you even know he’s going?’
Spike raised an eyebrow. ‘How do you think?’ He turned his laptop towards Adam, revealing The Bulb’s inbox. ‘The Bulb has been a busy boy. He’s been emailing the Sensai non-stop. It’s sickening. Plus he’s got most of the passports scanned in already and added to the confirmed list. You still need to give your passport to Fenton. Has to be in for next week. And if you’re planning your own week-long love-in with Melissa she’ll need to get hers in too. Neither of you are on the final list.’
Adam frowned. He would need to get to work on persuading Nathanial – but why hadn’t Melissa handed her stuff in? ‘Yeah, I’ll say to her.’
‘And if you’re planning some precious moments together, make sure one of you brings protection.’ Spike was smirking. ‘You know, like a bazooka or a big stick with nails in it. Because somehow I don’t think the Beast is going to sit back and let you two have your happy ending.’
Adam could hardly wait for lunchtime so he could phone Melissa. He had just enough credit left for a quick call. There was still no sign of her in school so he guessed she was at home with her mum. He slipped up to the art block, safe in the knowledge
that he could hide in the store away from the Beast and that even if Ms Havens caught him she probably wouldn’t confiscate his mobile. She was pretty cool for a teacher.
Melissa answered on the second ring. She didn’t say hello but hissed, ‘Sssssssh! Wait a second.’ Adam stood and waited, hearing a door closing quietly on the other end of the line. A TV was on in the background but she must have turned it off because it cut off mid-sentence.
‘Sorry,’ Melissa said, still speaking quietly. ‘Mum’s asleep and I didn’t want to wake her.’
‘How is she?’ Adam said. He wished he could forget the dreams he’d had months earlier, before Melissa’s mum had been diagnosed. He still didn’t understand the dreams or why he’d had them but he really hoped they didn’t mean that Melissa’s mum was facing a death sentence.
‘She’s OK, I think. But she has a cold so I stayed home with her. She has to be really careful after chemo because her immunity is low and she picks up loads of stuff. I told her to stay in bed after lunch.’
‘She’s really lucky to have you.’ Adam’s throat felt lumpy. Sometimes he felt so sad for Melissa. She hadn’t seen her dad in years and the only other family she seemed to have was her aunt.
‘Yeah but I’m lucky to have her too.’
‘Yeah.’ Adam sighed. He wanted to offer to call round and help her, like a normal boyfriend would – but he couldn’t. He might get away with it a couple of times but his family would start asking questions and then he would either have to lie or get caught. Then he thought about Caitlyn’s text the day before. Chicken. Maybe Caitlyn was right.
‘So how was your weekend?’
‘Yeah, it was good. Just a big family thing. Lots of food. What about yours?’
‘It was OK. I got an extra shift yesterday and then my aunt came round for tea. It was nice.’
There was a pause. Why did it feel awkward? It wasn’t normally awkward talking to Melissa. Adam tried to think of something interesting to say but nothing felt quite right. Instead he blurted out the important stuff. ‘So you weren’t in this morning but I think we have to get our passports in. For the Japan trip. We have to hand them in next week.’
‘Oh right.’ Silence on the end of the line. Then Melissa cleared her throat. ‘Yeah, I need to see about that.’
Adam held the phone to his ear, waiting for her to say something else. When she didn’t he tried to keep his voice light and jokey. ‘What’s to see about? It’s a nearly free trip to Japan! Pack your bags!’
Melissa sighed. ‘I don’t know if I can go, Adam.’
Adam stared straight ahead, not seeing anything. ‘What do you mean? They’re paying for the whole thing! The guy in Japan? The one that used to go to school here? He’s paying for everything. Seriously, everything. We don’t have to buy a thing unless we want to.’
‘I know that. It’s not the money. It’s … my mum.’
‘But your mum wants you to go. She told you she wants you to go.’
‘Yes, she does. But what if something happens to her when I’m away?’ There was something unfamiliar in Melissa’s voice; something he hadn’t heard before. Anger. Proper, burning anger, bubbling just below the surface of her words. ‘Who’s going to look after her? Who’s going to get food or clean stuff or make dinner if I’m in Japan? Who’s going to make sure she hasn’t fallen in the shower? Who’s going to pick up her medicine from the chemist?’
‘But your aunt is there … Couldn’t she –’
‘My aunt lives an hour away. She works shifts. She’s already used up all her holidays looking after Mum so I could work over the summer. She can’t just drop everything! Between the two of us we can manage but I can’t go off to Japan and leave them. Maybe if she was feeling a bit better. But she’s always so tired. She keeps picking stuff up – stupid stuff like colds and bugs.’
He knew he should stop talking. He knew he needed to nod and agree and say it was up to her because it was. So why wasn’t his mouth listening to his brain? ‘But you’ll never get a chance like this again!’
Another silence, this one somehow harder edged. ‘Yeah, well … maybe I’ll never get a chance to spend a week helping my mum again. I won’t be going to Japan, Adam. Not unless there’s some kind of miracle. And after the last few months, I don’t believe in miracles.’
The line went dead and Adam’s phone screen lit up. Call ended. He stared at it, appalled. Had he really just done that? Had he really just had a go at Melissa because she wouldn’t leave her mum and come to Japan with him? Leave her mum with cancer when she didn’t want to?
He felt sick. What was the matter with him? Why had he tried to persuade her? Because I want to see her. I want to hang out with her for a whole week, before I have to leave school and NEVER SEE HER AGAIN!
‘It’s not up to you!’ he hissed out loud at the voice, knowing it was crazy; knowing he was fighting a war with himself. ‘It’s up to her.’
The voice at the back of his head shut up. It couldn’t argue, not really. But just because it was quiet didn’t mean it agreed with him. He could practically hear it folding its arms and sulking.
Adam sighed. He should have realised by now. Every time he thought something was going to go right, he was virtually guaranteeing it would all go wrong.
Chapter 9
s the week went by, there was no sign for Adam that things were going to get better. His teachers, apparently furious that the pupils had enjoyed their summer holiday, were piling the work on at a rate never previously witnessed by him and his friends. Even Spike, who had a virtually photographic memory, complained that he was having to work in the evening, thus taking him away from his hacking community and plots for world domination.
Melissa was back in school on Tuesday morning. Adam had gambled that she would be and deliberately got the earliest possible bus so he could be waiting for her at the bottom of the school drive. When she saw Adam, instead of smiling and falling into his arms as hoped, she frowned. Adam could understand why she was angry.
He blurted his apology out straight away. ‘I’m sorry. I was a total moron yesterday. I know why you don’t want to go to Japan. I’m an idiot.’
Melissa blinked at his machine-gun style delivery but her expression softened. ‘It’s not that I don’t want to go. I just don’t think I should go.’
‘I know.’ Adam took her bag and slung it on his own shoulder so he could put his arm around her. She rested her head against him for a moment before they started walking up the drive. This close he could see the dark shadows beneath her eyes. Her face was even paler than usual. He bent his cheek, feeling her hair rub against it as they walked.
‘I thought she’d be better by now.’ Melissa’s voice caught and she tailed off. ‘It’s the chemo. It kills the cancer but sometimes it seems like it’s half killing Mum too.’
‘But she’ll get better.’ Adam felt like a fraud. He would never admit to Melissa how many hours he had spent online, searching for every scrap of information he could find about her mum’s cancer, the treatments, the prognosis … There was every logical reason to think she would get better too – except for his dreams. They weren’t like the premonitions he got when his doom sense flared into life. They were just weird and sad and he didn’t know why he’d had them.
‘I know. I know she will.’ Melissa tipped her face back and kissed him but she seemed distracted.
Adam tightened his arm around her and wished they could run away somewhere to continue uninterrupted. He tried not to think about all the kissing he was going to miss out on in Japan. He would just have to cram it into school time instead.
One thing would make that easier. Since escaping from the Beast the previous week Adam had been keeping a careful eye out for his old foe. Every time he saw Michael Bulber his heart started beating faster, getting ready for fight or flight. Twice, though, the Beast had seen him and merely smirked in his direction. By Friday the strain of waiting for reprisals was getting unbearable. Adam sat in the library with hi
s friends, gnawing on the corner of his thumbnail, trying to figure out the Beast’s nefarious scheme.
Eventually he couldn’t contain himself any longer. ‘OK. I didn’t tell you but last Friday after school the Beast came after me with his mates. I got away but I’ve been waiting for him to catch up with me ever since. Only he hasn’t. It’s been a whole week and he hasn’t done anything worse than give me a dirty look.’
Archie glanced up from his sketchpad. With the Japan trip looming he’d become even more obsessed with manga than before, a feat Adam would have previously maintained was impossible. ‘How did you get away from him last week?’
‘I legged it,’ Adam said without shame. He did leave out the bit about hiding in the girls’ toilets. He had a feeling his friends would take the mick rather than admire his ingenuity.
‘Maybe he’s just waiting till he has time to enjoy it.’ Spike spoke from behind his laptop. ‘Waiting to get you in some dark corner, where no one will hear your screams.’ There was an edge of relish in his voice that made Adam wince.
‘That’s the thing, he’s seen me already. He saw me on my own yesterday in the corridor. He could have jumped me then. He just looked at me and kind of sneered at me but he hasn’t come after me again.’
‘It’s the Japan trip,’ Dan piped up. ‘He’s keeping his head down because he wants to go on the Japan trip. The Bulb made a big deal about it in assembly. Anyone who gets detention between now and then will get pulled from the trip.’
‘But The Bulb is hardly going to ban his own son from the trip, is he?’
‘Yeah, but it’s the board of governors who have to sign off the list,’ Dan said, nodding sagely. ‘Our form tutor was going on about it. It’s not up to The Bulb. One of the governors is related to the guy paying for the trip and he’s the one who’ll pass on the final list. The Beast wasn’t supposed to be on the list so they’re already doing The Bulb a favour letting him go along.’
