Lucy stood up, then huffily snapped: “I can’t believe you said that. Like I’d be jealous of you.”
“I said I’m sorry…”
“Yeah well, maybe I’m just concerned for Dylan’s welfare. It’s obvious he likes you, then you had to go and act like a lovesick puppy when Alex popped up. How do you think that made him feel?”
“No, you’re wrong,” she insisted. “I was only pleased to see Alex because…”
“Oh save it,” Lucy said and stomped off.
“Argh!” Scarlett screamed to herself. “Why won’t anyone around here let me explain myself?”
She looked at Neelam and Jay.
“I’m going to see if she’s OK,” Neelam said, as she left.
Great, did she think she was in the wrong too? Scarlett collapsed onto one of the sofas.
“Jay, does everyone hate me?” she asked.
“Nah. They’re just being teenagers. It’ll blow over before you know it.”
“You sound like my mum,” she said as she struggled to force a laugh.
“Seriously, don’t worry Scarlett. Everyone loves you, it’s just that everyone’s tempers are a little frayed at the moment, you know? Add in a few hormones and feelings and it’s bound to be explosive. My advice is to lie low until they calm down.” He stood up. “I’m going to my room. Gonna play a few computer games. Fancy it?”
“No, it’s OK. Thanks though.”
“I only would have thrashed you anyway,” he laughed. “Catch you later. And try not to worry.”
She smiled to herself as he left. He reminded Scarlett of her little brother, Dan, sometimes. She missed Dan so much, and her parents. She hoped that wherever they were, they were safe. The truth is, she felt lonely in this strange world. She enjoyed having friends, and it was definitely amazing being around Dylan, but she missed her family, and the world she knew. When she saw Alex, she was so excited to see someone from her old life and, of course, she was thrilled to see he was still alive, but she didn’t even know if it was him.
“The others say he’s a bad guy who tried to kill me,” she thought to herself as she tried to sort it all out in her confused mind. Was he an Alex from this crazy place, or her friend? She had to know and knowing would answer a few other mysteries too. If he was her friend Alex, then he might know how they had both ended up here and how to get back to the safe world she knew.
Scarlett stood up and glanced around the empty room. This was the loneliest she’d felt since she got here. She hated the atmosphere in the house at the moment, she couldn’t bear to be here.
She grabbed her coat and tiptoed to the front door. Her mind was made up – she had to find Alex and get some answers.
Chapter 17
Scarlett got halfway down the road before she realised she didn’t know where she was going. She paused and considered going back. She wondered if Lucy or Neelam would know where Alex and his gang usually hide out, but then she realised she would have to explain why she wanted to know and they would stop her going. She continued walking again and headed for the internet café near Highgate tube station. She could do some research there – she didn’t need the others, not in the mood they were in at the moment.
“Scarlett?” she heard a voice say insistently. “Wait for me.”
She stopped and turned around.
“Neelam?” she said. “What are you doing?”
“I’m coming with you. And yes, I do know where to find Alex and his friends.”
“How did you know where I was going?” she asked. “Oh yeah, of course, the brain thing.”
“You wanna talk normally or by ‘brain thing’?” Neelam laughed out loud as she caught up with Scarlett.
“Normally will do for now,” Scarlett said as they began strolling down the road together.
“OK. Well, firstly, the answer to your last question is Alex and the guys live in Camden. Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry, your brain was screaming out in pain and desperation – that’s why I knew you’d left the house. You were so upset that your thoughts flooded into my head and I couldn’t ignore it.”
“Sorry,” Scarlett mumbled.
“Don’t say sorry, I feel bad for hearing your thoughts, but I’m pleased that I did, so I could come with you. I’m sorry that Dylan and Lucy were so off with you. It’s not fair that they wouldn’t listen.”
“It is unfair. And so frustrating!”
“You can talk to me if you like.”
They both stopped as they reached Highgate tube station.
“We can get to Camden from here, right?” Scarlett said
“Yeah it’s just a few stops.” Neelam tapped a few buttons on the ticket machine. “Grrr. It’s broken.”
She strode over to the staff window. “Two returns to Camden Town please?”
“Be cheaper to buy an Oyster Card, miss,” the man said.
“I don’t want an Oyster.”
“But the fares are cheaper.”
“I don’t want one!”
“Fine. Suit yourself,” he muttered. “Stroppy teenagers. Weren’t like that in my day. Here you go.”
Neelam grabbed the tickets and handed Scarlett one.
“What was that about?” she asked.
“You really want our journeys recorded by an Oyster card?” she said. “Remember how we have to live. No cards, no records, ever or Goulden will be after us like a shot.”
Scarlett ummed to show she understood.
The two girls made their way down to the southbound platform, where they both took a seat on a bench.
“So, you wanna talk?” Neelam said.
“Boy, yes, do I ever. I just don’t know where to start.”
“With whatever’s upsetting you most.”
Well that was easy.
“Dylan,” she answered. “I’m so angry with him! Please don’t tell the others, but, something kind of happened between us.”
Neelam smiled. “I knew romance was blossoming between you two.”
“I don’t want to go into the details,” she said, blushing. She felt very exposed and embarrassed. “But, basically, we admitted we like each other while we were at that Unit and I was really happy because I thought it meant we were going to get together. But then when we got back home, he was so angry and now he won’t speak to me.”
Scarlett hung her head in confusion and dismay.
“What was he angry about?”
“Alex.”
“I thought so.” Neelam sighed. “You still don’t remember your past, do you?”
“No.”
“When we all first met, Dylan took an instant shine to you. I personally thought you were made for each other, but Alex was always there, getting in the way, trying to charm you. Then you two got together and Dylan was heartbroken. He never said so, but I could tell.”
“When was this?” Scarlett asked as they both stood up to hop onto the train that had rolled into the platform. They took a seat, then carried on talking.
“A couple of years ago,” Neelam explained. “Then after the Victoria Incident last year, the ten of us fell out. As you know, Toshiko, Ethan, Andrew and Sasha chose to leave us.”
Scarlett nodded.
“Well, Alex did too. You begged him to stay, but he admitted he’d been seeing Toshiko behind your back, dumped you and walked out.”
“What?!” she couldn’t believe her ears.
“Yeah,” Neelam said, giving Scarlett a sympathetic look. “Dylan was such a good friend to you. He really picked you up during the months that followed. He was so angry with Alex for hurting you, we all were. Alex and Toshiko’s relationship didn’t last five minutes, but he still stayed with the other group. Then back in October, the two of you had a fight and we thought you were both dead. That made us despise him even more, as you can imagine.”
Scarlett nodded.
“Now he’s back.” Neelam said.
“And the first thing I did when I saw him was greet him so happily,” Scarlett said, as she
realised why Dylan was so angry. She sat back in her seat and sighed.
“It was a bit surprising to us, I must admit and I can see why Dylan’s hurt. He hates Alex. A lot. And he likes you. A hell of a lot.”
Suddenly Scarlett felt terrible.
“No wonder he was so upset,” she said as she put her head in her hands.
“Exactly,” Neelam agreed, putting her arm around her. “I do think he overreacted a bit, but that’s our Dylan. He’s never been great at handling his emotions.”
“He wouldn’t listen to me when I tried to talk to him though. That’s what frustrates me the most.”
“Yeah, boys are a bit stupid like that sometimes.”
“A lot of the time,” she grumbled.
“All of the time,” Neelam laughed. “What were you trying to tell him?”
“He had a go at me for remembering Alex, so did Lucy, but none of them would let me explain.”
“Explain what?”
“You know how I’ve said that I remember a different world, a different life…”
“Yeah,” Neelam said.
“Well, Alex was in it. He was my best friend. We were just friends and had been since we were little kids.”
“Alex was in your other life?” Neelam asked as she tried to take this information in.
“Yes, do you think it means something?”
Neelam shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not sure, what do your instincts say?”
“Maybe he came here with me,” she wondered. “You see, I was with him when I was run over. Then I woke up in hospital and I didn’t know if he was dead or anything.”
“He’s the friend you mentioned?” Neelam looked shocked. “The one who was saving you when you were hit by the lorry?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s weird. So you remember you both being in an accident, then you wake up here with no memory of your life here. Meanwhile, we thought you and Alex were dead because a building collapsed on you both. It’s a strange coincidence.”
“Yeah it’s like the two of us swapped worlds with our counterparts or something.”
Neelam raised her eyebrows incredulously.
“I was joking,” she said. Scarlett wasn’t entirely joking though. After all, it was a possibility, wasn’t it? “But… just suppose that was true,” she added. “And this Alex is my friend Alex, not the nasty Alex who dumped your Scarlett and tried to kill her... me.”
Neelam didn’t look convinced. “Or maybe the concussion you had made you invent that perfect world you remember and it doesn’t exist at all,” she suggested.
“Is that what you think?” Scarlett said, feeling a little hurt.
“It makes the most sense to me – perhaps your subconscious did it as some kind of coping mechanism. It figures that you’d want Alex to be a nice guy again in your ideal life.”
“Maybe,” Scarlett sighed. She could tell Neelam was never going to believe her theories.
Just then, the tube arrived at Camden, so they jumped off and made their way to the street.
“We need to go this way,” Neelam said, so Scarlett followed her. “Is that why you want to find Alex? To see if your suspicions are true or not?”
“Yeah,” she admitted. “I know it sounds crazy, but if he did come from the same place as me, then it’ll give me some answers. It will tell me if I’m crazy or not.”
“I understand,” Neelam said. She stopped and gave Scarlett a hug. “I’m sorry, Scarlett, I never stopped to realise you were so confused about the whole memory thing, but I promise to be there for you from now on. Remember, you can always talk to me, you know.”
“Sure.”
“Come on, it’s down here.” Neelam took Scarlett through a tiny alleyway that led to a row of huge white houses. She stopped outside one that stood on its own.
“This is where they live. Let’s sneak round the back, we’ll be able to nosey through their patio doors.”
They shimmied past the wheelie bins and recycling boxes to get down the side of the house, then tiptoed into the back garden. Neelam led Scarlett to a small wall near the house where they both perched.
“We’d better stick to talking in our heads from now on,” Neelam said via a telepathic link. It took Scarlett completely by surprise – she didn’t think she would ever get used to Neelam popping in there like that.
Scarlett looked through the patio doors and saw that Toshiko, Sasha, Ethan and Andrew were sat on the sofa chatting.
“Can’t they see us?” she asked.
“No, I’m scrambling their brains so we’re invisible to them.”
Suddenly, Alex walked into the room.
“But we can’t hear them.”
“I can soon fix that. I’ll tap us into Ethan’s brain. He’s not so bright, so he’s the least likely to notice me snooping. Then we’ll be able to hear what he hears.”
Within a second, it was like they were sitting in the house listening.
“Finally decided to stop hiding out in your room then, Alex?” Toshiko remarked.
“I wasn’t hiding, I was just sleeping. We’ve been up all night, give me a break,” he replied.
“Really? And there was me thinking you were acting all weird because you’d seen Scarlett,” she snapped back.
“No, I don’t know what you mean.”
“Well, she seemed pretty pleased to see you. You’d better not be going all soft on us just because of silly Little Miss Perfect.”
“Oh leave it out. I don’t know why she ran up to me like that. I couldn’t care less about her.”
Neelam squeezed Scarlett’s hand supportively, sensing that the words had hurt her.
“You sure?” Sasha asked, jumping in and staring at him suspiciously.
“Yes! Now let’s change the subject. Aren’t we supposed to be talking about the plans I stole?”
“You’re right,” Andrew said. “And girls, leave him alone. This isn’t a playground. Alex has proved his loyalty to us a million times. Have more faith in him. He’s correct, we need to figure out what we’re going to do about our new discovery”
Andrew paused as he looked around the room to make sure his team were listening. He unfolded a large piece of paper and spread it out in front of the group.
“These are the plans that Alex grabbed from one of the police officers as we were leaving.”
“I still can’t believe I snuck them out,” Alex said. “I spotted them in his pocket while we were being held captive and thought I’d grab them as we dashed out – I even fell over in the process. I had no idea they would show us this information though.”
“You did well,” Andrew said, slapping him on the shoulder. “You finding these gives us a chance to stop Goulden’s cruelty.”
“What is it exactly?” Alex asked as he stared at the plans.
“It’s the plans for the Holdforth Workhouse.” Andrew explained. “This place is supposed to be where he sends people on benefits to live and work...”
“So the workhouse rumours are true then?” Sasha said with disgust. “I’ve heard a few people whisper about how he’s just using the poor as slave labour. Goulden and his government are such a piece of...”
“It’s worse than we think,” Andrew said. “Look...” He pointed at the plans as the group gathered round. Toshiko, Sasha and Ethan gasped in horror.
“What is it?” Scarlett said to Neelam. “What does it say?”
“They’re not saying,” Neelam said in frustration as Andrew folded up the paper and passed it to Ethan.
“I need to see that paper,” Scarlett said with frustration. “If only I could get my hands on it.”
Just then a flash of light crackled over Scarlett’s hands “What the...” she said out loud and as she looked down, she saw the plans land there in her hands. She looked at Neelam, then back through the window, where Alex and the group were looking around in shock.
“What did you do?” Andrew yelled. “Where did the plans go?”
“Y
ou teleported them away,” Sasha said.
“I didn’t,” Alex insisted. “I can’t teleport items in that way.”
Neelam glanced at the plans that Scarlett was holding then looked up at her with a mix of respect and confusion. “How did you do that?”
“I have no idea, I don’t even know if I did.”
“Well, good job anyway,” Neelam laughed. Come on, it’s time for us to get out of here before they catch us.”
They raced back down the side of the house and onto the street as quickly and quietly as they could.
“Keep those plans in your pocket until we get home,” Neelam said, keeping up her pace as they sped back to the tube station. “I don’t want anyone seeing us with them even though I am desperate to know what they say.”
Scarlett nodded her head glumly as she sped alongside her.
Suddenly remembering their original reason for coming here, Neelam turned and noticed her friend’s look of despair. “Are you OK?”
“Yeah, it was upsetting to hear Alex say those things, but I guess we know he’s definitely not the friend Alex I knew now. He’d never talk like that.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
“Don’t be. We’ve got bigger things to worry about – like what’s on these plans. I’ve got a feeling it’s something pretty huge judging by the other group’s responses.”
“Me too.”
“Do we have to wait till we get home? We could just duck into this doorway and take a quick peek under our coats so no one sees.”
“Too risky. We’d look mad reading under our jackets.”
Scarlett looked at a newsagents just ahead, dashed in and bought a London Evening Standard.
“Then let’s hide it in this,” she said as she grabbed Neelam and pulled her into the alley. “The newspaper will hide us from CCTV and you can use your telepathy magic to make us look inconspicuous.”
“Oh OK. Juts a very quick peek though.”
Scarlett quickly moved the piece of folded-up paper from her pocket to inside the newspaper. It read ‘Classified: Authorised Personnel Only’ on the outside.
“It’s huge,” she said as she unfolded the A2 piece of paper. “Where do we begin to find what they were so horrified about?”
“I’m guessing here,” Neelam said, pointing at the right of the page.
Out Of Time Page 14
