Shift

by Kim Curran

  “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.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “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 acknowled
ge 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.

  “Thank you, Scott,” said Commandant Morgan, appearing through the doors. He had a manic grin on his face. “You brought us right to them.” Morgan clapped his hands together, and started rubbing them.

  I opened and closed my mouth, like a grounded fish gasping for air. “I… I…” was all I finally managed. Abbott threw me a pitying but warning look that said, “Keep your mouth shut.”

  Every member of the SLF believed I’d betrayed them. That I had set them up. I was caught between wanting to scream the truth, and not wanting Abbott to think that I had anything to do with them. I looked at Aubrey who was being dragged to her feet, willing her to understand. To somehow read my mind. I hadn’t meant this to happen, I had come to warn her. She stared straight through me. I could do nothing to help, but I couldn’t understand why they couldn’t help themselves.

  “Don’t bother trying to Shift,” said Morgan, looking at his fingernails. “You know how this works. I’m a Fixer and I don’t want you lot going anywhere.” He grinned.

  I’d forgotten that Morgan was a Fixer too. But I still couldn’t believe that a jumped-up prat like this guy was really the most powerful Shifter here. Stronger than Aubrey? Than Zac? I’d never really understood why Morgan was the Commandant. I’d never seen him do any real work. And he can’t have been far away from entropy. But whatever I thought didn’t matter. He’d won.

  Zac was being led away from the altar, his hands cuffed behind his back. He didn’t even look at me. Rosalie was next. She paused for a moment and then started screaming at me. “You bastard!” She twisted out of the Regulator’s grip and dove at me. I thought she was going to bite me. But it had all been a ruse. Before the Regulator pulled her off me she whispered in my ear.

  “Look after Jake.”

  She was pulled away before I had a chance to reply.

  Aubrey was the last to be taken. Her eyes were like fire and she was hissing like a cornered cat as the men dragged her down the aisle.

  “Stop!” I shouted, and the Regulators, trained to obey any command from a Bluecoat, stopped. I turned to Abbott. “Please, she has nothing to do with them. It’s a mistake.”

  Abbott looked at me, shook his head sadly, and then back at his men. He nodded at them to continue. Aubrey was dragged past, pausing only to spit in my face.

  “Well, that’s that.” Morgan brushed his hands. “Abbott, you finish up here. I better get back to base and start the report. A good day.” He dipped his fingers in the bowl of holy water and used it to slick back his hair. “Yep. A good day.” He sauntered away.

  The doors slammed closed, and the silence in the nearempty church was like lead. What had I done? I walked the length of the aisle and stared up at the stained glass image of the saint I now knew to be Sebastian. Tied to a tree and riddled with arrows, and yet he was smiling up at the beaming sun. What an idiot. But I was the real fool here. I’d allowed myself to be used in a game I didn’t understand. And I’d betrayed my only friend in the process.

  “I’m sorry we couldn’t tell you, Scott,” Abbott said after a while. “I wanted to. But I had my orders.” He looked genuinely uncomfortable.

  “You followed me here?”

  He nodded and joined me at the altar. “We’ve had this building under surveillance for a few months but their security was too tight. Any time we tried to get in, they’d Shift and we lost them. But when you were seen coming out of here the other night we thought we might have found a way in. We just needed to get Morgan through the doors and then we had them.”

  “So, what Morgan said earlier, about the raid, that was all to get me to come here?” Abbott didn’t answer, but I knew it was true. “So how come I’m not being dragged off in cuffs? How do you know I’m not one of them?”

  “Because I know you, Scott. You’d never betray ARES.”

  “What do you mean I wouldn’t? I did! I should have reported the SLF as soon as I knew where they were.” My nails dug into my palms as I fought to control the rage.

  “You would have in the end,” Abbott said. “But we couldn’t wait. The chatter we’ve been following led us to believe that the SLF had something big planned.” He turned over a piece of paper on the altar. “Looks like we were right. Come see.”

  He pointed at the papers I’d seen Aubrey and Zac looking over as I came in. They were the blue prints for ARES’ HQ and marked in red pen were the entrances and offices of key personnel. Next to that lay a sheet of A4 paper with some names written on. Heritage and Warner were top of the list. Looked like I was right, Warner hadn’t been the bomber on the Tube, he had been their target. A third, large sheet of paper, was tucked underneath the blueprint. I pushed the other pages away to look at it. All I had time to see was a name written on the top in white pencil: “Greyfield’s”. Then Abbott pulled it away and started rolling it up. Another church they’d been planning on making their base, p
erhaps? Not that any of it mattered now. The SLF wouldn’t be going anywhere for a long time.

  “Seems they had more than a Tube bomb planned this time,” Abbott said.

  “Aubrey would never have stood by and let them hurt anyone. If we’d just waited she would have led you to them, I know it.”

  “We couldn’t take that chance. Aubrey has a history of not playing by the rules. She might have been an undercover agent for SLF all along.”

  “Never!” I shouted and my voice echoed around the dome. “She hated them. She only wanted to find out what they knew.” I stormed away from the altar and kicked over a brass candlestick. It clanged as it hit the stone floor.

  “Scott, I can see how much Aubrey means to you. So I’ll handle her questioning myself, OK? If what you say is true, and if she’s willing to give evidence against the SLF then she’ll get off with just a warning.” He laid his hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him through clouded eyes. “Let’s get you home.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  The house was empty when I let myself in. I remembered with a cold, sinking feeling that today was the last Friday of the month. When Mum took The Tyler Friday Family Dinner out on the road. What I wouldn’t give to be sat with Mum, Dad and Katie right now. I wouldn’t even mind if Mum had chosen one of her “experimental’ places, like the one she took us to last year – Offally Good. I looked at my watch. 8.30pm. Wherever they were, they’d be tucking into pudding right now. I’d missed the past four Tyler Fridays. One when I was pretending to be in Leeds but was really in hospital. The rest, I fed them some crappy excuse about training. The worse bit was I got the feeling they had much more fun without me moaning and whining all the time.

  Hugo had been really pissed at me for not making Seb’s party. I tried telling him about the explosion and how I’d been in hospital with a concussion, but he didn’t believe me. And I’d been so carried away with my new life as a Bluecoat I hadn’t bothered really trying to con vince him. So all round I was a terrible friend, a terrible son and pretty crappy brother.