by Emma Newman
The bedroom had been stripped of fabric, wood, and paper a long time before, leaving only a large plastic box with a smashed glass screen that no-one knew the reason for and an old mattress that had been too heavy for the Boys to get out of the room. They had opened the windows to let in as much light as possible, but more candles were in the suite’s bathroom, which had no window of its own. Trying their best to keep out of the way, first Titus, then Zane peeped in as one of the Boys tipped his pan of water into the newly cleaned bath. The air was full of steam and fragrant with herbs that Zane had picked from the garden. The list of items that he’d asked for were laid neatly in a row, along with some that Jay had added, and sure enough it was all there, the Weavers living up to their reputation.
Titus looked at Zane doubtfully. “I hope he likes this.”
“If he doesn’t, Mum will,” Zane replied. “Let’s go and wait for him outside.”
By the time they had re-emerged from the hotel, Callum was entering the square, marvelling at the frenzy of activity.
Jay beckoned him over, telling the Boys to stop and rest, which they did gratefully. “Callum! Glad you were nearby. Zane here has set sommat up for you, and I let him do it on my patch to say thanks for lookin’ out for my lads whilst I was laid up.”
Callum’s eyebrows were high as he heard this, and he shuffled over to Zane and Titus, who were waiting for him at the steps of the hotel. “Is this all your doing, young Zane?” he asked uncertainly.
Zane nodded eagerly. “I was talking to Mum ages ago, and she said that one of the things she really missed from before It happened was having a hot bath, especially after a long hard day. And you’ve had lots of long hard days looking after the Boys, so I thought you might like one too.”
Callum blinked at him from under the eyebrows. “You did, hmmm?”
Zane nodded. “I picked lots of herbs for the water to make it smell nice … I think Mum might like you more if you smelt better.”
Callum took it well, seeing that the boy didn’t mean any offence.
“A bath, eh?” he scratched under his long beard. “A hot one, you say?” Zane nodded enthusiastically. “Well, I better get moving, else it’ll get cold.”
He ruffled the top of Zane’s head as he went past him into the hotel and up the stairs. The remainder of the Boys spilled outside, chattering and pushing each other, to gather under the window of the room Callum had gone to.
A few moments went past. The Boys fell silent, all craning their necks to see if Callum was going to come out running in disgust as many of them expected him to.
“Will he really get in the water?” Dev asked quietly.
“Course he will. We didn’t take it all up there for him just to look at!” Jay replied.
“Won’t that kill ’im?”
“Nah.” Jay sounded less certain.
“Will he take all of them clothes off?” another Boy asked in a nervous voice.
“I bet some of ’em are stuck on,” another quipped and got a clip round the ear from Jay.
“Less lip!” he growled. “Callum’s alright.”
A noise from above hushed them all. It was deep and resonant, like nothing any of them had heard before.
“Is it hurting him, Jay?” Paulie, one of the smallest, asked nervously.
Jay shook his head. “Nah … don’t sound like it.”
The sound began to stretch over words, floating down to them all melodiously. “He’s singing!” Zane cried out in delight. “It means he really likes it!”
Some time later, a different man emerged from the hotel. Jay jumped to his feet when he saw him, reacting as if someone had strayed onto his patch and Callum was still upstairs.
The man smiled shyly and Zane ran up to him. “Callum!”
Several of the Boys gasped. One cried out, “It made his hair fall off!”
Zane hugged him as everyone marvelled at how different he looked. His beard was gone, as was his long knotted hair. He had cut both away, leaving only an inch or so on his head, and had even shaved with the new razor and mixture secured from the Weavers. He was dressed in the new clothes that Zane had asked for and, much to Zane’s relief, smelt fresh and clean.
“You look so much younger!” Titus remarked and Callum laughed, the skin around his mouth so much paler than his cheeks.
“You have to come and show Mum!” Zane urged, pulling him down the steps.
Callum stopped him at the bottom to go over and shake Jay’s hand. “Thank you, Jay. It was high time I stopped hiding.” He smiled at the Boys, a couple of whom were still gawping at him open-mouthed. “And thank you too, Boys, very kind of you to carry all those pots. I’ll collect my things later.”
He then let Zane usher him to his own square. As he left, one of the Boys shook his head. “I ’ent never having one of them bath things,” he mumbled. “Not if that’s what it does.”
Titus hurried after them, curious to see how Miri would react. Callum walked differently, with a body less encumbered by many layers. He was still broad in the shoulder, but with a sturdy body and strong-looking arms which had been impossible to see properly before.
Zane burst into the house, calling for his mother. She came to the doorway still holding her pestle and a handful of herbs and looked at the man in the doorway as if he were a stranger.
“It’s Callum, Mum,” Zane cried and her jaw dropped. “We gave him a bath!”
Callum smiled back somewhat awkwardly as Miri struggled to find words. “Would you like a cup of tea?” she finally managed, and Callum nodded with a shy smile, stepping into her house for the first time.
Chapter 19
ONE DEAL LEADS TO ANOTHER
The next morning Zane was surprised to find that Titus wasn’t waiting for him in the garden as usual first thing. His friend soon emerged from his house, but he looked distant and tense.
Zane wondered over to him, noting the dark circles around Titus’ eyes and the pallor of his cheeks. “What’s wrong?”
Titus was scanning the garden for Luthor and Erin. “I need to go to the Red Lady. Right away.”
Zane brightened at the thought of seeing her again. Before he had a chance to say anything, Luthor and Erin came into view and Titus hurried over to the Hunter. “Wait!” Zane called, “I’m coming too!”
Zane tried hard not to look too excited to see her when the Red Lady bade them look up. The breeze teased the voile drapes to his left, carrying her scent to him, and he breathed it deeply. Zane felt a huge sense of relief when Titus had asked that he and Erin be allowed to stay and it was granted. He heard the doors shut as Luthor left and watched her eyes take her visitors in. He was sure they lingered a little longer on him.
“Always a pleasure to have you visit.” She smiled warmly. Zane was certain that she was directing that specifically at him, but then she shifted her attention to Titus. “I take it you have a dream to tell me about?”
The boy nodded. “I saw Lyssa.”
Both Erin and Zane looked at him in surprise. The Red Lady leant forward slightly in her chair. “Your sister? Go on.”
Titus was frowning at the floor, his hands clenching as he struggled to find the best place to start. “I know it was important … I was planning to go to the room I told you about, but I didn’t wake up there. I mean … I didn’t start the dream there–I was somewhere different, and I could hear Lyssa …”
His voice faltered and he swallowed hard. The Red Lady stared at him intently before saying in a gentle voice, “Tell me about where the dream started … was it another room?”
The tactic worked and Titus focused on the question. “No, it was a corridor, a strange one. The ceiling and walls were grey and smooth. The light was bright, like sunlight, but it came from thick lines on the ceiling that made a humming noise.”
Zane glanced at the Red Lady to gauge her interest and was surprised by its intensity. She had paled slightly, and her hands, usually loosely draped over the ends of the chair arms, were instead g
ripping them tightly.
“Go on,” she prompted, voice hushed.
“There were lots of doors … sort of set into the walls in an odd way. There was no gap anywhere around them like normal doors and they were all shut. There were covered panels in them, but it looked like the cover could be slid back so you could see into the room. The floor was shiny.”
There was a pause and the Red Lady adjusted her posture, sitting more straight in her chair. “What could you hear?”
Titus seemed reluctant to answer. “Crying … but muffled, coming from the rooms, I think, but the doors were thick. Then I heard Lyssa calling for me and I was moving down the corridor … like I was being pulled almost. I came to one of the doors and I could hear her … hear her crying and calling for me. Then I sort of just moved through the door and …”
His description broke off. Zane couldn’t help but reach over and put a hand on his shoulder. Titus looked at him, his eyes blinking rapidly as he took a deep breath. Zane had never seen him so unsettled before. He looked back at the Red Lady.
“Lyssa was lying on a bed and she was held down by some straps and … and her hair was all cut off and she looked sick. I tried to speak to her but I couldn’t … it wasn’t like the clever dreams we have in that room. She was … really upset and scared.”
Zane squeezed Titus’ shoulder gently as his friend shook, trying to convey his presence and support, but was uncertain whether Titus even felt it. After a few moments he regained his composure and continued in as strong a voice as he could muster.
“The door opened behind me and … and the Giant came in.”
Zane gasped. “The Giant comes from the Unders?!” he exclaimed.
“Giant?” The Red Lady rose and came down the steps to their level. She then looked at Zane with surprise. “You know about the Unders?”
Zane felt the pressure of the three of them staring at him. “Only that they’re bad people that steal women … Mum thinks they took Lyssa. I don’t know anything else about them … except that they can make lightning and throw it at people.” He gasped again, this time in horror. “That means the Giant can make lightning!”
“This is not good,” Erin muttered.
The Red Lady held up her hand. “Tell me about this … ‘Giant.’”
Zane related the story to her, too busy editing out Dev and getting the rest of the details right to see that he now commanded her full attention. He went on to tell her about when Lyssa was taken and the lightning. “Until today, I didn’t think that the Giant was connected at all,” he concluded.
Titus said nothing while the Red Lady drifted over to one of the windows, letting the voile brush her cheek as she looked out into the courtyard. There was a slight tremor of her hand as she rested it on the windowsill.
“Is that where the dream ended?” she finally asked.
Titus nodded and then quietly added, “Yes.”
The sounds of the people outside training and working crept into the room to mingle with the heavy silence within. Zane worried that he’d said too much, that the Giant was planning to steal his mother next, and that now Erin wasn’t safe either. After a long pause, the Red Lady turned and looked at Titus.
“I’ll help you to get your sister back,” she stated simply. All three children responded with a wide-eyed silence. “I’ll see to it that my people keep their eyes open when hunting. Any information you receive, pass onto me and when we have a location, my best Hunters will help you retrieve her.” There was no coy smile, no teasing glance, only determination.
Titus finally managed to find his tongue. “Thank you.”
She nodded. “You may leave now, but Erin, I want you to stay behind a moment.”
Zane considered whether to risk a kiss, but somehow the atmosphere seemed too serious to try it. “See you soon,” he said hopefully, earning only a brief smile and nod from the Red Lady. He suppressed a sigh and followed Titus from the room.
No opportunity for the three to talk in private presented itself for the rest of the day, and so that night, Zane and Erin were pulled into the dream room. At first there was an awkward silence until Erin stuffed her hands in her pockets and leant against the windowsill, stating, “Well, something weird is going on. With the Red Lady I mean.” That piqued Zane’s interest in particular. Erin continued, “The Red Lady never, ever offers to do anything for someone outside of the gang unless it’s a deal.”
Titus raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
Erin nodded. “She didn’t make you promise anything in return for helping you find Lyssa, did she?” When he shook his head, she spread her hands. “There you go then. Weird.”
Zane frowned. “Not weird, kind.”
This time Erin’s eyebrows were raised. “The Red Lady, kind? Hah!”
“Why not?” Zane retorted, angered by Erin’s sarcastic tone. “Maybe she just wants to help.”
Erin chose not to reply, simply rolling her eyes. Zane looked to Titus for support but the boy merely shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t know, or care, what her motivation is. I just want to get Lyssa back. And Zane, next time, try to be more careful about what you say … telling her about what happened to Lyssa meant you had to talk about Jay … I don’t think Jay would like that.”
Zane stuffed his hands in his pockets, hunched his shoulders, and began to gently kick at one of the legs of the captain’s chair in frustration. “I thought it was important that she knew what happened. If people were more open, things would be much easier.”
“Told your mum about the Giant yet then?” Erin asked, making Zane blush and scowl. “Thought so,” she muttered.
The three fell back into silence, Zane hating the tension between them. He understood that Titus was tense about Lyssa, but he couldn’t understand why Erin was so negative until he recalled a question he’d been wanting to ask her all day.
“Why did the Red Lady want to see you alone? Is that why you’re grumpy?”
“I’m not grumpy!” Erin snapped, but when she saw Zane’s concern, she deflated and perched on the edge of the captain’s chair with a long sigh. “Sorry Zane. I shouldn’t give you a hard time because you’re soft.” Zane didn’t know whether to be insulted or accept the apology, so he just let it go. She continued, “I’m not sure if I’m allowed to talk about what the Red Lady said.”
Titus frowned. “Why?”
Erin shifted nervously. “Because neither of you is in her gang.”
“Neither are you,” Zane pointed out and she nodded.
“True … but she wants me to be … and soon.”
The boys looked at each other. Zane couldn’t quite understand why, but the idea of that made him uncomfortable and Titus seemed to feel the same way.
“I’m not sure though,” she continued. “I really like it there, and she’s really tough and I like that. And Father thinks that I should be in it–there’s no doubt for him that I should–but …”
Her voice trailed off and Titus picked up the thread. “But it might make it harder for us?”
She looked up at him standing by the window and nodded. “Yeah … I mean, it’s already hard living near the Bloomsbury Boys, cos when you go over there they won’t let me go in with you because of who my father is. And he keeps telling me they’re horrible, but I can’t see why if they’re your friends, Zane. I can’t see you getting on with horrible people. You’re too nice.”
Zane smiled half-heartedly, his eyes still sad.
“And if I join the Red Lady’s gang,” she continued, “then it might make it even harder for me to spend time with you, especially when your training is over. And that might be soon cos Dad’s desperate to move back to her place. Then I might not see you much at all.”
They all thought about this. “I like seeing you every day,” Zane said quietly. “It feels right for us to be close together. Even when things are hard, like at the moment.”
Both Titus and Erin agreed strongly. “And you’re the first real friends
I’ve ever had,” Erin added sadly.
“I think gangs are stupid,” Titus announced forcefully, making the other two look at him in surprise. “There must be another way for people to survive. Lyssa and I got by fine without any gangs for years. It’s much better that way.”
“But there were only two of you,” Zane said. “And you didn’t have a big garden to worry about protecting.”
Titus sighed. “That’s true, but I still don’t like the idea of people feeling like they can’t say things just because of what someone else might do about it.” He looked at Erin. “You know that would get worse if you joined them?”
Erin didn’t say anything, but she nodded after a few moments.
“Didn’t you and Lyssa ever think about joining a gang?” Zane asked. “It must have been hard … it would’ve been safer to be in one.”
Titus shook his head. “No, never. We stayed away from them. Lyssa said that it was better to be free and do what we wanted when we wanted.” He looked pointedly at Erin. “If you joined, and the Red Lady didn’t want you to see us anymore, you’d have to do what she said.”
Erin turned away and Zane stepped forward. “We don’t have to worry about that now,” he said, desperate to alleviate the tension. “Do we? Or did the Red Lady say something about it happening soon?”
After a long pause, Erin spoke. “She asked if we were all getting along ok. I said we were, but I didn’t say much more than that. You have to be careful around gang leaders.” She looked pointedly at Zane. “She said that I’d settled in well and that Luthor said I’d be a good Hunter one day. She said that she was always looking for strong people to join her gang, but that I had to forget my life before. That I should only look to the future or something like that. I said I couldn’t just forget my mum, but then she went all cold and said that of all people, she was the one I should try hardest to forget.”
