Sky felt a weird twinge of hurt that Rose had texted Amber and not her, before reminding herself that she really didn’t care.
“OK, then, let’s go up,” Amber said, turning onto Wilkes Street. As Sky followed her she caught her breath. The street was lined with old three-storey houses with large sash windows and tall chimney stacks. Combined with the cobbled paving and antique streetlights, it was as if they’d stepped straight onto the set of Sherlock Holmes. She half expected to see a horse-drawn carriage clattering around the corner through the mist.
“Up where?” Maali asked.
“To the roof.” Amber stopped in front of a huge sage-green door with a brass fox’s head knocker. Matching green shutters flanked each of the ground floor windows.
“Is this – your house?” Sky asked.
Amber nodded, taking a bunch of keys from her pocket. “Yep. Follow me.”
The girls entered a large hallway. The floor was tiled black and white like a chessboard and the only light came from a stained-glass lamp on a small table next to the door. In the opposite corner a grandfather clock ticked loudly. Amber slung her keys on the table and gestured at Sky and Maali to follow her up a wide, winding flight of stairs. As they got to the first floor Sky could hear the murmur of men’s voices from behind one of the heavy wooden doors. Amber’s dads. Sky wondered what they looked like and wished one of them would come out, but Amber didn’t seem in any mood to introduce them as she hurried on up another flight of stairs. When they reached the third floor she led them along the narrow passageway to a door at the end. “Yes, well, er, welcome to the roof terrace,” she said and opened the door.
“This is amazing,” Maali exclaimed as she stepped outside.
Sky stood in the doorway for a second, taking it all in. The roof terrace was surrounded on three sides by trellising thickly covered in ivy. The fourth wall was slightly lower and lined with huge pots full of plants.
“I thought we could have the meeting here,” Amber said, walking over to the corner surrounded by the high trellis walls. She’d arranged four garden chairs in a circle around an outdoor heater. Candles in different coloured glass jars flickered beside each of the chairs. “What do you think?” Amber looked at Sky anxiously.
“I think it’s perfect.”
Amber’s face visibly relaxed. “You do?”
Sky nodded.
“I do too,” Maali said, turning full-circle to take it all in. “I think it’s magical.”
Amber smiled, and Sky wasn’t sure if she’d ever seen anyone more transformed by a facial expression. With her square jaw and piercing green eyes Amber could look quite severe when she was serious, but when she smiled her entire face went into soft focus.
“Sit down,” Amber said. “I made us some tea. Would you like—”
The sound of a clanging bell rang out from deep within the house.
“That’ll be Rose,” Amber said, hurrying back to the door. “Make yourselves comfortable. I’ll go and let her in.”
Sky sat down heavily in one of the chairs, her body suddenly static with tension.
Rose gazed up at the imposing house. It was like something out of a Victorian horror movie. No wonder Amber dressed the way she did and liked that Oscar Wilde dude – she was living in a time-warp. Rose was about to ring the bell again when the door was flung open. A tanned guy with golden hair stood holding a tea towel and smiling at her. “Yes?”
“I’m Rose. Amber’s friend.”
“You are?” His eyes widened in surprise. “I mean, of course. I’ll just see if—”
“It’s OK, I’m here.” Amber came bounding downstairs. “Hi,” she said, practically shoving the guy out of the way. “Come in.”
Rose stepped into the hallway and looked around. The house was just as spooky and olde worlde on the inside. There was even a grandfather clock ticking in the corner.
“Who is it?” she heard another guy call from upstairs.
Amber flinched. “Come on,” she said, grabbing Rose’s arm. “If he says anything to you, just ignore him.” As they went upstairs an older guy came out onto the landing. He had cropped white hair and was wearing an expensive-looking royal blue shirt and jeans. “Hello,” he said, looking and sounding totally surprised.
“Er, hi,” Rose muttered. Amber shot her a glare, but what was she supposed to do? She could hardly ignore him when he stood right in front of her.
“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” the man asked Amber.
Amber shook her head. “We don’t have time.”
“How do you do? I’m Gerald,” he said, holding his hand out.
“Rose,” she said, quickly shaking it. Amber gave her another glare. Well, this was Awkward City. Still, Rose couldn’t help feeling slightly relieved that she wasn’t the only one having issues with a parent. The atmosphere between them was colder than the air outside.
“Come on,” Amber said, leading Rose up another flight of stairs.
“It was so lovely to meet you!” Gerald called after them. He had a voice like one of those old-school British actors from the black and white movies – his words neatly clipped and polished. “Although it was over far too soon, alas!”
Rose couldn’t help grinning. “Yeah, parting is such sweet sorrow and all that!” she called back. There was a moment’s silence, filled only by another glare from Amber, before she heard Gerald bellow with laughter.
“Please don’t encourage him,” Amber hissed, leading Rose along another landing and up another flight of stairs.
“Sorry,” Rose whispered. “Is he your artist dad?”
“Yes.”
“And the guy who opened the door?”
“Daniel. My other dad,” Amber said brusquely.
“Cool house,” Rose said, quickly changing the subject.
“Thanks.”
Jeez, she was hard work. Rose felt a sudden pang of doubt. Had she made a mistake coming here? Should she have just gone back to Hampstead and made the most of being home alone for once? But then she thought about being in that huge house with only her fears for company. It was better to be here and not have to think about being a total loser in the parent lottery and her so-called boyfriend playing hard to get. For about the hundredth time that day an image of her topless selfie popped into her head. She had to get hold of Matt’s phone and delete it. Then he could play hard to get all he liked, she wouldn’t give a crap.
“Here,” Amber said, opening a door at the end of the passageway. A blast of cold air drifted down to Rose. She followed Amber out onto some kind of roof garden. The others were sitting by a heater in the corner, surrounded by flickering candlelight. Sky was looking more hippyish than ever, in a floor-length tie-dyed skirt and a fake fur coat. Maali started doing her eager puppy act, waving at her excitedly. “Hey, Rose! It’s great to see you!”
Rose sighed. Why did she have to be so freakin’ happy all the time? “Great to see you too, Maali.” She sat down next to her, in the chair furthest from Sky, and carefully placed her bag on the floor beside her.
Amber sat down in the remaining chair. “So,” she said.
The others looked at her expectantly.
“Welcome to the first proper meeting of the Moonlight Dreamers. Shall we all say the quote first to get things started?”
Rose noticed Sky glance at her. Did she think she hadn’t learned it? Well, she was going to be in for a shock. Rose had had the quote as her screensaver for the past week. She knew it back to front and inside out.
“Let’s stand,” Amber said, getting to her feet. “It feels more…”
“Formal?” Sky said.
Amber nodded.
“Shall we hold hands?” Maali asked as they all stood up. “To, you know, make a proper circle?”
Amber looked uneasy. “Oh, I don’t know.”
“I think that’s a great idea,” Rose said, taking Maali’s hand and reaching out for Amber’s.
Amber and Maali smiled at her gratefully. Ha, she’d show Sky she was entitl
ed to be here.
When they were all holding hands, Amber cleared her throat. “Shall we start by focusing on the moon?”
They looked up at the sky. It was a weird orangey black from the light pollution. Rose could make out a handful of stars, but there was no sign of the moon.
“It isn’t visible at the moment because it’s the dark of the moon,” Amber explained, “the time right before the new moon begins to emerge. But it’s still up there, looking down on us. It’s always up there looking down on us.”
They stood in silence for a moment. Rose wasn’t sure why, but there was something strangely comforting about being reminded that the moon was always there, even when you couldn’t see it.
“ ‘Yes: I am a dreamer…’ ” Amber began.
“ ‘For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight’ ” – the others joined in, Rose saying the words extra loudly for Sky’s benefit – “ ‘and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.’ ”
Rose felt a shiver run up her spine. It was probably the cold. It had to be the cold. But it felt dangerously close to excitement.
Chapter Twenty-five
“So, did everyone manage to bring something moon-related?” Amber asked as soon as they’d sat back down. To her massive relief the others nodded, even Rose.
Maali started rummaging in her bag and brought out a small framed picture.
“Would you like to go first?” Amber asked.
“Oh. I – I don’t know,” Maali stammered. “OK.” She held the picture up. “This is Chandra. He’s the Hindu moon god.” She passed the picture to Rose. “He’s supposed to bring wealth and happiness, so I thought it would be auspicious – for us, I mean – to have him here. But if you don’t like him I can…”
Maali fell silent as Rose passed the picture to Amber. It was of a smiley-faced man dripping with gold jewellery and sitting in a huge lotus flower carriage pulled by four white horses. Two crescent moons arced out of the side of the carriage like a pair of giant tusks. Amber wasn’t sure what to say, so she nodded and passed the picture to Sky.
“I remember my dad telling me a really cool story about Chandra when I was little,” Sky said, gazing at the picture. She looked up at Maali. “You know, the one about why the moon waxes and wanes? Why don’t you tell the others?”
“OK.” Maali looked at them all shyly. “So, in Hindu tradition, the story is that Chandra was married to twenty-seven brides.”
“What, all at the same time?” Rose asked, raising her eyebrows.
Maali nodded. “Yes. They were all different star constellations.”
“Ri–i–ight,” Rose said slowly.
“Then, one day, Chandra started paying way more attention to one of his brides, so the other twenty-six went to see their father, Daksha, and complained to him.”
Rose nodded. “And then what happened?”
“Daksha put a curse on Chandra and made him catch consumption.”
“What’s consumption?” Rose asked.
“I’m not exactly sure,” Maali replied. “Some kind of serious disease.”
“It’s what they used to call tuberculosis,” Amber said.
“Right,” said Maali. “So pretty soon Chandra got really sick and he started to waste away. As soon as the wives saw what was happening they regretted what they’d done and begged their father to undo his curse.”
“Huh, I wouldn’t have,” Rose retorted.
Sky frowned. “Carry on,” she said to Maali.
“Well, it was impossible to undo a curse once it had been made, so all Daksha could do was modify it. He made Chandra shrink for two weeks, then allowed him to grow back to his full size for two weeks, then made him shrink again – and so on.”
“That’s why the moon waxes and wanes,” Sky said. “Isn’t it cool?”
“But you don’t seriously believe that, right?” Rose turned to Maali and frowned. “I mean, the moon isn’t a fat guy in a chariot with twenty-seven wives.”
“It’s a fable,” Sky said curtly.
Amber sighed. She’d been hoping things would be better between Sky and Rose this week, but if anything they seemed even worse.
“It’s baloney, is what it is,” Rose muttered. Then she turned back to Maali. “Sorry, I don’t really do religion.”
Amber looked at Maali. Even though she agreed with Rose, she didn’t want Maali to be upset. To her surprise, Maali was still smiling serenely. “That’s fine,” she said. “We can all believe whatever we want to.”
Rose nodded. “It was a cool story, though.”
“Thank you,” Maali said.
“Shall I go next?” Amber said, eager to get the meeting back on safer footing.
The others nodded. Amber reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a moonstone. She’d found it on a gemstone stall at the market. The guy running the stall had told her he didn’t have any, so when she’d found it hidden at the bottom of a box of rose quartz she’d taken it as some kind of sign. Most moonstones were mainly white, but this one glowed purple, blue and gold as well. And it was the perfect shape: round and fat, just like a full moon. “I found this moonstone the other day,” she said, passing it to Sky. “I thought we could use it.”
“What for?” Rose asked.
Amber shrugged. “I don’t know – some kind of group talisman?”
“It’s beautiful,” Sky said, wrapping her hands around it. Then she passed it to Maali.
“Wow!” Maali gasped.
“Aren’t gemstones supposed to have special properties?” Sky asked.
Amber nodded. “Apparently moonstones are good for bringing calm and peace.” She couldn’t help thinking of Sky and Rose.
“They’re meant to be great for creative energy too,” Rose added. “My mother went through a major feng shui phase when my dad left. We had a moonstone egg in every room of the house. Apparently you need to recharge them by the light of the moon.” Rose’s eyebrows were raised sceptically. Maali passed her the moonstone and her expression softened. She held it up to the candlelight. “This is really cool. I love how it changes colour.”
“Me too,” Maali said.
“What are we supposed to do with it?” Rose asked, still gazing at the stone.
“I was thinking we could take turns looking after it—” Amber began.
“What, like the class gerbil?” Maali said, and instantly looked embarrassed. “When I was in primary school we had a pet gerbil and we all took turns taking it home for the weekend,” she muttered, looking down.
“Yes, a bit like that, but the person who takes it home for the week is the one who needs it the most,” Amber said.
The others nodded.
“Kind of like a guardian moonstone?” Rose said.
“Exactly,” Amber replied. “Would you like to go next?”
Rose stared at her blankly. “I’m sorry?”
“Sharing your moon-related thing.”
“Oh! No, is it OK if I go last?”
Amber tried hard not to look annoyed. She still wasn’t sure what to make of Rose. She seemed dangerously like Chloe and the girls at school, with her pouty lips and long hair, and the way she seemed to want everything her own way. She turned to Sky, who was rummaging through her backpack. “Sky, do you want to go, then?”
“OK, well according to Google there’s this really cool ritual that people do during the time of the new moon,” Sky said, pulling out a battered-looking notebook. “And as it’s that time I—”
“I thought you said it was the dark of the moon,” Rose interrupted.
“Yes, well, the dark of the moon happens right before the new moon, so I’m sure it’s OK,” Amber said, looking at Sky anxiously. She was glaring at Rose.
“So, yes, as I was saying, apparently the new moon is a great time to manifest our dreams and desires.” Sky pulled a stack of magazines from her bag.
“What’s your desire?” Rose said, looking pointedly at the magazines. “To
catch up on celebrity gossip?”
Sky’s face darkened. “No, it isn’t,” she snapped. “I get enough of that living in your house.”
Rose jumped to her feet. “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”
A montage of doom began playing inside Amber’s head. Rose and Sky were going to kill each other – probably by pushing each other off the roof – and the Moonlight Dreamers would be over before it had even begun. And she would be left with nothing. No friends at school, no trip to Paris, no hope of achieving her dreams…
“I think you know exactly what it means,” Sky said, glaring at Rose.
Do something! the voice in Amber’s head cried. Do something before it’s too late!
“Oh, really?” Rose said, taking a step towards Sky. “You think you’re so clever, don’t you. You think—”
“Stop!” All of them – including Amber – jumped. She hadn’t meant to yell, but now that she had, they were all looking at her, mouths hanging open, and she couldn’t stop.
“I don’t know what the problem is between you two and I don’t want to know, but, please, can you just stop? I’ve had the world’s worst week. Everyone at my school hates me. One of my dads has made it his life’s work to make my life hell and the other is too nice to stop him. And I just— I just…” Suddenly all of the anger drained from Amber’s body, leaving her feeling as floppy as a rag doll. “I just want something good,” she said feebly. “Something that makes me feel good about my life so that I can stop feeling like a non-person.” Amber stared into her lap, mortified. Now it was definitely all over. Now they’d probably throw her off the roof before they threw each other.
Rose pulled her chair right up to hers. “I’m sorry,” she said. “If it’s any consolation, I think I came joint top with you in the World’s Worst Week Award.”
Amber glanced at her. Rose’s eyes were filled with concern. “Really?” Amber could hardly believe someone as beautiful and poised and confident as Rose could have an average week, let alone a bad one.
Rose nodded. “Uh-huh. I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I just want something good too.”
“Me too,” Sky said quietly.
Amber watched apprehensively as Rose turned to look at Sky. “Truce?” she asked.
The Moonlight Dreamers Page 13
