Peril

by Joss Stirling

  She typed in a new search. Where was Atlantis?

  A map came up with dots marked everywhere from the centre of the Atlantic, the Bermuda Triangle, to various locations in the Mediterranean. When she hovered over the links, the write up always included the word ‘supposed’ or ‘rumoured’. Some of the articles cited sounded like the work of crazy amateurs with a hunch.

  OK then: no one knows. So if there’s an inheritance, it’s not going to be land, thought Meri.

  Speculation was making her head ache. She switched off the computer and turned on the crappy wall screen to watch the big film. It was last year’s hit about the fires that swept through LA a decade ago. Normally, Meri admitted, you would have to hold the hero’s gun to her head to get her to watch, but tonight a bit of mindless action was better than thinking. She curled up with a cup of tea and a slice of the cake she had bought to share with Kel and prepared to be entertained.

  The week between Christmas and New Year passed slowly. Meri spent the time sketching and reading, going whole days without talking to anyone. The brief interlude with Kel seemed unreal, a lovely little miniature of happiness snatched from the house fire that was the rest of her life. In her mind, she would take out the moment, mentally dust off the frame and picture him standing by the window of her room, lying beside her or even just washing up at the sink. Simple, ordinary things. They had to hold her over until she could wrangle some miracle to bring them back together again.

  A letter came from him in the middle of the week. It had been written on Christmas Eve and she was distressed as she read it to find he had been as miserable as she, the meeting with his sister not having gone well. He had said he was planning to see Jenny again the following day, perhaps for a walk along the Thames, but by the sound of it there was no family lunch, no games and fun as Meri had hoped. His stance had alienated him from his family. Her heart told her that they should have been together, not both feeling sad at opposite ends of London.

  One paragraph in particular caught her attention:

  I have to tell you, Meri, that Jenny thinks that I’m being unkind to you keeping from you making peace with the Perilous, that they’ll catch you one day and it would be better for me to bring you in quietly. What do you think? My feeling is that we can’t trust them but if you want to risk it, I’ll stand by you. It has to be your choice. I don’t want to trick you into anything, even though that is exactly what they would like me to do.

  Unnerved, Meri realized that this was the first crack in his position that she was right to keep well away, even if he raised the idea only to reject it. What if they were wrong and was Jenny right? Had they thrown away a chance at negotiation?

  Wanting to clear her head, she got up and walked to the windowsill to scatter a pinch of food into the goldfish bowl Zara had asked her to look after over Christmas. The two recipients arrowed to the surface, little mouths breaking the surface in the goldfish version of ravenous hunger. Did they know they were trapped? Did they know about ponds, rivers and oceans or were they content to swim in circles? Sometimes it seemed to her that she and Kel were like that, stuck swimming round and round in the fishbowl of London. There was a whole other world out there. Would going to the Perilous command to make an agreement at least allow them to swim free? But it came down to trust in the good intentions of a group who hated her. Other Teans had tried, she remembered, thinking of the mention in her father’s letter of grandparents who had lost their lives on a peace mission to the Perilous.

  No, Kel, you’re doing the right thing, she thought, giving the fish an extra pinch. We can’t trust them to negotiate fairly.

  It wasn’t pleasant, though, to think of him being put under so much pressure by his family, every action scrutinized and questioned by his old friends. It would make anyone doubt themselves.

  On New Year’s Eve, excitement mounting, Meri bundled up warmly in a padded black jacket she had treated herself to in the sales. It had the advantage of a fake fur trim to the hood so when that was raised her face was hidden from view. As there was some risk involved in any attempt to see Theo, she dressed for a quick getaway, running shoes and jeans, no bag. All her belongings—purse, keys and so on—were distributed in the various pockets in the jacket. She checked herself in the rust-spotted mirror in her bedroom and decided that she would blend.

  Joining the queues for the river bus service, Meri stood with the others heading to Green Park for the fireworks. When the Thames flooded a few years back, the annual display was moved from the Embankment to Buckingham Palace as this was now on the new verge of the tidal waters. At the other end of the Mall, half of Trafalgar Square was submerged at high tide, the four bronze lions that surrounded Nelson’s Column had their toes lapped by waves, but you could still stand on the steps of the National Gallery and watch as the fireworks went off over the rooftops. This was where she had agreed to meet Theo and friends. Plenty of other people had had the same thought, but Meri told herself this was just as well: more people meant more places to hide.

  Getting off the river bus at the pontoon moored at Charing Cross, she took the chainlink walkway over the drowned station complex and up to the dry ground near St Martin’s-in-the-Fields. It was easier that she was on her own, she thought, as keeping hold of anyone in this crowd would be impossible. She marvelled that some parents considered it a good idea to bring their children.

  ‘Handcuffs might do it,’ she murmured, watching one father pick up a child and carry him on his hip to stop them being separated.

  Meri wormed her way through the press of bodies to reach the gallery steps. These were already occupied by parties who had come early to bag a good view but no one minded a slight girl weaving through their midst, making way without a grumble. Finally she spotted Valerie’s turban hat perched like a colourful butterfly on top of the crowd. A grin filled Meri’s body, not just her face, warming her down to her toes.

  ‘Hello.’ She squeezed through the last gap and bobbed up beside Theo.

  ‘Oh thank God, Meri, you made it!’ Theo hugged her to his battered black jacket. He had tears in his eyes under the bobble hat he had pulled over his fair hair. Meri could have told him that, with Valerie sporting her usual African print headgear, his attempt at being low key was wasted. ‘How have you been?’

  ‘Good thanks.’

  ‘You look well.’ He held her at arms length. ‘Yes, you look good.’

  ‘I actually quite like eco-service, would you believe it? It calls out my inner dredger.’

  Theo laughed. ‘Here’s your present.’ He handed her a slim wrapped parcel. ‘Open it later.’

  ‘Thanks—and I will.’

  ‘Ah, sweetie!’ Valerie kissed her noisily on both cheeks. ‘So lovely to see you again. We missed you at Christmas.’

  ‘Missed you guys too.’

  Saddiq hugged her. ‘Theo’s been a miserable old goat without you around. Can’t you come home?’

  ‘Maybe one day. Thanks for, you know….’ She patted her pocket that contained her Emma Boot ID.

  ‘Anytime. It was mildly exciting breaking a minor law.’ Saddiq’s eyepatch twinkled as the first firework shot up into the sky. ‘Here they go!’

  In the distance, the clock face of Big Ben was lit up specially for the evening. Though the parliament building was abandoned, traditions died hard and the authorities went in to restore power to the clock for one night only each year. The first flurry of fireworks paused as the crowd waited, hushed, for the familiar bell to toll midnight. As the first bong echoed across flooded Westminster, a huge cheer went up and the firework display started in earnest. Meri linked arms on one side with Theo and Valerie on the other, oohing and aahing with the crowd. It felt wonderful to be in touch with the people who loved her, to be part of a group activity after a week of solitude. She hadn’t drunk anything but she still felt heady like she had downed several glasses of champagne.

  The display lasted for ten minutes, gunshot bangs reverberating from walls and windows, c
ausing them to rattle. Stars mirrored in the water filling the old roads, making Westminster briefly resemble the lost city of Venice. With the layer of snow clinging to roof tiles and window ledges, the colours seemed all the brighter by contrast.

  ‘Oh wow!’ Meri said, smiling up at Theo. ‘This was so worth it.’

  ‘You don’t have to rush off, do you, love?’ He squeezed her arm. ‘I’ve booked a place in a club I know not far from here. We can have a late dinner and catch up.’

  ‘I’d like nothing better, Theo. That was an amazing display. We’ll have to come every year—a new tradition.’

  ‘It was good, wasn’t it?’ A young woman, blond curls caught up in a pony tail, standing on the step below, turned to speak to Meri.

  Meri instinctively withdrew, pulling her hood up around her face. It had fallen down when she had been admiring the starbursts in the sky.

  ‘Yes, lovely,’ said Theo briskly. ‘Excuse me.’

  The woman put out a hand to him. ‘I just wanted to say “hello”, Mr Woolf. I understand you’ve been kind to my brother.’

  ‘Your brother?’ Theo pushed Meri behind him, casting a glance at Saddiq telling him to get her clear.

  ‘Yes, Kel Douglas. I’m his sister, Jenny. He said we might find you here.’

  Meri didn’t wait to hear the rest. She ducked under Saddiq’s arm as he moved to block the woman. Meri bolted, ramming her way past anyone in her path.

  ‘Run, Meri!’ screeched Valerie, whacking Jenny with a brightly coloured umbrella.

  She had the vague sense of Theo and his friends scuffling with more people behind her but she couldn’t stop to help. Half falling down the steps, she squirmed through the crowd to reach the edge of Trafalgar Square. People were already heading home, taking the side roads to the underground stations or queuing for the river buses. Her feet went out from under her as she slipped on some ice.

  ‘Here, what’s your hurry!’ grumbled a man into whom she had stumbled.

  She shouldered past him, making for one of the bronze lions, but then felt a tug on the back of her hood. She twisted but was trapped. Quickly, she unzipped the jacket, pulled her arms out and abandoned it to her pursuer. She was right at the water’s edge now. Some of the spectators had hired boats to float along the submerged streets of Whitehall. With nowhere to go on land, Meri splashed into the water, breaking the crust of ice, hoping to make it to the nearest boat and beg a lift. The freezing water quickly rose to her waist. It was so bone-achingly cold. Desperate, Meri struck out, swimming towards a bright yellow dinghy but it never seemed to get any closer, the passengers oblivious to her as they popped corks at the moon. The current swirling around the submerged buildings swept her to the east, the yellow dinghy drawing away to the west, heading for the lights of the Admiralty Arch. She was alone in the dark water, body beginning to shut down, brain stuttering.

  Two boys appeared beside her swimming strongly.

  ‘Can we touch her?’ gasped Lee.

  ‘Grab her shirt,’ said Ade.

  Rousing from her stupor, Meri fought against them, flailing out with wild kicks and punches. Ade took a grip on her hair and pushed her under. She came up spluttering, mouth filled with foul water.

  ‘Stop struggling or I’ll do that again. We’re trying to save you.’

  ‘Like hell you are.’ She kicked at Ade and he made good on his promise, pushing her under for longer this time. A third person joined them. He came up under her and got his arm in a chokehold around her throat.

  ‘Give it up, Tean, or we’ll drown you right here, right now,’ he spat.

  Having overpowered her, the three dragged Meri back to the shore. There was no sign of Theo, Valerie or Saddiq, but Kel’s sister was there, holding Meri’s jacket and running interference with onlookers.

  ‘Yeah, too much to drink. Said she could swim to Big Ben. Don’t worry I’ll take her home and read my cousin the riot act. Going in the Thames when it’s sub zero! Idiot! She could’ve died!’

  Meri stood dripping on the river’s edge, flanked by her enemies. Jenny draped the jacket around her shoulders.

  ‘Yes, she’s all right. Thanks for asking.’ The crowd began to disperse. Jenny lowered her voice. ‘You really shouldn’t have panicked. I told Kel someone could get hurt if you weren’t picked up quietly.’

  Meri couldn’t speak. It was like she was crumbling from inside. She looked around but couldn’t see him.

  A minibus drove up, Swanny at the wheel.

  ‘Get in quickly,’ he ordered. ‘Ade, there’s an emergency blanket behind my seat. Use it before you catch your death.’

  Pushed from behind, Meri was forced into the vehicle, penned in her own seat in the middle row. Ade sat in front and shook out a foil wrap.

  ‘I’m OK. Was only in for a minute or two. You need it, Lee?’

  ‘I’m fine. You keep it, sir.’

  ‘Tiber?’

  ‘I’m OK, Ade.’

  ‘Meri, do you want it?’ He held it out to her.

  She couldn’t believe he dared to call her that. ‘What have you done to Theo?’

  He dropped his hand and let the blanket drape over his legs. ‘Nothing. Mr Woolf and his friends were stopped from following you, that’s all.’

  ‘Don’t lie to me! That’s not all. He’d be phoning the police right now, you’d be arrested for kidnap, so don’t tell me you didn’t do something to him!’

  Ade shrugged. ‘OK, we told him that if he involved the police that he’d never see you again. I’ve got some guys babysitting him. Do you believe me now?’

  Turning to face the window, she stared at her reflection. ‘I won’t believe anything you tell me.’

  ‘Take the blanket, Meri.’

  ‘I’m not taking anything from you.’

  ‘Suit yourself.’ He wrapped it round his shoulders. ‘OK, gang, let’s head home.’

  14

  Meri found it ironic that they’d chosen to lock her up with the one person in the house she didn’t resent. The dojo had been swiftly converted to a guest room, weapons removed of course, but they had left U-Can standing in his corner. He looked on proceedings with what Meri read as disgust. It was a smart move to put her down here: with no windows and a single door out onto a corridor, the options for escape were limited. Perhaps she hadn’t misheard after all when she had mistaken it for a dungeon on her first visit?

  ‘You can use the toilet and shower room off the laundry next door,’ said Jenny, putting a stack of dry clothes on the camp bed. She left the present from Theo next to it having already frisked Meri’s jacket and opened it to check the contents. ‘You’re free to walk around on this level but the doors leading down here will be locked, so don’t waste your time trying them. When you get changed, the only place without a camera is the shower so make use of it if you want some privacy.’

  Meri hung her jacket on U-Can. ‘Where’s your brother?’

  ‘He wants to give you time to calm down before he sees you. It’s really the best thing, bringing you in like this—you need to think about that. It would’ve only got worse the longer you were on the run. Kel really does care for you and, though it might not seem like it, he did what he thought was the kindest thing by handing you over tonight.’

  ‘This is kind?’

  ‘You’re not dead, are you? That is the usual policy when it comes to Teans.’

  After Jenny left, Meri was almost too exhausted to strip off her damp clothes. Only the thought of waking up still stinking of Thames mud made her go into the shower and stand under the hot jets. She let them pummel her back, washing dirt and tears down the drain. Finally, the water started running cool so she dried off and put on the t-shirt and drawstring pyjama trousers Jenny had found her. They were far too big. Rolling up the bottoms, she walked barefoot back to her prison. She stared at the black camera in the middle of the ceiling, red light winking. After the grief she had felt in the shower, fury roared in like an express train. No way would she be able to sleep know
ing they were watching. She wasn’t sure if she believed Jenny about Kel but how else had they found out about her secret meeting with Theo? Her guardian would never have said anything. It didn’t add up—unless she believed Kel had changed his mind and decided to let them bring her in. If he had, she wasn’t sure she would ever get past his betrayal.

  She paced the room, trying to make sense of her swift change of fortune. One minute she’d been marvelling at fireworks, the next fighting for her life. Had Kel done that to her?

  God, had he?

  She wasn’t giving up on him, not until she had proof, and she certainly wasn’t going to start the new year despairing of her chance of escape. An opportunity surely had to come if she were patient? Moping was not the answer.

  Snatching up the present, she ripped off the paper. A gold chain with a crystal droplet fell into her hand. Holding it up to the light, it cast a rainbow on the floor—all the colours of the spectrum only she could see.

  ‘Oh, Theo.’ He always knew what she would like, how to make her feel special. She had to get out not only for her sake but to check her foster dad was safe.

  Meri put on the necklace and then prowled her cell, examining every corner. As her futile attempt to escape had shown, she was well behind on self-defence techniques. If she’d managed to land one good kick or punch she might’ve made it to a boat and not be in this situation.

  She picked up the droid’s manual which had been left on a shelf. ‘OK, U-Can: let’s see what you can teach me.’ Pressing the red button, she walked the droid out of his corner. ‘I’m gonna imagine you’re one of those lot upstairs. Get ready to rumble.’