by T L Blake
“Then that would be their problem, not mine.” Robyn dropped the façade and spoke in staccato tone as she sidestepped again.
Derek blocked her once more then inched even closer, his frame towering over Robyn’s five foot four. He meant to intimidate her and it was working. He reached out and placed his large hand over the top of Robyn’s mug. She could feel her heart thudding painfully even before Derek bent down to whisper in her ear. “You and your slapper friend are not welcome here. Why don’t you just take the hint, freak!”
Anger flared. It eclipsed her fear in a brilliant hot pulse that Robyn could not control. She was not a freak. She jerked her mug from Derek’s grasping hand, intent on putting him in his place with vicious words, but her violent manoeuvre sloshed the tea over the side of the cup, spraying not only the kitchenette but the pale shirt of the man standing patiently behind her.
Horrified by her clumsiness, Robyn forgot Derek, turning away from him to grab a nearby dishtowel, and hastily placed her half empty mug on the counter. She took a step towards her victim, intending to mop at the stain before it could set in, but was stopped before she could touch him. As she reached out, he grabbed her wrist with supple, long fingers and suddenly all the breath left Robyn’s body.
The kitchenette faded as warmth seeped into Robyn’s skin under the stranger’s touch. It was too overwhelming a sensation to be caused by normal body temperature. It caressed and pleasured her every cell. It flowed through her tissues with graceful fluidity working its way up her arm. All her thoughts were suddenly gone in a cloudy miasma that took everything away except for the delicious heat.
Robyn felt immediately enticed and addicted to the blissful sensation and stepped into his touch for more, the urge to do so overpowering. She could no more have prevented the move than she could have fought gravity. They were two orbiting satellites, drawn to each other by a power stronger than they could resist.
Enthralled, Robyn looked up into the palest eyes she had ever seen. Black pupils contrasted so starkly against pale irises that Robyn was mesmerised and, as if drawn in ink, he had dark rings encircling the pale shade, making his eyes stand out even more. He captured her gaze and held her frozen even as fear snaked up her spine. It was irrational, but not entirely unexpected and Robyn found herself quaking even as the warmth of his touch held her in place.
Robyn stared as the eyes that had captured her so widened with shock before narrowing with disgust. She had no time to wonder who this mysterious man was, because he blinked, caught her hand in his and firmly pulled the tea towel from her grip.
The mysterious stranger turned away so quickly Robyn thought he might get whiplash. He strode from the room on long legs and Robyn just watched him go, wondering what in the hell had just happened.
Left with nothing but ice in her veins, Robyn shook her head free of the remaining grogginess and turned to find a very angry Derek Ellis stalking towards her. His suit trousers were marred with a spreading tea stain and his face was aglow with pure rage.
Backing away, not entirely recovered from her strange interaction, Robyn found herself caught between the irate giant and the pigeon holes that sufficed as a rudimentary, if not out-dated, communications system for the staff. The plastic trays dug painfully into her back as Derek loomed over her.
“Look what you have done, freak.” His fist slammed into the space next to her temple. “You’ll pay for this, Darrow.”
Fear, a long despised feeling, and disbelief, mixed with the lingering sensation of fogginess stopped Robyn retaliating as Derek loomed over her to spit his distaste into her face. People were watching this exchange and were doing nothing to help her, as usual. What the hell was wrong with them?
Robyn’s heart pounded and she could feel the familiar and terrifying sense of panic rising up within her. She closed her eyes, desperately searching for control, as Derek continued to rant in her face.
“Enough.” One voice called out into the darkness.
CHAPTER TWO
Robyn flicked her eyes open at the commanding, yet feminine, voice. It was the voice of an angel, lilting and cherubic and it had saved her.
A short lived melee saw Derek slipping into the crowd and the onlookers disperse to swiftly find something to do. Robyn was left alone with a small woman in an immaculate, pale, suit.
“Are you alright, Robyn?” Jane Symonds was an English teacher and the deputy head. What she lacked in her diminutive frame, she more than made up for in her persona. Always dressed crisply with her hair immaculately swept into a neat chignon, she was a no nonsense practitioner that commanded respect.
Robyn’s hand came to her throat involuntarily as she tried to steady her errant breathing. “I’m good. Thank you Jane.”
“Do you want to tell me how you got into this altercation with Derek?” Jane, in particular, knew that there had been other incidents. Part of her job description was to watch over the fledgling staff.
“It was an accident. I spilled tea on him and he took it badly. I’m sure that the issue has been dealt with now.” Robyn needed this job to work, she needed this new start to work and if that meant taking a little flack from the likes of Derek Ellis, then she would handle it.
Jane raised a carefully plucked eyebrow but didn’t pry. The woman was good at what she did and would no doubt be having a word with Derek, but Robyn didn’t need to make her own life any more difficult.
“If that’s the way you want to play it, then I can do little to help you.” Jane stepped into the kitchenette and plucked a towel from the cupboard before proceeding to clean up the floor. “On another note, how are year 11 doing?”
Robyn sighed, she’d been waiting for this. “They’re challenging. Their behaviour could be a lot better and some are having difficulty adapting to the new regime, but I see potential in all of them and I know that if they push themselves they could all get a grade C.”
“But . . .?”
“I’m coming up against a brick wall with some of the parents. I don’t think we’ll be getting much support from home with the extra homework I wanted to issue and many won’t allow me to use afterschool time for extra tuition.”
Jane stood. “You have to understand that things work a little more slowly here. Many of these families have been here for generations and they are opposed to change. The kids don’t want to move away from those families either, whether for university or for jobs. They are happy to take what there is, to run the family business, or work in the local community in order to stay where they know. These people don’t covet good grades like you’re perhaps used to.”
Robyn leant against the worktop. “You said that when you appointed me, but I’m not sure I realised the depth of the apathy until last night.” It had been her first parents evening and the lack of commitment to their children’s education had surprised her. “How many complained?”
Jane smiled. “You are wise beyond your years, Robyn Darrow.” She placed a hand on Robyn’s shoulder. “Five, nothing I couldn’t handle. You go ahead and push those kids and leave the senior staff to manage the fallout. Porthmollek has nothing to offer those kids anymore and they need to realise that sooner rather than later.”
Jane was right. Porthmollek was on its knees. Shop fronts lay empty, the town was in a state of disrepair and the fishing fleet was permanently docked. If you weren’t in pig farming, the main industry, then you weren’t in work.
At least Robyn’s next lessons went well. Year 7 were new enough that they still had a healthy dose of fear for their teachers and year 13 were a small studious bunch of individuals who had actually chosen to continue education and better themselves, so needed less pushing. When the bell rang for lunch, Robyn felt much better.
“So, spill.” Kat demanded as she stepped through the door with a lithe grace borne of much physical training. “What is this I hear about break?”
They always spent lunch in the lab, Derek’s animosity having driven them both from the staffroom and Robyn’s lunchtim
e detention commitments meaning she had to stay in her room.
“Uh, Derek again.”
Kat deftly propped herself on a chair and unwrapped a sandwich. “What did he do this time?” She took a large bite and stared at Robyn with open eyes. She was, Robyn thought, about as blonde bombshell as you could get. Tall, with long, long legs, she had big eyes, a light tan and thick waves of pale hair. When Kat entered a room, men were struck dumb. Robyn, in contrast, was short, pale skinned and brown. Her hair had unruly waves that best suited a ponytail and her eyes were light brown and way too big for her face. Her body was comparably curvy, too curvy for the outfits that Kat favoured.
“The usual threats to get me to give up and leave.”
Kat nodded. She too was having problems with Derek. They stared at each other in solidarity for a moment, the agreement that neither would budge unspoken but nevertheless understood, before Kat changed the subject.
“So, have you seen the new guy?” Kat’s eyes glinted as she bit into her sandwich again.
“Uh,” Robyn was momentarily confused. Kat’s mind was like a whirlwind, her thoughts constantly spinning from one topic to the next, but one thing was always true, she talked, walked and dreamed, men, usually in large quantity. “What new guy?”
“Mr Andrew Obursen, history teacher extraordinaire and major hottie!”
Kat’s lip quirked as her eyes glazed over even as she chewed. Yes, the poor man had probably been in the building all of five minutes before Kat’s sensors had tripped and she’d sought him out. Anyone over eighteen and under fifty had to take immense care around the bombshell.
“I guess you have all the information on him then.”
She smiled. “Of course.” Crossing one lithe limb over the other she leaned one elbow on the bench and continued. “He’s twenty five and has family in town. Turns out he’s been away forever but has returned to look after said family. Single with a penchant for fast cars, he has his own place out of town and . . ,” her pause was accompanied by a dramatic fluttering of the eyes, “I saw him first.”
It was a comment that need not have been said. They never fought over men. Kat wanted them and Robyn simply didn’t, so there was no fighting to be had. Kat had to stake claim however, as she just couldn’t understand Robyn’s reluctance to entangle herself in a relationship.
Robyn often wondered if Kat’s need for the opposite sex was a result of her upbringing. Kat’s parents were both modern hippies. Having met and married while travelling in some out of the way foreign clime, they had settled back in England until Kat reached her eighteenth birthday, after which they felt their parenting job done and had left to once again roam the world. The last Kat had heard was that they were living with the Samburu in Kenya, but Robyn got the feeling that Kat had no idea where they were now. It had to have marked her somehow.
“You are welcome to him Katherine, as always.”
“Seriously, I just don’t get you. If you could just see those wonderful pale blue eyes, you’d understand.”
“Blue eyes?” Robyn’s mind poured blue into the paleness that she had seen at break time and knew that it fit. His eyes were blue. Pale, pale blue. Her arm warmed with the memory of his touch, a sensation that must have been fantasy, a feeling conjured by her vivid imagination, for there was no scientific explanation for it.
Kat studied Robyn carefully. “Sorry, I didn’t think.”
Snapping out of her reverie, Robyn forced a smile. “It’s fine, really. It’s good to know that his eyes were blue actually.” That brief, unexpected and unexplainable meeting had marked an indelible stain on her mind.
“You sure?”
Shaking off her errant thoughts, Robyn brought herself back into the room. “Of course I’m sure. You don’t need to walk on eggshells. I live with it.”
A serious car accident had left Robyn with an unusual and, in many ways, debilitating illness. There had been no marks on her body, but she had received a heavy blow to the head that had put her into a coma for several long days. She had finally woken to a very different world. One of the major changes that she had had to face was the fact that she could no longer see colours, any colours. Her condition, cerebral achromatopsia, meant that she had lost all colours and now she saw the world in only shades of grey. Robyn could distinguish between shades very discerningly but she could not differentiate colours if they were presented to her in the same shade; pale blue, green or pink were all seen as just pale.
Robyn had spent a lot of time fighting prejudice in order to lead as normal a life as possible. One of those fights had been over her ability to drive. She’d won that one, but she had lost others.
“Hmm, they are wonderful eyes.” Robyn remarked, knowing that Kat would feel less awkward if they discussed this new staff member instead of backing off.
“They certainly are.” Kat sighed, as Robyn realised that she had no idea of the features on the face that went with them. “When did you see him?” Kat dropped her leg and leaned over the desk in anticipation, but was stopped when the first of Robyn’s detainees arrived. Kat leaned back. “Later.”
When the long and emotional day finally ended with the bell, Robyn looked around her empty classroom. The slogan over the board loomed ominously ‘What have I learned today?’
That was a very good question.
***
Across town a meeting was taking place.
“It will be your specific task to watch them from this point on. Do I make myself clear?”
The room was barren, it had probably been purposefully furnished so. This was, after all, where their most important business was conducted and no-one would want to be distracted by trinkets or artwork. From the beige short-pile carpet to the cream walls and simple desk and chair, there was little, or indeed nothing, in the room to deviate the mind. It was why their leader was so good at what he did. And the leader wanted a response.
“Yes, perfectly clear.” His knees had taken that second to tremble but he quashed it immediately. It was not a good idea to show fear. Fear made for sloppy work and fear got you killed.
The leader leaned forwards, resting two elbows on the empty desk top. He had not the appearance to be menacing, but he had the position. “You have been given an excellent opportunity here to prove your worth. Do not squander it.”
“I certainly will not. You have my word that I will try to do my very best to please you in this.”
His leader stood abruptly in anger. His chair flew backwards behind him. “You will try?” he bellowed, “I do not expect for you to try, but for you to succeed. You have put us in a very precarious position. Your say so got us into this position.”
This was not the best time to argue, but he had to stand his ground. “I don’t believe that that is true. The last one was due to no fault of mine but it is because of that mess, that others got us into, that I have been called here. I made my choices a long time before that troublesome situation arose.” He held his breath and awaited the response.
The leader smiled. “You stand up for yourself well, but you must remember that we work together in this. It is true that your choices were not of concern to me before, but our present situation presents some extra complications. There were those who thought your choices unwise initially and there have been circumstances where I have been forced to agree. You must ensure that those circumstances do not arise again. You brought them here and they are therefore your responsibility. You know that, as do the others. They are waiting for you to fail.”
“I will not fail.” He knew exactly who his opposition was and his fear soon turned to a scowl. Somebody was busy putting his pieces in order for a coup. But that would only work if the leader fell.
“You need to learn and learn quickly that this is not a game we are playing. The consequences of failure are dire indeed, and at such a pivotal point in our history it is foolish to disappoint me.” His eyes narrowed.
They were indeed at a pivotal point. At least they thought they were. Thei
r leader was driving them down a very new path, one that remained cloaked in secrecy so that few, if any of them knew the full nature of it. They did know, however, that if things worked out as they should, there would be a significant reward. It was, after all, the rewards that had gotten them all into this group to begin with. On the other hand, if they should fail, there would be significant fall out and the leader’s position would become precarious. There were others, including himself, who would readily take the role.
“I will not disappoint you, they will be carefully watched. There will be no mistakes this time. I am aware that my decisions have been put into question but as I said then, I had little choice.”
“It is only the fact that I believe that to be true that I have given you this opportunity. We are very near the end of our quest. It would not do to destroy our chances now.” He sat back down in his chair, his anger abated. “Go, begin your mission.”
CHAPTER THREE
Monday was wet. Rain had persistently fallen throughout the weekend making Kat restless, as she would usually use her spare time to train for a triathlon that she was thinking of running. Robyn had felt like a zookeeper trying to cage a lion as Kat had paced relentlessly up and down the living room of their shared cottage. Even she had felt the urge to get out of the four walls. There was only so much time a person could spend working on lesson plans before they needed to do something else. With winter settled contentedly over the small town and looking like it had no intention of ever leaving, there was little to do.
Uncharacteristically, Kat had risen early and already left for school when Robyn threw her marking onto the passenger seat of the MG and began the process of demisting the car with a chamois sponge she kept in the glove box. When she finally got the engine running, her hands were already turning to ice. There would be no heating in the car, as by the time it warmed up she would already be at school, so, gunning the engine, she drove with as much speed as she dared, intent on getting to the warmth of the academy as quickly as possible. Turning onto the main road that was the only thoroughfare that led through the town, she began the slow descent into Porthmollek as the engine coughed.
