Shift #2

by Jeff Povey

  ‘Let go of me,’ I whisper heatedly over the airwaves, worried that I’ve been too trusting. What if everything he’s told me is a lie? What if he just wanted to lure me here?

  ‘Brace yourself,’ he commands.

  I don’t know what is behind the door but there is nothing I can do to stop Other-Johnson manoeuvring me through it.

  We come out into another dimly lit corridor and Other-Johnson puts a finger to his lips. ‘I want you to be brave.’

  My eyes widen. This is a trap.

  The hallway is warm, too warm to be comfortable, and the steady thrum of a heater makes the hall feel stuffy.

  I should be glad of the heat after being cold for so long, but it’s a sleep-inducing heat, which mixed with my strung-out and sleep-deprived brain and body is making me want to close my eyes.

  I try to shake the fatigue away but Other-Johnson owns my every muscle.

  ‘Let me go!’ I mentally plead.

  ‘Stop fighting me.’

  Fighting is all I know how to do now. It has become my first reaction to everything.

  ‘Get the hell out of me!’ But my struggle is in vain.

  ‘We’re here,’ he responds.

  We’re in front of the last door at the end of the corridor. The temperature is rising, and even through the door I can sense the increased warmth in the room behind it.

  He looks at me for a moment, then lets go of the control he has over me. I almost drop to the floor.

  ‘Quietly and quickly,’ he warns.

  He pushes open the door and switches the light on.

  Inside is a bed, a rumbling heater and a person.

  The person is my father.

  My dad is lying unconscious in bed. His weak breaths lift and lower his chest and there are red blotches on his skin from where he was burned, but the rest of him is intact as far as I can see. The last time I saw him was in a supermarket in town and he’d been badly burned by the same strange heat that almost killed me. But, I assume with the help from the healing powers of Another-Billie, aside from the marks on his body, he almost looks normal – most of his hair is even back now.

  He looks older than I remember, but the twelve years since I’ve properly seen him haven’t aged him as badly as they aged my mum. He has the same dark hair and the same face, but with a few more wrinkles. To be honest, I can’t really remember him well. I was four when he left us. I had a dream about him that seemed very real but this is a different person to the one I saw in my mind. He’s less immaculate and more human because of that.

  And that’s the question, isn’t it? That’s the question I have to answer. Is he human like I am? Is this my father or Rev Two’s?

  ‘Billie drained herself bringing him back.’ Other-Johnson’s voice is in my head again. ‘She’s in the room next door. Recovering.’

  ‘And your Rev?’

  ‘Asleep downstairs. Waiting to see who he really is.’

  I step over to the bed and reach for my dad’s hand. It was a molten lump of seared flesh the last time I did this in the supermarket. I’m trembling and I want to cry but I’m also looking at his hand because I need to know if it has talons.

  I can’t see any but that doesn’t mean they’re not sheathed. He’s out cold after all. ‘Take a proper look,’ Other-Johnson quietly urges.

  If it’s really my dad I’m going to cry, I know I am. I’m going to bawl my eyes out.

  I lean closer to his face. He’s still handsome, with high cheekbones and a strong chin.

  ‘Dad?’ I whisper, even though I know he’s not aware of me. ‘Where did you go?’

  It seems like such a stupid question and I have a million more that are probably just as stupid.

  ‘Mum . . . Mum’s still waiting for you. Can you believe that?’ I wipe my eyes of tears I didn’t know I was crying. ‘I wasn’t. I didn’t tell her, but I’d written you off. You can understand that though – right?’

  ‘Rev.’ Other-Johnson is in my head again. ‘You need to look.’

  He knows I’m stalling, that I don’t want the truth. I’m scared it won’t be my dad and I’m scared it will be.

  But I have to check his teeth. Like I’m some sort of dentist, or, worse, a horse trader. My hand hovers over my dad’s mouth. If his teeth are steel then there is no hope. He won’t love me and he won’t want to take me home; he’ll take Rev Two instead.

  But if he is my dad, how will I send Rev Two home? How will I keep that promise to her mum?

  This is not how I ever pictured a reunion with my father. ‘Hi, Dad, mind if I see your teeth?’ probably doesn’t rate too high on the list of things to say to a long-lost parent.

  Other-Johnson comes over to the bed and does it for me. He’s keen to make this a short visit. ‘Look,’ he says to me.

  I don’t want to.

  But he does that mind-control thing again and my head turns and I have no choice but to look.

  My breath stalls in my throat.

  ‘He’s your dad, Rev.’

  There is no glint of steel in my dad’s teeth. Just a set of pearly whites.

  ‘Dad!’ I fall to my knees at his bedside. ‘Dad, it’s me. Reva. Dad, I’m here. I’ve found you.’

  ‘Not so loud.’

  I grip my dad’s hand tightly, squeezing it in both hands. ‘You’re going to wake up, you are, and I’m going to be here.’

  ‘We need to go,’ Other-Johnson says, looking around.

  ‘What?’

  ‘We can’t hang around here.’

  ‘I’m not leaving him. Not when I’ve just found him.’

  ‘He’s in a coma. He’s not going anywhere.’

  ‘Then neither am I. And don’t try any of that mind-controlling making-me-walk-away stuff. Do that and I’ll never forgive you.’ I flash a warning look at Other-Johnson but he isn’t fazed.

  ‘You can’t do anything for him. It’s a matter of waiting it out,’ he tells me.

  ‘So I’ll wait.’

  ‘And when the other Rev finds you? What then?’

  I don’t have an answer to that but I also know I’m not leaving my dad.

  ‘He’ll know how to send us all home. He can end this,’ I tell Other-Johnson.

  ‘You stole her boyfriend.’ Our eyes meet at this. ‘You did, Rev, you stole his heart.’ He’s talking about himself. ‘And she will kill you for that. She’s not the sharing kind.’

  ‘I didn’t ask you to kiss me.’

  ‘You didn’t stop me either,’ he responds, talking in a low whisper now.

  ‘I’ve seen inside you. I know you.’

  He pulls me closer. I already know what’s coming. I should fight it, twist away.

  ‘Rev—’

  ‘Don’t.’

  His lips find mine.

  ‘No,’ I murmur, but even I know that I don’t really mean it.

  The kiss devours me. It pulls me onto my tiptoes and then presses me back against the far wall. I push back and try to twist away, but bang into the electric heater and have to steady myself, and then Other-Johnson is pushing against me, releasing me, then pinning me again to the wall. We can’t find separation; we’re bonded and breathless and fresh tears are running from my eyes because this is too much and yet not enough. I wrap myself tight round him and my momentum turns him so I’m kissing him now. I’m taking charge and he’s the Johnson I want.

  ‘What the hell?’

  The voice snaps between us, prising us apart. We turn simultaneously and Another-Billie is standing, pale and weary in the doorway. My chest is heaving and I think I’m panting. I don’t know if she knows which Rev I am, but Other-Johnson knows immediately what she’s thinking.

  ‘Don’t touch her,’ he warns.

  Despite her weakened state Another-Billie’s talons slide out and she reveals her glinting metal teeth.

  ‘You going to stop me?’ she snarls.

  I need a weapon but the private hospital room is sparse. There’s just the heater, a small bedside cabinet and a la
mp.

  Other-Johnson tries to get between us. ‘Billie,’ he says. He raises a hand, warding her off.

  But he won’t be able to stop her, not when he’s in the wrong body. He’s a puny human just like me. I grab the lamp and rip the cord from it, revealing live wires that could send a ton of volts straight through Another-Billie.

  ‘Don’t forget you’ve got metal inside you,’ I warn her. ‘And metal is a great conductor!’ Which is the worst tough-guy line ever spoken. It’s not even bad enough to be funny.

  Other-Johnson now raises his hand to me. ‘Back off. Both of you.’

  Neither of us is prepared to back down. Another-Billie edges forward and I mirror her move, eyes locked on her.

  ‘If Rev knew you were here,’ she threatens.

  ‘I’m Rev,’ I respond.

  ‘All I’ve got to do is call out to her.’

  ‘Try calling with a thousand volts in you.’ Which I think is a much better tough-guy line.

  Other-Johnson moves closer to Another-Billie. ‘If you kill her and her dad finds out then he’ll never take us home.’

  ‘That’s her dad?’ Another-Billie falters. ‘No. It can’t be. It’s not possible.’

  ‘Check his teeth,’ Other-Johnson tells her.

  I really hope my dad can’t hear this. Another-Billie is thrown. Despite her Irish-Indian colouring she is nearly white from her healing exertions. She takes a long moment to process the information.

  ‘I all but killed myself bringing the wrong person back?’

  ‘My dad’s a good man—’ I begin.

  ‘You don’t know that,’ she snaps.

  ‘Of course he is.’

  ‘You don’t even know him!’ she hisses. ‘Maybe he left you and your mum because he hated you.’

  Turns out she doesn’t need her talons to gut me.

  ‘I mean, why else would he up and leave you?’

  The horror of that notion hits like a rock. She knows she has hurt me and I know she enjoyed it. She shares a few of Billie’s less than kind attributes.

  ‘My dad came to find me,’ I eventually counter. ‘He climbed through fire to reach me. I know he did.’ I stare hard at Another-Billie. ‘So he’ll help us. He’ll wake up and he will know what to do.’ I turn back to Other-Johnson. ‘So I’m staying put.’

  ‘You think?’ Another-Billie responds. ‘Wait till Rev knows you two were kissing. No one’ll get home then.’

  I know from experience that Rev Two is both fearsome and lethal. And if Non-Ape was concerned about her touching him then she must be far more powerful than I ever imagined.

  Other-Johnson reaches out to Another-Billie and puts a hand on her arm. ‘Billie.’

  But she shakes it off. ‘Don’t even think about playing your mind games with me.’

  ‘Never,’ he responds.

  ‘Stay out of my head, Johnson,’ she warns. ‘Do not ever come near me again. You listening? I don’t want you inside me.’

  But it’s not her head he’s inside; it’s her heart. I can tell from the way she can’t stop looking at him. When I saw her and Rev Two together before it was pretty clear they were good friends so whatever Other-Johnson did with Another-Billie has remained a secret. So far.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he says, his eyes meeting hers full on. ‘I never got the chance to tell you that. But I am.’

  ‘You led me on, Johnson. You said you were bored of Rev and I believed you.’

  Other-Johnson doesn’t have to be a mind reader to know I am staring hard at him now.

  ‘It was one of those things,’ he says in his defence. He’s talking to her but he’s also talking to me.

  ‘One of those things? You said you loved me.’

  Other-Johnson remains as calm as he can. But inside I’m starting to boil over. Is he just a player?

  ‘No, Rev,’ he tells me over our mind-link. ‘You’re different. Special.’

  His words are soothing like honey and he sounds so deeply honest.

  He turns to Another-Billie. ‘I do love you, Billie. Just not in the way you wanted me to.’

  Another-Billie flushes despite her pale appearance. ‘Don’t go there, Johnson. Do. Not. Go. There.’ She is really hurting inside. ‘Love is love, and you . . . You have no idea what you do to girls. But then again, if you do then you’re the worst of the worst.’

  Other-Johnson steps closer to Another-Billie. ‘You could’ve left me for dead,’ he adds, his voice soft. ‘But you didn’t, you healed me. And I need you to heal me again.’

  She shifts uncomfortably on the balls of her feet. ‘I only healed you for Rev,’ she says.

  But even I know that’s only a half-truth. She is still captivated by Other-Johnson, despite what she says. Apparently whatever world he’s from a Johnson will create havoc between me and Billie.

  She bows her head a little, just like my Billie does when she’s embarrassed. ‘None of this has been for you, Johnson.’

  Other-Johnson reaches again for her arm and this time she allows him to touch her. ‘How long till he wakes up?’

  I’m still holding the thin cable from the lamp and don’t know what to do with it now. Do I just drop it, or could I maybe give my dad a few volts to wake him up? I need to speak to him, to hear his voice telling me that everything’s going to be OK.

  Another-Billie glances at my comatose father. ‘I don’t know that he will wake up. I’ve done everything I can but this is as far as it goes. He was in such a bad way. It could be tomorrow, it could be a week, a month, it could be never.’

  Sounds like I definitely need to shock him then.

  ‘We haven’t got that long,’ I offer.

  I can feel Other-Johnson invade my mind, searching and shifting through my recent thoughts. He sees hordes of his kind charging through the town looking for blood.

  He sucks in his breath. ‘She’s right.’

  My hope that an hour there equals five months has vanished. We are running out of time.

  He turns to Another-Billie. ‘We can’t go home. Someone’s locked us out of the classroom. And not just with a key.’

  ‘Well, that’s just peachy,’ Another-Billie tells him. ‘That’s wonderful news. Who is it?’

  ‘I have no idea,’ he tells her.

  ‘And the news keeps getting better.’

  I glance at my dad and still can’t take in how well he looks. He was little more than a seared lump of flesh.

  ‘The bus!’ I exclaim too loudly. Then remember that Rev Two is sleeping close by. I lower my voice but my heart’s hammering. ‘My dad came here another way, through a different portal to us. And there was another one, inside a bus. I’m sure he was trying to get through there as well.’

  Another-Billie scowls at me. ‘So?’

  ‘Those portals could be open. I tried the lorry and got burned, but the bus . . . Whoever is out there might not know about the bus.’

  I’m breathing faster now, giddy with the sheer force of my hope. ‘We can all escape that way.’

  ‘Brilliant,’ Other-Johnson says. ‘How does it work?’

  And in typical Reva Marsalis fashion my ‘genius’ comes undone, unravelling horribly. They both look at me, waiting for an answer.

  ‘I don’t . . . I don’t know.’ And then I get inspired again. ‘But my dad can tell us.’

  ‘If he wakes up.’ Another-Billie’s hopes are already falling.

  ‘Yeah, but . . .’ What, Rev? What? Think.

  Other-Johnson steps in and rescues the moment. ‘They’ve got a Moth. And there are papers in London that he will understand.’

  ‘Yes, he worked some of this out before,’ I add, heart starting to beat faster again. ‘If we get the Moth to the papers, he’ll work out a way for all of us to get home. I’m sure he will.’

  Which pretty much makes my spectactular plan to become a hero and usher everyone to safety through the bus redundant. We have to go to London. Maybe there was never any getting away from that. This world isn’t just a copy, it�
�s starting to repeat itself.

  Another-Billie hesitates as if she has something she doesn’t want to say.

  ‘Look,’ she finally offers, ‘I’ll do whatever I can here but if I can’t bring your dad back, then you need to find those papers – and be quick, because I want to go home and forget any of this happened.’ She looks at my dad. ‘I just wish he’d turned out to be one of us. He’d have been tougher, stronger. He’d have got better quicker.’ But then her eyes brighten. ‘Go grab those papers.’

  Other-Johnson pulls a face. ‘That’s not so easy. Not unless you know someone who can lift a thousand tons of rubble.’

  As soon as the words have left his mouth he wishes he could yank them back.

  The answer’s obvious. And Another-Billie stares at him, not needing to say it out loud.

  ‘No,’ he whispers.

  She’s staring harder at him now.

  ‘C’mon, Billie – really?’ It’s the first time I’ve ever seen Other-Johnson look faintly lost.

  Another-Billie knows she has the upper hand and enjoys it. ‘You owe me that much.’

  But before he can respond Other-Johnson grabs us and drags us down to the floor with him. ‘Get down!’

  Other-Johnson’s motorbike crashes through the window and lands in a mangled heap, missing us by inches.

  ‘JOHNSON!’

  Oh, great.

  ‘Get him away from here! He’ll bring down the whole hospital around us!’ Another-Billie hisses. ‘I can’t repair Rev’s dad again, I don’t have the strength.’

  But I’m already worrying about what’s inside the small hospital as much as what waits for us outside. Rev Two will have woken up. No one could sleep through that.

  I grab Other-Johnson’s wrist. ‘He must’ve heard your motorbike and homed in on it. We’ve got to lead him away.’

  I turn to Another-Billie. ‘Don’t, whatever you do, let Rev know that he’s my dad,’ I warn her. I don’t want Rev Two anywhere near my dad. There is no telling what she would do to him if she found out he was mine and not hers. ‘He’s still our best hope for getting home. And that’s all of us.’

  Another-Billie understands but she doesn’t like being told what to do. ‘Get out of here,’ she snarls.

  ‘C’mon.’ I tug on Other-Johnson’s arm.